Age differences in the temporal locus of memory organization in children's recall

Age differences in when (i.e., at input or output) children organize information for recall were investigated in terms of a model specifying that information organized at input is more resistant to forgetting over time than information not organized at input. In Experiment 1, recall of items from categorically related and unrelated lists was assessed either immediately or after a 4-min delay. For 9-year-olds, the effect of delay was comparable for the related and unrelated lists, indicative of spontaneous organization at time of output. In contrast, 13-year-olds showed a significantly smaller delay effect with related than with unrelated lists, indicative of spontaneous organization at time of input. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that, for 9-year-olds, high levels of clustering in and of themselves do not eliminate effects of delayed testing characteristic of output organization, and that when 9-year-olds are biased to organize information at input, delay effects are reduced only when measures are taken to ensure that all the category labels are retrieved.     

The debilitating effect of exposure to noncontingent escape: A test of the learned helplessness model

Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that exposure to non-contingent escape leads to performance deficits similar to those observed when subjects are exposed to noncontingent aversive outcomes from which there is no escape, and that causal attributions mediate these deficits. Previous attempts to produce “appetitive helplessness” (deficits resulting from exposure to noncontingent positive events) have been plagued by subjects' tendency to believe that they are responsible for positive events. In Experiment 1, 40 subjects were exposed to contingent or noncontingent noise escape trials. As predicted by the learned helplessness model, subjects who received inescapable noise performed less well on a subsequent anagram task than subjects exposed to escapable noise. Similarly, subjects who escaped from the noise owing to the benevolence of a powerful other rather than because of their own efforts, showed performance deficits paralleling those of the inescapable noise subjects. In Experiment 2, subjects who escaped an aversive tone through no effort of their own showed subsequent performance deficits, but globality of their self-reported attributions did not predict subsequent anagram performance. The results of these studies provide support for the hypothesis that uncontrollability, independent of the valence of a particular outcome, is responsible for helplessness deficits, but do not support the mediational role of attributions, at least in the laboratory.     

Therapeutic effectiveness of differentially targeted humorous remarks in group psychotherapy

Video records of five different sessions of a single therapy group were scored for the occurrence of laughing, smiling, and talking. Successive five-minute intervals were also scored for therapeutic level through ratings derived from the Hill Interaction Matrix. Humorous remarks were categorized according to humor target: self, other in group, and generalized other. Results indicated that the vast majority of humorous remarks were directed at some specific target, and that over 50% of these remarks were negative in tone. Results also revealed that remarks targeted at others in the group tended to decrease therapeutic effectiveness whereas remarks targeted at individuals or institutions not presently in the group were found to increase therapeutic effectiveness. Selftargeted remarks were found to produce inconsistent effects. These findings are discussed in terms of their significance for a more general analysis of group humor as well as in terms of their more specific implications for therapeutic interventions.     

Family therapy training: Current issues,future trends

This article extends the previous literature review of the family therapy training and supervision field (Liddle & Halpin, 1978) by organizing and discussing some of the dimensions most relevant to family therapy teachers. The five domains of focus include: (1) Personnel: who should teach and be taught family therapy? (2) Content and skills: what should be taught? (3) Methodology: how should the content and skills be taught? (4) Context: how do the setting and the training enterprise influence each other? (5) Evaluation: how should training be assessed? Finally, the article brings into focus several key aspects of family therapy training likely to have relevance for current and future trainers.     

A computer program to synthesize American Sign Language

A program is described that allows experimenters to generate American Sign Language forms by computer. The computer synthesis of such signs could allow major advances in the experimental investigation of the perception of sign language, much as computer-generated speech has done for the study of speech perception.     

The interactive effects of facial expressions of emotion and verbal messages on perceptions of affective meaning

The influence of facial expressions of emotion on perceptions of affective sentence meaning was investigated by pairing happy, angry, suprised, and sad faces of “teachers” with sentences of varying affective tone. Ninety-five students judged the overall meaning communicated by these paired stimuli. The design allowed exploration of unique facial-verbal combination effects, overall cue integration effects, and sex differences. Clear effects of cue combinations emerged. Perceived sincerity was found to be a function of the consistency of evaluative (positivity) but not dominance cues. Perceived positivity was an interactive function of both evaluative cues and dominance cues. Perceived dominance was affected by the interaction of evaluative cues. The subtleties of cue combination were clarified through open-ended dependent measures. Also, as expected, females were found to be more sensitive than males to verbal-nonverbal cue conflict in perceptions of sincerity. However, no other sex differences were found. The findings were discussed with regard to the need for a firm empirical base upon which to integrate verbal and nonverbal research traditions in the communication of affective meaning.     

The Primary Mental Health Project (PMHP): Evaluation of current program effectiveness

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Primary Mental Project (PMHP), a program for early detection and prevention of school adjustment problems. Pre- and postprogram assessments were done with 215 primary-grade children seen in PMHP, usig teacher ratings of problem behaviors and competencies, and child-aide ratings of problems. School mental health professionals judged educational and behavioral changes in project children during the year. Significant across-the board improvements were found on all criterion measures. Modest intercorrelations among criterion change estimates suggested that the observed changes were due to program, rather than halo, effects. PMHP children also improved significantly more than matched, retrospective controls.     

Patterns of figurative language competence in adult speakers

Summary In an attempt to discover patterns of adult figurative language use, preference and comprehension, 30 Ss were asked to complete 4 different tasks: a composition, a test of simile preference, a test of simile production, and a test of metaphoric comprehension. Each test provided scores for both novel and clichéed usage. The composition task was also scored for total words while preference and production tasks were scored for literal usage, thus producing a total of 11 dependent variables across the complete set of tasks.Results revealed that Ss selected a higher number of novel figures under choice relative to production conditions. Correlational results revealed relationships across all 4 tasks for the categories of novel and frozen usage although certain tasks (i.e., simile preference and production) were more sensitive to novel diction while others (comprehension) were more sensitive to frozen diction. Within-task correlations, on the other hand, showed unique patterns for each of the tasks. Factor analyses of these correlations were found to produce a series of consistent three-factor solutions with the first of these factors concerned primarily with novel diction, the second with both novel and frozen comprehension, and the third primarily with frozen diction.Taken in combination, present results were interpreted to mean that while the distinction between novel and frozen is a meaningful one, specific task requirements can and do moderate the pattern of relationships obtained. This suggests that figurative language competence may not be a unitary process but one that is strongly affected by specific task and situational constraints and that future work, both methodological and theoretical, must take these factors into account.     

A machine-level software program for the generation of aversive conditioning schedules using the KIM-1 microprocessor

A microprocessor system can be used both to control aversive conditioning (classical, signaled and Sidman avoidance, and conflict) experiments and to acquire behavioral data in multiple subjects at a fraction of the cost of solid state systems. The software described in this paper can be used to program tones and shocks and count responses, independently, in up to 12 animals simultaneously.     

Clock-driven FORTRAN task scheduling in a multiprogramming environment

The existing ISA-standard FORTRAN task-scheduling calls require careful programming to provide timing accuracy even in a single-user system, and do not explicitly provide a mechanism for resolving task conflicts in a multiprogramming system. A simple assignment of priorities to tasks can guarantee timing accuracy to one task, but the risks generating maximum, unnecessary interference with other tasks. An alternative to such a standard priority scheme, not known to be available on common commercial systems, guarantees timing for one task while minimizing interference among tasks.