Factors facilitating adjustment to unemployment: Implications for intervention

Conducted a community survey in the Fall of 1984 in a sample of high unemployment blue-collar census tracts in southeastern Michigan. Results of earlier analyses using these data showed that involuntarily unemployed workers had significantly elevated levels of depression, anxiety, somatization, and self-reported physical illness relative to a stably employed comparison group (Kessler, House, & Turner, 1987). Results presented in this paper document that this relationship is modified by social support (as measured by social integration and the availability of a confidant), self-concept, and various coping processes. Further analyses allowed us to determine the way in which these modifiers operate. The modifying effects of social support and coping operate primarily by buffering the impact of unemployment-related financial strain on the health outcomes. Self-concept operates primarily by attenuating vulnerability to other stressful life events. The implications of these results for the design and implementation of preventive interventions are discussed.     

Making and correcting errors during sentence comprehension: Eye movements in the analysis of structurally ambiguous sentences

Eye movements were recorded as subjects read sentences containing temporary structural ambiguities. In accord with the garden-path theory of sentence comprehension, shorter reading times were found for sentences conforming to certain independently motivated parsing strategies (late closure and minimal attachment) than for comparable sentences which violate these strategies. Further, longer fixation durations were associated with the very first fixation in the region of the sentence which disambiguated the sentence, suggesting that the human sentence-parsing mechanism operates in a rather systematic fashion, immediately computing the structural consequences of fixated material for the analysis of preceding material. The pattern of regressive eye movements did not conform to the view that the parsing mechanism automatically returns to the beginning of the sentence to revise an incorrect analysis of linguistic material nor did it support the view that the parsing mechanism systematically backtracks through the sentence until the source of the erroneous analysis is located. Rather, the pattern of regressions indicated that the parsing mechanism typically engages in selective reanalysis, exploiting whatever information it has available about the type of error it has committed to guide its reanalysis attempts. Finally, it is emphasized that an understanding of the parser's revision procedures is essential to an explanation of why certain linguistic structures cannot be successfully parsed by humans.     

Information flow in the brain: Computer requirements (A tutorial)

This paper covers mathematical, statistical, and experimental design considerations needed to design a computer system for EEG data acquisition, spectrum, and cross-spectrum analyses. A tutorial approach is used in which no formal proofs are offered. Conclusions are stated simply and in summary fashion, without justifying arguments. References to formal works are given. Conclusions about system design are discussed. Frequently encountered design issues are mentioned with various alternatives.     

Recognition models evaluated: A commentary on Keren and Baggen

In a recent paper (1981), Keren and Baggen proposed two new models for alphanumeric confusion data, based on Tversky’s (1977) feature model of similarity, and compared them with Luce’s (1963) biased choice model. On the basis of their data, they concluded that, although the choice model fit slightly better, their models were to be preferred on grounds of parsimony and interpretability. It is shown here that both of these models are special cases of the Luce model, so that the general Luce model will necessarily fit better. This leads to considerable reinterpretation of Keren and Baggen’s conclusions. Finally, better methods of estimating parameters and evaluating goodness-of-fit are suggested, taking advantage of this relation between the models.     

Power functions of loudness magnitude estimations and auditory brainstem evoked responses

The correspondence between subjective and neural response to change in acoustic intensity was considered by deriving power functions from subjective loudness estimations and from the amplitude and latency of auditory brainstem evoked response components (BER). Thirty-six subjects provided loudness magnitude estimations of 2-sec trains of positive polarity click stimuli, 20/sec, at intensity levels ranging from 55 to 90 dB in 5-dB steps. The loudness power function yielded an exponent of .48. With longer trains of the same click stimuli, the exponents of BER latency measures ranged from -.14 for wave I to -.03 for later waves. The exponents of BER amplitude-intensity functions ranged from .40 to .19. Although these exponents tended to be larger than exponents previously reported, they were all lower than the exponent derived from the subjective loudness estimates, and a clear correspondence between the exponents of the loudness and BER component intensity functions was not found.     

