bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Aggressive Behavior as a Function of Taekwondo Ranking
Authors: Skelton Dennis L. , Glynn Michael A. , Berta Susan M.
Published: August 2011

This study examined the effect taekwondo training has on the level of aggression of children between the ages of 6 and 11 yr. 68 students (boys and girls) were tested using a behavior checklist designed to measure children's aggression. Analysis indicated a significant inverse relationship between the children's taekwondo rank and their aggression.
Unity as the Universal Upper Bound for Reliability
Authors: Kaiser Henry F.
Published: August 2011

It is proved that the reliability of any measurement may be as close to one as is pleased; thus, the universal upper bound for the reliability of any measurement may always approach one, implying that a stronger upper bound cannot be found.
Influence of Two Developmental Programmes on the Empathy and Prosociability of Preschool Children
Authors: Kalliopuska M. , Tiitinen Unto
Published: August 2011

Empathy and prosociability of 62 6- to 7-yr.-old preschool children were assessed before and after training in an empathy programme. Group I consisted of 14 children (9 boys and 5 girls), Group II of 17 children (9 boys and 8 girls), and the control group of two preschool classes of 15 each. The methods used were the Feshbach and Roe Empathy Slide series and the Ikonen-Nylund Test on Sociability. Prosociability was evaluated by the 1981 Weir and Duveen scale and by the 1981 Kalliopuska rating scale. The WISC Vocabulary scale measured verbal ability. The empathy programme for Group I included music, physical exercise with music, and music drawing, for Group II activities were role-playing, acting, and storytelling. The programmes took time 35 hr. over 4 mo. at 2 hr. per week. The results were promising; empathy was consciously developed during the preschool years. Prosociability seemed to increase along with empathy.
Short-Term Retention of a Constructed Motor Program
Authors: Ito Masanobu
Published: August 2011

The purpose of the present study was to examine the retention of a constructed motor program. 12 subjects were required to react and produce a designated peak force as soon as possible after each of two starting signals separated by a variable time interval of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 sec. Analysis showed that simple reaction time and premotor time to initiate the second response sharply increased as the length of the retention interval increased from 0 to 2 sec., with no further increases thereafter. These findings suggest that nearly all of the forgetting of the constructed motor program occurred within the first 2 sec., which may be the approximate upper limit for the retention of this constructed motor program. These findings also may suggest that rapid decay of the motor program would be the basis for programming delay in simple-reaction paradigm.
Structural Properties of Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices for a Sample of Gifted Children
Authors: Green Kathy E. , Kluever Raymond C.
Published: August 2011

This paper concerns results of a Rasch and a factor analysis of Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices items for a sample of 166 gifted children. Of 36 items, 33 had adequate fit to a Rasch model but a three-factor solution provided the most interpretable explanation of item intercorrelations.
Reaction Times and Intelligence among Hong Kong Children
Authors: Chan J. W. C. , Eysenck Hans J. , Lynn Richard
Published: August 2011

The hypothesis that reaction times are positively associated with intelligence was tested on 479 9-yr.-old Chinese Hong Kong children. Intelligence was measured by the Standard Progressive Matrices, and 12 reaction time parameters were obtained to give measures of movement times, reaction times proper (decision times), differentiated into simple and complex reaction times, and their variabilities. Factor analysis of the reaction time tasks indicated the presence of a general reaction time factor and three component factors identifiable as movement times, reaction times proper, and variabilities. All three components showed statistically significant associations with intelligence of approximately equal magnitudes.
Mortality from Suicide in Attempted Suicides
Authors: Lester David
Published: August 2011

From 45 studies of completed suicide in the samples of attempted suicides, the proportion of suicides was related to the length of follow-up, the nation studied, and the number of missing subjects.
Relations among Tasks Assessing Young Children's Number Concepts
Authors: Williams Robert B.
Published: August 2011

Order analysis of responses by kindergarteners and first-graders did not support a linear order of task mastery as predicted by Brainerd's ordinal theory of number development. A more complex structure of the relations among the tasks was noted with magnitude-same-density ordering a prerequisite to ordination and number, and both of these as prerequisites to cardination.
An Analysis of Task Difficulty Using the Visually Degraded Stimulus Task
Authors: Whitfield Keith E. , Elias Jeffery W. , Dore Greg
Published: August 2011

This article discusses the utility of the Visually Degraded Stimulus Task developed in 1986 by Vokey, Baker, Hayman, and Jacoby. The program provides 30 line drawings that can be presented in complete form prior to receiving incomplete forms of the same or similar drawings In the incomplete form, a small percentage of a drawing can be added with each touch of the computer space bar. By this means the percentage of drawing required for identification can be obtained. In this article, difficulty levels of incomplete picture identification are provided for each drawing under conditions of no previous viewing (no prime), previous viewing in an alternate form (conceptual prime), and previous viewing of the same drawings (exact prime). Modifications to the microprocessor computer program are provided to increase its usefulness as a means of testing priming effects in visual memory. Program applications are provided for the study of memory and neuropsychology
Teachers' Motor Skills in Volleyball and Students' Learning
Authors: Gusthart J. Len , Kelly I. W.
Published: August 2011

