Temporal precision of coding as a basic factor of laterality effects in the retention of verbal auditory stimuli.

It is proposed that the encoding of temporal or sequential information is of crucial importance for the explanation of the laterality effect. Evidence favoring this hypothesis is provided by reanalysing the experiment recently published by Mainka and Hörmann (1971). These investigators instructed Ss in a dichotic listening experiment to attend exclusively to material presented either to the right or the left ear. In the present paper free recall performance for words presented to the right and to the left ear was analysed separately with respect to the correspondence between the sequence of presentation and that of recall. It was found that the sequence of presentation and the sequence of recall correspond to a greater extent in the case of right ear material.It is suggested that the well-known laterality effect can be accounted for by assuming differences in the temporal precision of encoding the items presented to the right and left side. This interpretation is substantiated by a review of the research literature. It was assumed that this different accuracy in encoding the sequential aspects of a series of verbal items should result in a different speed in the retrieval of this series. This expectation was confirmed by the data of the experiment of Mainka and Hörmann. Thus, the encoding of temporal or sequential information is supposed to be effected primarily by the left hemisphere.     

Structural analysis of covariance and correlation matrices

A general approach to the analysis of covariance structures is considered, in which the variances and covariances or correlations of the observed variables are directly expressed in terms of the parameters of interest. The statistical problems of identification, estimation and testing of such covariance or correlation structures are discussed.Several different types of covariance structures are considered as special cases of the general model. These include models for sets of congeneric tests, models for confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis, models for estimation of variance and covariance components, regression models with measurement errors, path analysis models, simplex and circumplex models. Many of the different types of covariance structures are illustrated by means of real data.1978 Psychometric Society Presidential Address.This research has been supported by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation under the project entitledStructural Equation Models in the Social Sciences, Karl G. Jöreskog, project director.     

Analyse der Intelligenzstruktur bei männlichen Gymnasiasten der Klassen 6–9 (Untersekunda—Oberprima)

Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Arbeit untersuchte die Anwendbarkeit des Intelligenz-Struktur-Test (IST) von Amthauer auf die Diagnostik der Schulbegabung. Die in der Arbeit verwerteten Daten (IST, Four-Picture-Test von van Lennep und Schulnoten) wurden an 519 männlichen Gymnasiasten der Klassen 6–9 (Untersekunda bis Oberprima) erhoben. Zunächst wurde geprüft, ob sich die Hypothese Amthauers, die besagt, daß für die einzelnen Berufe optimale Intelligenzxtrukturen zu ermitteln sind, die sich in typischen IST-Profilverläufen zeigen, auch auf den Bereich der Schule und die dort angenommenen Spezialbegabungen für die einzelnen Fächer übertragen und dort verifizieren läßt. ES erwies sich (Extremgruppenvergleich und Faktorenanalyse), daß dies nicht mit der nötigen Sicherheit möglich ist. Die individuelle Vielfalt der Testergebnisse verwischt die Gruppenunterschiede. Es wurde der Versuch unternommen, eine theoretische Begründung dafür abzuleiten.Weiter wurde versucht, mittels zweckmäßiger Untertestauswahl undgewichtung eine Kurzform des IST zur treffsicheren und ökonomischeren Vorhersage des allgemeinen Schulerfolges zu entwickeln. Die Validitöt ließ sich nicht bedeutsam steigern, hingegen konnte die Testzeit auf die Hölfte reduziert werden. Die notwendigen Daten zur Anwendung Dieser Kurzbatterie Anwendung dieser Kurzbatterie wurden mitgeteilt.Es wurde gezeigt, daß sich größere Diskrepanzen zwischen realer und vorhergesagter Schulleistung (anhand der Kurzbatterie berechnet) in quantitativen Merkmalen des Four-Picture-Test von van Lennep widerspiegeln. Diese Differenzen sind nicht nur durch Unsicherheiten der Merkmalserfassung erklärbar.Schließlich wurde geprüft, ob sprachlich Begabte gegenüber mathemathisch-naturwissenschaftlich Begabten im IST-Gesamtergebnis benachteiligt sind. Es zeigte sich, daß dies nicht der Fall ist, daß hingegen der IST bezüglich seines Gesamtergebnisses eine engere Beziehung zu mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Leistungen hat als zu sprachlichen.     

