bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
COGNITIVE AND SOCIAL CHANGES IN THE FEEBLEMINDED—THREE FURTHER STUDIES
Authors: CLARKE A. D. B. , CLARKE A. M. , REIMAN S.
Published: April 2011

Earlier papers have described researches showing that i.q. increments in adolescent and young adult persons certified as feebleminded occur not infrequently, cannot be explained as artefacts, and appear to be linked with early very adverse environmental experiences. The present three studies indicate that i.q. increments can be large over long periods of time, are correlated with changes in social adjustment, but cannot be shown to be induced by special environmental stimulation; in the present age range and type of subject, they tend to occur in any reasonable environment. Results imply that a necessarily poor outcome cannot be predicted for children with i.q.'s in the 50's, 60's or 70's if they also come from very adverse conditions. Test reliability, statistical regression, and a review of some relevant literature are discussed; theoretical problems concerning intellectual development are presented; and attention is directed to individual differences in susceptibility to environmental damage and to the whole problem of human resilience.
VISUALLY CONTROLLED LOCOMOTION AND VISUAL ORIENTATION IN ANIMALS*
Authors: GIBSON JAMES J.
Published: April 2011

A general theory of locomotor behaviour in relation to physical objects is presented. Since the controlling stimulation for such behaviour is mainly optical, this involves novel assumptions about object perception and about what is called ‘visual kinaesthesis’. Evidence for these assumptions is cited. On the basis of this theory it is possible to suppose that animals are visually oriented to the surfaces of their environment, not merely to light as such. In short, it is possible to explain why they seem to have space perception. Implications of this approach for maze‐learning are pointed out.
VISUAL SEARCH FOR SUCCESSIVE DECISIONS
Authors: MACKWORTH N. H. , MACKWORTH J. F.
Published: April 2011

When a situation provides information from many different independent sources, characteristic difficulties arise, even when the decisions required are of the simplest possible kind and do not require estimates of probability. This paper considers the effect of the amount of material in the display which must be searched for the correct answer, and also how this display load interacts with the speed at which decisions are required, in a situation where successive decisions are posed at approximately equal temporal intervals.

It is shown that the percentage of errors is proportional both to the required speed and to the display load, and it is concluded that the time required to search through a display depends on the amount of material in the display, when this unwanted material closely resembles the required answer. In the discussion, the effects of many different sources of information in a moving display are considered in relation to two distinct variables: (1) the display load, and (2) the temporal irregularity of successive decisions.
THE ROLE OF ATTITUDES IN COMPREHENSION
Authors: FRIEDMANN S.
Published: April 2011

By means of an attitude test and expressed opinions, subjects were divided into pro‐, anti‐ and neutral‐groups for each of twenty‐four political statements. No significant differences in comprehension were found between the three groups, except in two cases where the groups who scored higher for comprehension also had superior intelligence and knowledge scores. A significant result was found for only one of the twenty‐four statements, namely, a negative correlation between liking and comprehension, and a comparable superiority in comprehension of the opposing group: this statement was found to be ambiguous in its expression of attitude.

The findings of a control experiment, using comments instead of a comprehension test, supported the main conclusion that for unambiguous statements there was no relationship between the efficiency of comprehension and direction of attitude.
TIME FOR READING AND MEMORY
Authors: POULTON E. C.
Published: April 2011

This paper on silent reading is concerned with the rate of comprehension, selection while reading, and the rigidity of pacing while reading. Subjects studied 144 short statements under one of three degrees of pacing: (a) a time was set for studying the whole series of statements (whole condition), (b) each complete statement was presented in turn by itself for a set time (statement condition), and (c) part only of a single statement was presented at a time, and there was a period after each statement when no print was visible (segment condition). In different subconditions 1.0 min. was allowed for an average of every 293, 146, 73 or 37 words. In one variation of condition (a) the subject was instructed to pay attention only to the 18% of statements connected with geography (selection condition). In another variation, the time for study was fixed at 3.0 min., and the number of statements was reduced accordingly (shortened condition).

After reading, the subject had first to estimate from memory the percentage of statements which could be classified under certain specified topics. He was then given a test of memory for seventy‐two of the statements. Half of them had to be completed (recall), and each of the remaining half had to be discriminated from a paired statement which resembled it in one of six standard ways (recognition). An identical test of memory for the remaining seventy‐two statements was normally given unexpectedly 1 week later. A control group of subjects took these tests without having read the statements.

In the whole condition when 1.0 min. was allowed for every 293 or 146 words, most of the subjects reported that they had read practically all the statements once and only once. Reading at about 146 words per minute in this condition Was found to give significantly better comprehension of the individual statements than reading at about 293 words per minute. In contrast, in this whole condition when 1.0 min. was allowed for every 73 or 37 words, the subjects reported that they had re‐read some or all of the statements at least once. Between the rates of presentation of 37 and 293 words per minute, substance memory varied approximately as the logarithm of the time available per statement. After the 3.0 min. of study in the shortened condition, about the same number of statements could be remembered in substance or recognized whether 293 or only 73 words had had to be studied per minute. Selection tended to improve memory for the selected statements, and to reduce memory for the remainder. But when 293 words had to be studied per minute, only recognition soon after study benefited significantly from selection.

