Response and encoding factors in “ignoring” irrelevant information

Subjects classified either the numerosity or numeric value of elements in successive stimulus displays. In separate experiments, responses were indicated by oral naming, card sorting, manual tapping, and oral “tapping.” Incongruent levels of numeric value slowed naming and sorting, but not tapping, when numerosity was the cue for responding. Incongruent numerosity slowed tapping, but not naming and sorting, when numeric value was the cue. Changes in stimulus response mapping may thus critically alter the ability to ignore an irrelevant stimulus dimension.     

Cognitive,social, and other correlates of specific reading retardation

Children with specific reading retardation were matched with controls on the basis of age, sex, intelligence, and (less successfully) parental education. All subjects were tested on a variety of automated performance tests including the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) Task, Auditory-Visual Integration, Short-Term Memory, the Continuous Performance Task (CPT), and Motor Performance. All children were assessed socially using the Conners Teacher Questionnaire, and reading-retarded children were rated on the Behavior Problem Checklist. Finally, all children were screened with the Finger Twitch Test and were assessed for left-right awareness. Statistical analysis suggested that the following performance tests discriminated between the groups in this respective order of importance: MFF (Accuracy), Auditory-Visual Integration, and the CPT. The Short-Term Memory Task, MFF Decision Time, and Motor Performance did not distinguish between the groups. Multiple regression equations suggested that scores on the performance tests could account for about 40% of the variance in reading attainment. Several factors from the rating scales (notably those pertaining to attention and anxiety) and left-right awareness also discriminated between the groups.This study was supported by a grant from the Medical Research Council of New Zealand to Prof. J. S. Werry (Grant MRC 151). The author would especially like to thank John Werry, M. D., Malcolm Gill, Ph.D., and the staffs of the official Remedial Reading Clinics and Psychological Services as well as those of Epsom Normal, Mount Eden Normal, Newmarket, and Parnell primary schools for the willing support they all rendered this project.     

The structuring of interpersonal relations in schizophrenic adolescents: A decentering analysis of Thematic Apperception Test stories

This study tested the hypothesis that schizophrenics employ more developmentally immature levels of decentering in their structuring of interpersonal relations. A 9-point scale of interpersonal decentering, developed originally by Feffer, was applied to Thematic Appercetion Test stories produced by schizophrenic adolescents and a control group of psychiatrically disturbed patients equivalent in age and intellectual functioning. Results provided convincing support for the hypothesis tested and suggest the theoretical utility of viewing interpersonal deficit in schizophrenia from a cognitive-developmental perspective.     

Fact and fantasy: the roles of accuracy and variability in confusing imaginations with perceptual experiences

In Experiment 1, pictures were presented to subjects two, five, or eight times, and subjects were asked to imagine each pciture two, five, or eight times. Subsequently, subjects estimated the number of times each picture had been presented. Their estimates of the frequency of these external events were influenced by imagination trials; this effect was greater for good imagers than for poor imagers. Experiment 2 involved a similar design in which subjects were asked either to imagine the same referent for a word or to imagine a different referent for a word on successive imagination trials. Consistency (same referent) did not increase the influence of imaginations on immediate judgments of external frequency. Thus, the results of Experiment 1 were attributed to the greater accuracy (as opposed to greater consistency) of good imagers' internal generations of the stimuli. Furthermore, variation (imagining different referents), like greater accuracy, increased the effects of imagination trials on immediate but not on delayed judgments of frequency. Possible mechanisms underlying these effects are discussed. In general, the two studies show that qualitative characteristics of completely covert generations influence their impact on estimates of the frequency of external events.     

Construction and complexity of tactual maps for the blind

Summary In this investigation, the effectiveness of tactual maps for the blind was tested. Four different pseudomaps were constructed; they differ on the one hand in type of construction (channel vs. track construction) and on the other hand in degree of complexity (low vs. high complexity).Depending on the experimental condition, blindfolded sighted Ss had to learn one of the four maps (10 Ss for each type). Afterwards they had to reproduce the maps by drawing them. The accuracy of their performance was measured in two different ways (free reproduction and reproduction with correction). In addition, the memory and spatial imagery of the Ss were measured by two psychological tests.The overall result of the study was that reproduction is better for tactual maps with channels than with tracks. This result is valid for maps with low as well as high complexity. Furthermore, maps with channels are more widely usable, since with this type of map, good memory and spatial imagery are not prerequisites.     

On Turkey Identification

As human relations skills are more widely taught and used, they are inevitably misused as well, often by some particularly fowl aggressors. This article is intended as a brief self-defense course identifying those who undergo this strange, but usually temporary, metamorphosis into “turkeys.” It provides a rough categorization of subspecies with their identifying characteristics and a proposal for return to personhood.     

Paperwork,Pressure, and Discouragement: Student Attitudes Toward Guidance Services and Implications for the Profession

This article goes beyond the traditional survey of student attitudes toward the school guidance service. The student data are used as a springboard to the broader issues affecting the counseling profession. The focus is on counselor discouragement and what all concerned practitioners can do to revitalize the profession.     

Revitalizing Academic Advisement

Academic advisement has traditionally been thought of as limited to such routine functions as course registration and academic record-keeping. Advisement, however, should be redefined so that developmental functions are central. It would then perform a much-needed service in higher education, for students need assistance in planning academic programs and integrating academic, career, and life goals. Faculty and advisors will need to learn some unaccustomed roles (counselor, advocate, and guardian) as well as some new skills. With appropriate support, however, acceptance of developmental advising will be possible.     

TEACHING COIN EQUIVALENCE TO THE MENTALLY RETARDED1

A program was designed to teach coin equivalence to mentally retarded adolescents. Coin equivalence was defined as choosing several different combinations of coins to equal specified target values. A pretest-posttest matched-groups design was employed with an experimental group receiving the monetary training, and a no-training control group. A multiple baseline across coin-counting responses was also incorporated in the experimental group. Training was divided into six stages, each teaching one specific method of combining coins to equal 10 target values from 5¢ through 50¢. A three-component response chain was used, requiring (a) naming, (b) selecting and counting, and (c) depositing target monetary values into a coin machine. Experimental subjects improved significantly in coin equivalence performance and maintained their skill on follow up tests; control subjects did not.