Surface form and memory in question answering

Speakers tend to repeat materials from previous talk. This tendency is experimentally established and manipulated in various question-answering situations. It is shown that a question's surface form can affect the format of the answer given, even if this form has little semantic or conversational consequence, as in the pair Q: (At) what time do you close. A: “(At)five o'clock.” Answerers tend to match the utterance to the prepositional (nonprepositional) form of the question. This “correspondence effect” may diminish or disappear when, following the question, additional verbal material is presented to the answerer. The experiments show that neither the articulatory buffer nor long-term memory is normally involved in this retention of recent speech. Retaining recent speech in working memory may fulfill a variety of functions for speaker and listener, among them the correct production and interpretation of surface anaphora. Reusing recent materials may, moreover, be more economical than regenerating speech anew from a semantic base, and thus contribute to fluency. But the realization of this strategy requires a production system in which linguistic formulation can take place relatively independent of, and parallel to, conceptual planning.     

The mean fundamental frequency in stutterers and nonstutterers during reading and spontaneous speech

Corresponding to the higher tension of muscles involved in speech production, a higher mean fundamental frequency should be expected in stutterers as compared to nonstutterers. It could be shown by the change scores of the mean fundamental frequency from reading to free conversation that stutterers tend to have a higher fundamental frequency during spontaneous speech.     

Interhemispheric functional relationships in auditory agnosia : An analysis of the preconditions and a conceptual model

A statistical analysis revealed the following concerning auditory agnosia. (1) Bilateral temporal lobe lesions prevailed; in a minority of cases unilateral lesions were verified. (2) The syndrome occurred as a result of repeated insults. (3) There was a statistically significant correlation between the side of the first insult and the predilective type of the syndrome, i.e., agnosia preferably for linguistic with respect to nonlinguistic material. On the basis of these results we discuss the principle of contralateral compensation and the hypothesis of lesional interference. In doing so a conceptual model of interhemispheric functional relationships is developed. We made use of a set theory-oriented interpretation of Kinsbourne's “attention-model” (M. Kinsbourne, 1970, Acta Psychologica 33, 193–201).     

Assessing Parental Satisfaction with Children’s Mental Health Services with the Youth Services Survey for Families

We assessed parent satisfaction with childrens mental health services with a new instrument: The Youth Services Survey for Families (YSSF). The Dillman method was used to administer the survey to a random sample of 1,500 parents of Medicaid youth from Kentuckys 14 community mental health centers (CMHCs). The response rate was 37% (n = 534 parents). A factor analysis of YSSF identified five parent-perceived factors: (a) Appropriateness, (b) Outcome, (c) Participation in Treatment, (d) Access, and (e) Cultural Sensitivity. About 70% of parents reported a high level of endorsement with the Appropriateness factor, but only 47% reported high levels of endorsement with the Outcome factor. Results were interpreted as providing support for the reliability of the YSSF in evaluating childrens mental health services in CMHCs.     

Relations between mental performance and reaction time: New aspects of an old problem

The relation between simple and complex reaction time and psychometrically determined mental performance was reexamined with 486 subjects of above-average intelligence. Various standardized tests measuring aspects of cognitive ability, memory and ability to concentrate were used. Simple and complex reaction times were measured using the Klebelsberg modification of the Mierke apparatus. Correlations between complex reaction time and mental performance as observed by other investigators were mostly confirmed. We found, however, the strongest and most consistent correlations with tests measuring short-term memory; ability to concentrate and spatial ability. On the other hand, tests known and shown again in this paper to load highly on Spearman's general factor g, such as verbal abilities; combinatoric thinking; abstraction; or calculation gave only trivial, and, in most cases, nonsignificant correlations with complex reaction time. We even observed a negative (though, for our data, not significant) correlation between g-loadings of subtests and their correlations with complex reaction time for the only complete standardized intelligence test used in this study, the “Intelligenz-Strukturtest (Amthauer).” Therefore, this study does not support the hypothesis that fast processing of complex information as measured by complex reaction time is the decisive component of the general factor of intelligence g.     

Type development in childhood and beyond

This article defines and explains type development across the lifespan and summarizes what other researchers have presented as a reference. A timeline for development is identified, and ways to differentiate development of a function from the development of other personality characteristics are described. Type development is about the dispersion of energy from an unconscious level to a managed conscious level. This development occurs in a spiral pattern, so development of each function occurs repeatedly but at higher levels of use and understanding each time. Although the dominant function develops most because of its innate drive to be the lead, each function can develop throughout the lifespan. The relative energy associated with each function always exists. When the energy is in the unconscious, it drives behavioural responses, but these are not within the individual’s control. The ideal is to develop the conscious awareness of each of the functions so each can be consciously used as needed to match a situation. Because development of the functions is essential, this article examines potential interferences with development and then offers some suggestions for ways to promote developmental opportunities.