bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of long‐term dark adaptation
Authors: STABELL ULF , STABELL BJØRN , FUGELLI ANDERS
Published: May 2008

It has previously been suggested that long‐term dark adaptation is controlled by bleaching signals that regulate the activity of an allosteric, positively cooperative protein (Stabell et al., 1986a, b). Recent biochemical evidence strongly supports this assumption, indicating that the primary regulator of the light‐sensitive channels in the plasma membrane of the outer segments of the photoreceptors is a homo‐oligomeric, allosteric, positively cooperative protein. In this report, we discuss the possibility that signals from bleached photopigments may control the dark‐adaptation process through the allosteric protein of the plasma membrane. It is suggested that the concentrations of the bleached photopigment and of the allosteric effector are reciprocal quantities.
Causal relations in field research as a basis for practical control
Authors: LUND THORLEIF
Published: May 2008

The utility of causal relations in field research for practical control is critically examined. It is argued that generalizations involving hypothetical intervention or change, formulated in terms of the parameters of causal regression functions for natural variation, are incompatible with the formal selection requirements for use of these functions. Practical results may thus deviate markedly from those predicted by the functions. Consequently, the causal relations commonly measured in field research within psychology and related disciplines cannot be used in any strict sense for the purpose of practical control. This conclusion, however, applies to generalizations involving intervention which are based on natural variation, not necessarily to those based on manipulated variation. The account demonstrates the importance of adopting a concept of causality which makes a clear distinction between causal measurements, on the one hand, and generalizations from such results, on the other.
Effectiveness of negative‐thought‐reduction, meditation, and placebo training treatment in reducing anger
Authors: DUA JAGDISH K. , SWINDEN MICHELLE L.
Published: May 2008

Twenty‐nine highly angry subjects who obtained high scores on Spielberger's Trait component of State‐Trait Anger Scale went through a thought‐listing procedure to determine their negative self‐statements in response to high, medium, and low anger‐arousing situations. It was found that subjects made more negative self‐statements in response to a high anger‐arousing situation compared to the medium and low anger‐arousing situations. The subjects were divided into four groups. Subjects in one group were trained to reduce their negative thoughts, subjects in a second group were trained to meditate, subjects in the third group were asked to imagine the high anger‐arousing situations (placebo procedure), and subjects in the fourth group were given no treatment. It was found that the subjects in the Negative‐thought‐reduction, Meditation and Placebo groups showed improvement in trait anger, anger aroused through high‐anger situations, anger scores across a wide variety of situations, unconstructive coping, and anger measured through physiological symptoms. The gains made through intervention were maintained at a 6‐week follow‐up. The No‐treatment Group showed no significant change in anger scroes across a wide variety of situations, unconstructive coping, and physiological symptom scores but showed a small but significant improvement in trait anger and in anger aroused by high‐anger situations.
Determinants of everyday time allocation
Authors: GÄRLING TOMMY
Published: May 2008

Two experiments examined the role of intentions in people's allocation of time to everyday activities (e.g., talcing a shower, running for exercise). In Experiment 1 32 subjects rated their intentions of, preferences for, and perceived control over performance of 10 activities at different frequencies during the following month. In Experiment 2 another 36 subjects performed the same ratings for the following week, then returned after that week to report how frequently they had been engaged in the activities. The results of both experiments showed that either the ratings of preference, of perceived control, or both combined linearly, predicted the intentions. However, intentions did not predict performance particularly well. This probably reflected (1) that some activities are performed routinely without intentions being formed; (2) that intentions to perform some other, more impulsively timed activities are formed late when appropriate actual situations are encountered; and (3) that for still other activities intentions are formed but not maintained.
Linear versus normalized T scores as standardized neuropsychological test scores
Authors: MORTENSEN ERIK LYKKE , GADE ANDERS
Published: May 2008

In this paper we present and discuss standardized T score systems for neuropsychological test data. Both linear and normalized T scores were calculated for 141 normal subjects and a group of 141 patients with diffuse or focal brain damage. Many standard neuropsychological tests have skewed raw score and linear T score distributions, and we argue that normalized T scores have practical advantages because they permit simple descriptions of both patient groups and individual test score distributions. We also argue that skewness can be partially explained by ceiling effects and other test construction artefacts and that skewed raw score distributions do not necessarily reflect skewed distributions of the underlying mental abilities. Consequently, use of normalized T scores seems appropriate in many research and clinical contexts.
Hemispheric asymmetry effects in children studied by dichotic listening and visual half‐field testing
Authors: CHRISTIANSON SVEN‐ÅKE , SÄISÄ JOUKO , HUGDAHL KENNETH , ASBJØRNSEN ARVE
Published: May 2008