Effects of live modeling, covert modeling and rehearsal on assertiveness in psychiatric patients.

The present study evaluated the effects of live modeling, covert modeling, and rehearsal in unassertive psychiatric patients. Psychiatric patients scoring 19 or below on the Wolpe-Lazarus Assertiveness Scale were assigned to one of five conditions, with 10 subjects in each group: (1) Test-retest (no treatment). (2) Live modeling plus rehearsal. (3) Live modeling without rehearsal. (4) Covert modeling plus rehearsal, and (5) Covert modeling without rehearsal. All subjects were videotaped (pre- and post-test) while responding to eight interpersonal situations (four training scenes; four generalization scenes) requiring assertive responses. Pre- and post-test responses for all subjects were rated independently by judges on several verbal and non-verbal components of assertiveness. The results indicated that live modeling and covert modeling effected improvements in the assertive behavior of the patients, but that the two treatments were not differentially effective. Generally, the addition of rehearsal to live or covert modeling failed to enhance treatment. But on two measures, the covert modeling plus rehearsal condition was superior to the other treatments. There was evidence for transfer of treatment effects from training to generalization scenes. No differences were found among the groups on the Wolpe-Lazarus Assertiveness Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The results were discussed in light of prior findings with live and covert modeling procedures.     

Effects of assertive training on three dimensions of assertiveness

The relative effectiveness of several components of an assertive training program in shaping assertive responses on three dimensions of assertiveness (refusal, investigatory, commendatory) was assessed. Thirty-two unassertive females were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups: coaching plus behavior rehearsal plus modeling, coaching plus behavior rehearsal, behavior rehearsal plus modeling, and placebo control. Five behavioral and three self-report inventories were used as dependent measures. Coaching plus behavior rehearsal appears to be the most essential treatment components. Training was effective in improving assertiveness on all three dimensions.     

A controlled trial of the treatment of nocturnal enuresis in residential homes for children

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the practicability and efficacy of treating enuretic children in residential Children's Homes by means of the enuresis alarm. A control group design was employed with 19 and 20 subjects in the treatment and control groups respectively. Eighteen of the nineteen treatment group children achieved initial arrest of enuresis in a mean of 11.9 weeks of treatment (range 5–28 weeks). Over the initial 12-week period, the treatment group showed a statistically significant reduction in mean wetting frequency, both over time and in comparison with the control group. After a follow-up period of at least 20 months. 17 of the 19 children were known to be dry. The results of an independent evaluation are reported, and it is concluded that alarm treatment is as effective and practicable in Children's Homes as it is in family situations.     

The form of analog size information in memory

The information used to choose the larger of two objects from memory was investigated in two experiments that compared the effects of a number of variables on the performance of subjects who either were instructed to use imagery in the comparison task or were not so instructed. Subjects instructed to use imagery could perform the task more quickly if they prepared themselves with an image of one of the objects at its normal size, rather than with an image that was abnormally big or small, or no image at all. Such subjects were also subject to substantial selective interference when asked to simultaneously maintain irrelevant images of digits. In contrast, when subjects were not specifically instructed to use imagery to reach their decisions, an initial image at normal size did not produce significantly faster decisions than no image, or a large or small image congruent with the correct decision. The selective interference created by simultaneously imaging digits was reduced for subjects not told to base their size comparisons on imagery. The difficulty of the size discrimination did not interact significantly with any other variable. The results suggest that subjects, unless specifically instructed to use imagery, can compare the size of objects in memory using information more abstract than visual imagery.     

Visual-feature and response components in a picture-word interference task with beginning and skilled readers

A series of four experiments is reported in which reaction times for naming line drawings were analyzed as a function of the similarity of the print superimposed on the drawings to the printed label for the drawing. This effect was studied as a function of grade level (ages 6, 8, and 11 years) and, hence, reading experience. The studies were designed to determine more precisely the characteristics of the stage of visual feature analysis of word identification and to examine response competition factors in this interference task. Results indicated that a combination of end letters and word shape was important for word identification and that response articulation was a significant distinct interference component in this task.