The Dynamics of Job-Seeking Behavior

Job placement readiness as a continuum is discussed. High and low readiness are specifically treated. Personality characteristics and case histories of the two types are given.     

Letter legibility and visual word recognition

Word recognition performance varies systematically as a function of where the eyes fixate in the word. Performance is maximal with the eye slightly left of the center of the word and decreases drastically to both sides of thisoptimal viewing position. While manipulations of lexical factors have only marginal effects on this phenomenon, previous studies have pointed to a relation between the viewing position effect (VPE) and letter legibility: When letter legibility drops, the VPE becomes more exaggerated. To further investigate this phenomenon, we improved letter legibility by magnifying letter size in a way that was proportional to the distance from fixation (e.g., TABLE). Contrary to what would be expected if the VPE were due to limits of acuity, improving the legibility of letters has only a restricted influence on performance. In particular, for long words, a strong VPE remains even when letter legibility is equalized across eccentricities. The failure to neutralize the VPE is interpreted in terms of perceptual learning: Since normally, because of acuity limitations, the only information available in parafoveal vision concerns low-resolution features of letters; even when magnification provides better information, readers are unable to make use of it.     

The Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale: Confirmatory Factor Analytic Findings

The psychometric properties of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) have recently been heavily examined. Specifically, a number of researchers have been interested in determining the factor structure of this scale to find whether it best forms a one, two, or three factor model. The present study continued this examination by considering different scaling models using confirmatory factor analysis with a sample of individuals diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). One hundred and forty-six individuals diagnosed with OCD participated and were administered the Y-BOCS and scales measuring depression (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) and anxiety (Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale). It was found that the Y-BOCS forms two different two-factor models. One model consisted of an obsessions and compulsions factor; the other composed of disturbance and symptom severity factors. It was likewise found that depression and anxiety were related to both factors in one model (disturbance and symptom severity). The finding that depression was related to obsessions and anxiety to compulsions was found, as in a previous factor analysis of the Y-BOCS. These findings suggest that OCD may be best characterized as a multidimensional syndrome that may not be adequately examined by a single unitary factor as described in the Y-BOCS.     

Issues surrounding the cognitive neuroscience of obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been studied extensively in recent years, with increased emphasis on understanding OCD’s biological substrates. There has been significant progress in documenting abnormal brain function in OCD patients, particularly in the orbitofrontal cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus. Similar progress has broadened our understanding of the cognitive and behavioral manifestations of the disorder, including deficits in set shifting, hyperattention, and visuospatial construction abilities. Unfortunately, these results have not been replicated consistently. This report comprises a review of previous attempts to characterize the neurobiology and neuropsychology of OCD, and a discussion of several factors in OCD research that can help to explain previous inconsistencies.     

Temporal summation at the warmth threshold

Threshold levels for warmth aroused by infrared irradiation were measured in sLx Ss at durations between 0.05 and 10 sec. Beyond a critical duration of about a second, the threshold does not depend on duration. Below critical duration time t trades for irradiance ? by the formula ? = kt^?0.82. That these properties do not depend much on areal extent of stimulation was demonstrated by a study that compared temporal summation for two different areas of the same S’s skin. Individual differences in apparent absolute sensitivity were explored under the rubric of the theory of signal detection.     

A simulation of memory for chess positions

This paper describes an information-processing model, MAPP, implemented as a computer program, that simulates the processes subjects use to remember and reproduce chess positions they have seen briefly. The model incorporates processes adapted from PERCEIVER, an information-processsing theory of eye movements in chess perception, and EPAM, a theory of rote verbal learning. The data from MAPP show good agreement with the performance of strong chess players in identical tasks.