Spontaneous Imitation of Fundamental Frequency and Speech Rate by Nonstutterers and Stutterers

Speech can be described either in terms of acoustics, as a perceptual outcome, or as a motor event. Central to theories of speech perception and production is an attempt to describe how these aspects of speech are interrelated. The present experiment investigated how the nonstutterers' and stutterers' reproductions of acoustically presented interrogative sentences were influenced by experimental variations of intonation (sentence initial vs. sentence final) and speech rate (normal vs. time compressed). We studied the effects of these stimulus manipulations on the speech rate and fundamental frequency (F₀ ) of 10 adult German-speaking nonstutterers and seven stutterers. Experimental manipulations of intonation and speech rate significantly influenced the syllable duration and speech rate of both normal speakers and stutterers. The fundamental frequency of the subjects' responses were also significantly influenced by the intonation of the stimulus. But the stutterers' increase in F₀ for stressed syllables was generally less pronounced than that of nonstutterers. These results imply that (a) the subjects not only extract linguistic meaning from intonation but that they also store extragrammatical speech rate information, and (b) the speakers adopt these speech rate variations for their own productions. Generally, these results demonstrate that speech perception is not limited to extracting linguistically invariant information. The results show that speakers actively generate their own prosody and that this generative process is influenced by the prosodic structure of another speaker's antecedent speech. The implications of these results for theories of speech production are discussed.     

Disagreement about logic from a pluralist perspective

Philosophical Studies - Logical pluralism is commonly described as the view that there is more than one correct logic. It has been claimed that, in order for that view to be interesting, there has...     

Distinctness of perceived three-dimensional form induced by modulated illumination: Effects of certain display and modulation conditions

The present study concerns the distinctness of the 3-D shape-induced on flat displays by spacemodulated illumination (“shape from shading”). The displays that we used varied in structure, hue contrast, lightness contrast, and in the number of reflectance edges present. The modulations of the illumination were a square-wave grating, a gradual modulation (a blurred grating), and an “O’Brien modulation,” which combines an edge and a gradient. The displays were compared, using the paired comparison method, as to the distinctness of the perceived 3-D form. The results showed that the structure and chromatic color of the display were important factors facilitating the distinctness of the induced 3-D shape under all the modulation conditions. The results are discussed in relation to the “vector model” for color constancy, proposed in earlier papers.     

Eating-related problems among 13-15 year old Swedish adolescents: Frequency and stability over a one-year period

Viborg, N., Wångby‐Lundh, M., Lundh, L.‐G. & Johnsson P. (2012). Eating‐related problems among 13‐15 year old Swedish adolescents: Frequency and stability over a one‐year period. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 401–406. The frequency of eating‐related problems in young adolescents, and their stability over a one‐year period, was studied by the RiBED‐8 (Risk Behaviours related to Eating Disorders, 8 items) in a community sample of 13–15 year old adolescents who took part in a prospective study with a 2‐wave longitudinal design. The RiBED‐8 was found to have good reliability and construct validity among the girls, although it did not show equally convincing psychometric properties among boys. With a cut‐off of at least three critical answers on the RiBED‐8, 28.5–31.0% of the girls were seen as risk cases for the development of eating disorder. Of those girls who were risk cases at Time 1, a majority (68.8%) remained so at Time 2; of those girls who were not risk cases at Time 1, 16.1% became risk cases at Time 2. It is suggested that the RiBED‐8 is a brief, easily administered instrument that may be potentially useful in screening for eating‐related problems among girls.     

In-group ratings are affected by who asks and how: interactive effects of experimenter group-membership and response format

In three experiments, participants rated how well a number of adjectives described their in-group (e.g. kind-hearted, helpful, intelligent, efficient, etc.). In Experiment 1, females were found to rate their ingroup (females) more favorably when reporting verbally to female (rather than male) experimenters. This finding was further explored in two subsequent experiments where response format (written vs. verbal) was also manipulated. Both experiments revealed an interaction such that ethnic Swedes rated their in-group (Swedes) the most favorably when reporting verbally to an in-group experimenter and the least favorably when reporting verbally to a Middle Eastern experimenter. Results are discussed in relation to correction and contextual activation of social norms.