Dichotic listening (DL) and visual half‐field (VHF) testing were used to study hemisphere asymmetry in a developmental perspective. Five‐, 8‐, and 11‐year‐old children were presented lists of fused words using a DL technique in Experiment 1, and 8‐ and 11‐year‐old children were presented pictures of common objects using a VHF technique in Experiment 2. In both experiments, measures of identification, free recall, and recognition of the words/pictures were employed. The results revealed effects of ear input (right‐ear advantage) and half‐field presentation (right visual half‐field advantage) for all age groups, although the magnitude of this lateralization effect differed between the three memory measures. The results are discussed in relation to developmental aspects of language laterality, and in relation to the clinical utility of non‐invasive lateralization techniques.
Recognition failure of recallable words: Exception due to poor integration
Authors: ÄRLEMALM TORE , NILSSON LARS‐GÖRAN
Published: May 2008

The phenomenon of recognition failure of recallable words shows a remarkable regularity across a wide variety of experimental conditions. A quadratric function, referred to as the Tulving‐Wiseman function, summarizes this regularity. A few cases of deviation from this function have been identified and classified into two categories of exceptions to this function. An experiment was designed to deal with one of these categories, namely the exception that occurs because of poor integration between cue and target information of studied word pairs. An index based on confidence ratings of recall responses was developed to assess variability in integration. Poor integration was demonstrated especially for one presentation of low associative word pairs, and significant deviations from the function was obtained for this condition. Hintzman's (1991, 1992) hypothesis about mathematical constraints of the Tulving‐Wiseman function was discussed and refuted. Finally, an interpretation of negative deviations from the Tulving‐Wiseman function was proposed.
An eyewitness paradox
Authors: GILLETT RAPHAEL
Published: May 2008

Two methods of analysing data from an identification parade give rise to seemingly contradictory outcomes, both of which reach statistical significance. The traditional method is based on the first choices of eyewitnesses, whereas the paired‐comparison method takes account of each eyewitness's full rank ordering of the lineup participants. The person that most eyewitnesses pick out as the perpetrator of an offence (according to the first‐choice method) may in fact be the person that those same eyewitnesses as a group regard as least likely to have committed the act (according to the paired‐comparison method). Implications of the paradox for the analysis of lineup data are considered.
On sensation, perception and thought: A reply to Rönnberg
Authors: LARSEN AXEL
Published: May 2008

A traditional partition of cognitive phenomena into sensation, perception and thought is reintroduced in response to recent arguments (Rönnberg, 1990) for conditions that must be met in order to distinguish between perception and cognition. The suggested division seems grossly compatible with Ronnberg's basic aim and receives support from several different lines of inquiry, including single cell recordings in the brain, neurospsychology, computational studies of vision and experimental psychology.
Self‐appraisal and coping in out‐patients with chronic disease
Authors: ANDERSSON SVEN INGMAR , EKDAHL CHARLOTTE
Published: May 2008

Self‐appraisal, coping efforts, muscle function, and activity and severity of disease were examined in out‐patients with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthrosis or diabetes mellitus. Factor analysis of a 31‐item self‐appraisal and coping questionnaire yielded eight factors (self‐appraisal, acceptance, minimization, planful problem‐solving, avoidance, persistence, attribution of responsibility, and support seeking). For the factors of avoidance, minimization, and persistence, as well as for measures of activity and severity of disease, significant differences between the diagnostic groups were found. For patients with rheumatic arthritis, hierarchical regression analysis indicated disease duration to be associated with acceptance and with attribution of responsibility, and disability measures to be associated with self‐appraisal. For patients with osteoarthrosis, they showed disability in muscle function to be associated with avoidance, and more negative self‐appraisal as well as lower levels of support seeking to be associated with long disease duration. Results are discussed in terms of structural and adaptive defence forms and of adherence to a coping model (“medical model”) which tends to foster acceptance and dependency.
Actions, contexts, memory—what is the relation?
Authors: HELSTRUP TORE
Published: May 2008

Whole list contexts have been found to influence action memory differently than item‐specific contexts. Usually there is no recall enhancement with item‐specific contexts, but considerable improvement with whole‐list contexts. Three experiments investigated the effect of both kinds of context upon action memory. The results showed that whole‐list contexts gave the beneficial effect, probably through their ability to string together actions within a common frame. Contrary to expectation the effects of item‐specific contexts were not found to differ between motor and nonmotor encoding conditions, irrespective of whether these contexts were self‐generated or provided by the experimenter. The experimental results suggest that the function of item‐specific contexts has more to do with helping item differentiation than relational encoding. Since action events possess a high degree of distinctiveness, there is not much to gain by the addition of item‐specific contexts in action memory tasks.
A Müller‐Lyer‐type illusion of egocentric distance with 3D convex and concave objects
Authors: GORDON I. E. , DAY R. H. , DORWOOD FIONA
Published: May 2008

