Age differences in peripheral refractive error

Refractive error was measured at 0 degrees to 40 degrees temporal to fixation in 10 young adults (M age = 26 years) and 10 older adults (M age = 63 years). Older adults exhibited a greater amount of sphere (i.e., overall) error, but no more so in the periphery than in the fovea. Although age differences were small, younger adults were found to exhibit more peripheral astigmatism than the older adults. Discrepancies between obtained results and those of Millodot (1985) may be attributed to the relationship between peripheral astigmatism and presenting refractive status. Alternatively, a two-mechanism model of age-related change in lens curvature is capable of accounting for across-study outcome differences. Recommendations are made concerning optimal viewing conditions for the study of age differences in visual perceptual processes.     

Reception of Morse code through motional, vibrotactile, and auditory stimulation

The potential for communication through the kinesthetic aspect of the tactual sense was examined in a series of experiments employing Morse code signals. Experienced and inexperienced Morse code operators were trained to identify Morse code signals that were delivered as sequences of motional stimulation through up-down displacements (roughly 10 mm) of the fingertip. Performance on this task was compared with that obtained for both vibrotactile and acoustic presentation of Morse code using a 200-Hz tone delivered either to the fingertip through a minishaker or diotically to the two ears under headphones. For all three modalities, the ability to receive Morse code was examined as a function of presentation rate for tasks including identification of single letters, random three-letter sequences, common words, and sentences. Equivalent word-rate measures (i.e., product of percent correct scores and stimulus presentation rate) were nearly twice as high for auditory presentation as for vibrotactile stimulation, which in turn was about 1.3 times that for motional stimulation. The experienced subjects outperformed the inexperienced subjects by amounts that increased with task complexity. For example, the former were able to receive sentences at 18 words/min with motional stimulation, whereas the latter, following 75 h of training, were unable to perform this task. The present results and those of other research with tactual communication systems are compared, particularly regarding estimates of information-transfer rates.     

Factors affecting the magnitude of the Ponzo perspective illusion among the Baganda

The magnitude of the Ponzo perspective illusion, utilizing stimuli with varying amounts of context, was determined for a population of Ugandan villagers. The subjects were classified as two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or mixed perceivers based upon their verbal responses to photographs portraying symbolic depth cues. The illusion magnitude among those subjects classified as three-dimensional was similar to that of college observers who demonstrate an increase in illusion magnitude with increasing background context. The two-dimensional observers’ responses were similar to those of villagers tested previously, showing no significant increase for the same conditions. The role of two-dimensional flatness cues was eliminated on the basis of a control experiment. The data are interpreted as reflecting the operation of a. cognitive factor determining responsiveness to symbolic depth cues in two-dimensional reproductions.     

Organizational support systems as buffers to job loss

Shock, depression, anxiety, and lowered self-esteem are often regarded as concomitants of job loss. To test this belief, a study was conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center of men whose jobs were eliminated due to a reduction in the labor force (RIF). The entire group was surveyed by means of a mail questionnaire; and, in addition, eight men (a 15% sample) were interviewed shortly after the RIF had been announced and 3 months later. Designed to define more precisely the concept of adaptation and to identify some of the factors that facilitate adaptation, this study applied a conceptual model of transition to the specific event of job loss. The model comprises three main components—the transition itself, environmental support systems, and the individual—that are believed to determine the impact of a transition and adaptation to it. The stages involved in adapting to job loss are described. One of the most effective buffers against the trauma of job loss was a formal support system introduced by the organization.     

Intelligence level as a variable in the perception of shape

The relation between shape constancy and intelligence was investigated by determining the functions relating matched shape to the angle of inclination of a circular test-object for groups at four levels of intelligence. Subjects were obtained from groups of institutionalized mental defectives, slow learners from the public schools, unselected undergraduates, and undergraduates who had been awarded scholarships. With increasing intelligence level the matches tend to approach the prediction based on the law of the retinal image thus demonstrating an inverse correlation between intelligence and the extent to which constancy is demonstrated. Since it is known the instructions given to the subject are a variable in shape constancy, it is suggested that the present data are the result of different attitudes adopted by the subjects at the various intelligence levels. The more intelligent subjects are assumed to adopt an analytic attitude in the experimental situation, while the less intelligent tend to maintain their everyday, non-analytic modes of perceiving.