Visual comparison processes: Identity and similarity decisions

In the first experiment, in which two successively presented free-form visual patterns varied in their similarity to each other, subjects had to decide, in one condition, if the patterns were “identical” and in two other conditions if the patterns were “similar.” Qualitative individual differences in the effect of similarity on the time required to make a decision were found in the “identity” condition, and these differences interacted with the “similarity” conditions. The individual differences and the experimental effects are interpreted in terms of a two-process model of the visual comparison process—a holistic matching process that is sometimes accompanied by an analytic difference detection process. In the second experiment, the same subjects repeatedly categorized subsets of the free-form visual patterns on the basis of similarity. There appeared to be no individual differences in the subjects’ perceptions of similarity, but subjects’ perceptions did differ from the assumptions made by the experimenters when they established the response criteria for the first experiment.     

Reliability of alcohol abusers' self-reports of drinking behavior.

The test-retest reliability of alcohol abusers' self-reports of their daily drinking and daily drinking, alcohol-related incarcerations and their drinking problem history were highly reliable (r = +0.79 to +0.98). Limits on the generalizability of these finclings are discussed. ing dispositions for the 360-day period preceding admission to treatment. Results indicated that. over a 6-week test-retest interval, outpatient male alcohol abusers' self-reports of their daily drinking, alcohol-related incarcerations and their drinking problem history were highly reliable (r = +0.79 to +0.98). Limits on the generalizability of these finclings are discussed.     

Systems issues in psychiatric treatment of adolescents in their community

The psychiatric treatment of adolescents is analyzed as having, on the one hand, staff and client subsystems interacting continuously and, on the other hand, cross-boundary transactions between the treatment program and two other systems, the neighborhood and the community mental health system of which the program is a part. Through the use of the concepts of boundaries and mirroring, it is possible to explain more clearly how certain dramatic events relate to adolescent psychology and to the treatment tasks.     

The desirability of control

The psychological construct of desirability of control was related to several theoretical statements (e.g., Kelley, 1971; White, 1959) and areas of current research (e.g., Glass & Singer, 1972; Deci, 1975) in psychology. A scale designed to measure individual differences in the general level of motivation to control the events in one's life was presented. The Desirability of Control Scale was found to have substantial internal consistency (.80) and test-retest reliability (.75), as well as discriminant validity from measures of locus of control (Rotter, 1966) and social desirability (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960). The results of an illusion of control study (cf. Langer, 1975) provided construct validation: only subjects high in the desire for control displayed a belief in personal control over chance outcomes. Construct validation was also provided from studies on learned helplessness and hypnosis. The practical, as well as theoretical, value of the instrument was discussed.This research was facilitated by National Science Foundation grant BNS78-08834 to Harris Cooper.     

Deceit as a function of sex of subject and target person

Thirty male and female undergraduates were run in same- and opposite-sex pairs to determine if the extent of experimentally sanctioned deceit would be influenced by sex pairings and potential for harm to another's self-esteem. Ss, who all believed they were playing the role of a teacher in a learning experiment, were instructed to provide false feedback (lie) at least three times during 30 trials to a learner, the other S. Consistent with hypotheses derived from a consideration of the potential harm to another's self-esteem and a suggested norm of white lying, perceived relative importance of male and female sex roles, and greater female concern for the social welfare of others, it was found that white lies occurred significantly more often than lies, that males were significantly more likely to give false feedback than females, that females were the target of false feedback significantly more often than males, and that the interaction between sex of S and sex of target person was also significant in that males lied to females more than any other sex pairing.This research was partially supported by the New Mexico Highlands University Institute of Scientific Research. A brief version of this report was presented at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association meeting, Denver, May, 1974.     

Dissociation of event-related potentials indexing arousal and semantic cohesion during emotional word encoding

Event-related potential (ERP) studies have shown that emotional stimuli elicit greater amplitude late positive-polarity potentials (LPPs) than neutral stimuli. This effect has been attributed to arousal, but emotional stimuli are also more semantically coherent than uncategorized neutral stimuli. ERPs were recorded during encoding of positive, negative, uncategorized neutral, and categorized neutral words. Differences in LPP amplitude elicited by emotional versus uncategorized neutral stimuli were evident from 450 to 1000 ms. From 450 to 700 ms, LPP effects at midline and right hemisphere frontal electrodes indexed arousal, whereas LPP effects at left hemisphere centro-parietal electrodes indexed semantic cohesion. This dissociation helps specify the processes underlying emotional stimulus encoding, and suggests the need to control for semantic cohesion in emotional information processing studies.     

Eye movements of monkey observers viewing vocalizing conspecifics

Primates, including humans, communicate using facial expressions, vocalizations and often a combination of the two modalities. For humans, such bimodal integration is best exemplified by speech-reading - humans readily use facial cues to enhance speech comprehension, particularly in noisy environments. Studies of the eye movement patterns of human speech-readers have revealed, unexpectedly, that they predominantly fixate on the eye region of the face as opposed to the mouth. Here, we tested the evolutionary basis for such a behavioral strategy by examining the eye movements of rhesus monkeys observers as they viewed vocalizing conspecifics. Under a variety of listening conditions, we found that rhesus monkeys predominantly focused on the eye region versus the mouth and that fixations on the mouth were tightly correlated with the onset of mouth movements. These eye movement patterns of rhesus monkeys are strikingly similar to those reported for humans observing the visual components of speech. The data therefore suggest that the sensorimotor strategies underlying bimodal speech perception may have a homologous counterpart in a closely related primate ancestor.     

Bridging a yawning chasm: EEG investigations into the debate concerning the role of the human mirror neuron system in contagious yawning

Ongoing debate in the literature concerns whether there is a link between contagious yawning and the human mirror neuron system (hMNS). One way of examining this issue is with the use of the electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure changes in mu activation during the observation of yawns. Mu oscillations are seen in the alpha bandwidth of the EEG (8–12 Hz) over sensorimotor areas. Previous work has shown that mu suppression is a useful index of hMNS activation and is sensitive to individual differences in empathy. In two experiments, we presented participants with videos of either people yawning or control stimuli. We found greater mu suppression for yawns than for controls over right motor and premotor areas, particularly for those scoring higher on traits of empathy. In a third experiment, auditory recordings of yawns were compared against electronically scrambled versions of the same yawns. We observed greater mu suppression for yawns than for the controls over right lateral premotor areas. Again, these findings were driven by those scoring highly on empathy. The results from these experiments support the notion that the hMNS is involved in contagious yawning, emphasise the link between contagious yawning and empathy, and stress the importance of good control stimuli.