The design and operation of an improved olfactometer for behavioral and physiological investigation1

An improved olfactometer is described, and its range of application for the study of the olfaction in man is discussed. The apparatus is based on air dilution; an odorant is diluted in a constant-flowing stream of air. The odor-containing air flows to S, who is seated in an enclosed partition with his head in a Plexiglas hood. A visual signal system allows communication between E and S. Precision flowmeters, solenoid valves, one-way floats, and an automated control system permit E to select rapidly a large range of stimuli, stimulus concentrations, and trial lengths. The apparatus has been used in a variety of situations ranging from absolute threshold detection to adaptation and recovery.     

Interference in memory for multiple contexts

Remembering that an item occurred in several different lists is formulated here in terms of retrieval of corresponding list tags associated to the item. Therefore, associative interference should operate upon remembering the several list contexts in which an item appeared. Experimental Ss studied four (or five) overlapping lists of 16 words, sampled from a master set of 32 words, with a given word exemplifying one of the 2 4 (or 2s 5 ) possible sequences of appearances and nonappearances over the four (or five) lists. Later Ss rated from memory for each word and for each list whether that word had occurred in that list. After correcting for interlist generalization effects, indices of discriminative memory revealed strong proactive interference and weaker retroactive interference. Discriminative memory that an item occurred in a given list was poorer the more prior or more subsequent lists in which that item had also occurred. Thus, list differentiation appears explicable in terms of item-specific associative interference.     

The effect of memory load on the right ear advantage in dichotic listening

The right ear advantage (REA) observed in dichotic tests was further investigated to examine the effects of memory load on the task. Memory load was operationally defined as the duration of time wherein subjects were asked to retain the stimuli, with no rehearsal, prior to recall. The delay periods interpolated between dichotic stimulation and recall were: no delay, 5, 10, and 15 sec delay. There was a significant REA in the no delay condition. The conditions with interpolated delay periods showed a substantial loss in overall accuracy, and at 15 sec delay showed a strong REA. The results offer suggestive evidence for a lateralized memory mechanism for storing speech sounds.     

Children's component selection with varying degrees of training

With the component selection measure developed by Hale and Morgan (1973), children's use of selective attention was assessed at six levels of learning, ranging from undertraining to overtraining, and this function was examined at each of ages 4, 8, and 12. It was found that, as the children learned the task, they maintained a relatively wide focus of attention, acquiring information about both features of the stimuli, color and shape. Thus, contrary to the model under investigation, the children did not exercise a high degree of selectivity as they approached mastery of the task; nor did overtraining produce the expected “broadening” of attention, as the children acquired little stimulus information beyond the point at which criterion had been reached. The data were interpreted to be more consistent with a model that assumes the bulk of stimulus learning to occur prior to task mastery.     

Distance judgments under different size-information conditions

Seventy-two Ss judged the absolute distance of a target presented without distance cues other than retinal size and assumed size. The method by which E communicated information about the size of a 3-in. target had a significant effect on the magnitude of the discrepancy between judged distance and the perceived distance required by the size-distance invariance hypothesis. In order of increasing effectiveness in producing distance judgments meeting invariance requirements were: size information in the form of verbally communicated metric units, size information communicated by labeling the target with the name of a familiar object, and size information in the form of a visual representation.     

Rewriting Death and Burial in Early-Modern Scotland

In early-modern Scotland various religious writings addressed dying, death, burial, or funerals. The intention was to further the aims of the Scottish reformers to correct what they perceived to be superstition or idolatry, and to align the burial service explicitly to the Reformed ideal. This was not straightforward, however, and in the late-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries many writings reaffirmed the new forms of ministry to the dying and burial. Attempts were also made to educate the population directly, through the production of works in the ars moriendi tradition, although considered from a Reformed Protestant perspective. Both genres were influenced by external material, particularly from England, but also from Geneva. Finally, the difficulties of the reform are highlighted in the fact that in the seventeenth century several funeral sermons were printed in violation of prohibitions. This article engages with the publications employed in Scotland on the reform of death rites, burial, and funerals, and highlights the continuing process in the seventeenth century.     

Reflections on a Community Psychology Setting and the Future of the Field

The 50th anniversary of the Swampscott Conference offers an opportunity to reflect on a community psychology setting, The Consultation Center at Yale, that was formed in response to the 1963 Community Mental Health Act and the 1965 Swampscott Conference. The Center has flourished as a community psychology setting for practice, research, and training for 39 of the 50 years since Swampscott. Its creation and existence over this period offers an opportunity for reflection on the types of settings needed to sustain the field into the future.     

A fertile matrix: the birth of the Forensic Psychotherapy Society

This paper traces some aspects of the fertile matrix within which, over many years, the application of a psychoanalytic perspective to clinical work with the most severely mentally ill, difficult and at times frightening patients in secure and community settings has evolved and now led to the recent inauguration of the Forensic Psychotherapy Society (FPS), a new Member Institution of the British Psychoanalytic Council. The Society provides both a framework for a national, multidisciplinary professional training in psychodynamic forensic psychotherapy and the potential launching pad for an active post-qualification organisation supporting CPD and all other forms of professional development. The particular contributions to the birth of the FPS of the Forensic Psychotherapy Department at West London Mental Health NHS Trust, partly because we know it best but also because it is part of the largest forensic psychiatric service in the United Kingdom, are described.