bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Acoustic and Semantic Similarity on Concept Identification
Authors: Coltheart Veronika
Published: July 2007

Since both acoustic and semantic similarity exert an influence on memory, the role of memory in concept identification (CI) was investigated by varying the acoustic and semantic similarity of the stimuli used in the CI task. Varying acoustic similarity had no effect on CI, but CI was significantly impaired when the dimensions of a CI task were semantically similar.
Effects of Acetoxycycloheximide on Appetitive Learning and Memory
Authors: Daniels Denver
Published: July 2007

The effects of direct brain infusions of acetoxycycloheximide (an inhibitor of protein synthesis; ACXH) on acquisition, storage and recall of memory for one-trial appetitive learning were examined in five experiments. ACXH was infused into the rats' hippocampi through implanted cannulas. Control subjects received an equal volume of physiological saline. ACXH was infused (a) 5 h before acquisition, (b) 5 hr before commencement of recall tests, and (c) immediately after acquisition. Each subject's general motor activity was recording during testing. The results indicate that (1) ACXH has similar effects on appetitive and avoidance learning. (2) ACXH administered immediately after acquisition, has no effect on memory. (3) At 4 hr after acquisition memory is affected by ACXH. (4) Short-term memory is unaffected by ACXH and can exist independently of long-term memory. (5) ACXH consistently reduces general motor activity.
Stimulus Encoding and Additivity of Effects in a Card Sorting Task
Authors: Lively Barry L.
Published: July 2007

The work of Sternberg (1969) suggests the independence from one another of the times required for encoding a stimulus, matching it against a set of stored representations in memory and responding. A card sorting experiment was performed to test some implications of this position. The variables manipulated were the number of different letters to be sorted into a pile, orientation of the letter on a card, and whether letters encodable according to a shared physical characteristic were to be sorted into the same (within) or different (between) piles. As predicted, orientation of the letter and number of different letters to be sorted/pile affected sorting time only in the between pile condition where the effects were observed to be additive.
Learning while Typing
Authors: Marton F. I. , Sandqvist G.
Published: July 2007

Subjects representing two different levels of skill in typewriting participated in an experiment concerning higher mental activities in connection with typewriting. Understanding and learning of the text typed was facilitated simply by the instruction: “Think of what you are typing!”. The improvement in learning was accompanied neither by increase in time nor in mean number of errors.
The Four-card Problem and the Generality of Formal Reasoning
Authors: Lunzer E. A. , Harrison C. , Davey M.
Published: July 2007

Three experiments were designed to investigate the failure of intelligent adults to solve an apparently simple problem of formal reasoning devised by Wason. Both the mode of presentation and the type of material reduced the difficulty of the problem, while retaining its essential form. However, success on the original problem remained at a low level, even when subjects had attempted an easier version and had been given an explanation.

These results enable one to reject a “strong” formulation of Piaget's theory of formal reasoning. A “weaker” formulation is suggested as a basis for further research.
The Movement of the Hand towards a Target
Authors: Beggs W. D. A. , Howarth C. I.
Published: July 2007

Previous work on the approach trajectories of hands to targets in tracking and aiming tasks had produced contradictory evidence about the shape of these curves. This paper shows that these trajectories are a function of the level of practice of the subject; an interpretation in terms of the theory of intermittent control of movements is advanced. Previous contradictory data can be resolved by reference to the subjects/ level of practice. In addition, this theory will encompass the differences between accurate and free movement trajectories reported earlier.
The Accuracy of Non-Visual Aiming
Authors: Beggs W. D. A. , Andrew Jacqueline A. , Baker Martha L. , Dove S. R. , Fairclough Irene , Howarth C. I.
Published: July 2007

A visual feedback theory of movement control developed earlier predicted that the accuracy of movements performed in darkness would be unaffected by movement speed, but be linearly related to distance. We found that for variable errors this is partly true; a linear relationship to distance was demonstrated, but an optimum speed was found. Constant errors showed interesting trends, showing the usual range effect but also being affected by movement time. Finally, a small irreducible component in these errors was found, which was considered to be caused by physiological tremor. These results are easily encompassed in our feedback theory, but would be difficult for an information theory based model of movement control.
Time-Shared Feeding and Drinking
Authors: Mcfarland D. J. , Lloyd I. H.
Published: July 2007

