Mechanisms of aural encoding III: Distinctive features for vowels

To determine the processing of vowel sounds in short-term memory for a serial recall task, 100 Ss heard either a short string of isolated vowel sounds, or a string in which each of these same sounds was embedded between the consonants “h” and “d”. In contrast to findings by Wickelgren, neither an articulatory or an acoustic distinctive-feature analysis predicted the pattern of intrusion errors found. The overall recall of the different sounds was predicted by the ease with which they could be labelled for rehearsal. However, ease of labelling would not explain the pattern of intrusion errors, nor would any other analysis tried. These results are consistent with a coding model presented by Liberman et al (J967). Surprisingly, the patterns of intrusion errors were very similar whether the sounds were presented alone or embedded in words. The implications of these findings for distinctive feature theory and the encoding process are discussed.     

A different look at perceptual defense for taboo words

Hober has concluded from previous work that meaningfulness, frequency, and related stimulus variables directly affect the clarity of letters of words. To examine whether the letters of taboo words would be harder to see, 12 taboo words were matched in length to 12 very frequent and 12 very rare neutral words. Each word was shown an unpredictable number of times. Three groups of 8 Ss each were required, respectively, either to name the letters they saw on each flash, name the letters and then guess the word, or guess the word only. While no differences were found among the three groups, the clarity of the letters of the frequent words exceeded that for the rare words, which in tum was higher than that of the taboo words. This difference was apparent on even the first flash, supporting the interpretation of a perceptual defense effect.     

Direct measures of short-term visual storage

Two experiments, involving seven conditions, explored the use of direct measures of visual persistence. In each, the subject was asked to judge if an intermittent stimulus appeared perceptually continuous, or whether it completely faded before the next presentation occurred. The first experiment showed that visual persistence was set at approximately 250 msec. for a recycling presentation of a circle in a tachistoscope; in another task employing a moving opaque slit passing back and forth over a circle, persistence times averaged 50 msec. longer. Reducing luminance by 2 log units increased persistence only slightly, though removing the adapting field increased it by over 100 msec. The second experiment, using the repeating circle, varied the duration of the stimulus, and compared monoptic with dichoptic presentations. Visual persistence was found to be independent of stimulus duration over a range of 4 to 200 msec., where all durations were above recognition threshold for the stimulus. Persistence was unaffected whether the stimulus was repeatedly presented in the same eye or alternated between eyes, strongly suggesting that the storage is central. Finally, a re-analysis of Dodwell and Engel's paper on stereopsis suggests that their effects can be adequately explained by visual persistence of the asynchronous stereo pairs, rather than a more complex fusion model. All of these results strongly support the use of visual persistence as a direct measure of short-term visual storage.     

Operant conditioning of eye movement in the monkey (Macaca nemestrina)

With the horizontal electrooculographic potential as the operant, four monkeys (Macaca nemestrina) were conditioned to move their eyes at high and low rates by initial use of fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement, followed by a changeover to multiple schedules of fixed-ratio reinforcement and discriminated differential reinforcement of low rate. These differences in rate of eye movement were not observed in a control animal given the same patterns of discriminative stimuli and deliveries of the reinforcing agent independent of its eye movements.     

Percent of agreement among raters and rater reliability of the copying subtest of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interrater reliability of the visual-motor portion of the Copying subtest of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition. Eight raters independently scored 11 protocols completed by children aged 5 through 10 years, using the scoring criteria and guidelines in the manual. The raters marked each of 10 items pass or fail and computed a total raw score for each protocol. Interrater reliability coefficients were obtained for each child's protocol, and the Kappa coefficient was computed for each item. Significant raters' reliability coefficients ranged from .82 to .91, which were low in comparison to test-retest reliability and Kuder-Richardson-20 coefficients for this and other subtests of the Stanford-Binet in the technical manual. Percent agreement among 8 raters also indicated weak reliability. Although the obtained results suggested some interrater reliability coefficients within acceptable levels, questions were raised about the scoring criteria for individual items. Caution is warranted in the use of cognitive measures which include subjective judgement of the examiner in applying scoring criteria.     

