Rate changes in the speech of stutterers after therapy

The fluent speaking rate of nine adult male stutterers was compared before and after stuttering intervention. The subjects, ranging in age from 18 to 37 yr (mean, 25 yr, 3 mo), exhibited mild to severe stuttering prior to treatment. The only rate reduction strategy taught to subjects during intervention was to slow the first phoneme or syllable of sentences spoken. In addition, however, subjects significantly reduced their overall rate as determined by measurements made of their fluent speech at the middle of sentences, as well as overall sentence durations (excepting the first word of utterances). The data from this investigation are interpreted relative to the facilitation/simplification hypothesis.     

Immunization of opioid analgesia: Effects of prior escapable shock on subsequent shock-induced and morphine-induced antinociception

In Experiment 1, it was shown that experience with escapable foot shock 4 hr prior to a session of 80 inescapable tail shocks prevented the occurrence of an analgesic response normally observed immediately following the tail shock. It has been suggested by J. W. Grau, R. L. Hyson, S. F. Maier, J. Madden, and J. D. Barchas (Science, 1981, 213, 1409–1411) that the analgesia that occurs following this number of inescapable tail shocks is mediated by endogenous opioid systems. To further explore the influence of escapable shock on opiate-mediated analgesia, Experiment 2 examined the effects of prior escapable shock on the long-term analgesia reaction that occurs upon brief exposure to shock 20 hr after morphine administration. Rats were given escapable shock, inescapable shock, or no shock 4 hr prior to a morphine injection. Twenty hours following the injection, all subjects received 5 brief foot shocks and were then immediately given tail-flick analgesia tests. Subjects which received inescapable shock or no shock prior to the morphine injection displayed a significant analgesic response. However, subjects which received escapable shock prior to morphine were not analgesic following brief exposure to shock. Thus, escapable shock seems to directly influence the activation of opioid analgesia systems.     

Choice times and Spence's discrimination learning theory

In two experiments, rats acquired brightness discriminations in a free-operant circular runway with two response alternatives. Both individual and group choice times revealed continuous changes that were not apparent in the discrete measure of choice. Two major assumptions of Spence's discrimination learning theory were confirmed: (a) learning is continuous, and (b) discriminative stimuli in simple discrimination tasks of both simultaneous and successive types are compounds with position elements as well as elements from the relevant visual dimension. The distinctive, consistent pattern of learning revealed by the choice-time measure suggests that position habits reflect a learning strategy in which the complex task is learned as a series of simpler ones.     

Understanding and appreciating metaphors

We consider three theories that have dominated discussions of metaphor. One view is that metaphors make comparisons, the basis for the comparison being the features (or categories) that the terms of the metaphor share. The second view is that metaphors involve an anomaly. The third view is that metaphors are ‘interactive’, producing a new way of seeing the terms. We propose a new theory—the domains-interaction view—that draws on elements of all three earlier views, but borrows especially from the interaction view. We consider the implications of our theory for three questions: What are metaphors? How are they understood? What makes a good metaphor? We argue that metaphors correlate two systems of concepts from different domains. The best metaphors involve two diverse domains (more distance between domains making for better metaphors) and close correspondence between the terms within those domains. We call the degree of correspondence within-domain similarity. Metaphors are interpreted in several stages: the terms of the metaphor are encoded; the domains involved are inferred; the structures to be seen as parallel are found; the correspondences between these structures are ‘mapped’ or constructed; the terms of the metaphor are compared. If the terms are not seen to match or occupy analogous roles in their different domains, then the metaphor may be reinterpreted. The evidence on all this is tentative but supports our view. We review two studies (Tourangeau and Sternberg, 1981) that support the hypothesis that distance within domain relates negatively to aptness, whereas distance between domains relates positively. Several studies on comprehension tend to disconfirm the comparison theory's notion that the tenor and vehicle necessarily share features. Tenor and vehicle also appear to have asymmetrical roles in the interpretive process.     

