The role of returns to a prior topic in the negotiation of topic change: A developmental investigation

Returns to a prior topic occurring in the conversations of small groups of acquainted peers were examined to learn more about how topic is organized in such settings and how it changes with age. Twenty-five discussion groups were formed, five at each of the following grades: second, fifth, ninth, twelfth, and college. The eighth meeting of each group was examined, comprising 13,811 speaking turns total, which includes 502 returns other than those occurring after side sequences. There are three main findings. First, at all ages, returns were frequently used to counter attempts at topic change. This finding warranted the creation of a model for the negotiation of topic change that includes returns. Second, there were no age differences in the means used for negotiating topic change, but there were substantial age differences in the way these means were actually employed. These differences suggest that adolescents and young adults adopt a consensual orientation to topic negotiation. Third, other results suggest that that consensual orientation to topic negotiation is a generalization of the consensus orientation to topic maintenance that is acquired during childhood.     

Test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Morrow Assessment of Nausea and Emesis (MANE) for the assessment of cancer chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting

The present study evaluated the concurrent validity of two assessment approaches for the measurement of cancer chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting. The results indicated that the concurrent validity between the Morrow Assessment of Nausea and Emesis (MANE; Morrow, 1984b) and continuous self-monitoring and the reliability on the MANE were moderate. The heterotrait-monomethod and heterotrait-heteromethod matrices demonstrated moderate correlations among the frequency, severity, and duration of anticipatory nausea and vomiting as well as high correlations among the frequency, severity, and duration of posttreatment nausea and vomiting. Additionally, the heterotrait-monomethod matrices show a number of correlations above chance between anticipatory and posttreatment symptoms. The results are discussed in light of future research endeavors.This research was supported in part by Research Grant IN-150 from the American Cancer Society.     

Enhancing Applesoft using ampersand routines

Machine language routines, which can provide many useful and unusual applications for BASIC, run faster than BASIC and usually occupy less memory than comparable BASIC routines. Examples of two types of easy-to-use enhancements to Applesoft BASIC are described. The first type consists of integrated collections of enhancements and extensions that are used as a group. A second type allows program developers to select only those routines that are desired. Features available in several sets of such routines are discussed.     

Private events revisited: Does unobservable mean private?

This paper presents a discussion on the misapplication of the concept private events in traditional psychotherapy interpretation. Shown is that, logically, the term privacy is contradictory to principles of science and it further inhibits anaturalistic approach to observation. Evidence of so-called private clinical events are presented within an alternative model that obviates the role of privacy and encourages primarily an objective outlook on the events.     

The meaning of prayer: A Christian physician's experience

Christians in health care need a habit of prayer that allows them to express to God the full range of their reactions to daily experience. All of life can become the occasion for prayer when understood as communion or conversation. After brief commentary on this view of prayer, actual prayers are shared, demonstrating one Christian physician's attempts to pray without ceasing.This paper is part of a forthcoming book to be published by Broadman. All personal references in the article are to Dr. Elkins.     

The relationship between expertise and visual search strategy in a racquet sport

The visual search characteristics of 15 expert and 16 novice badminton players were recorded as they performed a film test designed to assess their anticipatory cue usage. Experts were found, from the film task, to be able to pick up earlier advance information than novices and this appeared to be related to their reliance upon the arm, in addition to the racquet, as a source of anticipatory information. These differemces in information-extraction, however, were not matched by differences in visual search characteristics with the location, duration and sequence of the novices' fixations on the film display being indistinguishable from those of the experts. It is concluded therefore that the major source of expertise-related differences in sport perception is not the visual search (or reception) strategy per se but rather the use to which the received information is subsequently put. Some experimental and practical implications of the observed discrepancy between visual orientation and information-extraction are considered and the normal search strategy adopted in badminton by both expert and novice players is described in some detail.     

