Development of clinical tests of vision: Initial data on two hyperacuity paradigms

Many basic psychophysical functions offer promise as clinical tests of vision. Here, we discuss problems that one encounters in the clinical setting, how one identifies a psychophysical test for potential clinical development, and an orderly approach to development of suitable test paradigms. Parameters are selected which are relatively insensitive to variables encountered in the field (clinic) in a normal population, but which are sensitive to changes in the response system being studied. Initial data on two hyperacuity tests are presented. These tests are adaptations of hyperacuity paradigms (Westheimer, 1979) to a clinical environment. This particular test set offers promise because it exhibits a unique threshold which is dependent upon neural data processing and is relatively independent of retinal image degradation.     

Perceptual objects and the cost of filtering

The latency of reading a single word is increased by 20 to 40 msec if another object is present in the display. The delay is affected by the spatial organization of the display: a colored frame causes less delay when it surrounds the word than when it is shown on the opposite side of fixation. A small gap in the frame is also more efficiently detected as a secondary task when the frame is around the word than when the two are spatially separate. The advantage of integrated over separate presentation suggests that a “filtering cost” is incurred when two distinct perceptual objects compete for attention. Attention in filtering tasks operates on perceptually distinct objects rather than on nodes in a semantic network.     

Factor semantics forn-valued logics

In this note we prove that some familiar systems of finitely many-valued logics havefactor semantics, and establish necessary conditions for a system of many-valued logic having semantics of this kind.     

Disentangling Type A behavior: The roles of ambition,insensitivity, and anxiety

This study identified stable components of Type A behavior as usually defined, and examined their relationships with more traditional psychological constructs. Overall scores on the most popular Type A measure (a version of the Jenkins Activity Survey) were moderately associated with ambition but largely unrelated to measures of adjustment. An item analysis yielded subcomponents of Drivenness and Involvement. Drivenness was unrelated to ambition, but was positively related to anxiety and negatively related to interpersonal perceptiveness. Involvement was positively related to ambition and to interpersonal competence. It is suggested that the Jenkins Activity Survey measures a heterogeneous mixture of constructive commitment and self-defeating responses that clouds its psychological interpretation.     

Dynamic processes in music perception

A schema-based theory of music perception that describes the dynamic interaction between the musical event and the listener’s knowledge of the underlying regularities in tonal music is proposed. Three properties of musical schema are evaluated in a recognition memory experiment: (1) The schema engages a subset of the abstract knowledge system that is determined by the predominant key of the musical sequence, (2) the schema evaluates both interval relations and the functions of the sounded elements within the established tonal framework, and (3) the schema interacts continuously with the musical event in time to process pitch information in its temporal context. Listeners are required to identify the serial position of a chord that is changed between two successive chord sequences that are otherwise identical. The experiment measures the magnitude and the temporal extent of the disruptive effect of including in the sequence an element outside the tonal framework. The results show temporally specific effects on memory for pitch relations consistent with the operation of a musical schema. Comparisons are made with schema-based theories applied in other perceptual and cognitive domains.     

Eysenck's theory of criminality and the personality types and offences of young delinquents

It has been proposed recently that the conflicting findings in studies of Eysenck's theory of criminality may be explicable in terms of the different personality subgroupings within the criminal population. It is proposed further that these different personality types may be associated with particular kinds of offences.The results of the present study confirm the existence of different personality types within a delinquent population. Four subgroups were identified, two of which were consistent with predictions from Eysenck's theory. The four subgroups could be distinguished on the basis of number of previous convictions but not by the kinds of offence committed. It is suggested, however, that future studies of this question, instead of examining kinds of offence committed, should focus their attention on situational components of the offences committed by the different personality subgroups.The general pattern of results is interpreted as supporting a modified or limited model of Eysenck's theory of criminality.     

Gender-role adoption and sex as academic and psychological risk factors

Five hundred and ten first-year junior high school students were administered a battery of psychological tests. On the basis of their scores from two gender-role adoption measures, three smaller groups were extracted within each biological sex: masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated individuals. Feminine students reported a greater amount of discomfort (vulnerability). A battery of tests administered toward the end of that school year revealed that females attained greater neuroticism and alienation scores than did their male peers. Possible explanations for this pubescent self-report of maladjustment are the more masculine orientation of the junior high school in comparison to the elementary school and the menarche.The authors wish to thank Ms. S. Chesterman, Regional Director of the Montreal Catholic School Commission, and Mr. K. Quinn, Principal of Sir Wilfred Laurier Junior High School, for granting us permission to disrupt school activities in order to test their students. We also wish to acknowledge the assistance of the following members of Sir Wilfred Laurier: Mr. O. Hruby, Vice-Principal; Sr. G. Larocque, Vice-Principal; Mr. S. Radeschi, key teacher; and members of the administrative and teaching staff.     

Fear of success revisited: Introducing an ambiguous cue

One criticism of Horner's fear-of-success (FOS) research concerns the fact that she defined success (being number 1 in a medical school class) for her subjects. Two aims of the present investigation were to (a) reinstate the traditional ambiguity of the projective verbal lead: “Anne (John) has succeeded,” and (b) determine the amount of FOS imagery projected by 64 male and 79 female college students to these leads. The low incidence of FOS in this present study was attributed to the opportunity subjects were given to define success for themselves. There were no significant differences in the amount of FOS projected by men and women. School-related success was the most often cited success theme. Results were supportive of the hypothesis that FOS is situationally determined.