bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
EFFECTS OF PROPAGANDA ON RECALL, RECOGNITION AND BEHAVIOUR
Authors: BELBIN EUNICE
Published: April 2011

A series of experiments were conducted in which Road Safety Posters were displayed in a waiting room. Their effect was measured by: (a) amount of information from posters which was applied to interpretation of photographs showing faulty traffic situations (Use scores); and (b) amount of information contained on posters which could be recalled (Recall scores). An attempt was made to investigate reasons why on some occasions or with some subjects information was recalled more than it was used, and why on other occasions or by other subjects it was used more than it was recalled.

Four types of propaganda were displayed. Each had a significant effect on use scores, but there was no significant difference between effects of these four types on either use or recall. However, previous experience of subjects was shown to have a considerable effect on results. over‐sixties, although comparatively bad at recalling propaganda, had use scores which compared favourably with those of younger subjects. subjects who had car‐driving experience used information from posters to a significantly greater extent than non‐drivers. On other hand, drivers did not recall propaganda any better than non‐drivers. There was also a tendency for naval rating subjects to use more of information than they recalled and for students to recall as much or more than they used. When tests were applied up to a period of 14 days after display of propaganda there was a widening disparity between use and recall scores. At 14 days subjects still showed a slight tendency to use information although they were not able to remember it.

An attempt is made to explain these results by suggesting that when a subject is presented with an incidental learning situation, meaningfulness he extracts from material and his method of organizing it depends on his previous learned responses to similar material. Where his previous experience has entailed incorporation of information into his activity, then new material to be learned is likely to have meaning in relation to its practical application, a response which favours retention of information for use in other tasks, but not necessarily for recall. If his previous experience has been learning by memorizing, his response to new material will be organized accordingly; he is likely to learn in order to recall.
SOME STUDIES OF PERCEPTION IN RELATION TO AGE
Authors: WALLACE JEAN G.
Published: April 2011

A series of experiments to discover extent of age differences in visual perception when temporal integration was required suggested that:

Whore displays were simple, performance of different age groups was nearly equal, but with increasing complexity of displays older subjects were relatively increasingly slow in making correct identifications.

With complex displays there was a relationship between degree of correct identification and (a) cumulative viewing time; (b) amount of display seen at one moment, such that an increase in both led to a greater improvement in performance of older subjects than an increase in either time or amount alone. Given a sufficient increase, performance of older subjects equalled that of younger.

greater difficulty of older subjects with complex material appeared to be due mainly to greater amount of temporal integration required with such material.
AN EXPERIMENTAL INQUIRY INTO CONCEPT OF PERCEPTUAL DEFENCE
Authors: SINGER BERNARD R.
Published: April 2011

Experiments on concept of perceptual defence can be considered as result of two research interests: (1) attempts to relate experimental work to clinical findings and (2) attempts to determine precise variables involved in association between personality and perception. concept of perceptual defence is based on fact that subjects appear to show higher thresholds to taboo words and that autonomic responses to such words may be made before they are correctly recognized. This concept has been criticized on grounds that results may be more simply interpreted in terms of factors of word frequency and of suppression of responses by subject. Other work has attempted to show that individual performance requires prime consideration.

This study has attempted to take account of these factors. A word‐association test consisting of most frequent words in Thorndike and Lorge count was given to all subjects. On basis of each subject's results, two lists were prepared for each subject, each list consisting of emotional and neutral words. A tachistoscopic presentation to subject of one list was followed two weeks later by a presentation of second list. It was found that six of twelve subjects showed higher and two subjects lower thresholds to emotional words on both occasions. correlation between two tests in terms of individual performance was highly significant.

Analysis of this and other experiments shows that importance of factors of word frequency when familiar material is used remains to be determined. Further, some means of studying such factors other than by use of word counts is necessary. It is suggested that a quantifiable ‘hypothesis’ or ‘set’ theory possesses greatest advantages for an understanding of this area of research.
DETERMINANTS OF EMOTIONALITY IN RAT
Authors: BROADHURST P. L.
Published: April 2011

An experiment was designed to establish optimum conditions for using Hall's open‐field test of emotionality in white rat. A large (N = 192) factorial design permitted simultaneous evaluation of following components of test which were thought to be productive of emotional responses: size of test arena, intensity of illumination and intensity of sound. effects of pre‐trial shock, food deprivation and sex difference were also investigated. Other variables were strictly controlled.

results, principally analysed in terms of defecation and ambulation scores, show that females defecate significantly less than males and ambulate more, that noise is a potent factor in evoking emotional elimination and light less so. Arena size does not affect defecation, but rats run farther in a larger arena. Pre‐trial shock reduces defecation, whereas food deprivation has no significant effect. Interactions are few, and mostly concern sex differences in response.

