The perceived tempi of coherent and streaming tone sequences

Previous research has demonstrated that a sequence of tones that is alternated between ears is stretched out in echoic memory, as compared with monaural sequences. Although the stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) were the same in the interaural and monaural conditions, the perceptual onset asynchronies (POAs) differed by 24 msec. The present study investigated whether an analogous perceptual phenomenon exists for frequency-alternating tone sequences. It turned out that the POAs of coherent and even of streaming tone sequences were precisely the same as with nonalternating tone sequences.     

The analysis of slalom-ski type movement using a ski-simulator apparatus

The research reported in this paper was designed to assess the feasibility of using a novel apparatus (a so-called ski-movement simulator) in the study of the acquisition of gross cyclical motor skills and further to develop analytic techniques appropriate to the movements involved. Three such methods are discussed: (1) the mean absolute deviation from the middle position as a measure of the ‘amplitude’ of the movement; (2) an auto-correlation coefficient as a measure of the ‘timing’ of the movement; (3) a cross-correlation coefficient as a measure of the ‘smoothness’ of the movement.Progress in learning - as shown by the measures of amplitude and smoothness- showed the expected trend, in that performance improved throughout the whole of the duration of the experiment (four consecutive days), but the rate of improvement gradually decreased. The largest effects were found for the ‘amplitude’ measure, which had the drawback that the ultimate level of performance was constrained by the body weight of the subject. The ‘smoothness’ measure did not suffer from this disadvantage and its suitability as a measure designed to evaluate gross skill acquisition in a laboratory situation is discussed.The ‘timing’ measure did not follow the same trend and reasons for this finding are proposed. Overall, it would seem that the different measures have varying usefulness in the study of skill acquisition and it is therefore advisable to study them separately.     

Olfactory dysfunction in man: anatomical and behavioral aspects

We reviewed studies examining the olfaction of patients with brain damage for the purpose of discerning correlations between disordered structure and function. Patient samples included those with neurological disorders and neurosurgical interventions and recording of spontaneous or elicited neuronal activity. Brain areas involved in olfaction include the olfactory bulbs, the orbitofrontal and medial temporal cortices, the thalamus, and the amygdala. Despite recent advances in olfactory anatomy, understanding of how these structures are related to olfactory detection, discrimination, and recognition continues to be limited. Inadequate localization of brain lesions and lack of comprehensive behavioral assessment have thus far prevented a detailed account of the organization of olfaction in the human brain.     

Enhancement of the Simon effect by response precuing.

When stimuli are presented to the left or right of fixation, and stimulus location is irrelevant, responses are faster if the stimulus location coincides with the location of the assigned response. This phenomenon is called the Simon effect. The present study examined the influence on the Simon effect of attentional precues that signaled the likely stimulus location and intentional precues that signaled the likely response. Experiment 1 was a close procedural replication of an experiment by Verfaellie, Bowers, and Heilman (1988); consistent with their findings, the Simon effect was enhanced by the intentional precue and unaffected by the attentional precue. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated the importance of the intentional precue with simpler procedures that involved only intentional and attentional precues, respectively. Finally, the intentional precuing enhancement of the Simon effect was obtained when two stimuli were assigned to each response, regardless of whether the hands were uncrossed (experiment 4) or crossed (experiment 5). Overall, the results indicate that response precuing enhances the Simon effect and favor response-selection accounts over those that attribute the effect to stimulus identification.     

An analysis of a performance feedback system: the effects of timing and feedback, public posting, and praise upon academic performance and peer interaction

In the first experiment, after establishing baseline composition rates in each classroom, timing (announcing time limits) and feedback (student self-scoring) were introduced followed by the introduction, removal, and reintroduction of public posting of highest scores. Timing and feedback improved story writing performance and public posting of highest scores improved performance even further in both classrooms. Teacher praise produced further improvement in one classroom but had no effect on performance in the other. Changes in on-task behavior paralleled changes in writing rate. Comments made by children concerning their own work or work of their peers were recorded throughout the experiment. Although the baseline rate of performance comments was almost zero, the introduction of each variable markedly increased the rate of performance comments. In the second experiment, baseline rates on reading and language exercises were established in a fifth-grade classroom. The entire performance feedback system was introduced on a multiple baseline across the two behaviors and then removed during the final phase of the experiment. Introducing the system improved performance on both tasks. These results further increased the generality of some of the findings of the previous experiment and of previous research on the efficacy of the experimental package of timing, feedback, public posting, and praise.     

Effects of an audio cueing system on the rate of teacher praise

The effects of automated cueing on teacher praise rate was investigated in one special, one fourth-, and one seventh-grade classroom. After establishing baseline praise rates in each of the three classrooms, two methods for increasing teacher praise rate were introduced according to a multiple-baseline design. During the first phase, two teachers were instructed to count and graph their praise rate during each session. All teachers received auditory cues to prompt praising during another phase. In all cases, introduction of cues markedly increased teacher praise rates, but self-recording was relatively ineffective. An analysis of teacher-praise distributions showed that cues closely controlled teacher praise for two of the three teachers.     

Fusion frequency as a function of number and phase of binocular stimuli

The relation of fusion hertz to the number of pulses in a train was explored under three conditions: monoptically, dichoptically inphase, and dichoptically antiphase. All three conditions show an increase in fusion hertz as the number of pulses in the stimulating train increases. Over the range of pulse numbers investigated, fusion hertz varies principally with the number of pulses delivered to one eye regardless of the stimulating condition of the other eye.     

On the development of national attitudes in children

The present study consists of three related experiments which are concerned with the development of national attitudes in children between the ages of seven and twelve. It was predicted on the basis of a structural interpretation of Allport's three-stage developmental theory of prejudice that national attitudes will increase at first due to increasing consistency of judgment and decrease afterwards due to cognitive differentiation. The hypothesis is partially confirmed with respect to the attitudes of children towards other countries but not confirmed with respect to the attitudes of children towards people who are perceived as foreigners. A tentative explanation is offered for the last finding. It was shown moreover that the attitudes of older children display more cognitive balance than those of younger children. In connection with the last problem, a quantified modification Bf Heider's theory of balanced states was introduced.