bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Asymmetry in Perception of the Sides of the Human Face
Authors: Karch Gregory R. , Grant Claude W.
Published: September 2011

The objective of this research was to determine if systematic differences occur in the way people ascribe meaning to right and left sides of the human face. Twenty-two faces, bilaterally symmetrical, were constructed from 11 photographs. These left- and right-constructed faces were rated 1 wk. apart by 26 raters on nine bipolar adjective scales selected for the evaluative, potency, and activity dimensions of the semantic differential (Osgood, 1961). Multivariate F tests indicated that on seven of the nine bipolar scales the left-and right-sided faces received significantly different ratings. Left facial constructions were rated as healthier, stronger, harder, more active, more excitable, and in the direction of bad on the good-bad scale. Right facial constructions were rated more sickly, weaker, more feminine, softer, more passive, calmer, and in the good direction on the good-bad scale.
Relationship between Environmental Familiarity and Environmental Preference
Authors: Pedersen Darhl M.
Published: September 2011

42 subjects rated forest, large city, beach, desert, and small town. A 19-item semantic differential gave subscores of evaluation, spirituality, activity, and esthetic appeal. Ratings of environmental familiarity and importance of time in the environment were obtained. Correlations between the subscores and ratings of familiarity and importance indicated that evaluation (not spirituality, activity, and esthetic appeal) was correlated with familiarity across environments. Quality of time in an environment was also related to evaluation across all environments. Other correlations indicated that importance of time was related to ratings of other aspects of the environment. However, these relationships were specific to particular environments.
Cognitive Style and Visual Analysis in First Graders of High and Low Verbal Ability
Authors: Gildemeister Joan E. , Friedman Philip
Published: September 2011

100 first graders were screened for verbal ability and subdivided into high and low quartiles with 25 children in each group. Field independence, visual analysis, and spatial visualization of these groups was investigated and their social communication skills were assessed. Since small age differences were observed on a number of the tasks, age was controlled as a covariate. As predicted, those of high verbal ability modified response latency under task uncertainty, performed better in spatial analysis, and showed greater social resourcefulness. They were more accurate in discrimination of similarities but did not differ from those of low verbal ability in accuracy on the Children's Embedded Figures test or in discrimination of differences. Intertask relationships and the influence of sex and age on performance were discussed.
Importance of Imagery in Maintenance of Feedback-Assisted Relaxation over Extinction Trials
Authors: Leboeuf Alan , Wilson Clare
Published: September 2011

Two groups of 16 female subjects undergoing frontalis EMG feedback training were identified according to whether they used imagery or passive concentration to achieve relaxation. The ability of these 2 groups to maintain relaxation during extinction sessions 2 and 7 days after termination of training was then investigated. Although both groups were equally successful in relaxing the frontalis during training, the group using imagery was significantly more successful in achieving relaxation during extinction sessions.
Relationship of Role Identification, Self-Esteem, and Intelligence to Sex Differences in Field Independence
Authors: Hulfish Sherry
Published: September 2011

The relationships among perceptual field independence, biological sex, sex-role identity, self-esteem, and intelligence were explored. Tests measuring these variables were administered to 50 male and 50 female volunteers. The results, obtained by standard multiple regression and analysis of covariance procedures, indicate that (a) males are significantly more field-independent than females, (b) regardless of biological sex, subjects with relatively masculine role-identities are more field-independent than subjects with relatively feminine role-identities, (c) self-esteem is not significantly related to perceptual style, and (d) although intelligence has a significant positive relationship to perceptual field independence, intelligence does not account for the sex differential or for the role sex-identification plays in perceptual style.
Esp and the Credibility of Critics
Authors: McConnell R. A.
Published: September 2011

Moss and Butler's denigration of parapsychology (1978) in this Journal contains eight statements describing the writings of R. A. McConnell which are compared with the referenced papers for accuracy.
Effects of Environmental Conditions on Test Performance by Subjects Varying in Distractibility
Authors: Somervill John W. , Gilpin Andrew R. , Mosch Alice J. , Blood Dennis R.
Published: September 2011

Previously no significant effects of distraction on standardized test performance by adults have been reported. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether self-ratings of distractibility predicted differences in test performance in two environmental settings, the student union during rush hours and an individual study room inside the library. On the basis of self-ratings, 72 subjects (36 males and 36 females) were selected from 815 college students to form distractible groups, low, medium and high. Only the highly distractible group performed significantly better in the library than in the union. When individual differences in distractibility are considered, test conditions may affect performance.
Psychological Differentiation and Performance on Conditional Reasoning Tasks
Authors: Boss Marvin W. , Amin Martin E.
Published: September 2011

