A test of parallel versus serial processing applied to memory retrieval

Townsend has identified necessary and sufficient conditions that reaction time distributions meet if they are produced by two underlying processes that are parallel and within-stage independent. This paper describes an attempt to use one of these conditions to assess the assumption of independent parallel memory retrieval in Anderson's ACT theory. In the experimental test, subjects studied profession-location pairs, with each profession and location included in two pairs. One pair had a high frequency of presentation and the other had low. When cued with a profession (or location), subjects responded with the first of the two studied locations (or professions) that came to mind. The reaction times to these responses were used to test the ACT assumption of independent parallel search. The problems encountered in trying to apply Townsend's abstract test to a concrete situation included the need to consider mixtures and convolutions of distributions and empirical, rather than theoretical, distributions. These difficulties are discussed at length and some formal analyses concerning their effect on the test are given. Despite these problems, we were able to use Townsend's test and the results of the experiment support the within-stage independent parallel assumption of ACT.     

Activation of bipolar prototypes in attribute inferences

The present study examined how prototypes, as organizational principles of knowledge about persons, affect attribute inference judgments. A distinction is drawn between bipolar and unipolar categories. Two questions are addressed: First, whether only one or both prototypes of bipolar categories like extraversion-introversion are activated in making inference judgments, and second, whether information about the applicability of a stimulus item to a target is processed differently than information about the inapplicability of the stimulus item. The results support the hypothesis that only one prototype is activated and that this is the affirmative one, irrespective of whether the stimulus information is applicable or inapplicable to the target person. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Ambiguity,cubist works of art,and preference

Number of one sec views and verbal judgements of interestingness and pleasingness of Cubist paintings were found to be a function of subjective ambiguity, defined in terms of the Shannon-Wiener average information measure, especially when an expectancy had been established regarding the identity of the main object or person in the paintings. Viewing behaviour was found to increase with subjective ambiguity; verbal judgements were found to decrease. Titles corresponding to varying degrees to the content of the paintings or instructions involving guessing were used to manipulate expectancy. An attempt was made to explain these findings and those involving recall of titles by making reference to Berlyne's point of view and the experimental literature.     

The limits of perceived magnitude: Comparison among individuals and among perceptual continua

Two models of perceived magnitude that focus on the concept of dynamic range (DR) for sensory systems are summarized and compared. The first asserts that, whereas the size of DR varies physically from one perceptual continuum to another, all are subjectively equal. The other asserts that, for any given continuum, whereas the size of DR varies over individual observers, the subjective range does not.A test of the second model is reported for perceived effort for a range of loads on a bicycle ergometer. Both DR and judgmental (magnitude estimation) range estimates were obtained for 30 subjects. The former exhibited the expected variability over subjects, but there was no support for the predicted invariance of the latter. However, it is concluded, first, that the finding constitutes disconfirming evidence for the second model only if it is assumed that magnitude estimates are proportional to perceived magnitude, an issue which itself remains in dispute, and second, that the testability of the second model is doubtful unless a measure can be identified that is a stateable function of perceived magnitude.     

Correlates of syntactic development in kindergartners: Deficiency vs. proficiency

In a search for correlates of oral language deficiency, a sentence imitation task (SOLST) was used to select 20 syntactically deficient and 20 syntactically proficient kindergarten subjects. The groups were compared on a battery of tasks measuring oral language comprehension and production, verbal and nonverbal intelligence, visual-motor skill, manual dexterity, right-ear advantage, reading readiness, and later reading achievement. On 8 of the 11 variables, the delayed group performed significantly less well than the controls, although Pearson correlation coefficients of other measures with measures of syntax were generally low to moderate. Negative correlations of some variables with right-ear advantage raise the possibility of reverse dominance in some of the experimental subjects. In addition, there was confirmation for poor performance on the Stephens Oral Language Screening Test resulting in subsequent reading difficulties.     

The speech production abilities of stutterers: Recent, ongoing, and future research

Recent and ongoing research into the speech production abilities of stutterers has followed four disparate paths. First, there have been objective studies of physiologic, aerodynamic, and acoustic parameters of stutterers' habitual speech patterns and the patterns they display while speaking in the presence of such novel stimuli as DAF or masking. Second, investigators have undertaken the fiberoptic examination of stutterers' larynges during fluent and stuttered utterances. Third, there have been studies of the speed with which stutterers start and terminate voicing independent of the act of speaking. Finally, there have been investigations of possible perceptible differences between the fluency of stutterers and normal speakers. Each of these four types of research is examined. Tentative conclusions are drawn, and directions for future theorizing and experimentation are suggested.     

An analysis of Holland's interest types for women: A comparison of the Strong-Holland and the ACT vocational interest profile scales for women

The purpose of this paper was to examine the basic vocational interest dimensions of women. Two interest inventories designed to measure the six interest dimensions described by Holland (1966) were administered to 126 university freshman women. The correlations between corresponding scales of the two instruments was generally high and application of the spatial configuration analysis resulted in the expected circular ordering found in previous studies. The usefulness of the basic interest dimensions when counseling with women was discussed from a practical and a theoretical point of view.     

Prenominal adjective order and visual discrimination in children

Preschool and third-grade children heard prenominal adjective phrases describing an object. Each phrase contained an article, two adjectives and a head noun. The phrases were constructed with either normal or inverted adjective order. Either after a one second delay or immediately following phrase presentation, Subjects were shown pictures of two objects. One of the objects (target) depicted the object described in the noun phrase. The other object differed from the target along the dimensions of color, size, or both color and size. The Subject's task was to select the target object. It was predicted that adjective order would influence perceptual strategies used by the Subjects in the visual discrimination task. Analysis of response time scores showed that adjective order interacted with the relevant discriminative stimuli in the discrimination task. These results were interpreted as support for hypotheses that suggest that linguistic organization can constrain conceptual processing involving nonlinguistic information. The effects of the delay condition provided additional evidence for these hypotheses plus support for an arousal hypothesis.