Barbary doves were tested in an operant situation in which they characteristically alternate between feeding and drinking. The experimental findings may be summarized as follows: (1) the cumulative distribution of the intervals between feeding bouts is little affected by reward rates; (2) a lock-on index is correlated with reward rate, but is not affected by altering reward rate per se, as long as the overall rate of ingestion remains the same; (3) when a primarily hungry animal is interrupted while feeding, or a primarily thirsty animal while drinking, the behaviour is resumed after the interruption; (4) when a primarily hungry animal is interrupted while drinking, or a primarily thirsty animal while feeding, the behaviour is resumed after a short interruption, but changes to the alternative behaviour following a long interruption; (5) titration of interruption period in the dominant region of the motivational state space is always stable, but becomes unstable if the dominance changes, or if the titrating criteria are reversed. From this evidence it is concluded that feeding and drinking can be time-shared in a manner analogous to that found in computers.
Position Constancy during Pursuit Eye Movement: An Investigation of the Filehne Illusion
Authors: Mack Arien , Herman Edward
Published: July 2007

Experiments were performed to investigate the Filehne illusion, the apparent movement of the background during pursuit eye movements. In a dark room subjects tracked a luminous target as it moved at 3°/s or 10.5/s in front of an illuminated background which was either stationary or moved at a fraction of the target speed in the same or opposite direction. Subjects reported whether the background appeared to move and the direction of the movement. Results reveal only a partial loss of position constancy for the background during tracking. The stationary background is perceived to move slightly in the direction opposite to that in which the tracked target is moving. These results seemed best described as an instance of perceptual underconstancy and led to the speculation that the source of the illusion is an underestimation of the rate of pursuit eye movements. An experimental test of this hypothesis which produced supporting evidence is reported.
Information and the Partial Reinforcement Acquisition Effect
Authors: Wilton R. N. , Clements R. O.
Published: July 2007

Three groups of rats were trained on a delayed reinforcement schedule in an L-shaped runway. The running response, completed just before the turn of the runway, initiated the delay and exposed the rats to one of two delay stimuli. For two of the groups partial reward (50%) followed the delay. For one of these groups the delay stimuli and trial outcomes were correlated, making the delay stimuli informative with respect to the trial outcome some seconds before the outcome occurred. For the other group the delay stimuli and outcomes were uncorrelated, so information was not delivered until the occurrence of the trial outcome. The third group was reinforced on every trial (CRF), so no information followed responding at all. The results were that the partial reinforcement animals trained with correlated stimuli ran most quickly, followed by the partial reinforcement animals trained with uncorrelated stimuli, and then by the animals that were reinforced on every trial. The results were explained by the hypothesis that stimuli antedating the goal are increased in reinforcing strength when they transmit information, with the increase being proportionally greater the further the stimuli are from the goal.
Learning 10000 pictures
Authors: Standing Lionel
Published: July 2007

Four experiments are reported which examined memory capacity and retrieval speed for pictures and for words. Single-trial learning tasks were employed throughout, with memory performance assessed by forced-choice recognition, recall measures or choice reaction-time tasks. The main experimental findings were: (1) memory capacity, as a function of the amount of material presented, follows a general power law with a characteristic exponent for each task; (2) pictorial material obeys this power law and shows an overall superiority to verbal material. The capacity of recognition memory for pictures is almost limitless, when measured under appropriate conditions; (3) when the recognition task is made harder by using more alternatives, memory capacity stays constant and the superiority of pictures is maintained; (4) picture memory also exceeds verbal memory in terms of verbal recall; comparable recognition/recall ratios are obtained for pictures, words and nonsense syllables; (5) verbal memory shows a higher retrieval speed than picture memory, as inferred from reaction-time measures. Both types of material obey a power law, when reaction-time is measured for various sizes of learning set, and both show very rapid rates of memory search.

From a consideration of the experimental results and other data it is concluded that the superiority of the pictorial mode in recognition and free recall learning tasks is well established and cannot be attributed to methodological artifact.
Semantic Representation of Shape Names
Authors: Seymour Philip H. K.
Published: July 2007

Two experiments are described which were designed to test the assumption that names of geometric shapes may be represented in memory as lists of the physical properties of the shapes they designate. In Experiment I subjects reported “same”−“different” judgements in response to pairs of concentric shapes, or a shape name printed inside a shape. Visual confusions occurred in both tasks, suggesting that names are converted to descriptions of shape properties prior to comparison. In Experiment II pairs of shape names were classified by reference to a rule which was stated in terms of physical features of their referents. This task also provided evidence that classification times were sensitive to variations in the similarity of the shapes designated by the names.
A Test of Current Explanations of the Effect of Item Familiarity on Memory
Authors: Ingleby J. D.
Published: July 2007

The effects of item familiarity in memory have been variously ascribed to differences in storage or retrieval efficiency, response availability, and response bias. The experiments reported here attempted to discriminate between these explanations, using a model of the response process based on signal-detection theory. Memory for English surnames varying in frequency of occurrence was tested under free recall and recognition conditions. In both conditions, common names appeared more often among the incorrect responses, reflecting a response bias in their favour; but storage and/or retrieval of these names, as measured by the parameter d′, was less efficient than for uncommon ones. The finding of similar results in recognition and recall shows that the effect remains even when differences in response availability are removed by the use of a probe.
Selective Attention to Words and Colours
Authors: Morton John , Chambers Susan M.
Published: July 2007

