bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
EFFECTS OF PRACTICE AND REST ON FLUCTUATIONS IN THE MÜLLER–LYER ILLUSION
Authors: EYSENCK H. J. , SLATER P.
Published: April 2011

Fifty subjects are given sixty trials each with an apparatus exhibiting the Müller–Lyer illusion. The first forty trials (divided for analysis into four periods of ten) are uninterrupted; a 30 sec. pause for fixation is followed by a fifth period of ten trials; and a rest pause of 30 min. by a final period. On the group as a whole, practice produces scarcely any effect. The means differ very little from trial to trial from period to period, and the amount of variation about them tends to remain constant. The effect of the illusion varies greatly on different individuals. The variance between the subjects' means for the experiment as a whole constitutes 63% of the total. There are also striking differences in the effects of practice on different subjects; these person:period interactions account for another 14%. The error variance forms almost the whole of the remainder (22%).

To classify the person:period interactions, a principal component analysis was employed. The first latent root, accounting for 59% of the variance due to interaction, describes a course of change which retains the same direction for any particular subject (whether upwards or downwards, towards or away from the point of zero illusion) up to the end of the fifth period but is reversed by the rest pause. The authors do not consider the terminology of satiation or improvement with practice suitable for describing the whole range of such phenomena, but suggest a description in terms of habit reinforcement. However, the phenomena exhibited by subsequent components, which cannot be neglected as statistically non‐significant, do not seem so explicable. All such performances constitute patterns of search, and it is noteworthy that none of them accord with the oscillatory pattern suggested by cybernetic theory. Scores on scales of neuroticism and extraversion‐introversion failed to correlate significantly with individual differences either in the effect of the illusion over the experiment as a whole or in the progressive changes induced by practice.
QUANTITATIVE JUDGEMENT IN SOCIAL PERCEPTION*
Authors: TAJFEL H.
Published: April 2011

Stimuli which form a series may differ from each other in their physical magnitudes and in their value to the subject; they may also be classified according to various attributes. A theoretical schema is presented which is based on some assumptions about the effects of the interaction of these three variables upon absolute judgements pertaining to series of stimuli. These assumptions allow for predictions of shifts of judgement in a number of series in which these variables are found in various combinations. Many of these combinations are representative of conditions under which judgements in social situations are made. An attempt is also made to apply some predictions following from the schema to judgements involving not only physical but also abstract continua.
THE ANCHORING EFFECTS OF VALUE IN A SCALE OF JUDGEMENTS
Authors: TAJFEL H.
Published: April 2011

The investigation is concerned with assessing the effects of value on judgements of weight of a series of stimuli. It was found that an association of value with either the heavy or the light end of the series leads to changes in the judged relationships between the stimuli of the series; the most pronounced effect is that the stimuli at the opposite ends of the series tend to be judged as more different from each other in the value than in the neutral condition. In a control experiment, in which value was associated indiscriminately with all the stimuli of the series, no such effects were observed. Further control experiments, in which the end stimuli of the series were emphasized by means other than attaching value to them, also yielded negative results. The study is viewed in the context of the general problem of the effects that abstract attributes of stimuli may have on judgements of their physical characteristics. An explanation of the findings is formulated in terms of anchoring, and their relevance to perceptual over‐estimation and to some related problems is discussed.
A STUDY OF PREFERENCES IN FEMININE BEAUTY
Authors: ILIFFE A. H.
Published: April 2011

A survey of previous studies of aesthetic preferences shows little attention to examples of natural beauty and none to preferences in the field of human beauty. In inquiries using factor analysis it is necessary to distinguish different uses of the term ‘the general factor in aesthetic judgements’. In the present inquiry twelve photographs of women's faces taken in uniform conditions were ranked for ‘prettiness’ by 4355 readers of a national daily newspaper. Twenty‐two inter‐correlations between mean rankings of men and women, of four age groups, and of six regional groups were each of the order of 0·9. Conformity of opinion within groups was significantly different only for the 55 + age group who showed less tendency to agree than other age groups. Factor analysis of a small random group of individual rankings resulted in a general factor accounting for 43 % of the variance, and a small bipolar factor. Comparison of mean rankings of representative samples of five occupational groups showed that social status has little influence on preferences. Limitations of the technique of inquiry are discussed and the results are considered in the light of the hypothesis that norms of human beauty are culturally determined.
AROUSAL AND INHIBITION AS DETERMINANTS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF NEUROTICS
Authors: CLARIDGE G. S.
Published: April 2011

