Observer states and traits and the imitative process: A test of a new formulation

In three studies the formulation was tested that characteristics of the observer have an effect on imitation only in situations which provide little information concerning appropriate or expected behaviors. In Experiment I, female college students of high, medium, and low need for social approval underwent either a high or low arousal manipulation. Subjects observed a videotaped model who engaged in a size judgment task. For half the subjects the model received verbal reward (high information); for the other half the model received no feedback (low information). Subsequently, the model and subject responded alternately in the task during which no feedback was given. Neither need for social approval nor manipulated arousal was found to be systematically related to imitation in either information condition. However, the hypothesized relationships were found when subjects' arousal or anxiety levels were determined by self ratings. These results were replicated in a second, similar experiment. In a third experiment, which involved an improved arousal manipulation, the hypothesized relationships were confirmed.     

A digital noise and sine-wave generator

A circuit is described that will digitally generate three kinds of signal useful in auditory research: broad-band pseudorandom noise, low-pass-filtered Gaussian noise, and low-distortion sine waves. This digital circuit has two advantages over its analog counterparts, ease of calibration and adaptation to computer control.     

Perception of voicing and place features in whispered speech: A dichotic choice analysis

To offset shortcomings of existing demonstrations of right-ear superiority in the analysis of formant transitions, an experiment was performed on whispered speech. Two aspects of dichotic listening performance were examined in a single-report paradigm: the right-ear advantage (REA) for the perception of the voicing distinction and the feature sharing advantage (FSA) for both voicing and place features. A significant REA was obtained for the voicing distinction cued by first formant transition in the absence of a switch from aperiodic to periodic excitation. This, plus a greater incidence of voiced responses to right-ear stimuli, suggests that a distinction involving transitions can specifically augment the REA. The data also showed better identification of place and of voicing feature values when the competing dichotic speech stimuli shared these respective features (FSA) than when they did not. This FSA was restricted to the feature shared and hence not an effect of response uncertainty. The implications of these results for models of speech processing are discussed.     

TEACHING CONVERSATION-RELATED SKILLS TO PREDELINQUENT GIRLS1

The use of conversation-related skills by youthful offenders can influence social interactions with adults. These behaviors are also likely to be useful to adolescents after their release from a treatment program (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1972, 5 , 343–372). Four girls, aged 13 to 15 yr, residing at Achievement Place for Girls in Lawrence, Kansas, received training on conversation-related behaviors. A multiple-baseline design across youths and across behaviors was used. Youth answer-volunteering in response to questions and three youth nonverbal components (“hand on face”, “hand at rest”, and “facial orientation”) were measured during daily 10-min sessions with a simulated guest in the group home's living room. Answer-volunteering was scored each session as the per cent of 13 “secondary” questions that the simulated guest did not have to ask following 10 “primary” questions. The three nonverbal components were scored according to their occurrence during 10-sec intervals and the resultant scores were averaged per session for an overall appropriate nonverbal score. The girls individually earned points within the home's token economy for participating in each session and additional points were awarded after training if preselected behavioral criteria were achieved for each of the two behavior categories per girl. Some of the training sessions were led by a “teaching-parent” (specially trained houseparent) while others were led by individual girls. Point consequences were administered by both the teaching-parent and by the “peer-trainers”. The average observed rate of answer-volunteering by the girls during pretraining sessions was 30% for S₁, 30% for S₂, 23% for S₃, and 68% for S₄. The average rate of answer-volunteering during posttraining sessions was: S₁ = 92%, S₂ = 89%, S₃ = 90%, and S₄ = 98%. The average nonverbal score during pretraining sessions was 82% for S₁, 53% for S₂, 60% for S₃, and 82% for S₄. The average nonverbal score during posttraining sessions was: S₁ = 98%, S₂ = 98%, S₃ = 98%, and S₄ = 100%. Videotapes of the sessions were shown in a random sequence to four adults (probation officer, social worker, etc who represented “significant others” for the youths' future success in the community. The adults judged posttraining tapes on the average as more appropriate 100% of the time for S₁, 100% of the time for S₂, 90% of the time for S₃, and 70% of the time for S₄. The study demonstrated that training of conversation-related skills is feasible with predelinquent girls, that the girls can help train each other, and that social validation of the training results is possible.     

Autokinetic movement as a function of symbolic meaning of target shape.

The autokinetic movement responses of 10 American, 10 Chinese, and 10 Iranian students to religious symbols and control stimuli were measured. The hypothesis of differential direction response as a function of the target shapes was supported. Iranian students did show a pattern of responding significantly different from the American and Chinese.     

Fitting and testing carroll's weighted unfolding model for preferences

A quadratic programming algorithm is presented for fitting Carroll's weighted unfolding model for preferences to known multidimensional scale values. The algorithm can be applied directly to pairwise preferences; it permits nonnegativity constraints on subject weights; and it provides a means of testing various preference model hypotheses. While basically metric, it can be combined with Kruskal's monotone regression to fit ordinal data. Monte Carlo results show that (a) adequacy of true preference recovery depends on the number of data points and the amount of error, and (b) the proportion of data variance accounted for by the model sometimes only approximately reflects true recovery.This study is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The author wishes to thank the members of his dissertation committee—Lawrence E. Jones, Chairman, Charles Lewis, Stephen Golding, Ledyard Tucker, and Nancy Wiggins—for their helpful comments.     

Priming and property dominance effects in semantic memory

Retrieval from semantic memory was examined by means of reaction times to property statements (e.g., sparrow has beak). The variables of interest were normatively defined property dominance (frequency), type of priming between related sentences (sparrow-sparrow vs. sparrow-robin), and separation or lag between related sentences. Statements asserting a high-dominant property (1) were verified more quickly than those containing low-dominant properties, (2) were primed by a preceding related sentence of either high or low dominance, and (3) revealed decay of priming from Lag 1 to 4. The differences between priming with and without stimulus repetition were nonsignificant when stimuli were treated as a random effect. In support of the Collins and Quillian (1972) model of semantic memory, the priming and property dominance factors interacted.     

A perspective on the recognition of other-race faces

The purpose of the present study is to provide a perspective on the recognition of other-race faces, i.e., black faces by white subjects. Past research has indicated that individuals have greater difficulty recognizing other-race faces than they do same-race faces. On the basis of previous findings, we chose to investigate the recognition of black faces by white subjects as a function of the quantity and quality of previous experience with blacks, racial attitudes, field dependence/independence, and recognition training. Forty-two white subjects participated in pre-, post-, and delayed recognition tests. Subject data were also collected to explore individual differences in recognition performance. Using multiple regression techniques, it was found that field dependence/independence accounted for the largest proportion of variance in recognition performances; a feature-discrimination training task and past experience with blacks were also found to significantly relate to recognition performance. The applied aspects of these results are discussed.     

Lump detection in simulated human breasts

Sixteen observers palpated silicone models of human breasts containing lumps 1.6-12.1 mm in diameter. Detectability depended on the size of the lump, producing a systematic psychometric function. In eight observers who participated in three or more sessions, performance improved with practice, with most improvement occurring within one or two 26-trial sessions. Three-week retention measures disclosed no appreciable decrease in performance, but a significant correlation was found between the number of lumps detected and duration of trial (p < .01). There was no difference in performance between four observers who used their preferred hands and four observers who used their nonpreferred hands. These data establish that examination of breast models for the detection of lumps simulating cancer is a task amenable to experimental analysis.