On knowing how well one is remembering: The persistence of strategy use during transfer

A potential cause for children's failure to transfer learning strategies was explored in the present study. A self-monitoring process was suggested to be essential for evaluating one's own level of performance and the effectiveness of various mnemonic strategies. Matched on free recall scores in this study's first sort-and-recall phase, first, third, and fifth graders (ages 7, 9, and 11 years, respectively) were assigned to one of three treatment groups or a control group. During Phase II, the treatment groups received instruction in sorting pictures according to semantic similarities in preparation for future recall. In addition, Groups 3 and 4 later received feedback indicating their Phase II improvement in performance. A cause-and-effect relationship between strategy use and enhanced recall was further suggested to Group 4. Among third graders, only those provided with feedback and strategy instruction continued to rely upon the input organization strategy when faced with transfer tasks in Phase III. Both enhanced recall and improved sorting styles were observed for these subjects in Phase III. Some first graders also showed improved sorting styles and improved recall following feedback, while fifth graders showed enhanced recall even without experimenter-provided feedback. Subject's responses to a metamemory interview provided additional support for the hypothesis that the self-monitoring of memory performance is more likely to be part of fifth graders' (than first graders') memory abilities.     

Meditation,personality and arousal

A questionnaire survey of people who had learned a technique of meditation was carried out to assess persistence with practice, perceived effects of meditation practice and subjective experiences during meditation. The results suggested that a significant proportion give up meditating (42.9%) and that the subjective experience of meditation was similar to that of the hypnagogic state. Reported effects of meditation were generally physiological and psychological benefits related to relaxation.A personality questionnaire was also distributed and the results suggested that those attracted to meditation are significantly more neurotic and introverted than the general population but that those who continue with meditation are significantly less neurotic than those who give up their practice.These findings are discussed in terms of regression effects and in relation to a theory of personality and arousal.     

An investigation of the arousal model of interpersonal intimacy

In a study designed to test Patterson's arousal model of nonverbal intimacy, the heartrate, gaze, smiles, body orientation, and body lean of each of 40 female subjects who interacted with an accomplice were measured. Within a factorial design, subjects were induced to view more or less favorably the accomplice, who subsequently increased or maintained the same level of nonverbal immediacy as she did in an earlier session. It was hypothesized that (1) an increase in the accomplice's immediacy would effect an increase in subjects' arousal (heartrate) which, in turn, (2) would lead to either reciprocal or compensatory nonverbal adjustments by subjects, depending on whether they viewed the accomplice more or less favorably, respectively. The results supported the first but not the second hypothesis. However, interpretation of the results suggests, nevertheless, that they may be consistent with the arousal model.     

Observing behavior in monkeys (Macaca arctoides): Support for the information hypothesis

A single lever, discrete-trials observing procedure was used with stumptailed monkeys (Macaca arctoides). Lever-presses during a trial produced colored key lights (IS⁺ and IS^?) which signaled whether the trial would end with response-independent food or without food. During the baseline period, both IS⁺ and IS^? were produced on a variable-interval (VI) 15-sec schedule which began operating at the onset of the trial. The two experimental conditions involved a combination of this VI schedule and a DRL schedule. In one of these conditions, only a response that both met the VI requirement and was preceded by at least 6 sec of nonresponding could produce IS^? on nonfood trials, while the schedule for IS⁺ on food trials remained VI 15 sec. In the other experimental condition, the schedules for producing the two stimuli were the reverse. All subjects eventually learned to produce either IS⁺ or IS^? on the combined VI-DRL schedule. These data support an information hypothesis of observing in monkeys and contrast with data from pigeons which support a conditioned reinforcement hypothesis.     

The morphological asymmetry of the hemispheres and cerebral dominance for speech: A possible relationship

The asymmetry of the posterior Sylvian branches of the middle cerebral artery was examined on the carotid angiograms of 59 patients in whom the lateralization of speech representation was known from sodium amobarbital (Amytal) studies. The usual asymmetry of these vessels was found to be present in the group of patients with left-hemisphere speech representation but significantly reduced in patients with atypical cerebral dominance for speech. A model of the inheritance of handedness and cerebral dominance is extended to take account of these results.     

Shift of visual field preference for Hebrew words in native speakers learning to read

Lateralization for Hebrew words was tested in both the visual and auditory modalities in Israeli children learning to read their native language, Hebrew. A left visual field preference for tachistoscopically presented words was found in the second graders in contrast to a right visual field preference for the same words in the third graders. Children in both grades showed a right ear dominance for similar words presented dichotically. These data suggest right hemisphere involvement in acquiring reading skills of a native language.     

A twin study of personality and temperament during middle childhood

In a study of 105 same-sex twin pairs, ages 7 to 10 years, maternal ratings on 23 bipolar scales yielded six factors designated as compliant morality, applied cognitive, sociability, emotionality, tough-mindedness, and activity-distractibility. Analyses by twin pairs (68 identical, 37 fraternal) indicated that correlations for identical pairs were significantly higher than fraternal pairs on all but one factor: tough-mindedness. Profile analyses for the six factors indicated that the profiles of scores across the factors were more concordant for the identical twin pairs. Correlations obtained from the individual scales produced differences between the identical and fraternal twin pairs as well. Overall, the data suggested that several components and the total organization of those components of personality and temperament are genetically influenced.     

Unilateral agraphia after section of the posterior half of the truncus of the corpus callosum

Children ranging in age from 3 to 12 tapped on a morse key with their index finger as fast as possible. After a control test, they concurrently tapped and recited a nursery rhyme, recited animal names, and memorized shapes. Previous results suggested that more interference in a motor task results from attempting at the same time to perform another task controlled by the same, than by a different, hemisphere. Right-handed tapping and talking both used left hemisphere space; left-handed tapping and talking were controlled by different hemispheres. Relative to silent tapping concurrent talking caused a greater drop in right-hand tapping rate than in left-hand tapping rate in both the rhyme and animal conditions. Interference by shape memorizing was equal across hands. The differential effect of speaking on right-hand preference indicates the left lateralization of speech output control. The size of this effect did not vary with increasing grade level. The findings support the view that speech output control is fully lateralized at least by age 3 years.     

Right-hemisphere speech representation and comprehension of syntax after left cerebral injury

Comprehension of language and visuo-spatial abilities were studied in 12 surgical patients with left cerebral lesions and right-hemisphere speech representation verified by sodium amobarbital tests. When left-hemisphere symptoms preceded the acquisition of speech, impaired understanding of syntactically complex sentences was associated with an early, but not late, onset of convulsive seizures. Other behavioral measures did not show a similar effect of age at seizure onset. Sparing or loss of comprehension could not be related to any aspects of the neurological histories in cases with right-hemisphere speech acquired before the onset of left-hemisphere symptoms. Factors which may have influenced the development of right-hemisphere language comprehension are discussed.