A comparison was made between the performance, on a five‐choice serial reaction time task, of three groups of twenty dysthymic, twenty hysteric, and twenty normal subjects. Substantial confirmation was found for the main hypothesis that dysthymics and hysterics would differ in arousal level, as reflected in their speed of performance on the task. As predicted, dysthymics performed at a significantly faster rate than hysterics, with normals intermediate. The effects of inhibition on subsequent performance were measured by means of fall‐off, reminiscence, and error scores. Since the absolute amount of inhibition built up during the task was partly a function of initial speed, the influence of the latter was taken into consideration in assessing group differences on these three variables. As a result, differences between the groups were found to be in line with expectation, hysterics showing relatively greater fall‐off, reminiscence and errors than dysthymics, normals being intermediate on the first two of these measures. Since differences between the three groups in extraversion were not sufficient to account for these findings, and in view of the apparent arousal differences, the hypothesis is suggested that there is, in dysthymics and hysterics, an effective shift in the excitation‐inhibition balance proposed by Eysenck to underly the personality dimension of introversion‐extraversion. Arousal and inhibition are thus seen as interacting processes, the behaviour of hysterics and dysthymics being extremes of this interaction. This hypothesis is discussed in relation to the recent revival of interest in activation theory, particularly those aspects which regard anxiety, arousal, and drive as having a common neurophysiological basis.
THE EFFECTS OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT ON AUDITORY SENSITIVITY
Authors: ÖZBAYDAR SABRI
Published: April 2011

This paper describes a group of experiments on the supposed effects of darkness and light on auditory sensitivity. The absolute threshold, differential threshold and masked threshold for a 1200 cyc./sec. tone, were measured in a total of forty‐six subjects, both when adapted to darkness, and to an ambient light of 25 ft.‐candles.

There was a small, but reliable, improvement in both absolute and masked thresholds, in the light. No change was found in the differential threshold.

Some introspective evidence was also obtained from twelve subjects.
THE STRIPE PARADOX
Authors: BELOFF JOHN
Published: April 2011

An account is given of a phenomenon of binocular vision called here ‘The Stripe Paradox’. The name refers to a peculiar property exhibited by a set of stripes: that of resisting all attempt to produce double‐imagery regardless of their positioning relative to the two optic axes. An investigation designed to ascertain the limits within which the effect operates is here described and some attempt is made at an explanation of the phenomenon in terms of certain known visual mechanisms.
READINESS TO PERCEIVE VIOLENCE AS A RESULT OF POLICE TRAINING
Authors: TOCH HANS H. , SCHULTE RICHARD
Published: April 2011

A group of men who had undergone a three‐year course in law enforcement were tachistoscopically presented with a ‘violent’ picture to one eye, and a matched ‘neutral’ picture to the other. The results were compared with those obtained from novices in the training programme, and from psychology students.

The trained subjects were found to see ‘violent’ scenes fully as often as they saw ‘neutral’ ones, whereas the control subjects reported comparatively few ‘violent’ pictures.

It was concluded that specialized training may supplement past experience in areas in which the average person's experiences are inadequate. In this fashion, a person may become perceptually ‘sensitive’ in situations which ordinarily rarely occur.
SKILL AND JUDGMENT OF FOOTBALLERS IN ATTEMPTING TO SCORE GOALS A STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBABILITY
Authors: COHEN JOHN , DEARNALEY E. J.
Published: April 2011

The paper describes an experimental study of certain aspects of football in the context of psychological probability. Two First Division teams, a University team and a Grammar School team acted as subjects. The methods employed include extensions of previous techniques and new applications. A further analysis of certain experimental situations was made by an examination of films of actual matches. Supplementary evidence was obtained from the statistical records of First Division football clubs and from discussions with their managers. The results reveal systematic relationships between skill and judgment in goal scoring. Theoretical assumptions and implications are considered.
EFFECT OF VISUAL DEPRIVATION ON AUDITORY VIGILANCE
Authors: BAKAN PAUL , MANLEY RICHARD
Published: April 2011

Signal detection in an auditory vigilance task is compared under conditions of normal visual stimulation and of visual deprivation produced by a blindfold. The task consists of detecting sequences of three different digits in the order odd‐even‐odd, appearing in a continuous series of digits. Sighted males detect significantly fewer signals than blindfolded males. The visual deprivation variable has no significant effect on female performance. There is some evidence from retrospective reports that sighted males are more emotional and perhaps aroused to a point which impairs efficient vigilance performance.
CEREBRAL DOMINANCE IN REACTION TIME RESPONSES
Authors: KERR MYFANWY , MINGAY ROSEMARY , ELITHORN ALICK
Published: April 2011

Previous experimental work has suggested that bilateral reaction times to visual stimuli may be subject to dominance effects, and that where pairs of stimuli are closely ordered in time, these effects may be more complex than a simple superiority in speed of performance by the dominant hand. Twenty subjects, ten markedly left handed and ten markedly right handed, were selected from a larger group of forty‐four subjects to examine these effects in detail.

Results showed:

For single responses and paired responses to simultaneous stimuli, responses by the dominant hand were made significantly faster than by the non‐dominant hand.

A reversal of this effect occurred with the second responses to paired stimuli which were separated by an interval of 100 msec., the dominant responses being made significantly more slowly than the non‐dominant responses.

This reversal was a feature of the delayed responses only, i.e. of those responses where reaction time to the second stimulus was lengthened following a response to the first stimulus. Where the response to S2 was not delayed, dominance effects were in the same direction as for the single responses.

