Age differences in peripheral perceptual processing: a monoptic backward masking investigation

Peripheral processes in vision were investigated in two experiments involving monoptic backward masking with random noise. For young and old subjects, peripheral processing time (represented by stimulus onset asynchrony of target and mask) was characterized as a power function of target energy. Although processing time for both age groups showed a similar rate of decline with increasing target energy, old subjects processed targets more slowly at all energy levels. Results were independent of education, sex, and criterion differences between young and old. Target duration was related to critical interstimulus interval, such that stimulus onset asynchrony between target and mask was approximately constant for a given target energy within each age group. Evidence suggests that peripheral processing begins with target onset and that processing time is best characterized by a power function relating stimulus onset asynchrony of target and mask to target energy.     

Organizational preparedness for change: Staff acceptance of an on-line computer-assisted assessment system

An on-line assessment system is briefly described. Previous positive evaluation studies are summarized. Results of studies of staff acceptance and staff preparedness for change are reported. Findings are interpreted in terms of the need for planning for change. Implications related to the acceptance of other on-line computer systems in psychology are discussed.     

Eye height scaling of absolute size in immersive and nonimmersive displays

Eye-height (EH) scaling of absolute height was investigated in three experiments. In Experiment 1, standing observers viewed cubes in an immersive virtual environment. Observers' center of projection was placed at actual EH and at 0.7 times actual EH. Observers' size judgments revealed that the EH manipulation was 76.8% effective. In Experiment 2, seated observers viewed the same cubes on an interactive desktop display; however, no effect of EH was found in response to the simulated EH manipulation. Experiment 3 tested standing observers in the immersive environment with the field of view reduced to match that of the desktop. Comparable to Experiment 1, the effect of EH was 77%. These results suggest that EH scaling is not generally used when people view an interactive desktop display because the altitude of the center of projection is indeterminate. EH scaling is spontaneously evoked, however, in immersive environments.     

Mood, personality disorder symptoms and disability in obsessive compulsive hoarders: a comparison with clinical and nonclinical controls

Hoarding is a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as a diagnostic criterion for obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). One recent study suggests that people who suffer from compulsive hoarding report more general psychopathology than people who do not [Frost, R.O., Krause, M.S., & Steketee, G. (1996). Hoarding and obsessive compulsive symptoms. Behavior Modification, 20, 116-132]. The present study addressed whether persons with OCD hoarding exhibit more depression, anxiety, OCD and personality disorders symptoms than community controls, OCD nonhoarders, or other anxiety disorder patients. Disability was also examined. Hoarding subjects were older than the other three groups, but age did not account for any of the differences observed among the groups. Compared to controls, OCD hoarding, nonhoarding OCD and anxiety disorder patients showed elevated YBOCS scores, as well as higher scores on depression, anxiety, family and social disability. Compared to nonhoarding OCD and anxiety disorder patients, OCD hoarding patients scored higher on anxiety, depression, family and social disability. Hoarding subjects had greater personality disorder symptoms than controls. However, OCD hoarding subjects differed from OCD nonhoarding and anxiety disorder subjects only on dependent and schizotypal personality disorder symptoms. The findings suggest that hoarding is associated with significant comorbidity and impairment compared to nonhoarding OCD and other anxiety disorders.     

Intrinsic feedback, interpolation, and the closed-loop theory

The amount of experience of a target location, or its surrounding locations, was manipulated to test Adams' (1971) prediction that the perceptual trace (stored perception of the correct response) is based on repeated sensations of the correct response. Sixteen learning trials, each followed by knowledge of results, on a linear-positioning task were permitted for all subjects. Each learning trial required movement to an adjustable physical stop. In learning condition without target experience, movements never terminated in a zone within which the target was interpolated. Other groups experienced movements terminating at the target point. The strength of the perceptual trace was inferred from the ability to move to the target during 20 test trials with the stop removed and without knowledge of the results. Slow movements could be made to a novel location equally as well as to a repeatedly practiced location.     

