bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Variations in WISC—R Patterns of Learning Disabled Children
Authors: Saklofske D. H. , Schmidt H. P. J. , Yackulic R. A.
Published: September 2011

The WISC—R was administered to 19 learning disabled students at the time of diagnosis and following a period of time in special program placements. Group analyses indicated fluctuations between testing times in the Verbal and Full-Scale IQs and the V-P IQ discrepancies. Small but significant differences in Verbal, Performance and V-P scatter indices were observed at one or both testings in comparison to the normal standardization sample. Although the suggested group pattern for learning disabled children based on the Bannatyne categories was confirmed on both occasions, there was considerable variation for individual subjects.
Memory Processes in Morning Recall after Multiple Night Awakenings
Authors: Cipolli Carlo , Calasso Elena , Maccolini Stefano , Pani Roberto , Salzarulo Piero
Published: September 2011

Some episodes of mental sleep experience which are reported after multiple awakenings during sleep are not recalled in the morning. Have they decayed or are they temporarily inhibited to retrieval? Responses of 10 men were recorded for four non-consecutive nights; they were awakened each night four times after 9 win. of REM sleep. Upon each awakening they were asked to report their mental sleep experience, and in the morning they were asked to re-report these experiences. Where subjects were unable to provide a spontaneous morning report they were prompted using a probe, the probe being the first contentful proposition of the corresponding night report. Subjects were aware of this design. All the night and morning reports were subjected to linguistic analysis. Spontaneous morning reports were significantly less frequent than night reports, but the use of the probe significantly increased the frequency of morning reports. Both spontaneous and probed morning reports and their corresponding night reports shared similar linguistic structures, but the probed reports and their corresponding night reports were shorter. The percentage of contents common to night and morning reports was similar for both spontaneous and probed morning reports, as was the stability of the serial position of those contents. We suggest that, with respect to settings with only one night awakening, multiple awakenings increase retrieval difficulty for entire episodes of mental sleep experience but not for single contents.
Evidence for Color-Contingent Organizational Aftereffects
Authors: Petersik J. Timothy , Boring Mark
Published: September 2011

An effort was made to produce negative organizational aftereffects in response to a perceptually ambiguous stimulus that can be seen as a cube in either of two orientations. 6 subjects were adapted to alternative disambiguated versions of the ambiguous cube, shown either in green or magenta light. When tested with the ambiguous figure shown in either green or magenta light, 5 subjects showed negative aftereffects while one subject showed a positive aftereffect. The aftereffects showed an average change in preferred organization of 25%. The results are interpreted in terms of both cognitive and hard-wired processes.
Obesity as a Variable Affecting Performance on the Rod and Frame Test
Authors: Thomason John A.
Published: September 2011

Apparent similarities between S. Schachter's stimulus binding construct and H. A. Witkin's construct of psychological differentiation, specifically field dependence, have been noted in the literature. The present study examined field dependence on the rod-and-frame test among 20 obese and 42 average-weight subjects. Obese subjects were more field-dependent than were average-weight subjects. Women were slightly more field-dependent than were men. The author concluded that obese persons are more field-dependent and speculated that the constructs may be describing similar phenomena.
Perceptual Experience in Learning to Read
Authors: Fogliani-Messina Teresa M. , Fogliani Anna M.
Published: September 2011

A group of 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) aged 10 yr. was given the Children's Embedded Figures Test and a Reading Ability Test on Comprehension, Accuracy, and Speed. Only the correlation of CEFT and Accuracy scores was statistically significant, while that for CEFT and Comprehension scores fell just short of significance, and that for CEFT and Speed was nonsignificant. Data are discussed in terms of more holistic and more articulated processes in learning to read, respectively, as adopted by more field-dependent and more field-independent subjects.
Eye Position and Visual Attention Influence Perceived Auditory Direction
Authors: Bohlander Robert W.
Published: September 2011

The singular and joint effects of eccentric visual fixation and peripheral visual attention upon the perceived auditory median plane (PAMP) of the head were examined in four subjects. They positioned a hidden, horizontally-moving sound source to the perceived median plane of the head, while fixating a light 20° or 45° to the right or left of the actual median plane, and attending to another light in peripheral vision. Analysis by multiple linear regression yielded a model for each subject which indicated the nature and weighting of those factors contributing to variance reduction in PAMP judgments. Three subjects showed a strong linear attention effect, resulting in shifts of the PAMP away from the locus of attention. Similarly, a strong linear fixation effect was discovered in two subjects, a weak effect in another, and a nonlinear, inverse fixation effect in the last. Additional factors were noted for some subjects. Possible explanations of the observed effects were discussed. The study indicates that both visual attention and visual fixation are critical factors in experiments on auditory space perception although inter-individual differences do exist in the nature and strength of the effects.
Effort of Preparation and Age
Authors: Gottsdanker Robert
Published: September 2011

