On the relation between visual surround and motion aftereffect velocity

Two experiments examined the effect of changes in the visual surround upon the velocity of motion aftereffects. Experiment I showed that introduction or reintroduction of a patterned surround midway through the test period was sufficient to produce an increase in apparent velocity. However, a greater increase was observed when a patterned surround instead of a dark homogeneous surround had been used during the induction period. Experiment II demonstrated that luminance change was also sufficient to produce an increase in apparent velocity, although the extent of the increase was not as great as that produced through the use of the patterned surround in Experiment I. These results indicate that a change in stimulus surround is sufficient to produce an increase in the velocity of a motion aftereffect and that the extent of the increase is dependent upon the characteristics of both the induction and test surrounds.     

Click location and syntactic structure

Four experiments are reported in which Ss had to judge the location of clicks superimposed on recorded sentences. The first experiment showed that the accuracy of locating the clicks was a function of the position of the click in the constituent structure, the greatest accuracy being for clicks at major clause boundaries. The second experiment showed that this effect was independent of migration, i.e., the tendency for judgments to be displaced towards the major clause break. In the third experiment, it was shown that the requirement that S reproduce the sentence did not influence the response distribution. Finally, in the fourth experiment, a small but significant trend for location accuracy to decrease with decreasing separation of the click from the major break was found. However, this trend was much smaller than the differences in accuracy for various positions in the constituent structure. It was concluded that click location accuracy can be used as an index of perceptual processing load during recognition of individual sentences.     

Rated preference and complexity for natural and urban visual material

In order (1) to study the relationship between complexity and preference for slides of the physical environment and (2) to test the hypothesis that the content of slides (in particular, whether nature or urban) will influence preference, independent of the rated complexity, 88 Ss were asked to rate 56 slides, both for preference and for complexity. Based on dimensional analyses, a nature and an urban dimension were identified. Three major results were obtained: (1) Nature scenes were greatly preferred to urban scenes (p < .001). (2) Complexity predicted preference within the nature domain (r = .69) and within the urban domain (r = .78). (3) Complexity did not account for the preference for nature over urban slides; the greatly preferred nature slides were, in fact, judged on the average less complex than the urban slides. The possibility is raised that the domain-specific character of the preference/complexity relationship found in this study may be general; that is, it may not be a special property of environmentally generated arrays.     

Impression management in the resume and its cover letter

Eighty-one managers read application materials arrayed in a 2 (impression management versus nonimpression management cover letter) x 2 (impression management versus nonimpression management resume) x 2 (high versus low self-monitor) design and completed a survey on their perceptions. Managers rated the impression management cover letter negatively on several perceptions but positively on self-confidence. They rated the impression management resume negatively almost across the board. Implications were discussed in terms of the apparently counterproductive role of impression management in the resume but a limited possible role in the cover letter.     

The influence of context and UCS intensity on the UCS preexposure effect in a flavor aversion paradigm

Three studies were conducted to evaluate the influence of environmental context and UCS preexposure intensity on the acquisition of a flavor aversion. In the first study, rats were exposed to two UCS-alone presentations at one of three dose levels of LiCl. The rats were given the two UCS preexposures in one of two contexts (familiar or novel). Following the UCS-alone treatment, all of the subjects received two pairings of sucrose and LiCl (1.25 meq) in the familiar context. Animals receiving UCS preexposures in the same context as used during conditioning consumed significantly more sucrose than did saline control animals. In contrast, the influence of prior UCS preexposure was not evident when UCS preexposure was experienced in a context different from that experienced during conditioning. In Experiment 2, all animal received UCS preexposure and conditioning in the novel room. Animals received either two or four preexposures at 0, 1.25, or 3.75 meq dose of LiCl. Two UCS preexposures at 3.75 meq dose produced a stronger UCS preexposure effect than did the 1.25 meq dose. Animals in Experiment 3 received two exposures to either 0-, 1.25-, or 3.75-meq LiCl in one of two contexts, followed by conditioning with the 1.25-meq LiCl dose in the same context as preexposure. Greater UCS interference occurred in animals preexposed to LiCl in the novel rather than familiar environment, with no specific dose effects in either context. These observations are discussed in terms of context blocking and generalization decrement models of the UCS preexposure effect.     

Effects of a poverty-clients agenda on resource allocations by community decision makers

A coalition of human service agencies in one city used the Concerns Report Method of Basic Needs and Vital Services to obtain information on the concerns of their poverty clients. Results were disseminated to local decision makers of the United Way agency, city commission, and county commission during their annual budget deliberations. Two standard accounting methods were used to compare budget allocations to agencies serving low-income people before and after dissemination of the Concerns Report, to other items in the three budgets, and to allocations to similar agencies in a second city. Allocations to agencies serving those most in need in the experimental community grew 17% faster than the total budget, increased 3.96% in share of total budget, and gained 22% over other allocations following dissemination of the Concerns Report.     

The effects of depression and cognitive vulnerability to depression on judgments of similarity between self and other

The present research was conducted to investigate the effects of mild levels of depression, and cognitive vulnerability to depression, on people's perceptions of their similarity to others. Depression level was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory, and cognitive vulnerability was measured with the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale. Subjects rated their similarity to others on a 7-point scale and also generated a list of attributes thought to typify the average other person. In terms of similarity judgments, individuals perceived themselves to be less similar to others as depression level increased. Furthermore, and also as predicted, only individuals scoring high on the vulnerability measure exhibited this pattern. Given the consistently positive view of others expressed by all subjects, this latter finding suggests that vulnerable individuals saw themselves as increasingly distinctive with respect to their own negative attributes, as depression level increased. This social comparison interpretation is consistent with previous research indicating that vulnerable individuals change from a focus on self-referent positive traits when nondepressed to a focus on negative traits when depressed. This pattern is also identified as a possible contributor to the social isolation and interpersonal difficulties characteristic of depression.