Reduction and calibration of eye monitor data

The present paper presents FORTRAN programs for reducing eye monitor output to fixations and for mapping these fixations to locations in the stimulus space. Flexible parameters of the fixations program allow for determination of the beginning and end of fixations under different resolution criteria and for indicating loss of accurate measurement. The calibration program is based on a rectangular 9-point fixation grid. Each fixation is rescaled within this grid by solving for a quadratic equation. The rescaled values are output in a flexibly determined rectangular coordinate system that is related to the stimulus space, such as character position on the screen. The programs were developed for the 60-Hz Applied Sciences corneal reflection eye monitor, but they may be used with a number of other systems.     

Children''s Representational Theory of Language:The Problem of Opaque Contexts

Around four years of age, children recognize that action is less a consequence of the way the world is than the way it is represented by the actor. This understanding is characterized as a “theory of mind.” This study examines the possibility of the development of a parallel theory of language; specifically, the understanding that, in opaque contexts, terms do not simply map on to the referent of the expression, but rather indicate how that object is to be represented. 120 3- to 7-year-olds were tested on their theory of mind (using false belief tasks) and sensitivity to opaque contexts. Children who passed false belief tasks performed more successfully on the opacity measure than those who did not, even when age was partialled out (r (117) = .2453, p < .01). It is concluded that children come to realize that language does not refer to the world directly, but rather via one's representation of it. The results are consistent with the view that both abilities are manifestations of a more general understanding of representation, and that children's theories of mind and language follow similar developmental paths.     

Rationality and madness: The post‐modern embrace of Dionysus and the neo‐vedānta response of Radhakrishnan

Following the lead of Nietzsche, several post‐modern philosophers challenge the Western notion of rationality and its representational model of thought and embrace the Dionysian element in Nietzsche's philosophy, which can take the form of embracing madness (Foucault), desire (Deleuze and Guattari), or carnival (Kristeva). This paper will place Radhakrishnan into the context of a hermeneutical dialogue with these figures from post‐modern philosophy, and it will attempt to address the issue of the post‐modem attack on rationality by these post‐modern philosophers by comparing their concept of rationality with that espoused by Radhakrishnan. It will also be demonstrated that for Radhakrishnan reason supplies conceptual clarity, is subordinate to intuition, and justifies the validity of intuition which transcends reason. It will be argued that Radhakrishnan agrees with the post‐modernist that reason is not universal, but he does not share their radical scepticism as his philosophy seeks wholeness, unity, order, and rationality in conjunction with intuition in contrast to the choice of these post‐modernist for diversity, difference, and chaos, and madness.     

Training phonological awareness with and without explicit attention to articulation

One hundred twenty-two second- to fifth-grade (7- to 11-year-old) children with reading difficulties studied phonological awareness with or without explicit attention to articulation and with or without manipulation of sounds. They all studied identical phonics and read stories on the computer with speech and decoding support for difficult words. Regular-instruction controls received regularly scheduled language-arts or reading activities. After 40 h of training, children in all three trained conditions outperformed controls on all tests except math. Conditions that manipulated sounds showed advantages over the condition without explicit practice manipulating sounds, but only on the two measures of phonological awareness. Articulatory awareness training yielded no unique benefits during this training period. Individual differences in response to treatment related to initial levels of phonological awareness, naming speed, IQ, and grade. The similar outcomes of the three conditions suggest that specific variations in good phonological training may be less important than once thought for most children with reading difficulties.     

Three-dimensional (3-D) Circumplex Model and revised scoring of FACES III

FACES III can, however, continue to be a useful scale now that the Circumplex Model has been expanded into a three-dimensional design. Past and future studies would benefit from using FACES III as a linear dimension with high scores representing Balanced types and low scores representing Extreme types. This approach means that many past studies with FACES III need to be re-analyzed and/or re-interpreted in light of this 3-D Model. This revised scoring will significantly increase the number of studies that support the basic hypotheses of the Circumplex model, that Balanced families tend to function in more effective ways. It is clear from more recent work with the Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) that the lack of support for the curvilinear hypotheses of the Circumplex Model is due to the limitations of the FACES instrument and not the underlying theoretical model. The CRS clearly demonstrated the curvilinear pattern that has been hypothesized. It is important that future studies using FACES III analyze data in a linear way that fits with the three-dimensional model. In this way, there is a better match conceptually and methodologically between FACES III and the Circumplex Model. It is also highly recommended that future studies use both the self-report of FACES and the observational approaches to family assessment of the Clinical Rating Scale. This combined approach will help advance the field conceptually, methodologically, and clinically.     

Assessment of peer rejection and externalizing behavior problems in preschool boys: a short-term longitudinal study

We examined the longitudinal stability of measures of negative peer status and aggressive-disruptive behavior in preschool boys. Subjects were 53 white 4- to 5- year- old boys from low-income family backgrounds. Peer sociometric measures of rejection and behavioral deviance were assessed in the fall and spring of the preschool year. Complementary measures were also obtained from teachers at both assessment points. Half of the boys designated as rejected on the basis of peer nominations maintained this status at the end of the preschool year. Teachers and peers did not agree on their selections of socially rejected children, but had good agreement concerning the identification of children with externalizing-type behavior problems. Finally, teacher and peer classifications of aggressive-disruptive children were highly stable throughout the preschool year. These findings indicate that peer-rejected children can be identified at very young ages, and that preschoolers can be reliable informants about the social maladjustment of peers.We thank the Head Start children, parents and staff who participated, and Karen Lifgren for her help with data collection.     

Children’s sensitivity to pictorial depth information

Children, ranging in age from 3 years, 4 months to 5 years, 4 months, were tested for sensitivity to interposition, height in field, linear perspective, and retinal size under either restricted (monocular, head motionless) or unrestricted (binocular, head free) picture surface viewing conditions. All of the subjects’ relative depth responses (near vs. far) to two toy houses were remarkably accurate with interposition and or height in field pictorial depth information. Retinal size had relatively little control over their responses, and the addition of linear perspective resulted in no significant improvement. Performance was nearly equivalent under the two viewing conditions, indicating young children’s ability to take a “pictorial attitude.”     

Reducing stress by counterattitudinal advocacy

In one condition, subjects were made apprehensive by being threatened with shock and then were induced to publicly argue that they were not apprehensive about the situation. It was hypothesized that the subjects who were induced to advocate a position contrary to their feelings about the situation would experience dissonance. To reduce dissonance, these subjects were expected to redefine the situation as less threatening and thereby experience less apprehension regarding the situation than subjects in a control threat condition. Results of physiological measures and a postexperimental questionnaire supported the expectations. Implications of the study for psychotherapy were mentioned.