MMPI correlates of extreme field independence and field dependence in a psychiatric population.

34 male and 34 female hospitalized psychiatric patients were divided into field-independent and field-dependent groups on the basis of rod-and-frame test performance and their MMPI scores were compared. A multiple discriminant analysis followed by a series of 2 X 2 factorial analyses of variance was used to assess the results. As in previous studies, more similarities than differences were found between the two cognitive styles. However, field-independent subjects tended to be more unconventional, aggressive, antisocial, and perhaps defensive than field-dependent subjects. Explanations of results were explored in reference to previous findings.     

The regression to right angles tendency,lateral inhibition,and the transversals in the Zöllner and Poggendorff illusions

A new version of the Zöllner illusion is demonstrated. Two different ways in which the regression to right angles tendency might operate are distinguished and considered in relation to the illusion. Experiments are reported which show that the one consistent with lateral inhibition between orientation detectors gives the better explanation of the illusion. The implications of this for the Poggendorff illusion are considered.     

Some issues in programming multi-mini-processors

Large computer systems, called multi-mini-processors, can be constructed by joining together many minicomputers. Two such systems are described, and seven issues encountered in the programming of such systems are discussed.     

Beoadbent's filter theory: Postulate H and the problem of switching time

Groups of digits were presented binaurally and dichotically to subjects who were asked to recall them. Different rates and patterns of presentation were used, the design being based on that of Broadbent (1954). Broadbent's findings in this field were confirmed. If subjects are presented with simultaneous pairs of digits at a rate of 2 pairs per second dichotically, they cannot recall them if they are asked to alternate between the ears. If however the presentation is staggered, so that although the rate is constant the signals do not overlap, subjects can recall alternately from the two ears. It is suggested that these findings are better interpreted as an interference effect, not a rate effect. Criticism is offered of similar designs to measure “switching rate”. Criticism is also offered of Broadbent's estimate of “perception time” in such experiments. An analysis of the quantity and type of errors made by subjects is given, which suggests that Broad-bent's theory of a short term store on the peripheral side of a selective filter is in need of revision.     

THE PHENOMENON OF INTELLIGENCE AS SEEN BY A LAY-SCIENTIST

Abstract. This paper sees intelligence as certainly not a thing which is the sole prerogative of man but rather as a category of skill, natural to all organisms, integral with their capacity for handling their environment, and increasingly well developed in the higher animals. Intelligence is seen as a natural property of living organisms at their highest levels: a characteristic of living things which is emergent in the same way as, and essentially in parallel with, perception, consciousness, and moral and spiritual sensitivities.     

The effects of relative intensity of cue and marker on marked trace conditioning in pigeons

Pigeons were trained on trace conditioning procedures (autoshaping) in which a keylight conditioned stimulus (CS) was presented for 5 sec and followed after a 10-sec temporal gap by food. In Experiment 1, acquisition of conditioned responding to the CS was facilitated when it was immediately followed by a brief stimulus, but only when the brief stimulus was of greater intensity than the trace CS. In Experiment 2, this facilitation effect was found when a more intense brief stimulus followed the trace CS immediately, but not when it was delayed. In both experiments, responding to the target CS was compared within-subjects to that to a control CS, which eliminated factors such as second-order conditioning as an explanation for the facilitation effects. Together, the results of Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that a brief stimulus may mark immediately preceding events in memory and thus facilitate their association with delayed reinforcement only if the brief stimulus is relatively more intense, and thus more salient, than the target events. In Experiment 3, we found substantial generalization of this facilitation effect from the marked CS to the control CS and conclude that the results of Experiments 1 and 2 may underestimate the magnitude of these marking effects.