The effects of age and intelligence on the dark-interval threshold

The threshold for the detection of the dark interval between two flashes of light (DIT) was investigated for 240 school children aged 6–17. It was found that the threshold showed a linear decline with chronological age. a finding attributed to physiological aging of the visual receptor system producing diminished persistence of the initial stimulus. This finding was counter to the expectation that the DIT would also indicate the growing potency of a higher-order cognitive process (temporal integration of stimulus traces) which would have caused the DIT to rise at some point along the chronological scale.     

Effects of age and asymmetrical stimulation on the subjective median plane

Changes in subjective median plane (SMP) as a result of asymmetrical visual and bodily stimulation were measured for a total of 260 Ss, age 5–17. Asymmetrical visual stimulation resulted in a readjustment of the SMP in the direction of stimulation, with a decline in magnitude of response as a function of age. Asymmetrical bodily stimulation was assimilated to by the younger children (SMP adjusted in the direction of stimulation), . and counteracted by the older children (age 8 and older). In the combination of the two, the effects of visual stimulation dominated those of bodily stimulation throughout the age range, possibly due to insufficient exposure to the asymmetrical bodily stimulation. Correlational analysis showed that CA, rather than MA, was the major variable associated with the results. The results are in general agreement with sensory-tonic theory, and are discussed in this light.     

Psychiatric referrals by a Juvenile court

A psychiatric service for children has attempted to make effective use of its limited resources by specialising in conjoint family therapy and in the establishment of consistent links with the network of other agencies and services working with parents and children. Since involvement with the law is seen as a point of crisis by a family and by the professionals already involved with it, the Juvenile Court is an important focal point in the network. The referral of a particular adolescent 'patient' to a child psychiatrist is described in detail, and the wider implications are discussed.     

The Type A Structured Interview: A behavioral assessment in the rough

The Type A behavior pattern is the focus of considerable research in behavioral medicine because of its causal relevance to coronary heart disease. The primary assessment of Type A behavior is a global rating made from a structured interview. From the perspective of behavioral assessment, this Structured Interview (SI) is important for two reasons. First, it provides an example of the superiority of an observed behavioral measure compared to self-report questionnaires for the assessment of an overt behavior pattern. Second, it provides a unique opportunity for the application of behavioral assessment technology. However, while the SI has demonstrated its clinical and research utility as a diagnostic procedure, its usefulness could be further enhanced in the areas of treatment selection and evaluation. The historical relationship between behavior and coronary heart disease is described. The development of the SI and the strengths of this assessment relative to other measurement approaches are reviewed. The standard questions and administration procedures for the interview are presented, along with several variations and modifications. Following this overview, the SI is discussed from the perspective of behavioral assessment.     

Index to Volume 28

Other Index

Index to Volume 28     

Not only base rates are neglected in the Engineer-Lawyer problem: An investigation of reasoners’ underutilization of complementarity

The standard Engineer-Lawyer problem (Kahneman & Tversky, 1973) points to the failure of reasoners to integrate mentioned base-rate information in arriving at likelihood estimates. Research in this area nevertheless has presupposed that participants respect complementarity (i.e., participants ensure that competing estimates add up to 100%). A survey of the literature leads us to doubt this pre-supposition. We propose that the participants' non-normative performance on the standard Engineer-Lawyer problem reflects a reluctance to view the task probabilistically and that normative responses become more prominent as probabilistic aspects of the task do. In the present experiments, we manipulated two kinds of probabilistic cues and determined the extent to which (1) base rates were integrated and (2) the complementarity constraint was respected. In Experiment 1, six versions of an Engineer-Lawyer-type problem (that varied three levels of cue to complementarity and two base rates) were presented. The results showed that base-rate integration increased as cues to complementary did. Experiment 2 confirmed that Gigerenzer, Hell, and Blank's (1988) random-draw paradigm facilitates base-rate integration; a second measure revealed that it also prompts respect for complementarity. In Experiment 3, we replicated two of our main findings in one procedure while controlling for the potential influence of extraneous task features. We discuss approaches that describe how probabilistic cues might prompt normative responding.     

Modulation of Amygdala Response by Cognitive Conflict in Adolescents with Conduct Problems and Varying Levels of CU Traits

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Adolescents with conduct problems and low callous-unemotional traits are characterised by high levels of reactive aggression. Prior studies...     

Deductive schemas with uncertain premises using qualitative probability expressions

The new paradigm in the psychology of reasoning redirects the investigation of deduction conceptually and methodologically because the premises and the conclusion of the inferences are assumed to be uncertain. A probabilistic counterpart of the concept of logical validity and a method to assess whether individuals comply with it must be defined. Conceptually, we used de Finetti's coherence as a normative framework to assess individuals' performance. Methodologically, we presented inference schemas whose premises had various levels of probability that contained non-numerical expressions (e.g., “the chances are high”) and, as a control, sure levels. Depending on the inference schemas, from 60% to 80% of the participants produced coherent conclusions when the premises were uncertain. The data also show that (1) except for schemas involving conjunction, performance was consistently lower with certain than uncertain premises, (2) the rate of conjunction fallacy was consistently low (not exceeding 20%, even with sure premises), and (3) participants' interpretation of the conditional agreed with de Finetti's “conditional event” but not with the material conditional.     

Affective matching of odors and facial expressions in infants: shifting patterns between 3 and 7 months

Recognition of emotional facial expressions is a crucial skill for adaptive behavior. Past research suggests that at 5 to 7 months of age, infants look longer to an unfamiliar dynamic angry/happy face which emotionally matches a vocal expression. This suggests that they can match stimulations of distinct modalities on their emotional content. In the present study, olfaction–vision matching abilities were assessed across different age groups (3, 5 and 7 months) using dynamic expressive faces (happy vs. disgusted) and distinct hedonic odor contexts (pleasant, unpleasant and control) in a visual‐preference paradigm. At all ages the infants were biased toward the disgust faces. This visual bias reversed into a bias for smiling faces in the context of the pleasant odor context in the 3‐month‐old infants. In infants aged 5 and 7 months, no effect of the odor context appeared in the present conditions. This study highlights the role of the olfactory context in the modulation of visual behavior toward expressive faces in infants. The influence of olfaction took the form of a contingency effect in 3‐month‐old infants, but later evolved to vanish or to take another form that could not be evidenced in the present study.