It is concluded that test can yield sensitive indicators of an emotional response, and that this response is susceptible, within limits, to experimental control. implications for use of test are discussed.
VISUAL DISCRIMINATION OF ORIENTATION BY OCTOPUS
Authors: SUTHERLAND N. S.
Published: April 2011

Recent research on visual discrimination has largely ignored one of major problems in this field, namely what are properties of shapes to which animals are responding when they discriminate them: a solution to this problem must precede attempts to arrive at mechanism behind shape discrimination. Experiments were conducted on discrimination of orientation by octopuses. It was shown that discrimination of orientation was easy where orientations to be discriminated fall in vertical and horizontal directions, extremely difficult where orientations are midway between vertical and horizontal directions. Various transfer and memory tests were carried out which confirm that animals were discriminating orientation and not other properties of figures. A tentative explanation of results is proposed. An analysis of serial effects is attempted which suggests a possible interpretation of some of Boycott & Young's findings on effects of lesions to verticalis lobe in octopus.
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION OF INTELLIGENCE: A CRITIQUE
Authors: LEWIS D. G.
Published: April 2011

The dependence of distribution of test scores on facility and discriminatory values of component items is discussed with special reference to (approximately) normal distribution of quotients from Binet Scale. A discussion follows as to how this should affect our interpretation of ‘normal distribution of intelligence’.
A NOTE ON ROLE OF ‘GUIDANCE’ IN LEARNING
Authors: VON WRIGHT J. M.
Published: April 2011

traditional experiments on ‘forced correct responses’ as a method of guidance have indicated that its facultative effect on learning is rather small. It is suggested that this outcome of experiments was mainly due to fact that subjects during guided trials got little or no information as to location of choice points or possible choices at these. An experiment is described showing that when such information is provided, ‘forced correct responses’ may be a very efficient form of guidance. importance of information about possible errors for functional discrimination of correct responses is briefly discussed.
ON VALIDITY OF APPLYING COMMUNICATION THEORY TO EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY*
Authors: CHERRY E. COLIN
Published: April 2011

Communication theory is properly applied to human performance only under certain conditions: for example, application must be made by an outside person and not by subject himself. theory also requires averages of numerous events rather than dealing with isolated ones. Given these and similar conditions, some useful and valid applications may be made to psychology. It is perfectly possible to apply theory in case in which stimulus and response are continuous functions of time, although this is not always realized.
PERCEPTUAL AND PERSONALITY DYNAMICS IN REACTIONS TO AMBIGUITY
Authors: HAMILTON VERNON
Published: April 2011

A battery of tests designed to elicit differential responses to a variety of ambiguous situations was administered to groups of Control and Neurotic subjects. data show marked individual differences and considerable evidence for intra‐individual consistency in avoidance/non‐avoidance of ambiguous situations. A high percentage of significant correlations suggests that tests measure few, closely related variables. Age and intelligence are only minimally involved. evidence is taken to be consistent with a theory of cognitive control of environment mediated via perceptual attitudes operative at varying levels of individual.

To test influence of controlling and restrictive personality factors on reactions towards ambiguous situations, groups of anxious, hysterical and obsessional psychiatric patients were compared for tendencies to avoid ambiguity. Neurotic subjects were generally shown to avoid ambiguity more than Controls, and Conversion Hysterics and Obsessionals avoided ambiguous situations more than Anxiety States. It is suggested that avoidance of ambiguity serves to avoid anxiety and conflict. similarity in behaviour between Obsessionals and Conversion Hysterics is interpreted as being due to functional similarity and aims of neurotic symptoms of these two clinical groups.
THE SOLVING OF THREE‐TERM SERIES PROBLEMS
Authors: HUNTER IAN M. L.
Published: April 2011

Sixteen problems of the three‐term series type are presented to each of 64 11‐year‐old children and 32 16‐year‐olds. The older children show evidence of solving these problems by articulated sequences of analytical judgments which accord with the varying logical structures of the problems, show no influence of atmosphere effect, show marked practice effects in progressing from one problem to the next, and solve problems involving the relatively abstract ‘happier‐sadder’ relation as quickly as identically structured problems involving the relatively concrete ‘taller‐shorter’ relation. In contrast, the younger children show but slight evidence of being influenced differentially by variations in logical structure, are susceptible to atmosphere effect, show smaller practice effects, and solve ‘taller‐shorter’ problems more rapidly than ‘happier‐sadder’ problems. The results are interpreted as demonstrating that increasing age brings increasing appreciation of the structural characteristics of series as such, together with increasing skill in dealing with serial relations which are progressively more remote from the perceptual‐motor level of behaviour.
DETERMINANTS OF EMOTIONALITY IN THE RAT
Authors: BROADHURST P. L.
Published: April 2011