When 1.0 min. was available for every 146 words, the rigid pacing of the segment condition gave significantly better memory soon after study than the loose pacing of the whole condition. But when 1.0 min. was available for every 37 words, pacing had no effect upon memory. There were no significant differences between the degrees of pacing used in the statement and whole conditions.
BINOCULAR RESOLUTION AND PERCEPTION OF RACE IN SOUTH AFRICA*
Authors: PETTIGREW THOMAS F. , ALLPORT GORDON W. , BARNETT ERIC O.
Published: April 2011

Our experiment uses a newly developed method for research in social perception: a brief stereoscopic presentation of pairs of racial photographs. Members of the four major racial groups in South Africa—Europeans, Coloureds, Indians, and Africans—serve both as judges and as photographic stimulus material. The factor of eye dominance is controlled.

While the stimulus material itself accounts for many of the findings, there is clear evidence that ‘directed state’ factors are also at work. White South Africans, especially the Afrikaners, seem to manifest a ‘perceptual vigilance’ in their judgements. They report racially mixed photographs to be either pure European or full‐blooded African more often than do judges of other races. This tendency is consistent with the bifurcation (judgements of ‘black’ or ‘white’) known to be characteristic of people who are apprehensive concerning race relations.

The use of meaningful stimuli presented in a setting of binocular rivalry offers new promise for the study of cultural and personal determinants in perception.
ATTENTION TO VISUAL DISPLAYS DURING A VIGILANCE TASK
Authors: BAKER C. H.
Published: April 2011

Analysis of data from an earlier paper by the writer (Baker, 1958) shows that perceptual performance does not necessarily deteriorate daring a typical vigilance task. It was hypothesized that a major determinant of such deterioration is the regularity of signal appearance. An experiment is described here which supports this hypothesis. It is further demonstrated that motor activity markedly increases during a vigilance task, the least active subjects tending to detect more signals.
THE EFFECT OF A WARNING SIGNAL ON UNRESTRICTED AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOUR*
Authors: KEEHN J. D.
Published: April 2011

In an avoidance situation where interval responses served to postpone the onset of the next ‘trial’ animals were trained with and without a warning signal. Those animals which received the warning signal were free to postpone the onset of this signal as well as shock. It was found, however, that these animals come to respond more and more in the presence of the signal instead of before it. That is, they behaved so as to postpone the shock but not the warning signal. This finding is interpreted as showing that, contradictory to the opinion of many psychologists, the warning signal does not acquire secondary aversive properties. Instead it is argued that this signal has the properties of a discriminative stimulus in the sense that it marks the occasions on which the appropriate avoidance response is reinforced. The relevance of this point of view to paradoxical statements by Hull and Pavlov is pointed out.
EFFECTS OF TELEVISION ON THE INTERESTS AND INITIATIVE OF ADULT VIEWERS IN GREATER LONDON
Authors: BELSON WILLIAM A.
Published: April 2011

Aims. The aim of this study was to measure the effect of television upon the interests and the initiative of adult viewers in a specific urban area and to relate the extent of the effect to length of set ownership.

Methods. The Stable Correlate design was used for the isolation of effects. There was extensive preliminary test construction, and the measurement of television's effects was made against a representative cross‐section of the public's interests in the one case, and of their acts of initiative in the other. The final survey was based upon about 800 cases and the construction of measuring devices upon about 3000.

Results. The effect of television has been to reduce both interests and initiative. The reduction of interests is not only in terms of activity level, but in viewers' feeling of interest as well. Even when interests are featured in television programmes themselves, the loss to television is made up to only a very small degree. Television's effects do, however, vary markedly from one group of interests to another. The loss in initiative and in interests extends over a period of five to six years. Generally speaking, the loss is greatest in the first few years, after which there is a gradual recovery.
HUE DIFFERENCES AND BRIGHTNESS DIFFERENCES AS DETERMINANTS OF FIGURAL AFTER‐EFFECTS
Authors: DAY R. H.
Published: April 2011

Earlier published studies of the figural after‐effect using stimulus patterns in which there was no difference in brightness between the inspection figure and its background report inconsistent results. The possibility of more than one type of visual after‐effect following protracted fixation of a figure is advanced as an explanation of this inconsistency. In the three experiments described the frequency of occurrence of the figural after‐effect is investigated using inspection patterns with and without a difference in brightness between the figure and its background. Different stimulus patterns are used to allow for the occurrence of one or more possible types of after‐effect. The results from the three experiments clearly show that, with the brightness of inspection figure and ground very nearly equal, the figural after‐effect occurs with as great a frequency as in the case of a marked brightness difference. The results are discussed along with findings from earlier experiments and theoretical implications are considered. The general conclusion is that the necessary condition for the occurrence of the figural after‐effect is a visible inspection contour constituted of a difference either in brightness or in hue. A brightness difference between the inspection figure and its ground is not essential for the occurrence of the figural after‐effect.
INTER‐SENSORY PERCEPTUAL SET
Authors: TALLAND GEORGE A.
Published: April 2011

A set to perceive words representing a given category, more specifically animal names, was induced by visual presentation of some other words drawn from the same class. Measures were taken to prevent vocalization of these visual stimuli. Under these conditions, the facilitatory effect of a set was found to be no less marked than it is when auditory material is used both for establishing and for testing the set. In either instance, the effect of set was demonstrated by comparison with correct report of the same words, when heard scattered among other words, or as a continuous list but without previous indication of their selective composition.

