Perceptual organization of acoustic stimuli by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus): III. Contact calls

We trained budgerigars by operant conditioning to discriminate among a set of contact calls in a same-different task and analyzed response latencies from this task by using multidimensional-scaling (MDS) and cluster-analysis procedures. Humans listened to the same calls and indicated the similarity between pairs of calls by a direct rating procedure. An MDS program (sindscal) was used to arrange these complex acoustic stimuli in multidimensional space reflecting perceptual organization. Multiple regression techniques were used to identify the acoustic characteristics of contact calls that were correlated with the perceptual dimensions obtained from MDS. A number of spectral characteristics (e.g., peak frequency, rate of frequency modulation, and concentration of spectral energy) emerged as important for both budgerigars and humans, but the relative salience of these cues differed for the two species. Additional tests with two groups of budgerigars--cagemates and noncagemates--showed that experience with calls can change the salience of various acoustic characteristics used for perceptual organization and individual recognition.     

The linkage between stimulus frequency and covert peak areas as it relates to monaural localization

Head-related transfer functions for differently centered narrow noise bands were obtained on 6 subjects. Derived from these measurements were covert peak areas (CPAs), defined as the spatial constellation of loudspeakers that generates maximal sound pressure at the entrance of the ear canal for specific bands of frequency. On the basis of previous data, we proposed that different frequency bands served as important spectral cues for monaural localization of sounds from different loci and that location judgments were directed toward the CPAs associated with the different bands. In the first study, the stimuli were bandpass filtered so that they contained only those frequencies whose associated CPAs occupied either the monaural listener’s “upper” or “lower” spatial regions. Loudspeakers, separated by 15°, were stationed in the left hemifield, ranging from 0° to 180° azimuth and ?45° to 60° elevation. Subjects reported the loudspeaker from which the sound appeared to originate. Judgments of the sound’s elevation were in general accord with the CPAs associated with the different frequency segments. In the second study, monaural localization tests were administered in which different 2.0-kHz-wide frequency bands linked with specific CPAs were notch filtered from a 3.5-kHz highpass noise band. For the control condition, the highpass noise was unfiltered. The data demonstrated that filtering a frequency segment linked with specific CPAs resulted in significantly fewer location responses directed toward that particular spatial region. These results demonstrate in greater detail the relation between the directional filtering properties of the pinna and monaural localization of sound.     

The culture of perceptual expertise and the other-race effect

In our commentary, we propose that the ORE can be viewed as a form of perceptual expertise. Like experts, we recognize own-race faces at the subordinate level as individuals and novices when recognize other-race faces at the basic level of race. Applying a perceptual expertise account, we explain the ORE in terms of its cognitive, neural, and motivational factors. We suggest that by creating a culture of “other-race” expertise, improvements in other-race face recognition can be achieved.     

Sex guilt,trait anxiety,and females' subjective sexual arousal to erotica

Subjective sexual arousal and affective reactions of 80 college women to explicit sex films were studied in a 2 (sex guilt) × 2 (trait anxiety) × 2 (films) design. There was a decline in sexual arousal to a film of oral-genital sex and a decline in sex guilt in the present sample in comparison to a similar sample from this laboratory 8 years ago. High-sex-guilt women reported fewer genital sensations and rated themselves lower on sexual arousal during and after the films than did their counterparts less disposed to guilt over sex. High-sex-guilt women reported more affective guilt, disgust, and anxiety-fear as a consequence of viewing an explicit sex film than women below the median on sex guilt. High-trait-anxiety women reported more intense genital sensations and rated their sexual arousal as higher following the films than low-trait-anxiety women. Women above the median on trait anxiety reported more subsequent anxiety-fear and depression-distress following the films than low-scoring women. These results were discussed from the perspective of Izard's differential emotions theory, which regards anxiety as a variable pattern of fundamental emotions rather than as a functional unity.This research was supported in part by a National Science Foundation Grant to the University of Connecticut Computer Center. The authors wish to thank Wendy Cunningham and Linda Wildes for serving as experimenters.     

Using Three Reporters to Identify Pre-Adolescent Peer Victims through Latent Profile Analysis

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - The goals of the current study were to use a three-reporter methodology and multi-level Latent Profile Analysis: (a) to determine the victim...     

Parent-Implemented Early Social Communication Intervention for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of Behavioral Education - Numerous developmental difficulties differentiate children with autism from typically developing children, including delays in social communication skills. In this...     

Comparing computer‐based training and lecture formats to teach visual analysis of baseline‐treatment graphs

Accurate analysis of data is vital to the validation of interventions. As such, there has been a recent increase in studies evaluating visual analysis training procedures. However, past investigations have not evaluated direct and indirect visual analysis training methods with matched instructional content that was systematically designed. Furthermore, training has rarely included assessment of generalization and maintenance of visual analysis skills. The purpose of the current dissertation study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of (a) computer‐based training, (b) lecture formats with and (c) without the opportunity to pause, and (d) a no‐training group to teach visual analysis of AB graphs to university students. To make these formats directly comparable, the instructional content was equated by ensuring information and examples were identical across the three training procedures. Eighty‐three students were randomly assigned to one of the four groups. Results showed that all three training formats produced increases in accurate responding compared to the no‐training group. Visual analysis skills generalized to novel graphs and maintained approximately 2 weeks following all trainings. These results suggest that structured approaches that are carefully designed to train visual analysis are effective and lead to gains that generalize and maintain in the absence of training.     

Grandfamilies and the Opioid Epidemic: A Systemic Perspective and Future Priorities

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - As a result of the devastating impact of the opioid epidemic, increased numbers of children are being raised by their grandparents in what are known as...