Expression of negative affect during face‐to‐face interaction: a double video study of young infants' sensitivity to social contingency

The purpose was to assess infants' sensitivity to social contingency, taking affective state into account, during face‐to‐face interaction with the mother in a double video set‐up. Infants' behaviour during three sequences of live face‐to‐face interaction were compared to two sequences where the interaction between the infant and the mother was set out of phase, by presenting either the infant or the mother with a replay of their partners' behaviour during earlier live interaction. We found a significant negative correlation between the infant's degree of negative affect and the average time of looking at the mother during the live sequences. A median split was calculated to separate the infants into a high‐negative‐affect group and a low‐negative‐affect group on the basis of their emotional responses during the experiment. The low‐negative‐affect infants looked significantly more at their mothers than other foci during the live but not the replay sequences, while the high‐negative‐affect infants did not show this difference. The results suggest that 2–4‐month old infants are able to distinguish between experimental distortion of contingent aspects in live and replay sequences, but that this effect of the replay condition may not be shown by moderate to highly distressed infants. Our findings underline the importance of taking infants' emotional state into account in experiments intended to assess their capacity for intersubjective communication. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Odor discrimination and recognition memory as a

The role of olfactory familiarization in short-term recognition of odors was investigated. Subjects were asked to make qualitative similarity judgments regarding either identical or dissimilar odors delivered in pairs. Except for control groups, subjects got familiarized with either the first (target) or the second (distractor) or both odors from a pair. Groups also differed according to the number of familiarization sessions—one, two, or three—taking place prior to the discrimination judgments. There was no significant influence of familiarization on correct recognition scores for pairs of identical odors. The most salient finding was a marked decrease of false alarms as a function of the number of familiarization sessions, which evidenced a positive effect of familiarization on discrimination for pairs of dissimilar odors. These judgments were not dependent on an intensity criterion. False alarms did not vary according to whether subjects had been familiarized with the target or the distractor or both odors from a pair. A positive correlation found between discrimination performances and the number of odors correctly remembered as being presented during familiarization suggested that familiarization resulted in long-term storing of memory traces for familiarized odors. Since familiarization was effective despite conditions unfavorable to the use of semantic encoding, the results argue in favor of a predominantly perceptual encoding of odors in the investigated task.     

Role of verbal encoding in shortand long-term odor recognition

The role of verbal encoding in odor recognition memory was investigated using odors of low familiarity to subjects before the experiment began. The experimental procedure included two phases—odor learning (first phase) and odor memory testing (second phase)—separated by a delay of 7 days. Five experimental conditions were established: three conditions of odor learning with names (labeling conditions), one condition of odor learning without names (sensory familiarization), and one condition of no learning prior to testing (control conditions). The labeling conditions differed from each other regarding label characteristics. The names were those of odor sources (veridical names), those personally generated by subjects (generated names), or those derived from the chemical names of the odorants (chemical names). Subjects were required to learn 20 fixed associations between odors (targets or distractors) and 20 names during two daily sessions. The learning sessions included two identification tests and ended by a verbal memory test in which subjects recalled odor names. The odor memory test was split into two parts separated by a retention interval of either 20 min (short-term memory) or 24 h (long-term memory). Data showed that olfactory recognition memory was enhanced in subjects who associated veridical or generated names to odors during the learning session. Chemical names were not appropriate to facilitate odor recognition. Similarly, the level of odor identification was higher for veridical and generated names than for chemical names, though the level of verbal memory for chemical names was substantial. Recognition response latencies were systematically longer for a target odor implying a positive response than for a distractor odor implying a negative response. Together, these data suggest that odor recognition and identification are sensitive to the semantic content of labels associated with odors. Odor memory was adversively influenced by time, but this influence was less pronounced when the names were endowed with a rich semantic content.     

THE APPLICATION OF THE HARRIS BRIDGE IN THE GENERALIZATION OF THE BURT RECIPROCITY PRINCIPLE-A DEMONSTRATION STUDY

The reciprocity principle, formulated by Burt, has related the Q and R factor systems when double-centered score matrices are used. Subsequently, Burt's bridge was first generalized by Sandler for single-centered matrices, but was applicable only under restricted conditions. The present paper describes a final generalization, a transition based on correlations rather than G indices, providing for the conversion of rotated Q factors to equivalent R factors. An illustrative example is given, using hypothetical data.     

THE SPLIT LEVEL PROBLEM AS RELATED TO THE TASK OF EVALUATING ITEMS IN THE CLINICAL AREA

H olley , J. W. & H ansson , K. The split level problem as related to the task of evaluating items in the clinical area. Scand.J. Psychol ., 1969, 10, 124–128—It is pointed out that correlational values can be distorted in item evaluation when the proportions of persons in the criterion groups are variant. The use of a 'K ratio' is suggested as a possible solution to be applied under restrictive conditions.     

PROBLEM SOLVING AND THE ABILITY TO FIND REPLACEMENTS

Problem situations of the practical construction type may be regarded as situations characterized by a 'missing part'. The solution of a problem depends on the subject's awareness of what is missing, along with his ability to find a replacement for it. Scores on a test measuring this ability are compared with performance on two practical construction problems. Subjects who are successful on the problems have a higher mean score on the 'replacement test'. Scores on a 'function-naming' test are not found to correlate with performance on the problem.     

PHILIP LEVY AND THE G INDEX — A FINAL REPLY

Levy's argument using double extended matrices is shown to be without basis. Such a technique, it is pointed out, cannot properly be used in R technique to eliminate factors of means since it represents the double scoring of items—not persons, as would be required in his illustration.     

COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF SENSORY RELATEDNESS OF ODOURS

Measures of relatedness of odours were obtained by means of two psychophysical methods and one electrophysiological technique. The psychophysical data consisted of similarity judgments and confusion measures. The electrophysiological data were based upon statistical treatment of the responses of single units in the olfactory bulb of the frog. Significant rank correlations were obtained between the results of the three methods. The significance of psychological relatedness data for the study of basic receptor processes is discussed.     

NOTE OF CAUTION IN THE USE OF CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS IN FACTORIAL STUDIES IN THE CLINICAL DOMAIN

Extreme caution must be observed when correlation coefficients are used in factorial studies in the clinical area. Distortional effects resulting from differences between the levels of test performance are demonstrated on both a correlational and factorial level. Further research to obtain a more suitable statistical index than the correlation coefficient for clinical research is recommended.