Aphasia for Morse code

The ability to communicate by Morse code at high speed has, to our knowledge, not been localized within the cerebral cortex, but might be suspected as residing within the left (dominant) hemisphere. We report a case of a 54-year-old male who suffered a left temporal tip intracerebral hematoma and who temporarily lost his ability to communicate in Morse code, but who was minimally aphasic.     

Coping With Stress: A Workshop Framework

The work of the Open University's Coping With Crisis Research and Training Group¹ in running workshops on the theme of coping with stress² is described. A theoretical model of stress and coping is offered, and the structure within which the workshops take place is outlined. The framework described has developed over a period of four years, and is an account not of a finished product but of a continually evolving series of practices.     

Order and serial position effects in response time with multiple-item probe recognition

We examined the order effect in item-recognition response time, that is, differences in response time for multiple-item probes containing items in the same or in the reverse order as those in the memory set. Experiment 1 used the response condition in which only one item must be positive for a positive response, Experiment 2 used homogeneous probes in which all the items are either positive or negative, and Experiment 3 used the condition in which all the items must be positive. Of particular interest were the serial position variations in order effects for probes containing items that were adjacent in the memory set. We previously found that such effects are an indication of subjective grouping of the memory set and the matching of the probe with these subgroups. The order effect in the one-positive condition was only weak in most cases, but it was strong with homogeneous probes when the memory set was objectively grouped or was ungrouped but with a constant set size. There were also strong order effects in the all-positive condition for probes with items that were nonadjacent in the memory set. Our results are interpreted in terms of a parallel match process based on a distribution over position of items in subjective or objective groups. We account for the origin of the distribution-over-position process in terms of multiple representations of the grouped memory sets. The model assumes that each subgroup is represented in memory several, and perhaps very many, times and that considerable error in item positioning can occur over the multiple representations of any group.     

ON IAN HARBOUR'S ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Abstract. Although Ian Barbour endorses process organicism in Issues in Science and Religion , his rhetoric against vitalism and dualism makes his discussion of life, mind, and the part-whole relationship sound like relational emergentism and hence like a denial of process philosophy's nondualistic interactionism. Also his rhetoric against a God of the gaps seems to exclude the God-shaped hole in Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy. A more consistent articulation of Whitehead's postmodern position would lead to greater adequacy and consistency on these issues, and perhaps also to a more radically postmodern view of science—a view which Whitehead himself only sometimes suggested.     

Authoritarianism Research is Alive And Well—In Australia: A Review

After the work of Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford was published in 1950 much research into authoritarianism was done. The return on the effort deployed, however, was disappointing and the topic is now a relatively minor one in psychology. Three Australian researchers, however, have continued with extensive programs of research in the area—Ray, Rigby, and Heaven. Some broad view is therefore given of the major themes in the work of each of these researchers. It is pointed out that all three researchers have produced new scales to measure various conceptions of authoritarianism that have some potential to reinvigorate research in this area. Some unexpected discoveries are also mentioned.

     

Model-guided implementation of an instrument for program evaluation: The use of social policy and innovation models

A research program in the Netherlands is aimed at the implementation of an instrument for program evaluation in organizations for intramural treatment of juveniles with psychosocial and/or behavioral problems. The basis and guide for the implementation is a sequence of three complementary models, each model being more specific than its predecessor. The results of the research program in nine organizations suggest that the choice of an adequate guiding model depends on the policy level at which the organization is operating, the number of persons involved in the implementation, and the culture of decision-making in the organization. K. Mesman Schultz is senior investigator at the Leyden Institute for Social Policy Research (LISPOR) and director of the Research Centre for Youth-at-Risk (RCY) at the State University of Leyden, Rijnsburgerweg 100, 233 AE Leiden The Netherlands. His research mainly refers to diagnosis, decision-making and social policy in the field of youth care. W.I. Poot is investigator at LISPOR and RCY. She is in charge of the execution of utilization and implementation research projects in the field of youth care. P.H.M. van den Bogaart is senior investigator at LISPOR and RCY. He has wide experience in educational research and youth care research.     

Death scene characteristics in 118 fatal cases of autoerotic asphyxia compared with suicidal asphyxia

A series of 118 autoerotic asphyxial deaths, recorded by the Coroners or Medical Examiners from the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Alberta, were compared with the same number of asphyxial suicides matched by province, year of death (within 3 years) and method of asphyxiation. Comparison of the death scenes revealed major differences between the two groups, with nudity of the body, evidence of a wide range of sexual activity at the time of death, and absence of verbal or written indication of suicidal intent being characteristic of the autoerotic asphyxia group. The data indicate that autoerotic asphyxia and suicidal asphyxia can usually be readily distinguished by death scene features.     

Physical appearance and criminality

Throughout the history of psychology the controversial belief in a relationship between physical appearance and criminality has reared its ugly head! Though modern criminologists do not believe that criminals belong to a single physical type, it is possible that the general public, the police, juries, and so forth, may believe in such relationships and act accordingly. The present paper describes some investigations of the extent to which the general public and the police believe that ‘the face fits the crime’. Studies of the facial appearance of prison inmates are reviewed, as is research on the effects of plastic surgery on prison recidivism rates. The relationship between children’s physical appearance and behavioural abnormalities is discussed, as is the literature on the way that we react to children as a function of their facial appearance. Studies concerning society’s reactions to facial disfigurement are presented to show that there may be some support for Cavior, Hayes and Cavior’s (1975) view that ‘low physical attractiveness contributes to careers of deviancy’.