bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Class struggle and the periodisation of the state in South Africa
Authors: Davies Robert , Kaplan David , Morris Mike , O'Meara* Dan
Published: July 2007

This article represents an attempt to periodise the South African state through an analysis of political class struggle. The analysis draws heavily on the theoretical work of Nicos Poulzantzas. The changing patterns of conflict and alliance between the different classes and “fractions” in the “power bloc” are traced in an attempt to identify changes in the form of state and form of regime. The analysis, concentrating on three historical periods — the Pact period, the Fusion period and the period between 1940 and 1948 — thus provides a fundamental reinterpretation of South African history, and shows how the ground was cleared for the capture of state power in 1948 by those class forces represented by the Nationalist Party.
Liberation and working class struggles in South Africa
Authors: Hemson David
Published: July 2007

The general resistance of black people in South Africa to the apartheid regime is developing into a challenge both to the racist state and to employers. Both have been confronted through the attacks on the foundations of the state machinery of labour control in the townships and through the mass political strikes which have lead to mass demonstrations and a disruption of production. The black working class has drawn upon a long experience of proletarian struggle in South Africa in the form of the political strikes and boycotts of collaborative institutions. In July and September 1976 there were up to half a million black workers on strike, and the 1977 Soweto ‘anniversary’ political strike was more successful than was presented by the media in South Africa. The deepening resistance by black workers to the intense exploitation of their labour power is being met by tightened controls over working class organization and mobility, and the struggle has been marked by class action which is both anti‐imperialist and anti‐capitalist. Given the opposition of employer associations and the state to any form of political action involving the working class, the resistance to apartheid has clarified the connection between employers and the state in repression and has strengthened anti‐capitalist ideology among black workers.
Editorial
Authors: Cliffe Lionel , Lawrence Peter
Published: July 2007

Since our last issue a peoples victory has been won in Angola. As we write, the guerilla war in Zimbabwe has been resumed after an abortive, time‐wasting effort to negotiate a deal which could only have led to a neo‐colonial state. Zambia has been at the centre of these two penultimate chapters in the struggle for the liberation of Southern Africa and has also been going through a crisis of economic insolvency and stillborn strategies, which have been both the result and cause of its vacillating Southern African policies.
The transformations of the petty bourgeoisie and the state in post‐colonial Zaire
Authors: Depelchin Jacques
Published: July 2007

In this overview of the changing character of class relations in Zaire, the author traces the origins and development of the Zairean bourgeoisie. A distinction is made between the ‘rising’ or ‘new’ bourgeoisie and the ‘state’ bourgeoisie and there follows an analysis of the struggle for control of the state between these two sections of the Zairean bourgeoisie and the role of international capital in this struggle. International capital is seen to play a role which is used to reinforce the position of the state bourgeoisie, but the contradictions between these two fractions are still being played out, not least through the changing economic policies of the Mobutu regime. Depelchin argues against the tendency on the left to view Zaire merely as the personal and corrupt fiefdom of Mobutu without proper consideration of the obstacles to socialist change embedded in the developing capitalist relations.
The Nigerian general strike of 1981
Authors: Otobo Dafe
Published: July 2007

This is an account of the Nigerian General Strike of May 1981 and of the events leading up to it. It highlights the struggle between the Nigerian military regime and organised labour, and the attempts by the former to incorporate the trades union movement. It traces the formation of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the struggle between different groups within the NLC, culminating in the attempt by one group to break the General Strike. The success of the strike reveals the underlying distrust of the governing elites, including those of the trades unions, and the seething discontent which pervades the Nigerian working class.
Workers' health in Africa
Authors: Turshen Meredeth
Published: July 2007

This article attempts to formulate questions about the political economy of occupational health in Africa and to construct a framework for theoretical analysis. In the article that follows this one, Peter Kamuzora reconsiders the questions in the Tanzanian context.
Health and the African theatre
Authors: Lihamba Amandina
Published: July 2007

This article explores the representation in performance and theatre of three contrasting approaches to our understanding of disease causality —explanations that invoke material and non‐material forces in a traditional cosmology where all phenomena are interrelated, contemporary biomedical explanations that situate causation in material forces alone and that isolate individual responsibility, and socialist explanations that seek underlying economic and political causes of community ill health. Written by an active performer, the article is based on her observation of workshops and performances, on interviews, published and unpublished reports, and an analysis of contemporary plays by Soyinka, Hussein and Muhando.

