The emerging role of school psychology

This report relates personal experiences as they influenced the emerging role of the school psychologist, especially in Pennsylvania and Indiana from 1930 to 1970.     

Factor analysis of the Wechsler adult intelligence scale-revised (WAIS-R): An examination of the standardization sample

Orthogonal and oblique factor analyses were performed using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) standardization sample (Wechsler, 1981). Using objective criteria, it was decided to retain two factors. Evidence for a strong general intelligence (g) factor was found from both the orthogonal and oblique rotations. Whereas the verbal IQ provided an acceptable estimate of the Verbal Comprehension factor, a purer measure was found in the form of a Verbal Comprehension Deviation Quotient containing only the Information, Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests. The performance IQ was found to be an inadequate measure of the Perceptual Organization factor. A Perceptual Organization Deviation Quotient, containing only the Block Design and Object Assembly subtests, was recommended as an effective alternative. Analysis of the variance components for each subtest at every age level revealed that a substantial proportion of subtests at a wide range of age levels evidence either high or intermediate levels of specific variance. These results are discussed in terms of interpreting individual subtest scores and patterns. Each of the study's major findings are compared with prior work done with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) (Wechsler, 1955).     

A temporal limit on the effect of future food on current performance in an analogue of foraging and welfare

Rats obtained access to food twice each 24-hour period. The first session was a work session in which food was available on a progressive-ratio schedule. During the second session, which occurred between 1 and 23 hours after the work session, food was freely available up to a fixed total intake each 24 hours. The situation resembled elements of several real world circumstances, including the choice between continuing to forage in a rapidly depleting patch and waiting for a better patch, and between working now and receiving a guaranteed income later. The purpose of the experiment was to explore the time period over which future access to reward could affect current responding. Contrary to what might be expected from recent theorizing, anticipation of future food delayed by an hour or more after the start of the work session had no effect on current performance. Food intake was high and constant during work sessions except for a prefeeding effect that occurred when the free session closely preceded the next day's work session. Also, an increase in the difficulty of the work schedule increased the amount of work and the maximum price paid for food as if the work session were the only time food was available. The results indicate the importance of considering temporal limits in theories that require animals to integrate input over time to determine the allocation of resources among alternatives.     

Behavior regulation and learned performance: Some misapprehensions and disagreements

The behavior-regulation approach to learned performance has been the subject of misapprehension and disagreement concerning: (1) the nature and importance of behavior regulation, (2) the definition and role of behavioral set-points, (3) the relation of optimal schedule performance to behavioral set-points, and (4) the question of whether deviations from total responding or from response patterns are the primary determinant of molar responding under schedule constraint. After clarifying the nature and role of behavior regulation and set-points, this paper shows that the data used to question optimal schedule performance (Allison, 1981a) actually strongly support the general behavior-regulation approach. These data also indicate a role for response-pattern set-points in determining schedule behavior, but contradict the hypothesis that deviations from response-pattern characteristics are the primary determinant of molar schedule effects.     

Generalization of treatment effects in training public speakers

Three studies compared the efficacy of various treatments for public-speaking incompetence. These effects were evaluated for the target behavior as well as for generalization effects across situations (conversations), settings (different sizes and types of audiences) and time (6-month follow-up). The first study showed that Self-instructional Training, either alone or in combination with other procedures, produced little or no benefits. The second study demonstrated the superiority of a Skills Training program over flooding therapy, while the final study failed to detect any enhancement of treatment benefits for the addition of home-practice to the Skills Training. In the first two studies generalization occurred across the three dimensions (settings, situations and time), while in the final study it was shown that the program was effective for a clinical population as well as recruited volunteers.     

Time course of visual information utilization during fixations in reading

College students read short texts from a cathode-ray tube as their eye movements were being monitored. During selected fixations, the text was briefly masked and then it reappeared with one word changed. Subjects often were unaware that the word had changed. Sometimes they reported seeing the first presented word, sometimes the second presented word, and sometimes both. When only one word was reported, two factors were found to determine which one it was: the length of time a word was present during the fixation and the predictability of a word in its context. The results suggested that visual information is utilized for reading at a crucial period during the fixation and that this crucial period can occur at different times on different fixations. The pattern of responses suggested that the first letter of a word is not utilized before other letters and that letters are not scanned from left to right during a fixation.     

Two stages in postcategorical filtering and selection

Memory &; Cognition - In a modified Stroop paradigm, Kahneman and Henik (1981) varied the spatial location of incompatible color words in relation to the position of the ink color to be named. A...