Correspondence analysis used complementary to loglinear analysis

Loglinear analysis and correspondence analysis provide us with two different methods for the decomposition of contingency tables. In this paper we will show that there are cases in which these two techniques can be used complementary to each other. More specifically, we will show that often correspondence analysis can be viewed as providing a decomposition of the difference between two matrices, each following a specific loglinear model. Therefore, in these cases the correspondence analysis solution can be interpreted in terms of the difference between these loglinear models. A generalization of correspondence analysis, recently proposed by Escofier, will also be discussed. With this decomposition, which includes classical correspondence analysis as a special case, it is possible to use correspondence analysis complementary to loglinear analysis in more instances than those described for classical correspondence analysis. In this context correspondence analysis is used for the decomposition of the residuals of specific restricted loglinear models.     

Attributional self-presentation and information available to the audience

Public ability attributions of public task performance were investigated as a function of test performance (high or low), task performance (high or low), and the availability of information about test performance to the audience (audience informed or audience not informed). The results were largely in agreement with self-presentation expectations, Ability attributions concerning public task performance addressed to an audience which was not informed about test results, were found to be strongly self-serving, although they were also influenced by consistency of test and task performance. In ability attributions directed at an informed audience, self-serving biases were completely absent, the attributions being in accordance with the consistency or inconsistency of test and task performances.     

Sexual experience and preference for males or females in the female rat

The influence of sexual experience on preference behavior was investigated in adult female rats. In the first experiment, preference behavior for sexually active males versus estrous females was investigated in female rats who were experienced with mounting behavior. Preference of these mount experienced females was compared to preference of females who were naive in this respect. Mount experience with estrous females induced a female-directed preference in ovariectomized female rats, irrespective of whether the females were treated with OIL or with testosterone-propionate (500 micrograms TP, injected once 48 h prior to testing). Sexually naive, OIL-treated females did not show a preference for males or females, but TP induced a preference for a male. Individual differences in mount frequency were not correlated with preference behavior. In the second experiment, the influence of experience with feminine sexual responses on preference behavior was investigated. OIL-treated and TP-treated females oriented equally toward males and females when they had been given the opportunity to copulate with males prior to the preference tests. The results strongly suggest that prior sexual experience is an important determinant of preference behavior. The female's behavior during sexual interactions was, however, not predictive of later preference.     

Auditory-visual interaction and the timing of inputs

Summary The objective of this study was to analyze the structural properties of the respective inputs that are conducive to immediate auditory-visual cross-modal bias. The study was designed as an updated and extended replication of one by Thomas (1941). Subjects were presented with either auditory or visual target signals in several positions around the median plane, together with a competing signal, always in the other modality, 15° to the left or to the right of that plane. The task was to indicate whether the target signal came left or right of center. Target and competing signals were delivered according to three temporal configurations: continuously on for 4 s, or periodically interrupted at either a fast or a slow tempo, and all combinations of the three configurations were used. Judgements of the location of the auditory target signal were attracted toward the visual competing signal in all conditions but two, those with a periodic target signal and a continuous competing one. Conditions with the two signals in the same configuration yielded larger biases than those combining different configurations, confirming that synchronization of discordant inputs is a major condition of cross-modal interactions. The occurrence of significant bias in nonsynchronous conditions, on the other hand, suggests that another factor might be the attraction of localization responses by competing signals with salient temporal configurations, and that interruption might be one important source of saliency. Auditory biases of visual localization were, as usual, smaller than visual biases, but nevertheless reached significance in a majority of conditions, and were also influenced by timing in much the same way as the latter.This work was supported in part by the Belgian Fonds de la Recherche Fondamentale Collective (FRFC) under convention 2.4505.80. The first author is Chercheur qualifié of the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS). The results have already been reported at the Symposium on Perception, Action and Development, Brussels, January 1984     

On the relation between indistinguishability of identical particles and (anti)symmetry of the wave function in quantum mechanics

Two different concepts of distinguishability are often mixed up in attempts to derive in quantum mechanics the (anti)symmetry of the wave function from indistinguishability of identical particles. Some of these attempts are analyzed and shown to be defective. It is argued that, although identical particles should be considered as observationally indistinguishable in (anti)symmetric states, they may be considered to be conceptually distinguishable. These two notions of (in)distinguishability have quite different physical origins, the former one being related to observations while the latter has to do with the preparation of the system.     

Evidence that fixation digits can contribute to visual field asymmetries in lateralized tachistoscopic tasks

Fixation point digits have been widely used in tachistoscopic laterality studies as a simple and convenient means of ensuring unihemispheric projection of stimulus materials to the hemispheres. Previous findings demonstrate that fixation digits do not influence asymmetries in recognition accuracy studies with adult Ss. Present results, comparing four conditions differing in their use of fixation digits, show that in the naming latency paradigm the requirement to remember and report fixation control digits significantly augments RVF superiority. Implications for other latency tasks are discussed.     

Intensive specialised multi-family therapy for multi-stressed families: Therapeutic alliance as predictor for effectiveness

The effectiveness of intense specialised multi-family therapy (ISMFT) for 111 multi-stressed families, and the therapeutic alliance as a possible predictor of outcome, were examined. A repeated measures design was used, where changes in all ISMFT phases (preparation, multi-family therapy and follow-up) were assessed and compared for both mothers and fathers. Evidence was found for improved family functioning after the therapy period, which was maintained at 3 months follow-up, although the multi-stressed families still functioned in the problematic range. The therapy did however not decrease parenting stress, or did so only temporarily. Observations of the therapeutic alliance with the System for Observing Family Therapy Alliances (SOFTA) scales indicated that high therapist engagement was related to positive therapy outcomes, both at the start of therapy and later. High family engagement also predicted therapy effectiveness, but only at the start of therapy. The present study shows that solution-focused multi-family therapy at least seems to provide the first step in alleviating problems in multi-stressed families.