Effects of simulated stuttering on listener recall

In an investigation of the effects of simulated stuttering on listener recall, a presentation was varied on two factors: degree of stuttering (mild or severe) and information value of stuttered words (low or high). A control presentation featuring non-stuttered speech also was prepared. Five groups of 16 subjects were randomly assigned to, and participated in, one of the five listening conditions. Then they completed a 20-item recall test. A one-way analysis of variance revealed sognificant differences among the five conditions. Two-way analysis of variance disclosed no main effects. However, a significant interaction showed that recall was lowest in the severe stuttering-high information condition. The results are discussed in terms of attention to critical information.     

The old homeless and the new homelessness in historical perspective

In the 1950s and 1960s homelessness declined to the point that researchers were predicting its virtual disappearance in the 1970s. Instead, in the 1980s, homelessness increased rapidly and drastically changed in composition. The "old homeless" of the 1950s were mainly old men living in cheap hotels on skid rows. The new homeless were much younger, more likely to be minority group members, suffering from greater poverty, and with access to poorer sleeping quarters. In addition, homeless women and families appeared in significant numbers. However, there were also points of similarity, especially high levels of mental illness and substance abuse.     

La Bella Figura: The role of a cultural philosophy on Italian consumerism

The La Bella Figura concept extends to many Italian cultural dimensions including physical appearance, perception of self, and behaviours. La Bella Figura plays an essential role in shaping Italian consumer behaviour and consumerism. The current study sought to understand how women living in Italy conceptualize La Bella Figura and how it affects their day‐to‐day lives, attitudes, and consumption behaviours. This research extracted concepts from Consumer Culture Theory to construct a qualitative codebook and structure thematic data analyses. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 30 women aged 18–50 years living in Florence, Italy. Participants were recruited through study flyers, social media, and snowball sampling. Open and axial coding were facilitated by HyperRESEARCH 4.0.1 software to generate key themes. Data were collected and analyzed by trained researchers living in Florence, Italy, who utilized grounded theory techniques to identify emergent themes. Results indicated various components of La Bella Figura contributed to consumer behaviour, namely its influence on identity (i.e., appearance, confidence), lifestyle goals (i.e., health, consumerism), and social norms (i.e., perceptions of others, media). Findings offer practical recommendations for marketers and retailers to appeal to the Italian market through effective and informed mediums.     

Reorienting in images of a three-dimensional environment

Adult humans searched for a hidden goal in images depicting 3-dimensional rooms. Images contained either featural cues, geometric cues, or both, which could be used to determine the correct location of the goal. In Experiment 1, participants learned to use featural and geometric information equally well. However, men and women showed significant differences in their use of distant featural cues and the spontaneous encoding of geometric information when trained with features present. Transformation tests showed that participants could use either the color or the shape of the features independently to locate the goal. Experiment 2 showed that participants could use either configural or surface geometry when searching for the goal. However, their weighing of these geometric cues was dependent on initial training experience.     

Searching in the center: pigeons (Columba livid) encode relative distance from walls of an enclosure

Pigeons (Columba livia) searched for food hidden in the center of a square enclosure. On occasional tests without food, the enclosure was (a) unchanged from training (control tests), (b) moved to different corners of the testing room (corner tests), or (c) doubled in size (expansion tests). The birds showed localized search in the center of the enclosure on control and corner tests. On expansion tests, some birds searched near the center of the enclosure, suggesting relative-distance encoding. Other birds searched at locations that maintained the training distance from walls, suggesting absolute-distance encoding. These results are consistent with previous studies on chicks (Gallus gallus) in similar enclosures and contrast with previous results on pigeons' responses to expansions of discrete landmark arrays.     

Reorientation in a two-dimensional environment: I. Do adults encode the featural and geometric properties of a two-dimensional schematic of a room?

Adults searched for a goal in images of a rectangular environment. The goal's position was constant relative to featural and geometric cues, but the absolute position changed across trials. Participants easily learned to use the featural cues to find the target, but learning to use only geometric information was difficult. Transformation tests revealed that participants used the color and shape of distinct features to encode the goal's position. When the features at the correct and geometrically equivalent corners were removed, participants could use distant features to locate the goal. Accuracy remained above chance when a single distant feature was present, but the feature farthest from the goal yielded lower accuracy than one closer. Participants trained with features spontaneously encoded the geometric information. However, this representation did not withstand orientation transformations.     

Reorientation in a two-dimensional environment: II. Do pigeons (Columba livia) encode the featural and geometric properties of a two-dimensional schematic of a room?

Pigeons (Columba livia) searched for a hidden target area in images showing a schematic rectangular environment. The absolute position of the goal varied across trials but was constant relative to distinctive featural cues and geometric properties of the environment. Pigeons learned to use both of these properties to locate the goal. Transformation tests showed that pigeons could use either the color or shape of the features, but performance was better with color cues present. Pigeons could also use a single featural cue at an incorrect corner to distinguish between the correct corner and the geometrically equivalent corner; this indicates that they did not simply use the feature at the correct corner as a beacon. Interestingly, pigeons that were trained with features spontaneously encoded geometry. The encoded geometric information withstood vertical translations but not orientation transformations.     

Empirical evaluation of the MCMI-III personality disorder scales

The MCMI-III personality disorder scales were empirically validated with a sample of 870 clinical patients and inmates. Prevalence rates of personality disorders were in general lower on the MCMI-III than clinical ratings, but trait prevalence was generally higher; thus a base rate of 75 on the MCMI-III could be a guideline in the screening of trait prevalence. However, the sensitivity of some MCMI-III scales was very low. Moreover, the correlations of most personality disorder scales of the MCMI-III were significant and positive with corresponding measures on clinical ratings and MMPI-2 personality disorder scales, but these were, in general, not significantly higher than some other correlations. As a consequence the discriminant validity seems to be questionable. The MCMI-III alone cannot be used as a diagnostic inventory, but the test could be useful as a screening device as a part of a multimethod approach that allows aggregation over measures in making diagnostic decisions.     

Convergent validity of the MCMI-III personality disorder scales and the MMPI-2 scales

The MCMI-III personality disorder scales (Millon, 1994) were empirically validated in a sample of prisoners, psychiatric inpatients, and outpatients (N = 477). The scale intercorrelations were congruent with those obtained by Millon, Davis, and Millon (1997). We conclude that our Flemish/Dutch version shows no significant differences with the original version of the MCMI-III as far as intercorrelations are concerned. Convergent validity of the MCMI-III personality disorder scales was evaluated by the correlational data between the MCMI-III personality disorder scales and the MMPI-2 clinical (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) and personality disorder (Somwaru & Ben-Porath, 1995) scales. Improved convergence was obtained compared with previous versions of the MCMI-I. Only the compulsive MCMI-III personality disorder scale remains problematic. The scale even showed negative correlations with some of the related clinical scales and with the corresponding personality disorder scales of the MMPI-2.