SPLIT: A sound editor for a PDP-8 computer

SPLIT is a program that helps prepare sounds for use in psychological experiments. Analog signals are converted to digital form and stored on a disk in real time. Digital sound files can be viewed on an oscilloscope display and played back for on-line auditory inspection. Interactive commands allow the user to segment and combine sounds with precise temporal control.     

Effects of expectancy of outcome on the reactivity of self-monitoring

The present study investigated the effects of subjects' outcome expectancy on self-monitoring of a clinically relevant behavior, overeating. In conjunction with self-monitoring of eating habits, subjects received either a positive expectancy of behavior change or no expectancy regarding change. While both self-monitoring groups achieved significantly greater weight loss than controls, subjects in the expectancy group demonstrated significantly greater weight loss than no-expectancy subjects. Possible factors accounting for the disparity in findings between this and previous self-monitoring investigations are discussed.     

Differential effects of personality on access to various long-term memory codes

Arousal, as indexed by personality measures, has been related to memory encoding, organization, and retrieval. In an attempt to investigate one of the component information-processing mechanisms underlying both encoding and retrieval, the effects of introversion-extraversion on performance in a simultaneous matching task was investigated. As predicted from earlier research, personality did not influence performance on a physical identity matching task but extraverts were faster than introverts in making taxonomic category matches (a semantic task). Somewhat unexpectedly, extraverts were also faster at making “homophone” identity matches. Arousal, then, appears to influence access to long-term memory codes of any type—a characteristic that may be reflected in tests of both encoding and retrieval.     

When is a question not answered? The understanding of young children of utterances violating or conforming to the rules of conversational sequencing

Knowledge of the conventional rules of conversational sequencing enables a speaker or listener to evaluate the pragmatic use of an utterance. This study explored young children's ability to discriminate among utterances that violated or conformed to these rules (Experiment 1), and ability to explain rule violations (Experiment 2). In both experiments children were read short episodes containing utterances that conformed to the rules in that the utterances were used appropriately in the episodic context of utterance, or utterances that violated the conversational rules of contingency, relevance, or informativeness. In Experiment 1, kindergarten, and first- and second-grade children (5, 6, and 7 years of age) were asked to discriminate among the conforming and rule violating utterances by assigning each utterance to one of two female conventional and unconventional speakers. The results showed that the first and second graders, but not the kindergarten children, generally discriminated among the utterances. In Experiment 2, first and third graders (6 and 8 years of age) were asked to explain the rule violations. The results showed that only the third graders consistently generated correct explanations. These results suggest that children can use the rules of conversational sequencing to evaluate the need for an inference to the speaker's intent in deliberately violating a rule by 6 or 7 years of age, but do not correctly infer that intent until they are 8 or 9 years old.     

Encoding specificity in the recall of pictures and words in children and adults

In this study, the modality of the retrieval cues (pictures or words) was varied in a cued recall task to determine how second and fourth grade children and college adults encode words (Experiment 1) and pictures (Experiment 2). According to the assumptions of the encoding specificity principle, cue modality should affect recall only to the degree to which subjects focus on modality specific (sensory) rather than nonmodality specific (semantic) information in stimuli. In both experiments, the results showed progressively smaller encoding specificity effects with increasing age. To ensure that differences in encoding activity were responsible for these effects, comparisons were made of recall patterns under intentional learn conditions, and under incidental conceptual and sensory orienting conditions. The recall patterns of the children in the conceptual orienting condition were similar to the adult patterns in the learn condition, and the adult recall patterns in the sensory orienting conditions were similar to those of the children in the learn conditions. These results suggest that there are developmental differences in encoding the sensory and semantic information in stimuli that may result from differences in the efficiency with which the semantic information in stimuli is processed. The results suggest that young children typically encode stimuli in a fashion that stresses the sensory aspects of the stimuli, and that recall suffers as a result.     

The understanding of young children and adults of the deictic adequacy of communications

When a communication is used in a discourse context, the deictic information in the communication may be important in achieving a successful speech act. This information includes the temporal and spatial coordinates of the speech act that locate the communication in a context. In the present study, first- and fourth-grade children (6 and 9 years of age) and college adults were read short stories and asked to evaluate the adequacy of deictically ambiguous or informative communications (Experiment 1) or situations (Experiment 2). The results showed that subjects in all the grades discriminated among the deictically adequate and inadequate communications and situations, though the first graders made fewer correct judgments than did the other subjects of the adequacy of the informative communications and situations.     

The status of training in school psychology and trends toward the future

A nation-wide survey was conducted in 1979 to collect information on graduate training in school psychology, including areas of program emphasis and the structure of field training and supervision. Results indicated that the vast majority of programs remain committed to emphasizing the direct service triad of psychoeducational assessment, school consultation, and behavioral intervention, but that two indirect service areas—research and program planning and evaluation—are gaining in training emphasis. It was also found that a very high percentage of programs employ a comprehensive practicum and internship experence, that most placements are in the public schools, and that considerable time is allotted for supervision.