TOPOLOGICAL AND EUCLIDEAN SPATIAL FEATURES NOTED BY CHILDREN

The question explored in this study is whether the spatial-perceptual difficulties experienced in some cultures could be partly accounted for in terms of a persistence of predominantly topological functioning. An oddity-choice task was devised consisting of one set of regular and another of irregular figures such that responses could be classified as topological (T), Euclidean (E) or “unrelated” (U), the last indicating failure to categorize figures consistently. A total of 415 children aged 4–12 were tested in Hong Kong, India, Scotland and Zambia. Few significant age trends but highly significant cultural and sub-cultural differences were found. Contrary to expectation, T responses were roughly constant while the proportion of both E and U responses showed systematic cross-cultural variations. There was evidence that it is U responses rather than the proportion of E responses which directly reflect spatial ability. The factors producing cultural and sub-cultural differences are discussed.     

Syntactic structure and acoustic pattern in speech perception Arthur Wingfield

The interaction of syntactic structure and acoustic pattern in perceptual segmentation of heard speech was investigated using sentences recorded with intonation patterns appropriate to their underlying structure and sentences where intonation was placed in direct conflict with the underlying structure. Speech samples were monitored through dichotic earphones with messages switched from one ear to the other either between or within major linguistic constituents. Analysis of errors in source localization and in sentence reproduction suggested a primary role of acoustic pattern in segmentation is to cue underlying syntactic structure. Two subsidiary experiments provided evidence that observed effects were related to active perceptual processing of the speech signal.     

ORIENTATION AND PERCEPTION OF PICTORIAL DEPTH

Des échantillons d'écoliers zambiens et écossais sont soumis à une épreuve d'interprétation de dessin géométrique simple, présenté selon deux orientations: la figure est symétrique soit par rapport à L'axe vertical, soit par rapport à un axe incliné. Les résultats montrent que L'orientation affecte les réponses de L'échantillon écossais: les réponses bi-dimensionnelles sont plus fréquentes avec L'axe de symétrie vertical; mais ce n'est pas le cas pour les enfants zambiens. On ne constate aucun progrès dans la discrimination des deux orientations avec L'âge ou la scolarité dans L'échantillon zambien. L'auteur discute des implications de ces résultats.     

GENERATION OF WORDS FROM STEREOSCOPICALLY PRESENTED NON-WORD STRINGS OF LETTERS

R ommetveit , R., B erkley , M. & B røgger , J. Generation of words from stereoscopically presented non-word strings of letters. Scand. J. Psychol. , 1968, 9, 150–156.—Subjects were exposed to stereoscopically presented pairs of non-word strings of letters (e.g. shar/shap). Instead of responding with either left- or right-eye image, they frequently reported seeing a word generated by combining the two images (e.g., 'sharp'). The way a particular pair of superimposed letters (such as r and p) will be processed, seemed to depend upon semantic and morphological aspects. As rivals for the same serial position in two different words, only one of them will be 'seen'. When appropriate as neighbors in the same word, both tend to be seen, and in the appropriate spatial arrangement.     

A note on direct products and ultraproducts of logical matrices

In this contribution we shall characterize matrix consequence operation determined by a direct product and an ultraproduct of a family of logical matrices. As an application we shall describe finite consequence operations with the help of ultrapowers.     

Behavioral objectives in training for competence in the administration of individual intelligence tests

Competency standards are important to school psychology training, and this study demonstrates, in the area of individual intelligence test administration, how competency standards can be implemented. The study sets up behavioral objectives, determines what training is required for specified levels of mastery, and shows what specific training procedures contribute to the achievement of competency.     

The role of traditionality in the relationships among parental support,career decision-making self-efficacy and career adaptability

Integrating career construction (Savickas, 2013) and cognitive evaluation (Ryan & Deci, 2002) theories, we examined the moderating role of traditionality beliefs in the indirect relationships among parental support, career decision-making self-efficacy and career adaptability among Chinese university students. Data were collected from 731 undergraduate students in China at two measurement periods, 18 months apart. Results showed that Time 1 parental support was associated positively with Time 1 career decision-making self-efficacy and Time 2 career adaptability. In addition, the conditional indirect effects of Time 1 parental support in predicting Time 2 career adaptability via Time 1 career decision making self-efficacy were stronger among students with low as opposed to high traditionality beliefs. The implications of the results in terms of theory and practice are discussed.