Abstraction Processes in Artificial Grammar Learning

Four experiments explored the extent to which abstract knowledge may underlie subjects' performance when asked to judge the grammaticality of letter strings generated from an artificial grammar. In Experiments 1 and 2 subjects studied grammatical strings instantiated with one set of letters and were then tested on grammatical and ungrammatical strings formed either from the same or a changedletter-set.Evenwith a change ofletter-set, subjects were found to be sensitive to a variety of violations of the grammar. In Experiments 3 and 4, the critical manipulation involved the way in which the training strings were studied: an incidental learning procedure was used for some subjects, and others engaged in an explicit code-breaking task to try to learn the rules of the grammar. When strings were generated from a biconditional (Experiment 4) but not from a standard finite-state grammar (Experiment 3), grammaticality judgements for test strings were independent of their surface similarity to specific studied strings. Overall, the results suggest that transfer in this simple memory task is mediated at least to some extent by abstract knowledge.     

A preventive,psychoeducational approach to increase perceived social support

Investigated the effects of a 13-week preventive, psychoeducational intervention program to improve perceived social support. Fifty-one, low-perceived support, community residents were randomly assigned to an intervention or wait-list control condition. Intervention subjects received training in social skills and cognitive reframing regarding the self and social relations. The intervention led to increased perceived social support from family, but not from friends. As hypothesized by social cognition models, increases in perceived support appeared to be mediated by changes in self-esteem and frequency of self-reinforcement. Further, such changes in cognition about the self were larger than the changes observed for perceived support, suggesting that it may be easier to change cognition about the self than perceptions of support.     

Delaying approval of a critical drug: Safety,efficacy, economics,compassion

Biotechnological advance is speeding the development of drugs. The approval processes for new drugs will inevitably involve a regulatory agency in making political-economic and scientific choices. Interests of specific patients and the public in general are to be considered, and enormous stakes are involved for companies concerned. A medical regulatory authority must be at once insulated from and responsive to many different mixes of singular and general interests and pressures. Access to new drugs can be spurred by the press of patient advocacy groups, but if there are well organized groups to monitor the testing and approval process for such as AIDS or cancer drugs there is often no similar group to represent patient needs. If there is no organized patient advocacy group, compassionate responsibility by a medical regulatory authority is indeed called for. Delay in the approval of new drugs for fighting severe blood infections raises the question of how to insure the compassionate responsibility of a regulatory authority.     

Laterally induced impedance effects in vision

A linear integral equation for a system of mutually impeding points is developed and solved explicitly. Particular solutions are shown to be subharmonic functions for a large class of stimuli. Specialized forms of the general equation presented in this paper occur within a number of mathematical models of Mach bands. In addition to these known spatial properties, our results also show that the time course of this basic equation may be useful in developing models of transient neural activity as well as of temporal psychophysical phenomena, such as the Broca-Sulzer effect. Further, a spatial transfer function much like the low-frequency cutoff of empirically derived modulation transfer functions follows directly from our basic integral equation if the additional assumption of spatial homogeneity is imposed.     

Factors affecting judgements of how much another likes us: A signal detection approach

Investigated the effects of subjects' self-concept and the attractiveness of the other on subjects' estimates of how much the other liked them. The use of a signal detection paradigm allowed the measurement of both the criteria and discriminability of subjects' decisions. Eighty mule and 80 female subjects participated in a computer match where they received either somewhat positive or somewhat negative feedback from their match. Besides sex and type of feedback, the factorial design included dating self-concept (high vs. low) and other-attractiveness (high vs. low). Results indicate that high dating self-concept subjects had a lower criterion than low dating self-concept subjects for saying that another liked them (p < .0l), and that the former group was superior to the latter at discriminating between the two types of feedback (p < .03). Also, males were more willing to say that the attractive match liked them than that the unattractive match liked them, while among females the direction of these differences reversed (p < .03). fie results were explained in terms of differential attention to pay-off matrices and prior odds.     

The Effects of Actual Behavior vs. Mere Labelling in Attribution of Sex Differences

A recurrent problem in interpreting research showing differential reactions to the sexes is that such results may reflect real behavior differences among those observed or differential expectations of those observing. This study used a methodology which allowed these two competing explanations to be tested by assessing whether subjects' ratings of taped interactants whose gender was ambiguous would be determined mainly by what gender the subjects thought the interactants were or by the interactants' behavior. The results showed that the causes of the sex differences in assessments differed depending on what type of assessment was being made. Specifically, behavior differences and not observers' expectations about such differences largely determined observers' ratings of specific attributes of the interactants, but observers' expectations and not behavior differences determined observers' general ratings of masculinity/femininity.     

Gender role typing,the superwoman ideal,and the potential for eating disorders

The interactive effects of gender role typing and adherence to a superwoman ideal (desiring to excel in many diverse roles) on the potential for disordered eating were examined among a nonclinical sample of women. Results indicated that both masculine and feminine gender-typed women who strongly adhered to a superwoman ideal were at greater risk for eating disorders than androgynous superwomen. In contrast, androgynous superwomen had relatively low potential for disordered eating and appeared comparable to women who, regardless of gender typing, rejected the superwoman ideal. Women undifferentiated with regard to gender type, whether superwomen or not, also had reduced potential for disordered eating. Findings are discussed with regard to gender role socialization and expectations, and the implications for mediating the potential for eating disorders are considered.     

Training Counselors for Special Education

Through a one-year internship, counselors develop attitudes and competencies needed to promote the career development of handicapped high school students. This new specialty in the counseling field, although it incorporates elements of rehabilitation, school, and vocational counseling, occurs within the framework of special education classes in regular high schools, and therefore is markedly different from any existing specialty. The role model developed in this project, now in its fifth year, stresses outreach, planning, and an active part for the counselor. This approach has been found effective both with handicapped and with learning disabled students in several urban schools.