Effects of semantic priming on visual encoding of pictures

We investigated the effects of semantic priming on initial encoding of briefly presented pictures of objects and scenes. Pictures in four experiments were presented for varying durations and were followed immediately by a mask. In Experiments 1 and 2, pictures of simple objects were either preceded or not preceded by the object's category name (e.g., dog). In Experiment 1 we measured immediate object identification; in Experiment 2 we measured delayed old/new recognition in which targets and distractors were from the same categories. In Experiment 3 naturalistic scenes were either preceded or not preceded by the scene's category name (e.g., supermarket). We measured delayed recognition in which targets and distractors were described by the same category names. In Experiments 1-3, performance was better for primed than for unprimed pictures. Experiment 4 was similar to Experiment 2 in that we measured delayed recognition for simple objects. As in Experiments 1-3, a prime that preceded the object improved subsequent memory performance for the object. However, a prime that followed the object did not affect subsequent performance. Together, these results imply that priming leads to more efficient information acquisition. We offer a picture-processing model that accounts for these results. The model's central assumption is that knowledge of a picture's category (gist) increases the rate at which visual information is acquired from the picture.     

Buildup and release from proactive interference in a rhesus monkey

The potential of the buildup and release from proactive interference (PI) technique in the study of animal categorization was demonstrated with a rhesus monkey. A serial probe recognition task was used with a list of 4 consecutive slide pictures (upper screen) followed by a single probe picture (lower screen). The monkey moved a lever to indicate whether or not the probe was contained in the list. PI built over 40 consecutive trials tested with either flowers or primate faces. PI was released on category change and then built during 40 trials with the second category. The first 2 serial positions showed somewhat greater PI buildup and release, supporting conclusions from human studies that the effects occur primarily in secondary memory. A second experiment provided 2 replications of the main effect and showed through color border changes and elimination of color differences that color was not a critical feature.     

Factor analysis of the wisc-r and the wrat with a referral population

Scores on the WISC-R and the WRAT from a referral sample of 250 children, ages 6 through 11, were factor analyzed using a principal factor method with varimax rotation. Results offered support for interpretation of WISC-R scores in terms of Verbal and Performance scales, and for interpretation of WRAT scores as a separate achievement factor. The contention that achievement and intelligence tests measure identical constructs is challenged.     

The relationship of selected consultant/teacher characteristics to consultation outcomes

This study examined the relationship of teacher life position, teacher dogmatism, perceived consultant facilitativeness, years of teacher teaching experience and number of consultations per year to the consultation outcomes of teacher satisfaction, teacher strength, and problem resolution. A number of significant findings resulted, with the consultant's perceived facilitativeness being the main predictor of the desirable consultation outcomes. These results are consistent with some earlier findings. Some results that are inconsistent with other studies also are discussed.     

Student perception of school environment and its relationship to mood,achievement, popularity,and adjustment

This study examined relationships between student perceptions of classroom environment and mood, achievement, popularity, and adjustment, both for students in general and for problem (i.e., acting-out, anxious, and unpopular) children. Subjects included 511 fifth- and sixth-grade students from 23 classes in four suburban schools. Class environment was assessed by responses to a short form of the Classroom Environment Scale (CES). Students also completed mood adjective checklists and peer sociometric ratings. Reading and arithmetic report card grades and achievement test scores were recorded for the school year, and teachers submitted adjustment ratings for all students. Classes, rather than students, were used as the main unit of analysis. For classes in general, high perceived Order and Organization and Affiliation related to greater student popularity. Relationships between perceptions of class environment and the dependent measures were stronger for problem students. For that group, high perceived Order and Organization, Affiliation, and Innovation related to positive mood, greater peer popularity, and teacher ratings indicating more positive adjustment. This study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 14574-04) and the New York State Department of Education. That support is acknowledged with gratitude as are specific contributions made by Evelyn Arlas, Ellis L. Gesten, and Elizabeth Kaplan.     

Men's friendships,women's friendships and the alleged inferiority of the latter

Over a decade of research utilizing a model and technique for the study of same-sex friendships has revealed some unsought and initially unexpected differences between men and women. Relevant aspects of this research are reviewed. Taken as a whole, the findings indicate overall differences between men and women that were readily interpretable in terms of traditional sex roles and socialization practices. However, when differences were found, they were seldom extremely large or glaringly obvious and thus provide no sound basis for predicting the character of the friendship of any particular pair of men or women. Moreover, when the friendships examined were limited to those that were very strong and of long duration, no appreciable sex differences were found. Special attention is given to the contention that women's friendships are inferior to those of men.     

A satellite system for controlling real-time experiments

In this paper, we describe a computer system for controlling real-time psychology experiments. We begin by considering the kinds of experiments that are performed in our laboratory and examining the hardware and software requirements of these experiments. We then review various systems along a continuum ranging from general-purpose timesharing systems to stand-alone dedicated processors. The capabilities of these systems are described in comparison with our requirements. The features of the PARASITE-FS system are then described. This host-satellite system includes a local file system and monitor program, real-time device drivers with flexible interrupt processing capabilities, user-level routines for controlling the real-time devices, and a package for controlling the timing of experimental events.     

Strict finitism

Conclusion Dummett's objections to the coherence of the strict finitist philosophy of mathematics are thus, at the present time at least, ill-taken. We have so far no definitive treatment of Sorites paradoxes; so no conclusive ground for dismissing Dummett's response — the response of simply writing off a large class of familiar, confidently handled expressions as semantically incoherent. I believe that cannot be the right response, if only because it threatens to open an unacceptable gulf between the insight into his own understanding available to a philosophically reflective speaker and the conclusions available to one confined to observing the former's linguistic practice; for an observer of our linguistic practice could never justifiably arrive at the conclusion that red, child, etc., are governed by inconsistent rules. But the Sorites is not the subject of this paper. The points I hope to have made plausible are: that a generalized intuitionist position cannot be so much as formulated and that even a most local intuitionism, argued for the special case of arithmetic, is hard pressed effectively to stabilize and defend itself; that strict finitism remains the natural outcome of the anti-realism which Dummett has propounded by way of support for the intuitionist philosophy of mathematics; that it is powerfully buttressed by the ideas of the latter Wittgenstein on rule-following; and that there is no extant compelling reason to suppose that its involvement with predicates of surveyability calls its coherence into question. The correct philosophical assessment of strict finitism, and its proper mathematical exegesis, remain absolutely open, almost virgin issues. This is not a situation which philosophers of mathematics should tolerate very much longer.The term was introduced by Kreisel in [6] to denote what he took to be an aspect of Wittgenstein's later philosophy of mathematics; and taken over by Kielkopf (Strict Finitism, Mouton 1970) — misunderstanding, as it seems to me, both Kreisel and Wittgenstein — as a label for Wittgenstein's later philosophy of maths. in its entirety. It is not a happy label for the ideas I am concerned with, since it is only from non-strict finitist points of view that the strict finitist can be straightforwardly seen as stressing the finitude of human capacities, countenancing only finite sets, etc. (See subsections 5 and 6 below). But we need a labeel; and Dummett in [3] has already followed Kreisel's lead. Anyway, a rose by any other name,...     

Trance and confusion in Gestalt therapy

This article introduces hypnotic principles of confusion and trance as fundamental operations in Gestalt therapy. A process is identified which utilizes perceptual shifts of reference as a method of organizing Gestalt techniques. The sequence of operations constituting the confusion process is outlined and developed in a psychotherapy session through the use of implication, dissociation, and embodiment. The development of this organization of Gestalt therapy is intended to enhance the strategic capacities of therapists.