A subsidiary finding was that, apart from the relative magnitudes of response times, types of response to paired stimuli showed some relationship to individual dominance. In particular the response to S2 was more often delayed in the stimulus order non‐dominant/dominant than in the opposite order and responses were more often made independently in the order dominant/non‐dominant.
SHAPE DISCRIMINATION BY RATS: SQUARES AND RECTANGLES
Authors: SUTHERLAND N. S. , CARR A. E.
Published: April 2011

Sixteen rats were trained to discriminate between a square and a rectangle: both shapes were presented in different orientations to different animals. All animals were trained in succession with positive shape only, positive and negative shapes presented simultaneously, positive and negative shapes presented successively; finally they were given tests with 18 transfer shapes presented singly. Although the rats showed a strong preference for the square early in training, they later responded more accurately to the rectangle presented on its own than to the square. There was no tendency to transfer from a rectangle in one orientation to rectangles in other orientations, and indeed when a horizontal rectangle was substituted for a vertical or vice versa negative transfer resulted. The rats (unlike octopuses) showed complete transfer to outline shapes. The transfer test results are discussed in relation to recent physiological discoveries about retinal receptive fields.
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES IN ‘HYPNOTIC’ BEHAVIOUR: SUGGESTED DEAFNESS EVALUATED BY DELAYED AUDITORY FEEDBACK*
Authors: BARBER T. X. , CALVERLEY D. S.
Published: April 2011

Delayed auditory feedback (DAF) was used to assess the objective consequences of suggested deafness. Forty‐two women students were randomly assigned to three groups of fourteen subjects. Group A received suggestions of deafness subsequent to a standardized 15 min. hypnotic induction procedure; Group B received suggestions of deafness under waking conditions; Group C served as a control. Suggestions of deafness, given with or without a preceding hypnotic induction procedure, were effective with the majority of subjects in eliciting subjective reports of altered auditory perception. However, subjects claiming partial or total ‘subjective deafness’ responded to the DAF with stuttering, mispronunciations, increased vocal intensity and slowed rate of speaking in the same way as the controls who heard normally.
ON THE INTERACTION OF S‐R COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER VARIABLES AFFECTING REACTION TIME
Authors: BROADBENT D. E. , GREGORY MARGARET
Published: April 2011

Choice reactions to tactual stimulation were studied, using compatible instructions (react with the finger that is stimulated) and incompatible ones (react with the corresponding finger on the other hand). It was found that decrease in compatibility increased the effect of number of alternative reactions, of uncertainty about the time of arrival of a stimulus, of a simultaneous distracting task, and of an unequal frequency of arrival of different signals. It was also noted that no significant interaction was found between time uncertainty and number of alternative signals; and that stimuli with a fixed probability of occurrence gave slower reactions when several different stimuli were presented in intervening trials, than when there was only one. The results are interpreted as according with a theoretical mechanism resembling a statistical decision.
RESPONSE PATTERNS AND STRATEGIES IN THE DYNAMICS OF CONCEPT ATTAINMENT BEHAVIOUR
Authors: EIFERMANN RIVKA R.
Published: April 2011

Following Bruner, Goodnow & Austin an analysis of subjects' response patterns in conjunctive concept attainment was undertaken. The analysis was based, in addition to the card choices used in previous experiments, on subjects' verbal reports about each of their choices. The aim was to trace the dynamics of concept attainment behaviour and determine how systematic and consistent response patterns become over a series of problems. It was found, first, that there exists a positive correlation between the ability to justify one's card‐selection verbally and efficiently in concept attainment. Secondly, a majority of subjects became systematic in their response pattern after being exposed to a few problems of the same type. Thirdly, a good number of subjects, after having attained systematic response patterns became unsystematic again for a shorter or longer run. The theoretical concepts of holistic and elementaristic strategies are disdinguished from the observational ones of component‐centred and concept‐centred strategies.
PROBABILITY LEARNING IN STEP‐INPUT TRACKING*
Authors: GIBBS C. B.
Published: April 2011

Six men and six women tracked stimuli that demanded responses of unequal probability. The control‐display relation was directionally incompatible. Half the subjects used their non‐preferred hand. Many large directional errors occurred in early practice and these were amended after a mean delay of 0·24 sec. With continued practice, small errors persisted mainly in responses of low probability but the mean amendment time fell to 0·11 sec. These errors provided new, highly sensitive measures that revealed differences in performance associated with sex, hand preference and probability (P < 0·01).

The results are compatible with hypotheses that the speed, direction and extent of movement are determined by negative proprioceptive feedback and integral‐error control (Gibbs, 1954).
DISCRIMINATION OF AVOIDABLE AND UNAVOIDABLE SHOCK
Authors: BROWN ROBERT
Published: April 2011

Rats were given standard avoidance training in a two‐compartment shuttle‐box. Thereafter shock was only signalled if the subject was in one of the distinctively coloured compartments at the start of a given trial, while non‐signalled shock was presented in the other compartment. Subjects showed a significant preference for this compartment on several measures. Half of the subjects received a relatively higher shock intensity during this latter part of the experiment, and this had the effect of improving avoidance performance and increasing the subjects' preference for the signalled shock situation. These findings are discussed in terms of the relative conditioned aversiveness of various stimuli present in the situation.
THE ALTERNATION PROCESS IN BINOCULAR RIVALRY
Authors: LEVELT W. J. M.
Published: April 2011