An illusion of egocentric distance with concave and convex objects at a distance of 135 cm is reported. When the centre of a concave object was viewed with both eyes its surface appeared nearer than the centre of the surface of a convex object at the same distance. The distortion was about two per cent of the viewing distance with right‐angle objects and about five per cent with hemicylindrical objects. The distortion was slightly reduced when size cues for distance were attached to the surfaces of the objects, absent with monocular viewing, greater with convex than with concave objects, and occurred with the generally convex surface of a model human face. Possible explanations of the findings are discussed.
Effects of mood and knowledge on evaluations: An experimental study
Authors: HEIDE MORTEN , GRØNHAUG KJELL
Published: May 2008

An experimental study was conducted to estimate the impact of subjects' mood states on their responses to evaluative ratings. Four experimental groups were induced by either a very negative, mildly negative, neutral or positive mood‐inducing film. As hypothesized, systematic differences were found between the groups in their evaluations. Factual knowledge about the evaluation object was, contrary to expected, not found to modify mood effects. This negative finding could, however, be explained by a strong stereotypical impression of the object (a distant travel destination) held by the respondents.
Focal attention and the perception of pattern structure in extrafoveal vision
Authors: SAARINEN JUKKA
Published: May 2008

Several studies have shown that visual attention enhances the encoding of the positional relationships between pattern elements, i.e., the perception of pattern structure. This theoretical note discusses the possibility that the inferiority of extrafoveal vision in the perception of pattern structure results, at least partially, from less effective focal attention in the periphery. Hence, there may exist higher level differences between foveal and extrafoveal vision in information processing which cannot be explained by the spatial inhomogeneity of the retino‐striate system.
Prediction of valency and productivity: An empirical study of longterm group psychotherapy
Authors: SJÖBERG BENKT
Published: May 2008

With reference to W. R. Bion's theory about individual's reactions to group stimuli the main hypothesis was formulated thus: individual's Valency (V) and Productivity (W) undergo changes in certain (definable) directions under the influence of longterm group psychotherapy. The main hypothesis was refined into seven sub‐hypotheses. These were measured by four projective tests: Reaction Group Situation Test (RGST), Self Perceptual Q‐sort (SPQ), Q‐SORT(overt) and Q‐SORT(covert). 48.0% of the total number of modalities, 120 out of 252, developed in a predicted and eligible direction. 29.0%, 74 modalities out of 252, remained unchanged whereas 23.0%, 58 modalities out of 252, developed in an opposite to predicted and non‐eligible direction. Group members' Productivity (W) developed most of all the modalities in a predicted (eligible) direction. Group members' Valency and Productivity pattern (VP) changed least of all the modalities. The group members Valency (V) for the basic assumption Dependency (baD) developed most of all the modalities in an opposite to predicted, i.e. non‐eligible direction.
Cerebral asymmetry in autonomic conditioning to facial expressions: Sex differences
Authors: JOHNSEN BJØRN HELGE
Published: May 2008

In the present experiment, sex differences in hemispheric asymmetry during classical conditioning to emotional stimuli are reported. 125 subjects (62 females and 63 males) were shown a slide of a happy face in the right (or left) visual half field (VHF), and simultaneously a slide of an angry face in the left (or right) VHF. Eight groups were formed by the combination of male and female subjects; left and right VHF positions of the angry/happy faces; and the administration/omission of the shock unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Dependent measures were skin conductance responses recorded from both hands. The results during extinction showed a significant larger SCR magnitude to the shock compared to the no‐shock groups only for the female subjects. CS position during conditioning was also important in revealing differential responding to either the happy or angry faces. A right hemisphere effect was found for the angry face CS for both the male and female subjects, however with a greater difference for the females.
Repetition effects on word fragment completion: The role of competition among responses
Authors: NYBERG LARS , NILSSON LARS‐GÖRAN , OLOFSSON ULRICH
Published: May 2008

Four experiments examined the effect of spaced repetition of study words on completion of word fragments with only one solution and word fragments with multiple solutions. Recognition was used as test of explicit memory in the first two experiments. The study words were presented either once or three times. Repetition was found to increase recognition memory substantially, and to affect fragment completion performance only marginally. This was true for both single‐ and multiple‐solution fragments, showing that competition among responses is not critical for the magnitude of the repetition effect in fragment completion. This finding, that the repetition effect is marginal also when the type of cues provides an occasion for repetition effects to show up, suggests that the real effect of repetition on perceptual priming is borderline. It is proposed that memory from the first presentation eliminates necessary processing of items when they are re‐exposed, and that the repetition effect thereby is reduced.
Confidence in own and others' knowledge
Authors: ALLWOOD CARL MARTIN
Published: May 2008

