Sentence encoding and implicitly activated memories

Some words have fewer direct associates than others, and, when words varying in set size are studied in a list-learning task, those with smaller sets are more likely to be recalled. This set-size effect is found in cued recall when the words are studied in the absence of related words, but not when studied in the presence of related words. Related words provide context and theoretically inhibit irrelevant associates. The present research determined that set-size effects are found when words are encoded in sentence contexts. In contrast to list-learning experiments, the results of three experiments found such effects even when lexically related words were present in the sentences. Other findings indicated that target-set-size effects were determined by the proximity of related words in the sentence and the nature of the test cue. The results are discussed in relation to a model for explaining set-size effects and to selective findings from the sentence-comprehension literature.     

Switching points of view in spatial mental models

In six experiments, subjects read narratives describing varying spatial scenes with more than one point of view. They were probed with questions about objects located in six directions from each character's point of view. Subjects' response times were consistent with a one place-one perspective rule. They seemed to form separate mental models for separate places and to take a character's perspective when there was only one relevant character in a scene, but they seemed to take a neutral perspective when there was more than one probed point of view, rather than switch perspectives.     

Electroencephalogram asymmetry during emotionally evocative films and its relation to positive and negative affectivity

The purpose of the present study was to determine if there were differences in hemispheric lateralization during the experience of emotions and if those differences were related to personality style. College-age adult subjects selected for high positive and negative affectivity on Tellegen's Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen, 1982) viewed video stimuli selected for their emotionally evocative nature and rated the intensity of the emotions they experienced. The ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded while they watched the video clips. Analyses of the EEG data revealed that there were differences in regional activation during the emotional video clips, especially for those stimuli selected to elicit either happy or disgust emotions. These results support the hypothesis that the right hemisphere is specialized for the experience of certain negative affects, whereas the left hemisphere is specialized for the experience of certain positive affects. The findings also indicated some support for the theory that individual differences in personality style are related to differing levels of hemispheric arousal.     

个人化设计在临床研究中的应用——从个体角度研究个体差异

本文从有关研究证据的基础上,介绍了个人化设计的理论基础和实验设计,并在此基础上讨论了个人化设计在临床研究领域中的应用价值,总结出一种适合临床病人使用的研究程序。个人化设计允许对个体的个人价值进行分析,并能同时研究不同刺激信息的作用,在个体水平上分析个体差异。通过简化了的实验程序,个人化设计为解决临床研究中的问题提供了一种新的思维方式。文中还对相关研究法的局限进行了讨论。     

Relationship between religion-related factors and obsessive compulsive disorder

This exploratory study sought to determine whether selected religion-related factors differentiated between 86 patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), 73 patients with panic disorder, and 292 patients with other psychiatric (non-anxiety) disorders. A standard history questionnaire was used to obtain information from patients concerning religion of origin, involvement in religious activities, religious conflict, and perceived religiousness of parents. It was found that the percentage of patients who reported experiencing religious conflict was significantly higher for the OCD group than for the other two groups. Other findings suggested associations between Catholicism and OCD and between Protestantism and panic disorder, but further research is needed to clarify these relationships. This article is based on a paper presented at the 98th annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Boston, August 1990.     

The gestural repertoire and its evolution over the second year

The entire repertoire of communicative gestures was documented in a longitudinal, observational study of 10 infants, whose combined ages covered the range from 9 to 22 months. Early in the second year, giving as a request to do something with the object increased, while emotive gestures decreased. Later in the second year, pointing gestures increased, while protest gestures tended to decrease. Combining gestures with vocalization tended to increase only for protest gestures later in the second year. Eye contact showed a small but continuous increase in coordination with gestures over the second year, particularly with comment, request, and emotive gestures. These findings indicate an increasing use of the parent as an agent and of the informative function in non-verbal communication during this period of transition to verbal communication.     

A multi-relation approach of general systems and tests of applications

In this paper, under the assumption that ZFC axiom system is consistent, the following are proved: (a) there is no system whose object set consists of all systems; (b) any system is not an object of itself; (c) any system is constructed with basic elements (elements which are not systems). Based on these results, the following problems in epistemology are discussed: the feasibility of the definition of the theory so-called science of science; the existence of basic particles in the world; and the existence of absolute truths.This paper was partially supported by Auburn University, presented atThe 20th Annual Spring Topology Conference, entitled The ZFC Axiom System and Problems in Epistemology.     

Supportive and problematic social interactions: A social network analysis

Assessed the number of sources of supportive and problematic social interactions in the total social network as well as the number who were the sources of consistently supportive or problematic interactions in a sample of 2nd year medical students. Number of problematic interaction sources was hypothesized to be more predictive of psychological and physical well-being than number of supportive interaction sources. Results showed that total supportive and total problematic interaction sources were equally predictive of life satisfaction. The presence of at least one individual who is a consistent source of problematic interactions was most predictive of lower life satisfaction. Results indicate the importance of studying both supportive and problematic social interactions. They also suggest that interactions with individuals that are consistently problematic may negatively impact upon well-being.     

Semantic facilitation and translation priming effects in Chinese-English bilinguals

In two experiments, semantic facilitation and translation priming effects in Chinese-English bilingual speakers were demonstrated with a lexical decision task. A 300-msec stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) was used between display of the prime and the target item. Experiment 1 showed that subjects' lexical decision responses were facilitated to a greater extent when primed by a translation equivalent than a semantically related between-language word. In Experiment 2, we found that pictorial, between-language, and within-language primes produced comparable effects of semantic facilitation. These results are in line with the hypothesis that lexical items in different languages and pictures are processed by means of an amodal conceptual system.