The finding is presented in support of a central theory of mental set, for neither events in the receptor or in the effector areas could account for it without some intervening process in the brain.
OBJECTIVE‐TEST ASSESSMENT OF THE PRIMARY PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD*
Authors: CATTELL RAYMOND B. , COAN RICHARD W.
Published: April 2011

Factor analysis was applied to the scores of 164 children in the 6–8‐year age range on 111 objective‐test variables. A simple‐structure solution was obtained for 16 factors, and factor scores were correlated with 49 additional variables. The inclusion of marker variables patterned after variables in earlier batteries permits a comparison of present factors with factors found in a number of studies for older children and adults. Every factor appears to correspond to a dimension known from earlier work. Eleven or twelve factors can be identified with considerable confidence. In the remaining factors, the correspondence to the expected loading pattern is somewhat less satisfactory.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE INFORMATION IN MATCHING PROBLEMS
Authors: DONALDSON MARGARET
Published: April 2011

Two tasks are used, for the successful performance of which it is necessary to prefer negative information to its formally equivalent positive counterpart. The subjects are 19 children aged 14 years to 14 years 6 months, who are observed individually, and 90 students in a Scottish teachers' training college who are tested as a group. Results confirm previous findings that formal equivalence of positive and negative information does not ensure psychological equivalence. Further, in certain circumstances, positive and negative information may be regarded as equivalent in certain respects but not in others. Although negative statements are recognized as combining to ‘equal’ a positive one, the equality may be incomplete since this derived positive is not always allowed the same value for purposes of further inference as a directly stated positive. Bruner, Goodnow & Austin (1956) suggest that avoidance of ‘in‐the‐head’ transformation may explain the tendency to shun negatives; but this does not seem adequate to account for the present findings. These authors also speak of ‘inability or unwillingness’ to use negative information. In this study, evidence both of inability and of unwillingness is obtained.
THE STROBOSCOPIC PATTERNS
Authors: SMYTHIES J. R.
Published: April 2011

A detailed study has been made of the bright phase patterns of Brown & Gebhard (1948) produced by looking at a uniform flickering field. The patterns have been classified on the basis of their geometrical properties. The subjects have been classified on a basis of the different types of pattern they report. The types of movement encountered and the effect of varying a number of parameters were investigated. The after‐images produced by this means were observed in a similar manner.
LABILITY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
Authors: O'CONNOR N. , DAS J. P.
Published: April 2011

Paranoid and non‐paranoid schizophrenics and a control group of normal males were matched for age and compared on three measures of lability. Lability was first measured in terms of the ratio of trials to condition and to extinguish or the ratio of trials to extinguish and recondition. Secondly, it was measured in terms of latencies of response before and after extinction, and thirdly in terms of response pressure before and after extinction. The measures of lability were obtained with each of three groups of subjects under two stimulus conditions, one in which the stimulus was a light and another in which it was a spoken word.

Considerable differences in ease of extinction were apparent between the two types of signal. With the visual (non‐verbal) signal, extinction was achieved much more readily than with the verbal signal, irrespective of diagnostic group. This result seemed contrary to expectation on the basis of Pavlovian theory. It was incidentally observed that the variability of latency scores was greater in schizophrenics than in normals as expected, but that the variability of pressure scores was less.
SERIAL POSITION EFFECTS IN NONSENSE SYLLABLE LEARNING AS A FUNCTION OF INTERLIST REST PAUSES*
Authors: EYSENCK H. J.
Published: April 2011

An experiment to test a consolidation hypothesis of certain serial learning position effects has been reported, in which effects produced by continuous and discontinuous presentation of lists were compared. The failure of these two conditions to produce different position effects disproves the hypothesis, but also argues against most of the currently held theories.
VISUAL SIZE AND FAMILIAR SIZE: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES*
Authors: McKENNELL A. C.
Published: April 2011