A person's confidence judgement of a statement reflects his/her degree of belief in the correctness of that statement. Deficient ability to assess the correctness of statements (or beliefs) can have serious consequences in many situations. This study compares the realism (calibration) of subjects' confidence ratings in two situations (n= 64). The first situation was when the subjects confidence rated their own answers to general knowledge questions. The second was when the subjects gave confidence ratings of another person's answers to general knowledge questions. The results show that subjects were more poorly calibrated and were more overconfident in the second situation, i.e. when they gave confidence ratings of answers given by another person, compared with when they rated their own answers. The data further indicates that the results can not be explained in terms of the amount of cognitive processes invested when making the confidence judgements. For example, the subjects rated the other person's answers to questions they had answered themselves, and to questions they had not seen before. No differences in confidence or in calibration and other measures of judgmental realism were found between these two categories of questions. Nor did instructions to imagine the thought process of the other person improve any of these measures. The subjects disagreed with the other person's answer on 23% of all occasions. Significantly poorer calibration was shown where subjects disagreed with the other person than where they agreed. Contents of a social nature attended to by the subjects may have affected the results. The results, when related to previous research in the area, give rise to the question of how the social situation can be arranged to achieve the best calibration.
Prediction accuracy of text recall: Ease, effort and familiarity
Authors: GILLSTRÖM ÅSA , RÖNNBERG JERKER
Published: May 2008

Prediction accuracy of text recall was studied in two experiments. Text characteristics (i.e., consistency and distinctiveness) were manipulated in Experiment 1, and familiarity with the reading‐task in Experiment 2. The results were also analyzed and discussed in terms of easy processing (Experiment 1), and in terms of increased and more active processing (Experiment 2). Text characteristics did not affect prediction accuracy. However, being familiar with the reading‐task led to good and long‐lasting prediction accuracy. Thus, subjects reading a school‐book text, instructed to learn the contents of it demonstrated reliable memory awareness, both for immediate recall and for delay of one week. It was also suggested that increased processing demands and active reading enhances prediction accuracy.
Facial EMG reactions to facial expressions: A case of facial emotional contagion?
Authors: LUNDQVIST LARS‐OLOV
Published: May 2008

The purpose of this study is to explore whether subjects exposed to stimuli of facial expressions respond with facial electromyographic (EMG) reactions consistent with the hypothesis that facial expressions are contagious. This study further examines whether males and females differ in facial EMG intensity. Two experiments demonstrated that subjects responded with facial EMG activity over the corrugator supercilii, the zygomatic major, the lateral frontalis, the depressor supercilii, and the levator labii muscle regions to stimuli of sad, angry, fearful, surprised, disgusted and happy faces, that, to large extent, were consistent with the hypothesis that facial expressions are contagious. Aspects of gender differences reported in earlier studies were found, indicating a tendency for females to respond with more pronounced facial EMG intensity.
Reply to William R. Ferrell's paper “Calibration of sensory and cognitive judgments: A single model for both”
Authors: JUSLIN PETER , WINMAN ANDERS
Published: May 2008

William R. Ferrell's paper is a reply to our article “Calibration of sensory and cognitive judgments: Two different accounts”, 1993, 34, 135–148 in this journal. Ferrell's critique centres around three issues: (1) The model of sensory discrimination proposed by Björkman et al. (1993) and discussed in Winman and Juslin (1993) is not new, (2) this model does not predict underconfidence, (3) there is no need for separate models of calibration of sensory and cognitive judgments. Below we respond to each of the three issues raised by Ferrell.
Psychological science in the public arena: Three cases of dubious influence
Authors: SCARR SANDRA
Published: May 2008

Psychological science has a great deal to contribute to social welfare in all societies, because the world's most pressing social problems are behavioral in nature—violence, hunger, drug abuse, environmental pollution, low worker productivity, poor educational outcomes, and so forth. Thus, psychological research can inform public policies to improve approaches to these important social problems. The relationship of psychological science to public policy is often troubled, however, by misunderstandings about the role of science in the policy making process. Many scientists fear that their research results will be “misused” by others whose values differ from those of scientists. Thus, psychologists are reluctant to publish research results that can be used to support policies contrary to their own values and hesitate to ask research questions that can generate politically incorrect results. In this article, I argue that psychological science has a primary responsibility to ask dangerous questions and to report results honestly, without fear of their use; that research is not translated directly into public policies; and that psychological science should not be perverted either by fear of political consequences or by compromising truth in a quest for power. Three research examples are given to illustrate the different faces of temptation to pervert psychological science in a misguided hope that scientists' own values will be reflected in public policies.
Crossed‐uncrossed difference (CUD) on reaction time and movement time in three two‐choice experiments
Authors: LIAN ARILD , BJØRKLUND ROALD A.
Published: May 2008

