Trees as memory representations for simple visual patterns

The form of the memory representation for visual patterns consisting of a few line segments was investigated with three tasks. One task was the reproduction of remembered patterns using pencil and paper. The order in which the subparts of those patterns were reproduced was used to make suggestions about possible memory representations for the patterns. The second task involved rating the “goodness” of subparts of the patterns. These ratings were also interpreted as reflecting the underlying representations of the patterns. In the third task, the time required to recognize that a small pattern was part of a larger remembered pattern was used as further evidence about the memory representations of the patterns. The results from all three tasks are consistent with the theory that the memory representations are tree structures. Methods for deriving and comparing tree structures are discussed.     

Predictors of turnover of female factory workers

This study examines predictors of turnover of female factory workers in a multivariate framework. Findings indicate that organizational, job, and personal characteristics are equally important in explaining turnover. Variables significantly related to turnover were tenure, cycle time, peer leadership, communication flow, training time, family income, and satisfaction with pay. The AID technique was demonstrated as a means of identifying interaction effects.     

Attitudes Toward Male Oral Contraceptives: Implications for Models of the Relationship Between Beliefs and Attitudes1

Four factors (effectiveness, health risks, cost, and convenience) were orthogonally manipulated in a 3 × 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design to determine their relative importance in influencing attitudes toward and intentions to use male oral contraceptives. The experimental design also permitted a test of the assumption of additivity underlying expectancy-value models of attitude and the assumption of absence of context effects. Results were consistent with expectancy-value models of the relationship between beliefs and attitudes. In addition, it was found that health risks and effedtiveness, in that order, were the most important factors influencing receptivity to male oral contraceptives, with the effects of cost and convenience being mediated by these two factors. Sex differences in attitudes toward male oral contraceptives were also observed.     

Atttudes and behavior: Implications of attitudes toward behavioral alternatives

The relationship between attitudes and behavior was considered. An attitudinal model of behavioral alternatives was presented and its applied and theoretical implications explicated. Three investigations were reported that tested the initial viability of the approach. Support for the model was observed in all three investigations.     

The computer psychiatrist: How far have we come? Where are we heading? How far dare we go?

The use of computers in psychiatry and psychology is reviewed. It is noted that computers are already being used successfully for consultation, interviewing, and continuing education. Issues related to the usage of computers in mental health are discussed. Guidelines for future work in the area are suggested.     

The rotating square illusion

Twenty subjects viewed displays of square and trapezoidal luminous dot figures rotating about a vertical axis in both polar and parallel projections. The frequency of reported oscillation of the rotating figures was as high for the squares as for the trapezoids, provided that the squares contained static slant information in the form of internal texture gradients. Previously reported oscillation effects using shapes other than trapezoids have generally been unreliable, with a subject as likely to see rotation as oscillation for a given cycle, and then only in parallel projection. As a consequence, linear perspective information in trapezoidal shape has been taken to be the indispensable element for obtaining a strong oscillation effect. The authors argue that in the construction of the rotating object, a required condition for reliably producing the effect is a violation ofsome optical constraint regarding slant information, not necessarily one involving linear perspective.     

Subjective contours can facilitate performance in a reaction-time task

Subjective contours were compared with objective contours in their ability to facilitate performance in speeded tasks that required judging the position of a dot or the slope of a line segment relative to the contour. Subjective contours were found to reduce both reaction times and error rates for dot localization but not for the more difficult slope discrimination task. These results add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that subjective contours have functional properties similar to those of objective contours.