A biphasic 60-Hz synchronizer circuit for the recording of visually evoked responses in high-noise environments

A simple synchronizer clock circuit is described that aids in the rejection of 60-Hz noise from evoked potential measurements.     

Development of an on-line problem-oriented system for the evaluation of mental health treatment services

Current on-line assessment applications are limited to mimicking instruments designed for paper and pencil. The development of an instrument designed specifically for on-line technology is described. The instrument provides research data on treatment effectiveness, clinical information for treatment planning, and management information for resource allocation.     

Vowel recognition: Inferences from studies of forward and backward masking

The recognition of brief vowels was studied in forward and backward masking tasks. In a series of experiments in which both target and mask parameters were systematically varied, two populations of subjects were identified. The majority (Nonmaskers) evidenced little masking at any interstimulus interval, while relatively fewer subjects (Maskers) evidenced backward masking (but not forward masking) over a 100-200 ms interval. Increasing target set size systematically increased masking for the Maskers but not for the Nonmaskers. Adding white noise to the targets increased the extent of masking for both groups. These results suggest (1) that masking does not impose a substantive constraint on vowel perception in running speech, and (2) that multiple strategies may exist for vowel recognition.     

Performing item- and subject-based analyses using ALICE

By using the program ALICE, we are able to perform subject- and item-based analyses of randomly ordered sets of data without the usual computational effort. The program allows us to transform data and combine, partition, or systematically manipulate them by simple, readily interpretable instructions. Of equal importance to us is the ease with which students and staff learn to use the program independently.     

The perception of stop consonant voicing by Spanish-English bilinguals

The performance of Spanish-English bilinguals in two perception tasks, using a synthetic speech continuum varying in voice onset time, was compared with the performance of Spanish and English monolinguals. Voice onset time in speech production was also compared between these groups. Results in perception of bilinguals differed from that of both monolingual groups. Results of bilingual production in their two languages conformed with results obtained from each monolingual group. The perceptual results are interpreted in terms of differences in the use of available acoustic cues by bilingual and monolingual listeners of English and Spanish.     

Value systems of self and of Australian expatriates as perceived by indigenous students in Papua New Guinea

The Rokeach Value Survey was administered to 112 students at Goroka Teachers' College in Papua New Guinea. About half of the respondents ranked the values for self and the remainder ranked for Australian expatriates working in Papua New Guinea. There were several differences in the relative importance assigned to the terminal and instrumental values when the two types of ranking were compared. The students assigned more importance to general social and orthodox religious values, to some moral values, and to values involving rules of conduct related to status and authority when rankings were for self than when they were for expatriates. They ranked stimulus-seeking and materialistic values and values concerned with striving and competence higher in importance when rankings were for expatriates rather than for self. The average value systems (medians) for self and for expatriates were also compared for similarity with those obtained from groups previously tested in Papua New Guinea and in Australia. Similarity coefficients involving average rankings for self were much higher when comparisons were made within each nation than between the two nations. It was doubtful that the students were judging expatriate value systems accurately because similarity coefficients were close to zero (terminal values) and low positive (instrumental values) when average value systems for expatriates were compared with corresponding average rankings for self of Australians actually tested in Australia. Results were discussed in relation to the consequences of discrepancies in value systems between the indigenous population and expatriates and more generally as illustrating the importance of developing an ecology of values within and across nations.