Jaynes' chimeric faces: Another look into the mirror

In The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Jaynes (1976) presented a technique—involving the selection of the happier of two line-drawing chimeric faces—that is theorized to measure hemispheric laterality. Certain imperfections in the published stimuli have led some critics to question the task's validity, while others maintain that even the flawed stimuli are measuring some aspect of laterality. In this study, further data are presented to show that this task, despite its inherent biases, is still sensitive to differences in perception between left-handers and right-handers. The implications of this sensitivity are discussed.     

Psychometric analysis of the Stunkard-Messick Eating Questionnaire (SMEQ) and Comparison with the dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ)

The factor structure of the Stunkard-Messick Eating Questionnaire (SMEQ) differs from that of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). Using students and members of a weight watchers club, we factor-analyzed responses to the SMEQ and produced a solution which was different from that obtained by Stunkard and Messick, but which had some similarities to the factor structure of the DEBQ. “External” taste items and “internal” hunger items loaded on the same factor, a finding inconsistent with externality theory but consistent with the common sense notion of appetite strength. Although our finding suggests factor instability of the SMEQ, the stability of the DEBQ appears to be the consequence of a restricted range of DEBQ items compared with SMEQ items. Financial support for this research was given by Lilly Industries.     

Slowed lexical access in nonfluent aphasia: a case study.

A list priming paradigm (LPP) was used to examine the hypothesis that nonfluent aphasics are literally slowed down in automatic access to lexical information. In this paradigm, words are presented visually, and the subject's task is to make a lexical decision on each word as quickly as possible after its presentation. As soon as a lexical decision is made on one word, that word is removed and, after a predetermined interword interval, the next word is presented. In this way, a continuous "list" effect is obtained. Prior studies with both college-age and elderly subjects using the LPP have shown that, independently of age, on the LPP, priming obtains at interword delays of 500 to 800 msec, but not at either shorter or longer interword delays. In the study reported here, the LPP was used to examine delays at which priming obtained for LD, a nonfluent aphasic with a lesion primarily in the left frontal region. Examining interword delays ranging from 500 to 1800 msec, the subject showed priming only at a delay of 1500 msec, a considerably longer delay than that at which neurologically intact subjects have shown priming. Based on these results, it is argued that while automatic access is retained, that access is much slower in a nonfluent aphasic than in neurologically intact elderly subjects. These results are discussed in terms of how slowed lexical access might impact on discourse comprehension.     

Completion norms collected from younger and older adults for 198 sentence contexts

Completion responses were collected from younger and older adults for 198 highly constrained sentence contexts that were designed to elicit the same response (i.e., the best completion) in the vast majority of subjects. For each context, completions and their respective frequency of occurrence are provided. Overall, individuals of all ages produced highly similar terminal words. Results of formal analyses indicated that greater socioeconomic status and higher levels of education were mildly associated with a greater probability of producing a best completion response. Although increasing age also correlated with greater probability of producing a best completion, this very weak association would not preclude use of these stimuli with a wide age range.     

Dating Violence Prevention: A Didactic Support Group for Young Women

The authors discuss the social problem of dating violence and present a didactic support group model designed to empower young women to see themselves as “choice makers” with the ability to make informed decisions in their own best interest. They also present research findings that support the content of the group model and articulate some of their experiences in conducting this group in both high school and college settings. Finally, they discuss the potential impact of the group according to feedback from participants.     

Feminism as a predictor of mass media use

The mass media habits of men and women who hold discrepant attitudes toward traditional female sex-role expectations were assessed. From a random sample of more than 500 citizens of Santa Barbara, California, high feminists (respondents who agreed with women's movement ideals) were found to differ significantly in several respects in their uses of media from low feminists (individuals who did not agree with movement ideals). Feminism differentially predicted the amount of television viewing for highly educated audience members. Significant differences were also found between high and low feminists for television program and radio format preferences, but not for newspaper reading habits.