Recent experiments show that, in the absence of distance cues, accurate estimates of the size of familiar objects can be achieved on the basis of memory alone. It is by no means certain, however, that memory is operative in size estimates of familiar objects seen in ordinary perceptual situations, since distance cues normally present are themselves sufficient to mediate the perception of the real sizes of things. In investigating this problem use is made of the characteristic individual differences that occur when subjects are obliged to make use of visual cues to size (i.e. in size estimates of non‐familiar objects). There is also a considerable variance in individual estimates from memory of the size of a familiar object. For a group of subjects data on these two sources of variance can be related to the variance in their visual estimates of the size of a common object. By this means the relative weights accorded to past experience with the object and to present visual cues can be determined. Results suggest that prior knowledge of familiar ‘homogeneous’ objects (occurring environmentally mainly in one standard size) entirely determined the estimate of their size, while even for less familiar and for ‘heterogeneous’ objects there is evidence, in some cases, that non‐visual factors were partly active.
DELINQUENCY, MALADJUSTMENT AND UNFAVOURABLE ECOLOGY
Authors: STOTT D. H.
Published: April 2011

The dichotomy of ‘psychological’ and ‘sociological’ delinquency is criticized. To ascertain to what extent delinquency is purely cultural, the prevalence of psychological factors was investigated in a year‐group of Glasgow boy probationers. The latter were found to be strikingly more prone to behaviour‐disturbance than the non‐delinquent controls

Contrary to theories of ‘cultural’ delinquency, the probationers in high‐delinquency areas were just as maladjusted as those in ‘good’ neighbourhoods. But the non‐delinquents were consistently less well adjusted the greater the density of delinquency.

It is suggested that delinquency is mainly an aspect of more general behaviour disturbance in the under‐privileged quarters of large cities, and that this in turn is only one of several consequences of unfavourable ecology.
THE ACCURACY OF ‘REPRODUCED’ CONVERSATION*
Authors: PEAR T. H.
Published: April 2011

In any witness's account from memory of a heard conversation, important factors are his motives and his mental apparatus of recall and reproduction. Since rendering the gist of a conversation involves editing by omission, all the factors in Freud's ‘dream‐work’ may have combined to distort the account given in a court of law, especially by a witness who extensively uses ‘direct oration’. The numerous experiments on the reliability of testimony for seen events contrast with the few in which heard events have been the material. Is auditory imagery as reliable as visual? A social psychologist's view is given of the treatment of conversation by historians, biographers and novelists. The possibility that a strict training in scientific psychological method may impede the writing of an imaginative story, and the use of tape‐recorders are discussed, along with the ethical and legal issues arising from the use of tape‐recordings as evidence.
A CROSS‐CULTURAL COMPARISON OF PATTERNS OF EXTRAVERSION AN ANXIETY
Authors: CATTELL RAYMOND B. , WARBURTON FRANK W.
Published: April 2011

A comparison has been made between the scores obtained by American and British students on the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. In terms of second‐order factors, the American students are found to be at a significantly higher level of anxiety and are more extravert than the British group. There is also some indication that the Americans are more conservative and less emotionally sensitive than the British students. There appears to be a rather striking difference in the structure of the self, in that the British group show significantly higher ego‐strength and self‐sentiment, while the American group show higher super‐ego development, both in terms of guilt proneness and strength of the acquired social‐moral pattern.
REMINISCENCE AS A FUNCTION OF DRIVE
Authors: EYSENCK H. J. , MAXWELL A. E.
Published: April 2011

Groups of engineering apprentices were tested on the pursuit rotor under conditions of high and low drive, respectively, and with a 6 min. rest pause occurring after 3 and 8 min. massed practice, respectively; a post‐rest practice period of 4 min. was given to all the groups. Reminiscence scores were obtained by subtracting scores on the last 10 sec. pre‐rest trial from scores on the first 10 sec. post‐rest trial. It was predicted that reminiscence scores would be higher for the high drive group than for the low drive group, and it was also predicted that this difference would be greater after 8 min. practice than after 3 min. practice. Differences were also predicted in level of performance, both pre‐rest and post‐rest. Predictions relating to reminiscence were verified at a high level of statistical significance; those relating to performance were in the predicted direction, but did not support the theory quite as clearly. A model of pursuit rotor performance was constructed on the basis of the data obtained in this experiment, as well as on previously obtained information, which permits quantitative predictions to be made.
FURTHER STUDIES ON ANAGRAM SOLVING
Authors: HUNTER IAN M. L.
Published: April 2011

Two experiments are reported. In the first, 100 student subjects took part in a modified repetition of a previous experiment. The results confirm and add to those of the earlier study. In the second, 487 students took a task requiring the production of three different solution words from the same anagram. The various orders of producing these words directly demonstrate anagram solving as a continued trial‐and‐check activity with determinable transition probabilities between successive ‘tries’.
SOME COMMENTS ON EYSENCK'S TREATMENT OF MODERN LEARNING THEORY
Authors: CHAMPION R. A.
Published: April 2011

Eysenck's treatment of the Hullian type of learning theory in his account of the dynamics of anxiety and hysteria is criticized for three reasons. First, he fails to distinguish consistently between habit strength and excitatory potential in their determination of performance. Secondly, he does not allow for some aspects of the role of motivation in learning, and his application of the concept of relevant drive is vague and inconsistent. Thirdly, his interpretation of the performance curves displayed by dysthymic, hysteric, and normal subjects is arbitrary and questionable.
THE RELATION OF PERCEPTION TO PERSONALITY FACTORS
Authors: VERNON M. D.
Published: April 2011

Pictures from Phillipson's Object Relations Technique were presented to thirty subjects in a succession of tachistoscopic exposures, and subsequently for writing T.A.T. themes. It was found that these pictures, which are somewhat vague and shadowy in appearance, were perceived mainly in terms of (a) light, shade and unidentified shapes, and (b) objects and ‘figures’ or ‘people’. Inferences as to the nature and activities of the latter were comparatively few, and objectivity was high. There was some evidence that the selection of what was perceived, and such inferences as were made about it, were sometimes affected by the education, interests and personal emotions of the subjects such as appeared more clearly in the themes. There was no evidence of the gradual modification, in successive tachistoscopic perceptions, in emotional identification paralleling emotional experiences in early life which had previously been reported by Kragh.
RECOGNITION OF SHAPES BY NORMAL AND SUBNORMAL CHILDREN
Authors: HERMELIN BEATE , O'CONNOR N.
Published: April 2011

Normal and subnormal children, matched for mental age, were compared on visual and stereognostic shape recognition. While some subjects were required to explore and recognize the items in the same sensory modality, others had to recognize them in the opposite modality from the one in which they were initially presented.

No differences between the conditions were observed in normal children. The imbeciles obtained results similar to those of the normals, except with the like modality stereognostic procedure. This resulted in significantly higher recognition scores than were obtained under the other conditions.

It is suggested that absence of verbal coding in the cross modality tests, and relatively intact stereognostic discrimination ability in imbeciles may explain the results.
DISORGANIZATION‐ORGANIZATION AND COGNITIVE MOTIVATION*
Authors: BHARUCHA‐REID RODABÉ P.
Published: April 2011

The Leeper‐Young controversy concerning the organization versus disorganization effects of emotion is examined from three points of view (those of Thompson & Higgins, Bindra and Hebb) and a critical evaluation suggests the necessity of an alternative position. A revision is made possible in terms of experimental evidence related to stress (sensory deprivation), satiation thresholds and the reticular formation. A consideration of these experiments leads to the hypothesis that the resultant disorganized‐organized behaviour is dependent primarily upon the cognitive characteristics and the satiation level rather than on the lack of sensory stimuli. The concept of cognitive motivation is discussed in relation to the above hypothesis.

The acceptance of such a concept also leads to an explanation of higher cognitive functioning in lower animals as well as of lack of disorganization in deprived children. A search for culturally built‐in mechanisms which absorb or amplify stress, and further investigations into neurophysiological and chemical factors now seem indicated. It is also pointed out that the satiation threshold is related to stress, psycho‐gerontology (‘natural’ sensory deprivation), the reticular formation, and the short‐term response of ‘quitters' and the brain injured with respect to concept formation.
THE LOGICAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF USING HYSTERICS AND DYSTHYMICS AS CRITERION GROUPS IN THE STUDY OF INTROVERSION AND EXTRAVERSION
Authors: FOULDS G. A.
Published: April 2011

Jung claims that most neurotic extraverts are hysterics and that most neurotic introverts are dysthymics. Eysenck has concluded from this that most hysterics are extraverts and that most dysthymics are introverts. It is argued that this is logically fallacious and that, in consequence, hysterics and dysthymics cannot be used as criterion groups for extraversion‐introversion. Certain other deductions about normals appear to be unsound.
UNCERTAINTY AND EPISTEMIC CURIOSITY
Authors: BERLYNE D. E.
Published: April 2011

Two experiments were concerned with the effects of uncertainty on epistemic curiosity. Quotations, each coupled with the names of possible authors and with a distribution of fictitious experts' guesses regarding the true author, formed the experimental material. The role of uncertainty was predicted from a theory according to which epistemic curiosity will increase with degree of conceptual conflict.

The two experiments showed reported curiosity to increase with two determinants of uncertainty and degree of conflict, namely (1) number of alternative responses and (2) evenness of distribution of response‐strength, respectively. They also revealed ways in which response uncertainties, dependent on distributions of subjects' guesses, differ from the corresponding stimulus uncertainties.
STIMULUS WAVELENGTH VARIATION AND SIZE AND DISTANCE JUDGEMENTS
Authors: OVER RAY
Published: April 2011

Previous experiments which have studied the relationship between stimulus wavelength variation and size and distance judgements have confounded wavelength with luminance, which is known to be an effective variable. Using a rationale which combines the fact that light from stimuli of different wavelengths stimulates different areas of the retina (chromatic aberration) with the finding that under reduced viewing conditions two stimuli of the same wavelength are judged equal in both size and distance when they stimulate equal areas of the retina, it was predicted that when the subject was presented with two stimuli subtending the same visual angle and of the same luminance but of different wavelengths the stimulus of longer wavelength would be judged to be both larger and closer than the stimulus of shorter wavelength. This prediction was confirmed in the experiment.
AN EXCEPTIONAL TALENT FOR CALCULATIVE THINKING
Authors: HUNTER IAN M. L.
Published: April 2011