In an experiment on 24 men and women who were selected for short simple RT (reaction time) and who ranged from 22 to 86 yr. of age, choice RT increased monotonically over 3.5 sec. of waiting time during which there was high momentary probability of stimulus occurrence. As use of a choice reaction minimized the possibility of a response set, the occurrence of a waiting decrement was regarded as support for Näätänen's 1971 proposal of short-term mental exhaustion, which was derived from a similar study but for simple RT. The effect of age on endurance was not clear. There appeared to be no greater waiting decrement with age up to about 65 yr., but the possibility of greater decrements beyond that age cannot be discounted. The existence of short-term exhaustion is consonant with Kahneman's (1973) view that effort is required for the generation of processing capacity. Kahneman and other investigators of mental effort have unanimously rejected the existence of any appreciable effort during preparation. However, Näätänen's evidence for short-term exhaustion apparently had not been considered. It is here suggested that short-term exhaustion usually is not incurred in information processing tasks as they are characterized by alternations of high and low demands for capacity, unlike the present high constant momentary probability of signal occurrence. It is further conjectured that such intermittent operation evolved as the optimum way of utilizing underlying resources that are subject to depletion.
Stability of Whole vs Part Perceptions of Visual Stimuli
Authors: Scruggs Thomas E. , Mastropieri Margo A. , Monson Jay A. , Wade James P.
Published: September 2011

In two experiments, college undergraduates ( ns = 29, 30) were asked to describe in writing two different abstract line drawings. Responses were classified by over-all orientation to the whole or the individual parts of each drawing. Although findings of the two experiments were very similar, analysis indicated that no strong reliability of orientation existed across the two drawings.
Individual Differences in Multiple-Task Performance and Subjective Estimates of Workload
Authors: Damos Diane L.
Published: September 2011

This experiment examined the relation between individual differences in multiple-task performance and subjective estimates of workload. 30 women performed various complex tasks alone and together and rated each task and task combination on 10 bipolar adjective scales describing different dimensions of workload. The subjects also completed tests of field dependence, memory span, and time estimation. Two classification schemes were used to identify each subject. One was based on the subject's dual-task response strategy and the other, on the subject's performance on a complex monitoring task. As the data showed little evidence of consistent individual differences on the monitoring task, this classification system was subsequently dropped. Group differences in between-response strategies were found on two of the workload scales. Some between-group trends were found on the time estimation and memory-span tasks, suggesting additional topics for investigation.
Fear and Time Estimation
Authors: Waits Fraser N. , Sharrock Robert
Published: September 2011

It has been claimed that fear shortens time-estimates. Contrary to this view, 35 spider-phobic subjects give longer estimates of a short interval spent observing a spider than 18 non-phobic controls. The phobics' estimates are also more variable.
Cognitive Performance in Sports Scuba Divers
Authors: Phillips Colleen J.
Published: September 2011

7 subjects completed four cognitive tests at depth in the open water. Analysis indicated that cognitive impairment can occur at depths experienced by sports divers.
Some Comments on Dr. Stein's Critique of My Account of Asch's Social-Pressure Studies
Authors: Gleitman Henry
Published: September 2011

Stein's criticisms of Gleitman's description of Asch's classic group-pressure studies in his undergraduate text, Psychology, are in part useful and in part off the mark as further information indicates.
Neuropsychological Assessment of a Case of Early Right Hemiplegia: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis
Authors: Brizzolara Daniela , Chilosi Anna Maria , De Nobili Gianni Luigi , Ferretti Giovanni
Published: September 2011

Evidence for normal development of linguistic but poor visuo-perceptual skills has been obtained with the neuropsychological assessment of a case of early left-brain injury. Data suggest the transfer of linguistic functions from the left to the right hemisphere at the expense of visuo-perceptual capacities for which the right hemisphere is potentially specialized.
A Dictionary of Affect in Language: I. Establishment and Preliminary Validation
Authors: Sweeney Kevin , Whissell Cynthia
Published: September 2011

73 subjects participated in a two-phase experiment. In the first phase, 33 subjects rated more than 4000 words in terms of the affective dimensions of Evaluation (Pleasantness) and Activation (Arousal). Mean scores for the words were normally distributed on both dimensions, and the correlation between dimensions was very low (.15). In the second phase, 40 subjects responded in a free written format to four “imaginary” situations distinguished by their Outcome (“A” Grade, Failing Grade) and their implied Locus of Causality (Internal or Self, External or Other). Ratings from the words in Phase One were used to score subjects' protocols for both dimensions, and greater pleasantness was evident for the positive outcome and the internally-attributed situations while greater arousal was evident for externally attributed situations; data were the frequencies of occurrence of high Activation and high Evaluation words.
Teachers' Judgments of Creativity and Social Validation of Divergent Thinking Tests
Authors: Runco Mark A.
Published: September 2011

