Referential communication abilities of learning-disabled, language-learning-disabled, and normal school-age children

Past research in referential communication has indicated normally developing children show developmental progression in ability to communicate a specific referent to a listener. In one paradigm subjects were given lists of word-pairs in which one member of each pair was designated as the referent. It was shown that communicating about referents found in word-pairs associated in some way was more difficult than communicating about referents in dissimilar word-pairs. The present study extended this methodology to learning-disabled children. Learning-disabled, language-learning-disabled, and normally achieving children were asked to communicate about 30 pictured referents on three different tasks. On Tasks 1 and 2 each subject was asked to give a clue for the referent that would distinguish it from the other picture. Stimuli for Task 1 were 30 pairs of pictures that were related in some way and the stimuli for Task 2 were 30 pairs of unrelated pictures. Task 3 required the subjects to evaluate the adequacy of the examiner's clues for Task 1 stimuli. The disabled subjects were matched to the normally achieving subjects on the basis of receptive vocabulary age. Few differences were noted among the groups' performances on these referential communication tasks. Implications include the importance of vocabulary and concept development to referential communication.     

Reconsideration of measurement of error in human motor learning

Human motor learning is often measured by error scores. The convention of using mean absolute error, mean constant error, and variable error shows lack of desirable parsimony and interpretability. This paper provides the background of error measurement and states criticisms of conventional methodology. A parsimonious model of error analysis is provided, along with operationalized interpretations and implications for motor learning. Teaching, interpreting, and using error scores in research may be simplified and facilitated with the model.     

Stability of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--revised for emotionally handicapped middle-school-age children

In this pilot study, 20 middle-school-age children classified as emotionally handicapped were administered Forms L and M of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Revised in test-retest fashion. Pearson correlations for Form L were .90, for Form M, .69, and these dependent correlations were significantly different from each other. As triennial school psychological evaluations typically contain tests which have been administered previously, e.g., WISC-R, WRAT-R, we suggest that psychologists use caution when using Form M to test or retest the receptive vocabulary of emotionally handicapped or disturbed middle-school-age children.     

WORK LOAD, TENSION, AND COPING: MODERATING EFFECTS OF SUPERVISOR SUPPORT

This research investigated the buffering role of social support in the relationship of work load to both tension-anxiety and coping for police radio dispatchers ( N = 60). Each dispatcher was observed throughout an entire 8-hour work shift by a trained observer. Objective load consisted of the hourly rate of incoming telephone calls, police radio transmissions, and face-to-face or written communications from superiors, co-workers, and others. At the end of each shift, measures were taken of dispatchers' perceived load, felt tension-anxiety, and coping actions. Hierarchical regression revealed that support from superiors moderated the effects of both objective and perceived loads; no main effects of support were found. Statistically significant interactions confirmed the hypothesized buffering role of support: under high perceived load, dispatchers with high social support engaged in more coping actions and felt less tension-anxiety than did low-support dispatchers. No differences were found when perceived load was low. Support also buffered effects of objective load on tension-anxiety but not on coping.     

Psychophysiology of analysis of connotative decodification: the role of thermic and somesthetic systems in decodification of chromatic stimuli

We hypothesized that in the decodification of connotative aspects of visual chromatic stimuli the periphery of the body plays an important role. In particular we hypothesized that the decodification process of so called "warm" and "cold" colours is related to a real modification of the temperature of the body which is the basis of the "subjective feeling" and of the attribution of the "emotional meaning" to the stimulus. So we have measured the temperature of the body of 36 female psychology students while they were looking at a luminous screen through spectacles in which filters (coloured lenses) of different colours were placed. Analysis indicated that during the perception of so called "warm" colours a statistically significant increase in the temperature of the body appeared. We observed an enhancement of temperature on the left side of the body during the perception with red and yellow filters and a small increase in temperature on the right side of the body with orange and yellow filters. In the discussion of the results we considered also the role of the cerebral dominance in decodification process of the connotative components of stimuli.     

Fixation accuracy and perceptual asymmetry for consonants

Fixation accuracy was related to perception of laterally presented consonants. Small left-eye fixation inaccuracy influenced perceptual performance of 8 men and 8 women.     

Self-esteem of adolescent girls as related to weight

The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was administered to 550 14- and 16-yr.-old (+/- 6 mo.) girls. Self-esteem scores were categorized by weight and weight by height. Scores on the Quetelet Index for obesity were correlated with self-esteem scores. Mean self-esteem of the low- and middle-weight by height group was significantly higher than the mean of the high-weight by height group. In analyzing weight alone, the self-esteem of the middle-weight group was significantly higher than the self-esteem of the high-weight group. The correlation of the obesity index and self-esteem indicated that as weight increased self-esteem decreased.