Terminating and exhaustive search in lexical access

Two experiments which test predictions derived from the assumption that lexical access involves a search process are reported. In the first experiment, test items must be classified as ambiguous or unambiguous, and in the second experiment, they are classified according to their syntactic properties. In both experiments, it is shown that when the target of the search is a nonexistent entry, an exhaustive search is involved, even though the test items are words. Further, in these conditions, frequency of occurrence is no longer related to decision time, as it is in lexical decision experiments. It is concluded that the search model adequately explains the procedure whereby the most common meaning of a homograph is accessed, but that the less common meaning is accessed in some completely different manner.     

An extended class of matched pairs tests based on powers of ranks

A large class of rank tests, which includes the familiar sign test and the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, is described and discussed. This class of distribution-free tests provides a flexible basis for testing research hypotheses of various forms. Exact small sample and approximate large sample procedures are considered. Applications of these procedures are presented, including simple numerical examples.The authors wish to acknowledge the constructive comments by the reviewers.     

Defects of immediate memory in Broca's and conduction aphasia

It has been suggested that the repetition defect seen in conduction aphasia is caused by an auditory immediate memory defect. The purposes of this study were the following: to ascertain whether the finding of an auditory immediate memory defect in conduction aphasia could be replicated, to ascertain whether Broca's aphasics have a similar type of immediate memory defect, and to ascertain whether a relationship exists between immediate memory and comprehension of spoken language. Digits were either spoken or presented visually to Broca's and conduction aphasics. An analysis of span scores reveals that within each group there were no significant differences between the modes of presentation or the response modes. There were no significant differences between the aphasic groups. Comprehension of spoken language significantly correlated with digit span scores.     

Development of an on-line management information system for community mental health centers

An on-line computerized management information system has been developed at the Salt Lake City VA Hospital and is currently being implemented at Salt Lake Community Mental Health Center. An introduction to this system, including systems design and procedures for development, are presented. The advantages of on-line technology as compared to batch processing technology are also discussed.     

Book Reviews

C ampbell , J oseph . The mythic image.
S torr , A nthony . The dynamics of creation.
L aing , R. D. The facts of life.
W olff , H. Jesus der Mann—Die Gestalt Jesu in tiefen psychologischer Sicht.
A urigemma , L uigi . Le signe zodiacal du scorpion dans les traditions occidentales de l'antiquité gréco-latine à la renaissance.     

Interest congruency as a moderator of the relationships between job tenure and job satisfaction and mental health

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of interest-present job congruency as a moderator of the relationship between job tenure and job satisfaction and mental health. In a sample of 54 middle managers, significant moderator effects were found for the mental health indices of self-esteem, life-satisfaction, and overall mental health and for satisfaction with supervision. As expected, these indices correlated positively with job tenure for high congruency individuals. For low congruency individuals, the relationships were expected to be negative. However, the obtained correlations did not differ significantly from zero.     

Developmental differences in recall and recognition: The relationship between rehearsal and memory as test expectation changes

An overt rehearsal procedure was used to study the relationship between children's rehearsal strategies and their memory performance under different conditions of test expectation. Previous work has shown that developmental differences in rehearsal content affect recall performance. This study was designed to address the question of why active rehearsal content results in superior recall performance. The equivalence of recognition-memory performance for third- (age 9) and sixthgraders (age 12) suggests that developmental differences in recall are due to the effects of rehearsal content on item retrieval from permanent memory. In addition, the data indicate that third- and sixth-graders can differentiate between expected recall and recognition tests and, with the exception of the sixth-grade boys, use this information to modify their rehearsal content. These differences in rehearsal content, as a function of the type of test expected, corresponded to changes in recall performance.     

The role of noun imagery in the speed of processing the grammaticality of adjective-noun phrases

This experiment investigated speed of processing the grammaticality of phrases consisting of the adjective “one” or “two” followed by a singular or plural noun. The subject’s task was to press one of two keys, depending upon whether the phrase was grammatically correct or incorrect. There were eight types of phrases, formed by the factorial combinations of singular or plural adjectives, singular or plural nouns, and high or low noun imageD’. These served as within-subjects variables. Between-subjects variables were the factorial combinations of sex of subject, duration of stimulus phrase (.2 or 2.5 sec), and hand assigned to the correct-grammar key. A fourth between-subjects variable was whether or not the subject reported using an artificial phrase-scanning strategy to determine grammaticality. Correct grammar, singular noun form, high noun imagery, and reported use of the strategy all produced highly significant reductions in reaction times. Only 1% of the interactions were significant. A multistage serial processing model that could be based upon Sternberg’s additive factor paradigm or even Donders’ subtraction method was found to be highly successful in describing the results.