The relationship between psychological differentiation and performance on three content types (concrete-plausible, concrete-implausible, symbolic) of conditional reasoning tasks was investigated. Using intelligence as a covariate, field-independent subjects ( n = 94) in Grade 8 performed significantly better than field-dependent subjects ( n = 121) on each type of content. A significant interaction was found. Greater differences between field-independent and field-dependent subjects were observed for concrete-implausible and symbolic contents than for concrete-plausible content.
Adults' Perceptions of Children's Independence and other Sex-Role Characteristics as a Function of Child's Gender Label
Authors: Bell Nancy J. , Hibbs Kay , Milholland Thomas
Published: September 2011

Male and female college students were presented with a photograph labeled as a 5-yr.-old boy or girl and heard statements attributed to the child. They then rated the child on sex-role traits and responded to open-ended questions about the child. The primary findings involved sex of child by sex of adult interactions on ratings of independence and leadership: in both cases, same-sex children were rated higher than opposite-sex children. There was also some evidence that women having high contact with children rated the child more extremely on opposite-sex traits than did those with little contact.
Left-Right Sequencing in Unschooled Children: A Function of Learning or Maturation
Authors: Shannon Lael
Published: September 2011

The relative influence of experience and maturation on the development of left-right directionality was investigated. The subjects were 15 3- and 94-yr.-old black and Puerto Rican children who had failed to use a left-right sequence in counting arrays of checkers. Within each age level approximately equal numbers of girls and boys were assigned to experimental and control groups ( ns = 12). Experimental children were trained to count using the left entry and the rightwards directional movement. Trained girls and boys used significantly more left-right and alternative linear counting strategies on a posttest given three days following training than did untrained children. Trained girls, but not boys, retained the left-right strategy in the second posttest 2 wk. later. The findings suggest that both learning and maturation may influence directionality in perceptual exploration.
Mental Rotation by Deaf and Hearing Children
Authors: Arnold Paul
Published: September 2011

An experiment is described in which 26 profoundly deaf children are shown to be superior to 33 hearing children in their ability to rotate mental images of random dots in matrices. This suggests that their poor linguistic skills may be augmented by the use of visual imagery in certain situations.
Coding a and Coding B of the Wisc are Not Equivalent Tasks
Authors: Oettinger Leon , Majovski Lawrence V. , Gauch Ronald R.
Published: September 2011

WISC Coding A and Coding B were administered to 50 subjects with minimal brain dysfunction and 75 controls whose ages ranged from 7 yr., 8 mo. and 0 days to 8 yr., 3 mo. and 30 days, with half of each group above 8 and half below. Standard scores showed significant differences between Coding A and Coding B suggesting that the two tasks are nor equivalent forms. These differences suggested that separate information-processing modes related to hemispheric dominance may be present. Coding probably should not be used in calculating IQs but Coding B should be retained and separately utilized because it is directly related to symbol learning.
“Spontaneous” Seizing in Open-Field Tests by Mongolian Gerbils Fed Magnesium at Different Rates
Authors: Harriman Arthur E.
Published: September 2011

Accounts of so-called “spontaneous” seizures by individual Mongolian gerbils during open-field tests resemble descriptions of magnesium tetany. A possible association between relative magnesium deficiency and tendency toward “spontaneous” seizures was explored through feeding groups of gerbils different rates of magnesium and subjecting the groups to open-field tests at intervals. Hypomagnesemia was related in degree of severity to length of survival, onset of seizing, and frequency of seizures.
Missing Data in Tryon's Cluster Analysis
Authors: Pierce Robert C.
Published: September 2011

To explore the effects of different ways of treating missing data on the results of cluster analysis, six cluster analyses were calculated varying the total amount of missing data per participant and the way in which the missing data were treated. Variations in the amount of missing data (10%, 25%, and 50%) made little difference in the cluster structure, although there were some inversions of the order in which dimensions appeared. Variations in treatment of missing data (pairwise deletion versus conversions of blanks to zeros) also made little difference, although the appearance of one dimension among only those methods which converted blanks to zeros implies that treating blanks as missing may discard meaningful variance.
Sex Differences in the Perception of Romantic Love-Mate Attraction
Authors: Pellegrini Robert J.
Published: September 2011

