Contextually relevant aspects of meaning

A series of six experiments investigated whether inferences about contextually relevant aspects of meaning were encoded into memory during reading. In all the experiments, subjects studied short paragraphs. Then, test sentences were presented that expressed relevant aspects of meaning that had not been explicitly stated in the paragraphs. For example, for a paragraph about searching for the correct color to paint a picture of a tomato, a relevant aspect of meaning would be that tomatoes are red. The test sentences were presented either immediately following the relevant paragraph or after a delay. With immediate testing, it was argued that the facilitation obtained in verification latency could result from processes occurring either when the context was read or when the test sentence was verified. With delayed testing, evidence was found to support the hypothesis that contextually relevant aspects of meaning are incorporated into the memory representation of the paragraph, but such evidence was obtained only when the retrieval environment encouraged the use of newly learned information in the decision process on the test sentence.     

A cost-benefit analysis of demand for food.

Laboratory studies of consumer demand theory require assumptions regarding the definition of price in the absence of a medium of exchange (money). In this study we test the proposition that the fundamental dimension of price is a cost-benefit ratio expressed as the effort expended per unit of food value consumed. Using rats as subjects, we tested the generality of this "unit price" concept by varying four dimensions of price: fixed-ratio schedule, number of food pellets per fixed-ratio completion, probability of reinforcement, and response lever weight or effort. Two levels of the last three factors were combined in a 2 x 2 x 2 design giving eight groups. Each group was studied under a series of six FR schedules. Using the nominal values of all factors to determine unit price, we found that grams of food consumed plotted as a function of unit price followed a single demand curve. Similarly, total work output (responses x effort) conformed to a single function when plotted in terms of unit price. These observations provided a template for interpreting the effects of biological factors, such as brain lesions or drugs, that might alter the cost-benefit ratio.     

Effects of visual aids on acquisition of selected tennis skills

The study compared the effects of supplemental visual aids on the acquisition of selected tennis skills. The forehand and backhand drive placement tests of the Hewitt Tennis Achievement Test were used to pretest, midtest, and posttest 55 subjects who were assigned to one of three treatments: control (instructor's verbal feedback only), videotaped replay viewing (with instructor's feedback), and loop-film viewing (modeling, with instructor's feedback). Each received 1200 min. of instruction. There were no statistically significant differences among groups; however, empirical evidence suggested that the use of videotaped replay and loop-film technique has merit and might be given consideration for use in instructional settings.     

Psychophysiology of analysis of connotative decodification: the role of thermic and somesthetic systems in decodification of chromatic stimuli

We hypothesized that in the decodification of connotative aspects of visual chromatic stimuli the periphery of the body plays an important role. In particular we hypothesized that the decodification process of so called "warm" and "cold" colours is related to a real modification of the temperature of the body which is the basis of the "subjective feeling" and of the attribution of the "emotional meaning" to the stimulus. So we have measured the temperature of the body of 36 female psychology students while they were looking at a luminous screen through spectacles in which filters (coloured lenses) of different colours were placed. Analysis indicated that during the perception of so called "warm" colours a statistically significant increase in the temperature of the body appeared. We observed an enhancement of temperature on the left side of the body during the perception with red and yellow filters and a small increase in temperature on the right side of the body with orange and yellow filters. In the discussion of the results we considered also the role of the cerebral dominance in decodification process of the connotative components of stimuli.     

Relation between musical aptitude and intelligence among mentally retarded, advantaged, and disadvantaged subjects

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in scores of 59 mentally retarded adults (mild, moderate, severe, or profound), 133 advantaged, and 130 disadvantaged (low income) children in Grades 1, 2, 3 on the Primary Measures of Music Audiation. Test-retest reliabilities for the Tonal and Rhythm subtests were .81 and .86, respectively, for the retarded group. Analysis of variance indicated that the mildly retarded children performed significantly better than other groups of retarded children on these two tests. 2 x 3 analyses of variance indicated that third graders from both advantaged and disadvantaged groups performed significantly better than the first or second graders on both subtests and that advantaged children performed significantly better than the disadvantaged. However, disadvantaged children made greater gains, especially for third graders, than the advantaged.     

Self-esteem of adolescent girls as related to weight

The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was administered to 550 14- and 16-yr.-old (+/- 6 mo.) girls. Self-esteem scores were categorized by weight and weight by height. Scores on the Quetelet Index for obesity were correlated with self-esteem scores. Mean self-esteem of the low- and middle-weight by height group was significantly higher than the mean of the high-weight by height group. In analyzing weight alone, the self-esteem of the middle-weight group was significantly higher than the self-esteem of the high-weight group. The correlation of the obesity index and self-esteem indicated that as weight increased self-esteem decreased.