The present study addresses the robustness and the reliability of the crossed‐uncrossed difference (CUD) on a reaction time (RT) and a movement time (MT) component of a prescribed unimanual response to lateralized stimuli. Experiment 1 demonstrated positive CUDs both when a visual warning signal (WS) and an auditory reaction signal (RS) appeared on corresponding and non‐corresponding sides of the body. Experiment 2 showed effect of handedness on CUD calculated among right‐handers and left‐handers. Experiment 3 investigated CUDs through five successive days, indicating that CUDs became steady and reliable although practice affected both RT and MT. All experiments indicated CUD on RT and MT. In addition, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated hemispheric asymmetries in favour of an anatomical theory while Experiment 3 did not show any asymmetries and supports an S‐R compatibility theory.
RASP: A system for the analysis of memory tasks
Authors: RÖNNBERG JERKER , BÄCKMAN LARS
Published: May 2008

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a system for the analysis of memory tasks. The system involves four basic task dimensions, derived from an ecological analysis of memory functioning: Reproductivity (R), Acquisition (A), Sufficiency (S), and Productivity (P). Three studies are reported in which professional memory psychologists were asked to rate sets of standard laboratory and more ecologically relevant memory tasks in terms of the four RASP dimensions. In general, results implied independence across the two sets of tasks between the four dimensions. Interrater reliabilities were found to be modest to high. However, it was suggested that RASP best be used as a tool for understanding the meaningful relations that exist among dimensions within general sets or pools of tasks, for different classes of tasks, as well as for prototypical tasks. We argue that, especially when the relationship between RASP profiles for two particular tasks is crossvalidated by behavioral data, and conflict with assumptions about what memory systems or processes are involved, then there is a potential for conceptual refinement. This refinement could be attained either through an increased theoretical generalization, or through an increased theoretical precision. Based on obtained RASP information at the level of classes of tasks (e.g., episodic vs. semantic) as well as at a prototypical task level (e.g., word recall vs. prose recall), several intriguing memory phenomena are discussed. Finally, we suggest that RASP may serve as a tool for reducing the number of task‐specific assumptions of what systems and processes mediate memory performance.
Memory dysfunction in mild aphasics
Authors: RÖNNBERG JERKER , LARSSON CHRISTER , FOGELSJÖÖ ANNA , NILSSON LARS‐GÖRAN , LINDBERG MARGARETA , ÄNGQUIST KARL‐AXEL
Published: May 2008

The effect of mild aphasia (n= 9), as a result of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), was evaluated against one matched (sex, age, and education) control group suffering from SAH of unknown origin without aphasia, and against one matched healthy control group. According to aphasia testing (Reinvang & Engvik, 1980), criteria for a classical diagnosis were not met. Therefore, the patients were characterized as mild aphasics: They generally displayed intact audo‐verbal comprehension and repetition abilities, and they demonstrated a fluent, spontaneous speech. However, they showed phonemic and semantic paraphasias, with self‐corrections; a few patients displayed alexia and agraphia. Memory performance of these three groups was evaluated by a neuropsychological test battery, designed to tap various components of verbal memory function. From the results it was concluded that: (a) Short‐term memory is impaired, as regards the phonological loop and the central executive in working memory, whereas maintenance rehearsal is unaffected, given that the demands on phonological coding is minimized, (b) long‐term memory is also generally impaired, whereas long‐term learning and forgetting by means of subject‐performed tasks proceeds within a normal range. Impairments were hypothesized to reflect less efficient central executive functions of working memory, involving generation of less appropriate semantic codes and phonological representations, (c) mildy aphasic patients are not subjectively aware of their own memory deficits, and (d) aphasia classification by means of standard procedures do not sufficiently characterize the nature of a mildy aphasic patient's memory problems.
Speech gestures and facial expression in speechreading
Authors: JOHANSSON KARINA , RÖNNBERG JERKER
Published: May 2008

Two experiments investigated the role of facial expression in speechreading. In Experiment 1 sentences were presented either with only the actor's face shown or with the actor shown in half‐size. One happy script with happy, sad and neutral sentences was used, and either a content cue or an emotional cue was presented prior to each sentence. In Experiment 2 happy and sad sentences from one happy and one sad script were first recorded by the actor with a neutral face (face and shoulder shown) and then with a congruent facial expression. The results revealed that there was no difference in performance between half‐size and face presentation, but content cues increased performance compared to emotional cues. As expected (Abelson, 1981), happy sentences were easier to speechread than sad in the happy script and vice versa. Also, facial expression raised performance for happy sentences in the happy script. Positive emotions are suggested to be associated with approach behavior in part relying on increased non‐pantomimic speech gestures and articulation of the speaker (e. g., Davidson et al., 1990).
Teaching reading to disabled readers with language disorders: A controlled evaluation of synthetic speech feedback
Authors: ELBRO CARSTEN , RASMUSSEN INGELISE , SPELLING BIRGITTE
Published: May 2008

