Gifted children and Visual Aural Digit Span test performance

The performance of 81 gifted elementary students on the Visual Aural Digit Span test is discussed. The students generally showed advanced performance from Grade 1 through Grade 5 and from age 7-0 yr. through 11-11 yr. Performance at Grade 6 and the 12-0 to 12-11-yr.-old levels were generally at age-expected levels and were probably restricted due to the test's limited ceiling. Tables of means across grade and age and needs for further research are also presented.     

Effect of directed attention on cerebral asymmetries in stuttering adults

9 stutterers and 9 nonstutterers were administered a dichotic digits test under conditions of free recall and directed attention. Analysis indicated right-ear preference for both groups and no differences between the free recall and directed listening conditions. Results are discussed in relation to previous studies in which dichotic digit-stimuli were presented to stutterers.     

Effects of auditory masking by white noise on primary stressing during spontaneous speech

6 adult subjects (3 men, 3 women) produced highly similar spontaneous speech utterances in quiet and with 90-dB SPL white noise. The frequency of occurrence of perceptual judgments of primary stressing in an utterance was not affected by the masking noise. This finding supplements our previous report that variability for stress production of fundamental frequency (fo) during spontaneous speech was preserved under short-term auditory disruption. Also, it adds further support to the contention that fo is under open-loop regulation.     

On the relation between indistinguishability of identical particles and (anti)symmetry of the wave function in quantum mechanics

Two different concepts of distinguishability are often mixed up in attempts to derive in quantum mechanics the (anti)symmetry of the wave function from indistinguishability of identical particles. Some of these attempts are analyzed and shown to be defective. It is argued that, although identical particles should be considered as observationally indistinguishable in (anti)symmetric states, they may be considered to be conceptually distinguishable. These two notions of (in)distinguishability have quite different physical origins, the former one being related to observations while the latter has to do with the preparation of the system.     

Latent trait models and dichotomization of graded responses

This paper discusses thecompatibility of the polychotomous Rasch model with dichotomization of the response continuum. It is argued that in the case of graded responses, the response categories presented to the subject are essentially an arbitrary polychotomization of the response continuum, ranging for example from total rejection or disagreement to total acceptance or agreement of an item or statement. Because of this arbitrariness, the measurement outcome should be independent of the specific polychotomization applied, for example, presenting a specific multicategory response format should not affect the measurement outcome. When such is the case, the original polychotomous model is called compatible with dichotomization.A distinction is made between polychotomization or dichotomization before the fact, that is, in constructing the response format, and polycho- or dichotomization after the fact, for example in dichotomizing existing graded response data.It is shown that, at least in case of dichotomization after-the-fact, the polychotomous Rasch model is not compatible with dichotomization, unless a rather special condition of the model parameters is met. Insofar as it may be argued that dichotomization before the fact is not essentially different from dichotomization after the fact, the value of the unidimensional polychotomous Rasch model is consequently questionable. The impact of our conclusion on related models is also discussed.     

Interpersonal dominance and coronary prone behavior

Type A “coronary-prone behavior” is a risk factor for coronary artery and heart disease. Questionnaire research indicates that interpersonal dominance is one of the strongest behavioral correlates of the Type A behavior pattern, although little effort has been made to demonstrate a link between the behavioral manifestations of interpersonal dominance and Pattern A responding. This study was conducted to establish such a link. All possible combinations of extreme As (N = 42) and Bs (N = 42) were matched in dyads that negotiated extreme bipolar opposite positions on a “teacher dismissal” issue. Analysis of process and outcome behaviors suggested that type A individuals are unilaterally more dominant than their Type B counterparts. Possible physiological mechanisms mediating dominance and cardiovascular disease are discussed.     

Temporal integration and vibrotactile backward masking

Subjects were presented with vibrotactile target patterns to their left index fingertips. The target patterns varied in the number of line segments that they contained and were presented in the presence or absence of a backward-masking stimulus. The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the target and masker was varied. In an identification task, subjects' errors indicated that the effect of the masker at brief SOAs was to increase the perceived number of line segments in the target. This effect diminished with increasing SOA, and at the longest SOAs subjects confused targets with patterns containing the same number of line segments but varying in how the line segments were related. In an estimation task, the effect of the masker was to increase the number of line segments estimated to be contained in the target pattern. The effect of the masker at brief SOAs is discussed in terms of an integration theory of vibrotactile backward masking. At longer SOAs, the results suggest that the masker may interfere with the extraction of relational information in the target pattern.