Rapid processing of the meaning of sentences

It has been shown (Fischler & Bloom, 1979) that sentence contexts facilitate a lexical decision task for words that are highly likely sentence completions and inhibit the decision for words that are semantically anomalous sentence completions. In the present experiment, the sentence contexts were presented 1 word at a time, at rates from 4 to 28 words/sec. The facilitation for words that were likely sentence completions was marginal at the slower rates and absent at higher rates. In contrast, the inhibitory effects of semantic anomaly were apparent at all presentation rates. Several analyses suggested that the sentence contexts were becoming ineffective at the very highest presentation rates, but the high rates at which the sentence contexts still affected word recognition were taken as evidence that semantic information accrues at an early stage of sentence processing. Implications for Posner and Snyder’s (1975) theory of attention and for models of reading were discussed.     

Completion norms for 329 sentence contexts

Completion responses were collected for two sets of sentence contexts, which were designed to produce different distributions of probabilities for the primary responses. The subject population consisted of undergraduate college students. For each context, responses and their respective probability of occurrence are listed, and an index of the primary responses is provided. It is hoped that these normative materials will facilitate comparison among future studies of the effects of sentence contexts on word processing.     

An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Two Tactics to Reduce Arousal in Crowded Mass Transit Settings1

Studies of crowding in various settings have shown that individuals are aroused and frequently suffer from ill health. Several studies have shown that it is possible to successfully intervene in residential, shopping, and classroom settings to reduce the negative effects of crowding. The present laboratory experiment assessed the effectiveness of two tactics commonly used by passengers in crowded mass transit settings. Results indicated that the two tactics, reading a newspaper or talking to others, failed to reduce arousal. An explanation for the failure of these tactics is offered.     

Łukasiewicz logic and the foundations of measurement

The logic of inexactness, presented in this paper, is a version of the Łukasiewicz logic with predicates valued in [0, ∞). We axiomatize multi-valued models of equality and ordering in this logic guaranteeing their imbeddibility in the real line. Our axioms of equality and ordering, when interpreted as axioms of proximity and dominance, can be applied to the foundations of measurement (especially in the social sciences). In two-valued logic they provide theories of ratio scale measurement. In multivalued logic they enable us to treat formally errors arising in nominal and ordinal measurements.     

Dimensions of metaphor

Two rating studies examined several dimensions of metaphorical sentences. A pool of 260 metaphors was constructed, all in the form “(noun phrase) is/are (noun phrase).” In Study 1 all of the items, and in Study 2, 98 of the items were evaluated on ten scales presumed to be important to the comprehension or interpretation of metaphors: semantic relatedness of the subject and predicate, comprehensibility, imageability, imageability of the subject (topic), imageability of the predicate (vehicle), degree of metaphoricity, metaphor goodness, ease of interpretation, number of alternative interpretations, and felt familiarity of the metaphoric ground. Both experiments revealed the rated dimensions to be highly interrelated, but some analyses allowed evaluation of alternative predictions based on current theoretical approaches to metaphor quality and interpretation. The results indicated consistent but mixed support for the general poisitions under consideration as each appeared to have strong and weak areas of applicability. The interrelationships among the scales are discussed, together with implications of the findings for current theories and future metaphor research.     

Working through a group's fantasy of the deceased leader's wish for the group's continuation

This paper reflects the working through of a group's fantasy that the deceased group leader wished the group to continue. As in any defense, the fantasy protected members from the pain of the finality of the leader's death. This article reveals the subjective experience concerning the effect of the leader's death on the group and members' intrapsychic struggle to separate and individuate from the deceased leader, while attending to and striving toward the group's continuation. The group's painful and growing individuation enabled the group to follow its own tasks without the spector of the deceased leader.     

Vicarious and operant experiences in the etiology of illness behavior: A replication with healthy individuals

The purpose of the present investigation was to replicate a previous study of diabetic patients on the role of parental modeling in the etiology of illness behavior. A random sample of healthy individuals were assigned to an avoidant model (AM) (i.e. parent reported to have avoided work. chores etc. when ill) or non-avoidant model (NAM) group. Subjects subsequently provided retrospective and current information concerning their illness-behavior experiences. The results indicated that individuals with an AM reported more responsibility avoidance when ill currently and as a child compared to the NAM subjects. Additionally. AM subjects reported receiving more positive reinforcement for current illness compared to NAM subjects. It was concluded that the process by which individuals learn to respond to illness may be similar in healthy and chronically-ill individuals but that positive reinforcement for illness may be more likely to be received by healthy individuals during acute illness than by chronically-ill individuals. The present study provides further preliminary support for the learningtheory model of illness behavior.