Although judgments given by teachers, supervisors, and other significant others have been used in the past as predictors of creativity, divergent thinking tests have yet to be socially validated. For this reason a socially valid instrument was developed from teachers' conceptions of creativity and later used to rate the creativity of gifted, talented, and nongifted children ( N = 240). Correlational analyses indicated that this measure was reliable, significantly correlated with divergent thinking tests, and negatively correlated with IQ. It was concluded that (a) the social validation paradigm is applicable to the assessment of creativity, and (b) divergent thinking tests have social validity in terms of teachers' judgments.
Geophysical Variables and Behavior: XX. Weekly Numbers of Mining Accidents and the Weather Matrix: The Importance of Geomagnetic Variation and Barometric Pressure
Authors: Persinger Michael A. , Nolan Michael
Published: September 2011

The magnitudes of the relationship between the conditions of the weekly weather matrix and the numbers of mining accidents during a one-year period were determined by multivariate analyses. Measures of means and variations in temperature, humidity, sunshine hours, windspeed, precipitation, barometric pressure, and geomagnetic activity per week were selected. The analyses were dominated by single variables. Whereas medical aid accidents tended to increase as the barometric pressure decreased, first aid accidents increased as the geomagnetic variation increased. The barometric pressure changes accommodated 16% of the variance in the numbers of medical accidents while geomagnetic variations accommodated 23% of the variance in first-aid accidents.
Estimating the Sizes of Sports Crowds
Authors: Kemp Simon
Published: September 2011

Slides taken of stands in a sports stadium portraying crowds of from 8 to 1122 people were viewed by 137 observers. The observers tended to underestimate the actual numbers in the crowds; the accuracy of their estimates depended on the stand in which the crowds were situated and whether the observers viewed a training slide. Underestimation of size of a crowd is consistent with previous research on visual numerosity, but exponents of the power-law function relating estimated to actual numbers were in the range 0.95 to 1.13, higher than those found previously.
Sensation Seeking and Cognitive Complexity
Authors: Domangue Barbara B.
Published: September 2011

Data of 80 undergraduate women showed that high sensation seekers were higher in cognitive complexity than low sensation seekers. In addition to seeking more stimulating situations and activities, high sensation seekers may also develop cognitive means to increase the stimulating value of available social information.
Irrational Beliefs and Reading Comprehension
Authors: Prola Max
Published: September 2011

The hypothesis that the endorsement of Ellis' irrational beliefs is associated with less effective reading comprehension was assessed. A correlation of —.39 between scores on the Irrational Beliefs Scale and the Descriptive Tests of Language Skills: Reading Comprehension Test was found for 144 male and female college freshmen. The relationship does not appear to be mediated by anxiety, as measured by a short form of the Manifest Anxiety Scale.
Influence of Instructions and Cognitive Articulation on Reducing the Müller-Lyer Illusion with a Repeated Trial
Authors: Di Nuovo Santo
Published: September 2011

The role of specific, suggestive instructions and of the subject's cognitive articulation in fostering modifications of Müller-Lyer illusory effect was studied. 60 female students were divided into four subgroups on the basis of (a) Witkin's GEFT scores and (b) instructions given to the subjects for the repeated trial. Analysis shows no statistically significant difference between the more and less articulated subjects on the first trial, for influence of both cognitive articulation and instructions or their interaction on the reduction of the illusion. Data are interpreted in terms of some theoretical explanations of geometrical illusions, such as ‘centration theory’ and ‘assimilation theory’.
Effects of Interactive and Noninteractive Imagery on Recall of Advertisements
Authors: Biron José , Mc Kelvie Stuart J.
Published: September 2011

To replicate and clarify an experiment conducted by Lutz and Lutz in 1977, 100 subjects viewed actual advertisements of product (service) — brand (company) name pairs under one of five conditions: Picture Interaction1, in which the words were accompanied by a picture containing line drawings of each member of the pair interacting, Picture Separate 1, in which the same words were accompanied by separated line-drawings of each member, Verbal Control 1, in which the words only were shown, Picture Separate 2 and Verbal Control 2, in which a new set of verbal items were presented with separate line drawings or alone, respectively. Contrary to expectation, recall of names was not superior in Picture Interaction 1; instead, over-all recall was generally higher in the three pictorial than in the two verbal conditions. In addition, the second set of different items proved to be more difficult to remember than the first. It is suggested that Lutz and Lutz's finding of superior recall in Picture Interaction was a function of extraneous variables. It is also surmised that the present failure to replicate other research showing an advantage of pictorial interaction may be attributed to different exposure times.
Answers without Questions: A Note on Response Style in Questionnaires
Authors: Van Ijzendoorn Marinus H.
Published: September 2011

A “questionnaire” without questions was given to 175 first-year students. It is assumed that in such an ambiguous situation, the influence of response style is maximal. The students tended to prefer the more positively formulated or less extreme categories. These response styles, however, did not seem to influence answers to meaningful questions from an attitude scale.
Effects of Hemispace on Tactile Bisection by Young Children
Authors: Yamamoto Mayumi
Published: September 2011

