Developmental changes in mental rotation

Subjects from Grades 3, 4, 6, and college judged whether pairs of stimuli were identical or mirror-image reversals. One stimulus of a pair was presented upright; the other was rotated 0 to 150° from the standard. The pairs were either alphanumeric symbols or unfamiliar, letter-like characters of the type found on the PMA Spatial Ability Test. Response latencies were measured. The primary results were that (a) the speed of mental rotation increased with development, (b) unfamiliar characters were rotated more slowly than alphanumeric characters, by approximately the same amount at each grade, and (c) unfamiliar characters were encoded and compared more slowly than alphanumeric symbols, by an amount that declined with development. The results are discussed in terms of the component processes that underlie developmental change and individual variation in mental rotation skill.     

The emergence of functional play in infants: Evidence for a major cognitive transition

Sixty-four infants, eight boys and eight girls at each of four ages, $\text{9}\text{1}\text{2}\text{, 11}\text{1}\text{2}\text{, 13}\text{1}\text{2}\text{,}\text{and}\text{15}\text{1}\text{2}$ months, were observed during a 15-minute free play session. Three types of play (stereotypical, relational, and functional) and the number of appropriate uses for specific realistic toys were recorded. Stereotypical play (87% of total active play at $\text{9}\text{1}\text{2}$ months) gave way to relational (35% at $\text{13}\text{1}\text{2}$ months) and functional play (52% at $\text{15}\text{1}\text{2}$ months) as the dominant activity. Both functional play and the number of different appropriate uses of toys were rare at $\text{9}\text{1}\text{2}$ months, appeared reliably at $\text{11}\text{1}\text{2}$ months and increased lineraly through $\text{15}\text{1}\text{2}$ months. A change in the quality of play from indiscriminate mouthing, waving, banging, and fingering of objects to the matching of appropriate uses for a large array of toys indicates that the child's manipulations become more object specific and functional over this 6-month age span. Among possible explanations for the linear increase in the frequency and diversity of appropriate toy uses is the suggestion that an important cognitive change occurs toward the end of the first year of life. A case study is presented to illustrate the application of the play procedure for both assessment and treatment.     

Dimensional,similarity, and configurai classification of integral and separable stimuli

Subjects classified sets of two-dimensional stimuli into two or three groups in any way they wished. For integral stimuli, classification was based on numerical balance and the similarity structure. For separable stimuli, classification was based on the dimensional structure and the configurai properties of the stimulus set. These results replicate and extend those of Handel and Imai (1972). In addition, they suggest that no closed set of stimulus concepts is possible.     

RECOGNISING CITY SCENES: A TEST OF MILGRAM'S FORMULA

Milgram et al. (1972) proposed the formula R = f(C X D) for the recognition of city scenes where R = Recognition, C = Centrality to the population flow and D = architectural or social distinctiveness. In this paper a slight modification to this formula was suggested. The centrality concept was replaced by the more adequate one of familiarity and an empirical test of the proposition was carried out. Fifty-four scenes of urban Adelaide, South Australia were chosen using the two techniques of fixed distance sampling along major roads and equivalent representation sampling from the entire urban area. High School students (N = 41) and University Students (N = 31) were shown colour slides and ratings were obtained for recognition and distinctiveness. Familiarity was assessed using frequency of travel patterns. Multiple regression analyses showed that frequency of encounter was the only significant predictor variable in the younger High School sample, but distinctiveness and frequency were both significant for the University sample. A possible explanation for this difference in terms of car usage is outlined and some critical comments on the distinctiveness concept are presented.     

Research activities of doctoral school psychologists

A survey was sent to doctoral school psychologists to determine their research productivity and topical interests. Approximately two thirds of 147 respondents indicated doing some research during 1974–1975. Studies dealing with topics of assessment and program evaluation were most prevalent. Only about one in five studies was actually published and most of these were in nonprestigious periodicals. Academic school psychologists were more likely to do research and publish than were applied school psychologists. Academic and applied psychologists did not differ in terms of numbers of unpublished written or oral research reports. The correspondence of these results with prior data on school psychology research was noted and suggestions to increase the circulation of research findings are presented.     

Communication Differences Between Physicians and Their Patients in an Oncology Setting

The physician-patient relationship has critical importance in the quality of medical care, especially in the oncology setting. Of particular interest over the past two decades has been the communication between physicians and their patients. It is understood that communication is related to patient and physician satisfaction as well as other medical outcomes. However, despite this interest and attention, investigators have only recently begun to assess the communication between physicians and patients from the patient's point of view. Additionally, previous investigations have primarily relied upon retrospective reports of the interaction from patients or physicians. The current investigation assessed physician–patient communication in an oncology setting, both as it was occurring and following the interaction. The units of analysis included participant ratings as well as those of trained observers. Findings revealed that physicians and patients disagree as to the valence of the messages which transpired. Additionally, results suggest that it is the patients who distort the messages in the positive direction. Research and clinical implications of this disagreement and positivity bias are discussed.