In a long‐term study two groups of language and reading impaired students (N= 15 + 15) were reading with the aid of segmented speech‐feedback in a computerized program. One group received feedback that was simultaneously segmented visually and auditorily into syllables, the other received feedback by letter names. In both groups subjects were expected to synthesize segments into words and to compare their synthesis to whole word feed‐back subsequently provided by the computer. They worked for half a lesson (approximately 20 minutes) a day for a total of 40 days. During this period, the experiment groups progressed more in reading than a control group of age and reading‐level‐matched students (N= 35) who received traditional remedial instruction. The group in the syllable condition gained slightly more in non‐word reading and in syllable segmentation than did the letter group. Differences in gains in reading abilities were not explained by differences in age, but to some extent by initial level of phoneme and syllable awareness. Future applications of the speech‐feedback system are discussed.
Gender differences in the development of depression
Authors: AHNLUND KARIN , FRODI ANN
Published: May 2008

The present study attempted to examine possible gender differences in the vulnerability to depression, specifically with regard to eliciting factors, marital status, age of onset, season of hospitalization, and type of treatment. The records of all patients (67 women and 34 men), treated during 1991 for major depression, dysthymia, or depression NOS at a psychiatric hospital in Southeastern Sweden were examined, and placed in empirically derived categories regarding eliciting factors.

The results indicated significant gender differences with regard to eliciting factors, marital status, and age. The eliciting factor in female depression was most commonly “threat to social bonds” whereas in male depression it was “threat to self esteem” or “threat to self respect”. Married women were more prone to depression than were married men, as were men living alone compared to women living alone. Women above 60 years of age were significantly more prone to depression than were men of this age group. The results were discussed from two theoretical perspectives: gender role theory and gender‐specific developmental theory.
Visual search for positional relationships between pattern elements
Authors: SAARINEN JUKKA
Published: May 2008

The purpose of these experiments was to illustrate how a search for positional relationships between the elements in a stimulus pattern is effortful and serial, whereas a search for pattern elements (without requiring any positional information) takes place rapidly and in parallel. In all three experiments of this study, the target and distractor patterns consisted of two vertical line segments. In the experiment concerning the search for positional relationships between pattern elements, one of the line segments in a line pair had a gap, and the observer's task was to indicate whether the positional order of the two lines was identical in all the line pairs of the display, or whether the line segments were in a mirror‐image order in one line pair (the target). In the two experiments concerning the search for pattern elements (no positional information was required), the observer's task was to look for a line pair with one gap line (the target) among line pairs containing two broken lines or among line pairs with unbroken lines. In all three tasks, the reaction time for a correct target detection was measured. The results showed that the search in the first task was highly serial, and in the second and third tasks of “feature” searches, the search time was nearly independent of the number of distractor pairs. It is suggested that this dissociation may be interpreted in the context of the quality of information processing in extrafoveal vision, i. e. the elements of a stimulus pattern can be clearly visible outside the fovea, but it is not possible to perceive accurately the positional relationships between them.
Semantic distance and single cue use in category search
Authors: SAARILUOMA PERTTI , KUJALA SARI
Published: May 2008

Perceptual classification may be based either on the physical features of target and background items or on the semantic attributes of the presented items. In this paper we used enumeration tasks to study the role of semantic features in a categorial classification task. This means that subjects were asked to count the number of target words in a display belonging to one semantic category among a number of background items of other categories. Our goal was to study the decision logic in category search by manipulating target background conditions and the semantic distance between target and background classes. In the first experiment we found that the larger the semantic distance between targets and background words, the easier it was to find the targets. In the second experiment we found a “pop‐out” effect, in which subjects could use and benefit from a single distinctive semantic feature, “part‐likeness”, in categorial classification. The results of the two experiments imply that the categorization decision logic is basically the same in physical and semantic perceptual classification.
Sober adolescence–Predictor of psychosocial maladjustment in young adulthood?
Authors: PAPE HILDE , HAMMER TORILD
Published: May 2008

We have explored how age at first intoxication with alcohol relates to mental health, social integration and adjustment to the adult role. The data stem from a longitudinal representative study of 2000 Norwegians. The sample was assessed at ages 19–22, 21–24 and 25–28. Among females, only early intoxication was related to young adult symptoms of poor mental health. A U‐shaped association between intoxication debut and psychological problems was revealed among males, implying that both early and late beginners had more such problems than those who had followed the mainstream. These associations persisted without change over time. However, males who remained abstainers in adulthood were psychologically healthy, but they showed indications of a delayed entry into the adult role. Male late beginners were also somewhat reluctant to adopt adult role‐behaviors. Thus, getting drunk for the first time in mid‐adolescence seems to be an ingredient in the normal developmental process in young males.
Some applications for Basil's independence theorem in testing econometric models
Authors: Phillips G.D.A. , McCabe B.P.M.
Published: May 2008

