Movement errors and levels of processing in sentence production

From a corpus of 3,530 slips of the tongue in Spanish, a sample of 753 cases of movement errors was analyzed, comprising those tokens that could be unambiguously assigned to the major categories of anticipations, perseverations, exchanges, and shifts. The analysis was performed according to two main criteria: (a) the degree of correspondence between the linguistic elements interacting in an error, and (b) the distance between such elements in terms of the type and number of the intervening linguistic boundaries. The results of this analysis converge with those obtained in English, supporting a model of sentence planning with different levels of representation and processing. Furthermore, Spanish provides a clear case to attest the role of syllabic structure in production processes, the constraints set by word boundaries in sublexical errors, and the contribution of inflectional suffixes to the assignment of grammatical category to the root morphemes.     

The relationship between sex role identity and marital adjustment

One hundred forty-four maritally distressed clinic couples and 138 nonclinic couples participated in a study investigating the relationship between individual sex role identity and marital adjustment. Subjects completed Baucom's (1976) masculinity (MSC) and femininity (FMN) scales, and either the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS; Spanier, 1976) or the Marital Adjustment Scale (MAS; Locke & Wallace, 1959). As predicted, femininity was related to positive marital adjustment; masculinity was related as well, but perhaps to a lesser degree. Androgyny within a relationship was found to be highly desirable, whereas marriages involving undifferentiated individuals were more likely to be distressed.     

Psychological and physical adjustment to breast cancer over 4 years: identifying distinct trajectories of change.

The goal of this study was to identify distinct trajectories of adjustment to breast cancer over 4 years as well as to distinguish among the different trajectories. The mental and physical functioning of 287 women with breast cancer who remained alive and disease free through 4 years of follow-up were examined. The majority of women showed slight and steady improvement in functioning with time, but subgroups of women were identified who showed marked improvement and marked deteriorations over time. Age successfully distinguished different trajectories of physical functioning. Indices of personal resources (i.e., self-image, optimism, perceived control) and social resources (i.e., social support) successfully distinguished different courses of mental and physical functioning.     

Fast and accurate measurement of taste and smell thresholds using a maximum-likelihood adaptive staircase procedure

This paper evaluates the use of a maximum-likelihood adaptive staircase psychophysical procedure (ML-PEST), originally developed in vision and audition, for measuring detection thresholds in gustation and olfaction. The basis for the psychophysical measurement of thresholds with the ML-PEST procedure is developed. Then, two experiments and four simulations are reported. In the first experiment, ML-PEST was compared with the Wetherill and Levitt up-down staircase method and with the Cain ascending method of limits in the measurement of butyl alcohol thresholds. The four Monte Carlo simulations compared the three psychophysical procedures. In the second experiment, the test-retest reliability of ML-PEST for measuring NaCl and butyl alcohol thresholds was assessed. The results indicate that the ML-PEST method gives reliable and precise threshold measurements. Its ability to detect malingerers shows considerable promise. It is recommended for use in clinical testing.