Different approaches to health, disease and cure are reflected in different infrastructures created to deal with them, which are informed by political, economic and social structures and attitudes. These attitudes and structures find expression within general culture and within specific cultural expressions such as theatre. This paper looks at attitudes towards health, disease and cure manifested in traditional and contemporary African performances. It is argued that traditional performances reveal attitudes that arise from an understanding of interrelationships among universal phenomena, whereas most contemporary theatre carries attitudes that have a limited socio‐political framework or that remain symbolic representations of interrelationships.
Kandjadja, Guinea‐Bissau 1976–1986 observations on the political economy of an African village
Authors: Rudebeck Lars
Published: July 2007

Recent work in both Mozambique (Egero 1987) and Guinea‐Bissau (Galll & Jones 1987) argues that in both, the transition to socialism has been halted or undermined by three basic failures: to create a peasant‐based strategy of rural development; to sustain popular participation (people's power); and to ensure that the state represented the interests of workers and peasants. The leadership have failed to recreate after independence the political alliance with the peasantry that successfully supported the anti‐colonial liberation struggle. Instead, there has been a centralisation of power and an erosion of party and state at local level, with policies and institutions working to benefit a growing petty‐bourgeoisie, at the expense of peasants as producers and as consumers of state services. Rudebeck provides us with a vivid illustration of these processes for a single village in northern Guinea. He was able to visit Kandjadja at regular intervals from 1976 and compares for each visit the condition and functioning of local political Institutions, health, education and the people's store, and the nature and level of production. From this he draws in sharp outline a picture of neglect by the state and erosion of the party, In favour of institutions and relationships based more on pre‐war social and political structures. Since he was also part of the team whose work is reported by Egero, he makes a direct descriptive comparison with the situation in Mueda, a former ‘liberated area’ in northern Mozambique.
The political economy of the ‘green revolution’ in Africa
Authors: Lawrence Peter
Published: July 2007

This article sets out to survey the extent to which new agricultural technologies associated with ‘Green Revolution’ (the introduction of high yielding varieties of foodgrains and/or their associated biochemical and mechanical technologies) have been introduced in Africa and attempts a preliminary assessment of their economic and social effects. There is now significant evidence of the introduction and adoption of higher yielding varieties of maize, wheat and rice in Africa, as well as the adoption of other technological innovations in irrigation and mechanisation, albeit with widely varying degrees of success and with many instances of failure. It is noted that there are many standard technical explanations associated with the adoption of new technologies in agriculture, in particular, low levels of credit, poor supply of inputs, inadequate, faulty or no irrigation, poor extension advice, and low producer prices, as well as the poor state of the relationship between agronomic research and farm level innovation.

However, the evidence so far collected for Africa suggests that a substantial part of the explanation of whether adoption of innovations takes place or not, and of their degree of success, is the nature of the social relations of production, relations not simply of class or strata, but also of gender. The major technical constraint on successful innovation adoption as revealed by most, if not all, of the studies surveyed turns out to be that of labour supply. The extent to which that constraint can be resolved turns not on increasing family labour supply, which often means increasing the intensity of female labour, but in hiring labour. The very hiring of labour presupposes the existence of a social formation in which free wage labour exists, or In which it can be created. Its creation will depend on the degree to which those interests which seek toaccumulate through agricultural innovation have power and can exercise that power through the State.

The first section of this article is an overview of various issues of theory and evidence involved in surveying the green revolution in Africa. The second section surveys the introduction of these new technologies into Africa and the final section draws some conclusions for policy and further analysis.
From pseudo‐terrorists to pseudo‐guerillas: the MNR in Mozambique
Authors: Nilsson Anders
Published: July 2007

The war in Mozambique has few similarities with any other historically known conventional war. It belongs to specific category which could be called wars of destabilisation. This has a bearing on the peace process which will exhibit various features which will distinguish it from normal patterns of ending wars. This article has two parts: the first outlines the history and the guiding military concepts of Renamo (Resistencia Nacional Mocambicana, MNR) and relates the war of destabilisation against Mozambique; the second analyses destabilisation as a specific kind of war and identifies the role of the pseudo‐guerilla MNR in this war of destabilisation.
Beyond developmentalism in Tanzania
Authors: Sundet Geir
Published: July 2007

Political analysis in the African context is generally associated with issues concerning development. And an evaluation of a country's political system or situation is often equated with the success, or lack thereof, of its ‘development strategy’. Deeply entangled in the development debate are questions pertaining to the nature of ‘the African State’. Many contending theories on the ‘African state’ exist, many of which were developed, explicitly or implicitly, to explain the Tanzanian case. Most of these theories are a variety of ‘political economy’, concerned about assigning a certain class character or function to the state. To what extent does this mode of analysis shed light on the various African political systems? Numerous scholars have accused African states of reaching too far, too fast and achieving too little. It will be suggested here that the same scholars might themselves be subject to the same criticism.
Conditions for democratic consolidation
Authors: Beetham David
Published: July 2007

This survey of the literature on conditions for democratic consolidation suggests the necessity of going beyond procedural definitions of democracy (based on fair, honest and periodic elections) to more normative ideas about decision‐making being controlled by all members of the group as equals. In this view, democracy is a matter of the degreeto which basic principles are realised and democratisation is always and everywhere an unfinished process. Four factors which facilitate democratic consolidation — the experience of transition itself, a country's economic system, its political culture and its constitutional arrangements — are analysed through an assessment of ten key hypotheses implicit in the literature.
Book reviews
Authors: Brandell Inga , Talahite Fatiha
Published: July 2007

L'Algerie et la Modernitel Algeria: The Challenge of Modernity
by Ali el Kenz (ed.) Codesria, Dakar 1989, 1991.

