Color-based inhibition of return

The inhibition of return of visual attention based on stimulus color was examined in three experiments. In the first experiment, a discrete trial paradigm showed that subjects were slower to detect a color patch if the color matched that of a patch presented earlier in the same location. Experiment 2 showed that the inhibition only occurs if a neutral, nontarget distractor color is presented between presentation of the initial color cue and the subsequent target patch—explaining the previous failures to detect the phenomenon. Experiment 3 extended the results to a different combination of colors. Taken together, the results have important implications for the processing of stimulus attributes such as spatial location and color, and for the conditions necessary for producing inhibition of return.     

Community interaction: A 'mid-range' focus for theories of career development in young adults

Thinking about career development changes not only in response to the discovery of new empirical evidence but also in response to prevailing social climates. In contemporary Britain both the evidence and the social climate are pointing to yet new formulations of career-development theory in terms which accord overriding importance neither to the explanations offered by the sociologist nor to those offered by the psychologist. Some of this evidence is examined, and a theoretical formulation is attached to it. The implications are that guidance practitioners should see themselves both as applied psychologists and as applied sociologists.     

当代美英法律心理学研究概况

本文概述了当代美英法律心理学研究的状况,着重论述了它的主要研究领域:证人证言,讯问与供述,法庭心理学,陪审团研究,犯罪心理学,被害人心理学以及司法程序心理学,这些内容对于深化我国的法律心理学研究,具有积极意义。     

A biphasic 60-Hz synchronizer circuit for the recording of visually evoked responses in high-noise environments

A simple synchronizer clock circuit is described that aids in the rejection of 60-Hz noise from evoked potential measurements.     

Murray Sidman: fostering progress through foundational choices

The contributions of Murray Sidman to the field of behavior analysis have helped to put the field on a progressive path. In this paper we describe three areas as examples, drawn from the larger set of his notable contributions: the analysis of stimulus equivalence in a way that has fostered a behavior-analytic approach to derived stimulus relations and symbolic meaning; the observation and measurement of individual behavior through time; and his stance against punitive applied methods. In each of these areas Sidman was a dedicated behaviorist, avoiding appeals to mentalistic or transcendental forces, opposing hypothetical mediational accounts, and taking a functional and contextual approach. Clarity of assumptions was at the heart of Sidman's effective scientific practices and there is no reason to think that those same assumptions will not carry us further, as evidence mounts in support of these views on psychological research and practice.     

Object-based selection within and beyond the focus of spatial attention

In a series of experiments, we examined the effect of perceptual objects on visual attentional processing in the presence of spatially cued attentional selection. Subjects made speeded judgments about two visual elements that were either both on the same object or on two different objects. Judgments were faster when the elements were on the same object than when they were on different objects, revealing an object advantage. Importantly, the object advantage remained even when either exogenous or endogenous spatial cues were used to direct the subjects' attention to a part of the display, contrary to earlier findings of other researchers. The object advantage, however, did disappear when the stimulus duration was shortened substantially. The results show that object-based selection is pervasive and is not diminished by the act of selective attention. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the mechanisms that underlie attentional selection.     

Object-based visual attention with endogenous orienting

In a series of experiments, we examined covert orienting using endogenous cuing, in which attention is voluntarily directed toward a peripheral location. In one experiment, subjects were cued to attend to one end of an oblong object. They then detected targets on the cued object or elsewhere. In another experiment, subjects provided judgments of the relative temporal order of two flashes after their attention had moved endogenously. In a third experiment, subjects were directed to attend to an empty spatial location and subsequently discriminated features of objects that appeared at or near the locus of attention. In each of these situations, attentional orienting was object based, in the sense that nonattended locations that were on the cued object had an advantage over nonattended locations that were not on the object. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for object-based representations and the differences between exogenous and endogenous orienting of attention.     

Sentence processing deficits in two Cantonese aphasic patients

This paper reports the performances of two Cantonese aphasics on tasks examining their sentence processing deficits. The data on sentence comprehension show that thematically noncanonical sentences, full passives, and subject-gap sentences present greater difficulty to these patients than canonical sentences, truncated passives, and object-gap sentences, respectively. These patterns are consistent with previous observations on Chinese aphasics and are expected given the structural differences between Chinese and English. In a Cantonese grammaticality judgment test, a set of structures are identified that can elicit clear judgments from normal subjects and aphasics, contrary to the claim that grammaticality judgments in Chinese are probabilistic and fragile. Most interestingly, the patients' overall performance patterns reveal a double dissociation between sentence comprehension and judgment of sentence well-formedness, suggesting that the two tasks are supported by independent processing mechanisms.     

Whole-word phonological representations of disyllabic words in the Chinese lexicon: data from acquired dyslexia

This study addresses the issue of the existence of whole-word phonological representations of disyllabic and multisyllabic words in the Chinese mental lexicon. A Cantonese brain-injured dyslexic individual with semantic deficits, YKM, was assessed on his abilities to read aloud and to comprehend disyllabic words containing homographic heterophonous characters, the pronunciation of which can only be disambiguated in word context. Superior performance on reading to comprehension was found. YKM could produce the target phonological forms without understanding the words. The dissociation is taken as evidence for whole-word representations for these words at the phonological level. The claim is consistent with previous account for discrepancy of the frequencies of tonal errors between reading aloud and object naming in Cantonese reported of another case study of similar deficits. Theoretical arguments for whole-word form representations for all multisyllabic Chinese words are also discussed.     

Impact of recent findings on study design of future autism clinical trials

There are specific challenges to studying the design of pharmacologic trials in child/adolescent and adult autism, such as subject stratification and parallel versus crossover designs. This article describes how optimal study design is influenced by subject selection and outcome measures chosen. Lessons learned in study design from the Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology Autism Network trial with risperidone, Seaver Center trials with fluoxetine and valproate, Dartmouth trials with amantadine, and National Institutes of Health secretin trials are highlighted. The Internet System for Assessing Autistic Children system for managing multicenter clinical trials in autism and statistical issues in autism research are also described.