Spoken word recognition by eye

Spoken word recognition is thought to be achieved via competition in the mental lexicon between perceptually similar word forms. A review of the development and initial behavioral validations of computational models of visual spoken word recognition is presented, followed by a report of new empirical evidence. Specifically, a replication and extension of Mattys, Bernstein & Auer's (2002) study was conducted with 20 deaf participants who varied widely in speechreading ability. Participants visually identified isolated spoken words. Accuracy of visual spoken word recognition was influenced by the number of visually similar words in the lexicon and by the frequency of occurrence of the stimulus words. The results are consistent with the common view held within auditory word recognition that this task is accomplished via a process of activation and competition in which frequently occurring units are favored. Finally, future directions for visual spoken word recognition are discussed.     

LITURGICALLY TRAINED MEMORY: A READING OF SUMMA THEOLOGIAE III.83

Drawing on Ciceronian rhetorical tropes, Thomas Aquinas treats the rite of the Eucharist in terms of the classical ars memoriae. The Eucharist, for Aquinas, is the schooling in desire whereby we are trained to order the associations of our memory to their proper objects in terms of their relations to God. He thus conceives of the liturgy of the Mass as rhetoric proper, which truly teaches, moves and delights. Since memory is the condition of all thought, as both Thomas and Augustine claim, the Eucharist is the “site” of all theological production, and therefore the liturgy is the art of memory of which all other similar arts are derivative.     

The influence of therapist experience upon evaluative perceptions of family members

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of experience in family therapy on therapists' evaluative perceptions of family members. Beginning students in family therapy, advanced students, and experienced staff rated members of 100 families according to the Semantic Differential technique. Contrary to expectations, beginning students did not evaluate identified patients more favorably than parents. Staff and advanced students, however, rated parents more favorably than identified patients. Beginning students were also found to evaluate all family members more favorably than staff and advanced students. These results were discussed in terms of experienced therapists initially taking the side of the parents and the effects this potential source of bias may have on the course of family therapy.     

The Legal Rights of Students with Disabilities in Christian Schools

The adoption of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) and the Education for All Handicapped Children's Act, now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), have had a major impact on the delivery of services for children with special needs.

In light of the legal issues surrounding the delivery of special education to children who attend Christian schools, the remainder of this article is divided into two parts. The first section opens with an overview of relevant litigation pertinent to special education before reviewing Sections 504 and the IDEA, along with its regulations, as they apply to religious schools. The second part offers practical suggestions for educators in Christian elementary and secondary schools as they work to serve children with special needs.     

Swimming serenely in a sea of words: Sexism,communication, and precarious couples

When critical, verbally disinhibited women pair with verbally inhibited men, relationship quality suffers, rendering the relationship precarious. The interpersonal and personal antecedents of this precarious couple effect were examined. It was found that the precarious couple effect was partially mediated by unhealthy communication patterns, specifically, the absence of mutual constructive criticism and the presence of a woman‐demand/man‐withdraw pattern. It is proposed further that such unhealthy communication patterns emerge because inhibited men who endorse traditional conceptions of sex roles are dissatisfied with relatively disinhibited women who are also critical, setting in motion a chain of unhealthy communication patterns. Results were generally consistent with this prediction. Implications for understanding the role of sexism and personality mismatch in relationships are discussed.     

DEVELOPMENT OF A JOB ANALYSIS-BASED PROCEDURE FOR WEIGHTING AND COMBINING CONTENT RELATED TESTS INTO A SINGLE TEST BATTERY SCORE

By definition, content-related approaches to test validation do not rely on criterion data. As a consequence, regression and other statistical procedures for weighting and generating a composite score from a test battery are not applicable when a content-related validation strategy is used. This paper presents a procedure for determining the component weights for a test battery that has been developed on the basis of a content-related validity strategy. The Relative Content Contribution (RCC) weighting procedure is a logical extension of the conceptual basis underlying the rational developmental process used to demonstrate the validity of content-related tests. Results from field implementations of the procedure in the development of two promotional test batteries (fire and police) and an entry-level test battery (police) in two large metropolitan cities are presented to illustrate the procedure.