Reconstructing from a degraded trace: A study of sentence repetition in agrammatism

Six agrammatic aphasics repeated simple active and passive voice sentences, varying in degree of semantic constraint: plausible, reversible, and implausible. Frequency of correct response was not sensitive to this semantic manipulation, but error pattern was. In general, errors to plausible targets consisted of relatively inconsequential transformation of the open or closed class vocabulary, while errors to implausible targets implicated a change of syntactic voice. In making these errors, the patients displayed evidence of productive control of the passive morphology and a degree of sensitivity to the syntactic and thematic consequences consequences of passive voice. The repetition errors did not transform the surface order of the major lexical items. The results are interpreted as evidence for a sentence memory trace that preserves, minimally, the major grammatical roles of the target sentence and that serves as input to a reconstructive process that is biased toward the production of semantically plausible sentences.     

Separating cue relevance from cue importance within models of judgment and decision making

Many investigations concerned with human decision making have centered their attention on the issues of cue integration and cue importance. Unfortunately, an equally important issue—that of cue relevance—has been either neglected or equated with the importance issue. Two experiments tested the ability of information integration theory (N. H. Anderson, 1981, Foundations of information integration theory, New York: Academic Press) to disentangle cue relevance and cue importance formally as well as empirically. The decision environment was divided into two components: aspects of the information present during a decision (information context) and aspects of the situation surrounding a decision (situation context). It was hypothesized that variations in information context would affect cue importance while changes in situation context would affect cue relevance. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that the weight parameter (w) of information integration theory would reflect the information context manipulations but not situation context manipulations. Results supported previous findings showing the influence of information context on w. As predicted situation context did not affect w; however, it did affect the variability of the responses to a cue's values. The relationship between perceived variability and situation context suggests that the scale dispersion parameter σ of information integration theory may be used as a measure of relevance (K. L. Norman, 1980, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 25, 289–310).     

Nightmare prevalence in the healthy elderly.

Fifty-one healthy elderly subjects (median age = 65) gave retrospective estimates of nightmare frequency in questionnaires and recorded the occurrence of nightmares in daily logs over a 2-week period. (a) Mean annual nightmare frequency as estimated from logs was only 65% as high among college student controls. (b) Elderly subjects were about 1/5 as likely as college students to report a problem with nightmares. (c) Frequency estimates on the basis of logs were over 10 times higher than retrospective estimates.     

Blending qualitative and behavior analytic research methods to evaluate outcomes in inclusive schools

Following Haring's (1992) recommendation, we have utilized qualitative research techniques to assist us in designing a program of research on inclusive education which is responsive to the outcome values and priorities identified by teachers and parents. Using interviews, observations, and document analysis to follow 35 children in full inclusion classrooms over a period of two years, we have described outcomes for these children in three major domains. These outcome domains, and subthemes within them, have been evaluated and revised based on interviews and social validation ratings by parents and teachers. Dependent measures based on our qualitative research findings are currently being used in a series of behavior analytic studies designed to evaluate the effects of specific interventions on outcomes of inclusion for children with and without disabilities.     

DECISION AFFECT THEORY:

Abstract— How do people feel about the outcomes of risky options? Results from two experiments demonstrate that the emotional reaction to a monetary outcome is nor a simple function of the utility of that outcome Emotional responses also depend on probabilities and unobtained outcomes Unexpected outcomes have greater emotional impact than expected outcomes Furthermore any given outcome is lets pleasant if an unobtained outcome is better We propose an account of emotional experiences associated with outcomes of decisions called decision affect theory. It incorporates utilities expectations and counterfactual companions into hedonic responses. Finally, we show that choices between risky options can be described as the maximization of expected emotional experiences as predicted by decision affect theory That is people choose the risky option for which they expect to feel better on average.     

A metric for integrating theoretically related but statistically uncorrelated constructs

When considering psychological constructs in a pairwise fashion, a 2 x 2 category system, based on median splits, is often adopted for analytic convenience. If theoretical focus is on an individual's integration of the two constructs, then categorical procedures are subject to information loss and unreliability in high density regions of the data. A continuous metric is proposed which ameliorates these problems and is suitable for correlational analyses. The construct of psychological androgyny is used for illustrative purposes.     

Family therapists and families of cult members

One to three million bright young adults have been or are presently involved with “deviant religions,” also known as cults. They, or their families, frequently seek therapeutic aid during or after the involvement, but too few psychologists or other therapists in private practice are adequately prepared to help them. To remedy the situation, information is presented on cults in general, cult members, and families of cult members.