Frequency response characteristics for sinusoidal movement in the fovea and periphery

Threshold sensitivity was measured for sinusoidal movement of bright 1-deg lines against a dark background as a function of oscillation frequency and retinal location. Sensitivity was greatest in the fovea and at a frequency of 1–2 Hz. Peripheral sensitivity was more narrowly tuned than foveal sensitivity. The presence of a stationary reference line affected mainly the foveal sensitivity. The results are interpreted as evidence for both position- and velocity-sensitive mechanisms in the movement detection system.     

Associative facilitation and interference in the Stroop color-word task

It is difficult to name the color of a stimulus when the stimulus is a word naming a different color. When the word is congruent with the color in which it is written, color naming is much quicker. Similar results are also obtained when color-related words are used instead of color names. These results are taken as evidence for the operation of associative factors that could facilitate or impair performance in the color-word task.     

Two temporal parameters of food postponement

Rats were trained to press a lever under schedules of food postponement. In the absence of lever presses, food was delivered periodically (food-food interval). Responses initiated a second interval (response-food interval) that was reset by each additional response. Performance was first studied at different response-food intervals with the food-food interval fixed at 30 or 60 sec, or 10 min. Response-food intervals were examined in ascending order and then recovery was studied at shorter intervals. Finally, the food-food interval was manipulated with response-food interval fixed at 30 sec. At food-food intervals of 30 and 60 sec, responding first increased and then decreased as the response-food interval increased. At the 10-min food-food interval, responding decreased with increasing response-food interval. In general, very low rates of responding occurred when the response-food interval was 60 sec or more and when it equalled or exceeded the food-food interval. However, responding was maintained in one animal when the food-food interval was decreased from 120 to 15 sec with the response-food interval at 30 sec. Results, in terms of several dependent variables, are compared with data on shock avoidance. Effects of response-independent and response-produced food and shock are discussed.     

Choice behavior and the accessibility of the reinforcer

In Experiment 1, matching of relative response rates to relative rates of reinforcement was obtained in concurrent variable-interval schedules when the absolute values of the two concurrent variable-interval schedules varied from 6 sec and 12 sec to 600 sec and 1200 sec. Increases in the duration of the changeover delay, however, produced decreases in the relative response rates and, consequently, some deviation from matching. In Experiment 2, matching of relative response rates to the relative duration of the reinforcer failed to occur when the equal variable-interval schedules arranging access to the two different reinforcer durations (1.5 and 6 sec) were varied in size from concurrent variable-interval 10-sec schedules to concurrent variable-interval 600-sec schedules.     

The detection of visual intensity differences by pigeons

Pigeons were trained in a conditional discrimination procedure to discriminate between visual stimuli that varied in intensity. The magnitude of the intensity difference ranged from 0.80 to 0.05 logarithmic units. Psychometric functions were calculated from the data and the mean difference threshold for the 11 subjects was approximately 0.12 logarithmic units. A signal-detection analysis of the data suggested that stimuli that were below the calculated threshold were detectible to the subjects.     

Negation of Park's transformations

Zusammenfassung Parks Kritik beruht, meiner Ansicht nach, auf einem entscheidenden Mißverständnis meiner Intentionen: es geht mir überhaupt nicht um eine Argumentation gegen eine Transformationsgrammatik à la Chomsky, und nicht einmal in erster Linie gegen die Absicht mancher Psycholinguisten, eine derartige Theorie in ihren psychischen Funktionen aufzuzeigen. Ich möchte lediglich dafür plädieren, daß die Psycholinguistik in erster Linie psychologische (und nicht linguistische) Überlegungen und Modellvorstellungen als Leitlinien verwendet.     

Short-term visual memory and pattern masking

The results of two experiments involving the matching of unfamiliar, nameless shapes (Gibson forms) indicated that a visual representation of a brief (30-100 ms) stimulus survives in a Short-Term Visual Memory (STVM) for 6 s or more after the onset of a pattern mask. On the basis of these results a possible alternative to Sperling's (1967) model for short-term memory for visual stimuli was presented. In this model it is assumed that recognition processes occupy several hundred milliseconds and continue after the arrival of the mask using the information available in STVM.     

A device for the easy administration of volatile anesthetics to rats undergoing stereotaxic surgery

Conventional procedures do not provide a practical method for the administration of volatile anesthetics such as halothane to rats while they are undergoing stereotaxic surgery. This paper describes a device which meets this need and which is easy and inexpensive to construct. A two-piece cylinder cut from the mouth of a polyethylene bottle forms a closed system around the muzzle of a rat and does not interfere with the stereotaxic apparatus or with the operation itself. The cylinder is attached to any standard device for the dispension of volatile anesthetics. The immediate advantage is that behavioral assesaments can be made relatively soon after surgery.