Basu's Independence Theorem is used to show how tests of compound econometric hypotheses, involving two or more naturally ordered hypotheses, may be based upon mutually independent test statistics.
Distribution–free confidence intervals for the difference between quantiles
Authors: Bristol D.R.
Published: May 2008

An asymptotically distribution–free confidence interval for the difference of the p–th quantiles of two distributions was presented by ALBERS and LOHNBERG (1984). A modification of their procedure is presented for use when the sample sizes are specified.
PRICING OF OIL: ROLE OF THE CONTROLLING POWER
Authors: Jaidah Ali M.
Published: May 2008

Prior to 1960 ‐ and the formation of OPEC ‐ the oil industry was concentrated in the hands of seven major international companies, generally known as “The Seven Sisters.” But this was only prima facie the situation; in actual fact, the real or “controlling” power lay, not with the companies themselves, but with their countries of origin – namely Great Britain and the United States. Since there was no competitive situation, normal commercial criteria never applied: the industry was entirely geared to serving the economic interests of consuming countries. In the serving of those interests, the pricing of oil played a key role – Just as it does today, but in a vastly different context!

It is with the evolution of oil pricing under the conditions described above and its future development in the right of the harsh economic realities of our time thai this article by the Secretary General of OPEC is concerned. In view of its importance and the wide interest it has awakened since it was first delivered at an Energy Seminar sponsored by Harvard University on May 9, this year, we reproduce the article, in full, in the OPEC Review.
OPEC FOR COOPERATION DOWNSTREAM
Authors: Jaidah Ali M.
Published: May 2008

Having achieved control over pricing and production levels of crude oil in their sovereign territories, OPEC Member Countries see as their next task, expansion in downstream activities, in pursuit of which aim they seek cooperation with the international Majors and independent oil companies. This is the theme of the following interview granted to Maurice Gent of the British Broadcasting Corporation by OPEC Secretary General Mr. Ali Mohammed Jaidah on September 19, 1977.
LNG EXPORTS – A CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD ENERGY SUPPLIES IN THE DECADES TO COME
Authors: Laoussine Nordine Ait
Published: May 2008

This paper deals with the impact which the development of OPEC gas – in the form of LNG – could have on world energy supplies in the decades to come. In it, the author submits that, merely to stop the wasteful flaring of natural gas, could add over two million barrels per day of oil equivalent to world energy supplies, and that full development of this resource base could increase the figure ten‐fold, equivalent to a 60 percent increase in current OPEC oil production levels. And this at a lower cost – in terms of capital expenditure – than alternative new sources of energy.

The writer warns that we are now entering a “dangerous period” of two to three years, during which energy supplies will appear to be adequate. This could breed a false sense of security, leading to a delay in making necessary decisions. We must, he says, avoid complacency!

In conclusion, he opines that_ exports of OPEC LNG could increase many times over in the coming decades, leading to a massive upsurge in orders for ships, plants, pipelines and so on, which would have a direct, positive impact on the balance of payments of consumer economies. But in order to bring this about, the economic fact of higher energy prices needs to be grasped now and a more equitable burden of risks between producers and consumers worked out.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL GAS TRADE
Authors: Laoussine Nordine Ait
Published: May 2008

Natural gas is at last coming into its own, with production rising steadily as the world's major energy consumers come to terms with the finiteness of the oil resource. A pioneer in the field of liquefied natural gas (LNC) is undoubtedly Algeria's SONATRACH. In the following article, Nordine Ait Laoussine, whose name is indivisibly linked with the growth of gas marketing operations in his country, analyses the future supply/demand situation, before going on to deal with conditions which will have to be observed, and difficulties surmounted, if international trade in gas is to be successfully developed. He points out that whilst OPEC's position as custodian of the world's gas reserves is not as dominant as it is in crude oil, OPEC Member Countries still dispose of very large quantities of gas which are already known and which could be developed for export markets. “Surely it makes sense” Mr. Ait Laoussine argues, “for consumer countries to encourage the development of these proven energy reserves now, rather than to invest in expensive, technically untried processes such as in‐situ coal gasification.”
OIL IN THE 1980s: SOME ISSUES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
Authors: El Mallakh Ragaei
Published: May 2008