In the Stroop test it is found that the presence of words interferes with the task of naming colours. The usual account of this phenomenon is that the names of words are more readily obtained than are the names of colours and that the production of the latter is interfered with by the spontaneous occurrence of the former. Treisman and Fearnley (1969) have suggested a modification of the usual account such that stress is laid on the correspondence between the nature of the response (“verbal”) and that feature of a stimulus which will dominate. The present experiments seem to demonstrate that the data which Treisman and Fearnley use in support of their claim can be attributed to the strategy which their subjects adopted in their task. Some further observations are made concerning the different levels at which comparisons can be made between two stimuli.
On the Significance of “Double Encoding” for the Superior Recall of Pictures to Names
Authors: Davies Graham M. , Milne J. E. , Glennie B. J.
Published: July 2007

Ten-year-old children who were shown pictures of objects immediately preceded by the object's name recalled the material no better than those exposed to the names of the stimuli alone. Both conditions yielded significantly poorer retention than those in which pictures alone were presented or pictures followed by their names. A second study replicated this result. In addition this demonstrated, by a picture and name recognition task, that the effects could not be due to subjects in the “name prior to picture” condition ignoring the pictorial component. These results were interpreted as contradicting the “double encoding” explanation of the superiority of pictures to names in free recall. Parallel visual and verbal encoding of a pictured object does not facilitate retention unless the verbal cue is actively elicited from the subject by the stimulus. The implications of this result for other studies which have employed either simultaneous or sequential presentation of pictures and names are briefly discussed.
Forward, Backward and Combined Masking: Implications for an Auditory Integration Period
Authors: Pollack Irwin
Published: July 2007

Auditory temporal psychometric functions were obtained for forward masking, backward masking, and for combined forward and backward masking for the case of an impulsive signal in white noise. Temporal psychometric functions show a large interaction between forward masking and backward masking when evaluated against an independence model of performance. The results are not consistent with the concept of a sharp rectangular temporal integrating period (“moment”) to account for the interaction.
The Effect of Cueing in a Visual Signal Detection Task
Authors: Van Der Heijden A. H. C. , Eerland E.
Published: July 2007

In a signal detection task four subjects were presented with stimulus cards, 50% of which contained a capital O in one of the four quadrants. Fifty per cent of these Os were surrounded by a small rectangle. This small rectangle served as a simultaneous cue, indicating the region where the O could appear. The other 50% were surrounded by a big rectangle encompassing the whole field. Fifty per cent of the blank cards contained a small rectangle, the other 50% a big one. Exposure duration was set at 15 and 20 ms. The results indicated that subjects, for whom these exposure durations led to performance exceeding chance level, used the simultaneous cue for reducing the field to be searched, resulting in higher sensitivity (d′) in the small rectangle condition. Results were interpreted in terms of increasing efficiency of search as a result of which a higher quality of the icon was available for making decisions about the presence of the O.
Shadowing at One and at Two Ears
Authors: Salter David
Published: July 2007

The assumption that speech shadowing commandeers all the subject's capacity was tested in two ways: by manipulating the linguistic parameters of the non-attended message, and by superimposing a task of repeating the second message whenever possible while shadowing the first message. Eight subjects shadowed prose or random words (130 words per min). Non-attended messages of either type were also presented as forward, or reversed speech. With reversed speech, percentage shadowing scores for random words were less than prose (P < 0.001). Random word shadowing was further adversely affected with non-attended, forward speech, there being a significant interaction (P < 0.001) between shadowed message type and intelligibility of the non-attended message. Subjects repeated more words shadowing both messages than one alone (P < 0.001), despite the switching which this entailed, and shadowing scores were related to the redundancy of both message combinations.
Changes in Orienting and Habituation in the Rat following Administration of Chlorpromazine
Authors: File Sandra E.
Published: July 2007

Chlorpromazine (0.5–3.0 mg/kg) significantly reduced orienting to a novel auditory stimulus, but subsequent habituation after repeated presentations of the stimulus was not prevented nor significantly impaired. These results support the suggestion that the mechanisms underlying orienting and habituation are independent.
The Effect of Monetary Reward and Punishment on the Repetition of Responses under Open and Closed Task Conditions
Authors: Cohen Ronald L. , Nilsson Lars-Göran
Published: July 2007

