The effects of setting similarity on children's learning of the transverse patterning problem

A group of 15 fourth-graders were given training on the transverse patterning problem, a task consisting of three different geometric forms presented in pairs. Three other groups of 15 fourth-graders each received training on problems containing the same geometric forms, along with either one (color or size) or two (color and size) additional nonspatial dimensions varying among the settings comprising the different cue-cue patterns. Contrary to a prediction derived from Croll's (1967) extension of Spiker's (1963) theory of discrimination learning, none of the Ss solved the basic transverse patterning problem, nor was there any improvement in performance on this problem after 90 trials. Consistent with predictions derived from Spiker's theory, it was found that the addition of one nonspatial dimersion resulted in solution, and that the greater the number of nonspatial dimensions present, the better the learning.     

EAR DIFFERENCES IN EVALUATING EMOTIONAL OVERTONES OF UNFAMILIAR SPEECH BY JAPANESE AND ISRAELIS

Forty Japanese and 31 Israeli students evaluated the intensity of positive and negative emotional overtones of unfamiliar speech passages delivered to one ear, while hearing white noise in the other ear. The results indicated that (1) the Israelis evaluated as more intense the negative overtones, while the Japanese evaluated both positive and negative overtones as being about equally intense; (2) that the emotional overtones were evaluated as more intense in the left ear by the Japanese, and in the right ear by the Israelis; and (3) that females evaluated as relatively more intense the negative overtones, while males evaluated both overtones as being equally intense. The findings are discussed in terms of possible cultural effects on cerebral function.     

A method for calibrating an eye-monitoring system for use with infants

An algorithm for calibrating data from an infrared corneal reflection eye movement monitor is described. The algorithm is designed for use with infants and other noninstructable subjects.     

A stochastic model for paired comparisons of social stimuli

A stochastic model for paired comparisons of multiattribute social stimuli is proposed where one objective is to find the relative importance of the attributes for a judge. The model can be conceived as a special strict binary utility model, i.e., a BTL-model, and is related to of the stimuli are linear combinations of functions of the attributes of the stimuli. The model neither assumes that the functions are fixed in advance nor that different judges have the same set of functions. The choice among such functions, however, is admitted only within a finite scope. Within the framework of exponential families, maximum likelihood estimators and tests are derived and applied to data coming from two psychological experiments.     

The place of order and uncertainty in art and environmental aesthetics

Contrasting views in writings of architectural aesthetics regarding the virtues of diversity as opposed to unity are examined in terms of Berlyne's treatment of the unity-amid-variety issue, and of work by him and others attempting to distinguish effects of complexity and redundancy. Research on the role of structural relationships in complex configurations suggests the need for coming to grips with such Gestaltist variables as order and balance in the context of a motivational theory of response to aesthetic stimuli such as Berlyne's.This paper was written while the author was on leave at the Institute for Urban and Regional Development of the University of California at Berkeley, with partial support from a grant from the Farrand Fund of the Department of Landscape Architecture. It was prepared for a symposium in memory of Daniel Berlyne held at the meetings of the Canadian Psychological Association in Vancouver, B. C., June 9, 1977.     

Some characteristics of psychophysical data obtained with a group version of the up-and-down method

Effects of backgroun reflectance on the shapes of scales of lightness were investigated in two experiments. In Experiment I, 25 Ss compared similaritiesofpairs ofgray chips that were viewed against black, gray. or white backgrounds. In Experiment 2, 33 Ss positioned a series of gray chips, viewed against a white, gray. or black background, so that the distances between successive chips represented the perceived differences in lightness between them. The results of both studies indicated that scale shape was influenced by background. The nature of the effect was that interstimulus differences in the region of a background were enhanced relative to interstimulus differences far from a background.     

Errorless establishment of visual discrimination using fading procedures

A visual discrimination task involved presenting a triangle briefly as a sample. When it was withdrawn, this triangle and two others differing slightly in degree of rotation were presented in different positions, with S required to locate the sample that had been presented. Discrimination proved difficult for preschool children. When only the correct triangle was illuminated, discrimination was readily established. The brightness difference between correct and incorrect matches was gradually faded out by increasing the intensity of the incorrect matches, until they were equal in brightness to the correct match. The discrimination established by brightness difference was maintained in its absence, thereby transferring stimulus control from brightness to form, in an almost errorless sequence.     

Machine definition of ongoing silent and oral reading rate

A procedure is described by which a machine defines the ongoing silent and oral reading rates, and thus subjects them to environmental control and experimental analysis. Reading is considered as a form of monitoring in which response sequences are linear and successive. Applications for other types of monitoring are considered.

A page is projected on a screen, and the subject is required to read, aloud or silently. Through the same optical system, an opaque loop is presented that masks the projection, and a transparent slit on the opaque loop exposes part of a line of type. With each frame, the slit moves linearly and sequentially, exposing successive reading material. Recycling the loop triggers the presentation of another page. The subject controls the loop by pressing a micro-switch to advance the frame, thereby explicitly defining a monitoring response. The procedure is sensitive to variables such as signal-noise ratio, item difficulty, transient and long-term effects, reinforcement schedules (pay-offs), and age. Monitoring rates are extremely steady, suggesting their use as a base line.

Procedures are suggested for training subjects to be differentially attentive to different parts of a complex display.

     

Global-local orientation congruency effects in visual search

In a visual search task, subjects had to decide which of 2 possible target letters was presented among 12 distractor letters. The 13 characters were arranged to form a global Navon-type letter. The global letter and the local letters (target and distractors) were independently presented in four different viewer-related orientations. When the global letter and the target were frequently congruently oriented, the response times increased with growing orientation disparity between them. This global-target congruency effect was independent from target identity (Experiment 1), and it diminished when global and target orientations were not correlated (Experiment 2). The results indicate that the orientation of the global letter can be deliberately used in order to facilitate the processing of congruently oriented local targets. The alignment of a spatial frame of reference is discussed as the most probable process underlying this facilitation.