Selective attention: effects of cuing on the processing of different types of compound stimuli

Pigeons in a matching-to-sample experiment received (a) element samples (one of two colors or vertical or horizontal white lines), (b) separated compound samples (a color and a line element presented together), and (c) unified compound samples (vertical or horizontal colored lines). In Phase I, test stimuli were the two elements from one dimension; the dimension tested varied randomly when the sample was a compound. Element samples were matched better than unified samples, which were matched better than separated samples. In Phase II, two samples preceded the tests. On EC trials, the first sample (S1) was an element, and the second sample (S2) was a compound; on CE trials this order was reversed. One element of the compound sample was always the one appearing as the element sample on that trial (e.g., S1 = red, S2 = red-vertical). This element also served as the correct test alternative (e.g., test = red+ vs. green) except on probe trials when the correct test was the other element appearing in the compound (e.g., test = vertical+ vs. horizontal). Accuracy varied as a function of sample sequence when the compound was separated (EC greater than CE on nonprobe trials and CE greater than EC on prove trials). This pattern was not observed when the compound was unified. The data suggest that the element in EC trials served as a cue that increased processing of the cued dimension and decreased processing of the noncued dimension of separated compounds. However, both dimensions of unified compounds seem to have been processed regardless of cuing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Nonverbal communication as a compensative strategy for severely nonfluent aphasics? A quantitative approach

Seven severely nonfluent aphasics and one relative or close friend were investigated in an interview situation. The conversation was videotaped and analyzed for the use of nonverbal communication between aphasic and partner. The results indicate that the group of aphasics used significantly more frequently and for a significantly longer period of time nonverbal channels of communication than their healthy partners. The aphasic patients also used significantly fewer speech-focused movements and significantly more codified gestures. Nonverbal elements were more frequently used as speech substitutes by the group of aphasics.     

Chronic sweet intake lowers pain thresholds without changing brain mu- or delta-opiate receptors

Sprague-Dawley rats drank sweetened (3% dextrose + 0.144% saccharin, w/v) or unflavored water for 18 days and subsequent pain reactivity was assessed using a hot plate. Compared to the rats that consumed unflavored water, the rats that consumed sweet water responded more quickly on the hot plate indicating that their threshold for pain was lowered. Another group of rats given identical exposure to the fluids had their brains prepared for measuring opiate receptor binding using the delta-receptor ligand [3H]D-Ala-D-Leu-enkephalin ([3H]DADLE) and the mu-receptor selective ligand [3H]Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-MePhe-Gly-ol ([ 3H]DAGO). Binding of these opiates to mu- and delta-receptors in the cerebral cortex, striatum, hippocampus, hypothalamus, brain stem, and remaining brain regions was the same for the rats that drank sweet fluids and those that drank unflavored water. These findings suggest that drinking sweet fluids lowers pain thresholds but does not alter mu- and delta-receptors.     

Effects of aging and task difficulty on divided attention performance

We report two experiments that compare the performance of young and older adults on perceptual-motor tasks involving division of attention. Previous studies have shown older people to be especially penalized by divided attention situations, but the generality of this finding was recently challenged by Somberg and Salthouse (1982). The present study was conducted to investigate the possibility that age differences in dual-task performance are amplified by an increase in the difficulty of the constituent tasks, where difficulty was manipulated by varying the central, cognitive nature of the tasks (Experiment 1) or the degree of choice involved (Experiment 2). With the present tasks, strong evidence was found for an age-related decrement in divided attention performance. Contrary to our original expectations, however, it does not seem that division of attention presents some especial difficulty to older people. Rather, division of attention is one of several equivalent ways to increase overall task complexity. In turn, age differences are exaggerated as tasks are made more complex.     

Representation of serial order in monkeys (Cebus apella)

Cebus monkeys were trained on a five-item serial learning task, symbolized as ABCDE; the initial stages of training were on the shorter subseries AB, ABC, and ABCD. To assess the monkeys' knowledge of the sequential position of each item, pair-wise tests were given to 2 subjects after acquisition of the ABCD series and to 4 subjects after reaching criterion on the ABCDE series. In both tests, the monkeys performed at high levels on the interior pairs, which were BC for the ABCD series, and BC, BD, and CD for the ABCDE series. These results, as well as the orderly relations observed in the pair-wise tests between first-item response latency and first-item position and between second-item response latency and number of missing items, indicated that the monkeys had developed a well-organized internal representation of the four- and five-item series. Although pigeons are also capable of learning four-item and five-item series, they apparently do not develop a comparable representational structure. The disparity between the monkeys' and pigeons' representational competence for serial order is predictable from the difference in their capacities for associative transitivity.     

Affective state mediates causal attributions for success and failure

The influence of affect on causal attributions for success and failure was examined in this experiment. A positive, neurtral, or negative mood was induced in subjects who then learned they had either succeeded or failed an aptitude test taken previously. Relative to neutral mood control conditions, subjects in both positive and negative mood conditions showed a pronounced self-serving bias, particularly following success. The finding is interpreted as self-regulation of affective state. Specifically, causal attribution of success to internal factors can sustain or enhance positive affect; attribution of failure to external factors can diminish negative affect. Ancillary analyses corroborated this interpretation.     

Sex role orientations of male and female collegiate athletes from selected individual and team sports

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the sex role orientations of male and female collegiate athletes were more similar in team sports than in individual sports. It was predicted that females in masculine-oriented team sports (basketball and volleyball) would exhibit sex role orientations more similar to those of their male counterparts than would females in individual sports (track/field and swimming). To test this notion the S. L. Bem (The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1974, 42, 155–167) Sex Role Inventory was administered to 381 athletes from 37 National Collegiate Athletic Association institutions. The median-split procedure (S. L. Bem, On the Utility of Alternative Procedures for Assessing Psychology Androgyny, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1977, 45, 196–205) was used to classify subjects as masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated. Separate Gender × Sex Role Orientation chi square tests were performed on the frequency data of team and individual sport athletes. The results indicated no significant differences in the sex role orientations of male and female team sport performers, with the greatest proportion (66%) having a masculine (33%) or androgynous (33%) orientation. For individual sports there was a significant difference in the sex role orientations of males and females. The highest proportion of females were classified as feminine (37%) and the lowest proportion were classified as masculine (11%). Individual sport males were somewhat evenly distributed among the four sex role orientation categories, with the highest proportion classified as undifferentiated (36%). It was concluded that sex role orientation of elite female athletes may be associated with the male appropriateness of the sport in which they participate.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS

Large community studies of depressive symptomatology provide mixed evidence concerning gender differences. The present paper investigates the effect of the high skewness typically present in distributions of depressive symptom scores on findings of a gender difference in depression. Because of this skewness, a few extreme scores among women (or in any subgroup) can produce a significant between-groups difference in untransformed scores even when the two groups' distributions are otherwise similar. Data from a community survey ( n = 1316) are consistent with this hypothesis. The data also suggest that gender increases depression scores indirectly, rather than directly, for the few women scoring in the extreme upper tail of the distribution. It is concluded that the gender difference in depressive symptoms lacks robustness, and that when it does occur, the effect of gender on depression can be understood as ndirect, i.e., as mediated by gender differences in rate of employment, job status, education, and income.