Alternation frequency in binocular rivalry and relative dominance of stimuli in the right and left eyes are described in terms of an alternation model. The model is based on the assumption that the mean duration of the dominance of the stimulus in one eye is independent of the strength of this stimulus; the duration is assumed to be dependent only upon the strength of the stimulus in the contralateral eye. A provisional definition of stimulus strength is given. Evidence for assumptions and model is presented by a review of experimental literature on dominance and alternation in binocular rivalry, and by a number of experiments. Normal binocular fusion is considered.
EEG CORRELATES OF THRESHOLD REGULATION AS A FUNCTION OF STIMULUS WAVELENGTH: A COMPARISON BETWEEN NORMAL SUBJECTS AND PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS
Authors: DIXON N. F.
Published: April 2011

Results of a previous study (Dixon & Lear, 1963, 1964) suggested the perceptual defence effect may be attributable to changes in pre‐awareness levels of cortical activation. The present study looks into this apparent relation between threshold and activation by making use of the fact that the direction of threshold change, under conditions of sympathetic activity, appears to depend upon the wavelength of the stimulus test light. The results, using monochromatic light, suggest that the relation between threshold and activation, in normals and patients, may be less simple than previously supposed.
NUMERICAL RELATIONS, SIMILARITY, AND SHORT‐TERM RECOGNITION MEMORY FOR PAIRS OF DIGITS
Authors: WICKELGREN WAYNE A.
Published: April 2011

Recognition memory for pairs of digits after a 6 sec interference task was superior for pairs containing a zero or one and for pairs consisting of two identical digits than for ‘ordinary’ pairs. Pairs consisting of digits in forward or backward sequence (e.g. 56 or 43) and pairs where one digit is a multiple of the other were remembered slightly better than ‘ordinary’ pairs. False recognition rates were highest for test pairs that had the highest degrees of ‘identical elements' similarity to the presented pair (two identical digits in reversed positions or one identical digit in the same position as in the presented pair). The results are discussed in terms of an associative theory of short‐term recognition memory.
THE SIZE‐CONSTANCY THEORY OF VISUAL ILLUSIONS
Authors: HOTOPF W. H. N.
Published: April 2011

This article criticizes the view that visual illusions, conceived as flat projections of typical views of objects lying in three‐dimensional space, result from inappropriate constancy scaling. It points out that visual illusions are multiply determined and that the theory in some cases leads to contradictions. It suggests that perspective interpretations of visual illusions have overemphasized the influence of geometrical environments. Finally it criticizes attempts to distinguish between two types of scaling responsible for constancy.
SIZE CONSTANCY AND INTELLIGENCE: A RE‐EXAMINATION
Authors: HAMILTON VERNON
Published: April 2011

This investigation was concerned with a re‐examination of the usually accepted negative correlation between intelligence and size constancy. Size estimates of three standards were obtained from two groups of school‐children of similar age but markedly different intelligence, and the incidence of over‐constancy and under‐constancy in different regions of a range of i.q.'s was critically considered. The four major conclusions were that knowledge of the laws of perspective influences reduction in under‐constancy, that under‐constancy as well as over‐constancy may occur with low as well as high i.q.'s, that over‐constancy appears to be the more usual and adaptive behaviour with higher cognitive development, and that significant changes away from under‐constancy are associated with higher intellectual levels.
AVOIDANCE RESPONSES AS DISCRIMINATED OPERANTS
Authors: KEEHN J. D.
Published: April 2011

In response to a comment by Brown (1965) it is argued that stimuli associated with electric shock in avoidance‐learning experiments do not necessarily acquire an attribute of aversiveness but function as discriminative stimuli. The usual assumption that avoidance behaviour is not reinforced by shock omission but is acquired coincidentally through its collateral termination of a conditioned aversive state of affairs is rejected in the light of experimental evidence.
PERCEPTUAL DISTORTION INDUCED BY REASONING
Authors: WASON P. C. , KOSVINER ADÈLE
Published: April 2011

The aim of this investigation was to compare the effects of three different degrees of expectancy on the perception of relative length. It was assumed that expectancy would be (a) maximal when erroneous information about the relative length of two equal lines was deduced fallaciously by the subjects, (b) intermediate when the same information was presented by the experimenter, and (c) zero when no such information was presented. It was predicted that the subsequent perception of length would vary in accordance with the degree of expectancy induced, i.e. (a) > (b) > (c). The prediction was confirmed at a high confidence level for the frequency of perceptual judgements, but the amount of perceptual distortion did not differ significantly although the means were in the predicted order. The results are discussed in relation to theories of perception and cognition.
SERIAL AND PARALLEL CLASSIFICATION
Authors: CORCORAN D. W. J.
Published: April 2011

The recognition of complex stimuli may be achieved by either of two strategies. Stimulus characteristics may be noted in turn (serial classification) or simultaneously (parallel classification). Two experiments are reported which attempt to determine which method is adopted with novel stimuli and whether a change in strategy occurs with practice. It was concluded that an initial mode of classification which was probably serial gives way to parallel classification after extended practice. The advantages of parallel classification in recognition are discussed.
THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE AND EXPERIENCE ON THE USE OF LOGICAL SYMBOLS
Authors: YOUNISS JAMES , FURTH HANS G.
Published: April 2011

