The role of analogy in transfer between similar problem states

The study investigated the effect of transfer between two problems having similar (homomorphic) problem states. The results of three experiments revealed that although transfer occurred between repetition of the same problems, transfer occurred between the Jealous Husbands problem and the Missionary—Cannibal problem only when (a) Ss were told the relationship between the two problems and (b) the Jealous Husbands problem was given first. The results are related to the formal structure of the problem space and to alternative explanations of the use of analogy in problem solving. These include memory for individual moves, memory for general strategies, and practice in applying operators.     

Logic, ethics, and rhetoric of research on rape: a reply to Mosher and Bond

Mosher and Bond (this issue) suggest experimental designs that are not appropriate for the research purposes they criticize. In defending their own research, they make contradictory statements about the realism of their guided imagery procedure for simulating rape. They present data that we believe provide evidence for the possibility that wrongful harm occurred in their previous research. We assert our right to study the ethics of research and object to specious charges of having threatened sexual freedom and being associated with ideologues of the right and left.     

Analysis of potentiation and overshadowing effects in the instrumental performance of pigeons

In each of two experiments, pigeons were trained on a multiple VI (variable interval) schedule with a 3-s delay of reinforcement. Different components were associated with different key colors. Experiment 1 (stage 2) confirmed a previous finding that the response rate is higher in a component having a signal (illumination of the houselight) filling the delay interval than in a component lacking the signal. This potentiation effect was replaced by an overshadowing effect (i.e., the rate was low in the signaled component) when in stage 1 of Experiment 1 the birds received concurrent experience of a component containing houselight presentations not correlated with reinforcement. In Experiment 2 it was found that this overshadowing effect was abolished when the signal used was the presentation of a pattern on the response key rather than illumination of the houselight. These results are interpreted in terms of an interaction between the rate-enhancing properties of the signal (perhaps a consequence of its conditioned reinforcing power) and the tendency of the signal in some conditions to evoke behavior that competes with the response being recorded.     

A Framework and Themes for Social Network Intervention

This paper is concerned with the development and application of social network concepts in clinical practice. A framework of network levels and sets for ordering data and observations is proposed; the phenomenon of truncated networks is considered and two emphases in network intervention (gathering and connecting forms) are proposed to conceptualize network characteristics and practice that follows from such characteristics. A number of current examples of network practice are placed within the framework, and several advantages of utilizing a network perspective as a complement to existing models of family therapy are noted.     

Anxiety and aggression of high and low assertive persons following conflict

This experiment examined changes in anxiety and differences in aggression for high and low assertive women when different degrees of conflict were encountered. As predicted, low assertive women were intially more uneasy or anxious than high assertive women when they were placed in a conflictual situation. When the level of actual conflict was low, the level of anxiety of low assertive women decreased. However, when the actual level of conflict was high the anxiety level of low assertive women remained unchanged. These results were taken as support for the fear of conflict hypothesis which predicted that the reduction in anxiety for low assertive persons is contingent upon whether or not the anticipated conflict is actually encountered. The results also indicated that high assertive women were not significantly more aggressive than low assertive women. This finding provided support for Galassi's position that assertiveness and aggression are distinct concepts.     

No confirmation of Geschwind's hypothesis of associations between reading disability,immune disorders,and motor preference in ADHD

Geschwind and colleagues have proposed an association among reading disability, immune disorder, and motor preference. Although reading disability commonly overlaps with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), ADHD has not been previously examined in studies evaluating Geschwind's hypothesis. In this paper we evaluate whether ADHD is associated with either asthma or left motor preference and whether asthma and left motor preference are associated with each other. Subjects were 6- to 17-year-old boys with DSM-III-R ADHD (n= 140) and normal controls (n= 120). Information on reading disability, asthma, and motor preference was obtained in a standardized manner blind to the proband's clinical status. Neither ADHD nor reading disability was associated with either asthma or left motor preference nor was asthma and left motor preference associated with one another. Our results are not consistent with Geschwind's hypothesis linking reading disability, immune disorder, and left motor preference. This work was supported, in part, by USPHS (NIMH) grant RO1 MH-41314-01A2 (J.B.). We thank Drs. Benjamin, Kolodny, and Krauss from the Pediatric Department of the Harvard Community Health Plan and Dr. James Perrin from the Pediatric Service of the Massachusetts General Hospital for their contribution to this work.Address all correspondence, including reprint requests, to Joseph Biederman, M.D., Pediatric Psychopharmacology, ACC-725, Massachusetts General Hospital, 15 Parkman Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114.     

Automatic activation of phonological information in reading: Evidence from the semantic relatedness decision task

A semantic relatedness decision task was used to investigate whether phonological recoding occurs automatically and whether it mediates lexical access in visual word recognition and reading. In this task, subjects read a pair of words and decided whether they were related or unrelated in meaning. In Experiment 1, unrelated word-homophone pairs (e.g., LION-BARE) and their visual controls (e.g., LION-BEAN) as well as related word pairs (e.g., FISH-NET) were presented. Homophone pairs were more likely to be judged as related or more slowly rejected as unrelated than their control pairs, suggesting phonological access of word meanings. In Experiment 2, word-pseudohomophone pairs (e.g., TABLE-CHARE) and their visual controls (e.g., TABLE-CHARK) as well as related and unrelated word pairs were presented. Pseudohomophone pairs were more likely to be judged as related or more slowly rejected as unrelated than their control pairs, again suggesting automatic phonological recoding in reading.