Multidimensional scaling study of visual memory of 5-year olds and adults.

Nonmetric multidimensional scaling is expounded as a methodology for investigating memory development. Judgements of similarities between complex objects were obtained from 5-year-olds and adults under two conditions: (1) when objects were simultaneously present at the time of comparison, and (2) when the objects were not simultaneously present and had to be compared on the basis of short-term memory. Scaling solutions for similarity judgments by each age group in the two conditions were obtained. Comparison within each age group of the configurations from the memory condition with the simultaneous condition indicated that the internal representations of both children and adults contained much of the information the subjects extracted from the stimuli during “direct” perception. The scaling techniques, which could be widely applied in developmental studies of memory and perception, are explained and critically discussed.     

Self-consciousness, self-awareness, and self-attribution

Self-awareness was either manipulated by a mirror (experimental) or not (control). Subjects were selected for being high or low in private self-consciousness (disposition to attend to one's thoughts, feelings, motives). Private self-consciousness had a stronger effect on self-attributions than did self-awareness. These findings have implications for attribution, self-consciousness, and the relationship between manipulations and dispositions.     

Effect of sample presentation time on long-delay matching in the pigeon

The effect of sample stimulus presentation time on long-delay matching in highly practiced pigeons was investigated. The birds were found capable of above chance matching performance at a delay of 60 sec provided the sample stimulus was presented for 4 sec or longer. Matching accuracy increased as a negatively accelerated function of sample stimulus presentation time and decreased as a negatively accelerated function of time since the termination of the sample. The rate of forgetting was found to be independent of sample stimulus presentation time. The data were inconsistent with a temporal discrimination interpretation of the effect of presentation time on delayed matching. The data were interpreted as supporting a simple trace strength and decay model of pigeon delayed matching.     

Criterion-related and construct validity of the Career Maturity Inventory Competence Test with ninth-grade pupils

The purpose of this study was to examine the criterion-related and construct validity of the Career Maturity Inventory Competence Test. The Competence Test, Attitude Scale, and Cognitive Vocational Maturity Test were administered to 260 ninth-grade pupils in a rural junior high school to determine whether the variables were interrelated as hypothesized in theCrites (Theory and research handbook for the Career Maturity Inventory. Monterey, Calif.: CTB/McGraw-Hill, 1973) model of career maturity. The results show that, as predicted, the Competence Test is more highly correlated with the Cognitive Vocational Maturity Test than it is with the Attitude Scale. Also, as predicted, the subscales of the Competence Test are intercorrelated between .40 and .69. However, the correlations of the Attitude Scale with the Competence Test total score and the Cognitive Vocational Maturity Test total score are higher than the theoretical expectation.     

Individual differences in self-reinforcement style and performance in self-and therapist-controlled weight reduction programs

Thirty-seven overweight subjects were recruited from the staff of a V. A. Hospital for a weight reduction program. A self-reinforcement (SR) test was administered prior to treatment and subjects were classified as high or low self-reinforcers. Subjects were then exposed to one of two behavioral weight-reduction programs or a minimal treatment control condition. One treatment program emphasized self-control (SC) and the other incorporated a therapist controlled financial contingency for weight loss (EC). A significant interaction was found between SR group and treatment condition. High SR subjects lost weight at the rate of 1.49 pounds per week in the SC condition and only 0.37 pounds per week in EC. Low SR subjects lost at the rate of 1.06 and 1.01 pounds per week respectively in SC and EC. Implications for treatment and future research were discussed. The financial contingency had either neutral or negative effects. Caution was advised for any future use of that procedure.     

Texture gradient effectiveness in the perception of surface slant

To assess the development of monocular slant perception as well as the relative effectiveness of different sources of information, children in first, third, and fifth grades and college adults were asked to make judgments of surface slant on the basis of monocular texture gradient information. Accuracy of judgment increased with increasing age. In addition, differences in gradient effectiveness were found. Compression gradients were relatively ineffective sources of information, whereas perspective and multiple gradients resulted in greater accuracy. The results suggest limitations on the specificity of certain forms of gradients.     

Children's attention to stimulus components with variation in relative salience of components and degree of stimulus integration

A total of 400 children at ages 5, 9, and 12 years were given a component selection task with stimuli differing in color and shape. Relative salience of these two stimulus components was manipulated across subjects in two ways: the standard shapes and colors from previous studies were compared with standard shapes in fluorescent colors, and the latter materials were compared with nonsense shapes in fluorescent colors. While fluorescence of color had little effect, the replacement of standard shapes with nonsense figures caused attention to be redirected from shape to color as the primary cue for learning. This effect was more pronounced at age 9 than at age 5. Apparently there is a greater tendency for older than for younger children to withdraw attention from a normally dominant component such as shape, when it is advantageous to adopt another feature such as color as the primary functional cue. An additional variable was integration of components (color within shape vs color as background for shape). Integration produced generally greater attention to color but did not affect the general pattern of salience effects.     

Blocking of incidental information in young children

Methods of increasing learning efficiency through a blocking technique were examined in young children. An experimental group of children was trained on an initial task with one relevant dimension, followed by redundancy training in which an incidental dimension also became relevant. A control group given only redundancy training was compared to this group to test how much the experimental subjects blocked or screened out the incidental dimension. In order to increase blocking, three methods were used: a preset transfer problem, an overtraining on the initial task, and a delay following training. The most important finding was increased blocking through the Preset Condition. Overtraining and Delay Conditions had no effect. In addition, more slow learners on the initial task learned about the incidental dimension than fast or intermediate learners. Also, fewer subjects given form on the initial task learned about the incidental dimension than those given color. The Combined Blocking, Delay, and Overtraining group showed partial blocking, while the Preset group demonstrated complete blocking. No developmental differences occurred. The results were interpreted using a modification of Trabasso and Bower's attention model (Attention in learning: Theory and research. New York: Wiley, 1968).