Cortical stimulation and speech timing: A preliminary observation

Audio recordings of the speech of seven patients receiving cortical stimulation during epilepsy surgery were acoustically analyzed, and duration measurements of the sound /s/ under stimulation and nonstimulation conditions were compared. It was found that in the dominant hemisphere, stimulation tended to significantly increase the duration of /s/; but not all stimulation sites were comparably affected. Stimulation of frontal lobe locations was also observed to more frequently result in durational increases than when temporal or parietal sites were stimulated. However, for sites affected, the actual magnitude of durational increase was comparable among the three lobes.     

Treatment of urinary urgency and excessive frequency: a case study

A 39-year-old male presenting with a 5 year history of excessive urinary frequency and urgency was treated first with scheduling of urination, use of external urinary catheter and progressive muscular relaxation and then with a urinary retention training procedure. After the first set of procedures, urinary frequency decreased, whereas urgency increased slightly. After completion of retention training, both symptoms were alleviated. Overall, urinary frequency decreased from a baseline average of 14 urinations daily to a post-treatment average of 6.5 urinations per day. Urinary urgency decreased from a baseline average of 35 urges per day to a post-treatment average of 9.3 urges per day. Gains were maintained at 3 and 5 month follow-up.     

Importance of the overall similarity of objects of adults' and children's classifications

Previous work has shown that adults and older children tend to classify multi-dimensional objects by identity on one dimension, whereas children under 8 years of age tend to classify these same objects by a relation of overall similarity. The present study investigated the hypothesis that this developmental trend is restricted to the classification of simple objects that differ only by limited amounts on a few dimensions. The specific hypothesis was that overall-similarity relations structure both adults' and children's classifications of heterogenous objects (objects that differ in a variety of ways). This hypothesis was suggested by the correspondence between the structure of young children's classifications and the structure of natural categories. The result of two experiments supported the hypothesis. When the to-be-classified objects varied simultaneously on relatively many dimensions, adults as well as children constructed classifications that maximized within-category similarity on all varying dimensions. The implications of these results for accounts of the perception of multidimensional relations and classificatory behavior are discussed.     

Alternative solutions to kinetic stimulus transformations

It has been assumed that certain stimulus transformations lead directly to depth effects, that is, that such transformations are the necessary and sufficient conditions for kinetically generated depth perception. An alternative is to view such perception as the preferred solution to the problem posed by the transforming stimulus as to what even in the world is producing that transformation. In several experiments it is shown that when other solutions are supportable by the stimulus, those same transformations will no longer lead to depth perception. These other solutions become preferred on the basis of rejection of certain coincidental features of the stimulus that otherwise would have to be accepted were the kinetic depth solution to be maintained. The findings are interpreted as challenging any theory that perception is simply the direct result of stimulation or of extraction of stimulus information and as supporting the Helmkoltzian rule of perception as a construction of the most reasonable representation.     

An evaluation of the government's work experience programme for the young unemployed

An evaluation is offered of one of the Government's measures to alleviate youth unemployment-the Work Experience Programme (WEP). In a small-scale study conducted in Essex, most of the young people and employers involved in the scheme thought that its benefits considerably outweighed its disadvantages, and this view was shared by careers officers. The scheme helped the young participants to develop confidence in themselves and in their working potential, although at the same time it made them anxious about their ability and/or opportunity to continue this development. As a short-term response to youth unemployment, WEP has considerable value. Without certain improvements, however, it is not adequate for dealing with long-term structural unemployment.     

The Effects of Actual Behavior vs. Mere Labelling in Attribution of Sex Differences

A recurrent problem in interpreting research showing differential reactions to the sexes is that such results may reflect real behavior differences among those observed or differential expectations of those observing. This study used a methodology which allowed these two competing explanations to be tested by assessing whether subjects' ratings of taped interactants whose gender was ambiguous would be determined mainly by what gender the subjects thought the interactants were or by the interactants' behavior. The results showed that the causes of the sex differences in assessments differed depending on what type of assessment was being made. Specifically, behavior differences and not observers' expectations about such differences largely determined observers' ratings of specific attributes of the interactants, but observers' expectations and not behavior differences determined observers' general ratings of masculinity/femininity.     

Behavioral thresholds for tones during infancy

An adaptive up-down tracking procedure was used in combination with a visually reinforced head turn response to examine auditory sensitivity for 500, 2000, and 8000-Hz tone bursts in infants 6 to 18 months of age. Six- and 10-month-old infants were tested with headphone presentation of stimuli, while 10-, 14, and 18-month-olds were tested in sound field. Infant threshold estimates for both headphone and sound field were within 15 dB of adult comparisons for all frequencies and age groups. Six-month-olds were significantly less sensitive to the 8000-Hz tone than to either of the lower frequency stimuli, but older infants demonstrated approximately equal sensitivity for all three frequencies tested.