Subjects were given one study and two test trials on a list of paired associates. Critical responses on the first test were those which were rewarded or punished by gain or withdrawal of money. Between subjects variables were (a) whether the critical responses on test 1 were right or wrong, and (b) whether subjects were informed of the second test before or after test 1. On test 2, subjects were asked to repeat their test 1 responses to the appropriate stimuli. When subjects were unaware that they would receive a second test, rewarding a response on test 1 increased its probability of repetition on test 2; punishment had no significant effect. When subjects were aware that they would be tested again, the reward/ punishment treatment had no effect. An explanation based on the Law of Effect is rejected in favour of a cognitive explanation, utilizing the total time hypothesis.
Does Delay of Reinforcement Produce Durable Persistence?
Authors: Wong Paul T. P. , Traupmann K. L. , Brake Steve
Published: July 2007

In a foru-phase experiment, phase I was runway training under four different reinforcement conditions: partial reinforcement (PRF), partial delayed reinforcement (PDR), constant delayed reinforcement (CDR), and consistent reinforcement (CRF). During phase 2 extinction, PRF and PDR groups did not differ; both groups were more persistent than group CDR, which was in turn superior to the CRF control. Phase 3 was CRF reacquisition for all groups. During phase 4 extinction, PRF group was more presistent than the other three groups which did not differ. A Pavlovian counter-conditioning hypothesis was proposed to account for the absence of durable persistence following PDR training.
Generality of Interference by Tonal Stimuli in Recognition Memory for Pitch
Authors: Deutsch Diana
Published: July 2007

An investigation was made into the disruptive effects on pitch recognition produced by tones taken from beyond the octave from which the standard (S) and comparison (C) tones were taken. Pitch recognition was required after a retention interval during which eight other tones were played. Errors were compared for sequences in which the interpolated tones were taken from the same octave as were the S and C tones; in which they were taken from the octave above; in which they were taken from the octave below; and in which half of the intervening tones were taken from the octave above and the other half from the octave below, the order of choice of octave within the sequence being random. Large disruptive effects were produced by interpolated tones drawn from the higher and lower octaves, though these effects were slightly less than those produced by tones drawn from the same octave. The greatest disruptive effect occurred when the intervening tones in any one sequence were drawn from both the higher and the lower octaves. The implications of these findings are discussed.
A Note on Behavioural Contrast and Frustration
Authors: Staddon J. E. R.
Published: July 2007

The suggestion has been made that positive contrast, the increase in response rate in one successively-presented stimulus following a change in conditions that decreases responding in the other, may not depend on differential stimulus control. Evidence is reviewed suggesting that contrast effects on most multiple interval schedules do depend upon discrimination, but that effects similar to contrast that result from the omission of reinforcement on fixed-interval schedules (the frustration/omission effect) reflect other factors. The link between contrast and the omission effect is the discrimination mechanism which allows animals to respond only at times or places correlated with food delivery. Contrast is a direct result of this mechanism; but the omission effect depends on the difference between the inhibitory discriminative after-effects acquired by food on fixed-interval schedules, and those acquired by a “neutral” stimulus presented in its place.
The Components of the Standard and Reverse Müller-Lyer Illusions
Authors: Worrall Norman , Firth Diane
Published: July 2007

The absolute contribution of each type of oblique figure in the standard and reverse Müller-Lyer illusions is determined by placing one oblique figure at different distances from the end of a test line (either horizontal or vertical) and measuring shift in the line's apparent midpoint as a function of proximity of the oblique figure. The absolute effect of both types of figure, apex-in > < or apex-out < > is one of contraction, and superimposed on this, again for both types of figure, is a smaller expansion effect which is phasic and varies with proximity of the figure to the line. The major factor in the reverse illusion appears to be the apex-in > < and not the apex-out < > figure as previously supposed. For both standard and reverse illusions, and again for both types of figures, there is a visual field effect, since contraction is greater when the obliques lie in the right or in the lower hemifield. The fundamental similarities in mode of action of each type of oblique are further demonstrated by showing that geometrical figures in general, regardless of shape or orientation, give rise to similar patterns of absolute contraction with a phasic expansion component superimposed. The Müller-Lyer oblique figures therefore operate as two of many possible examples of a single underlying mechanism, and recent arguments that the Müller-Lyer is really two separate constituent illusions are not supported.
Evidence for the Role of Attentive Fields in the Perception of Illusions
Authors: Pressey Alexander W.
Published: July 2007

On the basis of the concept of attentive fields, it was predicted that the position of the comparison line would systematically affect the amount of illusion displayed in the Ponzo configuration and in two impoverished forms of the Müller-Lyer illusion. Ten of 12 predictions which seemed to be unique to assimilation theory were verified statistically and the remaining two predictions were in the correct direction. A reversed Ponzo illusion which was expected from the concept of attentive fields was not exhibited. This latter result was explained on the basis of the fact that the Müller-Lyer illusion of elongation is normally greater than the Müller-Lyer illusion of shrinkage.
Substance Recall of Sentences
Authors: Anderson Richard C.
Published: July 2007

