Temporal constraints on the McGurk effect

Three experiments are reported on the influence of different timing relations on the McGurk effect. In the first experiment, it is shown that strict temporal synchrony between auditory and visual speech stimuli is not required for the McGurk effect. Subjects were strongly influenced by the visual stimuli when the auditory stimuli lagged the visual stimuli by as much as 180 msec. In addition, a stronger McGurk effect was found when the visual and auditory vowels matched. In the second experiment, we paired auditory and visual speech stimuli produced under different speaking conditions (fast, normal, clear). The results showed that the manipulations in both the visual and auditory speaking conditions independently influenced perception. In addition, there was a small but reliable tendency for the better matched stimuli to elicit more McGurk responses than unmatched conditions. In the third experiment, we combined auditory and visual stimuli produced under different speaking conditions (fast, clear) and delayed the acoustics with respect to the visual stimuli. The subjects showed the same pattern of results as in the second experiment. Finally, the delay did not cause different patterns of results for the different audiovisual speaking style combinations. The results suggest that perceivers may be sensitive to the concordance of the time-varying aspects of speech but they do not require temporal coincidence of that information.     

Mixed-method mixed-modality psychophysical scaling

Four experiments are reported in which the direct psychophysical scaling methods of magnitude estimation, category judgment, and cross-modality matching were mixed in the same series of trials, both with a single stimulus modality and in a mixed-modality situation. The mixed-method scaling situation gave results consistent with those obtained when methods are used alone, and it has several advantages. Interactions between the methods were consistent with the idea that judgments made under all three are mediated by a primitive process of categorization that is influenced by heuristics used to achieve a single category identity for each stimulus.     

The place of social intelligence in a taxonomy of cognitive abilities

Studies have yielded inconsistent results regarding the place of social intelligence in a taxonomy of cognitive abilities. An investigation is described in which measures of social behaviors obtained from interviews were related to a wide variety of cognitive variables. Significant relations were rare. It is suggested that the question to be posed is not the simple one of the place of social intelligence in the cognitive domain but rather one of the relationships of the elements of two large taxonomic systems. A Taxonomy of social intelligence would provide a set of definitions procedures that would improve efforts to replicate and build on previous research. More important would be the heuristic value of a structural representation of “social intelligence” based on theoretical relationships involving environmental, physiological, and genetic as well as psychological factors. Development of a taxonomy of situations would facilitate the study of interactions involving performance and environmental conditions.     

Sex-typing and cross-sex-typing in "androgynous" subjects

Bem Sex-Role Inventory protocols from 848 subjects were categorized as androgynous or nonandrogynous according to each of three current scoring systems. Androgynous protocols by each scoring system were then examined for sex differences in trait item endorsements. The t-score method generated androgynous subjects who were cross-sex-typed, while androgynous subjects defined by the median split method tended to be same-sex-typed. Androgynous subjects by the intersect method presented the fewest number of sex differences. These method-specific versions of androgyny appear linked to the use of summated Masculinity and Femininity subscales of the BSRI.     

Monoaminergic mediation of female sexual behavior.

Lordotic behavior was facilitated in estrogen-primed female rats by direct application of progesterone or serotonergic or beta-adrenergic receptor blockers to specific telencephalic, anterior hypothalamic-medial preoptic, or posterior hypothalamic sites. Blockade of the alpha-adrenergic system was ineffective in facilitating lordosis, as was the application of the active drugs to control sites in the thalamus or basal ganglia. Female soliciting behavior was not evoked by any of the treatments. It is concluded that the lordotic behavior component of the female rat's estrous behavior pattern is inhibited by a specific central monoaminergic system that also responds to progesterone. Soliciting behavior appears to be mediated by systems that are anatomically, and possibly neurochemically, separable from those regulating lordosis.     

Matching behavior: Some methodological problems

Two classes of problems associated with specifying the controlling stimuli in matching experiments were discussed. The first class-control of matching behavior by cues other than the standard stimuli-was demonstrated by the results of a pseudomatching experiment. The second class related to the “effective” sample or standard stimulus set and to changes in the S’s matching strategy that may occur in a matching experiment.     

Posturally related variations in the hand preferences of the ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata variegata)

The hand preferences of 5 semi-free-ranging black-and-white ruffed lemurs were assessed by using three distinct testing procedures. Testing conditions varied in the extent to which they required animals to make a whole body postural adjustment prior to making a reach. Minimal bodily adjustment was necessary for free foraging, whereas discrete food presentations on land (DFP-land) and in a moat (DFP-moat) promoted a gross reorientation of the animal's entire body. In the DFP-moat condition 4 animals exhibited exclusive use of the left hand, and only 1 of 515 reaches was made with the right hand. Similarly, all 5 animals showed a pronounced left hand preference in the DFP-land condition. The free-foraging condition revealed a hand preference for only 1 of the 5 subjects, and that preference was weak in comparison with those measured in the other two test conditions. These findings indicate that whole body postural adjustments critically influenced the expression of hand preference and should be taken into consideration in future studies of primate hand preferences.     

Masculine gender-role stress: predictor of anger, anxiety, and health-risk behaviors

We suggest that male gender-role identification affects whether specific situations are appraised as stressful. A questionnaire was developed to measure masculine gender-role stress (MGRS). Correlational data and multiple regression were used to validate the MGRS scale as a measure of gender-related stress in men, and compare its predictive utility with Spence's commonly-used measure of masculinity. Findings indicate that stress appraisal is gender related, that is, men experience more masculine-role stress than women. Further, the construct of MGRS was distinguished from the concept of masculinity. Finally, MGRS predicted increased anger, increased anxiety, and poorer health behaviors.