A critical analysis of the attention hypothesis of Zeaman and House: problems of parameter interactions in multiparameter models

The attention hypothesis of Zeaman and House [in N. R. Ellis (Ed.), Handbook of mental deficiency. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963] was examined through a systematic, computer-simulation analysis of the parameter interactions found in the One-Look model. The hypothesis states that mental retardates and normals differ in their initial attention habits but not in their learning rates in the context of discrimination learning. The analysis showed that possible differences in the learning rates cannot be ruled out. The result was used to suggest how shift designs can unconfound the effect of the attention habits from the effect of the learning rates and maximize chances of observing possible differences in the learning rates between retarded and normal children.     

The peer preference test as a measure of reward value: Item analysis,cross-validation,concurrent validation,and replication

Thirty-six preschoolers were administered and retested on a 15-item Peer Preference Test designed to measure the reward value of peers for each child. Test-retest reliability was .88, and after item analyses, 12 items were maintained in the test. The revised test was then administered to 29 other preschoolers. Test-retest reliability was. 77, and item analyses indicated that each item made a significant contribution to the overall test. Concurrent validation of the test was demonstrated using both a picture sociometric and a behavioral measure. In addition, the Evers-Pasquale and Sherman (1975) study was replicated, using 10 preschool social isolates.This article is based on the doctoral dissertation of the author. Gratitude is expressed to Dr. John Gleason for his counsel and advice. The author is also indebted to the staffs of the Irwin Methodist Nursery School and the Jewish Community Center Nursery School, both in Syracuse, New York, for their kindness and cooperation during the course of this investigation.     

The appreciation of antonymic contrasts in aphasia

To secure information on the ability of aphasic patients to comprehend antonymic relations, the kinds of confusions typically made, and the extent to which antonymic sensitivity depends upon mode of presentation and task demands, three linguistic and nonlinguistic tests were administered to aphasic patients, right hemisphere-damaged patients, and non-neurological controls. Although difficulty with antonymous relations was found among all the organic patients, the kinds of problems evidenced and the relative profile of difficulties differed across populations. Among the principal findings were the generally preserved sensitivity to antonymy found among anterior (particularly Broca's) aphasics; a surprising insensitivity to antonymy and a preference for synonyms, found among right hemisphere patients, particularly on the nonlinguistic tasks; a relative preservation of sensitivity to antonymy on nonlinguistic tasks, coupled with a loss of such sensitivity on linguistic tasks, found among posterior (particularly Wernicke's) aphasics; a proclivity toward stereotypical correct responses among the organic patients; and an absolutely worse performance by right hemisphere patients on tasks involving antonymic relations in pictures and abstract designs.     

INFORMATION PROCESSING MODELS OF PEER NOMINATIONS1

This paper describes the development of an information processing theory of the judgmental process in which individuals engage while rating their peers. Using protocol tracing methods, decision process models were constructed of how individuals rate their peers on seven widely used sociometric questions. The protocols revealed that individuals evaluate their peers along five primary behavior categories: (1) Mutual Influencing, (2) Categorizing/Summarizing, (3) Social-Directive, (4) Quantity of Verbal Communication, and (5) Listening. Models for each sociometric question were tested by comparing model predictions with actual group peer ratings. Using linear models only, high Spearman rank correlations (r₈ range to 1.00) were obtained between predicted and actual peer rankings. Findings have implications for research in person perception and the attribution of leadership.     

A study of spelling in aphasia

To secure systematic information on spelling abilities following damage to the dominant hemisphere, a test probing performance in three modalities of response was administered to a group of aphasic patients. Except for a predictable deficit among anterior aphasics in oral spelling, anterior and posterior aphasics exhibited comparable performances on the measures of spelling. However, anterior and posterior aphasics differed from one another on the kinds of words they most accurately spelled, the errors they were prone to make, and certain strategies which they characteristically adopted. These results suggest two alternative approaches to spelling: one approach, common in posterior aphasics, entails choosing letter combinations on the basis of their customary sounds; a second approach, common among anterior aphasics, appears to rely on a partially preserved image of the word's appearance.     

