Size-distance perception in preschool children.

Children between three and six years of age matched the “apparent” and “real” size of familiar and unfamiliar objects 3, 6, or 9 feet away. Prior to the experimental sessions, the children were divided into two groups: (a) those who could distinguish the phenomenal from the real sizes of the arcs in the Jastrow illusion (the “Realists”) and (b) those who could not (the “Phenomenalists”). The results suggest that all children perceived size constancy up to distances of 9 feet solely on the basis of visual information.     

Formal models of language learning

Research is reviewed that addresses itself to human language learning by developing precise, mechanistic models that are capable in principle of acquiring languages on the basis of exposure to linguistic data. Such research includes theorems on language learnability from mathematical linguistics, computer models of language acquisition from cognitive simulation and artificial intelligence, and models of transformational grammar acquisition from theoretical linguistics. It is argued that such research bears strongly on major issues in developmental psycholinguistics, in particular, nativism and empiricism, the role of semantics and pragmatics in language learning, cognitive development, and the importance of the simplified speech addressed to children.     

Long-term memory for a common object

A series of experiments was done to determine how completely and accurately people remember the visual details of a common object, a United States penny. People were asked to: draw a penny from unaided recall; draw a penny given a list of its visual features; choose from among a list of possible features those which do appear on a penny; indicate what was wrong with an erroneous drawing of a penny; and select the correct representation of a penny from among a set of incorrect drawings. Performance was surprisingly poor on all tasks. On balance, the results were consistent with the idea that the visual details of an object, even a very familiar object, are typically available from memory only to the extent that they are useful in everyday life. It was also suggested that recognition tasks may make much smaller demands on memory than is commonly assumed.     

Concealment and disclosure: Some effects of information control on the person who controls

Goffman (Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1963) has argued that individuals must often control information about themselves that might be discreditable, but that often people are themselves uncertain how to evaluate the critical attribute. Self-perception theory predicts that in such uncertain conditions, one's attitude toward information concealed or disclosed may be formed in part by the very acts of concealment and disclosure. Twenty-three males and 29 females served as subjects in an information control situation where successfully concealing or disclosing information about oneself to a female stooge led respectively to negative and positive self-evaluations of that information. Results are interpreted to suggest that altered self-perceptions of one's own worth may be a consequence of concealment or disclosure.     

The relation between gesture and language in aphasic communication

Effective communication in aphasia depends not only on use of preserved linguistic capacities but also (and perhaps primarily) on the capacity to exploit alternative modalities of communication, such as gesture. To ascertain the capacity of aphasic patients to use gesture in their spontaneous communication, informally structured interviews were conducted with two Wernicke's aphasics and two Broca's aphasics, as well as with four normal controls. The performances of the patient groups were compared on the physical parameters of gesture, the points in the communication where gestures occurred, and several facets of the semantics and pragmatics of gesture. Generally speaking, the gestures of the aphasics closely paralleled their speech output: on most indices, the performance of the Wernicke's aphasics more closely resembled that of the normal controls. Wernicke's aphasics differed from normals in the clarity of their language and gestures: While individual linguistic units were often clear, the relation among units was not. In contrast, the Broca's aphasics equaled or surpassed the normal controls in the clarity of their communications. The results offer little support for the view that aphasic patients spontaneously enhance their communicative efficacy through the use of gesture; these findings can, however, be interpreted as evidence in favor of a “central organizer” which controls critical features of communication, irrespective of the modality of expression.     

Sequencing of vocational development stages: Further studies

This paper reports two studies which support the prediction derived from Hershenson's (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1968, 15, 23–30) life-stage vocational development model that average scores on Self-differentiation (worker self-concept and motivation) would exceed those on Competence (work habits, skills, and interpersonal relations), which in turn would exceed those on Independence (appropriateness and crystallization of vocational goals). The first study involved ratings by project staff on an inner city, socially disadvantaged population, and the second study involved self-ratings by individuals who had changed occupations in midcareer. Findings are consistent with those reported by Hershenson and Langbauer (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1973, 20, 519–521) on a population of deaf clients.     

The game of the name: An examination of linguistic reference after brain damage

Two aspects of naming have generally been examined in aphasics: the appreciation of a single property of a concept and the ability to use the names of fully elaborated concepts. In applying to aphasics a recently proposed model of semantic organization—one which allows the simultaneous examination of these two aspects—two studies were conducted: Anterior and posterior aphasics were asked (1) to name members of superordinate categories, their responses being converted into prototypicality scores (the degree to which a member of a category resembles an ideal member of that category) and (2) to differentiate between more or less prototypical members of a category and their superordinates. The results revealed that, while anterior and posterior aphasics differ in their use of the names representing fully elaborated concepts, these groups show no differences in terms of the appreciation of a single property of a concept. The implications of these findings for reference were discussed.     

Auditory phonemic perception in dyslexia: Categorical identification and discrimination of stop consonants

The possibility that phonological confusions may underlie some difficulties in processing written language was investigated using four speech perception tasks. Twelve dyslexic and four normal-reading children identified and discriminated synthetic speech syllables which varied either in voice-onset time (signaling the feature of voicing) or direction of formant transitions (signaling place of articulation). Results indicate that, like normal-reading children and adults, dyslexic children perceive these sounds categorically. Discrimination of the stimuli was limited by their identifiability. It is suggested that linguistic disturbances at other stages of the grapheme to meaning transformation underlie misreading.     

Toward the analysis of close relationships

Two central questions are addressed: (1) How does one distinguish among relationships differing in closeness at any single point in time? (2) How do relationships change over either a short or a long time span? The first question suggests looking inside the Person-Other “intersection.” Findings from several empirical studies are described. The second question leads to discussions of short-term and long-term temporal processes. Regarding long-term pair processes, it is proposed that research can be stimulated by recognizing a five-phase sequence which extends from (a) initial attraction, to (b) building a relationship, (c) continuation, (d) deterioration, and (e) ending; transitions between adjacent phases are considered. The importance of theoretical models is emphasized throughout.