Some theory and results for metrics for bounded response scales

In an earlier note, a new metric for bounded response scales (MBR) was introduced which resembles the city-block metric but is bounded above. It was suggested the MBR may be more appropriate than minkowski metrics for data obtained with bounded response scales. In this article, some formal properties of the MBR are investigated and it is shown that it is indeed a metric. Empirical predictions are then derived from the MBR and contrasted with those of a “monotonicity hypothesis,” which holds that dissimilarity judgements tend to be biased towards overestimation of larger distances, and with the predictions of the minkowski metrics, which imply additivity of collinear segments. Some empirical results are presented which contradict the monotonicity hypothesis and the minkowski metrics, and favor the MBR. Finally, the logic used to motivate the MBR is invoked to define a subadditive concatenation for bounded norms in the one-dimensional case, which may be useful in psychophysical work where the upper bounds are often real, rather than due to the response scale. This concatenation predicts understimation for doubling and overestimation for halving and middling tasks.     

On the logic of adverbs

In the paper I investigate aspects of adverbial modification as an operation applying an adverb or adverbial phrase to a predicate and thereby creating a new predicate. The logic of adverbial modification, on this view, belongs to the logic of predicate modifiers. The theory I present is intended to cover not only adverbial modification but also attributive modification, but problems concerning the latter will not be given any special attention.     

Nondeterministic three-valued logic: Isotonic and guarded truth-functions

Nondeterministic programs occurring in recently developed programming languages define nondeterminate partial functions. Formulas (Boolean expressions) of such nondeterministic languages are interpreted by a nonempty subset of {T (“true”), F (“false”), U (“undefined)}. As a semantic basis for the propositional part of a corresponding nondeterministic three-valued logic we study the notion of a truth-function over {T, F, U} which is computable by a nondeterministic evaluation procedure. The main result is that these truth-functions are precisely the functions satisfying four basic properties, called \( \subseteq \) -isotonic, \( \subseteq \) ^?-isotonic, hereditarily guarded, and hereditarily guard-using, and that a function satisfies these properties iff it is explicitly definable (in a certain normal form) from “if..then..else..fi”, binary choice, and constants.     

Emotionality of encoding activity in face memory

The effects of emotionality of study tasks on face recognition were examined. Subjects made either personality decisions or self-comparisons about the people shown in a series of photographs. The personality traits judged during the encoding tasks had been selected to be either arousing or relatively nonarousing. Face recognition performance was best after an emotional nonself study task, on both immediate and delayed tests. In a companion study examining these manipulations in verbal memory, self-reference study tasks produced the best word recognition, with no difference due to the emotionality of nonself tasks. These results suggest emotionality and self-awareness have different effects on facial and verbal memory. A final study indicated that the effect of emotionality disappeared if it was added to self-reference. As regards self-reference differences in face and verbal memory, this series of experiments seems to rule out an emotionality confounding. It was concluded that self-images are less effective mnemonic aids than the propositional self-concept.     

The influence of psychoticism and extraversion on classical eyelid conditioning using a paraorbital shock UCS

An experiment is described in which the effects of Psychoticism and Extraversion on classical eyelid conditioning were examined using a balanced design involving two levels of paraorbital shock intensity and two levels of response threshold. Questionnaire measures of Anxiety and Impulsivity were also analysed together with subjective ratings of the UCS. Results were broadly consistent with Eysenck's personality theory in that subjects scoring high on Psychoticism demonstrated lower levels of conditioning.     

Learned helplessness in groups

Group learned helplessness is demonstrated in Experiment I. Groups of 2 tried to turn off noise by their joint action. In the solvable group (S), noise offset was contingent on their sequence of button pushing. In the yoked, unsolvable group (U), noise offset was independent of all sequences of button pushes they produced. In a practice group (O). subjects practiced coordinated sequences of button pushes with their partners, but heard no noise. Later, all 3 groups were tested in pairs in a shuttlebox which required coordinated joint responding to turn off noise. The unsolvable group escaped more poorly than the other 2 groups, paralleling helplessness effects with individuals. Experiment 2 and 3 found no transfer from individual helplessness training to group testing and no transfer from group helplessness training to individual testing. We suggest that the same mechanism, the expectation of response ineffectiveness, may mediate both individual and group learned helplessness.     

Children's strategies for controlling affective responses to aversive social experience

It was hypothesized that one mechanism of self-control that children develop is the strategic capacity to select the experiences they encounter. This hypothesis led to the prediction that children would deal with certain aversive social experiences by seeking out or taking advantage of opportunities for nurturant experiences. Young children were exposed to an aversive social experience in which they received less nurturance than a peer, a positive experience in which they received more nurturance, or a neutral experience in which nurturance was equal. Subsequently, an opportunity was provided for children to control the length of time they watched a highly nurturant television program. As predicted, boys experiencing an aversive social encounter increased the length of time they exposed themselves to the nurturant television show, and their level of reduced positive affect was related to how long they watched the nurturant content, further supporting the interpretation that they did so in response to their own affective state. Girls did not adopt the strategy of self-exposure to nurturant television but did appear to engage in self-distraction during the aversive social experience. Despite the apparent use of control strategies, there was no indication that these strategies were effective for the amelioration of reduced positive affect resulting from the aversive social experience. Discussion focuses on the sex differences observed in the adoption of strategic behavior and factors contributing to the ineffectiveness of the control strategies. A general model is proposed for personal and environmental factors requisite for the selection, employment, and effectiveness of strategies to control experiences and their affective consequences.     

The contribution of music vs instructions in the Musical Mood Induction Procedure

The relative contribution of the instructions and the music to the effects of the Musical Mood Induction Procedure (MMIP) were investigated. Using an experimental procedure which minimised covert experimenter bias, subjects performed under both elation and depression mood inductions in one of four conditions: music present or absent by mood change instructions present or absent, using a crossover design. Results indicated that instructions were both necessary and sufficient to produce change on mood sensitive measures. Mood change effects were reduced by controlling for the effect of subjects who responded so as not to ‘louse-up’ the experiment. The MMIP seems to be much less musical than the name implies. Further research is needed to determine which aspects of the instructions contribute most to the changes on mood sensitive measures.     

Symptom schemata in chronic respiratory patients

In view of evidence that illness prognoses and adaptive functioning may be influenced by the accuracy of people's knowledge about their physical symptoms, the present study extended these findings to the chronic care population. It was hypothesized that individuals hold beliefs and develop theories about their physical symptoms and that the accuracy of these beliefs is predictive of the individuals' general level of adaptive functioning. A modified version of an instrument designed to measure the accuracy of illness schemata was employed with a sample of 31 chronic respiratory patients. Accuracy rating correlated positively and significantly with ratings of adaptive functioning, whereas no relationship was observed between adaptive functioning and severity of the patients' medical condition. Well-informed patients functioned at a higher level physically, psychologically, and socially than less-informed patients. These findings point to the importance of patient education for prognosis. Possible mediating factors are discussed.