Selective adaptation with reversible figures: Don’t change that channel

An adaptation-test paradigm was used in two experiments examining processes underlying the perceived reversals of a rotating Necker cube. Adaptation and test cubes were either the same or different with respect to their visual fields of presentation (Experiment 1) or their sizes (Experiment 2). Results of both experiments indicated that, following subjects’ adaptation to a different cube, reversal rate of the test cube did not differ from that obtained without prior adaptation experience. In contrast, reversal rate of the test cube was elevated following adaptation to the same cube. Additional findings of Experiment 1 were that a test cube presented to the same visual field as the adaptation cube yielded a higher reversal rate than did a simultaneously presented cube in the opposite visual field. Also, the reversal rate of one cube was not influenced by the simultaneous presentation of a second cube. Results of both experiments were interpreted in terms of the fatigue and recovery of multiple, largely independent, localized neural channels. Thus, the results tie reversible-figure illusions to other visual phenomena thought to involve similar fatigue processes within localized visual channels (e.g., tilt, motion, and size aftereffects).     

Voluntariness of Association as a Moderator of the Importance of Procedural and Distributive Justice

Tyler (1986) proposed that procedural justice was a more important factor in the evaluation of institutions when an individual's association with same was forced or compelled than when the association was voluntary. Unfortunately, Tyler's induction of a moderator effect was based upon questionable interpretations of data, and no deductive attempt was made to explain the phenomenon in theoretical terms. The present study confirmed the moderator effect of voluntariness of association by examining the patterns of correlations between institutional evaluations and procedural justice under two conditions—for members and non-members of open shop (voluntary association) and agency shop (compelled association) unions. The concept of personal control was used to account for the moderator     

Reading and listening comprehension in Broca's aphasia: Lexical versus syntactical errors

Ten agrammatic Broca's aphasics were presented with a series of four picture plates together with a spoken or written sentence stimulus. All sentence stimuli were of the structure, the + N + is/are + V + ing + the + N. The four pictures on each stimulus plate represented (a) the correct response, (b) a reversal of the stimulus sentence subject and object, (c) a change in the number of the subject of the stimulus sentence, and (d) a change in one of the major lexical items of the stimulus sentence. Subjects selected the correct picture most often. When they erred, they usually selected a subject-object reversal. Number errors were less frequent, and the patients seldom selected a change in major lexical item. This pattern occurred with both written and spoken sentences. These results were interpreted as reflecting the dependence of agrammatic Broca's aphasics on the semantic interpretation of the lexicon for decoding sentences in the face of deficits in syntactical-grammatical interpretation, irrespective of comprehension modality.     

Use of local norms to improve high-point code-type concordance of two short forms of the MMPI

Criticisms of short forms of the MMPI have been based on claims of unsatisfactory high-point code-type concordance rates. The use of local norms has been suggested as a possible solution for these low concordance rates. In this study local norms for three client populations were developed for the MMPI-168 and Faschingbauer's abbreviated MMPI. These local norms did not significantly increase high-point code-type concordance. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research offered.     

A systems-tensorial interpretation of psychomedical concepts

The multidimensional environments providing the stimuli for normal and abnormal human behavior have been characterized by a variety of environmental tensors, the time rates of change of which yield quantitative measures of various aspects of environmental dynamics. A general response tensor is introduced to describe the behavior of living organisms to any desired degree of complexity. Tensor measures of such psychiatric concepts as reactivity, adaptability, responsiveness, instinctiveness and suggestibility are mathematically defined in terms of the response and environment tensors. Based on clinical and experimental observations, postulates are then made regarding the dynamic relationships between the external responses and the internal drives of the self-system at different levels of consciousness. Lemmas and theorems are deduced pertaining to behavioral and environmental interactions in a psychomedical context, and a nonlinear mechanism for stochastically learned behavior patterns is proposed.