Differential indication of trimipramine - results of a controlled multiclinical study]

The antidepressants trimipramine and imipramine were compared within the framework of a multiclinical study performed under the conditions of a controlled clinical experiment. There has been found a time-different remission of affective und psychomotoric symptoms. The panthymoleptic action of trimipramine and other antidepressants is discussed with reference to these results. Trimipramine influences psychotic states, especially if in depression anxiety is combined with agitation, also in hypochondriac forms of depression.     

The time course of the verbal prediction effect

Choice reaction times following correct verbal predictions of the presented stimulus are faster than after incorrect predictions. Two experiments examined the influence of the time interval (PSI) between the prediction and the stimulus on the magnitude of the prediction effect. Experiment 1 used equiprobable stimuli and showed a smaller prediction effect at a 2-sec PSI than at a 0- or .5-sec PSI. Experiment 2 used unequal-probability stimuli and showed that the prediction effect was independent of PSI when the more frequent stimulus was predicted. When the less frequent stimulus was predicted, however, the magnitude of the prediction effect was smaller at .75- and 2-sec PSIs than at a 0-sec PSI. These results were discussed in terms of a prediction substitution hypothesis.     

Relations among cognitive,semantic, and syntactic variables in children's comprehension of the minimum distance principle: A 2-year developmental study

Theoretical issues regarding cognitive aspects of the semantic interpretation of two syntactic structures were examined. A 2-year study was conducted investigating possible developmental trends in children's sentence-processing strategies. Experimental materials incorporated two levels of role expectations and two levels of syntactic complexity. Subjects were initially 6–10 years old; 12 original subjects from each age group were retested a year later. Exceptional and typical syntactic structures were not of significantly different difficulty either year. Semantic and cognitive complexity, as reflected in the two levels of expectation, was significant both years (p<0.001). Performance improved, over the 12-month period, in all but the 7- to 8-year-old group (p<0.005). Results are discussed with reference to cognitive strategies in sentence processing.This article is based on research reported at the annual meeting of the Northeastern Educational Research Association, Ellenville, New York, October 29–31, 1975.     

Factors affecting judgments of fluency: I. interjections

Six speech samples containing varying amounts of schwa interjections were tape-recorded and presented to 36 male and 36 female listeners. For each sample, listeners were asked to make judgments of fluent, disfluent, and stuttered speech, and to answer the question “Would you recommend speech therapy?” Results indicated that speech samples containing 5% or more interjections evoked a judgment of disfluent speech by a majority of listeners. The sample containing 20% interjections, however, was found to evoke judgments of disfluent and stuttered speech about equally. Varying numbers of listeners recommended clinical services for disfluent speech. In general, the results indicated that (1) the presence of interjections in connected speech is not normal regardless of frequency, (2) fluent speech may not contain interjections in excess of 5%, and (3) with 20% interjections in speech, the distinction between disfluency and stuttering may be blurred.     

Cross-enhancement of the sour taste on single human taste papillae

The subjective intensity of one taste quality can be increased by prior exposure of the tongue to a different taste quality stimulus. This phenomenon, called cross-enhancement, may be the result of interactions among the physiological mechanisms that code taste quality. Another possible explanation is that the water solvent of the second stimulus acquires a taste after exposure of the tongue to the first stimulus. This water taste could add to the taste of the solute in the second stimulus and result in an increase of its subjective intensity. A third possibility is that taste receptors on the tongue may be sensitized by exposure to a taste stimulus. Using a small number of highly trained subjects, we have demonstrated that sucrose can enhance the intensity of an acid taste on the single papilla. Neither water taste nor sweet taste system activation played any role in the mediation of this enhancement. Through a series of experimentally derived inferential steps, we conclude that this phenomenon depends on the removal of protons from the acid receptors. In addition, we have demonstrated in the single papilla, that suppression of the acid taste when in mixture with sucrose can occur without sweet system activity. We conclude that sugars, through their capacity to bind protons, act to reduce the availability of protons to the acid receptors.     

Absolute and relative cues for the auditory perception of egocentric distance

Three experiments were performed to examine the reverberation cue to egocentric auditory distance and to determine the extent to which such a cue could provide 'absolute', as contrasted with 'relative', information about distance. In experiment 1 independent groups of blindfolded observers (200 altogether) were presented with broadband noise from a speaker at one of five different distances (0.55 to 8 m) in a normal hard-walled room. Half of each group of observers were presented with the sound at 0 deg azimuth, followed (after a delay) by the identical sound at 90 deg azimuth. The order of presentation was reversed for the remaining observers. Perceived distance varied significantly as a function of the physical distance to the speaker, even for the first presentations. The change in the binaural information between the 0 deg and 90 deg presentations did not significantly modify the results. For both orientations, near distances were overestimated and far distances were underestimated. Experiment 2 and 3 were designed to evaluate how much prior auditory exposure to the laboratory environment was necessary. A 200 Hz square-wave signal was presented from one of three distances (1, 2, or 6 m) to observers who had either minimal room information or an exposure which included talking within the room. Perceived distance varied significantly with physical distance regardless to exposure condition.