The validity of Bowers and Heilman's (1983) hypothesis that both hemisphere-hemispace and hemisphere-hand connections contribute to the laterality effects for tactile bisection task was examined with 24 children 6.7 yr. old. Stimulus spatial location did not influence laterality.
Interpretation of Studies of Ethnic Identity: Draw-A-Person as a Measure of Ethnic Identity
Authors: Pfeffer Karen
Published: September 2011

Draw-A-Person was used to examine ethnic identity in 129 Nigerian (Yoruba) school children. That the children expressed low ethnic identity was based on their general avoidance of dark colors when coloring the skin. These findings were compared to those obtained from studies conducted on black children in the USA with the conclusion that the racial context of the study may affect interpretations of data.
Relation of Ability to Conserve and Use of Specific Syntactic Features
Authors: Lehnert Linda
Published: September 2011

The oral language of 31 conservers and 47 nonconservers was examined to assess the relations among ability to conserve, a measure of cognitive development, and use of specific syntactic structures. T-unit analyses were applied to children's individually rendered stories to determine mean numbers of words per T-unit, adjective clauses per T-unit, adverbial clauses per T-unit, dependent-noun clauses per T-unit, and total dependent clauses per T-unit. There were large ranges in use of all five syntactic structures among subjects within the same cognitive group, conserver or nonconserver. One-tailed t tests indicated a significant difference between conservers and nonconservers only in mean number of words per T-unit, not for the other four syntactic structures.
Whole Properties as Determinants of Determinants
Authors: Bash K. W.
Published: September 2011

The relation between Gestalt properties of wholes according to W. Metzger and the Rorschach determinants is examined, (a) Essence or physiognomic characteristic is what most easily arouses affect. Pure colors, being pure essence, account for the chromatic determinant, (b) Structure reveals itself in form, accounting for the form determinant, (c) Quality, the nature, condition or property of a thing, is best seen in shading, wherefore the use of this determinant indicates the prevailing quality of mood, (d) Movement is determined by structure, but also by the capacity for dynamic resonance and human intimacy.
Categories of Implicit Interpersonal Communication
Authors: York Michael W. , Bedard Sherrie A. , Colindres Christina
Published: September 2011

The purpose of the present study was to develop a set of eight nonverbal displays consistent with the eight interpersonal roles specified by Leary in 1957. The development of these displays was also based on the notion of a convergence of theory and fact based on the work of Leary, Osgood, and Schlosberg. Naive subjects' reactions to each of the eight displays were elicited on Leary's Interpersonal Check List and a simplified bipolar adjective instrument. Naive subjects placed the nonverbal displays as predicted. The present study is viewed as a first step in determining if in fact these eight displays represent major categories of nonverbal behavior used in implicit communication.
Superiority of the Left Cerebral Hemisphere in Word Recognition with Nonverbal Central Fixation
Authors: Williams Stephen Meredith
Published: September 2011

The right visual-field advantage for bilateral presentation put forward by McKeever and Huling was investigated. The central-fixation task was varied so that in one condition this task was nonverbal. Results gave some support for scanning-type explanations in this paradigm but over-all favoured Kinsbourne's activation-and-priming account.
Relationship of Stress and Ego Energy to Field-Dependent Perception in Older Adults
Authors: Daly Elizabeth Ballas
Published: September 2011

Using a sample of 120 adults between the ages of 55 and 75 yr., the relationships between stress of life change, ego energy, and field-dependent perception were studied. Respondents completed the Schedule of Recent Events, the Taft Ego Permissiveness Questionnaire, and the Children's Embedded Figures Test. Pearson correlations and multiple regression analysis were applied to the data. Supported were predictions of a negative relationship between stress of life events and ego energy, a positive relationship between ego energy and field-dependent perception, and a negative relationship between stress of life events and field-dependent perception.
Effects of Self-Verbalizations upon Emotional Arousal and Performance: A Test of Rational-Emotive Theory
Authors: Bonadies Gregory A. , Bass Barry A.
Published: September 2011

As a test of rational-emotive theory, the idea that our beliefs influence our emotions and subsequent overt behavior, 36 undergraduate women were presented rational, irrational, or neutral statements prior to and regarding their performance of a perceptual-motor task. Palmar skin resistance responses (SRRs) and forearm extensor muscle-action potentials (MAPs) were recorded to assess the relationship of covert self-verbalizations (generated by rehearsed statements), emotional or physiological arousal, and behavioral efficiency in task performance. Ellis hypothesized that rational self-verbalizations lead to optimal arousal and superior performance while irrational self-verbalizations lead to over-arousal and subsequent poor performance. Subjects given rational statements reduced mirror-star tracing errors more quickly than did subjects given neutral and irrational statements. Self-verbalization groups were not distinguished by electrodermal measures. MAP measures were in the direction predicted by rational-emotive theory. Results provided information about the form of the relationship of self-verbalizations, physiological arousal, and performance.
Visual Attention Strategies for Printed Words in Beginning Readers
Authors: Berninger Virginia Wise
Published: September 2011