Gender in Southern Africa — Conceptual and Theoretical Issues
by Ruth Meena (ed), Sapes, Harare, 1992.
The World Bank and ‘adjustment in Africa’
Authors: Ponte Stefano
Published: July 2007

This article continues the debate on the effects of structural adjustment programmes in Africa as portrayed by the World Bank in Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results, and the Road Ahead (1994a). The World Bank's claim that ‘better policies pay off is found to be underspecified and misleading. Much of the divergence in growth rates between countries with different records of policy reform implementation results from the World Bank's peculiar classification and from the condition of the various economies prior to reform. It is concluded that the World Bank, rather than demonstrating the need for more adjustment, has revealed its failure to adopt an adequate long‐term strategy for Africa.
Social science research on AIDS in Africa: Questions of content, methodology and ethics (Recherches dans les Sciences Humaines sur le SIDA en Afrique: Problèmes de contenu, de méthodologie et de déontologie)
Authors: Baylies Carolyn , Bujra Janet
Published: July 2007

An international symposium on the ‘Social Sciences and AIDS in Africa’, held in Sali Portudal, Senegal, in November 1996, served as an important forum for bringing together English and French speaking researchers and AIDS activists. Jointly organised by Codesria (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa), CNLS (the National Committee for the Prevention of AIDS in Senegal) and Ostrom (The French Institute of Scientific Research for Development and Cooperation), it covered a wide range of topics, with reference to a broad spectrum of individual country experience.
Book notes
Authors: Love Roy , Bush Ray , Szeftel Morris
Published: July 2007

In the Shadow of Marriage: Gender and Justice in an African Community
by Anne M O Griffiths (1997), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-30875-8.

Willing Migrants: Soninke Labor Diasporas, 1848-1960
by Francois Manchuelle (1960), Ohio University Press/James Currey, ISBN 0-85255-756-6.

Bridging the Rift: The New South Africa in Africa
by Larry A Swatuk & David R Black (eds.) (1997), Westview Press, ISBN 0-8133-2752-0.

Mending Rips in the Sky: Options for Somali Communities in the 21st Century
by Hussein Adam & Richard Ford (eds.), (1997), Red Sea Press, ISBN 1-56902-074-4.

Democracy in Africa: the Hard Road Ahead
, by Marina Ottaway (ed.) (1997), SAIS African Studies Library, Lynne Reinner Publishers, ISBN 1-55587-312-X.

Globalisation and the Postcolonial World: the New Political Economy of Development
by Ankie Hoogvelt (1997), Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-46106.

The Lie of the Land: Challenging Received Wisdom on the African Environment
by Melissa Leach, Melissa & Robin Mearns (eds.) (1996), The International African Institute, James Currey/Heinemann, ISBN 0-85255-410-9.
Nigeria & the drugs war
Authors: Klein Axel
Published: July 2007

Over the past five years the Nigerian government has taken dramatic steps to improve the country's reputation as an international drug trafficking centre. As most of the emphasis has fallen on law enforcement and repression there has been a sharp increase in arrest rates and the prison population. In spite of such severe measures a correlative fall in consumption has not been registered. There is a danger that Nigeria is not only repeating the unsuccessful strategies employed in the US, but is also failing to take account of the very different conditions in the local drug scene. It follows that the ostensible outcome of drug control — reduced consumption and trafficking — has become secondary to the manipulation of drug law enforcement for the extension of state authority and to effect social and political control.
More physicians in public health: Less public health work?
Authors: Pettersen Betty J. , Johnsen Roar
Published: July 2007