Twenty‐four deaf, twenty‐four hearing culturally deprived (American Indian), and twenty‐four middle‐class control young adolescents were trained in five daily sessions to identify picture‐instances as true or false denotations of symbolic statements of eight logical concepts. Training was non‐verbal in that subjects had to construct instances for statements of concepts or write statements for given instances. On the fifth day subjects were administered a paper and pencil test in which they had to identify newly introduced instances as true or false cases of concept statements. Deaf and Indian children manifested a similar performance pattern across concepts which differed notably from that of the control middle‐class subjects. With concepts which generated a broad class of logically equivalent but physically distinct instances and with that aspect of a concept which included a broad class of instances, control subjects were superior to deaf and to Indian subjects. In distinction, minimal differences among groups were observed in identification of an instance which came from a class of one or a narrow class. It was concluded that deaf and Indian subjects at the age‐level sampled tended to use symbols primarily to depict attributes literally while the controls were better able to apply symbols as they represent classes of instances. The results appear to conform to contemporary theories on the development of representational use of symbols and specify the deleterious influence of long‐term experiential deprivation on intellectual development.
RETINAL INHIBITION IN VISUAL DISTORTION
Authors: ROBINSON J. O.
Published: April 2011

Objections to Gregory's theory of the visual distortions and illusions are reviewed and an alternative theory involving inhibitory processes at the retinal level is proposed. This theory, however, deals only with distortions and not with illusions.
SIMULATION OF STABLE AND NEUROTIC PERSONALITIES BY SUBJECTS WARNED OF THE PRESENCE OF LIE SCALES IN INVENTORIES
Authors: POWER R. P.
Published: April 2011

A version of the MPI, which in addition to the usual lie scale (LS) included a lie scale to detect malingerers (LM), was administered to independent groups of subjects under five sets of instructions. Group FS was asked to simulate stability, Group FSW to simulate stability and warned of the lie scale, Group C was given the standard instructions, Group FNW was asked to simulate neuroticism and warned of the lie scale, and Group FN was asked to simulate neuroticism. It was concluded (1) that on the neuroticism scale μFS < μFSW < μC < μFNW < μFN, (2) that on the LS scale μFS > μFSW > μC = μFNW = μFN, and on the LM scale μFS = μFSW = μC < μFNW < μFN.
LOAD AND PUPILLARY CHANGES IN CONTINUOUS PROCESSING TASKS
Authors: BRADSHAW J. L.
Published: April 2011

The interaction of rate of presentation, and number of transforms and possible responses was examined in connexion with the effect of cognitive load upon pupillary dilation. The task involved continuous processing of auditorily presented material. The two criteria of task difficulty both contributed to raising pupillary diameters, which were further increased at the moment of button‐press responding. That variations in level arousal were involved was further borne out by the tendency for certain regular changes to occur in pupillary dilation in the course of the processing tasks.
DIMENSIONAL DOMINANCE IN DISCRIMINATION LEARNING: A STUDY OF SEVERELY SUBNORMAL AND NORMAL SUBJECTS
Authors: WILCOCK JOAN C. , VENABLES P. H.
Published: April 2011

Non‐mongols, mongols and normals were compared on matching tasks in which solution depended on a dimensional response to either shape or colour. Original learning with shape relevant and colour irrelevant, or the converse, was followed by reversal learning in which these dimensions were switched. Non‐mongols were found to be slightly shape‐dominant, compared to normals, while mongols were strongly colour‐dominant. Verbal data suggested that the ability to formulate concepts could be related to task difficulty and/or availability of specific labels for stimuli. It was found that an increased criterion stringency in original learning facilitated reversal performance in the more difficult task and in both subnormal groups. The implications of this finding were discussed, with reference to the qualitative nature of the learning process, and its relationship to task complexity and difficulty level.
PHENOMENAL SIMULTANEITY AND THE PERCEPTUAL MOMENT HYPOTHESIS
Authors: ALLPORT D. A.
Published: April 2011

Successive brief visual stimuli falling within a critical time interval are phenomenally simultaneous. This paper examines two models of perceptual sampling which purport to account for phenomenal simultaneity. The first is Stroud's (1955) theory that the sensory input is quantized into successive, discrete summation periods or ‘moments’ (the Discrete Moment Hypothesis). An alternative model which has not generally been considered represents the ‘moment’ as a continuous, running sample of the input (the Travelling Moment Hypothesis).

