Effects of jet engine noise and performance feedback on perceived workload in a monitoring task

This study examined the effects of exposure to intermittent jet aircraft noise (70 dBA or 95 dBA maximum intensity) and knowledge of results concerning signal detections (hit-KR) on performance efficiency and perceived workload in a 40-min visual vigilance task. The noise featured a Doppler-like quality in which planes seemed to approach from the monitor's left and recede to the right. Perceptual sensitivity (d') was poorer in the context of noise than in quiet but only in the presence of hit-KR. The lack of noise-related performance differences in the absence of hit-KR most likely reflected a "floor effect" rather than some special relation between noise and feedback. When compared to subjects performing in quiet, those who operated in noise were less able to profit from hit-KR, a result that may reflect the effects of noise on information processing. In addition to its negative effects on signal detectability, noise elevated the perceived workload, as measured by the NASA-TLX. This effect was robust; it was independent of the presence of hit-KR, even though hit-KR generally lowered the overall level of perceived workload. The results provide the initial experimental demonstration that perceived workload is a sensitive measure of the effects of aircraft noise in monitoring tasks.     

Matching words to concepts in two languages: A test of the concept mediation model of bilingual representation

A categorization paradigm was used to investigate the relations between lexical and conceptual connections in bilingual memory. Fifty-one more fluent and less fluent English-French bilinguals viewed category names (e.g.,vegetable) and then decided whether a target word (e.g.,peas) was a member of that category. The category names and target words appeared in both English and French across experimental conditions. Because category matching requires access to conceptual memory, only relatively fluent bilinguals, who are able to directly access meaning for their second language, were expected to be able to use category information across languages. The performance of lessfluent bilinguals was expected to reflect reliance on lexical-level connections between languages, requiring translation of second-language words. The results provided evidence for concept mediation by more-fluent bilinguals, because categorization latencies were independent of the language of the category name. However, the performance of less-fluent bilinguals indicated that they did not follow a simple lexical translation strategy. Instead, these subjects were faster at categorizing words in both languages when the language of the category name matched the language of the target word, suggesting that they were able to access limited conceptual information from the second language. A model of the development of concept mediation during second language acquisition is described.     

College students' perceptions of mothers: Effects of maternal employment-childrearing pattern and motive for employment

This study examined primarily middle-class Caucasian college students' (n = 460) perceptions of mothers as a function of their employment-child-rearing pattern (continuous employment following 6 weeks of maternity leave, interrupted employment until the child was in first grade, or discontinued employment after the child's birth) and employment motive (fulfillment, financial, or unstated). Results showed that continuously employed compared to other mothers were perceived as less communal and were less positively evaluated. Further, continuously employed mothers were seen as less communal if their employment was for fulfillment rather than financial necessity. Inferences about the mother's perceived commitment to the maternal role help explain some of the communality findings, and perceived maternal role commitment and communality explain the evaluation findings. Discussion focuses on college students' views of normative roles and characteristics for women.     

The Family Environment Scale: comparison with the construct of Expressed Emotion

The Family Environment Scale (FES) was completed by parents of 30 children with conduct disorders (CD), 30 children with emotional disorders (ED), and 30 well-functioning controls. Parents were also interviewed and rated for Expressed Emotion (EE), and mothers completed the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Clinical families had significantly lower ratings of Cohesion, Expressiveness, Intellectual-Cultural and Active-Recreational Orientation. These differences were not specific to either diagnostic group. Maternal Criticism was associated with reported conflict in the CD group. The EE scales of Criticism and Warmth (absence of warmth) were correlated with child behaviour ratings in the CD group, in contrast with FES sub-scales. Maternal scores of Cohesion were significantly associated with social competence in the ED and the control group. Maternal ratings of Conflict predicted dropping-out of treatment (CD group), and ratings of Cohesion and Control had some value in predicting clinical outcome. The implications for the future use of the Family Environment Scale and other self-rated measures of family functioning are discussed.     

The impact of mode of presentation on gender differences in social perception

This research investigated the conditions under which males might perceive sexuality in females in heterosexual interactions (the Abbey effect). Caucasian male and female couples participated in a brief interaction in which they were rated by observers. Interactants also rated themselves as well as their partners. These live interactions were videotaped, audiotaped, and photographed, and subsequently rated by other observers (subjects). Subjects made ratings on a variety of dimensions, including adjectives relating to the sexuality of the interactants as well as the interactants' desire for future interaction with their partners. Results indicated that males attributed more sexuality and a higher desire for future interactions to females they observed or with whom they interacted than females did. Further, the tendency to attribute sexuality was affected by way in which stimuli were presented to the raters. Photos, which had the least amount of information relative to the other methods, produced the highest sexuality and future interaction ratings, suggesting that stereotyping might play a role. Implications of the results and future research are discussed.This research was based on a master's thesis conducted by the first author under the direction of the second author. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Anthony J. Conger in the design and analysis of this research.To whom reprint requests should be addressed at Purdue University, Department of Psychological Sciences, West Lafayette, IN 47907.     

Beliefs about female and male nonverbal communication

Participants (N= 441) rated from 1 to 10 how frequently or well they believed hypothetical women and men performed each of twenty nonverbal behaviors or skills. Women were believed to use more expressive and involved nonverbal behaviors than men, and to be more skilled at sending and receiving nonverbal messages. Men were believed to be louder and more interruptive, and to display more nervous, dysfluent behaviors. Ratings given to females by females were higher than were ratings in the other gender combinations for over half the variables, which may accurately describe female—female interaction. Perceived gender differences correlated positively with differences reported in observational studies, indicating that beliefs about nonverbal gender differences were generally accurate. The authors wish to thank Tom Leahy for his assistance in data collection.     

Syntactic form and semantic function

The experiments reported here were designed to investigate the effects on linguistic performance of varying the interaction between the syntactic form of sentences and their semantic function. The experimental task required subjects to decide whether pairs of sentences had the same or a different meaning. The results of Experiment I confirmed the prediction that the times taken to decide about pairs of affirmative and negative sentences would be shorter when the negative was performing its natural function of signalling a change of meaning. To a lesser extent, performance on pairs of active and passive sentences was facilitated when the two sentences meant the same thing. These results were found both with “meaningful” sentence material and with abstract x-y sentences. A second experiment provided a control for the possibility that the results were due to syntactic derivational factors rather than to the semantic function interaction.     

Stimulus complexity,free looking time,and inspective exploration

Fourteen Ss rated 59 objects on a seven point complexity scale. From these ratings 10 objects were chosen at the high, middle, and low levels of complexity, and 35 mm slides were made of these 30 objects. Fifteen Ss manipulated and inspected each of the objects for as long as they wished and a second group of 15 Ss viewed slides of the objects for as long as they wished. Analysis of the time scores from these two groups revealed that both inspective manipulation time and free looking time increased as a function of stimulus complexity. Inspective manipulation time was greater than free looking time except at the low complexity level.