The dimensionality of the flanker compatibility effect: A psychophysiological analysis

The psychophysiological approach was used to evaluate the effects of feature similarity and intrinsic response mapping on the flanker compatibility effect. Symbol (e.g., < > < and < / <) and letter arrays (e.g., HCH and SCS) were used. Results showed that delays in stimulus evaluation and both peripheral and central response competition contributed to the compatibility effect, with the contribution of these processes depending on feature similarity and the intrinsic response mapping of the stimuli. For letter stimuli, the difference in the size of the compatibility effect for similar and dissimilar arrays could be accounted for in terms of stimulus evaluation. For symbol arrays, differences in size of the compatibility effect could be accounted for by response competition. Thus, symbol and letter arrays do not appear to be processed differently; what is different is the degree to which stimulus and response-related processes are affected by incompatibility.     

Relationship between cognitive style and emotional behavior.

In this research we examined the relationships among cognitive styles using the categorization of Bion and styles of modulation of emotional behavior (hostile content) explored with the Gottschalk, et al. method applied to the speech of 20 female and 10 male undergraduate students whose ages ranged from 20 to 35 years. Their verbalization was produced in a standard stimulus situation of 3 minutes duration. Analysis indicated a relationship between hostile attitude and cognitive styles. In particular, those who were relatively less hostile presented higher frequencies of processes classified by Bion as D2, which are characterized by an attitude of expectancy and waiting, with a tendency to defend internal psychological themas.     

Information search following damage to the frontal lobes

Five adult patients with focal brain damage in different areas of the frontal lobes and five matched controls were administered a 20 Questions test. Other tests of planning, problem-solving, and decision-making were also administered to frontal lobe patients. The results indicate that damage to the frontal lobe impairs the ability to impose and utilize hierarchical organization in mental representation.     

Retention of orienting reaction habituation in patients with postmeningoencephalitic epilepsy

A polygraphic study on habituation of the somatic, autonomic, and EEG components of the orienting reaction elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus during successive (weekly) sessions was performed in 29 patients with postmeningoencephalic epilepsy (PME) and in 116 control subjects. The study evidenced significant retention disturbances of orienting reaction habituation (i.e., of learning), the “saving” of stimulation, achieved from one session to another to obtain the habituation criterion, being lesser in PME patients than in control subjects. The severity of habituation retention disturbances depended on seizure frequency, electroclinical form, and history, as well as on features of EEG tracings.     

Moral behavior and the development of verbal regulation

The present paper examines the relationship between the development of moral behavior and the development of verbal regulatory processes. Relational frame theory and the distinctions among pliance, tracking, and augmenting forms of rule governance are applied to the domain of moral behavior and its development, in order to identify the specific social and verbal contingencies that are responsible for an evolving moral repertoire. It is argued that moral behavior is controlled by relational and rule-following repertoires, and that these can be arranged into a rough progression: pliance, tracking, augmenting, social concern for pliance, social concern for tracking, and social concern for augmenting. Congruence with data derived from other research traditions is examined, and applied implications are explored.     

Continuity in intellectual functioning: the role of self-reported health

Surviving members of the Berkeley Older Generation Study were interviewed and tested with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale in 1969-1970 and again in 1983-1984, when subjects' ages ranged from 73 to 93. Health was assessed by self-reports at both measurement periods. Although many individuals showed some decline in intellectual functioning, substantial individual differences were apparent at all age levels. More than one half of the subjects showed no reliable change, and a minority showed a reliable increase in verbal scores. The role of self-reported health has increasing importance in the maintenance of intellectual functioning in advanced old age.