Orienting versus learning instructions in children's free recall: New evidence

Ninety-six first graders were given a list of either words or pictures to process under three types of incidental orienting instructions (semantic, directed at list organization; semantic, directed at individual item characteristics; and physical) and an intentional-learning instruction. For pictures and words, list organizational instructions were the most effective, and were superior to intentional-learning instructions. In contrast, individual item-orienting instructions were not better than intentional-learning instructions on either list. Additionally, different patterns of instructional effects emerged on the two list types, which were interpreted with respect to both available data and contemporary processing theories.     

Vocal changes in stutterers and nonstutterers during monotoned speech

For years, reports have circulated that stutterers experience marked decrements in their stuttering when they speak or read in monotone. Wingate has suggested that the ameliorative effects of various novel speaking conditions on stuttering can be attributed to modifications in vocalization induced by such conditions. The present study was conducted to see whether this explanation would extend to monotoned speech as well. Ten teenage and adult stutterers and 10 normal speakers were tested in control and monotone reading conditions. Dependent measures were the frequencies of disfluency and stuttering, fundamental frequency, fundamental frequency standard deviation, vocal SPL, vocal SPL standard deviation, and fluent reading rate. Only within-group statistical comparisons were made, because members of the two groups could not be matched pairwise along critical vocal parameters. The major findings of this study indicated that across the two conditions, both groups significantly reduced their fundamental frequency, fundamental frequency standard deviation, vocal SPL and vocal SPL standard deviation. Only the stutterers exhibited a significant decrement in disfluency and stuttering. The normals did not evince enough disfluency in the control condition for a reduction to occur during monotoning. Neither group effected a reduction in fluent reading rates. These and other findings and interpretations are discussed relative to Wingate's modified vocalization hypothesis.     

Need for achievement,career mobility,and the Mexican-American college graduate

Need for achievement and career mobility were measured for 111 Mexican-American college graduates. Those with a moderate need for achievement were found to have the highest upward mobility. Those with either a high or low need for achievement had lower mobility. The implications of this finding are discussed.     

Identifying the speech codes

Models of speech processing typically assume that speech is represented by a succession of codes. In this paper we argue for the psychological validity of a prelexical (phonetic) code and for a postlexical (phonological) code. Whereas phonetic codes are computed directly from an analysis of input acoustic information, phonological codes are derived from information made available subsequent to the perception of higher order (word) units. The results of four experiments described here indicate that listeners can gain access to, or identify, entities at both of these levels. In these studies listeners were presented with sentences and were asked to respond when a particular word-initial target phoneme was detected (phoneme monitoring). In the first three experiments speed of lexical access was manipulated by varying the lexical status (word/nonword) or frequency (high/low) of a word in the critical sentences. Reaction times (RTs) to target phonemes were unaffected by these variables when the target phoneme was on the manipulated word. On the other hand, RTs were substantially affected when the target-bearing word was immediately after the manipulated word. These studies demonstrate that listeners can respond to the prelexical phonetic code. Experiment IV manipulated the transitional probability (high/low) of the target-bearing word and the comprehension test administered to subjects. The results suggest that listeners are more likely to respond to the postlexical phonological code when contextual constraints are present. The comprehension tests did not appear to affect the code to which listeners responded. A “Dual Code” hypothesis is presented to account for the reported findings. According to this hypothesis, listeners can respond to either the phonetic or the phonological code, and various factors (e.g., contextual constraints, memory load, clarity of the input speech signal) influence in predictable ways the code that will be responded to. The Dual Code hypothesis is also used to account for and integrate data gathered with other experimental tasks and to make predictions about the outcome of further studies.     

Two components of need for approval score and their relationship to cheating following success and failure

Subjects completed a simulated “intelligence test” on which they were given bogus feedback indicating that they had either met college norms or had failed substantially to meet norms. Immediately following was a period in which subjects could modify their scores and believe that their modification would go undetected. The relationship of need for approval to “cheating” and amount of “cheating” was analyzed. The results supported an “avoidance” interpretation of approval motivation. Two separate components of need for approval score were identified and found to be differentially related to avoidance behavior for men and for women.     

Occupational prestige: Exploration of a theoretical basis

Drawing on the theory and research of psychophysics, a nonlinear model is hypothesized to explain the connection between education and income and occupational prestige. To achieve this, Weber's (R. L. Gregory, 1981, Mind in Science, Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 501–503) and Stevens' (S. S. Stevens, 1970, Science170, 1043–1050) laws are brought together in an intrinsically nonlinear model. Guided by the earlier work of R. L. Hamblin (1971, Sociometry, 34, 423–452) and others, the work of O. D. Duncan (1961, in A. J. Reiss, Jr., O. D. Duncan, P. K. Hatt, & C. C. North (Eds.), Occupations and Social Status, New York, Free Press) is reanalyzed testing the possibility that work on the socioeconomic index can be understood as a prestige allocation process which follows psychophysical principles. That is, prestige is assigned to occupations, given specifiable levels of educational and income attainment, in a manner parallel to the way in which individuals respond to changes in the intensity of other stimuli. Using first the data developed by Duncan (1961) to test the model and the 1963 NORC data (R. W. Hodge, P. M. Siegel, & P. H. Rossi, 1964, American Journal of Sociology, 70, 286–302) to replicate it, a measurement model consistent with the theoretical model is evaluated. Comparing the results of the nonlinear model to that of the linear, it is concluded that a model is obtained yielding theoretical confirmation with no loss in predictive accuracy. The resultant nonlinear model yields alternative substantive implications concerning the relative influence of income and education on occupational prestige to those to be inferred from linear models. Perhaps most important, however, is the candidacy given by these results to psychophysics as the explanatory mechanism in the prestige allocation process.     

A neuronal model for syllable representation

A speculative neuronal template, equivalent to canonical syllable forms and independent of segmental representations, is offered to help account for (1) the inviolate nature of phonotactic constraints in aphasic speech output, and (2) left hemisphere specialization for speech sound access and output. The model, which attempts to relate plausible neuronal systems to linguistic function, is based on cell assemblies that are thought to develop by way of genetic predisposition and ontogenetic language experience, into configurations that can represent canonical slot positions for the consonants and vowel comprising a syllable. The syllable is assumed to be the basic organizational rhythmic unit for serial concatenation of sublexical segments. A scheme for neurological differentiation of vowels and consonants is offered. Phonotactic constraints can become "hard-wired" to help create the automaticity underlying phonological sound organization. Testable predictions are offered to substantiate the claims of the model.     

Inconsistent discipline of aggression in young boys

Two studies assessed the effects of interagent, inconsistent discipline on aggression in young boys. One agent responded to hitting behavior with verbal disapproval while another agent responded with verbal approval. In Experiment 1, the frequencies of hitting responses of first- and second-grade boys were examined under four schedules of adult reactions: (1) consistent disapproval; (2) consistent ignoring: (3) consistent approval; and (4) inconsistent discipline (approval from one agent and disapproval from the other). Aggressive responding was least frequent when met with consistent disapproval whereas the frequency of hitting responses in the inconsistent discipline condition was not different than that in the consistent approval and ignore conditions. In Experiment 2, the frequencies of hitting responses were examined under a schedule of consistent disapproval following a brief schedule of either: (1) inconsistent discipline; (2) consistent approval; or (3) consistent ignoring. Hitting behavior during consistent disapproval was greatest following a period of inconsistent discipline and least frequent following a history of consistent ignoring. These findings replicate the results of correlational field studies of the relation between inconsistent discipline and aggression in boys. In addition, these experimental studies demonstrate a causal link and the direction of effects between these variables.