This study explores the highly exceptional ‘lightning calculation’ of a distinguished mathematician who has considerable understanding of his own calculative thinking. Each calculation is a temporally co‐ordinated, rapidly flexible onleading which is both unitary and complex. Biographically, it derives from prolonged and intensive practice fostered by circumstances in his upbringing and made possible by a large cognitive capacity which also manifests itself in other forms of intellectual achievement. During calculation, there are ‘leaps’ of varying compass; there is also notable absence of sensory‐type awareness. Ongoing proceeds through apprehending multiple attributes of the presented problem, deciding on some convenient and often ingenious calculative plan, and rhythmically implementing this plan while carrying through opportunistic telescoping and verifying of the ongoing activity.
GROUP INFLUENCE ON THE PERCEPTION OF AMBIGUOUS STIMULI
Authors: SEABORNE A. E. M.
Published: April 2011

An attempt was made to relate the judgements made by subjects in a social pressure situation to the ambiguity of the stimulus being judged. Ambiguity values were assigned to the various stimuli on the basis of responses made by subjects to the stimuli when not exposed to social influence.

It was found that conformity was not related to the ambiguity of the stimulus although individual certainty of correctness varied inversely and response time varied directly with ambiguity. It seems possible that this can be accounted for by assuming that the subject's assessment of the difficulty of the judging task was used to rate the value of the group's opinion so that where it seemed that the possibility of arriving at a correct answer was less, the group's influence was less effective.

The results indicate that conformity can only be expected to vary directly with ambiguity where the social influence is seen to derive from a source external to the immediate stimulus situation.
A THEORY OF THE SERIAL POSITION EFFECT
Authors: FEIGENBAUM EDWARD A. , SIMON HERBERT A.
Published: April 2011

The paper proposes a theory of the well‐known serial position effect that makes quantitative predictions, acceptable by non‐parametric tests, of the observed amount of bowing of the serial position curve. The theory, which stems from viewing the central nervous system as an information‐processing system, is compared with the Lepley‐Hull hypothesis and Atkinson's theory of the serial phenomena, and is shown to be more satisfactory than the older explanations.
A TWO‐FACTOR THEORY OF VIGILANCE*
Authors: McCORMACK P. D.
Published: April 2011

The findings of seven studies on reaction time are related to those of the more conventional vigilance setting, discussed with respect to existing theories of vigilance and integrated within an inhibition‐motivation framework.
RELEVANCE AND CATEGORY SCALES OF JUDGEMENT
Authors: DAVIDON ROBERT S.
Published: April 2011

Once adaptation levels had been established in category judgements of the height and lightness of a series of grey blocks, a tall, light block was introduced, and presented with each of the series. Half of the subjects were instructed to reject any block which was lighter than it, and half to reject only those taller. After each decision both groups categorized height and lightness as before. Shifts in scales of judgement were associated with differences in the relevant attributes of the standard.
THE EFFECT OF RESERPINE ON CONDITIONED FEAR RESPONSES
Authors: SAVAGE R. D.
Published: April 2011

The effect of various amounts of the drug reserpine, a derivative of rauwolfia, were investigated in relation to foreleg flexion and ambulation responses in goats subjected to electric shock stimulation. Measures revealed that as the drug dosage increased the flexion scores increased and the ambulation decreased. In the control group, without the drug, the number of flexions and ambulation scores was maximal. The findings are interpreted in terms of the possible sites of action of the drug.
SIZE CONSTANCY AND CUE RESPONSIVENESS IN PSYCHOSIS
Authors: HAMILTON VERNON
Published: April 2011

An experiment is reported designed to re‐assess size constancy behaviour and some of its co‐relatives in psychotic and non‐psychotic subjects. The predictive basis of reduced size constancy for schizophrenic and non‐schizophrenic psychotic patients was found in the clinical evidence characterizing these conditions and in Piaget's genetic theories of cognitive development. It was postulated that there would be no significant difference in size constancy between different psychotic groups or between different non‐psychotic groups, but that the psychotic groups would show significantly reduced size constancy compared with the non‐psychotic sample. It was further postulated that low size constancy would be positively related to reduced cue responsiveness operationally defined in several different ways. Size constancy and cue responsiveness in relation to familiar and non‐familiar objects are assessed. The results are taken to provide a considerable degree of support for the hypotheses, and are explained in terms of peripheral as well as central mechanisms. The findings do not support previous evidence suggesting a causal relationship between low size constancy and under‐estimation of distance.
AN APPLICATION OF INTER‐PERSON ANALYSIS IN PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT*
Authors: SEMEONOFF BORIS
Published: April 2011

A simplified form of factor analysis of persons was applied to test performance in a selection procedure associated with different patterns of two‐part self‐description (i.e. as one might be seen by a friend, and as by a critic). Self‐descriptions containing irrelevant or trivial features were shown to carry, on the whole, predominantly unfavourable implications. In most cases, however, minority groups were characterized by fairly consistent favourable patterns of test performance. Classifications based on the distribution of praise and criticism were also shown, in some cases, to be non‐homogeneous, and no single form of imbalance appeared to be uniformly unfavourable. In particular, role‐reversal, as between the ‘friend’ and the ‘critic’, appeared to be a favourable rather than an unfavourable sign.