Extraversion and the orienting reaction habituation rate to visual stimuli

Eysenck's (1967) proposal that introversion is characterized by increased levels of activity in the cortico-reticular loop was treated in a series of experiments which compared high, middle, and low extraversion groups on the basis of OR habituation rate to visual stimulation. Generally, introverts were observed to have longer OR habituation rates to chromatic and word stimulation than extraverts as evidenced by cardiac, electrodermal, and vasomotor indices of habituation rate, a result which endorses Eysenck's hypothesis. Results are also discussed from the standpoint of individual differences in autonomic response.     

Memory for item order and phonetic recoding in the beginning reader

A defect in immediate memory for item order is often attributed to poor beginning readers. We have supposed that this problem may be a manifestation of an underlying deficiency in the use of phonetic codes. Accordingly, we expected good and poor readers to differ in their ability to order stimuli that can be easily recoded as words and stored in phonetic form, but not in their ability to order nonlinguistic stimuli that do not lend themselves to phonetic recoding in short-term memory. The purpose of the present study was to test this hypothesis by examining the ability of good and poor readers to reconstruct the order of sets of briefly presented stimuli that varied in the extent to which they could be distinctively recoded into phonetic form: pictures of common objects versus nonrepresentational, “doodle” drawings. As expected, an interaction between reading ability and type of stimulus item was found, demonstrating the material-specific nature of poor readers' ordering difficulties. These findings support the hypothesis that a function of the phonetic representation is to aid in retention of order information, and that poor readers' ordering difficulties are related to their deficient use of phonetic codes.     

Asymmetries for the categorization of kanji nouns, adjectives, and verbs presented to the left and right

Kanji is one form of written Japanese in which the symbolic/analytic characteristics of language are dissociated from systematic phonetic characteristics; as such, it makes possible a more careful test of which aspect of language is responsible for the frequently observed superior left-hemisphere performance. In this study, subjects were asked to categorize tachistoscopically presented kanji as nouns, adjectives, or verbs. The previously reported (Hatta 1977, Neuropsychologia, 15, 685–688) left-visual-field advantage for kanji was found only in the case of nouns. Adjectives and verbs were processed more rapidly and correctly in the right visual field.     

Depression, nondepression, and cognitive illusions: reply to Schwartz

In his comment, Schwartz argued that the Alloy and Abramson findings call into question the hypothesized causal link between learned helplessness and depression. Schwartz's contention is based on his interpretation of the Alloy and Abramson findings as showing that nondepressives cannot detect noncontingency. Although we argue that Schwartz has misinterpreted our data, we agree with his general contention that nondepressives may be relatively invulnerable to depression. We discuss the implications of our data for the learned helplessness theory as well as for other cognitive theories of depression. In addition, we evaluate Schwartz's intriguing motivational account of depressive accuracy in judging response-outcome contingencies. Finally, in response to Schwartz's question of whether nondepressives' errors in judging contingency are really errors at all, we suggest it is important to distinguish among error, irrationality, and maladaptiveness when discussing cognitive bias.     

Personal tempo, personality, cognitive speed and cognitive performance

One hundred young males filled in an untimed personality questionnaire. The time needed was taken to be the subjects' personal tempo. They also worked twice on a timed substitution test; their score on this test was taken to be their cognitive speed. It was hypothesized that personal tempo was related to personality and cognitive speed to performance on cognitive tests. The results confirmed the hypothesis. Those whose personal tempo was faster had higher Extraversion and lower Neuroticism and Lie-scores. Those whose cognitive speed was faster, however, did better on four out of five cognitive tests and had a higher Lie-score. It seems that the two speed factors, as hypothesized by Spearman, are indeed two separate and distinct factors, each correlated with different variables: cognitive and personality.