Semantic context and figure-ground organization

Summary The semantic-priming paradigm was used to investigate the effect of semantic context on the latency to identify visually ambiguous and unambiguous targets. Ambiguous targets had reversible figure-ground organizations analogous to Rubin's vase-profiles picture in which the figural vase is shaped by the same contour that, if reassigned, shapes two figural profiles. The two organizations of the ambiguous targets were either a series of black irregular shapes or a familiar word in white letters; subjects were required to achieve the latter organization. Unambiguous target words were not reversible. Related primes, unlike unrelated primes, facilitated the identification of both types of target; but the magnitude of facilitation was greater for ambiguous targets. The results demonstrate that semantic context influences the speed of figure-ground organization and add perceptual ambiguity to the target manipulations that interact with context to affect encoding.     

Delineating generalized anxiety: A preliminary investigation

The present study examined the nature of generalized anxiety, which was defined as the constellation of symptoms listed as diagnostic criteria for generalized anxiety disorder in DSM-III-R. Generalized anxiety was assessed by means of a questionnaire that was especially constructed for this study. Although multidimensional scaling of symptoms reported by a clinically anxious sample produced orthogonal anxiety and panic dimensions, many symptoms were common to both dimensions. Whereas worry was found to be the cardinal feature of generalized anxiety, respiratory symptoms were found to associate closely with panic. These dimensions were replicated in a student sample. It is argued that while generalized anxiety symptoms constitute a unique dimension in the field of anxiety disorders, both panic and generalized anxiety may be linked with a basic anxiety response system. The findings also indicated that worry associated more closely with generalized anxiety than did apprehensive expectations. The heuristic value of the findings are discussed in light of the issue relating to an anxiety-panic continuum.     

Validity and reliability of the panic attack symptoms and cognitions questionnaires

The present article reports on the development and validation of two self-report instruments designed to assess the symptoms and cognitions associated with panic attacks. The Panic Attack Symptoms Questionnaire (PASQ) as well as the Panic Attack Cognitions Questionnaire (PACQ) successfully differentiated a group of anxiety-disordered individuals with panic attacks from a group of anxiety-disordered individuals without panic attacks. Reliability estimates based on Cronbach's alpha were adequate, and two discriminant functions designed to determine whether each of these questionnaires contributed uniquely to the separation of individuals with and without panic attacks beyond that provided by standard measures of anxiety and depression supported the validity of these questionnaires. The PASQ and PACQ appear to be useful vehicles for assessing the presence and severity of panic attacks.     

Directed search through autobiographical memory

Two experiments were designed to study retrieval from a well-ordered set of overlearned information in long-term autobiographical memory. In Experiment 1, each of 161 university students was asked to recall the name of one teacher from each of the 12 preuniversity school years. Recall was cued in forward (Grades 1-12), backward (Grades 12-1), or random order. Backward-ordered search proved most efficient: Fewer students failed to complete the task :in that search order, and those who did complete the task were faster than the successful students in the other search orders. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1, except that the 148 students tested were asked to “think aloud” as they attempted recall. From the resulting protocols, 25 categories of verbal reports were identified, including four that reflected retrieval strategies. Omission errors (failures to recall teachers’ names) and, with one exception, frequencies of verbal reports decreased as recency increased. Taken together, the results of both experiments show that the recall of one item can indirectly aid the recall of contiguous items and that the probability of recalling an item from autobiographical memory is primarily a function of recency.     

Habit reversal treatment for fingernail biting

A controlled experiment was carried out on 40 habitual fingernail biters to test the following: (1) Whether or not Nunn and Azrin's (1976) ‘habit-reversal’ programme could be simplified and still be effective. (2) Whether or not the use of a competing response is essential for successful outcome. (3) Whether or not a programme of ongoing goals can enhance outcome results.The subjects were equally divided into three experimental groups and a waiting list control group. The experimental groups were: habit reversal plus nail care; habit reversal, nail care plus programme of ongoing target goals; nail care instructions plus programme of ongoing target goals. The dependent variables were length of nails in millimetres and presence or absence of nailbiting. All experimental groups showed significantly greater increases in fingernail length than the control group, but there was no significant difference between the different treatments. However, at follow-up, the two groups incorporating ‘habit reversal’ showed much lower relapse rates than the other experimental group; thus, supporting the argument that use of a competing response is a key component in effective treatment of such compulsive, maladaptive habits.     

Perceptual similarity of mirror images in infancy

Perception of mirror images by three-to four-month infants was studied in five experiments using habituation paradigms. In the first experiment, babies discriminated right profiles of two different faces but not the left and right profile of the same face. In the second, babies discriminated a 45° oblique from a vertical line, but not the oblique from its mirror image. In the third, babies discriminated oblique lines that differed by 50° and were not mirror images. In the final experiments. 90° rotations of a ?-shape were discriminated but not 180° rotations that formed lateral or vertical mirror images. These results demonstrated that although babies were able to discriminate differences in orientation (even among obliques) they tended to view mirror images, especially lateral mirror images, as equivalent stimuli. We propose that the perceptual equivalence of mirror images reflects an adaptive mode of visual processing; mirror images in nature are almost always aspects of the same object, and they usually need not be discriminated. The relations of the perceptual similarity of mirror images to the ontogeny of the object concept and to the development of reading are discussed.     

Evaluations of Presidential Campaign Speakers as a Function of Similarity and Expectancy Disconfirmation

During the week prior to the November 1972 U.S. Presidential election, 249 college students heard a young, "freaky"-appearing or an old, "straight"-appearing speaker—corresponding to a stereotyped McGovern or Nilon advocate—deliver a speech for either the expected or unexpected candidate. Espectancy had little effect on speaker ratings, but speakers were rated more positively by subjects who were similar to them in age. appearance, and (especially) candidate preference. Similarity, particularly in regard to preferred presidential candidate, affected the ratings of the speaker made by pro-McGovern subjects to a greater degree than the ratings made by pro-Nixon subjects. These data suggested that college-aged Nixon supporters may have experienced an identification conflict.     

Queer sentences,ambiguity, and levels of processing

Subjects judged linguistic strings "meaningful" or "meaningless." Meaningful sentences were identical for all subjects; however, for each of five groups, meaningless foils containing different kinds of linguistic violation were interspersed among the meaningful sentences. Type of foil influenced processing time for meaningful items, suggesting that laboratory language processing may be determined by the entire set of linguistic materials used. Effect of foil type on comprehension depth for meaningful items was assessed from the extent to which three kinds of ambiguity slowed judgments on those items as compared to unambiguous sentences. Foil type appears to affect depth of meaningful sentence processing in such a way as to support a "levels of analysis" view of sentence comprehension. Foil type and kind of ambiguity interacted to suggest that sentence comprehension requires computation of underlying logical relationships prior to computation of surface structural relationships and the unequivocal determination of word meanings.     

Memory and display search in binary classification reaction time

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - Character classification tasks and “same” “different” judgments of letter strings were examined with reference to major...