Two experiments on phenomenal simultaneity are reported which provide a critical test between these two hypotheses. The results were entirely incompatible with the discrete moment model, which is therefore rejected. The travelling moment model accounted well for the results. These also suggest a possible relation between the limits of phenomenal simultaneity and the critical duration of brightness summation.
PATTERNS OF REHEARSAL IN IMMEDIATE MEMORY
Authors: CORBALLIS M. C.
Published: April 2011

Ten subjects watched series of eight digits and attempted to recall each series immediately after they had been presented. They were also required to rehearse aloud while the digits were being presented. Recordings from a throat microphone permitted accurate measurement of the timing of rehearsal. Six subjects rehearsed cumulatively, repeating all previous digits each time a new one appeared, at least up until presentation of the sixth. The other four subjects simply called out each digit one at a time in rehearsal; three of these subjects appeared to ‘group’ the digits. These rehearsal strategies are discussed, particularly in relation to serial position effects and to the serial ordering of recall.
BRIGHTNESS OF THE DOMINANT FIELD, AND PUPILLARY REFLEXES IN RETINAL RIVALRY
Authors: BRADSHAW JOHN L.
Published: April 2011

Two visual fields of differing brightness presented separately to the two eyes were superimposed. Where perceptual dominance of the brighter or darker field, in a retinal rivalry situation, was manipulated by the imposition of superimposed patterning, no changes were found in pupillary base‐lines. This not entirely unexpected finding is discussed in connexion with other reports that during rivalry there is suppression of a flash‐evoked pupillary reflex elicited from within the non‐dominant field. The interactions of other suppressive and reflex phenomena occurring during vision are considered within this context.
A CLASSIFICATION OF HAND PREFERENCE BY ASSOCIATION ANALYSIS
Authors: ANNETT MARIAN
Published: April 2011

An association analysis was made of the responses of young adults to a hand‐preference questionnaire. Many patterns of preference were distinguished and there were no marked differences between adjacent classes. These findings are believed to demonstrate that hand preference is distributed continuously and not discretely. When it is necessary to classify handedness, the preference continuum can be divided at several levels of discrimination. A second study of hand preference and manual speed showed that it is possible to order the main preference groups for asymmetry of manual skill. Some of the problems of studies of laterality are examined as possible consequences of the treatment of a continuous distribution as if it were discrete.
PERSONALITY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ACCIDENT‐LOADED AND ACCIDENT‐FREE YOUNG CAR DRIVERS
Authors: ANDERSSON ALF L. , NILSSON ALF , HENRIKSSON NILS‐GUNNAR
Published: April 2011

With the object of studying personality as a factor in accident causation, two groups of males were selected: one consisted of 22 young (20–27 yr. old) car drivers with a high record of traffic damages; the other, the same number of accident‐free control subjects. The groups were alike on a number of background variables. Compared with the control group, the accident‐loaded group more often (P < 0·001, at best) was found to be ‘hyposensitive to intraceptive perception’ as defined by indices from a spiral after‐effect experiment, two other serial experiments of personality, and an inventory (the MPI). This is an attribute indicative of individuals characterized by an extreme dependence on external factors (environment) and thus by weak inner control or delay of action.
TRAINING IN ART AS A FACTOR IN THE DETERMINATION OF PREFERENCE JUDGEMENTS FOR POLYGONS
Authors: EYSENCK H. J. , CASTLE MAUREEN
Published: April 2011

Ninety polygons were rated for their aesthetic value by 369 male and 408 female art students, and by 176 male and 180 female non‐art students. Factor analyses of the resulting rankings were carried out for the art and non‐art groups separately, and the resulting factors and superfactors compared. Most of the factors were similar for the two groups. Artists preferred simple polygons, non‐artists complex ones. For the majority of polygons preferences were rather similar; removing the most extreme 16 simple and 16 complex items produces a correlation between mean artist and non‐artist judgements of 0·92. Birkhoff's formula has little predictive value, although it correlates slightly better with the artists' than with the non‐artists' rankings. Artists were higher on neuroticism than non‐artists, but did not differ from them on extraversion.
ORIENTATING RESPONSES OF MENTALLY RETARDED AND NORMAL SUBJECTS TO WORD‐SIGNALS
Authors: DAS J. P. , BOWER A. C.
Published: April 2011

GSRs of normal and retarded children of comparable CA were recorded during a 30‐min. vigilance task, which consisted of two signal and four non‐signal words. One of the signal words served as a warning signal, preceding the other, which was an imperative signal for buttton‐pressing. The warning signal evoked a greater number of GSRs in the normals than the imperative one; this was reversed for the retardates. GSR adaptation to signal words occurred at the same rate and level for both groups; but in adaptation to the non‐signal words the retardates maintained a higher level of GSR frequencies than the normals. These results were not congruent with an attentional deficit model of retardation.
REMINISCENCE AND THE SHAPE OF THE LEARNING CURVE AS A FUNCTION OF SUBJECTS' ABILITY LEVEL ON THE PURSUIT ROTOR
Authors: EYSENCK H. J. , GRAY J. E.
Published: April 2011

Two experiments are reported in which the shape of the learning curve pre‐rest and post‐rest, and the reminiscence phenomenon, are studied as a function of the ability of the subjects to perform on the pursuit rotor under conditions of massed practice. The experiments differ in the choice of subjects and the choice of practice and rest periods involved. Both experiments demonstrate unequivocal differences in the performance curves of high‐ and low‐ability subjects, both before and after the rest pause; these differences are in part also a function of the length of the rest pause. Reminiscence was also found to depend on ability level, high reminiscence being found in high‐ability subjects. The applicability of several different hypotheses to the phenomena in question is discussed and a theory suggested which combines features from several earlier theories.
RECOGNITION MEMORY FOR TARGETS FROM A SCANNED WORD LIST
Authors: SCHULMAN ARTHUR I.
Published: April 2011

