The roles of stimulus repetition and hemispheric activation in visual half-field asymmetries

Hardyck, Tzeng, and Wang (1978, Brain and Language, 5, 56–71) hypothesized that ample repetition of a small number of stimuli is required in order to obtain VHF differences in tachistoscopic tasks. Four experiments, with varied levels of repetition, were conducted to test this hypothesis. Three experiments utilized the general task of object-picture naming and one utilized a word-naming task. Naming latencies constituted the dependent measure. The results demonstrate that for the object-naming paradigm repetition is required for RVF superiority to emerge. Repetition was found to be unnecessary for RVF superiority in the word-naming paradigm, with repetition actually reducing RVF superiority. Experiment I suggested the possibility that RVF superiority developed for the second half of the trials as a function of practice or hemispheric activation, regardless of repetition level. Subsequent experiments, better designed to assess this possibility, clearly refuted it. It was concluded that the effect of repetition depends on the processing requirements of the task. We propose that, for tasks which can be processed efficiently by one hemisphere, the effect of repetition will be to reduce VHF asymmetries; but tasks requiring substantial processing by both hemispheres will show shifts to RVF superiority as a function of repetition.     

Choosing between fixed time and variable time shock

Two experiments are reported dealing with choice of fixed or variable time shock schedules with and without signals. Response independent shock was presented on either a fixed-time or a variable-time schedule and subjects could change from one condition to the other for short periods after which the initial condition was automatically reinstated. In the first experiment shocks for both schedules were either unsignalled (6 subjects) or signalled (3 subjects) and all subjects changed from a schedule of variable-time shock to a fixed-time one. Subjects that were given the opportunity to change in the reverse direction did not do so. Opposite findings were obtained in the second experiment (7 subjects) comparing unsignalled fixed-time shock with signalled variable-time shock. Six of the seven subjects changed from the fixed-time schedule to the signalled variable-time one but not the reverse. The data were considered consistent with an analysis of choice based on the reinforcing value of discriminable shock-free periods.     

A reevaluation of the absenteeism-job satisfaction relationship

Previous reviews of the relationship of employee absenteeism to job satisfaction have largely neglected the size of the relationships reported and the artifacts that can affect statistical tests of significance. This paper applies the F. L. Schmidt-J. E. Hunter (1977, Journal of Applied Psychology, 62, 529-540) model of validity generalization in assessing the nature and strength of the relationship of absence to attitudes. Issues concerning the reliability and validity of absence measures are addressed, correlations between absence and job satisfaction are compiled and summarized, and an agenda for future research is set out. Considering the reliability estimates reported for the Frequency, Attitudinal, and Time Lost indices, the Time Lost Index was found to be the most reliable (r xx = .66, SD = .28). Factor analyses of intercorrelations among absence measures provided tentative support for a voluntary-involuntary absenteeism distinction. Combining all measures of satisfaction and all measures of absences, the mean correlation between absence and attitudes is -.09 (SD = .13). In addition to more comprehensive theory-guided multivariate research, future studies should aim toward a reconceptualization of absenteeism as a construct to take into consideration the perceptions of the workers themselves.     

Sex guilt,sexual arousal,and urinary acid phosphatase output

This study investigated the relationship between the personality variable sex guilt and a proposed physiological measure of sexual arousal (urinary acid phosphatase level). Urinary acid phosphatase levels of 43 male college students were assessed both basally and after exposure to 19 sexually themed slides. As predicted, sex guilt was inversely related to both basal acid phosphatase level and changes in acid phosphatase level upon exposure to the erotic stimuli. In addition, sex guilt scores were correlated with subjects' self-reported reactions to the erotic stimuli. The relationships obtained provided further construct validity evidence for the sex-guilt measure. Finally, the relationship between sexual arousal and urinary acid phosphatase level was explored. The data provided only partial validation for the proposed relationship between sexual arousal and urinary acid phosphatase output.     

Cerebral dominance assessed by object- and color-naming latencies: sex and familial sinistrality effects.

Two vocal RT experiments were conducted. The first required the naming of five lateralized drawings of common objects; the second of five hues of equal brightness and saturation. Tachistoscopic exposure time was 100 msec. Both tasks yielded faster RT to stimuli channeled directly to the left hemisphere, demonstrating that the left hemisphere superiority for naming letters or digits obtained in previous tachistoscopic studies was not dependent on the use of alphanumeric stimuli. Interesting sex differences in object-naming and familial sinistrality differences in color-naming were obtained. Compared with other behavioral tasks for assessing language laterality, color-naming seems highly recommended in terms of freedom from spatial-confounding, good percentage agreement with clinical estimates of the frequency of left hemisphere language dominance in right handers, and sensitivity to familial sinistrality influences.     

Area-matching strategies used by young children

Across three studies, conditions were varied under which children aged 4–5 years matched the area of a rectangle with a given width (or height) to that of a square. In the first study, subjects observed the rectangle being changed in height from trial to trial and had access to their immediately preceding response. Under these conditions, rectangle width (the dimension under subject control) was a linear decreasing function of rectangle height. This function was interpreted as evidence for a hypothetical addition/subtraction strategy for maintaining equality in area between the comparison rectangle and the standard square. As a test of this hypothesis, in a second experiment the subjects were denied access to their immediately previous response, and in a third study they were also unable to observe the rectangle as it was altered by the experimenter between trials. The purpose of these changes was to remove the information necessary for readily implementing an addition/subtraction strategy. In both studies, area matches seemed to be based on a side-matching strategy, such that subjects matched one dimension of the rectangle to one side of the standard square. It was suggested that young children use different cues or strategies with different variants of the matching task because they do not possess a fixed, specific concept of area.