A total of 112 rats (56 males and 56 females) is used to investigate the effects of some antecedent factors upon the defecation and ambulation scores derived from Hall's open‐field test of emotionality, given under precisely standardized conditions. Conditions of rearing and husbandry are similarly constant, except where systematically varied for experimental purposes. The results show that neither defecation nor ambulation is affected by systematic ‘gentling’. Sexual experience does not affect defecation, but increases ambulation significantly, and this effect appears due, among females, to the experience of suckling a litter. Previous experience of the same test at earlier ages decreases defecation among young rats, but not among older ones, while ambulation is unaffected throughout. The effect of ageing itself upon defecation is seen as a decrease among older rats only, young ones being unaffected: conversely, its effect upon ambulation is an increase among young ones only. The previously reported sex difference in response is confirmed; no interaction between this sex difference and any of the experimental variables was detected. It is concluded that these findings further support the status of defecation, as observed in this test, as a measure of an emotional response.
SURPRISE, ISOLATION, AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE AS FACTORS AFFECTING RECALL OF A TEMPORAL SERIES
Authors: GREEN ROBERT T.
Published: April 2011

Summary

Two experiments are considered which throw light on certain aspects of what has become known as the von Restorff effect. The first is designed to find out whether items in a serial learning task are favoured in recall because unexpected change attracts attention. The results show that change as such, expected or unexpected, has an effect, though unexpected change does have a somewhat greater effect on recall scores. Subjective reports suggest that this is due, at least in part, to the fact that when the instructions are understood they serve to direct attention. The second experiment directly attacks the question of whether ‘isolation’ has any distinct effect on probability of recall, and demonstrates that structural change in a temporal series is the crucial variable.
A ‘CRESPI EFFECT’ IN MALE IMBECILES
Authors: O'CONNOR N. , CLARIDGE G. S.
Published: April 2011

In order to test the effects on performance of an interchange in incentive level forty male imbeciles were divided into four equal matched groups on the basis of two initial trials on a simple dexterity task. For a further ten trials two groups worked under non‐incentive conditions and two under incentive conditions, in which they were encouraged to reach a goal based on their previous performance. On the last trial one incentive group was changed to control conditions and one control group to incentive conditions, the other two groups continuing as before. The experiment was continued for a further seven trials.

Results indicated that groups given the incentive from the beginning of learning separated significantly from those receiving no incentive. When one of the latter groups was given an incentive, however, its performance increase showed a typical Crespi type ‘elation’ effect, performance reaching, and maintaining, a level greater than that of subjects who had received the incentive from the beginning of learning. The effect was found to be a group trend rather than a response typical of all subjects.

A comparable decrease in incentive level was found to have little marked effect on performance level, which established itself at a point intermediate between the performance levels of subjects who continued to receive an incentive and of subjects who had received no incentive at all. This finding confirmed earlier work with defectives, showing that incentives would have relatively permanent effects on the attitude or set, and hence on the performance level of imbeciles.
ATTENTION TO VISUAL DISPLAYS DURING A VIGILANCE TASK
Authors: BAKER C. H.
Published: April 2011

Five experiments are described in which subjects were asked to search visual displays and report the appearance, at any location on the display, of a spot of light which persisted for one second. On displays with and without a rotating radial line it was found that subjects detect fewer such spots of light near the periphery of the display. By modifying a radar‐like display in order to facilitate a changed pattern of visual search, it was demonstrated that more peripheral spots could be detected.
EXPLORATORY BEHAVIOUR
Authors: BARNETT S. A.
Published: April 2011

A critical analysis is presented of some features of exploratory behaviour, especially in wild and tame rats but also in other species. Such behaviour is considered in the light of certain general concepts, especially ‘appetitive behaviour’, ‘reactive inhibition’, latent or exploratory learning, and motivation. The avoidance of new things, displayed by wild rats, is also discussed.
SKILL AND CHANCE: VARIATIONS IN ESTIMATES OF SKILL WITH AN INCREASING ELEMENT OF CHANCE
Authors: COHEN JOHN , DEARNALEY E. J. , HANSEL C. E. M.
Published: April 2011

Experiments with three groups of subjects, ranging in age from 13 to 20 years, were carried out to determine how estimates of success in performance are influenced by (a) varying the subjective assessment of the degree of skill required to succeed in a task, and (b) varying the degree of subjective chance. The findings were as follows, (i) The result of introducing an element of subjective chance into a task requiring some skill is to make the estimates of success in the task progressively reflect the element of subjective chance as it increases in magnitude. (ii) This effect occurs regardless of the degree of skill subjectively felt to be required for the task. (iii) The values of subjective probability of success in performance given by the older subjects are not significantly different from the products of their corresponding values of ψ (skill) and ψ (chance). In the circumstances of these experiments, therefore, the subjective probabilities based upon the subjects' estimates are equivalent to those which the experimenter could independently arrive at if he only had available to him the values of ψ (skill) and ψ (chance) and had multiplied them. (iv) In the case of younger subjects aged 13–14 years, the subjective probabilities of success in performance are somewhat larger than the products of the two separate subjective probabilities. This may be due to a tendency on the part of younger persons to be more confident of success when their estimates relate to a single situation involving two sources of uncertainty as compared with when they relate to two separate situations, each involving its own source of uncertainty.
EXPLANATORY POWERS OF THE FRACTIONAL ANTEDATING RESPONSE MECHANISM
Authors: RITCHIE BENBOW F.
Published: April 2011

The fractional antedating response mechanism is used by Spence to explain the fact that rats can anticipate the consequences of their responses and can make choices based on these anticipations. The present paper examines the logic of this explanation, shows the kinds of assumptions required by it, and derives an experimental test of this explanation.