To investigate beginning readers' multiple and selective attention to letter and configural information in printed words, Garner's speeded classification task was administered to 20 children after one year of formal reading instruction. There were individual differences, but, in general, the beginning readers imposed configural structures (failure in multiple and selective attention) and separable structures (failure in multiple attention only). No one structure was associated with achievement or underachievement in reading, based on standardized tests and teachers' judgment. That 70% of the underachievers and only 20% of the achievers used the same structure for both words (which can be recoded linguistically) and word analogues (which cannot be recoded linguistically), suggests that achievers may be more flexible in allocating visual attention. Another finding, which was replicated, indicates that configural information may be salient for beginning readers who ate learning rules of letter-phoneme correspondence. On orthogonal-dimensions tasks the beginning readers (achieving and underachieving) selectively ignored letter but not configural information.
Diagnostic and Summative Appraisal Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness
Authors: Meredith Gerald M.
Published: September 2011

End-of-semester ratings of 9,875 students were used to predict two criteria of teaching effectiveness. The predictors for both summative and diagnostic criterion ratings were nearly similar. Findings have implications for personnel and curriculum decision making.
The TM-Sidhi Programme and Field Independence
Authors: Jedrczak Andrew , Clements Geoffrey
Published: September 2011

The results of three studies suggest that practice of the TM-Sidhi programme may increase field independence. A fourth study showed that frequency of advanced experiences within the TM-Sidhi programme was also related to field independence.
ARE the Accessory Facial Movements of the Stutterer Learned Behaviours?
Authors: Kraaimaat Floor , Janssen Peggy
Published: September 2011

The purpose of the present study was to explore the accessory nonverbal behaviours emitted by stutterers when their speech was fluent, normally disfluent, or stuttered. Subjects were 25 stutterers who were required to speak spontaneously for a 2-min. period. Seven types of nonverbal behavior were observed. Significant differences among the three speech categories were obtained for jaw movements, mouth movements, forehead movements, eyebrow movements, and head movements. Eyelid movements and eye blinks were nonsignificant. The results are discussed with respect to the various functions that can be attributed to nonverbal behaviour in stuttering.
Unraveling Subjects' Perceptions of Paraprofessionals and Professionals: A Pilot Study
Authors: Corcoran Kevin J.
Published: September 2011

This study examined 75 undergraduate women's perceptions of paraprofessional and professional therapists in an analogy study. The data indicated subjects were more willing to seek treatment from paraprofessional than professional therapists; no differences were found in predicted success of treatment. Subjects' perceptions of paraprofessional and professional expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness were also examined; the findings were nonsignificant.
Factor Analytical and Correlational Study of Just World Scale
Authors: Ahmed S. M. S. , Stewart R. A. C.
Published: September 2011

The purpose of the study was to factor analyze responses by 196 students to the ‘Just World Scale’ by Rubin and Peplau. It was hypothesized that the perception of justice as measured by this scale is a unitary trait. For subsamples of 45 subjects of the sample correlations of subjects' scores on this scale and scores on Eysenck Personality Inventory, Stewart Personality Inventory, Machiavellian Scale IV, and Bell's Adjustment Inventory are reported and discussed to gain further insight into the content and essential construct of the Just World Scale. The results confirmed the hypothesis.
Geophysical Variables and Behavior: XXIII. Relations between UFO Reports within the Uinta Basin and Local Seismicity
Authors: Persinger M. A. , Derr J. S.
Published: September 2011

A strong temporal correlation was found between the numbers of reports of UFOs (unidentified flying objects) and nearby seismic activity within the Uinta Basin for the year 1967. The numbers of UFO reports per month during this classic UFO flap were correlated 0.80 with the sum of the earthquake magnitudes per month for events within 150 km of the report area. Numbers of UFO reports were not correlated significantly with earthquake activity at distances greater than 150 km but less than 250 km away. The strongest correlation occurred between UFO reports and nearby seismic activity within the same month but not for previous or consequent months. Close scrutiny of daily shifts in epicenters and reports of UFOs indicated that they occurred when the locus of successive epicenters shifted across the area. These analyses were interpreted as support for the existence of strain fields whose movements generate natural phenomena that are reported as UFOs.
Jealousy and Self-Esteem
Authors: Stewart Robert A. , Beatty Michael J.
Published: September 2011

Recent studies have been inconsistent in establishing a significant relationship between jealousy and low self-esteem. The present study provides more evidence about the nature of that relationship by testing differences between correlation coefficients computed separately for 102 women and 90 men. Analysis indicated a significant inverse relationship for the women, the men, and for the pooled sample.
Autobiographical Elaboration and Memory for Adjectives
Authors: Warren Michael W. , Hughes Alva T. , Tobias Shirley B.
Published: September 2011

