Efficient estimation of sensory thresholds

Laboratory computers permit detection and discrimination thresholds to be measured rapidly, efficiently, and accurately. In this paper, the general natures of psychometric functions and of thresholds are reviewed, and various methods for estimating sensory thresholds are summarized. The most efficient method, in principle, using maximum-likelihood threshold estimations, is examined in detail. Four techniques are discussed that minimize the reported problems found with the maximum-likelihood method. A package of FORTRAN subroutines, ML-TEST, which implements the maximum-likelihood method, is described. These subroutines are available on request from the author.     

The Effects of Belief Systems on the Job-Related Satisfaction of Managers and Subordinates

The research reported here examined the effect of personal belief systems of managers and their subordinates on their interrelationships as measured by several job-related satisfaction variables. Results from a sample of 175 manager-subordinate dyads demonstrate that the belief system construct may significantly affect job-related satisfaction as well as the quality and outcomes of manager-subordinate relationships. This research also suggests that socially oriented managers are positively associated with higher levels of subordinate satisfaction.     

Episodic effects on the visual comparison of letters in words

In two experiments, subjects compared the identity of either the first letters of displays or all the letters in displays. Words yielded faster decisions than did pseudowords (pronounceable items derived by changing a vowel in a word) only when entire displays were compared. In a training phase run before the comparison task, subjects had written down either the first letters or entire displays. Relative to items that had not appeared in the training phase, prior experience at writing entire displays facilitatedsame decisions about entire displays and interfered withdifferent decisions about entire displays. Prior experiences did not moderate the processing of first-letter identities. It was concluded that episodic effects arise from the interaction of higher order information underlying lexical encoding. Prelexical processing of letters is not sensitive to episodic effects.