This derivation assumes that fractional eating reactions in black and in white boxes are different reactions. While this assumption is not required to explain Kendler's experiment or Spence's paradigm, it is required to explain the latent learning and reasoning phenomena in many other experiments.

As a consequence, the negative results of the experiment reported in this paper suggest either that the fractional reaction explanation is false, or that it is trivial in the sense that it is appropriate only to those latent learning phenomena where the alternative consequences are distinguished by different consummatory responses.
THE STROBOSCOPIC PATTERNS
Authors: SMYTHIES J. R.
Published: April 2011

A detailed analysis of the dark phase patterns of Brown and Gebhard produced by looking at a uniform flickering field has been made. The phenomenon may be classified into various types, general features of the patterns have been described and their predominant colours have been evaluated quantatively. The effect of monochromatic light was explored and quantitative experiments were conducted to determine in the optic system of which eye the patterns arise. An argument is presented that they arise in the optic system of the externally dark eye and the mechanism by which this may be brought about is discussed.
REMEMBERING ADVANCE CUES DURING SEARCHING
Authors: MACKWORTH N. H. , MACKWORTH J. F.
Published: April 2011

A classification is given of the various ways in which advance information may be displayed to help performance, and a distinction is drawn between two kinds of work. These are tasks in which advance information (1) always remains on view until after action has been taken, and (2) is displayed but must be memorized, because it disappears before action is required.

A particular laboratory task of order search has been studied; this has the advantage that the facts needed for a series of decisions are displayed all the time, and therefore do not need to be remembered. But such a display also has the disadvantage that information needed for use at the moment cannot easily be selected from many other details. Visual searching can be greatly simplified by providing additional advance cues which emphasize in turn each objective as it requires attention. However, if these advance cues point to objectives which are too far ahead, once again difficulties arise in the memorizing of these extra cues.

The experiments described below investigated the size of the advance store, which was the number of advance cues which could be memorized at any given instant for successful work; this advance store did not include any advance cues currently on the display.

Studies of the advance store demonstrated that serial work greatly reduced the normal immediate memory span. Only two advance cues could be memorized to help subsequent performance at slow working speeds, and at fast speeds only one such cue could be remembered. The advance time was also much less with the faster work.

The limiting factor for anticipation span at the fast speeds was apparently the time available for perception and memorizing. In keeping with this was the further result that grouping the advance cues together in time gave better performance, and some of the possible reasons for this have been discussed.
VISUAL DISCRIMINATION OF ORIENTATION BY OCTOPUS: MIRROR IMAGES
Authors: SUTHERLAND N. S.
Published: April 2011

Octopuses were trained to discriminate visually between different pairs of mirror image shapes. The successive method of discrimination training was used. It was found first that octopuses discriminate more readily between up‐down mirror images than between left‐right mirror images; secondly, that octopuses discriminate as readily between mirror image shapes as between non‐mirror image shapes of equivalent complexity. It was also shown that it is possible to train octopuses on a comparatively difficult discrimination by the method of making reward conditional upon an attack upon the positive shape presented upon its own instead of presenting reward with the positive shape every positive trial. Although initial learning by the former method is slower, a smoother learning curve is obtained by this method, and the final level of performance reached is higher.
REGRESSION TO THE MEAN—A CONFUSED CONCEPT
Authors: CLARKE A. D. B. , CLARKE ANN M. , BROWN R. I.
Published: April 2011

It is suggested that psychologists, like other people, are not entirely immune from the tendency to ‘blind themselves with science’. Statistics in particular provide a convenient mystique and thus an encouragement to use catch‐phrases in describing events we do not fully understand. One typical example is the phrase ‘regression to the mean’, often used to explain changes in extreme test score and usually regarded as a wholly statistical problem without psychological implications. This paper, however, by reference to physical and psychological data, attempts to indicate its primarily behavioural bases and to show why groups chosen for study on the basis of extreme test score will tend to regress towards the mean of the general population, while regression of extreme scores in groups not so selected will be towards the mean of their own specific population. There appear to be two main factors at work. (i) The effects of fleeting, inconstant personal alterations in response to the test (the so‐called ‘errors of measurement’ which are more complex than they sound). (2) The essentially non‐linear nature of most individual physical or psychological growth. To say without further qualification that test scores have changed ‘because of regression’ gives no greater information than to state that they have changed because they have changed.
THE OPTIMAL PERCEPTUAL LOAD IN A PACED AUDITORY INSPECTION TASK
Authors: POULTON E. C.
Published: April 2011

A paced auditory inspection task was presented at four levels of perceptual load and three rates of critical signals. The aim was to determine whether there was an optimal range of perceptual load, over which deterioration in performance with time would be minimal. Beyond this optimal range, where the load was either too great (soon producing ‘mental fatigue’), or too small (soon producing ‘boredom’), greater deterioration was to be expected. The experimental results supported the hypothesis.

