Individual differences in loudness processing and loudness scales

Parameters of the psychophysical function for loudness (a 1000-Hz tone) were assessed for individual subjects in three experiments: (a) binaural loudness summation, (b) temporal loudness summation, and (c) judgments of loudness intervals. The loudness scales that underlay the additive binaural summation closely approximated S. S. Stevens's (1956) sone scale but were nonlinearly related to the scales that underlay the subtractive interval judgments, the latter approximating Garner's (1954) lambda scale. Interindividual differences in temporal summation were unrelated to differences in scaling performance or in binaural summation. Although the exponents of magnitude-estimation functions and the exponents underlying interval judgments varied considerably from subject to subject, exponents computed on the basis of underlying binaural summation varied less. The results suggest that interindividual variation in the exponent of magnitude-estimation functions largely reflects differences in the ways that subjects use numbers to describe loudnesses and that the sensory representations of loudness are fairly uniform, though probably not wholly uniform, among people with normal hearing. The magnitude of individual variation in at least one measure of auditory intensity processing, namely, temporal summation, seems at least as great as the magnitude of the variation in the underlying loudness scale.     

Messianic hopes and the crisis of relativism: A common process in pastoral counseling

This essay explores the dynamics underlying the search for a Messiah in psychotherapy. It argues that the disenchantment with one's Messiah emerges primarily from the confrontation with multiple messiahs, and hence, the personal crisis of relativism. The nature of this personal crisis is investigated through the developmental scheme of William Perry. Suggestions are made as to how pastoral counselors can help those struggling with the problem of relativism.The Southeastern Illinois Center for Pastoral Counseling is located at 100 South Church Street, Carmi, Illinois, 62821.     

Brain bases of English morphological processing: A comparison between Chinese-English,Spanish-English bilingual,and English monolingual children

How do early bilingual experiences influence children's neural architecture for word processing? Dual language acquisition can yield common influences that may be shared across different bilingual groups, as well as language-specific influences stemming from a given language pairing. To investigate these effects, we examined bilingual English speakers of Chinese or Spanish, and English monolinguals, all raised in the US (N = 152, ages 5–10). Children completed an English morphological word processing task during fNIRS neuroimaging. The findings revealed both language-specific and shared bilingual effects. The language-specific effects were that Chinese and Spanish bilinguals showed principled differences in their neural organization for English lexical morphology. The common bilingual effects shared by the two groups were that in both bilingual groups, increased home language proficiency was associated with stronger left superior temporal gyrus (STG) activation when processing the English word structures that are most dissimilar from the home language. The findings inform theories of language and brain development during the key periods of neural reorganization for learning to read by illuminating experience-based plasticity in linguistically diverse learners.     

An explanation of conservatism in the bookbag-and-pokerchips situation

An experiment is described in which subjective probability revisions were obtained in a standard probability estimation task, the ‘bookbag-and-pokerchips’situation. Three aspects of probability revision were examined: conservatism, sequential effects, and coherence. Under two experimental conditions, the conservatism effect obtained was closely related to subjects' use of a simple strategy. A recency effect was also obtained. Coherence of the probability estimates was excellent. Conditions under which the observed strategy leads to conservatism are explored and previously published results are reconsidered in the light of this strategy. Conservatism in the bookbag- and-pokerchips situation is explained as an artefact of subjects' strategies     

Subclmical depression and role fulfillment in domestic settings: Spurious relationships,imagined problems,or real effects?

Considerable evidence has accumulated in support of the hypothesis that subclinical depression may inhibit role performance in important ways. However, interpersonal stress and marital discord often precede the development of depressive symptomatology and may independently predict deficits in family role functioning. In addition, cognitive theories suggest that persons with subclinical depression may report poor role functioning even in the absence of any real performance deficits. The current research examines the possibility (1) that the effect of depression on the fulfillment of important family roles is attributable to previously unmeasured contextual variables of ongoing interpersonal stress and/or relationship dissatisfaction or, alternatively, (2) that this relationship is the result of depressive distortion associated with self-report of symptoms and performance. Multiple regression analyses of interview data collected from 495 community-dwelling adults found, however, that depression is related to role functioning beyond any spurious effects attributable to interpersonal stress, spousal stress, or marital satisfaction. In addition, the effect of depression persists when collateral reports of role functioning utilized. Accordingly, it appears that subclinical depression is related to decrements in role performance, and this effect is not entirely due to contextual elements or shared method variance between self-report measures.The authors acknowledge research support from Research Grants R01-AA-07250 and R01-AA-07218 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Research Grant R01-DA-07417 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and National Institutes of Mental Health Grant A-41487-07.     

Parent and Teacher Ratings in the Assessment and Prediction of Antisocial and Delinquent Behaviors

ABSTRACT Subjects consisted of a sample of two cohorts of approximately 100 boys each whose behaviors were rated by their parents and teachers. Criterion variables included antisocial behavior, based on parent, child, teacher, and interviewer reports, and delinquency, based on parent and child reports in addition to cumulative arrest data taken from juvenile court records. The data suggest that mothers are focused on the daily, irritating behaviors of their sons. Teachers, on the other hand, appear to focus on a relatively small number of items (e.g., child physically attacks others, associates with deviant peers), and thereby provide ratings that are better predictors of delinquency and arrest. When the mothers' ratings were constrained to include only items that were salient for teachers, their predictive validity coefficients approached the magnitude of the teacher coefficients.     

Range and regression, loudness scales, and loudness processing: toward a context-bound psychophysics

How does context affect basic processes of sensory integration and the implicit psychophysical scales that underlie those processes? Five experiments examined how stimulus range and response regression determine characteristics of (a) psychophysical scales for loudness and (b) 3 kinds of intensity summation: binaural loudness summation, summation of loudness between tones widely spaced in frequency, and temporal loudness summation. Context affected the overt loudness scales in that smaller power-function exponents characterized larger versus smaller range of stimulation and characterized magnitude estimation versus magnitude production. More important, however, context simultaneously affected the degree of loudness integration as measured in terms of matching stimulus levels. Thus, stimulus range and scaling procedure influence not only overt response scales, but measures of underlying intensity processing.