Adjective recall was compared for three rating tasks that encouraged varying degrees of autobiographical elaboration: autobiography (subjects were instructed to remember an autobiographical episode for which the adjective described how they felt or behaved and to date the episode), self-reference (subjects rated how often the adjective was self-descriptive), and pleasantness (subjects rated the degree of pleasantness of the adjective). Subjects in both the autobiography and self-reference conditions recalled significantly more words than subjects in the pleasantness condition ( ns = 16).
Effects of Ball Color on Horizontal Perimetry Detection
Authors: Koslow Robert E.
Published: September 2011

The subjects were 16 college students assessed as having normal, uncorrected visual abilities. Each subject responded to the appearance of each of five variously colored ball sections as they were introduced into the subjects' visual field. Analysis indicated that colors with luminance values greater than 70 CD/M2 (black, blue, green) were detected further in the horizontal peripheral plane than were colors possessing values less than 36 CD/M2 (red, purple).
Incidence and Doubtful Significance of Nonstandard Orientations in Reproduction of the Key from the Aphasia Screening Test
Authors: Dodrill Carl B.
Published: September 2011

Nonstandard key orientations (reversed, vertical, diagonal, indeterminant) were studied for 138 normal control subjects and in 1,235 patients obtained from three sources. Keys in nonstandard orientations were slightly but not significantly more frequent in the patient groups. The vast majority of nonstandard keys were reversed. Comparisons with persons having normal key orientations on biodata, neuropsychological, intellectual, and personality variables gave negative results. Retesting a portion of the sample showed that the tendency to reproduce the key in irregular orientations was consistent over time in only about half the cases. In contrast to occasional reports in the literature, it appears that nonstandard orientations in the drawing of the key in the Aphasia Screening Test ate infrequent, somewhat inconsistent in appearance, and likely of little or no demonstrable clinical significance.
Distorted Cognitive Maps: College Students' Misperceptions of Nation Size
Authors: Fryman James F. , Wallace Julia
Published: September 2011

On a questionnaire 256 college students reported a number of distorted views concerning the sizes of nations in the world and these distortions appeared to generalize to geographic regions. Considering that individual cognitive maps are commonly used to assess new information about the global environment, these inherent distortions could significantly bias the students' views of the world.
Control in Memory for Movement Cues by Mentally Retarded Children
Authors: Horgan James S.
Published: September 2011

The study was designed to determine the desirability of providing external prompts (1) to use a mnemonic to enhance accuracy of recall and (2) to use response ‘priming’ in memory for spatial location by mentally retarded persons. Two groups of 40 mentally retarded boys and girls and two groups of 40 MA-matched nonretarded children were compared for accuracy in the recall of movement on an arm-positioning task. No differences were found between mentally retarded subjects and MA-matched subjects treated under the same conditions. However, all groups were unable to make spontaneous control adjustments to accommodate the covert manipulations made just prior to recall. By providing response primes, appropriate performance adjustments were made by all groups, resulting in a significant improvement in accuracy of recall. These findings serve to reaffirm earlier reports showing remarkable similarity between the mentally retarded and MA-matched nonretarded subjects.
Juggling Scarves: A Learning Tool That Aids or Hinders Learning?
Authors: Hautala Robert M.
Published: September 2011

The effectiveness of using juggling scarves to teach juggling was investigated. Differences in juggling tennis balls between subjects who practiced with tennis balls and subjects who practiced with scarves at progressively increasing speeds were assessed. No significant difference between the juggling scores of these groups was found. The subjects using scarves generally reported more confidence in their practice method than did the group juggling tennis balls, and greater confidence in their ability to transfer learned scarf juggling skills to the more difficult tennis ball juggling. They also reported less difficulty in maintaining a high amount of “time on task” during initial practice than did the tennis-ball group.
Dimensionality of Revisited Body Awareness
Authors: Ajzen Yair , Iagolnitzer Edmond R. , Bruchon-Schweitzer Marilou
Published: September 2011

A semantic analysis of the 108 items and 8 scales of the Body Focus Questionnaire has previously suggested that 11 items depress correlations involving 6 of the scales. Empirical correlations, established for regular and for revised scores obtained by leaving out the 11 items, show an average increase for the latter of .11 and .17 for the six scales. Correlation matrices for the six revised scales yield two eigenvalues larger than 1.00 for men and only one for women. Independence of the regular scales appears artifactual.
Information Processing Abilities and Performance on Two Perceptual-Motor Tasks
Authors: Siegel Donald
Published: September 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the hypothesized information-processing mechanisms, thought to be reflected by the slope and intercept of the regression of choice reaction time on stimulus information or information transmitted could account for performance on two novel laboratory tasks. In addition, analyses were performed to determine whether these theorized mechanisms represent stable within individual abilities or task specific capabilities. Analysis indicated that the slopes obtained from two different choice reaction time paradigms were unrelated while intercepts were moderately correlated. Examination of the pattern of zero-order correlations further showed that regression components were not meaningfully related to performance on either novel task, suggesting that knowledge of information-processing mechanisms, as assessed in choice RT paradigms, did not enhance the understanding of performance in more complex tasks.
The Competition Knowledge Test
Authors: Kildea Alice E.
Published: September 2011

The Competition Knowledge Test has been reported to be a reliable measure of competitive behavior and those often misconstrued as competitive behavior. This confusion was illustrated by 486 college students. Mean time to administer the test was 32 min. The 60-item multiple-choice test was designed for use in teaching and research.
Flicker Fusion Frequency and Organic Syndrome in Alcoholics
Authors: Pillunat L. E. , Christ Th. , Luderer H.-J. , Stodtmeister R.
Published: September 2011

Flicker fusion frequencies of 48 healthy controls and of 35 alcoholics were measured to detect possible associations between flicker fusion and signs of nonspecific brain damage, the aim of the study. FFF was statistically significantly lower in patients addicted to alcohol than in healthy subjects. Lower flicker fusion frequencies were associated with the severeness of organic psychosis as rated psychopathologically. The hypothesis that addiction to alcohol is a sign of diffuse, nonspecific, organic brain damage was discussed.
Effect of Depth of Processing on Recognition Memory for Normal and Inverted Photographs of Faces
Authors: McKelvie Stuart J.
Published: September 2011

40 undergraduates categorized photographs of faces on the basis of sex or liking and then attempted to recognize them in normal or inverted orientations. For photographs which were normally oriented, accuracy and confidence were greater for pictures initially categorized for liking than for pictures initially categorized for sex. However, for inverted photographs, accuracy and confidence scores did not differ as a function of initial judgement, although they were generally poorer for the inverted than normal faces. Finally, subjects more often correctly recalled the initial category for normal than for inverted photographs, although both levels were close to chance. These findings are interpreted as being more consistent with a semantic than a feature model of facial representation.
Behavioral Effects following Rehabilitation from Postnatal Exposure to Lead Acetate
Authors: Geist Charles R. , Balko Stanley W. , Morgan Martha E. , Angiak Robert
Published: September 2011

At 21 days of age three groups of male hooded rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain were exposed to either untreated water or lead acetate at concentrations of 25 or 50 ppm provided ad lib. in the drinking water for 40 days. When tested for spontaneous alternation, the subjects receiving both 50 ppm and 25 ppm lead acetate exhibited significantly reduced rates of alternation below those of uncreated control subjects. Immediately subsequent to testing, lead was removed from the diet of the experimental groups and water substituted which was provided ad lib. for the duration of the experiment. This regimen of rehabilitation was continued for 70 days at which time all subjects were tested on the problems of the Hebb-Williams closed-field maze-learning task. No significant differences were found in the time taken to traverse the maze enclosure, the number of squares traversed, or in the total number of error zones entered over the 12 test problems, although significantly increased latencies to leave the start box were noted for subjects previously exposed to lead acetate. These data indicate that some deficits produced by postweaning lead acetate exposure may be reversible and not persist beyond a period of rehabilitation.
Effects of Age, Sex and Differentiated Training Programmes on Motor Learning
Authors: Spamer E. J.
Published: September 2011

This research indicated that the effectiveness of different instructional strategies during training was determined by age, by practicing specific movement and nonspecific movement, and by using different criterion apparatus.
Chromatic Perception in Relation to an Hypothesized Cerebral Dominance
Authors: Ruggieri Vezio , Morelli Antonella
Published: September 2011

On the basis of the cerebral dominance, we have hypothesized an asymmetry (for saturation or brightness) between the two eyes in perception of chromatic stimuli. 51 subjects were tested on chromatic perception (green, red, yellow, blue). For each subject also an ocular-dominance score was obtained. The results substantially confirmed the hypothesis of cerebral dominance in color perception. Subjects with high ocular-dominance scores (right- or left-dominant subjects) showed for the green stimulus asymmetric behavior, while subjects with low ocular-dominance scores showed a tendency toward symmetry in perception.
Lateralization in Attainment and Maintenance of Neonatal Head Posture: Further External Validation
Authors: Risser Anthony H. , Strauss Esther H. , Parry Penny
Published: September 2011

Consistencies in lateral head turning of 50 healthy, term neonates were examined to determine relations between attainment and maintenance of lateral head position. The majority showed lateral consistencies, typically rightward, in initial head turn from midline per trial, in direction of the majority of all head turns from midline pet trial and in direction turned for the majority of time per trial. Head position prior to testing was related to the three indices. The results of work to date, including the current study, have proven very consistent in nature, yielding the most reliable measure of an element of lateralized behavior in the neonate.
Velocities of Motor and Sensory Nerve Conduction are the Same for Right and Left Arms in Right- and Left-Handed Normal Subjects
Authors: Tan Üner
Published: September 2011

The velocities of motor and sensory conduction of median and ulnar nerves were measured on the left and right arms of 33 right-handed and 12 left-handed normal subjects. Contrary to current knowledge there was no statistically significant difference in the velocities of nerve conduction on the left and right sides of these subjects. It was suggested that the differences in the velocities of nerve conduction cannot contribute to the mechanisms of handedness.
Predicting Early School Achievement in Reading and Handwriting Using Major ‘Error’ Categories from the Bender-Gestalt Test for Young Children
Authors: Mc Kay Michael F. , Neale Marie D.
Published: September 2011

Errors by category and total errors on the Bender-Gestalt were used as school-entry predictors of later achievement in reading and writing in the primary school. After accounting for the effects of intelligence, apart from being related to ‘reading comprehension’ at Grade 1, die total errors made on the Bender were not a good predictor of later reading or writing performance. Circles for dots (a subcategory of the ‘distortion’ major error category) offered the most independent predictive value for later reading with the distortion category also of predictive value. The subcategory ‘lines for dots’ was the only Bender score significantly related to handwriting at end of Grade 2.
Temporal Reliability and Convergent Validity of the Rating-Scale and the Peer-Nomination Sociometric Measures among Preschool and Kindergarten Children
Authors: Dorval Michel , Bégin Guy
Published: September 2011

An improved peer-nomination procedure (training plus more votes) and the rating-scale were compared to assess the test-retest reliability, and the convergent validity of both methodologies for 23 preschoolers (4- to 5-yr.-old) and 41 kindergartners (5- to 6-yr.-old). Five testing periods with both procedures were scattered over the entire school year. The results indicate that the peer-nomination procedure and the rating-scale reach acceptable and comparable levels of reliability among kindergartners. However, among preschoolers the rating-scale works a little better, and reliability is moderate. Data on convergent validity show both methodologies assess quite similar aspects of the group structure in the two groups studied. While the use of the rating-scale is more appropriate among preschoolers, the improved peer-nomination technique is recommended among older children in terms of temporal reliability, validity, and flexibility of descriptive possibilities.
Intercorrelations of Measures of Reading and Writing: Implications for College Research on Reading and Writing
Authors: Sheen Sy-Yng Violet , Heerman Charles E.
Published: September 2011

64 college students participated in a study to examine the intercorrelationships of reading and writing measures which included The Nelson-Denny Reading Test, Form E, a randomly deleted cloze test, and the Test of Standard Written English. The latter correlated highly with the cloze and The Nelson-Denny tests, each contributing about an equal amount of common variance. The common variance between The Nelson-Denny and cloze was substantially less, so it was concluded that research at the college level should utilize both cloze and standardized reading tests to investigate the effect of sentence-combining on reading comprehension.
Effect of Perceiver's Experience with Aggression on Attributions about Aggressors
Authors: Driscoll James M.
Published: September 2011

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of an observer's experience in aggression on the perception of other aggressors. In both experiments, undergraduate volunteers watched a videotape of two women arguing over a bridge game, completed a person-perception questionnaire, and a report on their past experience with aggression. Both experiments showed effects of a person's experience with aggression on the attribution of cause for aggression (responsibility and influence), although no clear relationships have yet emerged. Results of Exp. 1 also show a difference between persons high and low in experience with aggression in the perception of satisfaction derived from aggression. Perceived satisfaction from aggression increased with experience with aggression for women but tended to decrease for men. Results of Exp. 2 suggest that schema differences among persons with different amounts of experience with aggression are mainly in terms of influence, although some particular differences in attributions of responsibility appear.
Effect of Suggestion on Perception: Replication of Gheorghiu and Reyher's Study
Authors: De Pascalis Vilfredo , Caddia Fatima
Published: September 2011

Gheorghiu and Reyher in 1982 described a Scale of Sensory Suggestibility consisting of an indirect-direct method of assessing suggestibility. In this study a further sample of 81 women was tested on Gheorghiu and Reyher's scale. The scale has tactual, auditory, and visual items. Each item was administered to the left and right sides of the body in random sequence and the method of presentation was varied. The scale is indirect in that the announced stimuli are never presented to participants, contrary to their expectations; it is direct because the subjects are cautioned that a stimulus might not actually be presented. The scale showed acceptable internal consistency. There were no right-left side differences. The methods of presentation were not equally successful. Progressive Intensification and Progressive Decrease in Intensification of stimulation were the most successful, whereas Expectation of series without objective stimuli was the least successful, contrary to Georghiu and Reyher's results. Finally, item analysis showed that all the items had high reliability coefficients, except two auditory and one visual items. Implications for clinical practice were discussed.