Pure-tone perception and ear advantages in dichotic listening

A same-different matching task was used to investigate how subjects perceived a dichotic pair of pure tones. Pairs of stimulus tones in four frequency ranges (center frequencies of 400–1,700 Hz), with separations between 40 and 400 Hzt were tested. Five types of test tones were matched to the stimulus pair: the stimulus pair presented again (control) or crossed over (same tones, different ears), the geometric mean of the two tones, or a binaural tone of the low or high tone of the pair. In the lowest frequency range and the highest with maximum separation, the crossed-over test tones were perceived as different from the same stimulus tones. A bias for perceiving the higher tone of a pair was evident in the frequency ranges with separations of 40-200 Hz. In the lowest frequency range, the bias was for perceiving the higher tone in the right ear. This restricted ear advantage in the perception of pure tones was not significantly related to the right-ear advantage in dichotic word monitoring.     

Are the spoken durations of rare words longer than those of common words?

The effects of word frequency, word length, and practice were examined in oral productions of subjects reading lists of 25 rare or common monosyllabic words. Articulation and pause durations, their ratio, and total reading durations were derived from recordings of subjects’ speech. Recorded speech was sampled at 10 kHz, and a criterion of eight times the mean noise level was used to classify productions as articulation or pause. Lists of high frequency words were read more quickly than lists of low-frequency words. No differences were observed in the articulation component. Pause duration was greater for rare than for common words. The ratio of pause to articulation varied with length and word type. No differences were found for high-frequency words, but the ratio of five-letter words was significantly greater than that of three- or four-letter rare words. Results were discussed in relation to the nature and locus of the word-frequency effect. Criteria for defining and measuring speech productions were also raised.     

A Description of the Continuum of Eating Disorders: Implications for Intervention and Research

Many authors have proposed the notion of an eating disorder continuum to aid in the understanding of similarities and differences among various types of eating disturbances and disorders. The purpose of this article is to present an eating disorders continuum and to describe groups on the continuum by highlighting differences among the groups on behavioral, cognitive-attitudinal, and self-esteem issues. The relationship of the continuum to the developmental course of eating disorders is discussed. Prevention, early intervention, and treatment programs for various groups on the continuum are presented. Recommendations for future research on the continuum of eating disorders are provided.     

Extradyadic romantic involvement: Moderating effects of sociosexuality and gender

The present study examined whether relationships of self-reported depression and suicidality to gender roles or gender are moderated by the type of stressful life events that individuals experience. The focus was on events in stereotypic male (achievement) versus female (interpersonal) domains. This study of 290 women and 247 men undergraduates employed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Personal Attributes Questionnaire and a measure of recent negative life events. In the presence of high achievement stress, high masculinity was related to low suicidality for men. In the presence of high interpersonal stress, high femininity was related to low self-reported depression for women. These findings were interpreted as consistent with the androgyny model of adjustment. However, independent of gender roles, high interpersonal stress was related to high self-reported depression more strongly among women than among men. Suicidality was related to interpersonal events for women and achievement events for men. These findings were interpreted as consistent with the self-schema model of depression.The authors gratefully acknowledge Jane Karyl and Ann Shields for substantial assistance with data collection and management and Michael L. DeKay for assistance with data analysis. The following individuals assisted with data collection and other phases of the study: Joanne Starek, Robert Wilking, Haur Khar Khaba, Rochelle Dalla, Kristin Iverson, and Michele LeClaire.     

Tri-ethnic alcohol use and religion,family, and gender

Nine different behavioral responses to alcohol by over two hundred ninth-graders in Austin, Texas, were examined in a survey designed to identify the relationship between adolescents' alcohol use, religious affiliation, religiosity, and gender. The relationship between alcohol use and family adaptability was also examined. While religious affiliation was found to be mildly predictive of use, religiosity determined only specific behavior. Gender differences in alcohol use appeared to be narrowing. Family adaptability was the most predictive variable, showing a relationship with six of the nine kinds of alcohol behavior. Future studies of family influences on adolescents' alcohol behavior and alcohol use among females are recommended.     

VISUAL IDENTITY MATCHING AND AUDITORY-VISUAL MATCHING: A PROCEDURAL NOTE

After preliminary computerized training on visual-visual identity matching, a 5-year-old boy with autism (Sam) was given visual-visual and auditory-visual matching-to-sample tests with new stimuli. He did well in matching dictated name samples to 20 pictures, 26 printed upper case letters, and 9 single-digit numbers. In matching the visual stimuli (pictures, letters, or numbers) to themselves, however, he did not perform well. We then increased the number of picture comparisons per trial from two to three. In tests after this three-comparison training, Sam correctly matched on 95% of the original 20-stimulus, four-comparison, identity-matching test trials. He went on to demonstrate accurate identity matching of the numbers, letters, and new pictures. In identity-matching tests on the table top, he performed poorly until the stimulus array was made to resemble the stimulus arrangement on the computer. These findings showed that seemingly small procedural changes can influence performance and demonstrated that successful auditory-visual matching does not guarantee proficiency in visual-visual identity matching.     

Social Comparisons of One's Own With Others' Attitudes Toward Casual and Responsible Sex1

College students perceive their risks for negative outcomes from sexual behavior as lower than that of their peers. We examined whether similar biases would occur when undergraduates rated their own, their close friends', and the typical college student's attitudes regarding casual sex and sexual responsibility. Participants rated their own attitudes relative to all others' as the least permissive and most sexually responsible. Close friends' attitudes were rated as less permissive and more responsible than the average college student's. Finally, individuals with unrestricted sociosexual orientations and men attributed more permissive and less sexually responsible attitudes to both themselves and close friends than did individuals with restricted sociosexual orientations and women. These latter effects were absent when rating the typical college student.     

Pattern of comorbidity among anxious and odd personality disorders: the case of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of comorbidity among obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) and other personality disorders (PDs) in a sample of 400 psychiatric inpatients. PDs were assessed using the Semistructured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders (SCID-II). Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to determine significant comorbidity among OCPD and other axis II disorders. The most elevated odds ratios were found for the cooccurrence of OCPD with cluster A PDs (the "odd" PDs, or paranoid and schizoid PDs). These results are consistent with those of previous studies showing a higher cooccurrence of OCPD with cluster A than with cluster C ("anxious") PDs. In light of these observations, issues associated with the nosologic status of OCPD within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders clustering system remain unsettled.     

Maternal Identity Among Motherless Mothers and Psychological Symptoms in Their Firstborn Children

A variety of detrimental effects are associated with early parental loss. We examined the relationship between childhood maternal loss and maternal identity among 30 motherless mothers and their 26 matched controls, as well as the psychological health of their firstborns. Motherless mothers reported significantly lower maternal identity. However, firstborns of motherless mothers were no more likely to display psychological symptoms than firstborns of comparison mothers. The findings suggest that early maternal loss may not present risk for cross-generational effects.     

Emotional Intelligence and the Ease of Recall Judgment Bias: The Mediating Effect of Private Self-Focused Attention

The present study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and people's tendency to exhibit the ease of recall bias (emanating from the availability heuristic). Results showed that ability to understand emotions, a central element of emotional intelligence, was inversely related to the ease of recall bias, and that this relationship was mediated by participants' private self-focused attention. Implications for theory and practice, as well as limitations, are discussed.