A word list was designed so that half its words would denote targets when any of a number of target classes were defined. After scanning this list for targets, subjects were unexpectedly tested on their ability to recognize the words they had scanned. Recognition memory depended on how targets had been defined: a search for members of a semantically defined target class resulted in better recognition than a search for targets structurally defined. As a group, targets were better recognized than non‐targets after a search for words that (a) contained the letter A, (b) denoted living things, or (c) denoted geographical locations. Recognition memory declined by as much as 75 per cent in d' from the first quarter of testing to the last. Items prior to a word's input as well as decisions prior to its testing diminished its recognizability, whereas items following its input exerted comparatively little deleterious effect.
CONCEPT‐SCALE INTERACTION IN SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL RESEARCH: SOLUTIONS IN SEARCH OF A PROBLEM
Authors: LEVY PHILIP
Published: April 2011

Bynner & Romney (1972) have proposed a solution to the problem of concept–scale interaction in semantic differential research. Several alternative solutions are offered in the present note. Choice among these awaits a clearer statement of the problem.
REPRODUCTION OF ORIENTATION OF KOHS‐TYPE FIGURES: A CROSS‐CULTURAL STUDY
Authors: DERĘGOWSKI JAN B.
Published: April 2011

Adults and children from Zambia as well as children from Iceland were used to evaluate hypotheses that rotation of reproduced patterns in a Kohs‐like task is not random but is such as to increase the ‘stability’ of the model and its symmetry about the median plane, and that the symmetry is of secondary importance to stability. The data obtained confirmed the difficulties which some African populations encounter when dealing with this type of task and verified the hypotheses stated above. The Icelandic sample made so few erroneous responses that their data could not be used in evaluating the hypotheses.
VISUAL INTERACTION AND DISTANCE
Authors: STEPHENSON G. M. , RUTTER D. R. , DORE S. R.
Published: April 2011

Argyle & Dean (1965) predicted that, as the distance increased between a confederate who stared continuously and a naive subject, so the naive subject would increasingly return the confederate's gaze into the eyes. Their findings were held to support the prediction, but Stephenson & Rutter (1970) offered an alternative explanation. They showed that, in the Argyle & Dean situation, observers are increasingly likely with increasing distance to record as gaze directed at the eyes, gaze which is actually directed away from the eyes. In the present experiment, pairs of naive subjects took up positions equidistant from a one‐way screen behind which two cameras were located. Each pair held a 5 min. conversation, nine pairs at 2 ft. apart, nine at 6 ft. and nine at 10 ft. The interactions were recorded on videotape, and four observers subsequently scored Looking and Speech from the recordings for each subject independently. By means of zoom lens photography and a ‘split‐screen’ recording technique, it was ensured that any relationship between visual behaviour and distance could not be an artifact of observer performance. The results indicated that, while neither the duration of individuals' Looking nor the number of Looks were significantly affected by distance, the two measures of mutual Looking, namely the duration of eye‐contact, and mutual focus (the proportion of a pair's Looking which results in eye‐contact), both increased with distance.
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EXPLORATORY BEHAVIOUR AND FEAR: A REVIEW
Authors: RUSSELL P. A.
Published: April 2011

Two main theories of the relationship between exploratory behaviour and anxiety or fearfulness are: (a) ‘Two‐factor theory’, according to which novel stimuli evoke both curiosity and fear/anxiety, with exploration as the outcome of competing tendencies to approach and avoid, and (b) the ‘Halliday‐Lester theory’, where the fear aroused by novelty results in either approach (low fear) or avoidance (high fear). Relevant evidence comes from animal studies varying fear by manipulating either environmental or intrinsic factors. This evidence is largely compatible with the two‐factor theory and some results which have been presented as critical support for the Halliday‐Lester theory are actually equivocal.
VOCALIZATION, PRIMARY MEMORY AND SECONDARY MEMORY
Authors: MURRAY D. J. , LEUNG C. , McVIE D. F.
Published: April 2011

Three experiments are reported, all directed to the question of whether vocalization at presentation affects primary memory (PM) rather than secondary memory (SM). In Expt. I vocalization was found to affect the PM component of free recall but not the SM component. Imagery value on the other hand affected SM but not PM. In Expt. II vocalization was found to hinder the retention of stories in comparison with silent reading. The effects of structural importance were about equal for the two conditions. In Expt. III paired‐associate learning was found to be uninfluenced by vocalization; furthermore, vocalization did not interact with meaningfulness or presentation rate in determining learning. It is concluded that the effects of vocalization are confined mainly to primary memory.
LATERALITY DIFFERENCES IN THE EFFECT OF INCIDENTAL STIMULI UPON EVOKED IMAGERY
Authors: HENLEY S. H. A. , DIXON N. P.
Published: April 2011

