Laterality and field dependence

The purposes of this study were (1) to replicate a right visual-field advantage for a version of the Embedded Figures Test modified for tachistoscopic presentation and (2) to test for a relationship between field independence and performance on modified Embedded Figures Test items presented to the right visual-field. 34 right-handed subjects were presented Embedded Figures Test items to the left, center, and right visual-fields for 150 msec. The Group Embedded Figures Test was also given. Results showed a right visual-field advantage on the modified embedded-figures test and (2) a negative relationship between Group Embedded Figures Test performance and right visual-field scores. These findings were discussed in terms of the differences between the two versions of the embedded-figures test, memory for simple figures, specificity of judgment, and sustained versus tachistoscopic perception. A tentative conclusion suggests that a better internal representation of the briefly presented complex figures places field-independent subjects at a disadvantage on the modified version of the test.     

Effects of figure-ground reversal on the visual-perceptual and visuo-motor performances of cerebral palsied and normal children

Individuals with brain damage often encounter visual perceptual and visuo-motor difficulties. Studies have indicated an improvement in exceptional individuals' performances when the colors of figure-ground materials were reversed. Effects of reversals were studied for spastic cerebral palsied and normal children's scores on the Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration and the Motor-free Visual Perception Test. Normal children performed better than the cerebral palsied children on all tests; the cerebral palsied children performed best on the reversed-format Motor-free Visual Perception Test. Reversal affected neither group's scores on visual-motor integration.     

Exner's Four Square: useful index in appraisal of learning disability?

Rorschach protocols, focusing on Exner's Four Square, were obtained for 14 boys who had been referred for a second opinion following an initial diagnosis as learning disabled. The findings indicated wide diversity, suggesting that a significant proportion of students manifest fundamental problems which are not essentially cognitive in nature. For these students, traditional psychoeducational decisions may be inappropriate and unproductive.     

Cognitive styles: illusory phenomena

The relationship between cognitive style and illusion magnitude was examined using the assimilation and contrast Delboeuf distortions. As in previous research, field dependence correlated positively with assimilation; however, a significant negative correlation with contrast was also found, suggesting that, while field dependence may involve the illusory integration of the stimulus field, field independence may involve its equally illusory differentiation.     

Psychometric studies on the specificity of psychological performance disorders of epileptic patients

Using a psychological test battery for registration of psychic/psychomotoric speed and flexibility/perseveration we examined 78 epileptic patients with different forms of epilepsy and the same number of brain healthy control persons, parallelised in sex, age, education, profession and intelligence. The registrated data were varianz-, correlation- and factoranalised. We found a deceleration of psychic/psychomotoric speed as a primary basic disorder in epileptics. Decreases of flexibility independent of speed were not ascertainable.     

Sequential effects in dimensional contrast

Two experiments examined pigeons' response rates during short trials signaled by stimuli closely spaced along a wavelength continuum. In Experiment 1 separate halves of the continuum were correlated with different reinforcement schedules. In Experiment 2, the middle stimulus was accompanied by a lower probability of reinforcement than were the remaining wavelengths. Both procedures resulted in dimensional contrast “shoulders,” seen as relatively enhanced or depressed response rates in the presence of stimuli between the extreme of the continuum and the border separating the positive and negative stimuli. Sequential analyses addressed possible contributions of the following interactions: (a) local contrast, seen when rate during a given schedule depends on the schedule in the just-preceding trial; (b) modification of local contrast by the similarity of the signaling stimuli (P. Blough, 1983); and (c) schedule-independent rate contrast, seen when rate in a given trial depends on the rate controlled by the stimulus that accompanied the just-preceding trial (Malone & Rowe, 1981). Dimensional contrast functions were similar when isolated according to the schedule, to the similarity of the signaling stimulus, and to the response rate of the just-preceding trial. The interactions noted above do not appear to make important contributions to this effect.     

On narcissism and post-narcissism: Psychology and theology in context

A contextual approach to narcissism is developed in which theology is seen to articulate simultaneously with psychological needs and cultural values. Some implications of the psychology of the self for theology and culture are discussed in this framework.The author wishes to express his gratitude to Dr. Larry K. Graham for his comments on an earlier version of this paper.Dr. Fallot is a psychologist on the staff of the Student Counseling Service, University of Illinois at Chicago, P.O. Box 4348, Chicago, Il. 60680.     

Representation and retention of three-event sequences in pigeons

The present experiments studied a three-event delayed sequence-discrimination (DSD) task: one arrangement (order) of two stimuli (red and yellow overhead lights) taken three in succession (e.g., red, yellow, red) was the positive sequence and the remaining seven arrangements were the negative sequences for responding and reward during the subsequent test stimulus. In Experiment 1, the final stimulus (recency) and the order of stimuli in the positive sequence controlled acquisition of discrimination. In Experiment 2, increasing the duration of memory intervals between stimuli reduced the discriminability of those negative sequences identical to the positive sequence after the delay. Three-event DSD performance in Experiments 1 and 2 was similar to two-event DSD performance in comparable published experiments. Models developed to explain pigeon performance in two-event DSD were extended to the three-event task. Results from both two- and three-event versions of the DSD task falsified a noncumulative model and several cumulative integration models (i.e., adding, averging, and some multiplying models), but corroborated one cumulative, multiplying model.