Aim: The object was to assess changes in work priorities in local public health medicine in Norway over the period from 1994 to 1999. Methods: Two cross-sectional studies were undertaken of physicians working in local public health medicine in all Norwegian municipalities, using a postal questionnaire. Results: Half of the physicians working in public health in 1999 were recruited after 1994. Although the number of physicians working in public health increased from 505 in 1994 to 555 in 1999 (10%) an estimation of the total weekly hours worked decreased by 3.7% from 8,715 hours in 1994 to 8,386 hours in 1999. The vast majority of physicians worked in combined posts (87%), and they reduced their engagement in public health by 2.6 hours on average from 1994 to 1999. The reduction depended on remuneration model, speciality in community medicine, and municipality size. Conclusions: Local public health in Norway was under pressure in the 1990s. For public health physicians, preventive medicine lost out to clinical work. No promising signals of change in the professional or political framework or in incentives for public health work are seen.
The Copenhagen County child cohort: Design of a longitudinal study of child mental health
Authors: Skovgaard Anne Mette , Olsen Else Marie , Houmann Tine , Christiansen Eva , Samberg Vibeke , Lichtenberg Anne , Jorgensen Torben
Published: July 2007

Background: Epidemiological studies of psychopathology in the first years of life are few, and the association between mental health problems in infancy and psychiatric disturbances later in life has not been systematically investigated. The aim of the present project was to study mental health problems and possibilities of intervention from infancy and onward. Methods: The basic study population consists of a birth cohort of 6,090 children born in the year 2000 in the County of Copenhagen, the Copenhagen County Child Cohort, CCCC 2000. At stage one CCCC 2000 was established on data from the Civil Registration System, Danish national registers, and standardized, longitudinal data from the first year of living obtained by public health nurses. At stage two a subsample was assessed at 1½ years of age concerning child psychiatric illness and associated factors in a case-control study nested in the cohort, including a random sample. Participation rate at stage one was 92%. Perspectives: Ongoing studies of CCCC 2000 include studies of failure to thrive, register studies, and studies of the predictive validity of public health screening. A follow-up study concerning the prevalence of psychopathology at age 5 is planned. Summary: The Copenhagen County Child Cohort CCCC 2000 is a longitudinal study of mental health from infancy investigating psychopathology in early childhood. Results from this study will add to the knowledge of risk factors and course of mental health problems in childhood and contribute to the validation of the mental health screening made by public health nurses.
Migration and smoking: An epidemiological study of Finnish twins in Sweden
Authors: Jörgensen Lena , Hammar Niklas , Kaprio Jaakko , Koskenvuo Markku , Svensson Åke
Published: July 2007

Background: Male migrants from Finland to Sweden have been found to have a reduced risk of coronary heart disease after several years in Sweden. Changes in smoking habits may contribute to this reduced risk. Aims: A study was undertaken to compare smoking habits in Finnish migrants to Sweden and subjects always living in Finland and to analyse whether the migration may have influenced smoking. Methods: The study population consisted of same-sex twin pairs born in Finland younger than 76 years with at least one twin that had migrated to Sweden (n=1,083 pairs). Smoking habits obtained by mailed questionnaire were compared in migration-discordant twin pairs to take into account early childhood and genetic factors. Results: Immigrants and returnees with a history of smoking had predominantly started to smoke before the migration. Among women, immigrants to Sweden smoked more than never migrants in Finland, odds ratio (OR) 2.1 for current smokers (95% confidence interval CI 1.4—3.3) but this difference was already present before migration. In men there were essentially no differences in smoking prevalence between immigrants and never migrants but heavy smoking was less common among immigrants than among never migrant smokers, OR 0.5 (95% CI 0.2—0.9) and migration was associated with a greater propensity to cease smoking. Conclusions: Migration from Finland to Sweden does not seem to have had a strong influence on smoking among migrants. A favourable trend in smoking habits after migration may in part have contributed to reduced mortality and incidence of coronary heart disease in male Finnish migrants after several years in Sweden.
Price restrictions and other restrictions on alcohol availability in Denmark and Sweden: A historical perspective with implications for the current debate
Authors: Lindström Martin
Published: July 2007

Background: Current political debate in Sweden is mainly centred on lowering taxes on alcohol in order to ``harmonize'' prices with those in neighbouring countries, although the evidence of a negative association between prices and alcohol consumption is more than convincing. Method: Total per capita consumption figures for twentieth-century Denmark and Sweden are utilized to illustrate the astonishing effects on consumption patterns of active government policies to restrict availability.
The Performance of a Simple Motor Task with Kinaesthetic Sense Loss
Authors: Laszlo Judith I.
Published: July 2007

Two related studies were carried out, to test the suitability of the nerve compression block as a technique in the investigation of kinaesthesis in motor skills.

In both studies a key tapping task was used. Each experimental group was composed of six volunteer subjects. It was found that kinaesthetic sensation was eliminated after pressure had been applied for 20–25 min., but muscle power was not seriously affected at this stage of the block. The results also showed a pronounced performance decrement in the absence of kinaesthetic feedback, and that this decrement was not due to emotional or other disturbances caused by the experimental procedure. The loss of tactile sensation was also observed.
The Effect of Overtraining and Repeated Extinctions on Speed of Extinction in Electrical Self-Stimulation
Authors: Herberg L. J. , Watkins P. J.
Published: July 2007

Fourteen rats with hypothalamic electrodes needed at least 3,000 reinforcements in self-stimulation before extinction scores reached their peak. In a series of up to 36 further extinctions and reconditionings, involving a total of 10,500 reinforcements, extinction scores fell to the extreme low values typical of self-stimulation. The extent of this fall was shown to depend on the number of extinctions administered, but not on the number of reinforcements, indicating that a process of conditioned inhibition may be partially responsible for rapid extinction after self-stimulation.
The Role of Stimulation in the Delay of Onset of Crying in the Newborn Infant
Authors: Gordon T. , Foss B. M.
Published: July 2007

Crying is said to result from stimulus need. An experiment was done in which infants were stimulated during quiet periods to see if this would postpone the onset of crying. The results were positive. An alternative explanation in terms of internal temperature control is considered.
Visual Search with Meaningful and Non-Meaningful Material
Authors: Strongman Kenneth T. , Brown Robert
Published: July 2007

Two experiments are reported which attempt to assess the effects of variations in target word, context items and instructions on performance in a visual search task. In Experiment 1, subjects were required to search through context lists of three-letter nonsense syllables (of either high or low association value) for three-letter meaningful target words (of either high or low frequency). They were given either “positive” or “negative” instructions, i.e. were told either to pick out the meaningful word or to pick out the word which was not a nonsense syllable. The results showed that visual search times were significantly influenced by both frequency of target word and association value of context items. A significant interaction was observed between type of instructions and target word frequency. The design of Experiment 2 followed that of Experiment 1, with the exceptions that nonsense syllables now became target items, and meaningful words formed the contexts. Again, nonsense syllable association value and word frequency were found to be critical in determining visual search times.
The Effect of Set on the Two-Point Tactual Threshold
Authors: Sen Anima
Published: July 2007

This experiment studies the influence of set on the two-point tactual threshold. The two-point limen (critical stimulus) was determined along the mid-longitudinal line of both volar and dorsal surfaces of the right forearms of seven university students. Test-stimuli were selected at 3 mm. steps both up and down from each of the critical stimuli. Each of these test-stimuli was presented separately, the critical stimulus being interpolated 30 times in each test of the series. The proportions of two-point and one-point responses to the critical stimulus were then determined again in a control series. It was found that, as the test-stimulus deviated in the positive direction from the critical stimulus, the proportion of two-point responses to the critical stimulus increased, reached a maximum and then began to decline. A similar rise and fall in one-point responses were found in the opposite direction. The results were explained by Adaptation Level Theory.
Remembering a List of Two-digit Numbers
Authors: Dale K. C. A. , Baddeley A. D.
Published: July 2007

The way subjects remember a list of two-digit numbers has been examined in some detail. It is found that intrusions in free recall are not random. They resemble omissions in having the same first digit but not in other ways. This non-randomness of recall errors has been used to construct recognition tests of varying difficulty. Numbers which occurred commonly as intrusions were difficult to distinguish from the correct items when used as distractors in recognition tests. The experiments suggest that the previously observed relationship between recognition efficiency and number of alternatives (Davis, Sutherland and Judd, 1961) can be attributed to the increased probability that such intrusions will be included when the total number of distractors is increased.
The Effect of Interpolated Activity on a Treble Right-left Alternation Task
Authors: Taylor E. A. , McEwen M. J. , Weiskrantz L.
Published: July 2007

In a delayed treble alternation task the number of errors made by human subjects was found to increase when an irrelevant task was presented in the delay interval. The number of errors increased with the number of items presented in the delay interval, but neither the difficulty of the irrelevant task nor its similarity to the alternation task was found to affect the number of errors.
Extinction of a Running Response as a Function of Reinforcement Magnitude
Authors: Wilton R. N.
Published: July 2007

Four groups of rats were trained on different sucrose solutions in a straight runway. Terminal running speed was a monotonic function of reinforcement magnitude. After training each group was subdivided, one subgroup being extinguished under spaced, the other under massed conditions. In spaced extinction the animals trained on non extreme reward magnitudes showed most resistance to extinction. It was concluded that resistance to extinction is an inverted U-shaped function of reinforcement magnitude found in training. The massed extinction trials were conducted with a very short inter-trial interval. The animals showed an immediate drop in running speed followed by a gradual recovery and a subsequent decline. The number of trials taken to reach the peak recovery speed was a function of reinforcement magnitude found in training. Results on both massed and spaced extinction trials were interpreted in terms of the facilitatory and inhibitory effects of momentary and conditioned frustration.
Spontaneous Speech Generation
Authors: Lawson Everdina A.
Published: July 2007

A speech generation task was performed by bilingual subjects whilst they received irrelevant messages in one ear. The irrelevant messages varied in content as well as in language. Although these messages appeared to have a significant influence on the rate of speech, this variation was not consistent with any of the three hypotheses suggested. A further speech generation experiment was then carried out in which subjects received as irrelevant auditory input, in one ear, either a prose passage or “emotional” words repeated over a period of 1 min. Although the rate of speech did not seem to be affected by the irrelevant input, a memory test for words spoken, as distinct from words heard seemed to indicate that the “emotional” words were significantly better recalled than the words from the prose passage. When a control experiment was performed with prose or repeated neutral words as auditory input, no such difference in recall was obtained. This result was seen as favouring Deutsch's model of the blocking of irrelevant speech.
Decisions concerning the Rejected Channel
Authors: Lawson Everdina A.
Published: July 2007

It was thought that the physical aspects of auditory stimuli were possibly transmitted via separate pathways from those transmitting the verbal aspects. Three experiments were designed to test this hypothesis. In these experiments subjects had to perform a shadowing task and had to respond simultaneously on response keys to pips superimposed in either ear on verbal messages. The response to these pips was of increasing complexity, in that it was a simple reaction time which was measured in the first experiment, a choice reaction time in the second experiment and a more complex choice reaction time in the third experiment. Subjects were able to perform these tests although the increasing difficulty was reflected in longer reaction times and more errors. The reaction times to the pips presented to the ear which was not being shadowed were slower, and the errors, made to pips in both channels, were “false positives” rather than errors of omission. These results were taken as favouring the hypothesis.
On Determining Pain Thresholds Using the Limiting Method
Authors: Thomas E. A. C.
Published: July 2007

A model developed by Cane (1956) for the study of relative thresholds is modified to apply to absolute thresholds. It is assumed that the fluctuation in the subject's sensation of a stimulus is uniformly distributed, and the model is used to estimate the threshold from data presented by several authors.
Partial Reinforcement and Breadth of Learning
Authors: Sutherland N. S.
Published: July 2007

Two experiments on partial reinforcement were undertaken to test predictions made by a two process model of discrimination learning. In the first experiment rats were trained on a discrimination involving two relevant cues: one group (C) was trained on a 100: o schedule, the other (P) on a 50:0 schedule. Both groups were then given transfer tests with the two cues presented individually; finally all animals were extinguished on the original training stimuli and on the single cue stimuli. During extinction there was a negative correlation between the number of correct responses made by individual subjects of Group C to each single cue; whereas the correlation was positive for subjects of Group P. The second experiment employed basically the same design, but subjects were trained with seven relevant cues. The results of transfer tests showed that subjects of Group P learned to attach the correct response to many more cues than subjects of Group C. This suggests that the breadth of learning is greater under partial than under consistent reinforcement. The results were predicted by the model of discrimination learning under test.
The Influence of Acoustic and Semantic Similarity on Long-term Memory for Word Sequences
Authors: Baddeley A. D.
Published: July 2007

It has been shown that short-term memory (STM) for word sequences is grossly impaired when acoustically similar words are used, but is relatively unaffected by semantic similarity. This study tests the hypothesis that long-term memory (LTM) will be similarly affected. In Experiment I subjects attempted to learn one of four lists of 10 words. The lists comprised either acoustically or semantically similar words (A and C) or control words of equal frequency (B and D). Lists were learned for four trials, after which subjects spent 20 min. on a task involving immediate memory for digits. They were then asked to recall the word list. The acoustically similar list was learned relatively slowly, but unlike the other three lists showed no forgetting. Experiment II showed that this latter paradox can be explained by assuming the learning score to depend on both LTM and STM, whereas the subsequent retest depends only on LTM. Experiment III repeats Experiment I but attempts to minimize the effects of STM during learning by interposing a task to prevent rehearsal between the presentation and testing of the word sequences. Unlike STM, LTM proved to be impaired by semantic similarity but not by acoustic similarity. It is concluded that STM and LTM employ different coding systems.
The Effect of Information Content upon the Perception and After-Effects of a Rotating Field
Authors: Dixon N. F. , Meisels Linda
Published: July 2007

From an investigation of movement after-effects induced by a rotating field, it seems that the information content of the inspection field is an important determinant of the subsequent movement after-effects (M.A.E.). This finding, considered in conjunction with phenomena evoked during perception of high information content and highly redundant fields, is discussed in connection with Anstis and Gregory's (1965) work on the role of retinal stimulation in the production of M.A.E.s.
Classification on the Basis of Conditional Cues
Authors: Davis R. , Taylor D. H.
Published: July 2007

Subjects were presented with signals from two sources, either simultaneously or successively. The signal from one source, the “cue” signal, provided information about the type of classification to be made; the signal from the other source provided the data for the classification. Reaction times were recorded from the moment of presentation of the second signal to the moment the subject pressed the appropriate response key. By varying the order of presentation and the time interval between cue and data signal, the time required for the subject to select the appropriate dimension of variation in the data signal was examined.