A recent study by Corteen & Wood (1972) suggested that material of which the subject was unaware, on the unattended channel in dichotic listening, may be processed for meaning yet fail to interfere with the primary task of shadowing prose on the attended channel. The experiment reported here examines the converse hypothesis that this non‐interference between attended and unattended information would fail to occur if the primary task could be facilitated by information on the unattended channel. Mackay (1973) has provided some evidence to support this hypothesis using verbal material on both channels, thus involving, presumably, only one hemisphere. By using stimulus materials on the two channels that are believed to be processed by the right and left hemispheres respectively, a second hypothesis, that facilitation by the unattended input would depend upon laterality differences, was also tested. Considerable support was found for both hypotheses.
RECOGNITION ASSESSED BY RATING AND RANKING
Authors: BROWN JOHN
Published: April 2011

Recognition tests are ubiquitous in the study of cognition. A simple index of recognition with desirable properties is the proportion R of targets preferred to distractors. The estimation of R by either a rating or a ranking method is straightforward. No distributional assumptions are involved. Three experiments are described in which estimates derived by the two methods were found to be close. The rating method is potentially subject to a bias. A preliminary account is given of calculations which suggest that the bias is small provided at least four rating categories are used.
A USE OF REPERTORY GRID MEASURES FOR EVALUATING MAP FORMATS
Authors: STRINGER PETER
Published: April 2011

Effects of colour and base on construing urban planning maps are examined in relation to measures of grid structure and content. Four sets of seven redevelopment plans, differing in colour and/or base, were shown to random samples of 50 local women. Individuals construed the plans in a typical repgrid procedure. Differentiation measures, including percent variance of grid elements and principal components, and construct‐type frequencies are compared across map sets by analysis of covariance, using biographical variables as covariates. Some effects of colour on plan construing are demonstrated, though for base the evidence is equivocal. Information available in the grid‐structure measures is illustrated further.
PICTORIAL DEPTH PERCEPTION: A DEVELOPMENTAL STUDY
Authors: JAHODA GUSTAV , McGURK HARRY
Published: April 2011

Children between 4 and 10 years participated in a study of their ability to discriminate pictorially represented depth. Stimuli comprised pictures in which depth cues were systematically manipulated. Subjects were required to construct three‐dimensional models representing the size and spatial relationships between figures in the pictures. Models were scored for size and spatial accuracy. Size accuracy, relatively high at 4 years, increased with increase in age and number of depth cues. Spatial accuracy was poor below 8 years, but increased to near perfection between 8 and 10 years. However, spatial accuracy decreased slightly with increase in cues to depth. Poor spatial accuracy at younger ages is attributed to response failure rather than to a failure to perceive depth in the pictures.
DIURNAL VARIATION IN LOGICAL REASONING
Authors: FOLKARD SIMON
Published: April 2011

Subjects performed two tests of logical reasoning at each of six different times of day. In terms of speed, performance on both tests was found to improve markedly from 08.00 to 14.00 and then to fall off fairly rapidly. Accuracy was found to decrease fairly linearly over the day. The results are interpreted as indicating that the different functions relating performance efficiency to time of day found by previous workers are due to differences in task demands rather than to individual differences. It is suggested that the larger the short‐term memory component of a task the earlier in the day performance peaks.
‘PERCEPTUAL’ STRATEGIES IN THE SOLVING OF THREE‐TERM SERIES PROBLEMS
Authors: QUINTON GRAHAM , FELLOWS BRIAN J.
Published: April 2011

In the main part of this study 26 students were asked to solve 112 three‐term series problems and to talk about their strategies. These strategies were of two main types: (1) ‘thinking’ strategies which involved thinking about the meaning of a problem and (2) ‘perceptual’ strategies in which the solver responded to certain invariant display characteristics of the problem while ignoring its meaning. All 26 subjects began with ‘thinking’ strategies, but 17 subjects either wholly or partly abandoned them in favour of ‘perceptual’ strategies which, in comparison, were quick, efficient and easy. A subsequent test showed that subjects using ‘perceptual’ strategies solved the problems significantly more quickly than subjects using ‘thinking’ strategies. In the Discussion a distinction is made between initial ‘thinking’ strategies, which have been the focus of earlier research, and final ‘perceptual’ strategies, which have been relatively neglected. Also, two possible limitations of ‘perceptual’ strategies are discussed: (1) their ability to cope with negative and with indeterminate problems and (2) their dependence upon a constant format and visual presentation.
A STUDY OF ASSISTED PROBLEM‐SOLVING
Authors: WOOD DAVID , MIDDLETON DAVID
Published: April 2011

This study examines the interactions between 12 mothers and their children in a problem‐solving situation. Each child tries to assemble a construction toy, and his mother attempts to help him in such a way that he will eventually be able to do it alone. The paper introduces a system for describing the course of these interactions and it tests and confirms hypotheses relating to the underlying determinants of effective instruction. Those mothers who systematically changed their instructions on the basis of the child's response to earlier interventions (and the system of analysis enables such changes to be identified and related) were most likely to see their child perform effectively after instruction. They were also the most likely to determine and concentrate upon the child's ‘region of sensitivity to instruction’ — a hypothetical measure of the child's current task ability and his ‘readiness’ for different types of instruction. The study shows that effective instructing is a dynamic, interactive process somewhat akin to problem‐solving. It elaborates the view that the process of intellectual development must be viewed as a social, interactive one.