Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) cool sensitivity measured by a signal detection method

Two rhesus monkeys were trained to detect cool stimuli (decrements in skin temperature from the adapted temperature) presented to the palm of the left hand after the skin had been preadapted to a 33°C temperature. The procedure was analogous to the signal detection “yes-no” method used with human observers. Receiver operating characteristic curves were generated by varying the a priori probability of stimulus oecurrence. The proportion of hits and of false alarms increased with increases in the a priori probability of stimulation. The points of isosensitivity of both subjects for cool intensities of 0.3°C, but not at greater intensities, yielded straight lines with slopes of approximately one when plotted on normal-normal coordinates. The values of the d’_s detectability index decreased from 3.52 to 0.75 for one subject and from 2.81 1to 1.28 for the other as the stimulus intensity was decreased from 0.8° to 0.15° cooling from the adapting temperature. Cool thresholds for each subject of 0.19° and 0.12°C were computed from classical psychometric functions when threshold was defined as 50% hits at a 50% probability of stimulus occurrence. These thresholds are comparable to published reports of the cool threshold for the rhesus.     

Further findings on assaultiveness and alcohol use in interpersonal disputes

In a previous study uniform observational data were collected regarding family disputes managed by police officers; those data contradicted views commonly held by social scientists and by police about the roles of assaultiveness and alcohol use in these events. In the present study police officers employed systematic naturalistic observation during their interventions as third parties in disputes between nonfamily members as well as those between family members. Tentative conclusions about assaultiveness, based on the data of both studies, are that it: does not usually precede the arrival of police in such disputes; is associated with interpersonal closeness of the disputants; is associated with poverty rather than race; and is as likely in a middle-class small city as in a poor inner-city area. Tentative conclusions about the use of alcohol in police-managed interpersonal disputes are: that these disputes are not usually influenced by alcohol use; and that assaultiveness is not related to alcohol use in such disputes.     

The fate of old memories

A questionnaire relating to past events, and a well-known faces recognition test, were devised to provide an objective and quantitative assessment of recent and remote memories. Normal subjects aged from 40 to 89 were tested on recall and recognition versions of each test. It was found that performance declined with increasing age for all time periods sampled. No evidence was obtained to support the widely held belief that memory is inversely related to the remoteness of event in older subjects.     

The conflict cycle in families and therapy

Conflict is not an aberration but rather part of the structure of human relationships. It is defined in this paper as consisting of four stages. Once the first stage (the dispute) is triggered, there is a high likelihood that the second (blaming) will occur, and the third (shame, guilt, or denial), and then the fourth (reparation, reconciliation, or retaliation). Three case presentations illustrate the conflict cycle in various clinical and nonclinical situations. The family therapist should be readily able to identify the cycle in clinical situations, and knowledge of it should prove fruitful in identifying pathogenic relating and in planning interventions and their timing.     

Understanding linguistic time sequence and simultaneity: A literature review and some new data

This study investigates the difficulty order in (1) sequence comprehension versus simultaneity comprehension and production, and (2) contribution of semantics, syntax, order of mention, and cognitive (Raven's CPM) and linguistic factors (PPVT) in understanding sequence and simultaneity constructions in Greek, which display similar properties to English sequence and simultaneity constructions. In general, results with kindergartners, first-, second-, and sixth-graders, and graduate school students supported the findings of psycholinguists who claimed that Piaget has specified difficulty order of simultaneity over succession. Performance on simultaneity production tasks was lower then performance on sequence. Performance on simultaneity production tasks was better than performance on simultaneity comprehension and consistently lower than performance on sequence. No consistent order of difficulty between the different construction types of sequence and simultaneity was found. Semantics (arbitrary vs. logical sequences) seems to affect performance, as a few studies have indicated. Unlike most previous findings, an order of mention strategy influences performance when the syntax (transformationally simple vs. complex) and semantics effect is partialed out. Syntax (when not confounded with the two previous variables) does not affect performance. Cognitive (Raven's CPM) and linguistic (PPVT) factors contributed approximately equal amounts of variance to performance on sequence and simultaneity by children in kindergarten and first and second grades.Research and Evaluation Department, Ft. Worth Independent School District.     

Does family therapy produce change? an overview of outcome studies

Summary Families were randomly assigned to one of two forms of conjoint marital therapy: an insight-oriented treatment (n=10) or a problem-solving intervention (n=10.). The results on self-report measures of family functioning indicate that the problem-solving intervention produced more favorable changes after three months. However on long-term follow-up after a year, this more positive effect did not apparently persist, since the insight treatment group reported better results. Experienced therapists did better than inexperienced therapists in the insight treatment condition, but level of experience did not make a difference in the problem-solving intervention. A group of eight families who dropped out of the insight treatment group provided data on correlates of premature termination. Several of the practical obstacles to implementing an experimental design in a clinic setting are illustrated by the research.As we develop more sophisticated methodology, we hope that is the near future family therapy researchers will be better able to state which type of approach is more effective for whom and under what circumstances. A review of current studies of family therapy outcome research indicates that family therapy seems to be as effective as individual psychological treatment.     

Alignment errors to both ends of acute- and obtuse-angle arms

It has been reported that errors which occur in attempts to align the arms of two acute angles differ in size and direction from errors which occur when the angles are obtuse (Restle, 1969). Other experiments have qualified this conclusion, and it has been suggested that Restle’s result was dependent on the use of a forced-choice method with a dual-angle display (Day, 1973). Data are reported here on dot-to-line misalignments using staircase techniques both at the free end and at the vertex end of single acute or obtuse angles. The results essentially agree with Day’s method-of-adjustment results, thus implicating the display rather than the method as the cause of the original negative acute-angle effect. However, Day found no difference between the acute-angle effect and the parallelless Poggendorff illusion, while we did obtain a difference under some conditions. Consideration of the magnitudes and directions of errors at both ends of the angles’ arms gives pause to any possible accounts of the errors in terms of simple or single whole-of-line effects.