Categorical time production: evidence for discrete timing in motor control.

Subjects performed a repetitive manual tapping task, attempting to match a given rate of auditory stimulus pulses, first with the pulses audible (synchronization) and then with the pulses turned off (continuation). In different sessions, the interstimulus interval (ISI) was selected from the range 175 to 825 msec in steps of 25 msec, with different ISI values presented in a random order. Across this range of ISI conditions, interresponse intervals (IRIs) exhibited alternating positive bias (too slow) and negative bias (too fast). We interpret this pattern of bias in terms of a discrete, or categorical, timing mechanism in motor timing. Categorical time production can be viewed as extending our conception of the timekeeper in Wing's (Wing & Kristofferson, 1973a, 1973b) two-process model of motor timing and may be related to the system of multiple clocks proposed by Kristofferson (1980) to explain a categorical pattern of variability measures in duration discrimination.     

The concept of sin in pastoral counseling

The concept of sin seems to have virtually disappeared from the pastoral counseling literature, and this likely reflects the possibility that it has virtually disappeared from the practice of pastoral counseling. This article presents a case for returning the concept of sin to pastoral counseling and does so by discussing the psychospiritual importance of addressing sin, defining sin in a pastorally useful way, discussing four capital sins in light of a contemporary understanding of sin, and drawing some pastoral implications.     

Weekends and holidays and acting-out behavior of developmentally delayed women: a reply to Dr. Mark Flynn.

A previous report on the effect of the day of the full moon on the acting-out behavior of 20 developmentally delayed, institutionalized women showed that on the day of the full moon there were significantly more misbehaviors than on any other day during the lunar period. The records were re-evaluated to assess the frequency of acting-out behaviors on weekends and holidays as contrasted with the balance of the month. This re-evaluation indicated there was no significant difference between the weekends and holidays and the balance of the month (t = 1.14). The results were taken as support of the previous findings that on the day of the full moon there were significantly more misbehaviors than on any other day of the lunar period.     

Extracting thresholds from noisy psychophysical data.

Psychophysical studies with infants or with patients often are unable to use pilot data, training, or large numbers of trials. To evaluate threshold estimates under these conditions, computer simulations of experiments with small numbers of trials were performed by using psychometric functions based on a model of two types of noise: stimulus-related noise (affecting slope) and extraneous noise (affecting upper asymptote). Threshold estimates were biased and imprecise when extraneous noise was high, as were the estimates of extraneous noise. Strategies were developed for rejecting data sets as too noisy for unbiased and precise threshold estimation; these strategies were most successful when extraneous noise was low for most of the data sets. An analysis of 1,026 data sets from visual function tests of infants and toddlers showed that extraneous noise is often considerable, that experimental paradigms can be developed that minimize extraneous noise, and that data analysis that does not consider the effects of extraneous noise may underestimate test-retest reliability and overestimate interocular differences.     

A novel contact-lens system to assess visual hemispheric asymmetries.

A soft contact-lens system for achieving unilateral visual stimulation in a free vision format is described. Initial testing with light transmittance and visual perimetry indicated that the lenses created artificial visual-field deficits. The efficacy of the lenses as a technique for lateralizing visual input was evaluated by examining within-subject differences in performance on two visuospatial tasks. Speed and accuracy of performance were greater with visual input directed to the right hemisphere. These data support the lens design as a useful alternative to tachistoscopic procedures and previous lens systems.     

Cuing effects and associative information in recognition memory

Item recognition requires discrimination of studied words from nonstudied words. Associative recognition requires subjects to discriminate studied word groups from recombinations of words from different groups. Cued recognition requires the same old-new discrimination as item recognition, but list items are presented as cues along with the test item. The results from three experiments show (1) little or no effect of cuing for low-frequency words, but (2) positive cuing effects for high-frequency words; (3) increasing levels of overall performance with increases in study time, but (4) unchanging effects of cuing with study time; and (5) stronger positive cuing effects for two cues than for one cue. Five models (Independent Cue Model, Matrix model, MINERVA 2, SAM, and TODAM) were fit to the data of Experiment 1. Each model has trouble with at least one aspect of the results. Theoretical implications and modifications are discussed at length.     

