Fluency,disfluency, dysfluency,and stuttering

The appropriate use of words, particularly certain words, is a persisting problem in the field of stuttering. This paper discusses some of the misuse involving four words basic to the field.     

Articulating a Mystical Theology

Book reviewed in this article
Mark A. McIntosh Mystical Theology: The Integrity of Spirituality and Theology     

Rational choice and polynomial measurement models

Rational choice behavior is defined in a manner that subsumes rational choice theory as part of general measurement theory. The special class of polynomial measurement problems are defined, and their solutions are reduced to solving polynomial inequalities. An algebraic criterion is given for the solvability of arbitrary finite sets of polynomial inequalities, resolving a conjecture of Tversky.     

Book reviews

DIAMOND, S. J. The Social Behaviour of Animals. London: Baqtsford. 1970. Pp. 256. £2.50.

JARRARD, L. E. (Ed.). Cognitive Processes in Non-human Primates. New York: Academic Press. 1971. Pp. 188.

BROZEK, J. and SLOBIN, D. I. (Eds). Psychology in the USSER: An Historical Perspective. New York: International Arts and Sciences Press. 1972. Pp. x + 30.1. $ 15.00.

A. R. JENSEN. Genetics and Education. London: Methuen. 1972. Pp. Vii + 379. £ 3.50.

OATLEY, K. Brain Mechanisms and Mind. London: Thames and Husdson. 1972. Pp. 216. £2.25.

BOAKES, R. A. and HALLIDAY, M. S., (Eds). Inhibition and Learning. London: Academic Press 1972. Pp. 568. £7.25.

TOBACH, E., ARONSON, L. R. and SHAW, E. (Eds). The Biopsychology of Development. New York: Academic Press. 1971. Pp.xix + 593. dollar 22.50.

MOLTZ, H. (Ed.). The Ontogeny of Vertebrate Behavior. New York and London: Academic Press. 1971. Pp. 500. $ 22.50.

SOKOLOV, A. N. Inner Speech and Thought. London: Plenum Publishment Co. 1972. Pp. 283. £ 10.50

SHOUKSMITH, G. Intelligence, Creativity and Cognivity and Cognitive Style. LOndon: Batsford. 1970.Pp. 240. £ 2.30,

BOLTON, N. The psychology of Thinking. Lond Methuuen. 1972. Pp. 291. £3.20.

JOHNSON, D. M. Systematic Introduction to The Psychology of Thinking. New York: Harper and Row, 1972. Pp. 498. £ 5.10.

LLOYD, B. Preception and Cognition. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 1972. Pp. 190. £ 0.80.     

Semantic control of eye movements in picture scanning during sentence-picture verification

The Weber fraction, (I + Δ)/I, was measured for pure tones which were I presented either homophasically or antiphasically. For both stimuli, the Weber fraction was measured as a function of changes in the level of the standard tone Iand in the phase angle of addition between a test tone and the standard tone. The value, ΔI, in the Weber fraction was defined as that difference between the level of the test-plus-standard and the level of the standard (I) which was required for the listener to discriminate a difference between the standard and the test-plus-standard. In the homophasic case, the Weber fraction remained constant for changes in the phase angle of addition, whereas in the antiphasic condition, the Weber fraction decreased for increasing values of the phase angle of addition. For both the homophasic and antiphasic conditions and at all values of the phase angle of addition, the Weber fraction remained a constant as the value of the standard was varied. These results are in agreement with those obtained in studies involving noise masking, lateralization, and the monaural Weber fraction.     

Parallel and competing operations in visual and memory search

Two adjacent probe letters exposed at variable asynchrony are searched for the presence of one target letter drawn from a set of one, three, or five memorized targets. Latency of decision was longer at 70-msec ISI than at 150, 300, and 500, except that at 300-msec ISI there was also an elevated response lateney to a target when it occurred as the first of two probes. Models of search through successive probes must be qualified to accommodate these divergences from monotonicity. Interference between near-simultaneous inputs may account for the longer lateney at 70-msee ISI, and competition for processing capacity by operations at different processing stages could be involved in the effeet at 300-msec ISI. 1972, Psychonomic Society, Inc., Austin, Texas     

Negative set effects in character classification: A response-retrieval view of reaction time

In most current accounts of character classification, emphasis is laid on the role of the positive set. Reanalysis of a previous experiment (Marcel, 1970) showed that in the constant set procedure, as well as the varied set procedure, when consecutive sets of digits are used, latency to negative probes depends on remoteness from the positive set boundary, except when the positive set consists of only one item. Two further experiments showed that in both the constant-and varied-set procedures, latency to individual negative probes decreased with their frequency, except with positive sets of one item. These data indicate that negatives are not usually classified as such merely by default. Some alternative models to Sternberg's are discussed. It is proposed that when he is able to (always with one-item positive sets) the subject will perform a physical match. Otherwise the probe will access its location in long-term memory, associated with which is appropriate response information. The ease of recovery of that information is emphasized as responsible for variation in latencies.     

Acoustic cues and psychological processes in the perception of natural stop consonants

These studies examined the perceptual role of various components of naturally produced stop consonants (/b, d, g, p, t, k/) in CV syllables. In the first experiment, the context-sensitive voiced formant transitions were removed with a computer-splicing technique. Identification accuracy was 84% when the consonant was presented with the same vowel as had been used to produce it. Performance fell to 66% when the consonant was juxtaposed with a different vowel. The second experiment not only deleted the voiced formant transition, but also replaced the aspiration with silence. Here, identification accuracy dropped substantially, especially for voiceless stops, which had contained devoiced formant transitions in the replaced interval. The pattern of errors suggested that listeners try to extract the missing locus of the consonant from the vowel transition, and in the absence of a vowel transition, they try to extrapolate it from the second formant of the steady-state vowel.     

Anxiety sensitivity-physical concerns as a moderator of the emotional consequences of emotion suppression during biological challenge: an experimental test using individual growth curve analysis

Anxiety-related responding to, and recovery from, a 5-min 10% carbon dioxide-enriched air presentation among 80 participants with no history of psychopathology was examined. Half of participants were instructed to suppress challenge-induced emotional responses, whereas their matched counterparts were instructed to observe such responses. Responding from immediately post-challenge through a 10-min recovery period was analyzed as a function of Anxiety Sensitivity-Physical Concerns and experimental condition using individual growth curve modeling. Anxiety Sensitivity-Physical Concerns moderated the effect of suppression only on emotion valence during recovery. In terms of main effects, suppression resulted in increased heart rate during recovery and Anxiety Sensitivity-Physical Concerns was positively associated with post-challenge self-reported anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of the potential role of inhibition-oriented affect regulation processes in the etiology of panic disorder.