An analysis of individual differences in similarity judgments about complex random forms

A variation of the method of graded dichotomies was used to obtain judgments of interstimulus similarity for all pairings of 21 12-turn random shapes. Using the Tucker-Messick procedure, a six-dimensional spatial model, representing individual variation in performance on the task, was derived. Six “idealized individuals” (IIs) were isolated. A five-dimensional Euclidean spatial model was obtained for each II using the Shepard-Kruskal scaling technique. The resulting psychological dimensions of perceived form were related to two sets of physical measures on the forms: the factor space suggested by Brown and Owen and a set of more basic physical measures. These basic measures allowed interpretation of most of the psychological dimensions and revealed differences between IIs in patterns of cue utilization.     

Book reviews

Encyclopaedia of Linguistics, Information and Control. Edited by A. R. Meetham with the assistance of R. A. Hudson. Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1969. Pp. xiv + 718. 300s.

The Biological Basis of Personality. By H. J. Eysenck. Springfield: Thomas. 1968. Pp. xv + 399. $18.50.

Scientific Basis of Dvug Dependence. Biological Council Symposium. Edited by H. Steinberg. London: Churchill. 1969. Pp. 429. 100s.

Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, Vol. 2. Edited by John P. Hill. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1969. Pp. viii + 172.

Memory and Attention: an introduction to human information processes. By Donald A. Norman. Chichester, Sussex: John Wiley. 1969. Pp. ix + 201. 84s. (cloth); 44s. (paper). Verbal Learning and Memory: selected readings. By Leo Postman and Geoffrey Keppel. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 1969. Pp. 501. 12s.

Handbuch der Kinderheilkunde. Edited by H. Opitz and F. Schmidt. Rand VIII/I: Neurologie-Psychologic-Psychiatrie. Redigiert von F. Schmidt und H. Asperger. Berlin: Springer Verlag. Pp. 1060. Price DM385, S96.25.

Digital Computing. By R. S. Lehman and D. E. Bailey. London: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1969. Pp. xxiv + 303. 79s.

Real-Time Computers. By W. R. Uttal. New York: Harper & Row. 1968. Pp. xiv + 338. 93s.     

“Center-of-gravity” Tendencies for fixations and flow patterns

Fixation positions were measured for a variety of simple patterns. Generally, the spontaneous fixation tendencies hovered near the “center-of-gravity” of the pattern, providing that the overall dimensions of the figure were less than about 5 deg. “Open” figures such as angles were found to be roughly equivalent to their “enclosed” counterparts, such as triangles. The constraints imposed by the pattern upon the fixation tendencies occur at a level where the binocular inputs are processed. Of further importance was the fact that the fixation points approximate the foci observed in the same patterns when they are seen against a background of visual noise. It is suggested that the two results may be functionally related..     

Regional Differences in Junior Colleges

This study examines the geographical distribution of various junior college characteristics. Scores for 6 factors or categories of college characteristics, identified in earlier ACT research, were computed for each of 581 accredited junior colleges. When these junior colleges were classified and analyzed by geographical region, significant differences were found among regions on all 6 factors—Cultural Affluence (or Private Control), Technological Specialization, Size, Age (or Conventionalism), Transfer Emphasis, and Business Orientation (or High Cost). The regional differences are discussed and implications are suggested for research and counseling as well as for junior college planning.     

Training of fast tapping with reduction of kinaesthetic, tactile, visual and auditory sensations

Five subjects were trained to tap on a light Morse-key during nerve compression block. The training sessions lasted for 40 sec., with a 5 sec. rest after the first 20 sec. work period. The group learning curve reached 89.5 per cent. level of normal performance by the eighth training session. In the ninth, the testing session, subjects tapped with visual and auditory sense reduction superimposed on the kinaesthetic and tactile impariment of the training condition. Performance in the testing session reached 40.9 per cent. of normal.

The sixth subject was trained in the same task as the other five subjects, but the training condition included elimination of cues from all four sensory channels. He reached 79.09 per cent. of his normal tapping performance in the seventh session.

These results show that the motor skill of tapping can be relearned in the absence of kinaesthetic cues. Furthermore when the subject has no conscious knowledge of any peripheral sensory cues connected with the ongoing motor activity, learning can nevertheless take place. These findings lead to the hypothesis, that skilled motor activity can be monitored by central processes alone.

During the training sessions subjects showed a tendency of tapping in groups of gradually increasing length. It is hypothesized that increased number of taps forming a group gives an indication to the possible mode of action of these central processes.     

Arguers as editors

People use editorial criteria to decide whether to say or to suppress potential arguments. These criteria constitute people's standards as to what effective and appropriate arguments are like, and reflect general interaction goals. A series of empirical investigations has indicated that the standards fall into three classes: those having to do with argument effectiveness, those concerned with personal issues for arguer and target, and those centered on discourse quality. The essay also sketches the affinities certain types of people have for the different criteria.     

Public self-Attention and personal standards: The impact of group composition

Increases in self-attention as a function of decreases in the relative size of one’s subgroup in a heterogeneous group context have been shown to result in increased regulation of behavior toward social (normative) standards for behavior. The present study demonstrated increased regulation of behavior toward a personal standard for behavior as a function of variations in group composition. One hundred twenty-five subjects individually completed the Creativity subscale of Scott’s Personal Value Scale assessing attitudes toward originality. They then completed a word-association task in groups ranging in size from 2 to 8. Originality of word-associations was determined by reference to previously established word-association norms and norms based on frequency of responses given in the present study. Results indicate that originality in responses increase as the relative size of one’s own subgroup decreases (indexing increases in self-attention) for subjects who value originality. Discussion centers on the distinction between experimentally manipulated public and private self-attention and standards that are adopted for behavioral self-regulation. Portions of this study were presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, New York, April 1991.     

Anxiety and the spelling and use in sentences of threat/neutral homophones

The disambiguation of threat/neutral homophones was investigated in high- and low-trait anxiety subjects who had been exposed to either a positive or a negative mood manipulation procedure. Subjects were required first to spell each auditorily presented word and second, to generate and speak a sentence using the word. Difference indices were calculated for the spelling and the sentence usage data, i.e. the number of threat minus neutral interpretations. Examination of these indices revealed that subjects exposed to the negative mood manipulation procedure produced relatively more threat than neutral interpretations (for both spelling and sentence usage) than did subjects exposed to the positive mood manipulation procedure. Multiple regression analyses revealed that both the trait anxiety and mood manipulation variables contributed significantly to the prediction of the difference index on the spelling task. In the analysis of the use of homophones in sentences, only the mood manipulation variable contributed significantly to the prediction of the difference index on the sentence usage task.