Spatial constraints on attention to speech in the blind

When sighted persons try to identify one of two speech utterances coming from different directions, they display both a frontal position advantage, i.e., better recognition of inputs from the front than of those from the rear, and a right-side advantage, better recognition of inputs from the right than of those from the left. The present study demonstrates a dissociation of the two effects in blind subjects (N = 10) who showed no frontal position advantage together with a right-side advantage superior to that of control sighted subjects (N = 16). There was no systematic difference between congenitally blind subjects and noncongenitals. The absence of frontal position advantage in the blind is consistent with the notion that this effect originates in the habit of sighted listeners to orient toward the source of heard speech. The occurrence of at least normal right-side advantage in the blind does not support recent suggestions of reduced lateralization of language functions in such subjects.     

Teacher ratings of children's problem and competence behaviors: Normative and parametric characteristics

Teacher-rated adjustment differences among young elementary school children from (a) a recent sample and a 1974 cohort, and (b) urban/suburban, male/female, and grade-level subgroups were examined. A problem behavior checklist (Classroom Adjustment Rating Scale) and a school competence measure (Health Resources Inventory) for 974 children from 5 urban and 5 suburban schools were completed by 101 first- to fourth-grade teachers. Children from the more current cohort were rated as significantly more maladjusted than those from the earlier sample on 8 of 10 adjustment variables. In the recent sample, girls and suburban children evidenced a greater number of school competencies and fewer problem behaviors than boys and urban children, respectively. The implications of these findings for the future use of the teacher rating scales are discussed.     

The spacing effect in 4- to 9-year-old children

Experiment 1 of the current research failed to replicate Toppino and Di George’s (1984) finding that older children but not preschoolers showed a spacing effect. Instead, we obtained the spacing effect in all the age groups tested (preschool, kindergarten, first-grade, and third-grade children). The effect was demonstrated with two types of material, words and pictures. Experiment 2 focused on the role that very brief spacings, with no intervening items between repetitions, play in later retention. Age groups and materials were the same as in Experiment 1. Four different levels of spacing were included (0-, 1.1-,2.5-, and 5-sec intervals). The spacing effect was again obtained for all age groups with both words and pictures. The results of both experiments suggest that the spacing effect does not emerge with development.     

Long-term memory formation in chicks is blocked by 2-deoxygalactose, a fucose analog

When day-old chicks are trained on a passive avoidance task there is enhanced synthesis of glycoproteins. Bilateral intracerebral injections of 20 mumole of 2-deoxygalactose (2-D-gal), administered just before and just after training on the task, produce amnesia for the avoidance. Amnesia develops slowly over the first hour and persists for at least 24 h subsequently. If 2-D-gal injections are administered 4 h prior to the training or delayed for 3 h after training, no amnesia occurs. Apart from a brief initial suppression of pecking following injection there are no effects of 2-D-gal on other observed behaviors of the birds. Within the first hour this dose of 2-D-gal inhibits [3H]fucose incorporation into acid-insoluble material by 26% (or 68%, calculated relative to free pool fucose). The amnestic effect of 2-D-gal is not shown by galactose, glucose, fucose, or 2-D-glucose. Injecting 40 mumole of galactose simultaneously with the 2-D-gal abolishes the 2-D-gal-induced amnesia; 40 mumole of fucose, however, does not abolish the amnesia. The utility of 2-D-gal as an agent for analyzing the role of glycoproteins in memory formation is discussed.     

Kinematic form and scaling: further investigations on the visual perception of lifted weight

Observers are able to judge accurately the weight lifted by another person when only the motions of reflective patches attached to the lifter's major limb joints and head can be seen (Runeson & Frykholm, 1981). What properties of these complex kinematic patterns allow judgments of weight to be made? The pattern of variation in velocity of the lifted object over position is explored as a source of information for weight: It is found to provide limited information. How are variations in kinematic patterns scaled to allow judgments of weight, a kinetic quantity? The possibility of a source of information for scaling in the kinematics is investigated. Judgments based only on patch-light displays are accurate to a degree that is improved by an extrinsic scaling basis. Finally, the sensitivity to scaling of alternative metrics used in judging is explored. Intrinsic metrics are discovered to be less sensitive to the absence of an extrinsic basis for scaling.     