The task with the smallest perceptual load presented critical signals only once about every 4 mins. on average. This vigilance task gave significantly more errors than a task with a greater perceptual load and a higher rate of critical signals. Conditions were designed to maintain motivation in both cases. Thus the poorer performance is unlikely to have been due simply to inadequate motivation.
THE STROBOSCOPIC PATTERNS
Authors: SMYTHIES J. R.
Published: April 2011

This paper completes the report on the stroboscopic patterns. In two previous papers in this Journal (Smythies, 1959a, b) an account was given of the phenomenology of the dark and bright phases of the stroboscopic patterns—the subjective sensory patterns evoked by illuminating the retina with an intermittent stimulus. This paper reports some further experiments that explore the parameters that affect these patterns and a discussion is presented of the various hypotheses that have been advanced as to their origin.
IMPERCEPTION OF PHI: SOME FURTHER DETERMINANTS
Authors: HAMILTON VERNON
Published: April 2011

An apparent movement situation was presented to control and neurotic groups. Perception of the phi phenomenon was postulated to be associated with neurotic mechanisms and with behaviour operationally defined as conflict and ambiguity avoidance, and was considered to express a generalized perceptual attitude of the individual. Neurotics were found to have lower mean movement intervals than control subjects, and to find it more difficult to perceive the phi phenomenon. The latter tendency was particularly marked in obsessionals and hysterics. Perception of phi was found to be associated with age of subject, becoming more difficult with greater age. Imperception of phi among the neurotic sample remained greater than in the control group after partialling out age. The findings are interpreted as supporting two hypotheses derived from a set of postulates linking a perceptual attitude of ambiguity avoidance with ego defences.
EXTRAVERSION, REMINISCENCE AND SATIATION EFFECTS
Authors: LYNN R.
Published: April 2011

Eysenck's theory that extraverts accumulate reactive inhibition quickly and that it dissipates in them slowly and his application of this theory to after‐effects and reminiscence is made the basis of six predictions: using the spiral after‐effect, there should be (1) a negative correlation between extraversion and duration of the after‐effect; (2) a tendency for extraverts to see progressively less of the after‐effect with repeated massed trials; (3) a tendency for extraverts to recover more in their perception of the after‐effect after a period of rest; (4) a negative correlation between the duration of the after‐effect and a measure of reminiscence using the inverted alphabet printing task; (5) a positive correlation between extraversion and reminiscence; (6) a tendency for extraverts to show more work decrement with massed practice on the inverted alphabet printing task. Using forty male university students as subjects, predictions 1, 2, 4 and 5 are confirmed at a statistically significant level, and predictions 3 and 6 show nonsignificant results in the predicted direction.
THE EFFECT OF ILLUMINATION CONDITIONS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LIGHT‐ONSET AS A REINFORCER: A TEST OF THE BEVAN‐ADAMSON REINFORCEMENT THEORY*
Authors: HURWITZ HARRY M. B.
Published: April 2011

An experiment was performed to test a deduction from the Bevan‐Adamson theory of reinforcement, namely, that the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus (light‐onset) is dependent on the adaptation to background stimuli and an internal referent. Two groups of hooded rats (five in each group) were given seven half‐hour operant sessions in a dark and an illuminated box, respectively. A measure of the frequency of bar pressing and exploration of a copper screen was taken. The groups were then given fourteen sessions in a dark box, bar pressing resulting in light‐onset. The results showed that the bar pressing rate for the dark operant‐tested subjects was significantly higher than for subjects operant‐tested in an illuminated box. These results appear to be in accordance with the Bevan‐Adamson theory.
A PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE BROOK REACTION TEST
Authors: BROOK D. F. , HEIM A. W.
Published: April 2011

An experiment is described on the assessment of interests. The underlying hypothesis is that people's individual interests will be revealed by their responses to an ambiguous word‐association test. The stimulus words chosen had two or more meanings, of which at least one related to a specific interest. Each of the thirty subjects was interviewed immediately after taking the test and was rated on nine predetermined interests, using a 4‐point scale. Significant correlations between the two criteria were obtained for seven of the nine interests.
A RESULT IN VISUAL AESTHETICS
Authors: ALEXANDER CHRISTOPHER
Published: April 2011

Subjects were given eight forms and asked to sort them in a number of ways on the basis of overall similarity; they were also asked to state the order of their preferences among the forms. From the data generated, four tentative results emerged:

By giving ourselves an appropriate verbal set, we can make ourselves see (and categorize) a group of forms in many different ways. It appears, however, that there is a natural way of categorizing them which is independent of any verbal set, and which depends on the formation of visual non‐verbal concepts.