Attributional Style, Self-Esteem, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus: A Test of the Hopelessness and Self-Esteem Theories of Depression

Research on the hopelessness and self-esteem theories of depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989; Metalsky, Joiner, Hardin, & Abramson, 1993) suggests that HIV-infected persons with depressotypic attributional style (AS) and low self-esteem (SE) may be at risk for onset of a syndrome referred to as hopelessness depression (HD). In a prospective study conducted to test these theories, measures of anxiety and depression, AS, and SE were administered to 85 HIV+ and 43 HIV– men; symptoms were reassessed 6 months later. Results indicated that: (1) The interaction of AS, SE, and HIV status predicted change in HD symptoms, but not overall depression or anxiety symptoms; (2) HIV+ men with depressotypic AS and high SE had increased HD symptom levels while other men with high SE had decreased HD symptom levels; (3) HD symptoms remained stable over the 6-month interval among men with low SE; and (4) High SE predicted decreases in anxiety symptoms among HIV– men, but not among HIV+ men. Contrary to the study hypothesis, these findings suggest that among individuals with life-threatening illnesses such as HIV infection, those with depressotypic AS and high SE may be at highest risk for onset of HD.     

Evaluating frequency proximity in stream segregation

Consecutive sounds of similar structure that are close in frequency or pitch are more likely to be perceived as part of the same sequence than those at greater frequency separations. The principle of grouping into such perceptual sequences, or auditory streams, is known as frequency proximity. However, the metric by which one frequency difference is judged to be greater or less than another in complex auditory scenes is not yet known. Two experiments explored the metric for frequency proximity. We presented repeating three-tone stimulus patterns at a rate where they are normally heard as two streams, one containing the highest tone and one containing the lowest. The middle tone joined one stream or the other depending on its frequency. Subjects reported the perceived allocation of the variable tone by responding on a 5-point scale. The frequency at which either of these two percepts was equally probable was found to be lower than a logarithmic midpoint or the midpoints on a cochlear map or the Mel scale; that is, it was unlike metrics arrived at by direct comparisons of tones. Further, the midpoint for high and low tones presented synchronously was lower than that for the same tones presented sequentially, demonstrating that in addition to a proximity factor, some additional factor or factors must operate differently when the lower and upper fixed tones are, or are not, presented simultaneously.     

Knowledge and beliefs regarding the consequences of cigarette smoking and their relationships to smoking status in a biracial sample

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate carefully smoking-related knowledge and beliefs and their relationships to smoking status in a large, heterogeneous sample of smokers and nonsmokers in two settings: (a) a large, biracial southern city and (b) a small midwestern community. Participants were 611 (198 male, 413 female) adult respondents to a random-dialing telephone survey in Fargo, North Dakota (n = 200), and Memphis, Tennessee (n = 411). Each participant was given the Smoking Attitudes Survey, which assesses generalized health beliefs as well as health-related problems associated with smoking. Participants' knowledge of smoking-associated diseases (e.g., lung cancer) and of diseases not associated with smoking (e.g., kidney stones) was assessed. Stepwise regression analysis of composite knowledge scores revealed four independent predictors of the health consequences of smoking: education, race, smoking status, and income. Smokers, compared to nonsmokers, reported less knowledge related to the health consequences of smoking, were more likely to be male, were less concerned with the health consequences of smoking, and were more concerned about the health consequences of cholesterol. The best predictor of smokers who had never attempted cessation was their greater concern over weight control when compared to smokers with a history of smoking cessation attempts. The results are discussed in terms of smoking prevention and intervention efforts.     

Inequalities in Health and Intergenerational Equity

In the popular folklore three-score-years-and-ten is treated as a fair innings for people, and thereby serves as an informal reference point for judgements about distributive justice within a community. But length of life alone is an insufficient basis for such judgements - a person's health-related quality-of-life also needs to be taken into account. If one of the objectives of public policy is to reduce inequalities in lifetime health, it will be demonstrated that this is very likely to require systematic discrimination against the older members of a community. The notion of community solidatity will also be tested, because a decision will need to be made as to whether the same fair innings applies to all members of the community, or whether some are entitled to more than others. The strength of the fair innings principle is that it brings these issues to the fore in a systematic way which should ais their resolition in a practical context.