The correlation of P-center adjustments with articulatory and acoustic events

To evaluate articulatory models of perceptual center (P-center) location, listeners performed perceptual adjustments on stimuli which were extracted from a corpus of articulatory data. To avoid streaming effects, the stimuli were not edited to obtain temporal variation; instead, they varied in stress and segmental content. Adjustments were evaluated as to their simultaneity with acoustic and articulatory events. The first experiment yielded various articulatory and acoustic correlates of P-center location; the second yielded different articulatory predictors and no acoustic effective predictors. Multiple correlation analyses showed a variation from P-center locations predicted by the articulatory events that were associated with other predictors. Thus, P-center locations do not correspond to any particular kinematic articulatory event, but rather to a complex of events taken from throughout the stimuli. These results are discussed in terms of their relevance to a model of P-centers as indices of underlying gestural timing.     

Odor quality: Discrimination versus free and cued identification

Eighty-two adults, ranging in age from young to elderly, performed odor-quality discrimination and both free and cued identification on six odorants presented at two intensity levels. The odorants simulated the real-world substances banana, licorice, cherry/almond, wintergreen, clove, and lemon. Performance on all three tasks declined with age, but improved with stimulus intensity. Performance at discrimination benefited from the mere availability of the six names during testing. Performance in cued identification far exceeded that in free identification and, for young and middle-aged adults, fell close to that for discrimination. For elderly adults, however, performance in cued identification fell substantially below that in discrimination. Although not entirely free of cognitive influences, discrimination seems to offer particularly clear resolution of alterations in olfactory functioning.     

High blushing propensity: fearful preoccupation or facial coloration?

Twenty-seven women with high scores on the Blushing Propensity Scale (BPS) and 26 women with low BPS scores were exposed to two different video segments. One video showed the subject's own singing, recorded in a previous session and the other video showed a segment of Hitchcock's movie Psycho. During the experiment, facial coloration, facial temperature, and skin conductance level were measured. In addition, subjects' blushing intensity was judged by raters. Finally, subjects were asked to rate their blushing intensity and fear of blushing during the video presentations. Subjects generally blushed more during the presentation of their singing than during comparison stimulation, as measured physiologically. There were no between group differences in this respect. No differences were found between the two groups on raters' judgements about blushing intensity. However, high BPS subjects dramatically overestimated their blushing intensity and were more afraid of blushing than low BPS subjects. During the mere presence of the raters, high BPS subjects tended to show a relatively strong coloration. Thus, the BPS seems to reflect both a fearful preoccupation and a stronger facial coloration.     

Binocular rivalry with moving patterns

Binocular rivalry between a horizontal and a vertical grating was examined in six experiments. The gratings could be presented in a static form or dynamically so that either one or both gratings moved. The motion consisted of a symmetrical transformation of the gratings about their centers, so that the lines moved outwards or inwards. During rivalry, a moving pattern was visible for about 50% longer than an equivalently oriented static pattern (Experiments 1, 2, and 4). When both gratings were in motion (Experiments 3 and 5), the course of rivalry was similar to that found for two static gratings. The duration of dominance of the moving grating was influenced by its velocity (Experiment 6). The results are interpreted in terms of the stimulus strengths of the static and dynamic patterns.     

The estimation of ultrametric and path length trees from rectangular proximity data

A least-squares algorithm for fitting ultrametric and path length or additive trees to two-way, two-mode proximity data is presented. The algorithm utilizes a penalty function to enforce the ultrametric inequality generalized for asymmetric, and generally rectangular (rather than square) proximity matrices in estimating an ultrametric tree. This stage is used in an alternating least-squares fashion with closed-form formulas for estimating path length constants for deriving path length trees. The algorithm is evaluated via two Monte Carlo studies. Examples of fitting ultrametric and path length trees are presented.G. De Soete is Aspirant of the Belgian Nationaal Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek at the University of Ghent, Belgium. W. S. DeSarbo and J. D. Carroll are Members of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J. G. W. Furnas is Member of Technical Staff at Bell Communications Research, Murray Hill, N.J.     

Toward a model for spirituality and alcoholism

Spirituality is a significant factor in recovery from alcoholism, whatever definition of this condition one may use. One aspect of alcohol abuse is its apparent relationship to the balance between brain hemispheres. Excessive use of alcohol anesthetizes the object-based, language-oriented functions of the left hemisphere, associated with an action mode of consciousness. This allows greater engagement of the right-hemisphere receptive mode, which is also associated with religious experience. A model of spirituality based on achieving a balance between hemisphere functions and modes of consciousness could provide a non-chemical alternative to excessive use of alcohol.     

Frequency versus magnitude of reinforcement: New data with a different procedure

Two pigeons, with previous exposure to concurrent schedules, were submitted to 29 sessions of 8 hours each with concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules in which reinforcement parameters changed from session to session. In the first nine sessions reinforcement durations were equal in both schedules while reinforcement frequencies varied; in Sessions 10 through 18, both frequency and duration of reinforcement were varied; in Sessions 19 through 29, only reinforcement duration was varied. Results with this different procedure confirm previous findings that behavior is more sensitive to changes in reinforcement frequency than to reinforcement magnitude.     

Upper bounds for Kruskal's stress

In this paper the relationships between the two formulas for stress proposed by Kruskal in 1964 are studied. It is shown that stress formula one has a system of nontrivial upper bounds. It seems likely that minimization of this loss function will be liable to produce solutions for which this upper bound is small. These are regularly shaped configurations. Even though stress formula two yields less equivocal results, it seems to be expected that minimization of this loss function will tend to produce configurations in which the points are clumped. These results give no clue as to which of the two loss functions is to be preferred.This study has been supported by the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Zuiver-Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research), under grant 56-146.Comments by Willem Heiser and Frank Critichley have been very helpful.The second author presently is employed by the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics, Voorburg.