A procedural theory of eye movements in doing arithmetic

A procedural theory of eye movement that accounts for main features of the stochastic behavior of eye-fixation durations and direction of movement of saccades in the process of solving arithmetic exercises of addition and subtraction is presented. The best-fitting distribution of fixation durations with a relatively simple theoretical justification consists of a mixture of an exponential distribution and the convolution of two exponential distributions. The eye movements themselves were found to approximate a random walk that fits rather closely in both adult and juvenile subjects the motion postulated by the normative algorithm ordinarily taught in schools. Certain structural features of addition and subtraction exercises, such as the number of columns, the presence or absence of a carry or a borrow, are well known to affect their difficulty. In this study, regressions on such structural variables were found to account for only a relatively small part of the variation in eye-fixation durations.     

A factorial study of a new measure of authoritarianism

In the present study scores on Ray's Directiveness scale were subjected to Varimax rotation. Three factors explaining more than 50% of the variance of authoritarianism were interpreted and labelled Submissiveness, Dominance and Aggressiveness, respectively. Although these are in line with Ray's earlier conception of the nature of authoritarianism and do, to some extent, support other findings, it is suggested that the Directiveness scale be expanded to accommodate more characteristics of authoritarianism such as rigidity, hostility and superstitiousness.     

A rose is a rose is a rose: Minimalism in perception

The article by Wilcox and Edwards (1982) is discussed in terms of the notion of a Physics necessary for an explanatory theory of Perception. Phenomenological explanations, while true, are rejected as lacking explanatory adequacy. Some examples of succesful computational theories, covering the phenomena Gibson considered basic to an Ecological Physics, are given which are based upon a classical optics.     

Associative facilitation of word recognition as measured from a neutral prime

It is shown that lexical decision times to strong associates with an associative strength of approximately 40% are facilitated relative to targets following a neutral prime, “blank,” whereas very weak associates with an associative strength of less then 3% are neither facilitated nor inhibited. It is also shown that relative to the “blank” baseline time, a row of crosses inhibits processing of the following target. The latter finding has implications for earlier studies that have used crosses as a neutral prime. In these studies, facilitation effects have been overestimated and inhibition effects have been underestimated. Neely 1976 has proposed a predict-and-match strategy according to which subjects are assumed to predict one or more targets from the prime and to match the actual target onto the predicted targets. A part of this theory is not supported by the present data. The results are discussed in terms of the two-process theory of expectancy (Posner & Snyder, 1975). They are also considered in the light of a recent theory by Becker (1980). As an alternative interpretation of part of the reported data, a coherence assumption by the subjects about all reading materials is introduced.     

Therapeutic effectiveness of differentially targeted humorous remarks in group psychotherapy

Video records of five different sessions of a single therapy group were scored for the occurrence of laughing, smiling, and talking. Successive five-minute intervals were also scored for therapeutic level through ratings derived from the Hill Interaction Matrix. Humorous remarks were categorized according to humor target: self, other in group, and generalized other. Results indicated that the vast majority of humorous remarks were directed at some specific target, and that over 50% of these remarks were negative in tone. Results also revealed that remarks targeted at others in the group tended to decrease therapeutic effectiveness whereas remarks targeted at individuals or institutions not presently in the group were found to increase therapeutic effectiveness. Selftargeted remarks were found to produce inconsistent effects. These findings are discussed in terms of their significance for a more general analysis of group humor as well as in terms of their more specific implications for therapeutic interventions.