Musical duplex perception: perception of figurally good chords with subliminal distinguishing tones.

In a variant of duplex perception with speech, phoneme perception is maintained when distinguishing components are presented below intensities required for separate detection, forming the basis for the claim that a phonetic module takes precedence over nonspeech processing. This finding is replicated with music chords (C major and minor) created by mixing a piano fifth with a sinusoidal distinguishing tone (E or E flat). Individual threshold intensities for detecting E or E flat in the context of the fixed piano tones are established. Chord discrimination thresholds defined by distinguishing tone intensity were determined. Experiment 2 verified masked detection thresholds and subliminal chord identification for experienced musicians. Accurate chord perception was maintained at distinguishing tone intensities nearly 20 dB below the threshold for separate detection. Speech and music findings are argued to demonstrate general perceptual principles.     

Morphologic agrammatism following a right hemisphere stroke in a dextral patient.

There is evidence of two major components of grammatic function in the brain: (1) morphologic, probably based in the postcentral perisylvian cortex, encompassing the selection of individual words and inflectional endings according to the rules of grammar; and (2) syntactic, probably based in the frontal lobes, encompassing construction of the overall structure of a sentence (syntax) to match the concept being considered. We present a stroke patient with impaired morphology but, unlike Broca's aphasics, relative sparing of syntax. He omitted 43% of articles, 40% of complementizers, 20% of pronouns, 27% of semantically marked prepositions, 43% of purely grammatic prepositions, and 22% of auxiliary verbs, but his average sentence length was 9.8 words and 64% of his sentences contained embedded clauses. He frequently intermingled two sentences to convey a given concept, juxtaposing words in grammatically unacceptable ways. This intermingling may represent either a grammatic "conduite d'approche," or a failure of the filtering function of a defective morphologic processor. His great difficulty in completing syntactic frames suggests that a more general form of the processes underlying grammatic morphology may play an important role in phrase structure generation.     

Impairment of spontaneous alternation performance by an NMDA antagonist: attenuation with non-NMDA treatments.

N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists disrupt learning on a variety of tasks. Previous findings indicate that glucose, naloxone, and physostigmine ameliorate learning deficits produced by several treatments. The present experiment examines whether these agents also reverse the amnestic effects of NMDA receptor blockade. Mice were tested for spontaneous alternation performance in a Y-maze. The animals received either saline or the NMDA antagonist, NPC 12626 (35 mg/kg, IP), 50 min prior to testing and received an additional injection of saline, glucose, naloxone, or physostigmine 30 min prior to testing. NPC 12626 significantly decreased alternation scores. Glucose (250 mg/kg), physostigmine (0.01 mg/kg), and naloxone (1 mg/kg) reversed the effects of NPC 12626. Thus, impairments of learning after NMDA receptor blockade share with other amnestic conditions the susceptibility to attenuation by glucose, naloxone, and physostigmine.     

Patterns of coping with cancer.

We identified five patterns of coping in a sample of 603 cancer patients: "seeking or using social support," "focusing on the positive," "distancing," "cognitive escape-avoidance," and "behavioral escape-avoidance." Relationships of these coping patterns to sociodemographic characteristics, medical factors, stress appraisals, psychotherapeutic experience, and emotional distress were tested using correlational and regression techniques. Type of cancer, time since diagnosis, and whether a person was currently in treatment had few or no relationships to coping. The specific cancer-related problem (e.g., pain, fear of future) was also not associated with how individuals coped. Perceptions of its stressfulness, however, were related to significantly more coping through social support and more of both forms of escape-avoidance. Coping through social support, focusing on the positive, and distancing was associated with less emotional distress, whereas using cognitive and behavioral escape-avoidance was associated with more emotional distress. Implications of the results for understanding coping processes and intervention with cancer patients are discussed.