Seventy-three high school girls who received either imagery or repetition instructions attempted to recall a once-exposed series of 16 sentences shortly after exposure or one day later. Both the absolute and relative frequency with which semantically-related words were substituted for the verbatim language of the sentences increased over the retention interval. This fact was explained in terms of transfer from a phonological store to a semantic store. Sentences were almost always recalled as a whole if they were recalled at all, which was interpreted as evidence that sentences are learned and recalled as propositions rather than sets of independent associations among words or concepts.
On the Non-Additivity of Visual Tilt Illusions
Authors: Wenderoth Peter , Curthoys Ian
Published: July 2007

In Experiment I, the visual tilt illusion induced by two orthogonal lines was found to differ from the sum of the illusions induced by each line independently. The length of one of the orthogonal-inducing lines was varied in Experiment II with the other inducing line remaining a fixed length. As length increased from zero (no line) to 100%, the size of the illusion increased monotonically. The increase in illusion was not due to the increasing length of the variable line alone since, in the absence of the line of fixed length, increasing the length of the variable line produced no significant trend in the illusion (Experiment III).
The Influence of Serial Retention and Theme Identification Paradigms on Encoding
Authors: Klein Gary A. , Klein Helen Altman
Published: July 2007

Half the subjects attempted to remember the order of presentation of stimulus lists of words; the other half tried to determine the theme of the words. Encoding features were evaluated with surprise recognition tests. Greater auditory encoding was obtained for the stimulus words in the serial retention condition than for the same words in the theme identification condition. Semantic encoding was only obtained in the theme identification condition. These results were discussed in terms of the flexibility of encoding strategies.
An Apparatus for the Automatic Presentation of Object Discriminations to Monkeys
Authors: Dean P. , Weiskrantz L. , Cowey A.
Published: July 2007

Object discriminations have traditionally been presented to monkeys by hand in the Wisconsin General Test Apparatus. This method is time-consuming and prone to various kinds of experimenter error. It has proved possible to administer object discriminations automatically by using a modification of the Gloster Saro VM 51 vending machine. This machine, which has space for up to 371 objects, moves them on trays by two electric motors, and the control circuits of these are adapted for external operation by relays and modular programming equipment. A series of simple object discriminations or a concurrent (serial) discrimination task can then be given by remote control. The objects are so treated that by touching either of them the animal completes a circuit, enabling the response to be recorded and appropriately reinforced. Learning in the apparatus seems to be about as efficient as in the Wisconsin General Test Apparatus.
The Co-Ordination of Codes in Short-Term Retention
Authors: Levy Betty Ann , Craik Fergus I. M.
Published: July 2007

The present experiments explored ways in which information encoded along different dimensions might be co-ordinated to determine memory performance. First, can an acoustic similarity decrement be offset by additional semantic encoding? Experiment I offers evidence for this compensatory interaction of codes. Second, does trade-off occur such that more information held in one code means less in another code? Third, are codes additive? Experiment II offers no support for the notion of a trade-off between encoding systems. However, when two codes were made available in the second study, recall was increased over the level achieved by either code alone.
Body Weight, Short-Term Satiation and the Response to Reward Magnitude Shifts
Authors: Weiskrantz L. , Baltzer V.
Published: July 2007

It was confirmed that highly reliable “over-shooting“ (O-SH) and “undershooting” (U-SH) can be obtained when a stimulus associated with a contrasting magnitude of reward intrudes briefly into a session in which the animal receives either a high or low magnitude of reward as a baseline condition (Baltzer and Weiskrantz, 1970). These effects may be related to Crespi “elation” and “depression” effects, but it is also possible that they are dependent on differences in the amount of food ingested on the two baseline conditions. The effects of variations in body weight and pre-feeding in the rat were examined. The optimal level for obtaining the effects lies around the 95% body weight level. With body weight held constant, alterations in short-term satiation induced by pre-feeding before all sessions did not significantly change the magnitude of intrusion effects except in one extreme instance that might be accounted for by a basement effect. Differences in satiation level between the two baseline conditions can affect powerfully the magnitude of O-SH and U-SH, but nevertheless when such differences are eliminated reliable effects are still found. Arguments are advanced as to how short-term satiation and long-term deprivation factors might account for the magnitude of O-SH and U-SH, and reasons offered for considering that O-SH and U-SH have an emotional basis.
Sensory and Motor Impairment in the Nerve Compression Block
Authors: Kelso J. A. Scott , Wallace Stephen A. , Stelmach George E. , Weitz Gary A.
Published: July 2007