Preference for the forms is dependent on the way the forms are seen—on the visual similarity dimensions. But the dependence is incomplete. It might perhaps be better called a linkage—comparable to the linkage between hue and brightness.

The peculiarly weak nature of this linkage suggests the hypothesis that the beauty of a form cannot be explained in terms of any visible qualities or attributes that it has, but only in terms of the operations performed in the brain of the observer.

Aesthetic discrimination is independent of all other kinds of perceptual discrimination.
MEMORIZING, RECODING AND PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION
Authors: ALLAN MARY D.
Published: April 2011

Attention is drawn to the important part which memorizing plays in all formal instruction. The limited span of immediate memory is discussed in terms of a communication channel of limited capacity. A memorizing task is reported in which the human communication channel was repeatedly bombarded with a sequence of events too numerous for immediate absorption. The results suggest that perceptual organization may be a basic activity of the human communication system under certain conditions of stress. Further memorizing experiments are described in which an attempt was made to find an answer to the question ‘Does the activity towards perceptual organization occur only when the channel is overloaded?’

The results indicate that perceptual organization is a function of overloading and will not occur when the channel is operating below capacity.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED SIZE AND PERCEIVED DISTANCE*
Authors: RUMP E. E.
Published: April 2011

Two experiments are described in which subjects judged both the real size and the distance of objects viewed under reduced‐cue conditions. The results provide further evidence that perceived size and perceived distance are not necessarily related in the positive linear manner that the Invariance Hypothesis predicts, and that therefore the predictive value of this hypothesis is limited. However, some aspects of the results of the first experiment do conform to its predictions.

The results also show that the direction of the size‐distance relationship for successive judgements by individual observers may be affected by their assumptions concerning the relationship, and concerning the nature of the stimulus‐object, when stimulus‐cues are reduced.
RESPONSE TO AFFIRMATIVE AND NEGATIVE BINARY STATEMENTS
Authors: WASON P. C.
Published: April 2011

A previous experiment showed consistent and significant differences in the times taken to complete true affirmative, false affirmative, true negative and false negative statements in relation to given situations. In that task only one pattern of stimuli could have made an affirmative true and a negative false, but more than one could have made an affirmative false and a negative true. The present investigation equates the specificity of all statements, and hence eliminates the disjunctive implication of false affirmatives and true negatives by utilizing the mutually exclusive classes of odd and even numbers as material. Two tasks were used, (a) ‘verification’, i.e. determining whether a statement about a number is true or false, and (b) ‘construction’, i.e. stating a number to make a statement either true or false. In both tasks the form of a statement (affirmative or negative) was significant at the 0·001 level at the end of practice. In the construction task the truth value of a statement (true or false) was also significant at the 0·001 level, but in the verification task it was not significant. These results were obtained from two groups who performed the tasks in a different order. The cognitive processes involved in the tasks are discussed.
A FOLLOW‐UP STUDY OF INHELDER AND PIAGET'S THE GROWTH OF LOGICAL THINKING
Authors: LOVELL K.
Published: April 2011

A follow‐up study was made using ten of the experiments described by Inhelder and Piaget in their book The Growth of Logical Thinking. Two hundred subjects, most of whom were between 8 and 18 years of age, were examined, individually, on four experiments. The main stages in the development of logical thinking proposed by the authors are confirmed, although on a number of points there is disagreement. Attention is drawn to the educational implications of this study.
HOW THE IDENTIFICATION OF TARGET ACCELERATION IS AFFECTED BY MODES OF STARTING AND OF ENDING
Authors: GOTTSDANKER ROBERT
Published: April 2011

It previously had been found that negatively accelerated visual motion may be identified more accurately than positively accelerated motion. An explanation was advanced in terms of the differential consequences of ‘missing’ the start of the motion. From this it was deduced that the difference in accuracy could be diminished by use of a lead‐in motion before the start of the portion to be judged. In the present experiment with twenty‐six adult human subjects, the prediction was upheld, as there was virtually equal accuracy with the moving onset for positively and negatively accelerated motion. However, the outcome was clear‐cut only when the motion ended with the target remaining stationary rather than disappearing from view. No explanation could be formulated for this interaction.
THE CONCEPT OF THE ‘RADIUS OF ACTION’ IN THE CAUSAL IMPRESSION
Authors: BOYLE D. G.
Published: April 2011

