The perception of multiple simultaneously presented forms as a function of foveal spacing

Using five capital letters as the form stimuli and tachistoscopic presentation, an exposure duration was determined for each S that yielded 80% identification accuracy when single letter displays were presented. Then the increment in exposure duration necessary for a correct identification of all letters on a display on 80% of the trials was determined for 2, 3, and 4 letter displays. In view of evidence that perceptual independence breaks down when stimuli are spaced much closer than 1° apart in the fovea, the effect of different foveal spacing of the form stimuli in the display was studied. Spacings of 1/2, 3/4, and 1° of angle were employed. Less than a 30% increment in exposure duration was necessary to recognize 2 form displays at the same accuracy level as single form. But no further increase in exposure duration was necessary to recognize 3 and 4 form displays at the same accuracy criterion. Evidence for positive correlation of sensory perceptual error for forms spaced less than 1° apart in the fovea was found.     

Binocular summation in the perception of form at brief durations

Visual form identification at brief durations was studied under: (a) monocular presentation; (b) dichopic presentation where the same form was presented successively on noncorresponding areas; and (c) dichopic presentation where the same form was presented on corresponding areas simultaneously and successively. Form identification for noncorresponding area dichopic presentation was at the level to be expected from 2 independent chances to perceive. Both simultaneous and successive dichopic presentation on corresponding areas gave identification accuracy significantly above the level predicted by the assumption of independence. However, the binocular summation was not complete. When the same amount of energy entering the visual system in a binocular presentation was given in a monocular stimulation, the latter condition gave significantly better identification.     

Toward a Constructivist and Developmental Identity for the Counseling Profession: The Context-Phase-Stage-Style Model

The constructivist and developmental metatheories offer foundations for prevention- and health-oriented counseling approaches that target the whole population. In the assessment model proposed here, the counselor is directed toward 4 specific dimensions of human construction and development. They are the following: social context, life phase, constructive stage, and personality style. It is proposed that such assessment be infused into everyday counseling practice in schools, mental health settings, and colleges while also being a ground for the counselor education curriculum.     

Four seasons in femininity orfour men in a woman's life

Conclusion The feminine complaint that Alex's passion echoes, raising it to a level rarely attained, is not limited to the pursuit of sexualjouissance. Nor can it be reduced to an aversion on the part of women to a morality of the signifier, as maintained by a certain reading of Freud. Very precisely, the persistent note in feminine restlessness is a certain relationship of the subject to the insufficiency of the signifier, which the quest for love registers. The fact that language lacks the very quality that would make it credible and that would guarantee that discourse corresponds to what desire attests to is what delivers femininity over to the unnameable. In love she requires from the other member of the social bond the signifier that is lacking within the structure of femininity and that causes the call tojouissance in her body that drives her to distraction. Thus, the structure at stake in femininity, to which Alex's hysterical passion bears witness, defines in writing, that is, by a mark left on the body, the limitation of the reality of ajouissance which persists beyond the signifier and the object of the fantasy. When the analyst's desire offers support to this quest for a limit tojouissance on the part of a subject, it is in desire that the reality of sex and the other is linked to the signifier that would testify to the truth of the amorous discourse in the unconscious. Thus from one man to another, from the love of the father to the loss of a son, including the desire of the lover and the law of the husband, a woman finds herself supporting, with the letter of her body, the signifier which in its words testifies tojouissance as a place to lose oneself.     

Attentional distribution in the visual field duringsame-different judgments as assessed by response competition

Judgments ofsame anddifferent on a comparison task have been found to be subject to response competition if an irrelevant stimulus is presented in the display along with the target stimuli. For example, the reaction time for judging two letters the same is markedly increased if a different but irrelevant letter is also present in the display (C. W. Eriksen, O’Hara, & B. [A.] Eriksen, 1982). We have made use of this competition effect to map the visual attentional field in two dimensions. In two experiments, we varied the size of the attended area by varying the separation of the comparison stimuli. The boundaries of the attended area were mapped by varying the location of a response-competitive irrelevant noise letter. On this task, the attended area was found to be elliptical in shape, with the location of the target stimuli defining the major axis. The minor axis of the ellipse increased in direct proportion to increases in the major axis. Rather than interpret these field effects in terms of areas of enhanced processing, we propose that instead they represent the limits or failures in inhibition of competing stimulation.     

The Ethics of Prayer in Counseling

Spirituality has become increasingly important in counseling, with prayer being the spiritual intervention of choice for Christian counselors. The controversial nature of including prayer in counseling requires careful consideration of ethical issues. This article addresses the intersection of spiritual interventions, particularly prayer, with client welfare, multicultural sensitivity, values, and countertransference. The authors consider the ethical mandates, articulate concerns, and make recommendations.     

Recognition of temporal patterns: from engineering to psychology and back again.

An overview is presented on research conducted in our lab to quantify the underlying principles behind the recognition of temporal patterns. We have been developing a theory based upon pattern matching and time-series analysis, which allows us to model and understand how humans recognize familiar patterns evolving over time and how performance degrades with noise. While our studies are primarily scientific in nature, the work has application beyond the elucidation of psychological and physiological mechanisms. We illustrate an application of these ideas to computer-based human identification through gait analysis. This study also illustrates a novel approach to interdisciplinary research by integrating experimental psychology with that of engineering design.