Speech Rate and Syntactic Complexity as Multiplicative Factors in Speech Comprehension by Young and Older Adults

An experiment is reported in which young and older adults heard short English sentences that differed in syntactic complexity and speech rate. The syntactic contrast pitted center-embedded sentences with a subject-relative clause against sentences with center-embedded object-relative clauses. Speech rate was varied using computer time-compression of the speech signal. Both young and older adults showed poorer comprehension accuracy for the more complex object-relative clause sentences than subject-relative sentences, with an age difference appearing only when sentences were presented at a very rapid rate. By contrast to accuracy scores, older adults took longer than the young adults to give their comprehension responses at all speech rates tested, with this age difference amplified by both speech rate and syntactic complexity.     

Facts which Support the Concept of need or Drive

Research investigating the relationship between body-cathexis and self-esteem has frequently dealt with the problem of the use of body-cathexis scores weighted by the S's rating of the personal importance of body aspects. Since the original research in this area, two studies have presented contradictory data testing the hypothesis that the greater the importance of body aspects to the individual, the greater the correlation between self-esteem and body-cathexis. This hypothesis is tested here using several approaches to the question. These data clearly indicate that there is no relationship between Ss' subjectively stated importance of body aspects and statistical importance in the form of correlations between body-cathexis and self-esteem.     

Techniques for a Systematic Investigation of Fantasy

Color normal and color defective male subjects were presented randomly either yellow-red, yellow-green, or neutral gray circular dots at seven frequency levels on each block of two homogeneous backgrounds of white or black color. Subjects estimated the number of dots at each of two illumination levels. Dot color and color-frequency interaction failed to reach .05 level for the Brandt-Snedecor chi-square test. For two digit coding, actual dot frequency was significant, and the estimates were linear and approximate over the 16 to 37 range. No significant mean difference was obtained between color normal and color defective subjects.     

God knows (but does God believe?)

The standard view in epistemology is that propositional knowledge entails belief. Positive arguments are seldom given for this entailment thesis, however; instead, its truth is typically assumed. Against the entailment thesis, Myers-Schulz and Schwitzgebel (Noûs, forthcoming) report that a non-trivial percentage of people think that there can be propositional knowledge without belief. In this paper, we add further fuel to the fire, presenting the results of four new studies. Based on our results, we argue that the entailment thesis does not deserve the default status that it is typically granted. We conclude by considering the alternative account of knowledge that Myers-Schulz and Schwitzgebel propose to explain their results, arguing that it does not explain ours. In its place we offer a different explanation of both sets of findings—the conviction account, according to which belief, but not knowledge, requires mental assent.     

Basic Concepts for a Psychology of Personality

Previous research has indicated a difference between taboo and nontaboo words rated as upsetting in that the former are learned more easily than matched neutral words, while the latter are not. In an effort to determine the source of this differential effect, a four trial study was performed on 64 female college students. The effects of rate and organization of list presentation on the learning of the two types of emotional words were compared to the learning of neutral words. Earlier results demonstrating the significant superiority of taboo but not of upsetting words over matched neutral counterparts were replicated. It was also determined that experimental conditions which result in generally poor performance and low rates of clustering (e.g., early trials, uncategorized list presentation) accentuated the taboo word effect.     

The Activity-Set Hypothesis for Warm-up Decrement in a Movement Balance Task

This study investigated the activity-set hypothesis in reducing warm-up decrement. With regard to the hypothesis, it is predicted that warm-up decrement, which is a temporary loss of skill performance following rest, could be reduced if an appropriate reinstating activity were engaged in just prior to the resumption of practice. Seventyfive subjects were given twenty 20-sec tests on the stabilometer (criterion task), and then either (a) rested, (b) rested and then performed on interpolated “activity-set” task, or (c) rested and then performed an interpolated “activation” task. All subjects, after receiving one of the three conditions were then retested on the stabilometer for an additional six trials. An analysis of planned comparisons showed that the activity-set interpolated task was effective in reducing warmup decrement and that activation was not a factor.     

Winnicott: A research perspective

This paper describes research conducted over the past twenty years that was informed by Winnicott's thinking on the importance for child development of the early mother-infant relationship.     

Resurrecting the tracking theories

Much of contemporary epistemology proceeds on the assumption that tracking theories of knowledge, such as those of Dretske and Nozick, are dead. The word on the street is that Kripke and others killed these theories with their counterexamples, and that epistemology must move in a new direction as a result. In this paper we defend the tracking theories against purportedly deadly objections. We detect life in the tracking theories, despite what we perceive to be a premature burial.     

A longitudinal investigation of the mediating role of self-esteem and body importance in the relationship between stress and body dissatisfaction in adolescent females and males

Body dissatisfaction is particularly prevalent during adolescence and has recently been linked to stress in females and males. However, prospective studies are needed to better understand the relationship between stress and body dissatisfaction. The present study investigates the direction of this association and the mediating role of self-esteem and body image importance. A sample of 298 adolescent females and males in Grades 7 to 10 (ages 12 to 17 years) were surveyed at two time points over a one-year period. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that stress significantly predicted body dissatisfaction one year later. Furthermore, a multiple mediation analysis controlling for gender revealed a significant indirect effect in both cross-sectional and longitudinal models, indicating that stress predicts reductions in self-esteem and increases in body importance, which in turn predict body dissatisfaction. These findings suggest that stress, self-esteem, and body importance should be included in programmes aimed at improving body dissatisfaction.     

Threatened masculinity and muscularity: An experimental examination of multiple aspects of muscularity in men

Two studies examined the threatened masculinity theory of male body dissatisfaction, which posits that threats to masculinity result in increased muscle dissatisfaction. In Study 1, a masculinity threat was followed by tasks examining confidence in physical ability and perceptions of current and ideal body shapes. Results showed that men who experienced a masculinity threat reported lower confidence in their physical ability and perceived themselves as less muscular than men who experienced an affirmation of their masculinity. In Study 2, men were asked to report their intention to increase muscularity and their appearance anxiety following a threat to masculinity. Results showed that men reported lower appearance anxiety and drive for muscularity when their masculinity was threatened than when their masculinity was affirmed. This apparent contradiction can be explained by noting that men may be motivated to deny appearance concerns following a threat to masculinity, as such concerns are equated with femininity.