Visual angle as a determinant of perceived interobject distance

Two new experiments and a reanalysis of Toye’s (1986)data are used to examine the relationship between true distance and perceived distance in natural scenes. In the first experiment, 8 subjects estimated 78 interobject distances, formed by all pairs of 13 objects, while viewing the objects from a fixed position. The results showed that estimated distance is a linear function of the visual angle between objects as well as of the true distance. This relationship results in distances perpendicular to the line of sight being overestimated in relation to true distances and to distances parallel to the line of sight. These findings were confirmed by reanalysis of a comparable data set from Toye. Since changes in the visual angle can come about through changes in alignment with the line of sight, viewing distance, or interobject distance, Experiment 2 was designed to determine whether the visual angle effect was due to one of these, or whether it was an independent effect. In Experiment 2, 8 subjects estimated six interobject distances from 12 viewing positions. The results showed that visual angle predicted estimated distance independently of how the change in visual angle came about, suggesting that the greater the visual angle between objects, the more their separation is overestimated.     

Folk Concepts, Natural Language, and Psychological Constructs: The California Psychological Inventory and the Five-Factor Model

ABSTRACT Both the California Psychological Inventory (CPI; Gough, 1987) and the five-factor model of personality have roots in folk concepts of personality. The present article offers a conceptual analysis of CPI scales in terms of the five-factor model. In the first study, judges rated the item content of CPI scales in terms of the five factors. In the second, CPI scales were correlated with the factors as measured by the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI; Costa & McCrae, 1985b) in a sample of 348 men and women ages 19 to 92. Both studies showed meaningful links between CPI scales and four of the factors; Agreeableness appeared to be underrepresented in CPI scales. The utility of systematic rational item analysis in terms of the five factors and the evolving relation of folk concepts to psychological constructs are discussed.     

Assessing differences in chemically dependent adolescent males using the Child Behavior Checklist

A study was conducted with 59 chemically dependent (CD) male adolescents (ages 13 to 16) using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC). The CD sample was compared to a normative group on four adaptive behavior scales and twelve behavior problem scales, and was found to be significantly different on all measures. The CD sample was also compared to a general clinical group on nine behavior problem scales, and was found to score significantly higher on scales measuring delinquent and uncommunicative behaviors, and significantly lower on scales measuring immature and hostile-withdrawn behaviors. Summary profile types were compared with the clinical population and a separate assaultive/aggressive population. More of the CD population fit an uncommunicative/delinquent profile type and relatively fewer fit schizoid and immature/aggressive profile types as compared to the two other groups. The CBC differentiated subgroups in the CD sample with respect to completion of treatment and type of drug used, but not motivation for treatment at admission.     

Understanding the attitudes and intentions of future professionals toward self-help

Examined the attitudes, beliefs, and intentions toward self-help groups of 168 graduate students in clinical psychology and social work from five universities using the theory of reasoned action as a model (Fishbein, 1979). Participants held positive attitudes and beliefs regarding self-help and intended to collaborate. Participants who were members of self-help groups had significantly greater intentions to collaborate and had more positive beliefs vs. nonmembers. There were no differences between social work and psychology students. Path analysis showed that students who held positive attitudes and beliefs and perceived that their faculty were positive regarding self-help had intentions to collaborate with self-help groups. Involving self-help groups as partners in professional training was considered empowering and a wise use of the expert resources that groups can provide.     

Loving, liking, looking and sensation seeking in unmarried college couples

This study examined the relationships between sensation seeking or sensation seeking similarity and relationship satisfaction in college couples. Fifty-eight couples were tested with the Sensation Seeking Scale form V and the Loving and Liking Scales, and each couple was observed for eye gaze behavior. Eye gaze was found to be unrelated to the questionnaire measures of relationship involvement and a low but significant negative relationship was found between the female partner's love rating and mutual gaze and focus. As in previous research, couples' sensation seeking scores were significantly correlated, indicating tendencies toward assortative mating. However, only the women's relationship satisfaction scores were related to discrepancies in the couples' SSS scores. Individual sensation seeking scores correlated negatively with relationship satisfaction for both sexes. The latter effect was explained in terms of the high sensation seeker having a variety of interests outside of their primary relationships, and stronger tendencies for boredom and independence.