Two-matrix orthogonal rotation procedures

Examples are presented in which it is either desirable or necessary to transform two sets of orthogonal axes to simple structure positions by means of the same transformation matrix. A solution is then outlined which represents a two-matrix extension of the general orthomax orthogonal rotation criterion. In certain circumstances, oblique two-matrix solutions are possible using the procedure outlined and the Harris-Kaiser [1964] logic. Finally, an illustrative example is presented in which the preceding technique is applied in the context of an inter-battery factor analysis.The work reported herein was supported by Grant S72-1886 from the Canada Council. The author acknowledges the helpful contributions of Nancy Reid and Lawrence Ward to parts of this paper.     

The storage of physical and name properties in short-term visual memory

Two experiments investigated the hypothesis that short-term visual memory is based primarily on physical features of the visual input. Subjects were required to recall visually presented figures or the names of those figures presented either visually or aurally at a number of different retention intervals. Subjects shadowed words during the retention interval presented aurally in Experiment I and visually in Experiment II. In both experiments, figures were recalled better than names and no differences in recall of names were found due to presentation modality. Recall of both names conditions showed a steady decline across retention intervals whereas recall of figures remained at a relatively high level. These findings were interpreted as providing further support for the existence of short-term visual memory not subject to auditory recoding and based primarily on physical features of the input. It was suggested that such visual memory is limited in capacity so that input exceeding this capacity is recoded into an auditory-verbal-linguistic form.     

A further comparison of oblique factor transformation methods

Four prominent oblique transformation techniques—promax, the Harris-Kaiser procedure, biquartimin, and direct oblimin—are examined and compared. Additionally, two newly-developed procedures, falling into the category designated as Case III by Harris and Kaiser [1964], are presented and included in the comparisons. The techniques are compared in light of their freedom from bias in the interfactor correlations, and their ability to yield clear simple structures, over many data sets—some constructed and some real—varying widely in terms of number of variables and factors, factorial complexity, and clarity of the hyperplanes. Results are discussed, and implications for practice are noted.     

Positive forgetting of sentence material

This experiment investigated the positive-forgetting phenomenon with sentence material. Sets of sentences were presented to Ss with each sentence being cued “remember” or “forget” immediately following its presentation. To-be-remembered (TBR) sentences were found to be more accessible thanto-be-forgotten (TBF) sentences and uncued control sentences. Sentence connectedness was found to be an important determiner of the magnitude of the observed recall phenomenon; but differential sentence interest was not a significant factor. Using a multiple-choice recognition test, key words or phrases from the to-be-forgotten sentences were found to be equally available as key words or phrases from the to-be-remembered sentences. These results warrant an extention of Bjork’s (1970, 1972) selective-rehearsal and differential-grouping interpretation of the positive-forgetting phenomenon to encompass sentence material. Some implications of the findings for single-presentation information acquisition were noted.     

Predictive Indices of the GATB

The study reported here investigated the use of the General Aptitude Test Battery for identification and counseling of students in vocational and academic clases in Ohio secondary schools. Frequency distributions of the GATB aptitude scores were developed for 4,000 ninth- and tenth-grade boys and girls. A multiple regression analysis was performed using the aptitude scores of the GATB as the independent variables, and point hour ratio and single subject grades at the end of one year as the dependent variables. Freshmen and sophomore grade-point average separately and in combination were the criteria used to determine the predictive ability of the aptitudes of the GATB. The GATB was useful in the predictive role for ninth- and tenth-grade achievement in most of the areas studied.     

“Subliminal cues” and the Miiller-type illusion

Using the viewing box from a 2-field tachistoscope, feathers-arrows from 1 field were superimposed upon line-pairs from the other field to construct the Muller-Lyer illusion. 6 Os were tested for the illusory effects under 4 conditions of feather-arrow detectability: (a) d′=O, (no luminance); (b) d′=.42; (c) d′=1.00 and (d) d′=3.7. The length differences of lines of any given pair were a in., 1/64 in., 2/64 in., or 6/64 in. The illusion effect was observed when the feather-arrow d’ equaled 3.7. No significant nor suggestive illusion effects were found for the other feather-arrow detectability conditions.     

The roles of contour and luminance distribution in determining perceived centers within shapes

Two sources of visual information that likely could be employed by the perceptual system in locating the centers of bounded shapes—boundary configuration and luminance distribution—have been perfectly confounded in every study thus far aimed at investigating perceived centters. Observers, using either a revolving or stationary x-y plotter, made judgments on the location of centers within either revolving or stationary shapes of both uniform and varied luminance distributions. Results indicate that the location of perceived centers depended predominantly upon boundary contour and was affected by the distribution of luminance within these edges to a much lesser degree.