Massed vs. spaced exposure sessions in the treatment of agoraphobia

The differential effects of massed and spaced sessions of exposure in vivo were investigated with 11 agoraphobics in a crossover design. Clients were randomly assigned to one of the following two groups: (a) 10 daily sessions followed by 10 weekly sessions, or (b) 10 once-weekly sessions followed by 10 daily sessions. The results indicated that both massed and spaced sessions of exposure in vivo effected changes in avoidance behavior and subjective anxiety of agoraphobics, massed practice being superior especially with respect to avoidance. It was suggested that the superiority of massed practice is due to the lack of opportunity to engage in avoidance or escape during short inter-session intervals. The relationship between subjective anxiety and avoidance were considered and the differences between clinical and statistical significance were discussed.     

Training interpersonal skills among mentally retarded and socially dysfunctional children

Two moderately retarded boys, ages 11 and 12 yr, who resided in an inpatient unit for emotionally disturbed children, were treated for deficits in social skills. The deficits included physical gestures, facial mannerisms, eye contact, words spoken, and intonation and content of speech. The treatment package consisted of instructions, performance feedback, social reinforcement, modeling, and role-playing. The effects of the treatment in developing appropriate social performance were evaluated in separate multiple-baseline designs across behaviors for each child. The training improved social skills and brought children up to or beyond the level of normal control subjects who were the same age and gender.     

Comparison of two models of similarity judgment

The conventional multidimensional distance model of similarity judgment was compared with a new model in which component differences are weighted and then averaged. To evaluate the models, qualitative and quantitative predictions were derived from Romney and D'Andrade's (1964) componential analysis of American kinship terms, and these predictions were tested by having subjects rate the similarity (in experiment 1) and the difference (in experiment 2) between all possible pairs of 12 kinship terms. In both experiments, violations of qualitative predictions for both a simple distance model and a simple averaging model revealed that the componential analysis was not sufficient to account for the data. However the averaging model was able to account for the data when the dichotomous dimension of lineality used by Romney and D'Andrade was replaced by a continuous dimension of immediacy or closeness of kin. In contrast, no comparable elaboration under the distance model was successful. These results were discussed in terms of the likely psychological processes underlying similarity judgment.     

Cerebral hemispheres and selective attention

The present paper is intended to discuss critically the integration model of the functional interhemispheric relation that has become dominant in neuropsychology with the development, in the last two decades, of split-brain studies.While the split-brain research has undoubtedly produced new experimental methodologies, the current theorizing in this area has been contrastingly conservative. The present paper examines some of its basic assumptions, in particular that the corpus callosum is an association pathway devoted to interhemispheric transmission of information, and that the disconnected cerebral hemispheres function in a parallel way. It is shown that these assumptions have only low consistency both with split-brain behavior and with the normal organization of the fore-brain connectivity.In the early seventies, theoretical novelty has emerged from another research field with Kinsbourne's interpretation of laterality effects in normal man. His concept of asymmetrical hemispheric arousal is shown to be supported, with some reservations, by evidence in this field. But this dynamical concept has a more general value and there are signs that current ideas about the functional relation between the cerebral hemispheres are presently deeply transformed.     

Repetition and agreement with opposing arguments: A delayed action effect

If exposure to two arguments supporting opposing conclusions establishes two memory traces that influence attitudes, repetition of one of the arguments should produce a delayed action effect. In a computer-controlled experiment, subjects read a large number of arguments about fictitious brands of consumer products from a T.V. screen. They rated each brand immediately after reading about it and again after spending 10 min reading messages about other brands. In the critical conditions of the experiment, two arguments were presented about each brand. One described a good quality of the product (e.g., excellent durability); the other described a bad quality (e.g., below-average efficiency). Subjects read one of the opposing arguments concerning each brand repeatedly and studied the repeated arguments for memory tests. As predicted, repetition and studying affected ratings on the delayed post-test, but not on the immediate post-test. Specifically, attitudes shifted over the delay toward agreement with the repeated arguments, supporting the idea that the persistence of attitudes depends on more than one memory trace.     

Intelligence and short-term memory: A clandestine relationship

Five possible mechanisms are considered as being responsible for the systematic variation of serial STM with IQ, namely rehearsal maintenance, chunking, access, encoding of item and/or order information, and trace persistence. A STM/IQ correlational study is reported. It was concluded from analysis of a correlation matrix, and from earlier reported data, that the encoding of items-in-order into an already loaded store appears to be the critical mechanism in determining IQ-related individual differences in STM performance, at least in children. The implications of individual difference data for models of STM are also discussed.     

汉字饱和现象:证据、因素与展望

长时间注视某个字后,人们会产生一种这个字变得陌生或者开始解体的感觉,这是一种文字饱和现象。汉字作为表意的方块字,汉字饱和现象以及发生阶段得到了研究者的高度关注。该文首先梳理介绍了汉字饱和现象的证据与发生阶段,其次,总结了汉字饱和现象的影响因素,包括语义加工深度、实验材料的重复次数、实验材料类型等,最后,基于汉字饱和的发生阶段和影响因素,该文认为未来研究可以在汉语二语学习者的汉字饱和现象、语义饱和与字形饱和的进一步分离以及汉字作为实验材料的进一步挖掘等方面做更加深入的探讨。