An empirical examination of relative deprivation theory

Relative deprivation theory centers around the proposition that the negative affect associated with judgments of one's own status is not simply a function of one's objective status. Instead, resentment, anger, dissatisfaction and other deprivation-related emotions vary with the subjective assessment of one's status. In the present experiment, subjects read vignettes in which the hypothesized preconditions of felt deprivation were manipulated. They then indicated the degree of perceived resentment and related cognitive-emotional factors attributed to the story characters. Perceptions of deprivation become more prevalent when an individual who lacks a desired outcome (X) (a) compares with another who does possess X, (b) feels entitled to X, (c) feels it was once feasible to attain X, and (d) feels it is not feasible to attain X in the future. The results also suggest that certain preconditions, such as the presence of a comparison other and entitlement, act conjunctively in affecting judgments of felt deprivation. Finally, personal control over desired outcomes appears to be important for relative deprivation theory.     

Developmental differences in the allocation of processing capacity

Recently psychologists have formulated a comprehensive view of attention involving allocation of processing capacity. Although developmental changes in processing capacity have been proposed as one source of age differences in certain cognitive skills, there has been little systematic investigation of this hypothesis. In the present study, second and sixth graders and adults (8, 12, and 20 years of age, respectively) performed a letter-matching task (primary task) concurrently with an auditory detection task (secondary task). Changes in reaction time in the secondary task as a function of manipulations of the primary task were used to estimate capacity allocation to the primary task. Primary task variables included stage of processing (alerting, encoding, rehearsing, responding) and matching condition (physical-identity vs name-identity matching). Age differences in secondary task performance were found to be related to stage of processing but not to matching condition. Earlier stages of the letter match task (alerting, encoding) required somewhat more capacity allocation in younger subjects. Later stages (rehearsing, responding) made substantially higher demands on capacity in children. Capacity allocation may be an important cognitive variable mediating developmental differences in basic information processing skills, and may underlie age trends found in performance of certain complex cognitive tasks.     

Effects of altering outcome expectancies on pigeons' delayed conditional discrimination performance

An outcome-expectancy mediation theory of learning was tested in a series of transfer experiments with pigeons. The principal technique employed was a delayed two-choice conditional discrimination in which the subject's correct choice yielded a food reward on one kind of trial and a feedback tone on the other. According to the theory, this task engenders two-link mediational chains in that each conditional cue controls a particular outcome expectancy (S-E link) and the expectancy, in turn, cues a specific choice response (E-R link). Relative to the hypothetical mediators established by preceding training, transfer problems required either the same mediational chains, the alteration of one link in each chain, or the alteration of both links in both chains for optimal performance. The results of four separate transfer experiments confirmed detailed theoretical predictions, including that of an unusual nonmonotonic transfer effect. The relation of the present theory to earlier mediation theories is discussed.     

A parent-offspring adoption study of cognitive abilities in early childhood

Do cognitive abilities in early childhood relate genetically and/or environmentally to isomorphic abilities in adulthood? Are specific cognitive abilities diffentiated in early childhood in terms of their prediction of adult cognitive abilities? The present study, the first behavioral genetic analysis of specific cognitive abilities in early childhood, explored these questions using parent-offspring data for 186 adopted children and 151 nonadopted children tested in the longitudinal Colorado Adoption Project at 3 years of age and 162 adopted children and 138 nonadopted children tested at 4 years. The children's Stanford-Binet IQ and scores for four specific cognitive abilities (verbal, spatial, perceptual speed, and memory) were correlated with corresponding measures for their parents—the biological and adoptive parents of the adopted children and the natural parents of the nonadopted children. Significant correlations were found between biological mothers' IQ and the IQ of their adopted away offspring at 3 and 4 years of age, suggesting genetic influence for IQ. However, specific cognitive abilities yielded no significant correlations between biological mothers and their adopted-away offspring. These results suggest that substantial genetic continuity exists for IQ from early childhood to adulthood, but not for specific cognitive abilities.     

Who Speaks First? Analyzing Response Waves in a Large-Scale Campus Climate Survey

ABSTRACT

There has been a recent surge in the number of campus climate surveys conducted across the United States; however, little research has examined response rates. Using data from 5,524 students who participated in a Web-based survey at a large university in a South Atlantic part of the United States, four waves of data corresponding with participation rates after reminder e-mails were analyzed. These waves are first compared across a number of demographic variables. Next, the data on rates of stalking, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and stranger sexual harassment for each wave are examined. The results show few significant differences in the characteristics of the students participating in each wave, and the victimization rates remained relatively constant across the 4 weeks of data collection.