Slow potential changes and choice reaction time as a function of interstimulus interval

Slow potential changes were recorded over the vertex (C_z) during a choice reaction task. The constant interstimulus interval (ISI) between the visual warning (S₁) and the visual imperative signal (S₂) was either 200, 400, 1000 or 2000 msec. The contingent negative variation (CNV) was not only measured between S₁ and S₂ (CNV₂), but also before S₁ (CNV₁).The main results were: (1) The CNV₂ amplitude showed significant variation as a function of ISI. It reached its maximum with an ISI of 1000 msec. (2) CNV₁ developed only before the short ISIs (200 and 400 msec). (3) When CNV₁ and CNV₂ were summed the differences in CNV amplitudes and durations between different ISIs became smaller. (4) The peak-to-peak amplitude P₁-N₁ of the potential evoked by S₁ was enhanced with short ISIs. (5) The correlations between mean CNV and median reaction time (RT) were low but significant for ISIs of 400, 1000 and 2000 msec. When, however, the effect of subjects was partialized out these correlations were drastically reduced, whereas the partialization of session and block effects had no noticeable influence on these correlations. (6) The correlations between single RT and single CNV (measured for the ISI of 1000 msec, individually for two subjects) were weak or even completely lacking.The main conclusion was that CNV coincides with preparedness to react to a stimulus in a choice RT-task, but its amplitude at the moment of onset of the imperative stimulus does not reflect, or reflects weakly, the degree of preparedness (as indicated by RTs) at that moment.     

Generative theories in language and music descriptions

The style of a set of Swedish nursery tunes is described in terms of a generative rule system. A generative rule system producing melodically similar versions of an old Swedish folk song is also presented. Examples of melodies generated by these two rule systems are given.Both these rule systems are similar in several respects. Thus, the marking of the hierarchical constituent structure seems to be one of the important principles in composing simple melodies.The rule systems also show a number of similarities with the Chomsky & Halle (1968) generative phonology of English. For instance, the procedures used for deriving a stress contour from a tree diagram are almost identical. Moreover, in sentences as in melodies this stress, or prominence contour is of decisive importance to the generation of the surface structure, such as meter, harmony, and sequences of pitches. It is believed that such parallels between language and music reflect characteristics of man's perceptual and cognitive capacities.     

Obsessional-compulsive checking: Experimental replication and development

The purpose of this experiment was to resolve some inconclusive findings from an earlier study on the effects of compulsive checking rituals. Twelve obsessional-compulsive checkers carried out a provoking act followed by their compulsive checking ritual, in natural situations, under two conditions—E present and E absent. The provoking act produced subjective discomfort, tension, worry and anxiety; these feelings were reduced after completion of the checking ritual. Both the increases and post-ritual decreases in discomfort were more pronounced in the spontaneous occurrence condition (E absent). The results are consistent with the hypothesis that compulsive rituals serve to reduce discomfort.     

Psychische und physische Reaktionen auf Geräusch verschiedener subjektiver Wertigkeit

Zusammenfassung In dieser Untersuchung wurde die Abhängigkeit der physischen und psychischen Komponenten der Lärmwirkung von der Wertigkeit des Lärms analysiert.Hierbei wurde physikalisch identischem Lärm einmal eine positive, einmal eine negative, einmal keine Valenz experimentell verliehen. Die Ergebnisse weisen in Richtung der gestellten Hypothesen. Die Verschiedenheit der emotionalen Valenz beeinflußt die Stellungnahme der Vp zu der Lärmsituation, sie beeinflußt das Ausmaß der durch den Lärm bewirkten Muskelspannung und das Ausmaß der durch den Lärm bewirkten Hörschwellenverschieung. Nach der Darstellung der verschiedenen Versuchsergebnisse wurden Spekulationen über eine mögliche psychologische Interpretation angestellt.

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Psychological and physiological reactions to noise of different subjective valence (TTS and EMG)

Summary The hypothesis is proposed that physiological and psychological reactions to noise are not independent from one another. 2 groups of Ss were exposed to an identical tape of interrupted white noise of 95 dB. For group A noise was the signal that they had made an error in a pseudo-tracking task; for the other group (B) the same noise was the signal that they were on target in the pseudo-tracking task. A third group (C) of Ss heard the same noise without any task.The dependent variables were: a) temporary threshold shift (TTS), b) muscle tension as measured by electromyography, c) subjective scaling of the amount of annoyance and disturbance induced by the noise and of the general sensitivity for noise of the S.Results: Ss who invest the noise with a positive emotional valence feel themselves less disturbed, less annoyed and in general less susceptible to noise than Ss who receive the same noise with negative valence.Muscle tension is highest for group A, less for group B, least for group C.The amount of TTS is dependent upon the valence of the noise: noise with negative valence results in a TTS of 18.1 dB, whereas noise of neutral or positive valence leads to a TTS of only 11.0 resp. 12.8 dB.The results are discussed in relation to noise research and to activation theory and detection theory.

