Analysis of variances and covariances is misleading as a guide to a common factor model

The “factor” analyses published by Schultz, Kaye, and Hoyer (1980) confused component and factor analysis and led in this case as in many others to unwarranted conclusions. They used component analysis to develop factor models that were subjected to restricted (confirmatory) maximum likelihood analysis, but the final models for which good fits with the observed correlations were obtained were not common factor models. They were, however, discussed as such and conclusions drawn accordingly. When their correlation matrices are analyzed by the principal factors method, two factors are sufficient to account for the intercorrelations. These two factors generally support the a priori expectation of a difference between intelligence tasks and spontaneous flexibility tasks. They are also quite similar in younger and older subjects, when similarity is judged in terms of factor pattern. Factor loadings for the younger subjects, however, are much smaller than expectations based on the respective ranges of talent in the two groups of subjects or on past experience with similar tests in undergraduate student populations.     

Imposed latencies,interruptions and dyadic interaction: Physiological response and interpersonal attraction

This study explored the impact of paralinguistic phenomena on interpersonal attraction and physiological measures during dyadic interaction. Conversations between undergraduate subjects and same-sex experimenters were either synchronous or asynchronous, with half the asynchronous conversations including imposed long latencies and the remainder frequent interruptions. Results showed that imposed latencies were associated with decreased positive attributions and greater physiological arousal, but interruptions had a moderately positive effect. The findings were discussed in terms of Chapple's theory of interaction, and their implications for psychotherapy and other interviews.     

Ear differences in simple reaction time: The influence of attentional factors

Simple motor reaction times (right-handed) to tape-recorded consonant-vowel syllables were obtained from 12 subjects under two conditions of monotic stimulation: “expected” presentation (subject informed as to ear of presentation) and “random” presentation (ear of presentation varied randomly). Significantly faster left ear reaction times were obtained in the “expected” condition. The rank order of subjects' standard dichotic listening task scores correlated negatively with reaction time ear differences in the “expected” presentation condition. Results are discussed in terms of existing theories of response lateralization in simple reaction time tasks, and an expanded hypothesis is offered. Specifically, it is suggested that two or more distinct but potentially overlapping mechanisms may be responsible for observed asymmetries in monotic auditory perception. Both an attentional or lateralized motor response bias and an inherent lateralization of function may operate side by side, differentially activated by task demands, mode of stimulus presentation, and nature of stimuli.     

The effect of auditory input on cerebral laterality

Cerebral laterality was examined for third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade deaf and hearing subjects. The experimental task involved the processing of word and picture stimuli presented singly to the right and left visual hemifields. The analyses indicated the deaf children were faster than the hearing children in overall processing efficiency, and that they performed differently in regard to hemispheric lateralization. The deaf children processed the stimuli more efficiently in the right hemisphere, while the hearing children demonstrated a left-hemisphere proficiency. This finding is discussed in terms of the hypothesis that cerebral lateralization is influenced by auditory processing.     

Kanji reading by a prekindergarten language-disabled child: A pilot study

A , severely language-disabled boy was taught 250 words made up of one, two, three, or four Japanese/Chinese kanji. Many kanji words were learned and some ability to process these in simple sentences was observed. Acquisition of a word for meaning was not dependent on its visual complexity, but on the child's ability to grasp the meaning of the word. Results suggest that a whole-word method may facilitate very early reading acquisition and a possible neurophysiological correlate of this is proposed. Kanji or whole words may prove useful for language-handicapped individuals unable to process words phonetically.     

The role of Canadian school psychologists: Perceptions of a sample from the general public

A sample of 77 subjects responded to a questionnaire designed to collect information about their perceptions of the role of school psychologists. The results indicate that overall the respondents had a fairly accurate sense of what a school psychologist does, although they overestimated the importance of psychotherapy as one of the school psychologist's functions. It is recommended that school psychologists more clearly specify their function when dealing with members of the general public.     

Stress-management training: Evaluation of effects on school psychological services

School psychologists participated in a cognitive-behavioral stress-management training program. The data showed decreases in self-reported anxiety and increases in job satisfaction of school psychologists as a result of the training. In addition, teacher satisfaction with school psychological services increased after participation in teacher inservice workshops generated as a result of training the school psychologists.     

Affect as a mediator of attributional egotism

A three-stage model of the relationships among achievement outcomes, outcome-related affect, attribution, and emotion is tested in two studies. It is suggested that success and failure elicit positive and negative affective states due to prior conditioning. These affective states then lead to an attribution process that serves to defend and enhance self-esteem. Next, emotional labels are chosen that are consistent with the affective states and the attributions. Two studies were designed to test the proposed relationships among achievement outcomes, affective states, and attributions. In the first study, subjects received information indicating that they were strongly or mildly aroused as a result of receiving outcome feedback on an achievement task. The results indicated that low arousal reduced egotistical attributions to internal factors. In the second study, subjects either succeeded or failed on an achievement task. Half of the subjects were provided with an opportunity to misattribute the arousal elicited by their outcomes to an irrelevant source. Subjects in the misattribution condition made less egotistical attributions to external factors than subjects who were given no opportunity to misattribute their arousal. The results of both studies suggest that outcome-related affect mediates the relationship between outcomes and attributions in achievement situations.     

Blocking acquisition of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response to serial conditioned stimuli

Three experiments demonstrated that prior training with one stimulus (CS1) would block acquisition of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response (NMR) to another stimulus (CS2) which was more contiguous to the US during serial compound training (CS1-CS2-US). Specifically, the CS1-US interval was 800 msec, which produces only a modest rate of CR acquisition, while the CS2-US interval was 400 msec, which is an optimal value for the NMR preparation. Experiment 1 demonstrated blocking when CS1 overlapped CS2, and Experiment 3 demonstrated blocking when CS1 and CS2 were presented in a strictly sequential fashion. Experiment 2 showed that the magnitude of blocking in the serial compound was comparable to that obtained in a simultaneous compound in which both the CS1-US and CS2-US intervals were 800 msec, thus making CS2 less contiguous with the US than in the serial compound. Moreover, the level of responding to CS2 in all serial compound groups (blocking and control) was lower than in the simultaneous compound groups. The present findings provide further evidence that the associative consequences of CS-US contiguity can be highly attenuated by processes of attention or competition for associative strength.     

Sensitivity to grammatical structure in so-called agrammatic aphasics

Comprehension failures in agrammatic aphasics, as well as their difficulties in sentence construction, have been attributed to an underlying deficit involving the retrieval of syntactic structure. In this study we show that four agrammatic patients display a remarkable sensitivity to structural information, as indicated by their performance on a grammaticality judgment task. These results indicate significant sparing of syntactic knowledge in agrammatism, and suggest that the sentence comprehension disturbances in these patients do not reflect loss of the capacity to recover syntactic structure. In particular, accounts of the comprehension deficit in agrammatism that implicate a failure to exploit information carried by the closed class (function word) vocabulary are called seriously into question. Alternative explanations of the comprehension problem in agrammatism are explored.