The effects of natural category size on memory for episodic encodings

Previous findings indicate that natural category size affects cued recall but not recognition performance. Words that define or belong to larger categories are not as likely to be recalled in the presence of an extralist cue. However, category size has no effect on recognition in the presence of the target as the cue. Theoretically, this difference could be due to inherent differences between these tasks, to the use of different types of test cues, or to differences in the nature of the required responses (naming compared with “yes/no”decisions). Three experiments indicated that none of these factors is a sole determinant. Natural category size effects were found in cued-recall and recognition tasks, with extralist and target cues and regardless of the required response. The critical factor is whether the testing conditions require or encourage subjects to search the category defined by the cue. With the initiation of such a search, information represented in semantic memory is likely to influence memory for episodic information.     

The basis of the 3/4 view advantage in face recognition

Three-quarter views of faces promote better recognition memory for previously unfamiliar faces than do full-face views. This paper reports experiments which examine the possible basis of the effect, and, in particular, examine whether the effect reflects some ‘canonical’ role for the 3/4 view of a face. Experiment 1 showed no advantage of 3/4 views over full-face views when the task was to decide whether or not each of a series of faces was that of a highly familiar colleague. In Experiment 2 a sequential matching task was used, where subjects had to respond positively if both members of a pair of faces were of the same person. When the faces used were highly familiar to the subjects, there was no evidence of an advantage for a 3/4 view in the matching task. Three-quarter views and full-face views led to equivalent performance, though profiles produced decrements in performance. When the same faces were shown to subjects who were unfamiliar with the faces, 3/4 views did lead to increased speeds in same trials, compared with full-face, though profiles again proved difficult. Thus a 3/4 view advantage appeared only where the faces were unfamiliar, and the task had to be performed at the level of visual matching. It appears that the 3/4 view advantage may be obtained only when the task involves explicit matching between test views and remembered target photographs, rather than reflecting any more fundamental properties of the representations used to recognize highly familiar faces.     

Clinical approaches to the near-death experiencer

The literature on near-death experiences (NDEs) and their aftereffects has focused on the positive personality transformations and spiritual development that often follow an NDE, while it has neglected the emotional and interpersonal problems sometimes precipitated by the experience. We report general guidelines and specific interventions, developed at an interdisciplinary conference, to assist NDErs in coping with psychological difficulties following their experiences.This report was based on a conference on Clinical Approaches to the Near-Death Experience, sponsored by the International Association for Near-Death Studies, February 5–9, 1984, in Pembroke Pines, FL, and funded in part by a grant from the Institute of Noetic Sciences. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the other participants in that conference: Patricia Bahr, Boyce Batey, Sharon Batey, Nancy Bush, Kimberly Clark, M.S.W., Diane Corcoran, R.N., Ph.D., Elaine Durham, Linda Fleishman, Charles Flynn, Ph.D., Margaret Huddleston, Joan Kaye, Esther Knecht, Carolyn Lewis-Stone, M.S.W., Jean Marr, Ph.D., John McDonagh, Ph.D., Anne-Marie Meagher, M.D., John Migliaccio, M.Ed., Judith Miller, Ph.D., Raymond Moody, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., Leslee Morabito, Annalee Oaks, R.N., M.A., Ruth Orner, Ph.D., Carol Parrish-Harra, Madelaine Podurgiel, R.N., Ph.D., Laurie Schwartz, Joyce Strom-Paikin, R.N., M.S., Robert Sullivan, Nina Thornburg, M.S.N., Israel Topel, M.D., and Kate Wyatt, Ph.D.     

Ethics as conversation: The crucible of family practice

Medical ethical thought, imbued with the idealism of traditional medicine, has always grappled with the problem of translating abstract principles into actions that do not violate the sensibilities of the patient or the physician. The problem of translation is minimal for the family physician engaged in routine conversations with patients and their family members. This “conversation” — staying with details, maintaining the union of values and facts, reflecting without detaching or distancing — suggests a model of ethical reasoning and problem-solving that warrants serious attention.