Verbal interference in a perceptual comparison task

When Ss had to indicate if the colors of pairs of items from the Stroop test were the same or different, the usual interference effect was completely eliminated. However, when the verbal information consisted of SAME and DIFF rather than color names, interference was reestablished. This indicates that the perceptual comparison task does not eliminate interference simply by rendering Ss insensitive to the meanings of words.     

Factors affecting processing mode in visual search

Visual search was studied under a variety of conditions to clarify some differences among the results of previous investigations and to provide a testing ground for models of visual information processing. Display configuration, target and field composition, exposure duration, and display size (up to 16 elements) were among the parameters investigated. In some conditions, mean reaction time was essentially invariant with display size, while in other conditions it increased substantially and linearly with display size. Current models of visual information processing were evaluated in the light of these and previous findings; all were found wanting. The data seem to demand a system subject to flexible cognitive control processes.     

Successive vs simultaneous processing of superimposed visual stimuli

A visual analogue of Savin’s (1967) auditory task was used to examine preferred order of recall and order of recall accuracy for two pairs of visually superimposed digits. Savin (1967) and Rollins, Everson, and Schurman (1972) found that Ss preferred to recall simultaneous auditory information in successive order, even though the information was presented over a single channel. In the present experiments, Ss were found to prefer strongly to recall visual information in simultaneous order. On the other hand, the results of Rollins et al (1972), that Ss are equally accurate when forced to recall simultaneous auditory information in either the preferred or nonpreferred mode, were replicated for this visual task. The results of these experiments, together with the experiment reported by Rollins et al (1972), indicate that verbal information is processed differently by these two sensory systems.     

Inhibitory stimulus control following errorless discrimination learning

Three generalization procedures were used to investigate inhibitory stimulus control following discrimination learning with few errors. Three groups of pigeons acquired a discrimination between a green stimulus (the positive stimulus) and a vertical or horizontal line (the negative stimulus) through differential autoshaping followed by multiple schedule presentation of the two stimuli with gradually increasing stimulus durations. Genereralization testing was along a line-tilt continuum. For one group, the test involved a resistance-to-reinforcement procedure in which responses to all line tilts were reinforced on a variable-interval schedule. For a second group, also tested with the resistance-to-reinforcement procedure, the lines were superimposed on the green field that formerly served as the positive stimulus. A third group was tested in extinction with the combined stimuli. Control groups had no discrimination training but responding to green was nondifferentially reinforced. The control subjects responded more to all line tilts during testing than did the comparable experimental subjects, indicating that the negative stimulus had become an inhibitory stimulus. Both resistance-to-reinforcement groups revealed inhibitory gradients around the negative stimulus, but the gradient for the extinction group was relatively flat. These data are consistent with others that modify Terrace's early conclusion concerning the failure of inhibition to develop during errorless training.     

The informational and facilitative effects of an audience upon expression and the evaluation of humorous stimuli

A study was conducted to investigate the facilitative and informational effects of an audience upon a subject's expressive behavior (i.e., smiling and laughing) and his rating of cartoon stimuli. Forty-eight male and 48 female subjects were shown single frame cartoons accompanied by audience laughter and were asked to rate the cartoons for funniness and liking. Two aspects of the audience were varied: the appropriateness of the audience setting for the expression of laughter (the audience was identified as viewing the cartoons in a classroom or party condition) and the consistency of the audience's laughter (either consistently high for both good and poor quality cartoons, or varied, high for good cartoons and low for poor cartoons). The findings show that male subjects discriminated most between good and poor cartoons when the audience laughter was in an appropriate (party) setting and was varied with cartoon quality. They discriminated least (gave similar ratings to good and poor cartoons) to a party audience that expressed consistently high laughter. No convergence in rating of good and poor cartoons was found in the inappropriate classroom conditions. These results support the hypothesis that male subjects use the audience laughter as information about cartoon quality either averaging or discounting the audience laughter with the perceived quality of the cartoon. For female subjects, on the other hand, the party audience and consistently high laughter elevated observed expressions of mirth and elevated cartoon ratings. The fact that variables which increased expressive behavior also increased ratings is consistent with the two-part hypothesis that female subjects base their cartoon ratings on their feeling states, and that these feelings states reflect the pooled impact of the quality of the cartoons and the subject's expressive behavior. There was no overall difference in amount of audience influence for male and female subjects. Thus, male and female subjects differ in the way they are influenced by an audience rather than in how much they are influenced.