A comparison of deaf, normal, and brain damaged adults on a tachistoscopic task

Printed words and letters, pictures of signed words, and pictures of finger-spelled letters were presented tachistoscopically to deaf, normal, and brain-damaged adults. The findings suggest that (1) the deaf show no cerebral asymmetry for any of the material but found identification of the stimuli very difficult unless a forced-choice recognition procedure was used or the exposure time was very long; (2) both the normal and the brain-damaged groups show left hemisphere superiority for printed material but no cerebral specialization for signed material; (3) the left-right hemisphere difference is more marked in the brain-damaged group regardless of which hemisphere showed most damage. This may be explained, at least in some cases, by impaired transfer across the corpus callosum.     

Correlations of measures of personality and of intelligence within and across generations

Members of over 100 families were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) as well as various psychometric tests of personality. Individual cognitive and personality measures often were associated. Parent personality scale scores often were associated with offspring WAIS scores and vice versa. Stepwise multiple regressions demonstrated that knowledge of parental personality test scores substantially increased the predictability of offspring WAIS scores.     

Wobble cones and wobble holes: the stereokinetic effect revisited

It is well-known that patterns of eccentric circles when slowly rotated give rise to compelling three-dimensional impressions of cones or conical holes which can 'wobble' as the pattern rotates. The wobble can be considered as part of the overall phenomenon of depth elicited from a rotating display, the 'stereokinetic' effect (SKE). This paper considers the three-dimensional appearance as being the result of the sliding of contours and thus it imitates the motion parallax found in real three-dimensional objects in motion. New variants of SK figures are used to examine these points. An analogy with computer programs is proposed which questions earlier views on the location of perceptual invariance.     

Mental development: Family environment and genetic influences

A comprehensive home assessment was performed for 116 families whose twins were participants in a longitudinal study of early mental development. A large number of rating and observations made by a social worker during the home visit were condensed via factor analysis into four primary scores: adequacy of the home environment, maternal temperament, maternal cognitive skills, and maternal social-affect. The HOME scales of Caldwell (1978) were also completed, and all scores were combined with previously obtained measures of parental education and socioeconomic status. These scores were entered into a multiple regression analysis as predictors of off-spring mental development at 4 criterion ages: 6 months, 24 months, 3 years, and 6 years. The relationship was very weak at 6 months, but improved steadily over ages until reaching R_mult = .66 at 6 years. The four primary scores listed above plus father education all contributed significantly to the prediction of 6-year IQ scores, making it evident that home/family variables were substantially related to early mental development. However, a subsequent analysis using only parental education and SES as predictors yielded R_mult = .59. The qualitative features of home and mother thus appeared to augment a core linkage between parents and offspring representing intrinsic capabilities. The results are discussed in terms of both heritage and home environment as contributors to early mental development.     

The Vietnam veteran on wal: The relation of post-traumatic stress disorder to criminal behavior

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the relationship of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Vietnam veterans to criminal behavior. A conceptual framework is discussed which proposes that the disposition to criminal behavior is determined by whether or not the veteran enters into the survivor mode of functioning as a behavioral defense mechanism against the disorder. It is hypothesized that there exists a relationship between the severity of PTSD and the tendency to commit illegal acts. The Vietnam Era Stress Inventory (Wilson and Krauss, 1980) was used to assess PTSD among a volunteer national sample of Vietnam combat veterans (N = 114) participating in the Veterans Administration's counseling program known as Operation Outreach. The results strongly supported the hypothesis and indicated that combat role variables, exposure to stressors in Vietnam and the severity of PTSD were significantly correlated with criminal acts.     

How Superduper Does a Physicalist Supervenience Need to Be?

The standard formulations of the supervenience relation present the supervenience of one set of properties on another in terms of property correlations, without placing any constraints on the dependency relation concerned. This does not ensure that properties supervening upon phys-icalistically acceptable base properties are not themselves emergent in a way at odds with materialism. So physicalism needs 'superdupervenience'. I argue that, where supervenient and base properties are instantiated in the same individuals, Horgan's requirement of robust explanation is neither sufficient nor necessary for superdupervenience. His paradigm case is compatible with the supervenient property's being emergent. This and other unacceptable possibilities may be ruled out by means of a metaphysical constraint on the supervenience relation, which must be internal. Each individual causal power in the set associated with a given supervenient property must be numerically identical with a causal power in the set associated with its base property. Satisfying this condition is all that is needed to render supervenience superduper. In fact a wide variety of non-reductive physicalist accounts are implicitly or explicitly designed to meet this condition, and so are more similar than they seem.     

An investigation of preconditions necessary for the introduction of a campaign to promote breast self-examination amongst Zimbabwean women

This study examines elements of the health belief model as predictors of intentions to self-examine breasts in two samples of women. Undergraduate samples from London and Harare are compared on levels of knowledge of breast cancer and breast self-examination (BSE), and on scales measuring perceived susceptibility to breast cancer, exposure to information and experience of breast cancer and perceived costs, barriers and benefits of BSE. Analysis of results indicates that an education campaign to promote awareness and the practice of BSE which incorporates factors of the health belief model could increase the number of Zimbabwean women performing this valuable preventive health behaviour.     

Analysis of public verbal feedback as a staff management procedure

We evaluated public verbal feedback as a potentially effective and efficient means of improving institutional staff performance. Following baseline observations of the self-help training conducted by three groups of direct care staff with clients who had profound mental retardation, verbal feedback was presented publicly to individual staff during routine staff meetings. The feedback addressed the (in)frequency of the staffs training endeavors and required only a few minutes to present. Results indicated that each group of staff increased their client training when the public verbal feedback was provided. Probes of client self-help skills indicated that as the frequency of staff-conducted training increased, client skill acquisition improved. Generalization measures indicated that staff increased only those work behaviors for which they received feedback. Results are discussed regarding the efficiency of public verbal feedback as a means of improving staff performance, as well as the need for research to continue expanding and refining a technology of staff management.     

Chemical aversion conditioning in the treatment of alcoholism: further comments.

The literature on consummatory aversion (CA) conditioning in rats does provide a well-developed theoretical foundation for chemical aversion conditioning. Nevertheless, differences between rats and humans in CA learning suggest caution in extrapolating from the animal laboratory to the treatment of alcoholic patients. Serious methodological problems with studies of emetic therapy with alcoholics preclude unambiguous evaluation of its effects. Emetic therapy is an intrusive and relatively costly form of treatment which has not been shown to be more effective than alternative, less costly methods. The onus is on proponents of this method to demonstrate its specific advantages over alternative treatments.