Detecting conjunctions of color and form in parallel

Certain theories of visual attention assume that at least one processing stage must be serial when the target of search is defined as the conjunction of two or more separable features. To explain why conjunction-search response times do not always form linearly increasing functions of display size, recent versions of this general model have posited the existence of an early parallel process that guides the serial stage toward display elements that are likely targets. Other models have relaxed the seriality assumption, allowing for a limited number of parallel decisions. In the three experiments reported here, a redundant-target detection task was used with conjunctively defined targets and display sizes of two (Experiment 1), one or two (Experiment 2), and six (Experiment 3). In all three experiments, strong evidence for parallel processing was observed. The implications for models of elementary visual processes are discussed.     

Note on aftereffect of unidirectional sound-level change with different durations of test stimulus

Prolonged listening to unidirectional change of sound level in a tone can cause a steady tone afterwards to change in apparent loudness in the opposite direction. Subjectively the present aftereffect appears strong immediately after removal of the adaptor, becoming much weaker within a second or so. To confirm this, the aftereffect was measured by nulling with different durations of test stimulus changing steadily in sound level. As predicted, rate of change of sound level was greater for the shorter test stimuli. This suggests that aftereffect measurement by nulling may be best achieved with short test stimuli. However, responses to shorter test stimuli were generally more scattered.     

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ESTIMATES OF CONTENT AND CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY VALUES

The correspondence between inferences made using two validation strategies–content and criterion-related–were examined in a specific personnel selection application. Empirical validity values and Law-she's (1975) content validity ratios (CVR) were obtained for items from three structured interview guides used in the selection of insurance agents. Ratings of each item by over 300 field managers were used to calculate the CVR values. Statistically significant, yet modest correlations were found between empirical item validities and content validities for an interview guide used to select applicants with prior insurance sales experience. No significant differences were found among these correlations by comparing job experts of different levels of managerial experience and experience in selection. Data for the interview guide used to select experienced applicants also indicated that a content validity approach can be useful in developing a selection instrument with an empirically valid composite rating. The hypotheses were not confirmed for interview guides used to select applicants with no prior insurance sales experience. The practical importance of these results are discussed, as are plans for future research.     

Staging the psychoanalytic situation in supervision

Fantasies, parapraxes, and associations that figure significantly in the transference-countertransference process between patient and analytic candidate also work their way into the relationship between the candidate and the supervisor--sometimes in disguised fashion. The author illustrates this observation with vignettes and shows how, with the help of Lorenzer's concept of scenic understanding, the interaction pattern observable in the supervision can be utilized for the understanding of the material presented by the patient.     

Biotinidase deficiency--a progressive metabolic disease in children with seizures and ataxia

Biotinidase deficiency is the primary biochemical defect in late-onset multiple carboxylase deficiency and an autosomal recessive disorder and characterized by seizures, ataxia, alopecia and skin rash. We describe a colorimetric semiquantitative method for screening for biotinidase activity from dried samples of whole blood spotted on filter papers. The administration of biotin to affected children can be a lifesaving procedure and can prevent irreversible neurologic damage.     

Height vertigo, fear of heights, acrophobia

Height vertigo (acrophobia) is a very frequent phenomenon being of interest for its physiological and psychological background, though usually only of limited significance in neuropsychiatry and otology. The different aspects as to its nature and origin are discussed. If acrophobia has developed into a conditioned reaction of avoidance with pressure of suffering, or acrophobia in persons, who have to work at heights, behavior therapeutic measures with systematic desensibilisation, starting from an imaginative training, are indicated.     

Pain and pain perception

Pain is both sensual perception and sense of touch, and it leads to emotional change of health, which has an effect back to a pain perception. Experience of pain is modified by intern and extern influences, and it can appear very multiformly in the chronicity. A part of these factors are described.     

Endogenous and symptomatic schizophrenia. Wherein lies the difference?

It is the opinion of the present writer that endogenous and symptomatic schizophrenia are two completely different matters. By classical symptomatology it is impossible to establish the distinction in every individual case. Nevertheless, in not one of the published cases known to us did Bonhoeffer err in his diagnosis of the one or the other. Evidently he made use of additional characteristica gathered in practice, about which he himself may not always have been quite clear.     

Marital conflict and children's adjustment: a cognitive-contextual framework

Marital problems have been related to numerous indexes of maladjustment in children. Although several parameters of this association have been identified, the process by which exposure to interparental conflict gives rise to adjustment problems in children is largely unexplored. Research on the link between marital conflict and child maladjustment therefore is critically evaluated, and a framework is presented that organizes existing studies and suggests directions for future research on processes that may account for the association. According to the framework, the impact of marital conflict is mediated by children's understanding of the conflict, which is shaped by contextual, cognitive, and developmental factors. The implications of the framework for children's adjustment are discussed.     

Punished and Nonpunished Responding in A Multiple Schedule in Humans: A Brief Report

Four male subjects responded on a multiple schedule in which responding was maintained by a random interval 20-sec (RI20) schedule of point presentation. Responding was suppressed in alternating components by an added variable ratio 30 (VR30) schedule of point subtractions. Each component was accompanied by distinctive stimulus lights. Subjects were exposed to the multiple schedule from the initial session. Two subjects experienced four 50-min sessions daily (Experiment 1) and the other two subjects participated in one 50-min session daily (Experiment 2). Once responding in the punished components had stabilized, responding in the nonpunished components continued to increase across sessions. Nonpunished responding did not stabilize even after as many as 36 sessions. These results are discussed in the context of previous studies using animals which employed multiple schedules with punished and nonpunished response contingencies.