Stimulus encoding selectivity at high degrees of paired-associate learning

Sixty-two Ss learned six CCC trigram-digit pairs by the study-test method; 21 Ss continued the PA acquisition trials to a learning criterion of one errorless trial, while 41 Ss were carded to 300% overlearning or 24 trials, whichever came first. The Ss were then shown individual letters of the trigrams, with position cues provided, and were tested for their ability to provide the digit and produce the additional letters. Digit recall was much better to initial letters than to those in the second or third positions of the trigrams; with oveflearning, digit recall improved to the initial letters but not to letters in second and third positions. Production of additional letters of the trigrams was not appreciably related to either cue position or degree of PA learning. There was some evidence ofincreased selectivity with higher degrees of PA learning.     

Evidence for the role of post-retinal processes in simultaneous contrast

Summary Evidence is presented that the degree of simultaneous contrast produced by the bisecting line in the Koffka ring is greatly lessened by varying the perceived depth interval between this line and the Koffka figure. The retinal disparity between the line and the figure was varied to produce this effect. The slight lateral displacements of the bisecting line in the monocular images themselves necessary to produce retinal disparity with binocular viewing had no effect on the magnitude of simultaneous contrast. Interpretations based on processes operating at the retinal level such as lateral inhibition level are not supported by this finding. The results are interpreted in terms of the adjacency principle.This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Research Grant No. 00268 to the first author. Thanks are due to Donald Mershon and Walter Gogel for their helpful comments and criticisms of an earlier version of this paper.     

Childhood and adult behavior disorder: Some experimental comparisons

Seventy-six children with diagnoses of behavior disorder were tested with a motor conditional reflex test and a word association test. Essentially no differences were found when test performance was compared with that of 142 normal controls. When the diagnoses were divided into neuroses, adjustment reaction of childhood, and personality disorder, none of these subgroups showed any distinctive difference. Experimental differences between clinically excitatory and inhibitory types could not be established. The Russian reports about abnormal basic Pavlovian parameters could not be confirmed. In adult behavior disorder marked disturbances of functions are found. It is suggested that the worse prognosis in adult neurotic conditions is related to such pathophysiological factors as passive inhibition, weakness of active inhibition, inertness and complex structures with pathological excitation and inertia.     

Childhood and adult schizophrenia: Some clinical and experimental comparisons

The literature does not provide convincing evidence that childhood schizophrenia starting before age 11 represents the same disease process as adult schizophrenia, with regard to clinical symptomatology, genetic background and course of illness, and childhood schizophrenia seldom appears to involve long term schizophrenic deterioration. Our sample of 31 childhood schizophrenics studied with a battery of a motor conditional reflex tests, an autonomic conditioning test and a word association test did not present symptoms comparable to those seen in a group of adult schizophrenics tested with similar procedures. Supported by grant HDO1095 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.     

The identification of structural components of an unknown language

Adult subjects attempted to identify structures (words and constituents) in sentences of a language they did not know. They heard each sentence twice-once with a pause interrupting a structural component and once with a pause separating different structural components. They were asked to choose the version that sounded more natural. An experimental group of subjects who had been previously exposed to a spoken passage in the same language as the test sentences was more successful in identifying structures of the sentences than was the control group with previous exposure to another language. This result was interpreted as demonstrating that language structure may be partially acquired during a brief exposure without reliance on meaning. It was also noted that the experimental group identified constituents more accurately than words. This result suggested that constituents, more than words, function as acquisitional units of language.     

Attitude Similarity,Attraction, and Physical Proximity In a Dynamic Space1

Previous research on physical proximity as an index of attraction based on attitude similarity has been limited to semifixed feature spaces. The present study tested the similarity-proximity relationship in a dynamic space. Female subjects' attraction to a female confederate was manipulated by means of false attitude information. The subjects then briefly interacted with the confederate in a dynamic space. Subjects' spatial behaviors were not directly related to attitude similarity-dissimilarity or to attraction. The implications of these findings for the generality of the similarity-proximity relationship and for research on nonverbal communication are discussed.     

A comparison of Holland's model using constructs measured by two different methods

The relationship was studied between the set of constructs specified by Holland's 1973 theory (viz, Realistic, Intellectual, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) measured by an Adjective List (AL) derived from Holland's theory and the same set of constructs as measured by the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI). The correspondence of the two measures of Holland's model compared the distances between the constructs as measured by the AL and the constructs measured by the VPI in factor space using an adaptation of a model testing procedure reported by Wakefield and Doughtie 1973. The subjects were 174 undergraduates at a state university. The correspondence between the two separate measures of Holland's model was significant (p < .01). These results provide further support of the construct validity of Holland's theory and offer evidence that the relationships hypothesized by the theory are not tied to any one particular method of measurement.     

Black-white differences on the Vocational Preference Inventory

The Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) was administered to black and white undergraduates. The overall VPI profiles of the two groups were significantly different. Seven of the 11 scales of the VPI yielded significant differences between the black students and the white students. The black students scored higher on the Social, Conventional, Enterprising, Self-Control, Status, and Infrequency scales. The white students scored higher on the Masculinity scale.