The effect of S− on observing behavior

Eight pigeons were run on a one-key, discrete-trials observing procedure. Pecks during a trial produced S⁺ and S^?, colored key lights which signalled whether the trial would end with response-independent grain reinforcement or nonreinforcement. S⁺ and S^? were produced on a VI schedule which began operating at the onset of the trial. In the main experimental condition, only a response preceded by at least 6 sec of nonresponding could produce S^? on nonreinforced trials; any response which satisfied the VI requirement produced S⁺ on reinforced trials. This procedure allowed the birds to produce S⁺ on reinforced trials with or without producing S^? on nonreinforced trials. The subjects learned to produce fewer S^?s over sessions, indicating that S^? had a punishing effect on observing. The results were taken as evidence for the conditioned reinforcement hypothesis of observing and against the uncertainty reduction hypothesis.     

A television technique for quantifying conditioned and unconditioned responses of planarians

A technique tor quantifying responses of the planarian, using television recording, is described. The planarian swims in a watch crystal filled with spring water, with a TV camera directly under the crystal aimed upward. Shock is administered via four electrodes placed 90 deg apart around the perimeter of the crystal. Magnitude of response to shock is expressed in terms of percent reduction in body length. Latency of response onset is also available by counting synchronizing pulses equalling 1/60 sec. Data from two worms which received 20 shocks/day for 5 days indicated that the magnitude and latency measures were similar for the two animals and were reasonably reliable. The average latency of the UR to shock was about 100 msec, similar to that of the human eyeblink. Extension of the technique for studying CRs was also described, indicating that greater sophistication in quantifying URs and CRs in planarians is now available.     

Curvature-specific color aftereffects

Adaptation to convex and concave arcs in different colored light results in curvature-specific color aftereffects when arcs are later viewed in white light. In three experiments, it was shown that these color aftereffects often are partial (restricted to limited regions of the test arcs) rather than uniform, and in addition that aftereffects induced by exposure to arcs transfer to straight-line displays of particular orientation, and vice versa. These data were interpreted as evidence that arcs are processed in the visual system in relation to the orientations of local straight line approximations instead of on a global basis. In these terms, curvature-specific color aftereffects are merely complex forms of the orientation-specific color aftereffects first described by McCollough (1965).     

Loss of wavelength selectivity in contour masking and aftereffect following dichoptic adaptation

Two experiments measured the apparent orientation (aftereffect) and the threshold for detection (masking) of a colored grating viewed by one eye after exposure to a colored grating to the same or the opposite eye (monoptic inspection) or after stimulation of one eye by color and the other eye by contours (dichoptic inspection). Under the monoptic condition, the color relationship between the inspection and test stimuli exerted control over the extent of aftereffect and masking when the two stimuli were viewed with the same eye, but not when they were seen with different eyes. Aftereffect and masking were nonselective to wavelength following dichoptic inspection, irrespective of whether the test stimulus was presented to the color-adapted or to the contour-adapted eye. The results support other claims that visual detectors with chromatic and spatial tuning have monocular specificity.     

Authoritarianism of the left revisited

Eysenck and Shils observed that in political life authoritarianism seems roughly equally likely on the political Left and Right. There have however been difficulties in measuring authoritarianism of the Left. The Ray Humanistic Radicalism (HR) scale expresses classically liberal and humanist sentiments and yet has shown high positive correlations with the Adorno Fascism (F) and Dogmatism (D) scales. It appears to show that liberalism can be Fascist. The correlations could be however be an acquiescence artefact. The HR Scale was therefore administered to a random sample of 99 Australians together with a balanced F scale (BF scale). Scores on the BF scale did thus have acquiescence experimentally controlled against. The positive F-scale items were again found to correlate positively with the HR scale but the BF scale as a whole showed no significant correlation. As Eysenck predicted then, social attitudes were found to be two-dimensional, with liberalism orthogonal to authoritarianism rather than opposed to it. It was quite possible for people to accept the liberal sentiments of the HR scale and the aggressive sentiments of the F scale simultaneously.     

The Effect of Facial Disfigurement on the Proxemic Behavior of the General Public1

The personal space afforded to a disfigured or nondisfigured confederate by 450 pedestrians in a busy street was measured. In Condition 1, the confederate had a birthmark under the right eye (permanent disfigurement). In Condition 2, this was replaced by trauma scarring and bruising (temporary disfigurement). In the third condition, the confederate was “normal” (i.e., no disfigurement). It was found that subjects stood further away from the confederate in the disfigured conditions than in the no disfigurement condition. More specifically, pedestrians arriving first in each trial stood an average distance of 100 cms from the confederate in the birthmark condition, 78 cms in the trauma condition, and 56 cms when the confederate was not disfigured. In addition, subjects chose significantly more often to stand to the left (nondisfigured) side of the confederate in the birthmark and trauma conditions than they did in the normal condition. Those subjects who chose to stand on the right (disfigured) side of the confederate, stood further away from those subjects standing on the nondisfigured side. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of the possible psychological problems associated with facial disfigurement.     

Orientation-specific aftereffects and illusions in the perception of brightness

Orientation-specific brightness aftereffects were found when vertical and horizontal gratings of the same space-average luminance were viewed following alternate exposure to vertical and horizontal gratings that differed in space-average luminance. The vertical test grating appeared bright following exposure to a dim vertical grating, and dim after a bright vertical grating had been viewed. This aftereffect did not occur when the adaptation gratings had been seen by one eye and the test gratings by the other eye. An orientation-specific illusion in the perception of brightness was also found, with the white sectors of a vertical grating appearing brighter against a background of horizontal lines than they did against a background of vertical lines. Both distortions imply that there are detectors in the human visual system that are conjointly tuned to luminance and contour orientation.     

Dogmatism in relation to sub-types of conservatism: Some Australian data

An examination of the relation between authoritarianism and conservatism is made using newly developed balanced forms of the ‘D’ and ‘F’ scales together with scales to measure political, social, moral and economic conservatism. Neither ‘BD’ nor ‘BF’ scales predicted voting preference. The ‘BD’ scale was significantly, positively related to the political, social and moral conservatism scales but was non-significantly, negatively related to economic conservatism. It was concluded that both the ‘BD’ and ‘BF’ scales are equally good measures of general authoritarianism among supporters of Australian political parties and that while it is in general true that dogmatic people tend to be ideologically conservative, an exception must be made for economic conservatism. This exception is seen to be inferable from the theory of ‘working class authoritarianism’ advanced by Lipset (1960).     

Response latencies in the yes/no detection task: An assessment of two basic models

Two general forms of model for response latency in the yes no signal detection task are described and their predictions examined in the light of experimental data. One model supposes a latency function along the detection axis and the other supposes that a count is made of multiple observation, Experiment I looks at the auditory detection situation with short observation interval, but the results are generally equixocal, although the latency function model gives a simpler interpretation Other results are then discussed, particularly those of Gescheider et al (1969). and it is concluded that an attempt must be made to replicate the results of Carterette et al (1965) for the extended observation interval detection experiment. This is achieved in Experiment II. and the obtained order of mean latencies is then examined in terms of the models The counting model appears by far the more suitable for this situation.