Recently nerve compression block as a method of investigating movement control without kinaesthetic feedback has been questioned on the grounds that motor impairment (as measured by nerve conduction parameters) is a confounding factor. In order to clarify the relationship between sensory and motor function, behavioural data was obtained on both at systematic time intervals throughout the duration of the block. The findings indicated that significant decrements in tapping measures occurred somewhat earlier in the time course of the block than decreases in kinaesthetic discrimination. Also, contrary to assumption, the majority of subjects ceased to perform prior to total kinaesthetic loss. The data suggest that motor impairment is a “crucial” issue (Laszlo, 1966) in the use of this technique, and provide further behavioural support for the neurological findings of Kelso, Stelmach and Wanamaker (1974).
Background Stimuli and the Inter-Stimulus Interval during Pavlovian Conditioning
Authors: Odling-Smee F. J.
Published: July 2007

An experiment was carried out to investigate the part played by background stimuli during Pavlovian conditioning. Groups of rats were presented with tone CSs and unavoidable footshock USs. Two components of the inter-stimulus interval, namely CS duration and the duration of a trace interval, were manipulated across groups. Subsequently subjects were tested for their reactions to background stimuli by being re-exposed to the training environment in the absence of both the CS and US. The degree to which rats failed to avoid this environment was found to relate to CS duration by an inverted U curve. The manipulation of the trace interval however did not significantly affect avoidance.
Recognition and Recall as Measures of Long-Term Retention
Authors: Postman Leo , Kruesi Elizabeth , Regan Joan
Published: July 2007

Acquisition and retention of a list of paired associates were measured either by cued recall or by multiple-choice recognition. The method of testing used during original learning was combined factorially with the type of test administered after a 1-week interval. Speed of learning to criterion under the two procedures was comparable. Long-term recognition was substantially higher than recall. This difference did not interact significantly with the method of learning. Recall benefited substantially from a prior test of recognition, but there was little effect when the order of tests was reversed. It is concluded that (a) both occurrence and retrieval information were stored under each condition of learning, and (b) occurrence information is less subject to forgetting than retrieval information.
Further Evidence on the Effect of Word Imageability in Dyslexia
Authors: Richardson John T. E.
Published: July 2007

Subjects with acquired dyslexia sometimes find abstract words more difficult to read than concrete words. Three dyslexic patients were found to show performance corrrelating with the imageability of the material, but not with its concreteness. This could not be explained in terms of lexical complexity; indeed, derived nouns were easier to read than simple nouns. These effects were reliable across the three subjects. It was suggested that they were naming imaginal representations of the referents of imageable nouns.
The Effects of Chlordiazepoxide on the Development of Adjunctive Drinking in Rats
Authors: Sanger D. J. , Blackman D. E.
Published: July 2007

Intermittent delivery of food pellets induces high levels of adjunctive drinking in rats, a pattern of behaviour which some have suggested is due to emotional arousal. In this experiment, however, chronic administration of a dose of chlordiazepoxide, a minor tranquillizer, did not prevent the development of adjunctive drinking after food pellets delivered at 1-min intervals. Indeed, the drug was found slightly to enhance the development of drinking, an effect assumed to be due to the drug's ability to facilitate the performance of several patterns of responding. When chlordiazepoxide was withdrawn a disruption in the pattern of adjunctive drinking was observed.
After-effects of Reinforcement Magnitude: Dependence upon Context
Authors: Harzem Peter , Lowe C. Fergus , Davey Graham C. L.
Published: July 2007

On a fixed-interval schedule with rat subjects the duration of the post-reinforcement pause was found to be an increasing function of the magnitude of the preceding reinforcer. This relationship was observed when two magnitudes were contrasted closely in time, but not when the subjects were trained on each magnitude until the establishment of stable responding. After the behaviour was stable, the effect of the magnitude of reinforcement re-emerged when 50% of the scheduled reinforcers were omitted. Thus, the positive relationship between the magnitude of reinforcement and the duration of the post-reinforcement pause depended on the context of presentation of a given magnitude.
The Respective Role of Limb and Eye Movements in the Haptic and Visual Müller-Lyer Illusion
Authors: Wong T. S.
Published: July 2007

Two groups of 24 subjects each were tested with either haptic or visual Müller-Lyer figures. The size of the obtained haptic and visual illusion was found to be unaffected by the degree of excursive movement of the limb and the eye, respectively. It was concluded that the illusion is the cause rather than the result of peripheral scanning behaviour of the limb and eye, and that the similar illusion across modalities is probably determined by common central mechanisms.
Processing Order in Visual Perception
Authors: Merikle Philip M. , Glick Marcia J.
Published: July 2007

Initial increases in the availability of items for report following tachistoscopic presentation of centrally-fixated rows of seven random letters were directly evaluated by measuring report accuracy following exposure durations of 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 ms. A partial-report technique was used, and each presentation of a letter row was immediately followed by the presentation of a masking stimulus. Each of 10 subjects received 840 trials which reflected 24 trials for each exposure-duration by position-probed combination. The letters at both ends of a row became available for report prior to the centre letters. In addition, report of the left-most letter was consistently better than report of the right-most letter, and report of the centre item at fixation improved at a more rapid rate with increased exposure duration than report of the other centre letters. This pattern of results provides support for certain components of several different previous proposals concerning the order in which individual items from multi-element displays become available for report.
The Effect of Presentation Rate on Categorization
Authors: Folarin Bamidele Adepeju
Published: July 2007

Homogeneous experimental (acoustically and semantically related) and control lists were presented to different groups of subjects at either 1 s or 6 s per word. The difference score between these two lists was used as a measure of categorization. Only words in the middle serial positions (representing retrieval from secondary memory) were scored. Clustering was also measured.

Slow presentation rate significantly increased categorization of the semantically similar words. This was not true of acoustically similar words. A possible explanation of this is that semantic categorization is time-consuming and acoustic categorization is not. Alternatively, the acoustic similarity effect may be a retrieval effect. The absence of acoustic clustering would seem to fit in with this latter interpretation.
Components of the Laterality Effect in Letter Recognition: Asymmetries in Iconic Storage
Authors: Cohen Gillian
Published: July 2007

A partial report procedure and a backward masking paradigm were employed to explore lateral asymmetries in components of letter recognition. Stimulus displays were displaced off-centre into the left visual field (LVF) or the right visual field (RVF). Visual field differences in the effect of a delayed backward mask indicated an RVF superiority in the rate of read-out or encoding. Comparison of masked and unmasked full report also yielded estimates of iconic persistence. The persistence of these peripheral displays was surprisingly brief, although it was significantly longer in the LVF (57 ms) than in the RVF (34 ms). Precueing by colour and by location produced a larger partial report advantage in the RVF, reflecting a superiority in selective sampling. With postcueing no partial report effect was obtained at any delay, and this failure was attributed to the briefness of the iconic persistence.
The Role of Surface Order and Surface Deletion in Sentence Perception
Authors: Holmes V. M. , Watson I. J.
Published: July 2007

The perceptual complexity of intransitive adverbials, truncated passives and full passives was investigated in two experiments using rapid visual processing tasks. Both forms of passive were found to be more complex than the intransitive adverbials, presumably because of the lack of correspondence of surface and base orders. However, deletion of the logical subject in truncated passives did not increase their complexity relative to full passives.
Selective Attention and Secondary Message Analysis: A Reconsideration of Broadbent's Filter Model of Selective Attention
Authors: Sullivan Lucy
Published: July 2007

If the type of channel sharing which Broadbent (1958) hypothesized for low information messages also occurs with high information verbal messages, then his filter model is an adequate model of the selective attention process. Analysis which proceeds by a hierarchy of tests and the fluctuating redundancy of primary prose messages can together account for the characteristics of secondary message detection. This hypothesis was tested using four levels of redundancy in the primary message, and two types of secondary message targets, requiring analysis to two different levels in the hierarchy of tests for detection. It was predicted that there should be more target detection as redundancy increased, and more detection of the targets requiring the lower level of analysis than of those requiring the higher. The predictions were confirmed with the exception that the higher level targets were detected with equal frequency at all levels of redundancy. A possible reason for this is suggested.
Attention to Pure Tones
Authors: Moray Neville , Fitter Mike , Ostry David , Favreau Donna , Nagy Vera
Published: July 2007

Listeners were required to detect increments of intensity or frequency in trains of pure tone bursts under different conditions of attention. The data were analysed taking into account contralateral events when more than one stimulus train was present. Marked changes in d' and β were found and the changes were positively correlated.

If targets are rare and attention is divided the values of β and d' are the same as in undivided attention provided that the contralateral event is a correct rejection, but fall if the contralateral events are hits or false alarms. If targets and non-targets are equi-probable no such difference is found. The data suggest that the observers can make use of the statistical properties of the stimulus sources. The results are compared with those in recent experiments using pure tones in a discrete trial paradigm and in experiments using semantic stimuli.
An “Across-the-Board” Modality Effect in Immediate Serial Recall
Authors: Routh David A.
Published: July 2007

