An axiomatization of the ratio/difference representation

If ≥_r and ≥_d are two quaternary relations on an arbitrary set A, a ratio/difference representation for ≥_r and ≥_d is defined to be a function f that represents ≥_r as an ordering of numerical ratios and ≥_d as an ordering of numerical differences. Krantz, Luce, Suppes and Tversky (1971, Foundations of Measurement. New York, Academic Press) proposed an axiomatization of the ratio/difference representation, but their axiomatization contains an error. After describing a counterexample to their axiomatization, Theorem 1 of the present article shows that it actually implies a weaker result: if ≥_r and ≥_d are two quaternary retations satisfying the axiomatization proposed by Krantz et al. (1971), and if ≥_r′ and ≥_d′ are the relations that are inverse to ≥_r and ≥_d, respectively, then either there exists a ratio/difference representation for ≥_r and ≥_d, or there exists a ratio/difference representation for ≥_r′ and ≥_d′, but not both. Theorem 2 identifies a new condition which, when added to the axioms of Krantz et al. (1971), yields the existence of a ratio/difference representation for relations ≥_r and ≥_d.     

The effects of control on perceived fairness of procedures and outcomes

On the basis of Thibaut and Walker's theory of procedural justice, it was predicted that subjects who experienced control through choosing a trial decision rule would be more satisfied with the outcome of a dispute and the conflict resolution procedure than would yoked subjects who were not given control. Two additional conditions were added to the design in order to investigate the extent to which control had an influence on trial evaluations independent of being allowed to discuss the rules and obtaining a preferred rule in the absence of actual choice. Regardless of role in the dispute (accuser, accused, or no knowledge) and the nature of the rule adopted, those subjects who exercised control through rule choice evaluated all aspects of the trial experience more positively than subjects who did not exercise control through rule choice. The results also revealed that discussion of the rules and obtaining the preferred rule without choice contributed positively to evaluations of the trial procedure and verdict.     

Neuropsychological assessment of learning disabilities: a discriminant analysis

The neuropsychological test scores of 23 learning disabled children were compared with those of a matched population of normal children in the 9-1 to 13-1 age range. All children were administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), a dichotic listening task involving both free and directed recall conditions, a handedness inventory, the Tactile Performance Test and the Category Test from the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery. A multivariate analysis of variance resulted in a significant separation between groups (p less than .001) using these procedures. A stepwise discriminant function analysis revealed that both of the directed dichotic tasks contributed the most of all 13 measures to the significant group separation. In addition, other cognitive tasks found to discriminate normal from learning disabled children include general verbal processes, concept formation, and tactile memory. These findings suggest that the directed dichotic listening procedure and the WISC-R Verbal IQ measure are reasonably valuable clinical tools in the classification of learning disabilities.     

Fluid and crystallized intelligence and primacy/recency components of short-term memory

Primacy and recency recall measures, obtained from both free and probed-recall tasks, were included in a battery of tests which also contained markers for fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and cognitive speed factors. Our results confirmed previous findings that for subjects within the normal range of abilities, recency recall from probed-recall tasks is more closely linked to intelligence than is primacy recall. A new finding was also obtained: that primacy recall is correlated more with measures of cognitive speed than is recency recall. These results are discussed in terms of the concept of working memory and its relation to intelligence.     

Lithium-mediated disruptions of latent inhibition: Overshadowing by the unconditioned stimulus in flavor conditioning

In a series of experiments, the ability of a single lithium preexposure to disrupt CS effectiveness was assessed using a latent inhibition procedure. Lithium preexposure administered proximal (90 min) to a saccharin familiarization trial reduced latent inhibition whereas a similar administration more distal (360 min) to flavor familiarization failed to do so. Additional experiments demonstrated that this socalled “US overshadowing” effect was not attributable to sensitization (Experiment 2), excitatory backward conditioning (Experiment 3), or state dependency (Experiment 4). The implications of US overshadowing for proximal US-preexposure effects are discussed.     

Response-contingent stimulation as a treatment for developmental failure in infancy

An 8-month-old infant with a developmental quotient of $\text{1}\text{1}\text{2}$ months was given response-contingent stimulation using a pressure-sensitive pillow which turned an overhead mobile. The subject learned to control the mobile by kicking the pillow, and concurrently began smiling at both the mobile and her mother for the first time. After mastering three contingencies on arm, head, and leg movement, she displayed what appeared to be a Piagetian coordinated secondary circular reaction, in which one response provided 4 seconds of access to another contingency. Although the subject remains severely retarded, the results suggest that some forms of developmental delay may be treated at least in part as a failure to develop contingency awareness.     

Remembering plurals: Unit of coding and form of coding during serial recall

Subjects were required to recall lists of six words which had been presented visually in sequence. One or two of the words might be plural nouns. A substantial number of errors occurred in which the plural form became detached from its original root. This is taken as evidence for a morpheme-based code as opposed to a unitary word code. A significantly high proportion of these errors maintained the form of the plural ( /S/, /Z/ or (ЪZ/) which is considered evidence for a primarily phonological coding of the plural morpheme. There is however a suggestion that on some occasions the plural is coded morphemically—i.e., in a way which does not distinguish between the various plural endings.     

Visual information processing in relation to age and to reading ability.

Temporal aspects of early visual information processing were studied developmentally in good and in poor reading male subjects ranging in age from 7 to 13 years. Forced-choice temporal integration and backward masking tasks, respectively, were utilized to assess duration of visual persistence and of relative rate of visual information processing. The results did not reveal differences in either visual persistence or processing rate in relation to reading ability at any age level studied. However, processing rate was found to increase markedly with chronological age in both the good and the poor readers while visual persistence did not vary significantly. The findings were discussed in relation to earlier work and in relation to current theoretical formulations of visual information processing.     

Discriminative infant smiling to orientations of talking faces of mother and stranger.

Thirty-two infants aged 14 and 20 weeks were presented with a live face in each of eight conditions, which consisted of all combinations of (a) a 0° or 90° orientation; (b) familiar face (the infant's mother) or distinctively unfamiliar face; and (c) talking or silent context. The previous findings that younger infants smile longer at 0° than at 90° faces and that this differential responsiveness to orientation wanes with increasing age were replicated; the hypothesis that older infants would smile longest at their mothers' talking faces in the 0° orientation was confirmed. In addition, infants of both ages smiled more at their mothers than at the stranger, although this effect interacted with orientation and sex of the infant.