When the cue signal preceded the data signal, the results were consistent with consecutive sequential processing of the two signals. When the data signal preceded the cue signal a further source of delay was evident. It is suggested that this results from a type of intermittency in which processing of irrelevant aspects of the data signal holds up the analysis of the cue signal.
Effects of Varying the Apparent Tilt of the Inspection Figure on a Kinaesthetic After-Effect
Authors: Over R.
Published: July 2007

Three experiments were conducted to determine whether kinaesthetic after-effects, measured by settings of a bar to the horizontal, are controlled by the apparent or the physical tilt of the bar during inspection. Two arrangements were used to induce a discrepancy between apparent and physical tilt. Data obtained with one arrangement did not permit a proper test of the issue. With the other arrangement either distorted or undistorted visual information about tilt was present during kinaesthetic inspection. It was found that post-inspection settings were displaced from pre-inspection settings in the direction of the tilt of the inspection figure when there was no discrepancy between information presented by the two modalities. When there was a discrepancy, the displacements attributable to apparent tilt were in the direction opposite to the apparent tilt of the inspection figure. The former effects dissipated rapidly after inspection; the latter did not. It is suggested that after-effects obtained following an inspection period during which there is no discrepancy between physical and apparent tilt are controlled by the physical tilt of the inspection figure and that apparent tilt, when it is an effective variable, operates by modifying the judgemental frame of reference.
Verbal Labelling and Learning Strategies in Normal and Severely Subnormal Children
Authors: Bryant P. E.
Published: July 2007

The effects of verbal labelling of colours in a simple colour sorting task were examined in an experiment in which the subjects were severely subnormal and normal children of equivalent mental age levels. It was found that the effects of verbal labelling are relatively specific with severely subnormal subjects in comparison to their normal controls. It was also shown that this effect can be explained in terms of the relative independence with which the two responses in a sorting discrimination are learned by severely subnormal subjects both with and without verbalization.
Contrast and Confluxion as Components in Geometric Illusions
Authors: Virsu Veijo
Published: July 2007

Two experiments on illusions were planned to test the predictive power of explanations based on size contrast and confluxion. The predictions turned out to be correct. A modification of the Müller-Lyer figure and an illusion of divided distance were used as stimulus figures. In the latter the dividing distances were underestimated. It proved to be methodologically necessary to measure contrast effects as differences between results of two experimental procedures, because small intervals as such were over-estimated. It was not possible to explain all the results by means of the constancy theory in the form suggested by Gregory. Neither contrast nor constancy alone is sufficient to explain the geometric illusions. The development of an adequate theory by combining these two explanations seems possible.
The Suppression of Visualization by Reading
Authors: Brooks L. R.
Published: July 2007

Four experiments are described which demonstrate a conflict between reading verbal messages and imagining the spatial relations described by those messages. Listening to the same messages did not produce comparable interference with visualization. The conflict between reading and visualizing was obtained even when the subject previously had seen the referent of the message. In contrast, when the subject was induced to treat the messages as rote strings of words instead of visualizing their referents, reading was a more effective means of presentation than was listening.

Two interpretations of these results were proposed. (a) Visualization and reading compete of the use of neural pathways specialized for visual perception. (b) The process of reading hinders the conversion of input material into any non-verbal form; that is, reading forces the subject to deal with information in a more exclusively verbal form than does listening. It was suggested that regardless of interpretation this method provides a means of investigating the internal processes underlying concrete verbal reference.
Acoustic Factors in Visual Search
Authors: Corcoran D. W. J. , Weening D. L.
Published: July 2007

Previous work has shown that in searching for existing or absent “e.s” in printed prose, the presence or absence of silent “e.s” was less likely to be detected than that of pronounced “e.s.” It was suggested that the acoustic or kinaesthetic “image” was searched for evidence of an “e” in addition to the visual stimulus and that evidence from both sources was considered in making the appropriate response.