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between teachers' skills in three volleyball actions and students' learning of those maneuvers. Nine teachers and 222 students were examined over a 3-wk. volleyball unit during the fall of 1989. No relationship between the teachers' skills and students' learning was observed. Suggestions for research are provided.
Native Americans and the Constant Death Instinct Hypothesis
Authors: Young Thomas J.
Published: August 2011

To test Tabachnick and Klugman's hypothesis that the amount of death instinct per capita in different regions is constant, 1975–1977 death rates for motor vehicle accidents, cirrhosis, and suicide were obtained from the US Indian Health Service for all 11 health service areas. In contrast to predictions derived from the hypothesis that the death instinct is constant, no negative correlations were found among these three variables. Although an analysis of other behaviors might yield different findings, these results do not support an hypothesis of a constant death instinct among Indian Health Service regions.
Ego Strength Denial on the MMPI-2 as a Clue to Simulation of Personal Injury in Vocational Neuropsychological and Emotional Distress Evaluations
Authors: Lees-Haley Paul R.
Published: August 2011

Ego Strength ( Es) scores on the MMPI-2 were compared for malingering and nonmalingering samples of personal injury claimants. These data suggest that the Es scale has utility in differentiating these two samples. A cut-off score of Es < 31 is suggested for identifying personal injury malingerers in nonpsychotic outpatient populations who are not obviously grossly disabled. Cross-validation is recommended.
Caffeine Effects on Behavioral Thermoregulation
Authors: Vitulli William F. , Rust Mary L. , Quinn Joseph M. , McNeil Melissa J.
Published: August 2011

Caffeine has a wide range of behaviorally active properties. Varying doses of caffeine solutions were administered (ip) prior to fixed-interval 2-min. schedules of microwave reinforcement in rats tested in a cold environment. Four Sprague-Dawley rats were conditioned to regulate their thermal environment with 5-sec. exposures of microwave reinforcement. Graphic descriptions showed that small doses of caffeine produced higher response rates for microwave heat than high doses of caffeine and saline controls, yet Friedman's nonparametric test showed no significant differences between dose levels. Synergism between thermogenic and discriminative properties of caffeine is proposed.
An Empirical Note on Tonic Neck Reflexes: Control of the Upper Limb's Proprioceptive Sensation
Authors: Kasai Tatsuya
Published: August 2011

The effect of asymmetrical tonic reflexes on the upper limb in man was studied by analyzing errors in reproducing a targeted movement in right elbow extension following head rotation and vibration of the neck muscles. Overshoot of reproduction was observed only when the head was rotated to the left in contrast to no rotation or with rotation to the right. However, there was no influence on errors of reproduction after vibration of the neck muscles. These observations suggest that the proprioception in the rotated head controls the kinesthetic input by peripheral sensory receptors, namely, vestibular input plays a greater role in the accurate positioning of the upper limb, especially in inhibiting sensory input from the opposite side of the rotated head.
Aging and Memory for Dreams
Authors: Waterman D.
Published: August 2011

This study investigated the influence of aging on memory for home dreams and the extent to which cognitive variables such as visual memory, visuospatial IQ, and verbal IQ could account for possible differences herein. Subjects were 80 men and women of ages 45 to 75 years. Memory for dreams was measured by narrative length and frequency of recall. With respect to both measures no significant age differences were noted. Over-all differences in dream recall seemed best explained by visual memory scores. Partial correlational analyses, however, indicated that the small age differences in dream recall could not be accounted for by differential scores on visual memory or on any of the other cognitive variables. Dream contents were scored for aggression, friendliness, emotion, activities, and the number of characters and objects. The incidence of emotions among women appeared to be lower beyond the age of 60. Comparisons with previous data for young adults indicated that large reductions in aggression, friendliness, and emotion occur before the age of 45.
Relationships among Attributes, Physical Fitness, and Self-Concept Development of Elementary School Children
Authors: Folsom-Meek Sherry L.
Published: August 2011

The purpose of the investigation was to examine the relationships among children's selected attributes, health-related physical fitness, and self-concept development. Subjects were 97 elementary school children in Grades 1 through 6. Correlations were examined for significance and effect size among the attributes of age, weight, body mass index, four scores from the Health Related Physical Fitness Test, and the total score from the Martinek-Zaichkowsky Self-concept Scale for Children. A max R2 forward stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to assess which attribute and physical fitness variables were the best predictors of self-concept scores. Analysis indicated that the one-variable model of weight was the best predictor of self-concept.
Comparison of Mood States of College Able-Bodied and Wheelchair Basketball Players
Authors: Paulsen Patricia , French Ron , Sherrill Claudine
Published: August 2011

The mood states of 26 college wheelchair basketball players were examined in relation to 11 varsity college basketball players and normative data from 340 college men. Multivariate analysis indicated that the wheelchair basketball players had significantly better mental health profiles than the two comparison groups.
Short-Term Stability of Three-Month-Old Infants' Vocal Response to Mother vs Stranger
Authors: Roe Kiki V.
Published: August 2011

