Evaluating student achievement with a relational database

Commercial database programs such as dBase and Paradox, although developed originally for business applications, are versatile and powerful tools that can be used for an academic purpose such as evaluating student performance. They can be used to write and store test questions, assemble and print classroom or on-line laboratory tests, and calculate grades, test statistics, and so forth. Databases are flexible, unlike textbook “ancillary” test bank programs that are inextricably bound to the strictly linear format and brief shelf life of specific textbook editions. A prototypical relational database program is described, with which an instructor can produce tests based on generic terms adapted from Boneau’s (1990) study of psychological literacy, as well as on behavioral learning objectives adapted from Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy of educational objectives. As a relational database, the program integrates terms, objectives, questions, tests, and test scores, and avoids unnecessary data duplication and waste of computer storage space.     

Evaluating a computational model of perceptual grouping by proximity

A formal approach to the phenomenon of perceptual grouping by proximity was investigated. Grouping judgments of random dot patterns were made by the CODE algorithm (van Oeffelen & Vos, 1982) and several related algorithms, and these judgments were compared with subjects’ grouping judgments for the same stimuli. Each algorithm predicted significantly more subject judgments than would be expected by chance. The more subjects agreed on how a given dot pattern should be grouped, the more successful was the algorithms’ ability to match the judgments for that pattern. CODE predicted significantly fewer subject judgments than did some of the other algorithms, largely because of its overemphasis on the extent of interactivity among dots as they are being grouped.     

Effects of spatial filtering and lack of effects of visual imagery on pattern-contingent color aftereffects

Checkerboards contain fundamental two-dimensional Fourier components oriented 45° from the edges of individual checks. Previous studies have shown that contingent color aftereffects following adaptation to chromatic checkerboard stimuli were associated with the fundamental components rather than the edges, In the present experiments, we measured contingent color aftereffects, using the method of constant stimuli, after subjects adapted to unfiltered checkerboards and checkerboards with the fundamental Fourier components removed. The adaptation stimuli were magenta (or green) squares and green (or magenta) diamonds; the test stimuli were vertical or oblique sine-wave gratings with different saturations, After adaptation to unfiltered checkerboards, aftereffects contingent on the fundamental components were obtained. In contrast, after adaptation to filtered stimuli, aftereffects of smaller magnitude were found to be aligned with the edges. The data support the previous findings of spatial-frequency-contingent color after-effects with checkerboard adaptation stimuli and indicate that the aftereffects can be associated with edges if the fundamental components of adaptation stimuli are removed by spatial filtering. We reexamined the possibility of color aftereffects induced by imagery of checkerboards. Contrary to the previous reports, no significant aftereffects were obtained.     

Phenomenology in Russia: The contribution of Gustav Shpet

Gustav Shpet,Appearance and Sense: Phenomenology as the Fundamental Science and Its Problems, Trans. Thomas Nemeth (Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991). xxxi+189 pages. $94.00. (Page references to this work are given in parentheses in the text.)     

Coming to terms with stress: Effects of stress location in sentence processing

The purpose of this research was to determine the role of syllabic stress in language processing during the early on-line processing of speech and later in the representation of a sentence in memory. Experiment 1 used a syllable monitoring task while Experiment 3 used a probe task in which subjects heard a sentence and then were asked to determine whether a probe syllable had occurred in the sentence. In the monitoring task, stressed syllables were detected more rapidly in word-initial position, but unstressed syllables were detected more rapidly in word-final position. Stress facilitation in initial syllables was strongly related to high relative F0, but not to changes in perceived vowel quality as assessed in Experiment 2. This pattern is interpreted as evidence that lexical stress is used on-line to guide lexical access and/or lexical segmentation. The probe task of Experiment 3 showed stress facilitation in both positions, indicating that stress is independently retained in the postperceptual representation of a sentence.The research reported in this paper was supported by grant 80-0416 to Harvard University (Peter C. Gordon, Principal Investigator) from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Life Sciences Directorate. We thank Chris Thurber for his extensive and competent assistance in testing subjects and making acoustic measurements, and Jay Rueckl for comments on an earlier version of this paper     

WHAT MATTERS IN SURVIVAL?

Abstract: I examine Derek Parfit's claim that it doesn't matter whether he survives in the future, if someone survives who is psychologically connected to him by “Relation R.” Thus, were his body to perish and be replaced by an exact duplicate, both physically and psychologically identical to him, this would be just as good as “ordinary” survival. Parfit takes the corollary view that replacement of loved ones by exact duplicates is no loss. In contrast, Peter Unger argues that we place nontransferable value in the lives of individual persons. I argue that the question of the preferability of Relation R over identity is unanswerable at present, as such hypothetical situations are too far removed from our experience to allow any reliable responses. I contrast cases involving artifacts, where we can make informed judgments concerning whether a given object's value would be transferred to a duplicate.     

Anticipated outgroup evaluations and intergroup bias

A study is reported that tests the hypothesis that group members exhibit intergroup bias in response to the belief that outsiders will discriminate against them. To this end, two experimental conditions are included in which subjects anticipate either biased evaluations or fair evaluations respectively. In a control condition, subjects do not expect to be evaluated from an external source. Results indicated, as expected, that those who anticipated biased evaluations from an outgroup exhibited bias themselves, while those who anticipated fair evaluations exhibited outgroup favouritism. The fact that control subjects exhibited the same degree of bias as those who anticipated biased evaluations from the outgroup poses some difficulties for the hypothesized connection between anticipated discrimination and intergoup bias. Thus, it appears that intergroup bias is the rule and not the exception in an intergroup context. Nevertheless, it is clear that anticipated evaluations of outgroup members can effect intergroup bias.     

Parts and wholes in face recognition

Are faces recognized using more holistic representations than other types of stimuli? Taking holistic representation to mean representation without an internal part structure, we interpret the available evidence on this issue and then design new empirical tests. Based on previous research, we reasoned that if a portion of an object corresponds to an explicitly represented part in a hierarchical visual representation, then when that portion is presented in isolation it will be identified relatively more easily than if it did not have the status of an explicitly represented part. The hypothesis that face recognition is holistic therefore predicts that a part of a face will be disproportionately more easily recognized in the whole face than as an isolated part, relative to recognition of the parts and wholes of other kinds of stimuli. This prediction was borne out in three experiments: subjects were more accurate at identifying the parts of faces, presented in the whole object, than they were at identifying the same part presented in isolation, even though both parts and wholes were tested in a forced-choice format and the whole faces differed only by one part. In contrast, three other types of stimuli--scrambled faces, inverted faces, and houses--did not show this advantage for part identification in whole object recognition.     

The gender role journey measure: Scale development and psychometric evaluation

The Gender Role Journey concept was developed to help women and men explore their gender role changes and transitions. A 34-item Gender Role Journey Measure (GRJM) was conceptualized and developed through empirical methods. The construct validity of the five phases of the gender role journey is assessed. The GRJM and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) were given to a sample of women and men (N=878). The sample was predominantly Caucasian from a mixed ethnic background. Principle factor analysis indicated three meaningful factors: Acceptance of Traditional Gender Roles; Gender Role Ambivalence, Confusion, Anger, and Fear; and Personal-Professional Activism. Moderately high test-retest and internal consistency reliabilities were found for each of the factors. Gender differences and gender by PAQ interactions were found for all three of the factors of the GRJM. Implications for future research, teaching, and workshops are suggested.This article was presented at the 99th convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, California, August 1991. It was supported by a grant from the Research Foundation of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut.