On axiomatization of many-valued logics associated with formalization of plausible reasonings

This paper studies a class of infinite-valued predicate logics. A sufficient condition for axiomatizability of logics from that class is given.To the memory of Jerzy Supecki     

Context effects in stroop-like word and picture processing

Presents a series of 6 experiments in which Stroop-like effects were generated by modally pure color-color, picture-picture, and word-word stimuli instead of the usual modally mixed color-word or picture-word stimuli. Naming, reading, and categorization tasks were applied. The Stroop inhibition was preserved with these stimuli but unexpectedly showed a semantic gradient only in the naming and not in the reading task. Word categorizing was slower and more interference prone than picture categorizing. These and other results can be captured by a model with two main assumptions: (a) semantic memory and the lexicon are separate, and (b) words have privileged access to the lexicon, whereas pictures and colors have privileged access to the semantic network. Such a model is developed and put to an initial test.     

Mental Health Values and Response to Alcoholism Treatment

Mental health values consist of the subset of values that refer to what constitutes good mental health. Torrey (1972) suggested that agreement between patient and therapist about such values may influence psychotherapy outcome. The authors found mixed support for this hypothesis using a sample of 100 chemical dependency inpatients. Positive treatment effects were associated with pretreatment agreement between counselor and patient about some mental health values, but with pretreatment disagreement about others. Because outcome measures assess general personality functioning, the authors suggest that attitudes about what constitutes good mental health may predict general psychotherapy effects as well as response to alcoholism treatment.     

Spatial frequencies and the cerebral hemispheres: contrast sensitivity, visible persistence, and letter classification

The hypothesis that the two cerebral hemispheres are specialized for processing different visual spatial frequencies was investigated in three experiments. No differences between the left and right visual fields were found for: (1) contrast-sensitivity functions measured binocularly with vertical gratings ranging from 0.5 to 12 cycles per degree (cpd); (2) visible persistence durations for 1- and 10-cpd gratings measured with a stimulus alternation method; and (3) accuracy (d') and reaction times to correctly identify digitally filtered letters as targets (L or H) or nontargets (T or F). One significant difference, however, was found: In Experiment 3, a higher decision criterion (beta) was used when filtered letters were identified in the right visual field than when they were identified in the left. The letters were filtered with annular, 1-octave band-pass filters with center spatial frequencies of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 cpd. Combining four center frequencies with three letter sizes (0.5 degrees, 1 degree, and 2 degrees high) made some stimuli equivalent in distal spatial frequency (cycles per object) and some equivalent in proximal spatial frequency (cycles per degree). The effective stimulus in the third experiment seemed to be proximal spatial frequency (cycles per degree) not distal (cycles per object). We conclude that each cerebral hemisphere processes visual spatial frequency information with equal accuracy but that different decision rules are used.     

Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity and methylphenidate: The effects of dose and mastery level on children's learning performance

This investigation examined the relationship between methylphenidate (MPH) and the learning and recall of paired associations by children with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH). Forty-five children with ADDH were randomly assigned to one of three groups (novel, partial mastery, and mastery learning) that varied in the amount of previous learning of paired associations and participated in a double-blind, placebo-control, repeated-measures-across-dose (crossover) design. Each child received four doses of MPH (5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg, and 20 mg) and a placebo in a random, counterbalanced sequence. The results indicated that both the rate of acquisition and accuracy in learning paired associations were significantly, but differentially, affected by MPH dose and the degree of learning mastery. The implications of these results for psychopharmacological research and the monitoring of psychostimulant effects on children's learning performance in academic settings are discussed.The authors wish to acknowledge and express their sincere appreciation to the graduate and undergraduate student members of the Children's Learning Clinic.     

Are words represented by nodes?

Semantic priming in a lexical decision task was investigated with concurrent pretarget and posttarget primes. The posttarget prime also served as a pattern mask of the lexical decision target. Forward priming is defined as the presence of a semantically related pretarget prime and an unrelated posttarget prime. Backward priming is defined as the presence of a semantically related posttarget prime and an unrelated pretarget prime. Forward and backward priming were compared both when the nonword foils were "legal" and when they were "illegal" with respect to English orthography. Predictions were derived for two general approaches to word recognition: spreading-activation and expectancy-set theories. Both approaches assume that word representations occupy distinct, nonoverlapping locations in memory. Backward-prime facilitation was equivalent to forward-prime facilitation when nonword foils were illegal; however, backward-prime facilitation was not significant when nonword foils were legal. These results challenge both approaches. The proposed solution uses semantic-space (distributed) representations that are functionally unitized by a resonant matching (verification) process.     

Using item-specific instructional information in achievement modeling

The problem of detecting instructional sensitivity (item basis) in test items is considered. An illustration is given which shows that for tests with many biased items, traditional item bias detection schemes give a very poor assessment of bias. A new method is proposed instead. This method extends item response theory (IRT) by including item-specific auxiliary measurement information related to opportunity-to-learn. Item-specific variation in measurement relations across students with varying opportunity-to-learn is allowed for.This paper was presented at the 1987 AERA meeting in Washington, DC. This research was supported by grant OERI-G-86-003 from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Department of Education. The author thanks Michael Hollis and Chih-fen Kao for valuable research assistance, and appreciates valuable comments made by an anonymous reviewer.     

Combating Homophobia in AIDS Education

Homophobia is a central theme in response to the AIDS epidemic. In this article we review literature explicating the connection between homophobia and AIDS and then call for the integration of antihomophobia elements into AIDS education. We discuss negative messages in portrayals of gay and bisexual men and in discussions of safer sexual practices, as well as materials and educational strategies that explicitly contradict such homophobic messages. We then discuss the emerging trend to exclude lesbian women and gay men in education and programs, suggest guidelines for countering such exclusion, and give examples of creative approaches to inclusion.     

Responding to Student or Teacher Death: Preplanning Crisis Intervention

Crisis caused by the sudden death of a student or teacher can be averted or diminished via a preplanned team intervention approach. The guidelines and strategies of a field-proven intervention program are described.     

Students' preferences for male or female counselors for social and educational problems

Fifty-eight male and 66 female junior high school students were examined to determine their preferences for sex of counselor under personal/social and educational hypothetical counseling situations. Girls demonstrated a definite same-sex preference for both counseling situations, while boys preferred male counselors for personal/social counseling and had opposite-sex preferences for educational counseling. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of earlier contradictory results from research on college students.