20 3-month-old infants' differential vocal responses (DVR) to then-mother vs a female stranger were assessed during two sessions about 4 days apart. Significant test-retest reliabilities were found for the infants' combined DVR responses and for their responses to both mother and stranger.
Prognostic Indicators for Successful Use of “Talking” Tracheostomy Tubes
Authors: Leder Steven B.
Published: August 2011

7 prognostic indicators for successful verbal communication for 40 patients who use “talking” tracheostomy tubes and who are cognitively intact and ventilator dependent are presented.
How Does the Visual System Distinguish between Illuminance and Reflectance?
Authors: Sohmiya Tamotsu , Sohmiya Kazuko
Published: August 2011

The experiments in which the strengths of pattern and of fusion differing in kind from brightness were used as measures indicated that the visual system could distinguish between illuminance and reflectance. From this result and an observation of gray papers by a microscope, it is assumed that luminance has two aspects, one refers to the macroscopic density of photons and another to the proportion of the reflected microscopic areas to the absorbed microscopic areas so that brightness constancy occurs in relation to each of the patterns of the various sizes from a macroscopic pattern visible to the naked eye to a microscopic pattern not visible. It is also mentioned that the strength of fusion is rare but promising as a measure for analyzing brightness.
Contributions to the History of Psychology: LXXXII. Authors, Perceived Color, and Light Intensity
Authors: Brigner Willard L.
Published: August 2011

Two eponyms, the Purkinje phenomenon and the Bezold-Brücke phenomenon, are sometimes confused in discussions of the effect of light intensity upon perceived color. The former refers to a change in apparent brightness; the latter refers to a change in perceived hue.
Contributions to the History of Psychology: LXXXIII. J. E. Purkinje and Mathias Klotz: Who First Described “The Phenomenon”?
Authors: Brožek Josef , Kuthan Vilém , Arens Katherine
Published: August 2011

In 1825 Purkinje described the effects of increasing ambient illumination at early dawn, beginning with darkness, on the perception of spectral colors. The blues were seen first When reds became visible, they appeared less bright than the blues. The usually dependable Brockhaus Encyclopedia stated (1972) that the phenomenon was described in 1816 by Mathias Klotz and rediscovered (“erneut entdeckt”) by Purkinje. As it turns out, Klotz correctly described the effects of low ambient illumination on the relative brightness but his report on visibility contradicts Purkinje's observations, amply confirmed by subsequent investigators and known, in fact, prior to Purkinje's report.
A Study of Schizophrenic Outpatients with the Defense Mechanism Test
Authors: Rubino I. Alex , Pezzarossa Bianca , Ciani Nicola
Published: August 2011

Intrapsychic defensive strategies are allegedly expressed on the Defense Mechanism Test through the presentation, at increasing tachistoscopic exposure times, of a picture in which a central figure is threatened by a peripheral person. Several types of perceptual alterations of the stimulus configuration are coded as defenses in the subjective reports. A number of test variables have already been shown to differentiate significantly between nonclinical controls and nonpsychotic psychiatric patients. In the present study, after a review of the pertinent percept-genetic literature, nonpsychotic patients ( n = 57) were compared with a group of schizophrenic outpatients in the active phase ( n = 21). As predicted, significantly more schizophrenics than controls were coded for projection and regression and for certain variants of these signs. Four subcodings of repression, three of isolation, the sign of reaction formation, and several variants of identification differentiated in the same direction. Reports in which the central figure was too old and changed from a correct to an incorrect sex attribution were highly characteristic of the schizophrenic sample. No defensive variable was significantly linked with nonpsychotic pathology. Two variants, one of regression and one of identification, allowed a correct diagnostic placement for all schizophrenics and for 82.4% of the nonpsychotic patients. The findings, besides being a further clinical validation of the Defense Mechanism Test, provide a preliminary distinction between high- and low-level defenses. It is suggested that they are congruent with an hierarchical model which implies inclusive nonreflexive relationships between classes of mental disorders.
Normative Data for a Brief Neuropsychological Screening Battery
Authors: Selnes Ola A. , Jacobson Lisa , Machado Ana M. , Becker James T. , Wesch Jerry , Miller Eric N. , Visscher Barbara , McArthur Justin C.
Published: August 2011

This study reports normative data for a group of 733 homosexual/bisexual men stratified by age (range 25 to 54 years) and by education on the following six neuropsychological tests: (1) Digit Span (WAIS—R), (2) Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, (3) Symbol Digit Modalities Test, (4) Controlled Oral Word Association Test, (5) Grooved Pegboard, and (6) The Trail Making Test. Analysis demonstrates that both age and education are important determinants of performance for several of these measures.
Color Preference in Sport Shoes: An Informal Look
Authors: Trinkaus John
Published: August 2011

Observations on five workdays at a large terminus for a number of commuter rail lines indicated that among 4731 passengers 5% of 2794 men and 31% of 1937 women wore white sport shoes. Questions relative to interpretation are raised.
Effect of Geometric Parameters of Perspective on Judgements of Spatial Information
Authors: Barfield Woodrow , Kim Young
Published: August 2011

15 university students performed an exocentric judgement task in which they estimated the azimuth and elevation separating two computer-generated cubes, using a perspective display. The perspective displays were created by varying two geometric parameters of perspective, the geometric field of view and station-point distance. Further, the radial distance separating the computer-generated images was varied. Analysis indicated that azimuth errors varied as a function of geometric field of view, radial distance, and station-point distance, while elevation errors varied as a function of geometric field of view and radial distance.
Differences in Interpersonal Distance among Nonoffenders as a Function of Perceived Violence of Offenders
Authors: Skorjanc Anthony D.
Published: August 2011

A group of 39 female and 15 male undergraduate students took part in a study of the relationship between perceived violence of criminal offenders and interpersonal distance preferred by nonoffenders. Preferred interpersonal distance, measured for subjects informed that the person with whom they would be sitting in a room was either a violent offender, nonviolent offender, or nonoffender, was the number of seats subjects chose to sit from the person. Analysis of variance shows subjects preferred significantly less mean distance in the nonoffender condition versus either the nonviolent or violent offender conditions.
Effect of Equal and Random Amounts of Varied Practice on Transfer Task Performance
Authors: Dunham Paul , Lemke Mark , Moran Pat
Published: August 2011

40 subjects given equal and random amounts of practice on a variable speed pursuit rotor exhibited no contextual interference effect on the performance of two transfer tasks (35 and 60 rpm) 48 hours later.
Sex Differences in Performance on a Combined Manual and Decision Task
Authors: Rahim Abdur , Sharma Basu
Published: August 2011

This report describes results of an experimental study of the differences in response time between 10 male and 10 female undergraduate operators performing a combined manual and decision task. Analysis indicated that the performance times of women on such tasks were shorter than those of the men as expected.
The Claims™/U.S. Patent Abstracts Database and Technological Research in Psychology
Authors: Piotrowski Chris , Perdue Bob
Published: August 2011

The Claims™/U.S. Patent Abstracts database is presented as a potential online source for information on technology and physiological methods in psychology.
Interrelationships of Trunk and Extremity Muscle Strengths and Body Awareness following Unilateral Brain Lesions
Authors: Bohannon Richard W.
Published: August 2011

From 11 hemiparetic adults measurements of muscle strength of lateral trunk flexion and of extremities of paretic side were intercorrelated. Their varied magnitudes and correlations with body awareness suggested strengths of trunk and extremities are not exclusive and that decreased muscle strength is more likely for patients with decreased body awareness. Possible explanations are considered.
Self-Control in a Sample of Elementary School-Age Gifted Youth
Authors: Karnes Frances A. , D'Ilio Victor R.
Published: August 2011

Self-control was studied for 34 boys and 34 girls who ranged in age from 8 to 14 years and resided in a rural southern area. Boys tended to rate themselves higher than did the girls.
Influence of Vocabulary-Age on Unilateral Picture-Naming Reaction Times of Normal Subjects
Authors: Rastatter Michael P. , McGuire Richard , Scukanec Gail
Published: August 2011

The present study measured naming reaction times of normal subjects to unilaterally presented pictures corresponding to vocabulary levels of < 5.5, 9.5–10.5, and >18.0 years of age. An analysis of variance of latencies showed a significant interaction between visual fields and stimuli. Post hoc tests were interpreted to suggest that the normal right hemisphere was capable of performing certain differential picture encoding operations up to 10.5 years of age and not beyond. Also, unlike the left hemisphere, the right hemisphere does not appear to be organized on a developmental hierarchy, which corresponds with the clinical literature.
Trust and Adolescent Sports: Starters vs Nonstarters
Authors: McGowan S. Jeffery , McGowan Robert W.
Published: August 2011

Confirming earlier research, starters in basketball were found to be less trusting than nonstarters among junior high school boys ( n = 12) and girls ( n = 18). Researchers should explore the etiology of these differences.
Comparison of Normal and Angular Response Functions for Environmental Scaling
Authors: Stamps Arthur E.
Published: August 2011

Environmental researchers often use psychometric scaling and thus have an interest in issues relating to the selection of scaling methods. One such issue is whether normal response and angular response functions produce different results in experimental designs for comparative choice. Six data sets were analyzed with both response functions. The results indicate that the normal and angular response functions generate virtually identical results when scale values are reported in terms of standardized effect sizes.
Information-Processing Rates Derived from Chipasat
Authors: Dyche G. M. , Johnson David A.
Published: August 2011

The Children's Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (CHIPASAT) was developed to assess auditory verbal attention in children. Using data obtained during our 1991 study of test-retest reliability for a normal sample, we evaluated the mean information-processing rates for the 4 paced trials. Analysis suggests that normal children can maintain a relatively uniform information-processing rate, even when the presentation rate has been doubled.
Behavior Engineering Proposals: 4. Is ‘Backwards Reading’ an Effective Proofreading Strategy?
Authors: Riefer David M.
Published: August 2011

A series of experiments is reported that examined the effectiveness of a proofreading technique occasionally used by students—reading backwards. Although many educators advocate this strategy, no controlled research has been conducted to evaluate its effectiveness. Exp. 1 showed that backwards reading was actually inferior to reading forwards in detecting contextual errors, with no benefit for detecting misspellings. However, subjects were given standard instructions to proofread quickly, which may have negated any possible benefits of proofreading backwards. Exp. 2, which was designed to eliminate some potential problems with the first experiment, showed that backwards reading can be a beneficial strategy when subjects are specifically instructed to slow down as they read backwards. Exp. 3 further indicated that reading speed is a crucial variable when comparing forwards vs backwards proofreading. The main conclusion from the experiments is that backwards proofreading is an effective strategy for detecting misspellings, provided that it is used to slow students down and help them to focus on each individual word.
Dissociation in Ambidextrous Students
Authors: Kunzendorf Robert G. , Marsden Diane
Published: August 2011

95 students completed Bernstein and Putnam's Dissociative Experiences Scale and Annett's Handedness Questionnaire. Greater dissociation was statistically associated with ambidexterity of these undergraduates.
Development of a Spanish Version of a Sport Socialization Inventory
Authors: Pizarro Ana L. , Sherrill Claudine , Gench Barbara , Lugo Anabelle M. , Kennedy Susan O.
Published: August 2011

The Sport Socialization Inventory of Greendorfer and Lewko was translated into Spanish and administered to two samples of Costa Rican children, ages 9 to 12 yr. Concurrent and construct validities were examined. The correlation of Active Sport Involvement score with demographic data on number of sports participated in yielded an r of .51 for concurrent validity. Principal components factor analysis, using loadings of .40 and higher, verified that the structure of the Spanish version was similar to that of the English version. Both test-retest stability over 8 days and internal consistency reliability were .95 for the total inventory.
Cardiac-Locomotor Coupling While Finger Tapping: Part II. A Cross-Over Control Study
Authors: Kirby R. Lee , Gupta Sanjay K. , Carr Sharon E. , MacLeod Donald A.
Published: August 2011

Cardiac-locomotor coupling (CLC) has been reported by us while people finger tap at cadences natural to them. Since then, we have developed a simple crossover control strategy in which the heart rate of one subject is related to the finger-tapping rate of another. Of the 20 normal subjects previously studied while tapping a telegraph key at a comfortable rate for 10 min., reevaluation of their data showed that 9 (45%) and 4 (20%) of them, under test and control conditions, respectively, appeared to couple at a single-digit integer ratio. Neither the incidence nor the intensity of apparent CLC under the two conditions was significantly different. Raster plots of the most tightly related rates gave no evidence of phase locking. These results have two implications. First, previously published reports on CLC (and other entrainment phenomena) should be interpreted with caution, and cross-over controls should be considered in future research. Second, the absence of CLC during finger tapping suggests that CLC may only be functionally significant during exercise of large muscle groups (e.g., by minimization of cardiac afterload) or when impact-loading occurs (e.g., by enhancing cardiac ventricular emptying).
Audience Effects in Tennis Performance
Authors: Dube Samir K. , Tatz Sherman J.
Published: August 2011

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of early or later exposure to an audience on tennis pupils' performance. 16 pairs of players from a day tennis camp were observed with and without an audience, and their performance was related to their stage of development. An audience generally improved performance in more skilled pupils and impaired it in less skilled pupils.
Relationships among the Ready or Not Parental Checklist for School Readiness, the Brigance Kindergarten and First Grade Screen, and Sra Scores
Authors: Campbell Elaine , Schellinger Terri , Beer John
Published: August 2011

73 children (38 boys, 35 girls) from rural north central Kansas school districts participated in a study comparing measures of school readiness and performance. The children's parents completed the Ready or Not checklist while all 73 children were given the Brigance K & 1 Screen. Once in kindergarten all children were administered the SRA Survey of Basic Skills. Analysis of variance of the Composite score and scores on reading and mathematics as well as the educational ability quotient indicated no significant associations of gender. Parents rated the readiness of children as very probable while on the Brigance the children performed in the higher-than-average range. These two scores gave similar results over-all and correlated significantly with the SRA scores (the better children scored on the Brigance or were rated by a parent on the Ready or Not, the better they performed on the SRA survey). These devices can be used as screening instruments to collect information about children's readiness from more than one source (parental checklist and observation of a child's performance). When multiple sources having nonidentical bases are used, more valid judgments can be made about children's readiness for school.
Discrete Finger Response Latencies in a Simple Reaction Time Task
Authors: Adam Jos J. , Van Veggel Loe M. A.
Published: August 2011

