Using subtests of the Brain Age Quotient to screen for cognitive deficits among substance abusers.

The subtests of the Brain Age Quotient, a brief neuropsychological battery, were used to screen for cognitive impairment in a sample of 112 substance abusers. Each of the subtests was scored, using newly developed T scores corrected for age, education, and gender, for which a mean battery score of T less than 40 indicates general cognitive impairment. The chance-corrected agreement in finding cognitive dysfunction between this battery and the Average Impairment Rating T score from the Halstead-Reitan battery was adequate, kappa = .81. This result suggests that, for discerning global cognitive impairment, this relatively brief neurodiagnostic screening device may be an attractive alternative to the more time-consuming Halstead-Reitan battery.     

Effects of color of paper on which the Profile of Mood States is printed on the psychological states it measures.

The Profile of Mood States was printed on four different colors of paper (yellow, red, green, blue) and white to test whether the color of paper would influence mood state scores of 246 college students. Univariate analyses of variance identified color effects only on the Fatigue scale.     

Effects of noise on sleep inertia as a function of circadian placement of a one-hour nap.

The purpose of the present study was to analyse the arousing effects of noise on sleep inertia as a function of circadian placement of a one-hour nap. In a first experiment, we measured the effects of sleep inertia in a neutral acoustic environment after a one-hour nap placed either at 0100 or 0400 on response time during a spatial memory test. In a second experiment were analysed the effects of an intense continuous noise on sleep inertia. The results showed that noise produced a total abolition of sleep inertia after an early nap (0000 to 0100). This may be due to the arousing effect of noise; however, results are less clear after a late nap 0300 to 0400 as noise seems to be ineffective. This result is discussed in terms of either a function of time-of-day effect or of prior sleep intensity. Moreover, our data suggest a possible interaction of noise with partial sleep deprivation leading to a slight deleterious effect those subjects who did not sleep at all.     

Imputation of missing categorical data by maximizing internal consistency

This paper suggests a method to supplant missing categorical data by reasonable replacements. These replacements will maximize the consistency of the completed data as measured by Guttman's squared correlation ratio. The text outlines a solution of the optimization problem, describes relationships with the relevant psychometric theory, and studies some properties of the method in detail. The main result is that the average correlation should be at least 0.50 before the method becomes practical. At that point, the technique gives reasonable results up to 10–15% missing data.We thank Anneke Bloemhoff of NIPG-TNO for compiling and making the Dutch Life Style Survey data available to use, and Chantal Houée and Thérèse Bardaine, IUT, Vannes, France, exchange students under the COMETT program of the EC, for computational assistance. We also thank Donald Rubin, the Editors and several anonymous reviewers for constructive suggestions.     

Did Pearson reject the Neyman-Pearson philosophy of statistics?

I document some of the main evidence showing that E. S. Pearson rejected the key features of the behavioral-decision philosophy that became associated with the Neyman-Pearson Theory of statistics (NPT). I argue that NPT principles arose not out of behavioral aims, where the concern is solely with behaving correctly sufficiently often in some long run, but out of the epistemological aim of learning about causes of experimental results (e.g., distinguishing genuine from spurious effects). The view Pearson did hold gives a deeper understanding of NPT tests than their typical formulation as accept-reject routines, against which criticisms of NPT are really directed. The Pearsonian view that emerges suggests how NPT tests may avoid these criticisms while still retaining what is central to these methods: the control of error probabilities.A portion of this research was carried out during tenure of a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend Fellowship; I gratefully acknowledge that support. A version of this paper was presented at the 1987 meeting of the Society for Exact Philosophy. This paper benefited from discussions and communications with George Barnard and Isaac Levi. I thank Harlan Miller for helpful comments on earlier drafts.     

An automated test development of parallel tests from a seed test

Binary programming models are presented to generate parallel tests from an itembank. The parallel tests are created to match item for item an existing seed test and match user supplied taxonomic specifications. The taxonomic specifications may be either obtained from the seed test or from some other user requirement. An algorithm is presented along with computational results to indicate the overall efficiency of the process. Empirical findings based on an itembank for the Arithmetic Reasoning section of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery are given.The Office of Naval Research, Program in Cognitive Science, N00014-87-C-0696 partially supported the work of Douglas H. Jones. The Rutgers Research Resource Committee of the Graduate School of Management partially supported the work of Douglas H. Jones and Ing-Long Wu. A Thomas and Betts research fellowship partially supported the work of Ing-Long Wu. The Human Resources Laboratory, United States Air Force, partially supported the work of Ronald Armstrong. The authors benefited from conversations with Dr. Wayne Shore, Operational Technologies, San Antonio, Texas. The order of authors' names is alphabetical and denotes equal authorship.     

Adolescents and computers: attitude, personality and motive for interaction]

This empirical study was undertaken to clarify controversial points emanating from previous theoretical and empirical papers dealing with apparently negative consequences on the personality development of young people who have at least a causal working-acquaintance with computers. We tested 174 persons of both sexes (age: 14-18 years) with a "Computer-Attitude-Questionnaire" and the "Mehrdimensionaler Pers?nlichkeitstest für Jugendliche" (Schmidt, 1981; "Multidimensional-Personality-Test"). A subgroup of 63 persons who have access to and do avail themselves of computers on a regular basis (as leisure-time activity) also answered the "Computer-Motive-Questionnaire". Statistical analyses revealed that the personality test-values of young people with a positive attitude toward computers range within the test-norm. The data for these people describe them as stress resistant, emotionally stable, well-balanced, sociable, achievement-oriented, and less aggressive.     

Common attitudes about the effect of positive and negative mood on task related motivation]

Several theories on emotion and mood have stressed the close relationship between emotion and motivation. However, assumptions on mood contingent motivations have mainly been studied in the field of social behavior, and there are only few studies concerned with mood contingent task motivations, an area in which nit is possible to distinguish between two motivational sets, the deliberative and the implemented mind set. Assuming that positive mood is associated with a stronger task-oriented deliberative mind set, and that negative mood is associated with a stronger self-oriented deliberative mind set, and that implemented mind set should be intrinsically task-oriented during positive mood and instrumentally task-oriented during negative mood. The present paper is concerned with these assumptions from a subjective perspective: The respondents were asked about their lay perceptions of mood influences (positive, elated versus negative, sad mood) on task related motivations. In study I the respondents (N = 40) were asked about their deliberative mind sets during positive versus negative mood and about their general perceptions of mood influences on performance. In study II the respondents (N = 58) were requested to imagine situations which elicit positive, negative or neutral mood, and then to answer questions on deliberative and implemented mind sets during these states; they also hat to answer a general question about mood influences on task performance. Both quantitative and qualitative measures are used in these studies. The findings support the above general notions, and they additionally show that in the respondents' opinions negative mood effects are more variable than positive mood effects; further, that there are quite a few individual differences in assumed mood effects on task-related motivation.