Although little more than a year has elapsed since President Carter warned the nation that it ivould have to give its energy belt a mighty inward tug if it were to avoid catastrophe in the coming decade, it is already depressingly clear that his words were largely in vain. As yet, there is no sign whatever of an overall national energy plan, and the American people still appear to be dangerously ignorant of the critical situation of their country in this sector: it seems incredible; for example, that in the world's technologically most advanced society, with mass communications second to none, a substantial proportion of the public believe the United States to be self‐sufficient in oil! Whilst this criticism is levelled at the position in the US, purely because that country is the biggest oil importer and consumer, the censure must extend to other major importing nations as well: even with the higher price for OPEC oil initiated in 1973 and 1974, by and large the consuming countries have reverted to their former consumption patterns, surpassing the pre‐embargo levels of 1973. Dr. Mallakh believes that it would be foolhardy to regard the present so‐called oil “glut” as heralding a fall in oil prices; it should be recognized, he says, for what it is, namely, a temporary phenomenon which will disappear with the return of a strong seller's market, perhaps as early as 1980. Too much weight, the writer submits, was given to the dampening of demand due to the OPEC price hikes of 1973 and 1974, and too little to the ramificatiorj of the worldwide recession and inflationary spiral that peaked at approximately the same time as the slump in petroleum consumption in 1974 and 1975. “In short, what was taken as price‐induced conservation in consumption primarily reflected, instead, a recession‐induced cutback in consumer spending.”
THE RATIONALE OF NATIONAL OIL COMPANIES
Authors: Vrankel Paul H.
Published: May 2008

Whilst the national oil companies of oil‐producing exporting countries regard themselves, quite rightly, as the legitimate heirs to the industry in their sovereign territories, this does not mean that their activities are incompatible with (he interests of the multinationals whom they succeeded. On the contrary, as Dr. Frankel suggests, the very existence of a national oil company, by allaying the fears of a government that foreign enterprises might derive undue advantage on the strength of their unique position, far from proving an impediment to fruitful cooperation with others will, in fact, serve to promote it.
DEVELOPING‐DEVELOPED COUNTRY NEGOTIATIONS: RECENT EXPERIENCE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS*
Authors: Avramović Dragoslav
Published: May 2008

Looking at the international economic and financial scene today, one cannot hut feel an acute sense of despondency. The most severe industrial recession the world has known since the 1930s continues unabated and, indeed, threatens to become permanent. Unemployment of men and machines is rising steadily and international liquidity is showing a disturbing vulnerability to even the most minor interference with payment flows. Furthermore, negotiations between developed and developing countries, to which the latter group attach so much importance, are beginning to falter before they have even properly got off the ground: the failure of the CIEC Conference in Paris to reach agreement on the main issues was a hitter blow to the developing countries’hopes, and the subsequent dispersal of the negotiations among the various international fora made it more difficult than ever for the 114 nations comprising this group to establish and maintain a cohesive approach on specific problems. It is against this bleak background that Dr. Avramović calls upon the developing countries themselves to take the initiative; they have the responsibility, he declares, to mitigate the effects of the recession on their own populations, and this they can do by cooperating with one another in the exploitation of the “enormous potential market for their exports (which) are the developing countries themselves.” By so doing, the developing countries could help themselves and, at the same time, provide a significant impetus to world economic recovery. Dr. Avramović concludes by proposing the establishment for this purpose of a developing countries’‐“centre for exchanges of information, analysis and coordination”.
IRAN'S ENERGY PERSPECTIVE IN THE 1980s
Authors: Fesharaki Fereidun
Published: May 2008

Given the fluctuating conditions in the international energy situation, one is always hesitant to leap into the future. Nevertheless, it is only natural to seek to draw a map of events as they are likely to develop in the next decade. In the following article, the writer appraises the broad guidelines of Iran's energy policy in the 1980s.
Energy and channels of international communication
Authors: Tehranian Majid , Fesharaki Fereidun , Tehranian Terrence M.
Published: May 2008

This is an extract from a manuscript entitled, “World energy and international communication: a study in the political economy of world public opinion formation”. The general introduction printed below puts it into context.
Energy, opinion and alternative futures
Authors: Tehranian Majid , Fesharaki Fereidun , Tehranian Terrence M.
Published: May 2008

This is the third chapter of a paper entitled “World energy and international communication: a study in the political economy of world public opinion formation”. The second chapter was published in the Spring 1985 issue of the OPEC Review, together with a general introduction to the paper.
Inequality aspects of alternative CO2 agreement designs
Authors: Welsch Heinz
Published: May 2008

Footnotes

1. The emission data analyzed in this section are from Deutscher Bundestag (1990), the income data from Statistisches Bundesamt (1989).

2. On the construction of the Lorenz curve, see any textbook in elementary statistics.

3. Note that some countries have been deliberately deleted from the sample, although their carbon emissions are larger than those of some countries included. The reason is either that they do not fit into the categorization of countries considered below or that they exhibit too spurious a relationship between emissions and income. The latter is the case for those countries, whose incomes depend mainly on oil exports. By including the omitted countries, another five per cent of world emissions would have been covered.

4. It should be recalled that technical progress is neglected in the model.