Signal recognition as influenced by presentation schedules

Performance in a recognition task involving two amplitudes of the same tone was investigaled over a wide range of presentation schedules. The task was arranged so that there was no trial-to-trial feedback or other information regarding the relative frequencies of the two tones. The hit and false alarm rates (the proportion of “loud” responses to loud and soft stimuli, respectively) on any given trial were strongly influenced by the stimulus and response on the preceding trial. In general, Ss tended to repeat the last response and were more accurate after a stimulus alternation than after a stimulus repetition. In addition, hit and false alarm rates were inversely related to the presentation probability of the loud tone, in contrast to the direct relation typically found in signal detection experiments and in recognition experiments with trial-to-trial feedback. A mathematical model incorporating three processes (memory, comparison, and decision) was shown to give a good account of these data.     

Psychoanalytic interpretation of the Rorschach: do we have better hieroglyphics?

Schafer (1954) advanced the "Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing" and asserted that thoughtful interpretation involved more than translating hieroglyphics or scores. In this book, he presented his thesis by describing four defensive styles (repression, denial, projective, and obsessive-compulsive) at various levels of severity of psychopathology. To investigate whether the Structural Summary data from Exner's (1986) Comprehensive System, with its improved reliability and validity and additional scores, allow one to make similar distinctions among the types of defense and severity of disturbance, we rescored the Schafer records. The results of this conservative test of Exner's system suggest that (a) the Comprehensive System reliably distinguishes the repressive style from the other styles, and (b) scores alone may provide adequate measures of severity of disturbance even with form quality excluded. We concluded that Rorschach scores must be understood as complex products of multiple psychological operations and may correspond to different subjective experiences in various contexts.     

Enhancing picture naming with transcranial magnetic stimulation

The enhancement of cognitive function in healthy subjects by medication, training or intervention yields increasing political, social and ethical attention. In this paper facilitatory effects of single-pulse TMS and repetitive TMS on a simple picture naming task are presented. A significant shortening of picture naming latencies was observed after single-pulse TMS over Wernicke's area. The accuracy of the response was not affected by this speed effect. After TMS over the dominant motor cortex or over the non-dominant temporal lobe, however, no facilitation of picture naming was observed. In the rTMS experiments only rTMS of Wernicke's area had an impact on picture naming latencies resulting in a shortening of naming latencies without affecting the accuracy of the response. rTMS over the visual cortex, Broca's area or over the corresponding sites in the non-dominant hemisphere had no effect. Single-pulse TMS is able to facilitate lexical processes due to a general preactivation of language-related neuronal networks when delivered over Wernicke's area. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over Wernicke's area also leads to a brief facilitation of picture naming possibly by shortening linguistic processing time. Whether TMS or rTMS can be used to aid linguistic therapy in the rehabilitation phase of aphasic patients should be subject of further investigations.