The present experiment employs mainly substitutive errors within words, which may or may not change their pronunciation. The results suggest that the form of the acoustic correlates has no bearing upon whether the words are detected as wrongly spelt, but that the presence or absence of an acoustic event corresponding in time to the spatial location of the error is important.
Pupil Size and Problem Solving
Authors: Bradshaw J. L.
Published: July 2007

Pupil size changes were monitored during the solution of various types of problems. A number of solution and response strategies were required of the subject. There was strong confirmation of the theory that this autonomic index can provide a sensitive measure of the fluctuating levels of attention and arousal, which are associated with the various aspects of information processing and response.
Infantile Handling and the Facilitation of Discrimination and Reversal Learning
Authors: Wong Roderick , Jamieson John L.
Published: July 2007

One group of rats was removed from their home cage and received daily handling from Days 3–21, while the control group of litter mates remained in the cage and did not receive any treatment. On Day 22 all rats were weaned and they were housed in individual cages until they were 60 days old. After two pretraining days, subjects were given daily blocks of one free and three forced trials in the T-maze and were rewarded with food after making the correct response. Following 20 days of training and testing on black-white discrimination, subjects were given 10 days of reversal training with four daily trials. Results indicate that the handled animals showed faster running and a greater number of correct choices than the control rats during both the acquisition and reversal learning phases of the experiment.
Handwriting, Typewriting and Handedness
Authors: Provins K. A. , Glencross D. J.
Published: July 2007

The performance of two groups of 20 trained touch typists and one group of 20 nontypists was tested on seven different typewriting exercises. Three of these exercises were executed entirely with the right hand and three were completed using only the left. A comparison of performances of the two sides showed, for the typists, no differences between the sides or a difference in favour of the left hand; and for the non-typists, a difference between hands in favour of the right side in two of the three comparisons.

A comparison of handwriting performance with the preferred and non-preferred hands was carried out on 80 subjects. Apart from a highly significant difference in performance between the sides in favour of the preferred hand, this task showed, as did the typewriting task, a marked positive correlation between the performance levels of the two sides. These findings are briefly discussed in relation to the training histories of the subjects.
Auditory Signal Detectability as a Function of Pre-Experimental Shock
Authors: Kuechler H. A. , Dodwell P. C.
Published: July 2007

A neurotic, schizophrenic and normal control group detected a 1,000 cps. 2 sec. tone with an a priori probability of occurrence of 0.5 against a background of continuous white noise during a specified 4 sec. interval. An index of signal detectability, dprime;, and a decision criterion, β, were calculated from the YES-NO responses for 150 control trials, and 150 trials which were preceded by free electric shock at maximum tolerance level. The results show a decrement in signals detected for the neurotic and schizophrenic group as compared to the normal control, whose detection rate improved significantly. The decision criterion remained unaffected.
Perceptual Independence in the Perception of Speech
Authors: Corcoran D. W. J. , Dorfman D. D. , Weening D. L.
Published: July 2007

The purpose of the experiments and analyses was to discover whether the “independence” model, which successfully accounts for the perception of synthetic multi-dimensional stimuli, would also describe the perception of speech in noise. Two sets of four words were chosen which could be considered phonetically to be describable in terms of two dimensions. The S/R matrix was analysed as if the stimuli were bi-dimensional elementary stimuli. Satisfactory fits were obtained by the independence model. Two analyses were conducted upon data from Miller and Nicely (1955) and Conrad (1964) to discover whether the perception of phonemes was also predictable on the independence model. In general this was found to be the case.
Cognitive Categories and Memory Span: I. Shifting between Categories
Authors: Sanders A. F. , Schroots J. J. F.
Published: July 2007

Broadbent and Gregory's hypothesis that shifting selection between cognitive classes is at least inefficient is tested by varying the number of transitions from consonants to digits and back in a mixed list memory span situation. No orderly decrease is found as a function of the number of transitions, which renders the attention hypothesis unlikely. An alternative position in terms of interference theory could explain the data qualitatively. Tests of further predictions of this theory need first an estimate of the degree of difference between cognitive classes.
The Effect of Electric Shock on Rats' Choice between Familiar and Unfamiliar Maze Arms: A Replication
Authors: Sheldon M. H.
Published: July 2007

It is argued that experiments showing that noise and electric shock produce gross changes in rats' locomotor activity are only weak evidence for a relationship between fear and exploration. Stronger evidence comes from an experiment in which fewer shocked than unshocked rats chose the unfamiliar arm of a maze. Certain details of this experiment are unclear, and an attempt is made here to confirm its findings. In one experiment, shocked rats again chose the unfamiliar arm less often than unshocked rats, and in a second experiment it was shown that this finding cannot be explained by saying that shocked rats choose at random. These results are discussed in relation to recent suggestions about exploration in rats.
Effect of similarity of interpolated materials on short-term recall
Authors: Kothurkar V. K.
Published: July 2007

Two experimental studies bear out the assertion that the probability of short-term recall of verbal units is adversely affected by the similarity of interpolated items. The possibility is conceded that some confounding of trace decay and interference factors may occur whenever an interval between an original presentation and its subsequent recall is filled with some intervening activity; yet it may be concluded that the results broadly corroborate and support the interference hypothesis as the major explanation of short-term forgetting, and of the decisive role of similarity.