Functional Differences Between Upright and Rotated Images

In Experiment I subjects imaged an alphanumeric character either upright or upside-down, and triggered a test display character. Their task was to decide as quickly as possible whether the test character was NORMAL or MIRRORED. On 72% of the trials the test was at the orientation imaged. Reaction time (RT) was then about 200 ms longer in the upside-down image condition. This difference reduced with practice. On the remaining trials the orientation of the test character differed from that of the prepared image. For upright images RT increased monotonically with the angular difference in orientation between test and image. For upside-down images RT did not increase monotonically with angular difference as there was a wide dip around the upright. Further experiments suggested that upside-down images can be rotated, but at considerably slower rates than upright ones, and that the apparent rates of rotation for upside-down images are dependent upon the width of the sector tested. These results indicate that visual short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) are distinct; that the process of mental rotation does not operate directly upon LTM; and that functionally, upright and rotated images may differ in important ways.     

Strategies of rule discovery in an inference task

It has long been known that subjects in certain inference tasks will seek evidence which can confirm their present hypotheses, even in situations where disconfirmatory evidence could be more informative. We sought to alter this tendency in a series of experiments which employed a rule discovery task, the 2-4-6 problem first described by Wason. The first experiment instructionally modified subjects confirmatory tendencies. While a disconfirmatory strategy was easily induced, it did not lead to greater efficiency in discovering the rule. The second experiment introduced subjects to the possibility of disconfirmation only after they had developed a strongly held hypothesis through the use of confirmatory evidence. This manipulation also failed to alter the efficiency of rule discovery. In the third experiment, subjects were taught to use multiple hypotheses at each step, in the manner of Platt's “Strong Inference”. This operation actually worsened performance. Finally, in the fourth experiment, the structure of the problem was altered slightly by asking subjects to seek two interrelated rules. A dramatic increase in performance resulted, perhaps because information which in previous tasks was seen as merely erroneous could now be related to an alternative rule. The four studies have broad implications for the psychological study of inference processes in general, and for the study of scientific inference in particular.     

Interaction of genetics and separation in canine hyperkinesis and in differential responses to amphetamine

A model of childhood hyperkinesis, using the Telomian-beagle hybrid dog, is described, demonstrating the interactions of genetics and separation in the development of this syndrome and in the favorable responses of some of these dogs to amphetamine. This work represents the collaboration of three laboratories, utilizing chiefly methods of inhibitory training. Inducing separation distress enhanced the resistance to inhibitory training and the favorable responses to amphetamine.     

A method for the analysis of complex avian song repertoires

A new method for the analysis of complex avian song repertoires is introduced. The method consists of sending a tape-recorded bird-song signal through five narrow band-pass filters and then to a five-channel high-speed pen recorder. A coding method that allows a researcher to convert the output from the pen recorder to numbers for later analysis by computer is described.     

The role of proprioception in the perception and control of human movement: Toward a theoretical reassessment

The theoretical role of proprioception in the perception and control of human movement is elusive because of the obvious inability to manipulate experimentally the various receptive systems. Individuals who have had the metacarpophalangeal joint and joint capsule removed and replaced with silastic inserts afford a unique opportunity to evaluate a principal source of proprioception, namely, slowly adapting joint afferents. In a set of experiments, we show that such individuals show no deficits in finger localization following joint replacement. We take this and other complementary findings as a preliminary basis for proposing a dynamic rather than kinematic account of movement production. In addition, we provide a reconceptualization of the function of proprioceptive information in the CNS. Our arguments focus on proprioceptive inputs as tuning or modulating interneuronal pools rather than providing dimension-pecific information to the brain, as is commonly assumed.     

Dynamic visual noise and the stereophenomenon: Interocular time delays,depth, and coherent velocities

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - This study concerns the stereophenomenon obtained with binocular viewing of dynamic visual noise with a neutral density filter over one eye. Such a...     

The memory drum theory after twenty years: comments on Henry's note

The difference between the Henry "memory-drum" theory and our version is that ours includes, an additional assumption that, after programming has occurred, the resultant representation can be stored in short-term memory. Otherwise, the essential ideas are the same in the two theories. Implications of the presently available data for the distinction between the theories are discussed. Regardless of how one evaluates our added assumption, it is clear that the essential insight of the Henry theory has fared very well in the 20 years since the theory first appeared in print.     

Statistical significance tests for binormal ROC curves

Statistical significance tests are derived and evaluated for measuring apparent differences between an obtained and an expected binormal ROC curve, between two independent binormal ROC curves, and among groups of independent binormal ROC curves. A binormal ROC curve is described by two parameters which represent the spread of the means and the ratio of the standard deviations of the two underlying Gaussian decision variable distributions. To test the significance of apparent differences between or among ROC curves, approximate χ² statistics for each of the three tests were constructed from maximum likelihood estimates of the two parameters defining the binormal ROC curve. The performance of each test statistic was evaluated by simulating five-category rating scale data with equal numbers of noise and signal-plus-noise trials (set at 50, 250, and 500) for each of three typical ROC curves. For the significance test involving only one ROC curve, rating scale data were generated from the chance diagonal of the ROC space also. Although test performance was found to be somewhat dependent on the number of trials and on the location of the ROC curve in the ROC space, comparisons of the obtained and expected fractions of (falsely) significant results at various α levels showed the proposed statistical significance tests to be reliable under practical experimental conditions.     

A set-theoretic random utility model of choice behavior

A random utility model of choice was developed by combining the basic ideas of the well-known theories of Thurstone and Restle. The new model has exactly the same number of free parameters as Tversky's Elimination-by-Aspects model. Furthermore, both models were found to fit, with equal accuracy, the data reported by Rumelhart and Greeno, and Tversky. It was concluded that although the two theories are not identical, they may be difficult to discriminate empirically.     

Religion,psychology, and mental health: The problems of partnership

While a current and increasingly popular trend is toward partnerships between religion and psychology in the area of mental health, and especially toward the use of psychological ideas and techniques by pastoral counselors, modern psychology and traditional religion are divided in significant ways over several normative issues. Too often these issues are minimized or overlooked. But unless these issues—which carry significant sociocultural implications as well as implications for our definitions of individual well-being—are acknowledged and subjected to critical considerations, partnerships between religion and psychology must be far more cautiously constructed and must be subjected to far more systematic thinking about the differences which separate the two.This article is based on a paper delivered at the Seventh Annual Clinical-Community Conference on Psychology and Religion at the University of Maryland in November, 1978.