The present study evaluated the potential for neuroanatomical factors to operate in a simple reaction time task. That is, response latencies were recorded for all ten fingers on a Donders' A reaction time task. Two finger-placement conditions were used, a single response key condition and a multiple response key condition. This latter condition required subjects to place all ten fingers on response keys. 30 male, right-handed subjects participated. No significant effects were found, indicating that there are no intrinsically slow or fast fingers. This finding is discussed in the context of reaction time differences between individual stimulus-response (finger) pairs in choice-reaction time tasks.
The Egocentricity Index as a Measure of Self-Esteem and Egocentric Personality Style for Inpatient Adolescents
Authors: Hart Lance Roderic
Published: August 2011

The Egocentricity Index (EI) was assessed as a measure of self-esteem, egocentric behavior, and a basic statistic in a population of 60 predominantly behavior disordered, inpatient adolescents. Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory (MAPI) scales served as criterion measures. A low mean EI was found in these youngsters but was not mediated by low self-esteem as the Index was uncorrelated with self-esteem/self-concept measures. The Index did correlate with an histrionic type of egocentric personality style. The purported association between the EI components of pair and reflection responses was not observed here.
Comparative Time Estimation Skills of Hispanic Children
Authors: Nelson J. Ron , Dodd John M. , Smith Deborah J. , Smith Marilyn
Published: August 2011

76 Hispanic and 47 Caucasian children from an urban school district located in a racially mixed neighborhood were compared on their ability to make functional time estimates. The findings indicate that initial differences in ability to make time estimations dissipate across Grades 1 to 5.
Timing Responses of Children with Spina Bifida Having Varying Ambulatory Abilities
Authors: Evaggelinou Christina , Drowatzky John N.
Published: August 2011

The authors investigated the timing responses of upper extremities to light and sound stimuli of 24 ambulatory, household-only ambulatory, and nonambulatory children with spina bifida. Using a Lafayette reaction and movement timer, each subject performed four timing tasks: (a) simple reaction time, (b) choice reaction time, (c) simple movement time, and (d) choice movement time. A 2 × 3 × 4 analysis of variance with repeated measures indicated that the ambulatory spina bifida children performed all timing tasks faster and more accurately than the household-only ambulatory and nonambulatory children. In addition, the household-only ambulatory group performed the timing tasks faster and more accurately than the nonambulatory group. Therefore, different perceptual-motor processing abilities are inferred for children with spina bifida who ambulate with different ability. For maximum benefit, an individualized educational approach should be used to improve psychomotor abilities of spina bifida children who have differing levels of ambulation.
Critical Comment on Hicks-Caskey and Potter, “Effect of the Full Moon on a Sample of Developmentally Delayed, Institutionalized Women”
Authors: Flynn Mark
Published: August 2011

Hicks-Caskey and Potter (1991) claim to have found a “full moon effect” on women in a developmental center. Further, they suggest the discrepancies in findings on lunar effects can be accounted for by (i) a lack of equivalent operational definitions and (ii) a person selection factor. It is argued that the Hicks-Caskey and Potter findings are undermined by weekday, holiday, season, weather, particular staff-subject interactions, and expectancy effects. In addition, the proposed explanations for differing outcomes in lunar studies do not explain both the negative findings and conflicting positive findings.
Sensitivity to Emotional Cues and Social Behavior in Children and Adolescents after Head Injury
Authors: Pettersen Linda
Published: August 2011

This was an exploratory investigation of the relationship between sensitivity to emotional cues and social functioning in 20 head-injured children and adolescents (median coma 7.5 days) and 20 controls who had sustained other accidental injuries. Median age was 12.8 yr. (range = 5 to 16 years). Sensitivity to fundamental facial expressions and both visual and verbal context cues to emotion was measured. Analysis indicated that head-injured subjects were impaired relative to controls on a global index of emotion interpretation ability. A significant number of head-injured subjects also made errors confusing positive and negative emotions and errors interpreting emotionally toned vignettes. Results of a parent questionnaire indicated that head-injured subjects exhibit less appropriate social behavior than controls. The data showed a strong trend for global ability to interpret emotion to predict social behavior.
Influence of Training and Performance IQ on the Psychomotor Skill of down Syndrome Persons
Authors: Youn Gahyun , Youn Sookja
Published: August 2011

Training effects on the psychomotor performance of Down syndrome individuals were assessed. 32 boys and 25 girls (6 to 16 years old) were divided randomly into trained or untrained groups and into either severely or moderately mentally retarded using their WISC—R Performance IQs. Analysis showed that the group who had pretest training opportunities to manipulate experimental materials performed significantly better than those without that training while the moderately retarded children did significantly better than the severely retarded ones. It appears that the performance of persons with Down syndrome could be developed through training.
Use of Sport Psychology Techniques by Professional Australian Football League Players
Authors: Kirkby Robert J.
Published: August 2011

Responses to a postseason sport psychology questionnaire showed that most of the 22 members of a successful professional football team used cognitive rehearsal and self-instruction during or in preparation for games. Fewer players reported using relaxation strategies. Attitudes toward sport psychology were positive.
Consistency of Use of Phonological Processes by a Sample of Educable Mentally Impaired Children
Authors: Watson Marie May , Hiipakka Julann
Published: August 2011

