INFLUENCES ON MANAGERIAL PAY ALLOCATIONS: A DEPENDENCY PERSPECTIVE

This paper reviews evidence and presents arguments for the view that managerial pay allocations are influenced by the degree of dependence on subordinates and by threats to that dependence. In assessing this view, the issues of managerial discretion in pay allocation and pay as a means of managing dependencies are explored. Major sources of objective and subjective dependence on subordinates are identified. Predictions are made regarding managerial pay allocations under various conditions of dependence and dependency threat. Finally, research and practical implications of the dependency perspective are discussed.     

Multiunit changes in hippocampus and medial geniculate body in free-behaving rats during acquisition and retention of a conditioned response to a tone

Multiunit activity (MUA) was recorded chronically in the hippocampus (CA3) and the medial geniculate body (mMG) during habituation to a tone followed by conditioning (tone paired with footshock) or pseudoconditioning (tone/footshock unpaired) in rats previously trained in a lever-pressing for food task (VI 60). In the conditioned group pairing tones with footshocks rapidly induced an increase in the initial CS-evoked response in the mMG, followed by the emergence of a hippocampal response and a marked conditioned suppression of lever-pressing to the tone. In contrast, in the pseudoconditioned group, the stimulus induced only transient cellular changes in the hippocampus and in the mMG, while no behavioral suppression to the tone could be seen. Moreover, presentations of the CS 45 days later induced multiunit and behavioral responses in both structures, only in the conditioned group. These results are used for discussion of the role of learning-induced changes in the sensory structure (mMG) as compared with changes in an associative structure (hippocampus), during acquisition and retention of a conditioned response.     

Additivity, subadditivity, and the use of visual information: a reply to Massaro (1988)

Previously we (Bruno & Cutting, 1988) explored the perception of spatial relations among objects laid out in a computer-generated environment. In his commentary on our article, Massaro (1988) raised several issues. The most important is from his reanalysis, which indicated that--because of a subadditive trend in the results--additive and multiplicative strategies fit our data in Experiment 1 about equally well. In reply, we performed a different analysis. Results corroborate subadditivity--and hence multiplicative information combination--in Experiment 1 but provide no evidence for it in Experiments 2 and 3. On the whole, then, the results still support additivity more strongly than any other combination rule and thus support our notion of minimodularity.     

Cerebral hemispheric mechanisms in the retrieval of ambiguous word meanings

Targets related to ambiguous primes were projected to the left and right visual fields in a lexical priming experiment with stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) of 35 and 750 msec. Right visual field results were similar to our earlier results with central projection (G. B. Simpson & C. Burgess, 1985, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 11, 28-39). Facilitation was found for the more frequent meaning at both SOAs and a decrease in facilitation for the less frequent meaning at the longer SOA. In contrast, left visual field results indicated a decay of facilitation for the more frequent meaning at the longer SOA, while activation for the subordinate meaning increased. Results suggest that, while automatic processing occurs in both hemispheres, only the left hemisphere engages in controlled processing of ambiguous word meanings. In addition, the present results support the idea that the right hemisphere has a special role in ambiguity resolution and that the right hemisphere lexicon possesses a richer endowment than earlier thought.     

Nonverbal communication as a compensative strategy for severely nonfluent aphasics? A quantitative approach

Seven severely nonfluent aphasics and one relative or close friend were investigated in an interview situation. The conversation was videotaped and analyzed for the use of nonverbal communication between aphasic and partner. The results indicate that the group of aphasics used significantly more frequently and for a significantly longer period of time nonverbal channels of communication than their healthy partners. The aphasic patients also used significantly fewer speech-focused movements and significantly more codified gestures. Nonverbal elements were more frequently used as speech substitutes by the group of aphasics.     

Role of the area postrema in three putative measures of motion sickness in the rat

After thermal cauterization of the area postrema in rats the absence of conditioned taste aversion to sucrose paired with lithium chloride (0.15 M, 3.3 ml/kg) was used as a pharmacologic/behavioral index of area postrema damage. In a subsequent experiment the effects of area postrema lesions on three measures proposed as species-relevant measures of motion sickness were studied, using off-vertical rotation at 150 degrees/s for either 30 or 90 min. Lesions of area postrema did not alter postrotational suppression of drinking or amount of defecation during motion. The initial acquisition of conditioned taste aversion to a novel cider vinegar solution paired with motion was not affected by lesioning of the area postrema, but these taste aversions extinguished more slowly in lesioned rats than in sham-operates or intact controls. Results are discussed in terms of proposed humoral factors which may induce motion sickness and in light of recent data on the role of the area postrema in similar measures in species possessing the complete emetic reflex.     

S-R compatibility between response position and destination of apparent motion: evidence of the detection of affordances

In choice reaction time, stimuli and responses in some combinations (e.g., based on spatial arrangement) are faster than in other combinations. To test whether motion toward a position yields faster responses at that position, a computer-generated square in front of one hand appeared to move either toward that hand or toward the other hand. Compatible responses (e.g., motion toward left hand/left response) were faster than incompatible responses, even when that opposed traditional positional compatibility. In Experiment 2, subjects responded to the same stimuli but with both hands left, right, or on the body midline. Medial responses were the fastest, showing that destination, rather than mere relative position, was a critical variable. It was suggested that spatial compatibility effects are not unique to position but apply to a variety of task situations, describable by J.J. Gibson's theory of affordances, in which he claims that one perceives the actions (e.g., catching) permitted in a situation.     

Understanding the central processing limit in consistent-mapping visual search tasks

Effects of load (i.e., the number of stimuli in the display) have been observed in multiple-frame studies using a consistent mapping of stimuli to responses (e.g., Fisher, 1982, 1984). In a series of four experiments, it is shown that these effects are not the consequence of differences across the high- and low-load conditions in either decision noise or peripheral masking. Additionally, it is shown that of two modes of limited capacity (a limited-channel and divided-capacity model) considered as possible explanations of load effects in tasks where subjects are required to locate a target, only one--the limited-channel model--is consistent with the results from all three location tasks. Finally, it is argued that the limited-channel model predicts not only the behavior observed in the four consistent-mapping experiments reported in this article but also the behavior observed in several related consistent-mapping tasks (Kleiss & Lane, 1986; Shiffrin & Gardner, 1972).