Semantic category effects in visual word search

The initial question was whether subjects could categorize a word semantically before they precisely identified the word itself. This failed to occur. When searching a visual display for a single target word, subjects searched at the same rate whether the distractors were in the same or in a different semantic category. However, when the size of the target set was increased to three, then six, items, subjects increasingly used category information to speed their search rate when targets and distractors belonged to different categories. Subjects appeared to perform the task by comparing the category of each display word to the category of the target set.     

A note on responses to ethyl alcohol before and after smoking1

Differential sensitivity was measured before and after smoking a cigarette by 10 smokers, using 10 nonsmokers as controls. Stimuli consisted of reagent grade ethanol in eight concentrations ranging from 4% to 12%. No significant differences were observed between smokers and nonsmokers or before vs after smoking, although slightly higher overall correct responses and correspondingly smaller jnds were obtained for the nonsmokers. No practice affects were noted among the control group between the first and second set of samples. The findings confirm previous results which had been recently questioned.     

Aligning the eye to the actively or passively positioned hand

Observations were made of the reversal rate of a three-dimensional skeletal cube as a function of observing condition and state of rest or motion of the cube. Perspective reversal rate of the stationary three-dimensional cube is greater than direction reversal rate of the same cube set in motion. Reversal rate of the rotating cube drops with rest, replicating a similar finding with the Necker cube. Comparisons are made with the rotating trapezoidal window illusion. nt]mis|The author is most grateful to Marshall P. Smith, Chairman of the Psychology Department of Trenton State College, for his aid in securing space and college students, and to David L. Hoats, of the Johnstone Research Department, for wiring the apparatus.     

The effects of spatial frequency and temporal waveform on three measures of temporal processing

The effects of spatial frequency and temporal transition of sine-wave grating onset and offset were assessed using measures of reaction time, visual persistence, and temporal order judgements. The stimuli were lateralized fields, separated by 1 degree of visual angle. Slow temporal transition resulted in significantly poorer performance than did abrupt onset and offset, but spatial frequency had a minimal effect. Thus, the latency, temporal resolution, and temporal ordering of events are mediated by a mechanism that is sensitive to abrupt temporal transients. The stimulus conditions employed did not result in a shift in the point of subjective simultaneity.     

Impaired reception of nonverbal cues in women with premenstrual tension syndrome

The ability to perceive nonverbal facial cues was tested in 30 White, middle-class females. Pre- and post-menses responses of 15 subjects diagnosed as having Premenstrual Tension Syndrome (PMS) were compared to the responses of age-matched controls. Each subject was asked to interpret videotaped facial cues of individuals engaged in a gambling task. Interpretive ability fluctuated during the menstrual cycle and was significantly impaired during the premenstrual phase.     

Determinants of seeking timely and necessary pediatric care

Ninety mothers were interviewed in a pediatrician’s waiting room about their reasons for seeking care. We compared their answers, and the pediatrician’s judgment of the visit’s necessity and timeliness to a model which distinguishes appraisal, illness, and utilization stages in seeking medical treatment. Clearly defined symptoms and the use of few home treatments predicted a more rapid assessment that one’s child was ill. No factors predicted how quickly a mother would decide that her child needed professional care, nor how rapidly she would then seek that care. The pediatrician judged visits to be necessary when the child had many physical symptoms, pain, and/or fever, and when the child’s mother was employed. He judged visits to be delayed for mothers who reported that cost of treatment may influence their decisions to seek care. He indicated that only 39% of the visits were both necessary and on time. We discuss ways to encourage appropriate utilization of pediatric visits.     

Cues-pause-point language training: Structuring trainer statements to provide students with correct answers to questions

This study assessed the applicability of Cues-Pause-Point language training procedures in teaching students to obtain information from the statements of others. Two mentally retarded subjects, one of whom was echolalic, received training on one set of stimuli but not on another. During training the subjects were encouraged to remain quiet before, during, and briefly after the presentation of statements and then verbalize (i.e., answer a question) using the verbal cue(s) that had been presented in the statement. Correct responding reached 100% to the trained stimuli and both subjects' responding improved to the untrained stimuli. Posttests revealed that subjects used the trainer's statements to answer novel questions. The results suggest that Cues-Pause-Point procedures may be useful in teaching severely retarded individuals the functional use of observing and listening to others' verbal behavior.