The Haskins Laboratories’ pulse code modulation (PCM) system

The pulse code modulation (PCM) method of digitizing analog signals has become a standard both in digital audio and in speech research, the focus of this paper. The solutions to some problems encountered in earlier systems at Haskins Laboratories are outlined, along with general properties of A/D conversion. Specialized features of the current Haskins Laboratories system, which has also been installed at more than a dozen other laboratories, are also detailed: the Nyquist filter response, the high-frequency preemphasis filter characteristics, the dynamic range, the timing resolution for single- and (synchronized) dual-channel signals, and the form of the digitized speech files (header information, data, and label structure). While the solutions adopted in this system are not intended to be considered a standard, the design principles involved are of interest to users and creators of other PCM systems.     

The black male urban barbershop as a sex-role socialization setting

Two hundred-eighty participants-as-observer hours and eight hours of informal interviewers with “informants” during a two-month period in summer 1983 were data sources in an analysis of a Black male urban barbershop in a midwestern city. The study focused on the barbershop as a sex-role socialization setting in which adult Black males actively negotiate masculinity while Black male youth passively negotiate masculinity and in all likelihood are socialized to become active negotiators. Content analyses of taped barbershop sessions and the researcher's written reports of the session revealed that the barbershop studied perpetuates sex-role stereotypes, encourages sexist attitudes toward women, and, in general, is a sex-role socialization setting that promotes sex-role inequality.     

A Qualitative Exploration of Sleep Habits and Intervention Needs Among Youth with Cystic Fibrosis

Evidence suggests that individuals with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) experience difficulties with sleep architecture and hygiene, although research is limited. There are currently no behavioral sleep interventions for youth with CF. The current study used qualitative methods to understand sleep needs and concerns among youth with CF, as well as to obtain feedback about potentially useful behavioral sleep intervention strategies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with youth with CF between the ages of 11–17 and their parents. Themes were extracted from the data and will be used to inform the development of a brief behavioral sleep intervention for youth with CF. Youth and their parents described several CF-specific sleep concerns, often related to respiratory symptoms, and a number of strategies used to manage these concerns. They also described concerns that apply to the general population, including pervasive use of technology around bedtime. Many evidence-based behavioral sleep intervention strategies are acceptable to youth with CF, although modifications are appropriate to reduce time burden and address CF-specific needs. Youth with CF experience a number of disease-specific and more generalized sleep concerns which are likely amenable to behavioral intervention. Results from this study will be used to inform the development of a brief behavioral sleep intervention for youth with CF.

     

American-Japanese cultural differences in judgements of emotional expressions of different intensities

Although research has generated a wealth of information on cultural influences on emotion judgements, the information we have to date is limited in several ways. This study extends this literature in two ways, first by obtaining judgements from people in two cultures of expressions portrayed at different intensity levels, and second by incorporating individual level measures of culture to examine their contribution to observed differences. When judging emotion categories in low intensity expressions, American and Japanese judges see the emotion intended at above-chance rates, albeit lower than when judging high intensity faces. Also, American and Japanese intensity ratings of external displays and internal experiences differ dramatically for low intensity expressions compared to high intensity faces. Finally, the two cultural dimensions measured in this study—individualism versus collectivism (IC) and status differentiation (SD)—accounted for almost all of the variance in the observed differences. These findings are discussed in terms of their underlying possible mechanisms, and future research possibilities.     

The influence of linguistic labels on source‐monitoring decisions

Three studies explored the extent to which people use various object features, including linguistic label, shape, and category membership, to make decisions about the source of their memories. To isolate the influence of each feature, we used items that were related in the following four ways: as synonyms, as similar in shape and category membership, as homographs, or as unrelated. Participants read sentences and either saw or imagined a picture of the critical word's referent. Experiment 1 showed that participants committed more source errors for synonyms (e.g., rabbit and bunny) than for objects that were conceptually and perceptually similar (e.g., doughnut and bagel), which produced more errors than unrelated items. However, there was no effect of label, as people did not have more errors for homographs (e.g., baseball bat and flying bat) than unrelated items. In Experiment 2, presenting the critical word at study was not sufficient to lead people to use an item's label to make source decisions. However, Experiment 3 showed more source errors for homographs than unrelated pairs when semantic context was minimised at study, suggesting that people can use linguistic labels to make source decisions when other information is unavailable.