Hand-hemispace spatial compatibility,precueing, and stimulus-onset asynchrony

Summary The role of attention and the resolution of coding conflicts in hand-hemispace spatial-compatibility effects was examined in a precueing experiment in which visual and vibrotactile precues, with various stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs), were presented in blocked and random order. It was expected that precues at the shorter SOAs would fail to facilitate the shifting of attention, as they occur too close to the imperative stimulus to be informative. The task would therefore approximate one of choice reaction time (RT), resulting in a hand-hemispace spatial-compatibility effect. Conversely, the longer SOAs would provide the subject with sufficient time in which to shift attention fully, and would therefore result in a task more like that of simple reaction time (SRT). It was expected that the hand-hemispace spatial-compatibility effect would then be absent. As was expected, this effect was present at the shorter SOAs, and absent at the longer SOAs. In Experiments 2 and 3, provision of a visual precue further facilitated attentional deployment, as did blocking the presentation of various SOAs in Experiment 3. Vibrotactile and visual precues did not differ in their ability to direct attention, implying that these modalities orient attention and precue location in essentially similar ways. These findings are discussed within the context of the mechanisms thought to underlie the time course of spatial compatibility and the dissipation of a fading trace of interfering spatial codes.     

Influence of movement activities on shape recognition and retention.

Three groups of 4-yr.-old children were asked to complete a form perception assessment instrument prior to, 1 hr. after, and 1 wk. following a treatment. Group 1 participated in a movement-based form perception program, while Group 2 was instructed using a traditional classroom method. A third group which acted as control participated in unrelated movement activities. A repeated-measures analysis of variance gave a main effect of tests and an interaction of groups X tests. Group 2 displayed significantly higher performance on the posttest than Group 1; however, after 7 wk. the performance of Group 2 had decreased to a level below that of Groups 1 and 3, which remained stable.     

Shifts in attention demands and motor program utilization during motor learning

The relationship between changes in the level of motor program utilization and attention demand during the learning of a motor task was examined. The primary task involved an 86-cm horizontal arm movement which subjects attempted to complete coincident with the end of a 360 degrees sweep of a clock hand. A secondary task performed with the opposite limb required a rapid button press to an auditory probe stimulus presented at various temporal locations within each trial. Control subjects performed either the primary task or the secondary task alone, while experimental subjects performed both tasks in combination. Schmidt's (1972) index of preprogramming was used to measure the level of motor program utilization, while probe reaction time reflected the attention demand of the primary task. There was a stable level of motor programming over four consecutive days of practice (100 trials a day), but a general decrease in attention demand. Implications for an expansion of the concept of the motor program were discussed.     

CONSERVATION IN COMMUNITY SCHOOL CHILDREN FROM THE MILNE BAY AND MOROBE PROVINCES OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Three hundred and forty primary level boys and girls from the Milne Bay and Morobe Provinces of Papua New Guinea were tested for conservation of number, length, quantity, and area. Relationships observed between schooling, age, sex and conservation confirmed previous conclusions from work in Papua New Guinea about the importance of the first two of these variables for conservation. Comparisons between different language-culture groups suggested that explanations of any lag in achieving conservation in Papua New Guinean children must give attention to specific characteristics of children's environments since groups which were significantly superior performers on some tasks were significantly inferior on others.     

The influence of reminder trials on contextual interference effects

Two experiments investigated the proposition of the elaboration explanation for contextual interference that more than one task is present in working memory when multiple tasks are practiced in a random schedule but that only one task is present in working memory when multiple tasks are practiced in a blocked schedule. Three motor tasks were performed as fast as possible in either a random or blocked practice schedule. At the end of practice, a reminder trial for each task was either given or not given. Acquisition performance was slower for the random practice conditions than for the blocked practice conditions. Retention performance was faster for the random practice conditions than for the blocked practice condition that did not receive a reminder trial for each task. Importantly, performance differences were not found between the random practice conditions and the blocked practice condition that did receive a reminder trial for each task. A blocked practice condition with a beneficial acquisition and reminder task order pairing performed faster during both acquisition and retention than a comparable random practice condition. Reminder trials can facilitate detailing of task characteristics, and their effectiveness is determined by the elapsed time and number of intervening tasks during acquisition and retention.     

Differentiation of Axis I and Axis II disorders

The revised 3rd edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) distinguishes between Axis I and Axis II disorders: Axis II includes personality (and developmental) disorders, and all others are on Axis I. This distinction is often useful, but the reification of Axis I and II constructs through diagnostic criteria sets that demarcate categorically distinct entities is at times problematic. We review the issues of differentiating personality from Axis I disorders, specifically illustrated by schizotypal and schizophrenic disorders, borderline and mood disorders, antisocial and substance use disorders, and avoidant personality from social phobia. The options for addressing their differentiation include adding exclusion criteria, shifting the placement of disorders, deleting overlapping criteria, adding differentiating criteria, and converting to a dimensional format.     

Somatization symptoms in pediatric abdominal pain patients: Relation to chronicity of abdominal pain and parent somatization

Symptoms of somatization were investigated in pediatric patients with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) and comparison groups of patients with organic etiology for abdominal pain and well patients. Somatization scores were higher in RAP patients than well patients at the clinic visit, and higher than in either well patients or organic patients at a 3- month followup. Higher somatization scores in mothers and fathers were associated with higher somatization scores in RAP patients, but not in organic or well patients. Contrary to the findings of Ernst, Routh, and Harper (1984), chronicity of abdominal pain in RAP patients was not significantly associated with their level of somatization symptoms. Psychometric information about the Children's Somatization Inventory is presented.This research was supported by grants from the Vanderbilt University Research Council and from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD2364). Garber was supported in part by the W. T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholar program during completion of this work. The authors are grateful for the assistance of Fayez K. Ghishan, Harry L. Greene, and Patty Vieira of the Vanderbilt Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology.     

Personality and socialization correlates of vicarious emotional responding

The relations of personality and family characteristics to adults' negative vicarious emotional responses to sympathy and distress films were examined. Ss reported more sympathy and less personal distress and exhibited less skin conductance as well as heart rate deceleration when viewing a sympathy-evoking film. Dispositional emotional intensity and fantasy empathy were associated with greater self-reported emotional responding and higher skin conductance. Dispositional perspective taking and personal distress were positively and negatively correlated, respectively, with reported vicarious responding to the sympathy film when Ss were administered instructions to imagine the emotions of those in the films. Family cohesiveness was associated with reported sympathy and sadness in reaction to the sympathy film, whereas the expression of negative subordinate and positive emotional states in the home of origin was associated with women's reported responsivity.