In Michotte's experiments, in which a phenomenal object A appears to strike a phenomenal object B, launching B into motion, there is a certain distance outside which the movement of B becomes phenomenally autonomous. The distance within which B appears to move under the influence of A is referred to as the ‘radius of action’ (r.a.) of A upon B. Michotte originally suggested that the r.a. was a complex function of the speed of B, but Yela's experimental work seemed to show that r.a. is a spatial translation of a temporal constant, i.e. that the length of r.a. bears a relation of simple proportionality to the speed of B. Experiments by the present author failed to confirm Yela's findings, but seemed rather to confirm Michotte's original suggestion. Possible explanations of the differences between Yela's findings and the present results are suggested.
INFLUENCES OF TRAINING AND FATIGUE ON THE CONTINUOUS RECORDING OF A VISUAL DIFFERENTIAL THRESHOLD
Authors: HAIDER M. , DIXON N. F.
Published: April 2011

A visual differential threshold was recorded continuously for 14 min. in each of six different sessions. Integrated scores for 1/2‐min. periods, indicative of mean threshold values, showed a marked tendency to rise between the second and the tenth minute of the experiment. This was attributed to a fatigue decrement of a central state of vigilance or alertness. The scoring of length of curve and number of control adjustments during 1/2 min. periods, indicative of the subject's working behaviour, showed no such consistent tendencies. In the first run, however, the method of working showed some training effects which seemed to mask the fatigue decrement of mean threshold values and led to a change in the criteria of judgement for the second run. All three variables showed marked and fairly consistent individual differences. No clear differences between morning and evening values could be established.
THE FITNESS OF NAMES TO DRAWINGS. A CROSS‐CULTURAL STUDY IN TANGANYIKA
Authors: DAVIS R.
Published: April 2011

A set of experiments is described in which native children in the Mahali peninsula, Lake Tanganyika, were asked to match nonsense names with abstract drawings. The African children allotted names to drawings in a highly consistent manner and their choices were similar to those of a control group of English school children. It is argued that the results support the theory that purely structural similarities between sounds and shapes can be appreciated and used in naming.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN FIGURAL AFTER‐EFFECTS AND RESPONSE TO REVERSIBLE FIGURES*
Authors: GARDNER RILEY W.
Published: April 2011

Studies by McEwen & Rodger and by Spitz & Lipman have not confirmed Wertheimer's earlier finding of consistent individual differences in visual and kinaesthetic after‐effects. Further results indicating lack of correlation between visual and kinaesthetic after‐effects are presented, with results suggesting low reliability of kinaesthetic after‐effects over time, significant effects of starting positions on judgements, and non‐significant relations between after‐effects and the number of reversals experienced with three reversible figures.
HERING'S ILLUSION
Authors: HOLT‐HANSEN KRISTIAN
Published: April 2011

A series of optical experiments was designed to investigate several factors that may help to explain the Hering Illusion. In this illusion subjects are shown two vertical lines crossed by angular lines which stem from the point midway between them; subjects then report the straight pair of parallel lines as appearing curved in a bow‐shaped manner.

Findings indicate increased perceived curvature of the lines when the angles presented are greater in number or size. The illusion is further increased if the angles and lines are shown sequentially rather than simultaneously. Similar results occur on presentation of a circle cutting through the rays of a quadrangular star; the circle looks ‘squarish’. When lines or circles are presented to one eye only while the other eye receives the angles or star, this illusion still holds.

All perceived curvature shows anti‐apical distortion, which appears due to neuro‐cortical after‐effects underlying visual perception.
THE PERSISTENCE OF NON‐VERIDICAL PERCEPTION
Authors: ENTICKNAP L. E.
Published: April 2011

If a stimulus object is presented with increasing clarity and strength, a transition is effected from non‐perception to veridical perception. Error, when it occurs, tends to persist beyond the point where veridical perception would have been expected had no error intervened. This phenomenon, the persistence of non‐veridical perception, is referred to as ‘delay’. Six tests, three visual and three auditory, were administered to 100 subjects. The results were subjected to factor‐analysis. Three factors were found to load the delay scores. One was a general delay factor, another had positive loadings on the auditory tests for delay and promptness of response while the third loaded the visual tests similarly. The two last‐mentioned factors had negative loadings on age. Some implications for vigilance tasks are suggested.
CONCEPT FORMATION IN AN ORDERING TASK
Authors: SHAFFER L. HENRY
Published: April 2011

Subjects were given the opportunity of forming a concept, while carrying out a discrimination task, which would order a set of polygons. The likelihood of forming a concept was examined under different conditions of instruction, material and display presentation. The concept had to be formed in the absence of any trial‐by‐trial knowledge of results. The results show that subjects were more likely to discover the relevant concept if they were instructed that some concept might be applicable than if this instruction was withheld, and if three rather than two polygons appeared in the display. The notion of ‘concept’ is reviewed and the study of concept formation is discussed in the context of inventive reasoning.
VICIOUS CIRCLE BEHAVIOUR UNDER TWO SHOCK INTENSITIES
Authors: HURWITZ HARRY M. B. , BOLAS DAPHNE , HARITOS MARIA
Published: April 2011