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Diese Untersuchung entstand, als die beiden erstgenannten Verfasser am Psychologischen Institut der Freien Universität Berlin und H. Gummlich am Institut für Technische Akustik der Technischen Universität Berlin (Direktor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. L. Cremer), Lehrgebiet Geräuschbekämpfung (Prof. Dr. E. Lübcke) tätig waren. Wir danken Herrn Prof. Cremer dafür, daß er die Camera silenta seines Instituts und neben anderen Apparaturen das Békésy-Audiometer zur Verfügung gestellt hat. Herrn Prof. Lübcke danken wir für seinen wertvollen Rat. Die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft hat die Untersuchung großzügig unterstützt.     

TRACKING PERFORMANCE UNDER THREAT-INDUCED STRESS

Operator tracking performance in 3 simulated guided missile systems was studied under short-term psychological stress induced by threatening with and also delivering unpleasant electric shocks. The initial part of the stress period was characterized by a moderate decrement of performance and a heightened arousal level, which is regarded as a partial confirmation of the activation theory. The results may also be interpreted in terms of a simple stress-over-time model, based on a hypothetical interaction between arousal and habituation.     

Gender differences in geographical knowledge

In five experiments involving more than 1800 undergraduate students, males more accurately located places on maps of the United States or its various regions than did females. These gender differences could not be attributed to education, travel history, desire to travel, or in the amount of incidental exposure to several potential sources of geographic information in everyday life. Males performed more accurately than females on measures of egocentric and allocentric spatial orientation, but performance on these tasks was only weakly predictive of accuracy on tests of geographical knowledge. Since males and females learned the locations of places on an unfamiliar map at similar rates, regardless of whether such learning occurred under intentional or incidental instructions, gender differences in geographical knowledge cannot be attributed to differences in capacity to learn place locations on maps. An attentional hypothesis is proposed to account for the more accurate performance of males on tests of geographical knowledge.     

Shift in stimulus range and the exponent of the power function for loudness

The exponent of the power function for loudness was tracked over the course of 60 trials with one stimulus range and compared to the exponent over the course of 60 subsequent trials with a different stimulus range. Three stimulus sets were used: (1) weak, a short range of relatively soft tones (45-55 dBA); (2) strong, a short range of relatively loud tones (64-74 dBA); and (3) complete, a longer range of soft to loud tones (40-90 dBA). All pairs of stimulus sets were tested, together with three control conditions in which no shift in range occurred. Ten subjects were run in each of the nine groups. For preshift trials, the mean exponent was lowest for the strong stimulus series, highest for the weak series, and at an intermediate value for the complete series. These differences were all significant. Following a shift in stimulus range, the weak series still yielded the highest exponent, but the exponents were not reliably different for the complete and strong series. Postshift exponents also depended significantly on the preshift range experienced by the subjects. These effects were not confined to the period immediately following the shift in range, but persisted for up to 60 trials.     

Electrodermal nonresponding, premorbid adjustment, and symptomatology as predictors of long-term social functioning in schizophrenics

The hypothesis that electrodermal nonresponsiveness to orienting stimuli delineates a core group of "Kraepelinian" type schizophrenics was tested by following up social functioning outcome over a 2-year period in 37 schizophrenics. Good social functioning outcome required both some self-supporting ability in the job market and a minimal social life. The prior assessments included monitoring of electrodermal responses to a series of moderately intense tones, ratings of reported and observed symptoms during an interview, and ratings of premorbid adjustment on the basis of an interview with a close relative. Electrodermal nonresponding, poor premorbid adjustment, and negative symptomatology predicted poor social functioning during the second follow-up year, but the relationship to nonresponding pertained exclusively to a group of 15 first-episode patients. Discriminant analysis showed that electrodermal nonresponding and symptoms were the only independent predictors of outcome.     

Additive hypotheses of the effect of head and eye movement on dark convergence

Dark vergence depends on the vertical direction of gaze; it decreases with raised gaze and increases with lowered gaze. The vertical direction of gaze can be varied by means or raising or lowering the eyes or by way of tilting the head forward or backward. The effects of both manipulations on dark vergence are different. According to Heuer (1988) the effects of head tilt and eye inclination on dark vergence are almost, but not exactly, additive. In Exp. 1 the hypothesis of additive effects of gaze direction and eye inclination was tested and could not be rejected. The two additive hypotheses (head tilt and eye inclination vs. gaze inclination and eye inclination) result in different predictions for dark vergence with "compensatory" head and eye inclinations, which leave the direction of gaze in space invariant. In Exp. 2 it was shown that predictions from both hypotheses deviated from the observed values of dark vergence. Thus none of the two additive hypotheses provides exact predictions of dark vergence for all possible combinations of head tilt and eye inclination. For practical purposes the approximation might be sufficient. In particular, although mean dark vergence cannot be predicted exactly, individual differences can be predicted quite accurately.