Perceptual normalization of vowels produced by sinusoidal voices

When listeners hear a sinusoidal replica of a sentence, they perceive linguistic properties despite the absence of short-time acoustic components typical of vocal signals. Is this accomplished by a postperceptual strategy that accommodates the anomalous acoustic pattern ad hoc, or is a sinusoidal sentence understood by the ordinary means of speech perception? If listeners treat sinusoidal signals as speech signals however unlike speech they may be, then perception should exhibit the commonplace sensitivity to the dimensions of the originating vocal tract. The present study, employing sinusoidal signals, raised this issue by testing the identification of target /bVt/, or b-vowel-t, syllables occurring in sentences that differed in the range of frequency variation of their component tones. Vowel quality of target syllables was influenced by this acoustic correlate of vocal-tract scale, implying that the perception of these nonvocal signals includes a process of vocal-tract scale, implying that the perception of these nonvocal signals includes a process of vocal-tract normalization. Converging evidence suggests that the perception of sinusoidal vowels depends on the relation among component tones and not on the phonetic likeness of each tone in isolation. The findings support the general claim that sinusoidal replicas of natural speech signals are perceptible phonetically because they preserve time-varying information present in natural signals.     

Work plan availability and performance: An assessment of task strategy priming on subsequent task completion

The relation of task strategy planning to task performance was explored using a series of laboratory investigations. The first study examined the influence of providing a subject a work strategy and a specific work goal on his or her subsequent performance. A total of 72 subjects participated in a 2 (goal) × 2 (task strategy priming) × 3 (performance period) × 3 (task type) repeated measures, factorial design study. The results demonstrate that task strategy priming and goal setting increase the amount of an individual's planning and directs the type of plan developed. A second study was conducted (n = 90) to further explore the effect of task strategy priming on planning and performance. Taken together, the results of the studies demonstrate that (a) goal setting increases strategic planning, (b) priming influences the amount and type of planning engaged in by an individual, and (c) task performance varies as the result of the type of plan an individual develops. The results are discussed as a means of expanding the use of cognitive constructs in theories of work motivation.     

The effects of perceived parental rearing style on the development of Type A pattern

The aetiological antecedents of the Type A pattern have not been studied widely. In the present study the effects of parental rearing practices on the development of Type A pattern were evaluated. Perceived parental rearing style was assessed by the EMBU and Type A pattern by the JAS. Subjects were drawn from a random sample of residents (older than 21 years) of a Dutch community. Results suggested that a significant amount of variance of Type A behaviour can be accounted for by perceived parental characteristics, especially rejection and lack of emotional warmth. It is suggested that lack of emotional warmth and negative evaluation of children by their parents may lead to an internalized maladaptive cognitive set in the children which may be a developmental antecedent for eliciting the competitiveness, achievement striving, and sense of time urgency characteristic of Type A adults.     

The use of structured multi-domain job analysis for the construction of assessment center methods and procedures

This article addresses the defensibility of the assessment center based on a content oriented validation strategy. One reason for the confusion in this area is the fact that there are no agreed upon methods for constructing the assessment procedures. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe how structured multi-domain job analysis information can be used to develop an assessment center which is well grounded with regard to content validity.     

Sex differences in environmental concern and knowledge: The case of acid rain

Several theories have been presented that predict differences between women and men in attitudes toward the environment due to differences in sex roles. Research on which these theories can be tested has tended to examine general environmental concern, and the results have generally been weak and inconclusive. Using an approach suggested in the literature, this study examines sex differences in concern and knowledge, using multi-item scales for each, about one environmental issue — acid rain. The results contradict the theories being tested, however: if there is a sex difference, men are found to be more concerned and knowledgeable about the environmental problem.