Further analysis of stuttering as a phonetic transition defect

This article presents a further analysis of stuttering as a phonetic transition defect. Three types of phonetic transitions are identified. Two of these occur within words and represent sites where stutterings are readily detectable. The third transition involves movement from the end of one word to the beginning of the next. Spectrographic evidence is provided to show that stuttering also occurs at points of transition of this type. The same data are interpreted relative to their implications for stuttering theory, research, and therapy.     

The use of a self-control package to enhance temporal generality of a parent training program

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a self-control package in enhancing temporal generality of a parent training program. Sixteen mothers and their clinic-referred noncompliant children were assigned to either a parent training alone group, or a parent training plus self-control group. All mother-child dyads were treated individually by teaching the mother to reward compliance and other prosocial behavior, and to use time-out for noncompliance. In addition, mothers who also received self-control training learned to self-monitor their use of their new parenting skills and to reinforce themselves for use of the skill during a 2 month follow-up period. Assessment consisted of four home observations by independent observers prior to treatment, after treatment, and at a 2 month follow-up. The data indicated that the children in the parent training plus self-control group were significantly more compliant and less deviant at the 2 month follow-up than the children in the parent training alone group. Parental behavior did not differ between the two groups at the follow-up.     

Experimental assessment of tinnitus aurium

A 32-year-old male volunteer with an eight year history of chronic unilateral tinnitus (ear-ringing) participated in a behavioral assessment strategy that included a series of measurement and modification procedures. A psychophysical matching technique was employed throughout a planned combination of procedures to assess and manipulate the intensity or loudness of tinnitus responses. Following baseline assessment, measurements were conducted at varying times of the day, concomitant with exposure to music, during progressive relaxation training, and under conditions of caffeine consumption. The value of careful assessment to describe cues and conditions associated with tinnitus and its reduction are discussed with implications for behavior treatment design and evaluation.     

Factors in the referral of children for behavioral treatment: A comparison of mothers of clinic-referred deviant,clinic-referred non-deviant and non-c

The purpose of this study was to compare a non-clinic sample of mothers and children to two groups of clinic-referred children and their mothers. The two clinic-referred groups differed from one another in that the selection criterion for one group of children (Clinic Deviant) was that they were significantly more deviant and non-compliant than the non-clinic group whereas the selection criterion for the second group of children (Clinic Non-deviant) was that they did not differ significantly from the non-clinic group on deviant and non-compliant behavior. Home observations by independent observers and parent questionnaires examining parental adjustment and parental perceptions of child adjustment were completed. The results indicated that both clinic groups perceived their children as more maladjusted than parents in the non-clinic groups perceived their children. Parents of the children in the Clinic Non-deviant group were significantly more depressed than those in the remaining two groups, whereas parents in the Clinic Deviant group issued more vague, interrupted commands than those in the Clinic Non-deviant group. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Social skill performance among normal and psychiatric inpatient children as a function of assessment conditions

The present investigation examined the effects of varying the standard assessment conditions on performance of social skills among normal and psychiatric inpatient children. Sixty children (30 normals, 30 patients), ages 6–12, completed behavioral and self-report measures of social skills on two separate occasions. During the second assessment, half of the children received feedback and incentives for performance; the other half did not. The testing conditions consistently altered social skill performance. Children who received the incentives during assessment showed significantly higher levels of social skills, as reflected in concrete behavior (e.g. eye contact, facial expressions), and molar responses (e.g. giving compliments, responding to provocation). The results suggest that social skills performance varies considerably as a function of the assessment conditions. Training programs should not assume that persons do not have the responses in their repertoires merely because of low pretest performance unless more extensive efforts are made to evoke appropriate responses.     

Anxiety,feedback, and self-reference in face recognition

During an incidental learning phase, high and low test-anxious subjects made judgments about people in facial photographs, comparing the person to either themselves (self-reference) or absolute (nonself) standards with regard to intelligence or dependability. On a subsequent unannounced recognition test, feedback emphasized either correct or incorrect responses. Low-anxiety subjects benefited somewhat from both types of feedback, relative to no feedback, whereas anxious subjects were not affected by error-oriented feedback and somewhat hindered by success-oriented feedback. There was no evidence for a relationship between anxiety and self-reference, and no evidence for facilitation from self-reference relative to nonself processing. The results are discussed in terms of Zajonc's (1980) analysis of the role of affect in memory and test-anxiety theories of self-monitoring.The authors would like to acknowledge helpful comments on an earlier draft by several people, especially Matt Marler and Theresa Whitelock.     

Stuttering and fluency: Exclusive events or points on a continuum?

In recent years, several studies have been conducted in which the fluency of stutterers was compared with that of normal speakers. These investigations have been of two basic types, some involving objective measures of physiologic, aerodynamic, or acoustic features of the subjects' fluent speech signal, and others involving experiments performed in which listeners attempted to distinguish the fluency produced by stutterers from that generated by normal speakers. The body of literature pertaining to each of these two types of investigations is reviewed and interpreted. The interpretations offered are then developed in an effort to shed further light on both fluency and stuttering. Implications for further research, as well as for the evaluation, treatment, and post-therapy assessment of stutterers are drawn.     

Reflective judgment: Concepts of justification and their relationship to age and education

This paper describes a seven-stage model of post-adolescent reasoning styles, the most advanced of which is called “Reflective Judgment.” The model outlines a sequence of increasingly complex methods of justification of beliefs. This model demonstrates how people's conceptions of the nature of knowledge, the nature of reality, and their concepts of justification change over age/educational levels. Sixty subjects from three age/educational levels (high school, college, and graduate school) were administered the Reflective Judgment Interview. In addition, subjects were tested on four other factors hypothesized to affect reflective judgment scores. Two were competing theoretical constructs: verbal ability (using Terman's Concept Mastery Test) and Piagetian formal operations (chemicals and pendulum tasks); and two were potentially confounding factors: socio-economic status (using Hollingshead's two-factor index) and verbal fluency (number of words spoken during the interview). Highly significant differences (p < .001) were found on reflective judgment level between the three age/educational groups, and could not be statistically accounted for by scores earned on measures of the other four factors. Whereas verbal ability was found to be closely related to reflective judgment level, the differences between groups on reflective judgment could not be solely attributed to this factor.