Person-environment fit and accident prediction

Person-environment (P-E) fit theory suggests that poor fit may result in lowered performance and productivity and may possibly influence the occurrence of accidents and injuries. A sample of transportation workers (N=696) and their supervisors (N=117) completed an instrument designed to measure their attitudes towards and fit with their work environment and supervisory safety practices. Results of a MANOVA in the first study found significant differences on P-E fit measures between workers who had and had not been injured in the previous twelve months. Results of a discriminant analysis correctly classified 68.8% of workers who became injured after completing the research instrument. Implications of these results are discussed.     

The effect of timeout duration on frequency of aggression in hospitalized children with conduct disorders

Timeout has been shown to be an effective procedure in the treatment of aggressive behaviors. Previous research, however, has not provided evidence to support the use of a particular timeout duration in the treatment of aggressive behavior. This study compared the effectiveness of four different timeout durations (1, 5, 10, and 20 min) in the treatment of aggressive behavior in hospitalized children with conduct disorders. Results did not support the use of extended periods of timeout, but suggested that 5 min duration was as or more effective than the other tested durations.     

Fortysomething: Recognizing faces at one’s 25th reunion

Twenty-four to 26 years after their high school graduation, subjects matched 40 photographs of former classmates taken from the high school yearbook with 40 current photographs of these same former classmates. Compared with age-matched control subjects who had no prior familiarity with the persons depicted in the photographs, the former classmates were superior at matching the old and new photographs. Generally, same-orientation photographs (i.e., old and new photographs taken from the same side) were matched more accurately than different-orientation photographs. Prior familiarity, however, rendered the orientation factor unimportant. These findings are discussed in terms of the processes that underlie facial recognition over very long intervals and in terms of their psycholegal implications.     

Response persistence in the rat following intermittent punishment and partial reward: Effects of trial sequence

Thirty-six rats were given 16 days of partial reward training in a runway. During the final 12 days each of the animals received one foot-shock experience each day. One group received shock on an N trial preceding an R trial (P-R), a second group was shocked on N trials not followed by an R trial (R-P), and the third group received shock after completing all daily trials (Control). Following acquisition the rats were split within each group (one half received 24 trials of unpunished extinction and one half continued to receive partial reward but were punished on every trial). During consistent punishment the P-R animals were more persistent than the R-P or Control rats and during unpunished extinction the P-R and Control animals were equal in persistence but both were superior to the R-P animals. The results were discussed in terms of Capaldi's sequential trial theory.     

Holographic and trace strength models of rehearsal effects in the item recognition task

Two models are described that are capable of generating latency predictions in the item recognition task based on the sequence and timing of rehearsals. It is shown that equal positive and negative slopes are possible when the average number of rehearsals per item increases with list length but that when no rehearsal occurs the positive slope is predicted to be substantially steeper than the negative. Serial position effects are also analyzed for the various rehearsal strategies seen when subjects are asked to rehearse out loud.     

Book reviews

Fu, K. S. Syntactic Methods in Pattern Recognition. New York: Academic Press. 1974. Pp. 295. £11.30.

CHAPANIS, A. Ethnic Variables in Hitman Factors Engineering. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins. 1975. Pp. xii + 290. £9.60.

TOATES, F. M. Control Theory in Biology and Experimental Psychology. London: Hutchinson Educational. 1975. Pp. 274. £6.50.

GREGG, L. W. (Ed.). Knowledge and Cognition (Symposium on Cognition 9th Carnegie Mellon University). Potomac, Maryland: Erlbaum Associates. 1974. Pp. 300. £8.20.

POULTON, E. C. Tracking Skill and Manual Control. London: Academic Press Ltd. 1974. PP. 427 £13.90.

COLE, M. and SCRIBNER, S. Culture and Thought: A Psychological Introduction. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1974. Pp. 227. ISBN 0-471-16478-X. £5.15.     

What does a man do after he makes an error? an analysis of response programming

When people make errors during continuous tasks they temporarily pause and then slow down. One line of explanation has been that they monitor feedback to detect errors, that they may make incidental responses when errors occur (e.g. they may swear) and that they may pause to analyse their errors. In all these cases they may be assumed to act as single channel information processing systems of limited capacity, and to be unable to recognise any new signal until these processes have been completed.

Analysis of response after errors shows that this cannot be the case. Responses after errors are inaccurate, but are not slow when they require the subject to make the response which he should have made on the previous trial (i.e. to make an error correction response). Subjects thus must recognise new signals as soon as they occur. The present results require a new model of error detection and correction, and a model for response programming and priming.