Stability of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--revised for emotionally handicapped middle-school-age children

In this pilot study, 20 middle-school-age children classified as emotionally handicapped were administered Forms L and M of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Revised in test-retest fashion. Pearson correlations for Form L were .90, for Form M, .69, and these dependent correlations were significantly different from each other. As triennial school psychological evaluations typically contain tests which have been administered previously, e.g., WISC-R, WRAT-R, we suggest that psychologists use caution when using Form M to test or retest the receptive vocabulary of emotionally handicapped or disturbed middle-school-age children.     

Psychological gender, hand preferences, and sex differences in book-carrying styles

Individuals with stronger sex-role identities may be expected to show greater conformity to sex-typed behaviors. Proceeding from this assumption, the sex-role status and sex of students using different styles of carrying books were compared. This study also examined whether over-all hand preference or age were related to carrying styles or sex-role status. Subjects completed a questionnaire comprised of the 24-item Personal Attributes Questionnaire of Spence and Helmreich, a 6-item scale of hand preference and a self-rating of sex-role identity. Afterwards, each subject's carrying style was covertly observed and recorded. Most subjects carried their materials in a sex-typical way or in book bags (for which no sex-typed carrying styles were discovered). As in previous studies, men in this study scored higher than women on masculinity and androgyny and lower on femininity. Hand preference was not related to sex-role status. Carrying style was not significantly correlated with any of the predictor variables for men, perhaps because almost no variance in carrying style was observed among them. Women who used masculine carrying styles tended to be older, have greater instrumentality, and a more masculine identity.     

Recurring themes and images in a series of consecutive REM dreams

A consecutive series of REM dreams were collected from one subject over a period of four nights and examined for recurring themes and images. Analysis suggested a nonrandom pattern of dreaming consistent with the proposition that the themes and images are held as elements in a limited capacity storage system from which they can be recycled. One such system can be described by means of a simple testable mathematical model. Some of the implications of this are discussed.     

Response latency measurements to visual cognitive tasks by normal hearing and deaf subjects

Visual cognitive differences between hearing (N = 16) and deaf (N = 32) high-school and middle-school students were studied. Visual tasks were presented on a microcomputer and response latencies were collected. Significant differences were noted between the deaf and normal groups but not between total communication deaf and oral deaf students. These differences support the hypothesis that deaf students prefer a visual cognitive strategy. Implications for educating the deaf are discussed.