Duplex perception with musical stimuli

Duplex perception, a phenomenon previously demonstrated for speech stimuli, is demonstrated here for musical stimuli. In the first experiment, major and minor chords are produced by dichotic fusion of two simultaneous piano notes presented to one ear (perfect fifth) with a “natural” or “flat” single note presented to the opposite ear. Musically trained subjects perceive simultaneously both the single tone and a fused (major or minor) chord. The chords are labeled more consistently than the single notes, even though the fused chords differ solely in terms of the contralateral notes. In a second experiment, using pure tones in place of piano notes, other musically trained subjects individually exhibited categorical perception for either the fused chord or the single tones, but never for both types of stimuli. The duplex phenomenon is discussed in terms of its implications for its specific component modes of perception.     

A case study of institutional collaboration to enhance knowledge use: Restructuring practitioner-researcher dialogue in education

The research reported herein was supported by funds from The National Science Foundation. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the National Science Foundation and no official endorsement should be inferred.     

Validity of the Brown ADD scales: an investigation in a predominantly inattentive ADHD adolescent sample with and without reading disabilities

The Brown ADD Scale for Adolescents is widely used in clinical settings, yet, no published studies have investigated divergent and concurrent validity and specificity and sensitivity to inattentive ADHD symptomatology. Ninety-eight participants (13 to 16 years) were classified as ADHD/I and/or reading disabled (RD) using Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia (K-SADS), Conners' Rating Scales (CRS-R), and Ontario Child Health Study Scales (OCHSS), WRAT3, and WRMT-R. The results were: 29 ADHD/I; 12 RD, 16 ADHD/I with RD; and, 41 controls. The RD group was included to evaluate specificity. The Brown was administered but not used in classification. The ADHD groups scored higher on the Brown subscales compared with the other two groups. The recommended cutoffs resulted in high rates of false negatives but few false positives; this suggests good specificity but poor sensitivity. There were moderate correlations among the Brown, CRS-R, and OCHSS. The Brown can be useful in screening out ADHD; however, its low sensitivity precludes its usefulness in diagnosing ADHD.     

Individuality and social influence in groups: inductive and deductive routes to group identity

A distinction between forms of social identity formation in small interactive groups is investigated. In groups in which a common identity is available or given, norms for individual behavior may be deduced from group properties (deductive identity). In groups in which interpersonal relations are central, a group identity may also be induced from individual group members' contributions, making individuality and individual distinctiveness a defining feature of the group (inductive identity). Two studies examined the prediction that depersonalization produced by anonymity has opposite effects for groups in which social identity has been induced or deduced. Results confirmed the prediction that depersonalization increases social influence in groups whose identity was more deductive. In contrast, depersonalization decreases social influence in inductive identity groups. Implications for the role of social identity in small groups are discussed. ((c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).     

A Review of the Children’s Inventory of Anger (ChIA): A Needed Measure

A review and critique of the Children’s Inventory of Anger (ChIA) is presented. The ChIA is a 39-item measure that operationalizes anger according to the conceptualization set forth by Ellis in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. The ChIA consists of four subscales (Frustration, Physical Aggression, Peer Relationships, and Authority Relations) which provide information regarding situations that are commonly associated with the experience of anger. Preliminary validity studies demonstrate that the ChIA has excellent reliability and high face validity. The forms are user friendly and easily scored, with norms tables conveniently located within the form. A computer-scoring program is available which significantly reduces clerical errors. The application of the instrument in practice is discussed. Due to the fact that the ChIA attempts to link assessment and intervention it should be useful in advancing the field in regard to treatment evaluation and substantiation of treatment validity. It is also expected to have considerable research utility.     

Personality characteristics of partner violent men: a Q-sort approach

Our objective was to develop a personality profile of men who are violent toward their partners. A total of 52 experienced clinicians described either a current male patient who was violent toward his partner (and only toward his partner) or who was maritally distressed but nonviolent using the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200), a Q-sort instrument designed to harness the judgments of clinicians. Partner-violent patients showed significantly higher scores on the SWAP-200 antisocial and borderline personality disorder scales. In contrast, patients who were maritally distressed evidenced higher scores on the SWAP-200 obsessive, avoidant, and high-functioning depressive scales. The men who were violent toward their partners were more antisocial and emotionally dysregulated, which is consistent with theory, and less obsessive, which has not been theoretically explored. The groups did not differ on theoretically important dimensions of personality including paranoid, dependent, and hostile features.     

The vanished pregnant body in psychoanalytic female developmental theory

The author contends that the pregnant body-the premier icon of the mature female body-has vanished from our psychoanalytic theory of female development. Until we are able to restore this missing entity on a par with the phallus, the developmental theory for both sexes remains fixated in phallocentricism. The author traces some of the evidence for this claim in a brief overview of the literature, a study of the relevant aspects of the case of Little Hans, and a look at the history of medical teaching, in particular illustrations from the first dissections of female bodies in the sixteenth century, which demonstrate a view of the female body as essentially male. A puzzle remains about the marked tendencies that both males and females had, and still have, to distort the female body image. The author offers a clinical example, and the suggestion that the plasticity of the female form in all its developmental phases may underlie the paradoxical requirement that stable mental representations be established upon an elusive set of shifting images.     

Listening comprehension and working memory are impaired in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder irrespective of language impairment

This study investigated listening comprehension and working memory abilities in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), presenting with and without language impairments (LI). A 4-group design classified a community sample (n = 77) of boys aged 9–12 into ADHD, ADHD + LI, LI, and Normal groups. Children completed tests of basic language and cognitive skills, verbal and spatial working memory, and passage-level listening comprehension. Multivariate analyses and post hoc comparisons indicated that ADHD children who did not have co-occurring LI comprehended factual information from spoken passages as well as normal children, but were poorer at comprehending inferences and monitoring comprehension of instructions. ADHD children did not differ from normal children in verbal span, but showed significantly poorer verbal working memory, spatial span, and spatial working memory. The ADHD + LI and LI groups were most impaired in listening comprehension and working memory performance, but did not differ from each other. Listening comprehension skills were significantly correlated with both verbal and spatial working memory, and parent–teacher ratings of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Findings that children with ADHD but no LI showed subtle higher-level listening comprehension deficits have implications for both current diagnostic practices and conceptualizations of ADHD.