Face processing and name retrieval in an anomic aphasic: names are stored separately from semantic information about familiar people

Recent models of face recognition have proposed that the names of familiar people are accessed from a lexical memory store that is distinct from the semantic memory store that holds information about such things as a familiar person's occupation and personality. Names are nevertheless retrieved via the semantic system. If such models are correct, then it should be possible for a patient to have full access to semantic information about familiar people while being unable to name many of them. We report this pattern in an anomic aphasic patient, EST, whose inability to recall the names of familiar people occurred in the context of a general word-finding problem. EST showed a preserved ability to access semantic information from familiar faces, voices, and spoken and written names and to process facial expressions, but he was unable to name many familiar faces. These findings are compatible with current models of face processing and challenge models which propose that names are stored alongside semantic information in a general-purpose long-term memory store.     

The community alcohol use scale: A scale for use in prevention programs

The Community Alcohol Use Scale (CAUS) was developed as a continuous, reliable, valid, and acceptable measure for primary prevention studies. Items were written following a comprehensive review of the literature on alcohol dependence and alcoholism. Based upon the responses of 315 respondents to the 100-item initial version of the scale, the 45-item CAUS was developed. The CAUS was then cross-validated on a local sample (n = 274) and a provincial sample (n = 745). Estimates of internal consistency were .91, .96, and .94, respectively, for the initial and cross-validation samples. Correlations of .48 and .69 were obtained between the CAUS and the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test for the initial and local cross-validation samples. In the provincial cross-validation sample a correlation of .62 was obtained between the CAUS and the Usual Weekly Alcohol Index. Preliminary cutting scores were developed to identify those at risk for alcoholism, and alcoholics. The CAUS has potential use as an evaluative and predictive instrument in a variety of primary prevention programs.     

Relationships among attitudes toward children,women's liberation,and personality characteristics

Replication and extension of a 1973 article, Who Wants the Children?, were undertaken. Attitudes toward child rearing, one's own remembered childhood experiences, views of women's liberation, and personality characteristics were assessed for 76 college students and 63 community residents. Some of the earlier findings were replicated: individuals with highly positive attitudes toward child rearing considered it a more creative and socially valuable activity and anti-liberation women expressed greater personal interest in child rearing than pro-liberation women. The failure to replicate other results suggests that attitudes have changed, with attitudes of the sexes converging. The inclusion of a sample of community subjects here clearly points to the need to employ a representative sample when studying attitudes of far-reaching social significance. Analysis of personality differences between pro- and anti-liberation women revealed some differences but also pointed to contradictions in literature.     

Order of Presentation and Verbal Recruitment Strategy Effectiveness1

This study examined the relative effectiveness of three different verbal recruitment strategies (opinion conformity, other enhancement, and self-enhancement) presented in different orders. Sixty undergraduates viewed three recruiters, each of whom used a different recruitment strategy to describe a hypothetical graduate program. Participants rated their impressions of each recruiter and then decided which program to attend. Results indicated that presentation order significantly affected participants' ratings of the opinion conforming and self-enhancing recruiters. Furthermore, although participants generally preferred the other enhancing and opinion conforming recruiters, this preference did not translate into a decision to attend the other enhancer's university. Implications for both the recruitment and impression management literatures are discussed.     

Is Androgynous Sex Role Related to Cigarette Smoking in Adolescents?1

The initiation of potentially health-threatening behaviors by adolescents, despite their realization of the dangers of such behavior, has been attributed to various social influences (e.g., peer pressure). It appears that some adolescents may be more likely to resist such influences than others. The present exploratory investigation tests the hypothesis that adolescents characterized as androgynous in “sex role” terms would be less vulnerable to social influences to engage in one such health-threatening behavior, smoking. Within a sample of seventh graders (n= 3,317), sex role identity was measured by relevant items from the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) as was frequency of cigarette smoking. Results indicate that “androgynous” subjects, as hypothesized, may smoke less than those characterized by other sex roles. Results are discussed in the context of our recommendations for more comprehensive testing of the relation between sex role and smoking.     

The effects of syntactic structure on discourse comprehension in patients with parsing impairments.

Syntactic complexity was systematically manipulated in sentence and discourse comprehension tasks. Aphasic patients, but not normal controls, showed effects of syntactic structure in the sentence comprehension task. Neither aphasic nor control subjects showed significant differences between the comprehension of syntactically simple and complex stories. This pattern confirms the clinical impression that some discourses can be understood by patients who cannot utilize syntactically based sentence comprehension mechanisms.     

Health promotion--science or ideology?

This article is the author's American Psychological Association Division 38 Presidential Address, which was delivered at the 1987 APA meetings. It challenges health psychologists to be wary of becoming zealots in health promotion activities without continuing to recognize that health promotion programs should be anchored in sound science. This is discussed in terms of the biomedical research support for a recommended health practice or in terms of the psycho-socio-behavioral research support for techniques applied or advocated in intervention programs. To illustrate this problem in health promotion, the research foundations for recommendations of cholesterol control programs and the "Say No to Drugs" campaigns are explored. Other concerns relating to the appropriate role for the health psychologist in health promotion activities are also discussed.