Voluntary and reflexive eye movements to illusory lengths

Considerable debate surrounds the extent and manner that motor control is, like perception, susceptible to visual illusions. Using the Brentano version of the Müller-Lyer illusion, we measured the accuracy of voluntary and reflexive eye movements to the endpoints of equal length line segments that appeared different (Experiment 1) and different length line segments that appeared equal (Experiment 3). Voluntary and reflexive saccades were both influenced by the illusion, but the former were more strongly biased and closer to the subjective percept. Experiment 2 demonstrated that these data were the results of the illusion and not centre-of-gravity effects. The representations underlying perception and action interact and this interaction produces biases for actions, particularly voluntary actions.     

Linear Position Preference Habits of Monkeys

While novelty is well established as a motivational factor in children's preferences, the methodology with which the effect is demonstrated seems poorly equipped to deal with the issue of the strength of novelty, since choices alternatives have frequently been limited to items of comparable base attractiveness. Data, drawn from 216 first graders, are reported for a procedure in which stimulus unattractiveness was pitted against novelty to test the capacity of this variable to sway Ss' choices in the presence of resistance. Consistent with previous findings, it is shown that roughly 80% of preschoolers chose a novel item rather than a familiar one when the alternatives were comparably desirable except for the element of novelty. However, when a difference in base attractiveness favored the familiar item, novelty choice dropped sharply. Problems of specification of the strength of novelty and interpretation of observed levels of novelty preference are discussed in terms of the methodology of choice research with children. The motivational strength of novelty for children is questioned.     

On nonindexical contextualism

MacFarlane distinguishes “context sensitivity” from “indexicality,” and argues that “nonindexical contextualism” has significant advantages over the standard indexical form. MacFarlane’s substantive thesis is that the extension of an expression may depend on an epistemic standard variable even though its content does not. Focusing on ‘knows,’ I will argue against the possibility of extension dependence without content dependence when factors such as meaning, time, and world are held constant, and show that MacFarlane’s nonindexical contextualism provides no advantages over indexical contextualism. The discussion will shed light on the definition of indexicals as well as the meaning of ‘knows,’ and highlight important constraints on the way meaning can be represented in semantics.     

A Review of “Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy With Couples and Families: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians” by Frank M. Dattilio

Abstract

Grandparents in family therapy: a clinical research study, by berit ingersoll-dayton&;margaret b. neal, 1991, 40, 264-271.

Polyincestuous families,by Kathleen Coulborn Faller, 1991, 6(3), 310-322

Accessing children's perceptions of their family: Circular questioning revisited,by Mark 1. Benson, Toni Schindler-Zimmerman,&;Doris Martin, 1991,17(4), 363-372

What is transmitted in the intergenerational transmission of violence?by Sharon Moore Alexander&;Elmore R. Alexander 111, 1991, 53, 657-668

Trends in corporate family-supportive policies,by Ellerz Galinsky, Diane Hughes,&;Judy David, 1990, 15, 75-94     

The perception of time in scale model environments

It has been claimed that when subjects observe differently-scaled model environments their experience of temporal duration is compressed relative to standard clock time in the same proportion as the scale of the model being observed. A series of experiments is reported in which subjects made judgements of duration while observing model environments of different scale. In each experiment, two similar model environments of different scale were presented. Three different kinds of model were used: scale model railways, sitting-room models, and abstract nonrepresentional models. Despite considerable individual variability, significant effects were obtained. Smaller scale was, up to a point, related to a compression of subjective time relative to clock time, although the effect was nowhere near as great as that previously reported. Also, when scale was reduced beyond a certain point the effect on judgements of duration was eliminated, or even reversed. It is suggested that the effect of time compression is related to differences in the density of the information to be processed in environments of different scale, and that there may be an optimum value for information density related both to the scale and to the type of environment.     

Masked orthographic priming: The effect of prime-target legibility

The occurrence of extensive orthographic form-priming may provide reasons for preferring connectionist-type models over table-lookup (algorithmic) ones. Short-term masked priming procedures, using either tachistoscopic identification or lexical decision as the response measure, have shown consistent form-priming effects. Unfortunately, different results emerge depending on the procedure used. With the identification procedure, almost any orthographic overlap between prime and target is sufficient for priming to occur, but with the lexical decision procedure, form priming effects are much more limited in scope. The experiments reported here show that accuracy in the masked identification paradigm is influenced by the legibility of the target stimulus when superimposed on an image of the prime, even though there is no orthographic overlap between the two stimuli. Yet for the lexical decision version of the masked priming procedure there is no difference in latency or error rate as a function of legibility. It is further shown that the presence or absence of the legibility effect has little to do with the nature of the task required of the subject, but is instead a function of the duration of the target--i.e. the legibility effect depends on having the prime and the target both displayed rapidly, and both masked. Failing to take legibility effects into account may lead to problems in interpreting the exact extent of form-priming effects in studies that use the identification procedure.