A group of 10 educable mentally impaired children ( M age = 10 yr., 4 mo.) were assessed for use of phonological process under three speaking conditions: production of single words, imitated sentences, and connected speech samples. Only the process of gliding showed significant differences in use among conditions. Results generally indicated that any of those three speaking conditions were viable for eliciting use of phonological processes by such subjects. Results are also discussed in terms of individual differences.
Revised Craig Lipreading Inventory
Authors: Updike Claudia D. , Rasmussen Joanne M. , Arndt Roberta , German Cathy
Published: August 2011

The two purposes of this study were to shorten the Craig Lipreading Inventory without affecting its reliability and validity and to establish normative data on the revised version. The full inventory was administered to 75 children. By item analysis, half of the items were selected to comprise the brief version; both versions were administered to another group of 75 children. Scores on the two versions correlated (.91 and .92, respectively, for Word Forms A and B and .97 and .95, respectively, for Sentence Forms A and B), thereby substantiating the construct validity of the briefer version. There was significantly high intertest reliability for the Word Forms (.80) and Sentence Forms (.82) of the briefer inventory. Normative data were computed for each age group. This briefer version is a temporally efficient tool for evaluating lipreading ability of children.
Cyclical Variation in Digit-Span and Visual-Search Performance in Women Differing in the Severity of Their Premenstrual Symptoms
Authors: Diener Don , Greenstein Francine Linda , Turnbough P. Diane
Published: August 2011

Groups of women differing in the severity of reported premenstrual symptoms were compared over two menstrual cycles on a digit-span task, a visual-search task, and a combination of the two. Neither group exhibited large performance changes during the premenstrual phase of the cycle. High-symptom women differed somewhat from low-symptom women in the effect of menstrual phase on digit-span performance, recalling slightly fewer series correctly during the premenstrual phase. The response latency of high-symptom women on the visual-search task was substantially longer than that of the low-symptom women regardless of menstrual phase. These results suggest that there may be stable differences between high-symptom and low-symptom subjects that are greater than the cyclical fluctuation within either group.
Percent of Agreement among Raters and Rater Reliability of the Copying Subtest of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition
Authors: Mason Elizabeth M.
Published: August 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interrater reliability of the visual-motor portion of the Copying subtest of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition. Eight raters independently scored 11 protocols completed by children aged 5 through 10 years, using the scoring criteria and guidelines in the manual. The raters marked each of 10 items pass or fail and computed a total raw score for each protocol. Interrater reliability coefficients were obtained for each child's protocol, and the Kappa coefficient was computed for each item. Significant raters' reliability coefficients ranged from .82 to .91, which were low in comparison to test-retest reliability and Kuder-Richardson-20 coefficients for this and other subtests of the Stanford-Binet in the technical manual. Percent agreement among 8 raters also indicated weak reliability. Although the obtained results suggested some interrater reliability coefficients within acceptable levels, questions were raised about the scoring criteria for individual items. Caution is warranted in the use of cognitive measures which include subjective judgement of the examiner in applying scoring criteria.
GPA and Height are Related to Self-Acceptance Scores of Female College Students
Authors: Rienzi Beth M. , Scrams David J. , Uhles Patty
Published: August 2011

Self-acceptance as measured on the Berger Self-acceptance Scale was positively related to GPA and negatively related to height for 36 college women. For 17 college men, height and GPA were not related to self-acceptance.
Word Length: Relation to other Values of Words When Meaning is Controlled
Authors: Campos Alfredo , Gonzalez Maria Angeles
Published: August 2011

Previous studies yielded negative correlations for word length with imagery, concreteness, emotionality, and meaningfulness. In study of the relation of word length with other values of words, abstract words with a strong emotional meaning were more numerous in the lists presented than abstract words without that meaning, and by contrast, concrete words had little associated emotionality. We hypothesized that, although meanings of words were controlled, correlations of word length and other variables would be negative. 106 subjects rated 48 pairs of words. Word length correlated -.26 with imagery, -.32 with concreteness, -.01 with emotionality, and -.35 with meaningfulness. This paper describes one of a series of studies investigating the relationships among properties of words such as their length, imagery, emotionality, meaningfulness, concreteness, etc.
Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) Tasting in Paranoid and Nonparanoid Schizophrenic Patients
Authors: Schlosberg Arie , Baruch Ilan
Published: August 2011

The present study reports on the association between Phenylthiocarbamide tasting for paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenic patients. The incidence of PTC tasting is highly variable, and tasters and nontasters are frequently associated with some pathological states. 25 paranoid and 25 nonparanoid schizophrenic patients were examined for their PTC taste sensitivity. Frequency of paranoid tasters resembles the distribution of the normal population, whereas the nonparanoid patients are significantly different in their taste thresholds, with a higher incidence of nontasters. The members of this latter group have twice the incidence of psychiatric illness in their family histories as those of the former group. The significance of these findings is discussed as related to vulnerability for schizophrenia.
Age Differences in Performance at Concentration: A Pilot Study
Authors: Chagnon Joyce , McKelvie Stuart J.
Published: August 2011