The use of inter‐person analysis resolved certain anomalies which appeared in earlier studies by showing that these resulted from the mistaken assumption that a given self‐description pattern had constant personality correlates.
CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH CHRISTIAN NAMES
Authors: SHEPPARD D.
Published: April 2011

An experiment is described in which subjects were asked to associate personal characteristics with christian names. For several of the names used, there was marked agreement that particular characteristics were apposite. Possible explanations for this are discussed.
THE WORD‐IN‐CONTEXT: A NEW TYPE OF VERBAL REASONING TEST
Authors: COOK J. M. , HEIM A. W. , WATTS K. P.
Published: April 2011

A description is given of a new test of verbal reasoning which is used in a small‐scale experiment. The novelty of the test derives from its ‘real life’ material, its appraisal of induction as well as deduction and its provision for the objective scoring of different degrees of correctness. In addition to the subject's final solution to each problem, the test provides evidence of how this decision is reached.

The experimental results suggest (a) that the Word‐in‐context does effect discrimination among intelligent young adults, (b) that the cognitive qualities on which it discriminates are not the usual qualities assessed by cognitive tests, (c) that it is possible to produce an objectively scorable test in which arts students do as well as science students, (d) that what is tested, though strongly verbal in bias, is not vocabulary strength. It is hoped that the test may prove useful for purposes of high‐grade selection, as an indicator of certain aspects of personality and for the study of concept‐formation and other thought processes.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RATE OF ACQUISITION, NEGATIVE TRANSFER, AND RATE OF RECOVERY IN DIGIT‐SYMBOL SUBSTITUTION
Authors: FEATHER N. T.
Published: April 2011

Male and female subjects worked at a digit‐symbol substitution test under conditions of massed practice for six trials (acquisition phase). The order of symbols was then completely reversed to effect sudden disruption in performance (negative transfer). Subjects then worked at the test with reversed key for six trials under conditions of massed practice (recovery phase). Predictions about rate of acquisition, degree of disruption, and rate of recovery were based on multiplicative‐drive theory and on Eysenck's theory of extraversion/introversion and the inhibition/excitation balance.

Results show that degree of disruption is positively correlated with both rate of acquisition and rate of recovery for males and females. Differences in MPI neuroticism and extraversion scores are not associated with the predicted differences in performance at the task. In discussion it is suggested that attempts to incorporate personality variables into learning theory need to consider different ways in which situations can differ, and other conceptions of the learning process in addition to multiplicative‐drive theory.
ON THE MEASUREMENT OF THE LEVEL OF SKIN POTENTIAL
Authors: VENABLES P. H. , SAYER E.
Published: April 2011

The use of the measurement of skin potential level as an alternative to skin resistance is considered. Methods for the reduction of artifacts in potential measurement are described.
THE EFFECTS OF THE VARIATION OF TWO PHYSICAL PARAMETERS ON EMPIRICAL DIFFICULTY IN A PERCEPTUAL MAZE TEST
Authors: ELITHORN ALICK , JONES DAVID , KERR MYFANWY , LEE DAVID
Published: April 2011

An improved version of a perceptual maze test, which has been shown to be sensitive to frontal and temporal lobe damage, is described. The present test possesses a fully binary structure and parameters describing the task are now more easily definable. An experiment is reported in which the effect of varying two of these parameters, size and density of pattern, was examined. In order to minimize differential practice effects, a 36 times 36 random Latin square design was used, 36 normal subjects being tested with 36 patterns. The results show that the effect of the variation of these two parameters on the difficulty experienced by the subject in solving the task is reilably pronounced. A third parameter ‘pattern’ is briefly discussed.
ACOUSTIC CONFUSIONS IN IMMEDIATE MEMORY
Authors: CONRAD R.
Published: April 2011

Sequences of 6 letters of the alphabet were visually presented for immediate recall to 387 subjects. Errors showed a systematic relationship to original stimuli. This is held to meet a requirement of the decay theory of immediate memory.

The same letter vocabulary was used in a test in which subjects were required to identify the letters spoken against a white noise background. A highly significant correlation was found between letters which confused in the listening test, and letters which confused in recall.

The role of neurological noise in recall is discussed in relation to these results. It is further argued that information theory is inadequate to explain the memory span, since the nature of the stimulus set, which can be defined quantitatively, as well as the information per item, is likely to be a determining factor.
CHANGES IN HEART RATE AND PERFORMANCE AS A RESULT OF LOSS OF SLEEP
Authors: CORCORAN D. W. J.
Published: April 2011

Two theories of the effects of loss of sleep were compared against existing facts. The hypothesis that sleep deprivation reduces arousal was judged to be more adequate than the theory that arousal is increased by loss of sleep, the former failing only to account for raised physiological indices of arousal in some experiments. These are attributed to experimental conditions which compel the subject to make compensatory efforts to maintain adequate levels of performance. Under such conditions effort, not arousal, is reflected in the indices.

