Familial sinistrality, sex, and laterality differences in naming and Lexical Decision Latencies of right-handers

Sixty-four subjects, divided into four groups of 16 according to sex and familial sinistrality (FS), were given a lateralized Object-Naming Latency Task (ONLT) and a Lexical Decision Latency Task (LDLT). Both tasks showed RVF superiorities. On the ONLT a sex × FS × visual field interaction was obtained, with FS− females and FS+ males showing comparably smaller RVF superiorities than FS+ females and FS− males. On the LDLT an FS by Stimulus Type (word-nonword) interaction was found, FS− subjects being more RVF superior for nonword trials and FS+ subjects more RVF superior for word trials. If one compared only FS− males and females, as some studies have done, greater RVF superiorities obtained for males than females on both the ONLT and word trials of the LDLT. However, FS+ subjects showed the opposite pattern. The data support neither the simple model of FS nor sex influence on language laterality. Data aslso suggest that a history of maternal versus paternal left-handedness may affect lateralization differently in the sexes.     

Moderating effects of organizational climate on relationships between goal-setting attributes and employee satisfaction

The moderating effects of nine organizational climate factors were examined on the relationships between four goal-setting attributes and three measures of employee satisfaction. Subjects were 245 scientists and engineers participating in an MBO program. Researchers did not find sufficient evidence to warrant a general statement concerning the moderating effects of organizational climate in this context. Explanations, however, are offered for the specific moderating effects which were discovered.     

Two visual stores and two processing operations in tachistoscopic partial report

A two-stage interpretation of the processes underlying tachistoscopic partial report performance is suggested. It is assumed that partial report is mediated by two kinds of visual store (a sensory store and a short-term store) and by two processing operations (selection and naming). In Experiment I, the accuracy and latency of two types of partial report (report by location and report by colour) were compared for cue stimulus-test stimulus intervals ranging from --500 ms to + 500 ms. It was concluded that selection by colour takes longer than selection by location; an explanation in terms of differential decay of attributes in the sensory store was rejected. In Experiment II, cue stimulus delays of 0, 150 and 300 ms were employed, and a backward masking stimulus followed the cue stimulus with a delay of 200, 300, 400 or 600 ms. The amount of masking depended on the cue stimulus-masking stimulus interval, rather than on the test stimulus-masking stimulus interval. It was concluded that selection operates on the sensory store and that backward masking can affect the naming of a stimulus representation which is residing in the visual short-term store.     

An indirect method of measuring perceived distance from familiar size

Two methods of measuring perceived distance as a function of familiar size were compared in five experiments. The method which uses the perception of motion concomitant with a motion of the head, unlike the method of verbal report, is considered to provide a measure of perceived distance that is unaffected by factors of cognitive distance. The results of the experiments indicate that although the perceived egocentric distance of an object can vary somewhat as a function of the cue of familiar size, the larger variation often found with verbal reports of distance is based upon cognitive, not perceptual, information. The cognitive information is interpreted as resulting from the perception of the object as off-sized and the observer’s assumption that the perceived size of an object will vary inversely with its physical distance.     

When discounting fails: An unexpected finding

Two studies were designed to investigate the effects of prior information about plausible causes on subsequent attributions. In the Experiment 1, prior information was given about an internal and an external cause. It was predicted and found that the stronger an expectancy for a behavior, the more the behavior would be attributed to the cause that formed the basis of the expectancy. It was also predicted that (1) for facilitative causes, the stronger the expectancy based on a given cause, the less the behavior would be attributed to other causes (discounting), and (2)for inhibitory causes, the stronger the expectancy, the more the behavior would be attributed to other causes (augmenting). These predictions were not supported. It was suggested that discounting and augmenting did not occur because subjects had been given information about both causes which "locked in" their attributions to each cause. To test this explanation, a second study was undertaken in which observers were given information about only one cause. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that discounting and augmenting may only occur for attributions to causes about which no prior information is available.     

Individual pitch functions and pitch-duration cross-dimensional matching

Eight young adult subjects scaled the auditory dimensions of duration and pitch using a modified method of numerical magnitude balance and adjustment of the stimuli for individual equal-loudness differences. Individual duration and pitch functions for magnitude estimation and for magnitude production fit the power law well. When compared with the revised reel scale and the pitch function obtained by S. S. Stevens and Galanter (Journal of Experimental psychology, 1957,54, 377–411), the group magnitude estimation and magnitude production pitch functions plotted in log-log coordinates showed high degrees of linearity. This was due mostly to the absence of a rollover in the high-frequency range of the continuum. It was hypothesized that pitch may be viewed as a linear function. This hypothesis was further supported when the exponents of the pitch and duration functions were used to predict closely the group exponent of cross-dimension matches.     

On a shortened method of estimation of mental factors by regression

A shortened method of finding the regression for estimation of the scores on mental factors is presented. If the correlations amongn tests are accounted for byr factors, the regression equation involves the inverse of anr ×r matrix instead of the inverse of ann ×n matrix. Whenr is much less thann, there is considerable saving in computational labor. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the method.     

A general theory of learning and conditioning: Part II

The second of two parts of this article extends a mathematical theory of non-symbolic learning and conditioning to cases where reward and punishment are involved. The preceding results are generalized to the case where stimuli and responses are related psychophysically, thus constituting a theory of transfer, generalization, and discrimination.     

A method of estimating accuracy of test scoring

When errors of test scoring obey a Poisson frequency law (theoretical considerations suggest that they do), the method described may be used for finding the upper fiducial limits of scoring errors per paper. A criterion is suggested for establishing tolerance limits on scoring errors, and a method is given (1) for finding the probability of being wrong in the statement that the tolerance limit is being met for a given size sample or (2) for finding the size of sample that will make this probability not greater than some fixed value.