24 subjects ranging in age from 5 to 65 years individually played Concentration in pictorial and verbal formats. Consistent with age-related declines in both general and visual processing, performance was poorest for the elderly subjects on both tasks; however, there was no evidence of children's precocity.
Royal Scaling for Factor Matrices, Yes or No?
Authors: Kaiser Henry F.
Published: August 2011

It is suggested that factor matrices be scaled for presentation—not just computation—so that the test vectors in the common factor space all become and remain of unit-length, the termini of which all lie on the surface of a unit hypersphere. This implies that factor matrices representing uncorrelated (“orthogonal”) factors are row-normalized. [Factor matrices representing correlated (“oblique”) factors would also have test vectors of unit-length, but the row vectors in such a matrix would not be normalized because of the nonorthogonality of such vectors.]
Memory for Words in a Serial List as a Function of Primacy-Recency, Frequency, Length, Order, and Location in a Two-Dimensional Emotional Space
Authors: Paul Nancy , Whissell Cynthia
Published: August 2011

Two emotional dimensions (evaluation, activation) were used along with serial position, word frequency, word length, and word order as independent variables in a serial list recall task with 36 words ( N = 30 subjects). All variables were significantly related to recall in some fashion. Pleasant or unpleasant, active, short, common words in a primary or recency position were best recalled. Serial position was associated with the strongest significant main effect (η = .41), while activation, order, frequency, and length led to significant main effects of approximately equal strength (average η = .24). A number of significant two-way interactions among independent variables highlighted the complex manner in which these variables affect recall.
Effects of Auditory Imagery on the Detection of a Pure Tone in White Noise: Experimental Evidence of the Auditory Perky Effect
Authors: Okada Hitoshi , Matsuoka Kazuo
Published: August 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the auditory image of a pure tone facilitates or interferes with the auditory perception of the pure tone. The masked threshold of a pure tone in white noise with and without the image of a pure tone was compared. It was shown that, in contrast to Farah and Smith's (1983) finding of facilitation, imagery interfered with the detection of the pure tone only when the frequency of the imagined tone and the detected tone was the same. This interference was interpreted as showing the assimilation of the signal tone into imagery, i.e., the effect described by Perky in 1910, occurred in the auditory modality. An explanation of the differences between findings of interference and facilitation is offered.
Percept-Genetic Signs of Repression in Histrionic Personality Disorder
Authors: Rubino I. Alex , Saya Anna , Pezzarossa Bianca
Published: August 2011

Several types of perceptual distortions of two anxiety-arousing visual stimuli are coded as repression in the Defense Mechanism Test, a tachistoscopic, percept-genetic technique. Given the well-established correspondence between hysteria and repression, the study included a clinical validation of these variants of repression against the diagnosis of histrionic personality disorder. 41 subjects with evidence of this disorder on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II were compared with 41 nonhistrionic controls. Significantly more histrionics were coded for the type of repression in which the threatening figure is transformed into a harmless object (code 1:42), while animal- and statue-repressions, when combined (codes 1:1 and 1:2), were significantly more characteristic of the nonhistrionic group. As an unpredicted finding, significantly more histrionic subjects employed defensive strategies, currently coded as reaction formations (code 4:). Histrionic subjects without concomitant compulsive features were coded more frequently for introaggression (code 6:) compared both with nonhistrionic controls and with histrionic-compulsive subjects. The findings are discussed within the context of the available percept-genetic literature. It is suggested that the Defense Mechanism Test may be further employed to objectify and investigate the defense mechanisms of the DSM-III—R disorders.
Self-Concept among African-American At-Risk Adolescents
Authors: Wood Paula C , Hillman Stephen B. , Sawilowsky Shlomo S.
Published: August 2011

Self-concepts of 196 African-American adolescents examined here were higher than the norms despite their being at-risk and academic underachievers.
Intensity and Direction as Dimensions of Competitive State Anxiety and Relationships with Competitiveness
Authors: Jones Graham , Swain Austin
Published: August 2011

This study examined differences in intensity and direction of symptoms of competitive state anxiety in high and low competitive subjects from the sports of rugby union, basketball, soccer, and field hockey. The 69 men were dichotomized via a median-split into high and low competitive groups based on their scores on the Sport Orientation Questionnaire. All subjects completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 30 minutes prior to competition. This inventory included the original intensity scale plus a direction scale on which subjects rated the extent the experienced intensity of each symptom was either facilitative or debilitative to subsequent performance. There were no significant group differences on intensity of cognitive anxiety or of somatic anxiety or on direction of somatic anxiety; however, the highly competitive group of 34 subjects reported their anxiety as more facilitative and less debilitative than the low competitive group ( n = 35). This supports the proposal that sports performers' directional perceptions of their anxiety symptoms may provide further understanding of the competitive state-anxiety response.