Cue depreciation: when word fragment completion is undermined by prior exposure to lesser fragments

The ability to think of a previously studied item has often been shown to be impaired when, in one way or another, the extraitem context is changed from study to test. In a series of five experiments, such impairment is induced in a somewhat different way. A fragment (e.g. r-i--rop) of a just-studied word (raindrop) is shown to be less readily completed if it is presented bit by bit (r------p, r----r-p, r-i--r-p, r-i--rop) rather than all at once (Experiments 1, 3, 4, and 5). No such effect is found if the word has not been studied beforehand (Experiments 2, 3, 4, and 5). This pattern of results occurs even when fragments of studied and nonstudied words occur in the same test and under conditions in which subjects cannot tell whether a given fragment is of a studied or nonstudied word (Experiments 4 and 5). In addition, for words that have been studied beforehand, the impairment is shown to increase systematically with the number of steps involved in the presentation of the word fragment (Experiment 3) and also to persist when the time allowed for completion of the final version of the fragment is increased from 4 s to a full minute (Experiment 5).     

Catamnestic surveys on somato-psychosocial development in childhood and adolescence of patients with unipolar depressive and bipolar manic-depressive psychoses

The somatic and psychosocial development of 80 subjects with manifest affective-phasic psychoses is studied retrospectively and compared with that of an identically sized control group consisting of neuropsychiatrically healthy subjects. Statistically significant differences were found particularly in the answers to questions dealing with social situation and social adaptability. Achievement at school and vocational qualifications were lower among the parents of the patients than among those of the healthy subjects. Characteristic features of the patients' childhood and adolescence were transient depression, often for no apparent cause, and maladaption, and vocational wishes were fulfilled less often than among the controls. The patients experienced greater difficulty in settling in to a new group due to their contact difficulties.     

Acoustically evoked brain stem potential in Wilson disease

By 48 patients with Wilson's disease the brainstem acoustic evoked potentials were stated. There were 35 pathological findings (73%), 13 were normal (27%). The waves, determined by the middle and upper brainstem (Pons and Mesencephalon) showed most of all pathological changes. Those patients with forms of Wilson's disease called Pseudoskelerose and Pseudoparkinson showed the most pathological findings. But one could watch these findings by about 30% of patients in preclinical stage. This method can possibly be used for early detection of disorders of brainstem functions and in the same way it can be used for control of treatment by patients in preclinical stage.     

Derivation of likelihood-ratio tests for Guttman quasi-simplex covariance structures

In this paper, maximum-likelihood estimates have been obtained for covariance matrices which have the Guttman quasi-simplex structure under each of the following null hypotheses: (a) The covariance matrix , can be written asTT + where and are both diagonal matrices with unknown elements andT is a known lower triangular matrix, and (b) the covariance matrix *, is expressible asT*T + I where is an unknown scalar. The linear models from which these covariance structures arise are also stated along with the underlying assumptions. Two likelihood-ratio tests have been constructed, one each for the above null hypotheses, against the alternative hypothesis that the population covariance matrix is simply positive definite and has no particular pattern. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the test procedure. Possible applications of the proposed test are also suggested.Adapted from portions of the author's dissertation under the same title submitted to the Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. The author wishes to express his gratitude to his thesis chairman Dr. R. Darrell Bock and to his committee members Professors Samarendra Nath Roy, Lyle V. Jones, Thelma G. Thurstone, and Dorothy Adkins. Indebtedness is also acknowledged to Dr. Somesh Das Gupta who was quite helpful during the initial stage of the study.Formerly at the Department of Psychology, Indiana University. The author is grateful both to Indiana University and University of North Carolina for the support extended to him during his doctoral studies.     

A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF SOCIAL DESIRABILITY JUDGMENTS

Etude interculturelle des jugements de “dêsirabilité” sociale. — On compare les estimations faites sur la désirabilité sociale de 143 items de personnalité par 100 étudiants de L'Université de L'Indiana et par 100 étudiants avancés de L'Université de Nagpur. Les deux séries de valeurs corrèllent à .61. Les deux groupes diffèrent significativement dans leurs jugements pour 55 des items. Ces différences peuvent être interprétées selon la manière dont divers aspects du comportement sont considérés par des gens appartenant à des cultures différentes. Les résultats tendent à suggérer que les étudiants indiens mettent fortement L'accent sur le conformisme social, les relations interpersonnelles et une atmosphère saine et paisible, tandis que leurs homologues américains aspirent à obtenir autonomie, pouvoir, succès, bonheur et richesse. Les étudiants américains attribuent également une grande valeur à la plupart des items qui sont en relation avec le désir de réussite. Les résultats sont discutés en référence à des données antérieures.