The effects of temporal waveform upon temporal darkness enhancement

Temporal darkness enhancement refers to the finding that decremental flashes of 50–140 msec appear darker than longer flash decrements. The present experiment determined the effects of temporal waveform upon darkness enhancement by obtaining darkness judgments for flashes that had abrupt onset/abrupt offset, abrupt onset/gradual offset, gradual onset/abrupt offset, and gradual onset/gradual offset. Temporal darkness enhancement was found only for flashes that had abrupt onsets regardless of offset waveform. These results are discussed in terms of the role of transients in the coding of perceived darkness.     

Population psychology in perspective(1)

Many aspects of population, from fertility regulation to migration, may be viewed as examples of human behavior occurring within a particular socio-economic and environmental context, and thus appropriate for psychological research. Especially considered in this paper are (1) the current status of population growth and the importance of population processes as research topics for psychologists; (2) basic assumptions concerning the complementarity of behavioral and biomedical sciences in population research; (3) behavioral science contributions, specifically from psychology; and (4) recommendations for cooperative multidisciplinary efforts.     

Achieving consistency: A Study of basketball officiating

This study investigates the characteristics of professional basketball referees which can account for their successful or unsuccessful performance on the court. Several role inactment skills such as achievement via independence contribute to the prediction of this performance. The main determinant identified, however, is at the group or organizational level. Superior referees have less interindividual variance than do average or relatively unsuccessful referees. This result is discussed in terms of the role requirements of performance in this case. Interpersonal consistency of judgment is relied on for matters permitting only consensual validity. Extensions of these findings to other role enactments are suggested.     

Role of response imagery on stimulus recognition*

This experiment investigated the role of response imagery on recognition of stimulus terms following associative training. Ss learned to associate 12 high-imagery or low-imagery responses with trigram stimuli by the study-associative matching procedure. Half the pairs were consistently paired and half were re-paired anew on each trial. Following associative training, Ss were given a stimulus recognition and an associative matching task The results indicated that the probability of stimulus recognition, given correct associative matching, was greater when the responses were high-imagery rather than low-imagery. In contrast, no rehable response imagery effects were found for the probability of stimulus recognition, given incorrect associative matching. It was argued that the locus of the response imagery effect was primarily during retrieval rather than during encoding.     

The intercalated reinforcement technique: Learning without differential total reinforcement between groups

An intercalated reinforcement technique is described. The method equates number of trials, response topography, sensory exposure, and frequency of reinforcement between reversal Ss overtrained on a discrimination and then trained on reversals and nonreversal Ss similarly overtrained but continued on the same discrimination. In extending previous successful work in the rat, monkeys were trained on spatial discrimination and reversal tasks in the WGTA at 50%, 75%, and 100% reinforcement in order to test the efficacy of learning by this procedure, and to compare the method with learning obtained by a more classical procedure. Learning rates were the same by both procedures. This technique, therefore, appears useful for investigating neurochemical (or other) correlates of learning unconfounded by performance or sensory effects.     

Is an equal interval scale an equal discriminability scale?

Stevens and Galanter’s (1957) iterative procedure for minimizing bias in category scaling was used for the scaling of loudness of white noise. The spacing obtained deviated systematically from a spacing constructed in accordance with an equal discriminability scale from a previous experiment (Eisler & Montgomery, 1972). For the stimulus spacing yielding a “pure” category scale, a magnitude scale was constructed too. Since the category scale could be predicted accurately by Fechnerian integration of this magnitude scale, it was concluded that the “pure” category scale is a pure discrimination scale. The discrepancy between the equal discriminability scale and the “pure” category scale was interpreted as a bias in the former scale due to greater recognizability of stimuli located at the extremes of the stimulus range.     

Needed Changes to Sweeten the Impact of Testing

Ignorance on the part of educators about the effects of testing on pupils has an adverse effect on the uses of tests. Two approaches for correcting the situation are proposed: (a) paying more attention to the pupil performance that produces the test scores, and (b) developing closer integration between the testing process and the total educational process. A contrast is drawn between what Piaget calls a measure of “yield” and what he calls “constructive operations,” and the suggestion is made that the latter type of information is accessible from testing. Lip service paid to the idea that “testing is an integral part of education” is insufficient. Testing must be perceived by the test consumer as a form of continuous feedback that is indispensable to the management of learning here and now.