A serial recall experiment comparing visual and auditory presentation is reported which demonstrates that, under certain conditions, there is an auditory advantage in the pre-recency (1–6) as well as the recency (7–8) serial positions. Presentation modality was combined factorially with five levels of a concurrent writing task, which had to be completed for each to-be-remembered digit during presentation: NC, no concurrent task; XX, writing two crosses; DX, writing each digit followed by a cross; XD, the converse of DX; and DD, writing each digit twice. When presentation was visual, there was a monotonic (non-decreasing) trend in the recall errors going from NC to DD (in above order) for both the pre-recency and recency positions on average. With an auditory presentation, however, the trend was more gradual, though still monotonic. For the pre-recency items, an auditory advantage was obtained with conditions XX, XD and DD, but not for NC and DX. Additionally, with an auditory presentation, there was no evidence of a difference between NC and XX, nor between DX and XD. It is argued that both pre-categorical acoustic storage and residual activation effects, engendered in a logogen system (Morton, 1970) by the repetition “structure” of the concurrent tasks, helped to determine the attentional capacity available for secondary (elaborative) rehearsal and, in turn, set the levels of recall.
Serial Order Revisited: A Reply to R. D. Kent
Authors: Mackay Donald G.
Published: July 2007

This paper examines two rule-based or non-associative alternatives to associative theories of serial order in behavior. Both rule-based models seemed superior to chain association, but one, the CV Organization model, was found to require further development to handle corollary issues associated with serial ordering eg. coarticulation phenomena, sequential plasticity and a parsimonious fit to speech rate data. The other rule-based model, Syllabic Recording, was shown to be compatible with these and several previously unexplored corollary issues, including the nature of sequential redundancy, production variability (word reduction) and the nature of errors in the acquisition of phonology by children.
Two Parameters Measure Apparent Change during Repetitive Stimulation
Authors: Vaegan
Published: July 2007

In two studies subjects observed a 127 mm skeletal white diamond rotating around its vertical axis while binocularly fixating a white dot immediately behind it and 1.273 m away against a black background for 10 min. They spontaneously reported many different apparent changes. Contrary to previous studies, reversals of direction of rotation were neither the first nor the most common change and sometimes never occurred. When reversals were not stressed and reports of any change were requested, the latency of the first response correlated with the total number of new form reports but neither correlated with the transition rate between forms. On repeated testing all three measures are highly reliable. The rate at which new forms appear is therefore independent of transition rate. Current ways of describing similar effects by smooth curves fitted to group data confound the two parameters, or fail to recognise that nonreversal reports are very common.
Adaptation to Visual Rearrangement: Role of Sensory Discordance
Authors: Mather Jennifer A. , Lackner James R.
Published: July 2007

The relative contributions of proprioceptive and efferent information in eliciting adaptation to visual rearrangement were studied under two conditions of visual stimulation. Subjects permitted sight of their forearm under normal room illumination showed significant adaptation when the forearm was (a) moved up and down under the action of tonic vibration reflexes, (b) voluntarily moved through the same trajectory at the same pace, (c) viewed while still, and (d) viewed while the margins of the elbow were vibrated. The reflex movement condition elicited significantly greater adaptation than the other conditions. Subjects allowed only sight of a point source of light attached to their hand showed significant adaptation when the forearm was (a) reflexly moved, (b) voluntarily moved through the same trajectory at the same rate, (c) passively moved, (d) still, and (e) vibrated while still. Less adaptation occurred as the amount of proprioceptive information about limb position was decreased. The adaptation elicited by voluntary movements of the forearm and by reflex movements did not differ significantly. It is concluded that corollary-discharge signals may not be crucial in adaptation to visual rearrangement; a more important factor appears to be discordance between proprioceptive and visual information.
An Observation on Set and Visual Comparison Processes
Authors: Fox John
Published: July 2007

Tasks involving the comparison of sequentially presented stimulus items to determine identity have generally only required interpretation in terms of simple matching. Some studies have attempted to show effects of selective set in these tasks but with little success except in tasks involving comparison of sentences with pictures. By simplifying the task a reliable set effect is demonstrated, showing that a mismatch of certain stimulus attributes only has an identifiable effect on a subject's reaction-time if he may reasonably be supposed to know that the attribute is critical and is set to examine stimulus items for the attribute. Such conditions result in a relatively fast judgement. The finding suggests that the sequential “same“/“different” judgement is a richer source of data concerning recognition and comparison than has been supposed.
Effects of Irrelevant Colour Changes on Speed of Name Decisions
Authors: Kroll Neal E. A.
Published: July 2007

Subjects decided if two letter pairs, presented simultaneously, had the same names. Letter case and letter colour were logically irrelevant to the classification, however classification responses were slower when the two letter pairs were in different colours (red and green) than when they were in the same colour, or if one of the pairs were white. If one of the pairs were white, the colour of the other pair did not affect decision latencies. This result was interpreted as necessary, but not sufficient, evidence for the hypothesis that a “colourless image” may be a white image.
Time and Temperature a Reply to Green and Simpson
Authors: Bell C. R.
Published: July 2007

The arguments are examined that reanalysis of the data in Bell (1975) leads to a rejection of his conclusions. The author maintains that the specific hypothesis that a metabolic pacemaker controls time estimation is not supported by his data.