An experiment was conducted in which a constant high level of performance was not demanded of the subjects over a 60 hr. period without sleep. Heart rate and performance fell with loss of sleep.
RESPONSES BY THE FERRET TO STIMULUS CHANGE
Authors: HUGHES R. N.
Published: April 2011

Ten ferrets were allowed to move about freely in a Y‐maze with an additional centre arm, for three periods of time. A change in brightness was then effected by removal of an anomalous arm insert and entrance archway to produce a maze of uniform brightness. On a subsequent critical trial the ferrets were observed to enter first the arm in which this change had been made. The results are discussed in terms of perceptual satiation, development of a response habit, response inhibition and stimulus change. The last possibility is shown to be the most appropriate, thus confirming conclusions from rat studies.
CONSTANT ERRORS IN WEIGHT JUDGEMENTS AS A FUNCTION OF THE SIZE OF THE DIFFERENTIAL THRESHOLD
Authors: ROSS HELEN E.
Published: April 2011

Constant errors in psychophysical procedures are known to increase in magnitude with the intensity of the standard, and with the temporal or spatial separation of the standard and comparison stimuli. It is often assumed that this is due to increasing ‘adaptation’ of the effective standard. It is argued here that the increase is due to a statistical artifact, since the measures of constant error and of differential threshold normally used are not independent, so that any factor which increases the difficulty of discrimination will increase the magnitude of the constant error.

It is shown that for differential thresholds ranging from 1 to 25 g. the absolute size of the constant error increases with the size of the threshold, but the direction of the error is variable and remains unexplained.
ON THE SOLVING OF CODE ITEMS DEMANDING THE USE OF INDIRECT PROCEDURES
Authors: CAMPBELL ALISON C.
Published: April 2011

Subjects in experiments using categorization and matching problems have been found to encounter difficulty with procedures that are indirect, and involve transformations of data. The present study finds this difficulty to extend to compound code items, many subjects not being able to cope with the type of indirect procedure that solution of these items was made to entail. It is suggested that the difficulty stems from a need to work with equivalence classes that are negatively defined and purely verbal, or the fact that the data transformations called for involve a change of logical subject.
SOME STUDIES OF PATTERN PERCEPTION USING A STABILIZED RETINAL IMAGE
Authors: EVANS C. R.
Published: April 2011

Using a stabilization device capable of covering 30° of the visual field, targets of various shapes were studied extensively. Very large and consistent differences were found between the percentage disappearances of most targets and this was found not to be a function of length of line or boundary. The presence of corners and intersections in a target increased percentage disappearance. Jagged, angular figures disappeared more than rounded, topologically similar ones. When acute angles were present, the disappearance rate was radically raised.

About 10% of the time when a target disappeared, it disappeared as a complete unit, though this figure varied somewhat from target to target and was very high in the case of the circle. A mean of about 15% of all disappearances were ‘patterned’ or ‘structured’, and these proportions held true for all subjects tested.
THE PERCEPTION OF ILLUSIONS AS A CONSTANCY PHENOMENON
Authors: BROWN L. B. , HOUSSIADAS L.
Published: April 2011

The view, recently revived, that the non‐veridical perception of visual illusions results from size constancy processes set up by the depth features of flat figures has been tested with a series of eight stimuli. Data collected from experiments with 44 subjects suggest that this view applies only to a limited range of visual illusions and that, therefore, it has not the generality claimed by its proponents.
THE PLACE OF SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE IN CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY
Authors: RICHARDSON ALAN
Published: April 2011

This paper discusses some problems raised by Koch (1958) concerning the role of experiential analysis in contemporary psychology. More specifically the attempt is made to distinguish the concept of experience from the concept of behaviour and to justify the use of subjective report on both logical and empirical grounds. The problem of developing more accurate categories for self‐observation and of developing valid constructs from self reports is considered. The final section of the paper is concerned with the theoretical implications of the experientially derived construct of imaging ability and of the subjective activity of mental practice.
ANALYSIS OF VISUAL AND PROPRIOCEPTIVE COMPONENTS OF MOTOR SKILL BY MEANS OF A DRUG
Authors: LEGGE D.
Published: April 2011

Skilled manual responses depend upon information about the position of the hand which is to be moved. In order to throw light on the way in which CNS depressant drugs impair skill, an experiment was performed to study the effect of nitrous oxide on the perception of hand position by vision and by proprioception. The results show that these two modalities were less efficient in combination than was either separately. The drug increased the variability of performance irrespective of the perceptual conditions. The drug also produced systematic changes in constant error, by its action either on vision or on proprioception. Drug‐induced increases in the size of handwriting may be explained as changes which compensate for the effects of the drug on perception.