Isolating the typicality effect in semantic memory

An experiment was conducted to isolate the typicality effect in the overall categorization process. Subjects were required to indicate whether or not a probe word was a member of one of a variable number of categories held in memory. The typicality of the probe word, with respect to its superordinate category, was varied as was the physical quality of the probe. These manipulations were designed to test predictions drawn from Collins and Loftus (1975) and Anderson and Reder (1974), as well as a prediction based on the well-known effect of semantic context on word perception. A fourth prediction was drawn from a proposed model which postulates successive access of categories and locates the typicality effect in a within-category search stage. Typicality proved to be additive with stimulus quality and set size, but interacted with response type. These results were interpreted as support for the successive-access within-category search model while disconfirming the alternative predictions.     

The effect of sex differences on sociometric data generated by a roster-rating scale instrument

Sociometric data generated by roster-rating scale instruments are being used for assessment and evaluation purposes. Little information exists, however, on the influence of peer gender on this particular type of sociometric data. In a sample of 441 male and 455 female fourth, fifth, and sixth grade children, this study found same-sex ratings to be significantly higher than opposite-sex ratings. Opposite-sex ratings, while significantly lower, were slightly correlated with the higher same-sex ratings. Differing methods for interpreting roster-rating scale data are discussed in light of the above results.The author is Assistant Professor at the School of Social Welfare, State University of New York at Albany currently on leave at the Baerwald School of Social Work, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. This project was completed under the auspices of the Interpersonal Skill Training and Research Project of the School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.     

Psychopathy and structure of primary mental abilities

The Comprehensive Ability Battery (CAB) was used to assess 18 primary mental abilities in 53 white, male prison inmates for whom highly reliable ratings of psychopathy were available. None of the correlations between ratings of psychopathy and scores on the CAB tests was significant, and the overall pattern or structure of abilities was the same for inmates with low and high ratings of psychopathy. The possibility is raised that the personality characteristics of psychopaths make them appear to be brighter and more creative than they actually are. Compared with norms for male high school students, the inmates as a group generally performed well, falling near the 50th percentile on 11 of the tests. The inmates performed significantly better than the normative sample on tests of verbal ability, esthetic judgment, aiming, and representational drawing, and significantly worse on tests of ideational fluency, spontaneous flexibility, and word fluency.This research was supported by Grant MT-4511 from the Medical Research Council of Canada.     

Selective attention in the speeded classification and comparison of multidimensional stimuli

Selective attention was studied when subjects were required to make either speeded classifications of single stimuli or comparisons of pairs of multidimensional stimuli. Experiment 1 established that subjects were able to attend selectively to form when the irrelevant dimension of size or shading varied in a speeded-classification (card-sorting) task. Experiment 2 confirmed this finding in a discrete-trials task. However, subjects werenot able to filter out irrelevant dimensional disparity in a comparably designed simultaneous-comparison (i.e., “same”-“different”) task. Mean “same” reaction time increased monotonically with increases in disparity between the two stimuli on the irrelevant dimension. Experiment 3 also revealed a monotonie increase in “same” RT as a function of irrelevant disparity in a successive-comparison task. These results were discussed in terms of a normalization model proposed by Dixon and Just (1978) in which it is assumed that a subject equates the two stimuli on the irrelevant dimension before deciding that they are the same along the relevant dimension. It was concluded that: (1) although subjects can efficiently filter out irrelevant disparity in a speeded-classification task, interference due to irrelevant disparity is obtained in the comparison tasks, (2) a common process such as normalization does not necessarily underlie performance in the speeded-classification and comparison tasks, (3) the ability to attend selectively to a stimulus dimension may be task determined as well as stimulus determined, and (4) contrary to the Dixon and Just proposal, normalization of irrelevant disparity occurs in a comparison task, even when the relevant dimension is represented as a separate encoding feature.     

Verbal and nonverbal recognition memory in aphasic and nonaphasic stroke patients

The ability to retain lists of verbal and nonverbalizable items across recurrent recognition tasks was tested in three groups: (1) stroke patients with a left-brain lesion and aphasia, (2) stroke patients with a right-brain lesion and left hemiplegia, and (3) nonneurologically impaired outpatients. As determined with signal detection measures, aphasics were deficient in discriminating words that were to be remembered from those that were not; their recognition of nonverbal visual (geometric art) or auditory (bird calls) patterns, however, was unimpaired. Left hemiplegics showed the opposite pattern. After a long-term interval (<10 min), correct recognition of words was diminished in all groups whereas recognition of visual patterns increased. Both groups of stroke patients adopted material-specific decision criteria which in part accounted for the dissociation of verbal and nonverbal recognition memory by laterality of lesion. Item analysis indicated that aphasics' verbal memory difficulties were affected by acoustic-semantic confusion of list words.     

Engaging “Resistant” Families in Treatment

Many families, when presented with the option of family therapy, are less than eager to participate. This paper comprises the second and third parts of a series on engaging “resistant” families. ¹ 1 The first paper in this series, authored by J. M. Van Deusen, M. D. Stanton, S. M. Scott, and T. C. Todd, is entitled “Engaging “Resistant” Families in Treatment: I. Getting the Drug Addict to Recruit His Family Members” and appeared in the International Journal of the Addictions 15 (7): 1069–1089, 1980. A revised and expanded version of Part II is presented in M.D. Stanton, T. C. Todd, and Associates, The Family Therapy of Drug Abuse and Addictions New York, Guilford, in press.
Part II presents 21 principles and a number of techniques and strategies that have been developed for successfuly recruiting such families. These techniques should be applicable for engaging resistant families with all types of presenting problems. Part III provides an analysis of the important variables involved, along with data on cost efficiency and administrative costs. It was found that when therapists had administrative control of their cases, serving in dual roles as both therapists and drug counselors, the recruitment effort was (a) more effective (i.e., complete families, including both parents or parent surrogates, were recruited in 77 per cent of the cases), and (b) twice as cost efficient. Two-thirds of the non-engaged families were not recruited because the index patient would not allow family members to be contacted. Black families were more difficult to recruit than whites. Data on cost efficiency and on the actual administrative costs of recruiting families are also provided. We conclude that the engagement process requires a revision in therapeutic philosophy, since such families are often desperately in need of help but are unavailable unless therapists make a special effort to reach them.