Reduced phonological similarity effects in patients with damage to the cerebellum

Ten cerebellar patients were compared to 10 control subjects on a verbal working memory task in which the phonological similarity of the words to be remembered and their modality of presentation were manipulated. Cerebellar patients demonstrated a reduction of the phonological similarity effect relative to controls. Further, this reduction did not depend systematically upon the presentation modality. These results first document that qualitative differences in verbal working memory may be observed following cerebellar damage, indicating altered cognitive processing, even though behavioral output as measured by the digit span may be within normal limits. However, the results also present problems for the hypothesis that the cerebellar role is specifically associated with articulatory rehearsal as conceptualized in the Baddeley-Hitch model of working memory.     

Visual signal detection measured by event-related potentials

We compared the performance of 10 well-functioning university students who had experienced a mild head injury (MHI) an average of 6.4 years previously and 12 controls on a series of standard psychometric tests of attention, memory, and thinking and on a series of auditory oddball vigilance tasks to which we also took event-related potentials (ERPs). The MHI and Control groups performed equivalently on all the psychometric tasks and on self-report questionnaires of everyday memory and attention difficulties. The MHI group performed more slowly and with lower accuracy on only the most difficult of the oddball tasks, yet they showed substantially and significantly reduced P300 amplitudes and subsequent attentuation on all the oddball tasks, both easy and difficult. There were no alterations of N1, P2, and N2 components. These data suggest that despite excellent behavioral recovery, subtle information processing deficits involving attention nevertheless may persist long after the original injury and may not be apparent on a variety of standard psychometric measures.     

Modularity in musical processing: the automaticity of harmonic priming

Three experiments investigated the modularity of harmonic expectations that are based on cultural schemata despite the availability of more predictive veridical information. Participants were presented with prime-target chord pairs and made an intonation judgment about each target. Schematic expectation was manipulated by the combination of prime and target, with some transitions being schematically more probable than others. Veridical information in the form of prime-target previews, local transition probabilities, or valid versus invalid previews was also provided. Processing was facilitated when a schematically probable target chord followed the prime. Furthermore, this effect was independent of all manipulations of veridical expectation. A solution to L. B. Meyer's (1967b) query "On Rehearing Music" is suggested, in which schematic knowledge contributes to harmonic expectation in a modular manner regardless of whether any veridical knowledge exists.     

Coping attitudes, sources, and practices among Black and Latino college students

We investigated 130 Black and Latino college students regarding their concerns, attitudes toward professional counseling, sources of support, and coping activities. We found that the Black and Latino cultural emphasis on interdependence influenced attitudes toward using professional resources such as a counselor. We also found a significant two-way interaction between gender and race for attitudes toward professional counseling: Black males had less favorable attitudes in comparison to Black females, while Latino males had more favorable attitudes than did Latino females. Both Black and Latino college students had favorable attitudes toward informal support networks. Differences between Black and Latino college students were found for reported concerns and coping sources. Implications for counseling theory, practice, and research are discussed.     

Boston Naming Test: problems with administration and scoring

The poorly written administration and scoring instructions for the Boston Naming Test allow too wide a range of interpretations. Three different, seemingly correct interpretations of the scoring methods were compared. The results show that these methods can produce large differences in the total score.     

Developmental dynamics: toward a biologically plausible evolutionary psychology

There has been a conceptual revolution in the biological sciences over the past several decades. Evidence from genetics, embryology, and developmental biology has converged to offer a more epigenetic, contingent, and dynamic view of how organisms develop. Despite these advances, arguments for the heuristic value of a gene-centered, predeterministic approach to the study of human behavior and development have become increasingly evident in the psychological sciences during this time. In this article, the authors review recent advances in genetics, embryology, and developmental biology that have transformed contemporary developmental and evolutionary theory and explore how these advances challenge gene-centered explanations of human behavior that ignore the complex, highly coordinated system of regulatory dynamics involved in development and evolution.     

Juror Underutilization of Eyewitness Nonidentifications: A Test of the Disconfirmed Expectancy Explanation1

The impact of two types of eyewitness testimony on mock jurors' judgments was explored. A crime eyewitness either testified that the defendant definitely was the robber (identification), definitely was not the robber (nonidentification), or that they weren't sure if he was or was not the robber (control). An alibi eyewitness testified that the defendant either definitely was at the alibi location (identification), definitely was not at the alibi location (nonidentification), or he wasn't sure if the defendant was or was not at the alibi location (control). Strength of case was also manipulated. Results show that crime eyewitness identifications and alibi eyewitness nonidentifications were underutilized. A crime eyewitness by alibi eyewitness interaction revealed that within the crime eyewitness identification condition alibi identification was underutilized whereas with the other two crime eyewitness conditions, alibi nonidentification information was underutilized. The results supported a disconfirmed expectancy explanation.     

Fragmentation and re-integration of experience

Secular and religious counselors require a model of psychotherapy that conceptualizes human beings as conscious, goal-seeking entities. Such a model, based on the construct being in one's own world, is sketched in broad outline in this essay. The building blocks for the model are the intentional modes that lie at the heart of the self-world dialectic in which we live our lives. It is demonstrated how these intentional modes are organized into a gestalt-like whole referred to as the existential gestalt. From the diagram of the existential gestalt the concepts of intentional clarity and modal congruence are derived. These concepts enable us to understand the processes of the fragmentation and re-integration of experience that lie at the heart of psychotherapy. Inclusiveness and purposefulness, two additional factors that are important for assessing the adequacy of the existential gestalt, are also briefly touched upon.     

A remote keyboard switch for the IBM PC/AT and compatibles

A relatively simple, remote keyboard switch for the IBM PC/AT and compatibles is discussed. It may be used to isolate a subject from an experimenter when the experimenter is controlling an experiment with the PC. The device, based on a 4066 CMOS, when used in conjunction with a monochrome monitor and a color monitor, enables the experimenter to switch, manually or programmatically (TTL), between the local monitor and the local keyboard and a remote monitor and a remote keyboard for presentation of stimuli and for recording of subject’s responses.