An experiment is reported to investigate some of the procedural factors underlying the vicious circle behaviour (VCB) phenomenon, first described by Mowrer. By definition, VCB involves self‐punishment. Previous experiments had shown that under selected conditions behaviour resulting in self‐punishment does not extinguish. In the present experiment, two parameters of the behavioural situation generating VCB are examined: the intensity of shock and the temporal property of the warning signal during initial training trials. The parameters were found to be determinants of the phenomenon. The results are described in terms of discrimination learning factors.
TOLERANCE FOR UNREALISTIC EXPERIENCES: A STUDY OF THE GENERALITY OF A COGNITIVE CONTROL*
Authors: KLEIN GEORGE S. , GARDNER RILEY W. , SCHLESINGER HERBERT J.
Published: April 2011

A previous study demonstrated that subjects consistently differed in their willingness to experience perceptual organizations contradicting what they knew to be true. Subsequent work has suggested that these individual differences reflect the operation of more general ‘cognitive controls’. Results of the previous study, originally described in terms of ‘tolerance’ and ‘intolerance’ for one form of instability, are here conceived as representing a cognitive control more aptly described as ‘tolerance for unrealistic experiences’. In an attempt to discover the range of applicability of this hypothesized control principle, and to gain further knowledge about it, 30 subjects were tested in a series of laboratory experiments. The Rorschach test was administered to 27 of these subjects. The tests were chosen to bring about unconformable, i.e. unrealistic, experiences by two general means: (a) by manipulating the physical stimulation so that reality is altered; and (b) by presenting subjects with relatively ambiguous stimuli for which ‘reality’ provides no clear‐cut confirmation, so that subjects are free to organize them in a number of ways.

The results generally support those of the original study and extend the range of situations in which the control principle can account for individual differences.
CONTROL, DEFENCE AND CENTRATION EFFECT: A STUDY OF SCANNING BEHAVIOUR*
Authors: GARDNER RILEY W. , LONG ROBERT I.
Published: April 2011

Studies of individual consistencies in cognitive behaviours by Gardner and others led to postulation of a cognitive control principle called extensiveness of scanning that could in part determine the apparent size of standard stimuli in a relatively difficult size estimation test. In the present study, electro‐oculography was employed to obtain precise measures of the scanning strategies 60 subjects employed in four size estimation tests. In addition to providing evidence of consistent individual scanning syndromes, the study showed that extensiveness of scanning is a determinant of apparent size in the relatively difficult size estimation test in question. The study also confirmed Piaget's hypothesis (see Piaget, 1961) that the apparent size of a stimulus is a function of the duration of a single centration upon it. Subjects were shown to be consistently different from each other in these centration effects, independent of the significant negative correlation of the effect with age. These individual differences were significantly associated with the apparent size of standard stimuli in a relatively simple size estimation test. A predicted relationship between extensiveness of scanning and the number of conceptually distant responses produced in a free association test was not confirmed. Predicted relationships were confirmed, however, between extensiveness of scanning and the strength of the defence mechanisms of isolation and projection and the degree of generalized delay, judged on the basis of Rorschach test protocols. Predictions of specific aspects of response to the Rorschach inkblots were also confirmed.
SOME PROPERTIES OF BEHAVIOUR UNDER FIXED RATIO AND COUNTING SCHEDULES
Authors: HURWITZ H. M. B.
Published: April 2011

The effects on rate of response and on a measure of the sequential properties of the response array of two reinforcement schedules, specified in terms of two response classes, lever pressing and tray responding, were investigated. Observations were made under conditioning and extinction. Under both conditions animals (rats) trained by the counting procedure responded at a consistently higher rate but received fewer reinforcements. The results are discussed with reference to two maze‐running procedures and to double alternation studies.
AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE GROWTH OF SOME LOGICAL STRUCTURES
Authors: LOVELL K. , MITCHELL B. , EVERETT I. R.
Published: April 2011

A number of experiments of the type suggested by Piaget & Inhelder's book La genèse des structures logiques élémentaires were given to a population of primary and educationally subnormal (E.S.N.) special school children. The findings among the former group generally confirm those of the Geneva school. It has been possible to extend Piaget & Inhelder's findings by giving a number of tests to the same children, and by making a comparative study of primary and E.S.N. school pupils.
A STUDY OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF
Authors: BROWN L. B.
Published: April 2011

In an empirical study of religious belief, measures of strength of belief in an Australian student population were compared with beliefs in other areas and with personality and attitudinal variables.

The correlation matrix shows that the religious belief measures belong together and that religious belief has its best relationships with institutionalization and denomination on the one hand and with authoritarianism on the other. The personality measures of anxiety were found to be related to dogmatism in opinionative and factual matters. In this way Thouless's finding that religious belief statements are assented to more strongly than are statements of fact has been confirmed, and extended.

It is concluded that religious belief is a relatively isolated cognitive system requiring strong social support for its maintenance.