Sensory modality and the word-frequency effect

Two experiments were conducted to examine whether the word-frequency effect in recognition memory is primarily a modality-dependent phenomenon. In the first experiment, the presentation modality of a target word was varied orthogonally during the input of the test phases. In the second, the subjects were forced to process each input word at the letter-byo letter level, thus minimizing the orthographical differences between the high- and low-frequency words. The word-frequency effect was found in every experimental condition and should be considered a modality-independent phenomenon. A semantically based interpretation of this effect was proposed.     

Matrix derivatives with chain rule and rules for simple,Hadamard, and Kronecker products

The differential calculus for scalars is used to develop theorems for a calculus of functions of matrices. No appeal to scalar notation is necessary in the resulting calculus, so that the given chain and matrix product rules have wide applicability to matrix theory and models. The chain and product rules of scalar calculus become a special case of the matrix rules. The methods are illustrated by application to a generalized stochastic process model potentially relevant to long- and short-term memory.     

Completely nonmetric multidimensional scaling

Most of the distance models underlying multidimensional scaling assume that if a stimulus y is between the stimuli x and z on each dimension, then x and z should be the farthest apart of the three stimuli. An iterative algorithm is described that uses only this betweenness prediction to infer the ordering of a set of stimuli on each of one or two dimensions. Applied to previously published semantic similarity data, this algorithm produced two-dimensional configurations that were similar in appearance to Euclidean configurations but generally involved fewer violations of the betweenness prediction.     

Debunking a stereotype: The female medical student

The combined research of Horner (1972) and Monahan, Kuhn, and Shaver (1974) has demonstrated the existence of a stereotype of the female medical student as sex-role deviant and disinterested in sex. The present study examined the validity of this stereotype. Male and female medical students' scores on two psychometric measures were compared with the male and female college norms. The stereotype was not supported. Female medical students demonstrated no greater sex-role deviance than did their male counterparts. Furthermore, only male medical students indicated significantly less heterosexual interest than their same-sex norm.The authors wish to thank Dr. David G. Fish, who was involved in the original data collection. Support for the analyses of these data was obtained from Grant Number 607-1034-21 and from a Career Scientist Award, Number 607-1001-22, to the Junior Author.     

Young adults' perceptions of social sex roles across the life span

Fifty male and 50 female undergraduates rated 10 age-sex targets (Boy, Girl, Adolescent Boy, Adolescent Girl, Young Man, Young Woman, Middle-aged Man, Middle-Aged Woman, Old Man and Old Woman) on 12 semantic differential scales. Compared with female targets, male targets were rated higher on potency and activity scales and lower on evaluative scales. Semantic distance between male and female targets showed a curvilinear relationship with target age. Results suggested that young adult subjects perceive that sex-role differences first increase and then decrease across the life span.An earlier version of this article was presented at the convention of the Western Psychological Association in Los Angeles, California, April 1976.     

Parameters for vowel substitutions in Broca''s aphasia

Most phonological investigations of aphasic speech have focused on consonants. In this study, the vowel substitutions of five English-speaking Broca's aphasics were investigated with respect to several major explanatory hypotheses. An important possible motivating factor for aphasic substitutions, phonological environment, is an unlikely origin for these errors, since most substitutions occur along the paradigmatic axis. Another prominent hypothesis, markedness, also has no predictive power for the data of this sample. However, an analysis of the five Chomsky and Halle (1968, (The Sound Pattern of English), New York: Harper and Row) vowel features indicates that the two features for vowel height are selectively impaired: There is a strong tendency for lower vowels to replace higher targets. Moreover, the substitution sounds tend to be close to their target sounds along the height axis. Four possible hypotheses are advanced to account for this consistent lowering tendency.     

“Impossible figures” and interpretations of polyhedral figures

The concept “impossible figure” is analyzed by formalizing the interpretations of a polyhedral figure by an observer, and defining several types of inconsistency in such interpretations. Tests for these inconsistencies are developed using simple graph theory, and a sufficient condition is established for the feasibility of an interpretation. Finally, techniques are derived for the automatic construction of usual or unusual multibar figures.