The measurement of mood

Due to unfortunate choices of response scale and psychometric model earlier analyses of mood adjective check lists have given a confused and complex picture of the area. When an adequate response scale was applied and a simplex rather than a common factor analysis model was utilized it was found, in two empirical studies, that mood was possible to describe with a few bipolar factors. A theory is suggested where mood is seen as basically two-dimensional: one dimension being activity and the other pleasantness. More or less specific definitions of the content of experience with reference to the situation may then be used to define further dimensions, such as social orientation.     

Recognition memory for utterances in conversation

This study reports an experiment on incidental recognition memory for conversation. A number of people listened to a dyadic conversation and were tested immediately afterwards or four days later. The two people in the tape-recorded conversation did not know each other, nor did the audience know the two speaker-listeners on the tape. This design was used to further clarify the role of familiarity and personal participation for memory of conversational discourse. Gist memory was high in both conditions, with lower performance after four days. Surface memory could be verified, and the level of the variables used to index surface memory was about the same in both the immediate and delayed condition. With this study we have taken a step towards better understanding of the role of familiarity and participation in communicative events for memory of these events. Even in this "minimum" participation and familiarity study, we found some indications of verbatim memory.     

Concept formation in non-verbal categorization tasks in brain-damaged patients with and without aphasia

The study of thinking in patients with aphasic language impairments has long since been considered as means for learning about neuropsychological processes. In the present investigation, a non-verbal categorization task was used, requiring the subjects to sort several common objects according to different principles. The experimental group consisted of aphasic patients with motor and sensory aphasia. Two control groups were used, one consisting of normal subjects and the other of non-aphasic patients with injuries in the right hemisphere of the brain. The sorting behaviour was analysed according to several aspects. The final product of the categorization was assessed, as well as the behavioural processes observed during the sorting. The results were expressed in terms of different conceptual levels achieved. The results of the investigation showed that the aphasics were significantly inferior to normal controls both quantitatively and qualitatively in all sorting aspects. Possible mechanisms underlying the deficiencies in the sorting behaviour of the two aphasic groups were discussed.     

The production and understanding of utterances in dyadic communication

Verbal communication in four dyads was analyzed with respect to syntactic form and cognitive and affective functions. Quantitative and qualitative methods were proposed to study these aspects of language behaviour. Utterances which conveyed a negative affective evaluation tended to be syntactically and cognitively complex. The cognitive and affective functions of a speaker's utterance tended to influence the syntactic quality of the listener's following utterance more than what the listener said in his own previous utterance. An investigation of the relationships between the personality characteristics flexibility, intelligence and verbal competence, and language variables suggested that flexible subjects often used utterances which expressed a positive evaluation. Furthermore, flexible subjects tended to influence the listener more by what they said than intelligent and verbally competent subjects did. It was concluded that this kind of functional analysis of language should be more adequate for psychological inquiry than in particular that of the transformational generative theory of language.     

Response format and factor structure in mood adjective check lists

Abstract.— Different response formats designed for mood measurement were analyzed and compared. The interest was focused upon the effects of ( a ) symmetry versus asymmetry and ( b ) inclusion versus exclusion of a "cannot decide"-category on intercorrelation between variables and thus, factor structure. It was found that the proportions of positive and negative responses were equivalent in the symmetric format but also in the asymmetric if the "cannot decide"-category was included. Generally it was found that the asymmetric format with the "cannot decide"-category resulted in a drop of both positive and negative correlations. Data emanating from the different formats were factor analyzed and it was found that the symmetric format caused marked bipolar factors which absorbed more of common variance than those of the other formats. It was established that the symmetric format best reflected an external criterion concerning rated degree of dissimilarity between variables.     

Differentiation and unification in perception and cognition

It has been suggested that the development of distinctions between perception and cognition depends upon the perspective and the level of analysis chosen. Similarly, the unification of perception and cognition may be achieved from other perspectives and when other levels of analyses are applied. The fruitfulness, and disadvantages, of diverse suggestions for differentation/unification of perception and cognition are discussed briefly.