A sample of 450 male and 450 female single young adults were questioned as to whether they regarded romantic love-mate attraction as (a) easier for men than for women, (b) easier for women than for men, or (c) equally difficult for men and women. For both the males and females surveyed, the “equally difficult” alternative was endorsed the most frequently, the “easier for women” alternative the next most frequently, and the “easier for men” alternative the least frequently. The significant difference between the two distributions reflects a greater tendency among male than among female respondent to see mate attraction as easier for women. The results are thus contradictive of sexist attitudes of male supremacy in young people of both sexes, at least as far as the interpersonal marketplace is concerned. Directions for future research are outlined.
Handedness and Dichotic Listening to Nonverbal Features of Speech
Authors: Nachshon Israel
Published: September 2011

The assumption that pitch and loudness are processed in the right hemisphere was tested by comparing left-handers' with right-handers' performance on pitch and loudness discrimination tasks. Four groups of left-handers (20 subjects in each group) were dichotically presented either with digits varying in pitch or loudness or with pure tones varying in pitch. The subjects identified the digits, or the pitch and loudness variations, from both ears. Confirming the assumption, the data showed that the left-handers, who had no ear preference on any of these tasks, differed significantly from the right-handers, who, preferring the right ear for digit identification, preferred the left ear for the discrimination of the nonverbal features (pitch and loudness) of these digits.
The Stroop Phenomenon: Perceptual Conflict or Response Competition?
Authors: Doehrman Steven , Landau Richard , O'Connell Dianne
Published: September 2011

The Stroop phenomenon has recently been explained by two contrasting approaches, the perceptual conflict and the response competition. This experiment was designed to evaluate the two different explanations. 24 undergraduates were tested on the three sets of Stroop stimuli while hearing their verbal responses under delayed auditory feedback and under normal feedback. Delayed feedback produced differential response decrements across Stroop conditions. The findings supported predictions of the response-competition hypothesis and disconfirmed those of the perceptual-conflict hypothesis.
Effects of Special Instruction and Practice by Preschool Age Children on Performance of Object Projection and Stability Tests
Authors: Clifton Marguerite A.
Published: September 2011

Four criterion measures were used to assess the vulnerability to change of two variables, stability and object projection, included in a perceptual-motor enhancement program for 60 boys and girls enrolled in a 20-wk., 20-session program, as were 36 male and female controls. Both samples ranged in age from 2 yr., 0 mo. to 5 yr., 8 mo., and all were within the normal range of development. Three beam-walking tests (the beam at different heights and angles) and the overhand throw comprised the criterion measures used for assessment of program effectiveness in stability and object projection. Stability measures were distance divided by time, and object projection scores were determined by velocity of the overhand throw. A three-factor analysis of covariance was utilized to determine significant main effects of age, sex, and treatment. No significant differences were observed. Analyses by age and sex were significantly different on the Inclined Beam test. Analysis by treatment yielded significant differences on the Inclined Beam test and the Overhand Throw. Analysis by age and by sex showed a significant difference in the performance of the Overhand Throw. In summary, performance status of the overhand throw by preschool age children can be improved beyond maturational expectations through guided instruction.
Field Dependence and Adaption-Innovation Theories
Authors: Kirton Michael
Published: September 2011

Witkin's field dependence and Kirton's adaption-innovation theories are compared and a theoretical overlap of concepts is advanced. This is confirmed by field study despite the confounding elements of spatial ability and extraversion in the former theory for male responses. Women's scores on the Embedded Figures Test differ from those of males, and this finding continues to constitute a difficulty for Witkin's theory and use of his measure.
Field Study of Eye Glance and Laterality
Authors: Isaacsen-Bright Mary
Published: September 2011

Because most experiments on lateral eye movement and laterality are done with one parochially based group, it was wondered if percentages of laterality and consistency of glance would be consistent in disparate groups. Five questions eliciting preference, recall, cognition, space and imagination modes of thought were asked of 140 people who made up six groups: randomly selected citizens, children, artists, people-helpers, law-keepers and law-breakers. Results showed significant differences from the norm in three groups and variability within questions.
Effects of Group Characteristics on Social Space
Authors: Pedersen Darhl M.
Published: September 2011

A representational task employing top-view profiles was used to measure the social space of subjects toward groups in which structural characteristics were systematically varied. Three separate experiments were conducted. Females displayed larger social space than males toward groups of three and toward all-male groups. Semicircular and rank groups produced similar social space, and it was larger than that for file groups. Increases in group size affected social space for the semicircular and rank formations but not for the file formation. Group space increased with the number of males in the group and their proximity to the approaches Larger social space for groups of low than of high density indicated that both number of group members and area they occupied influenced social space.
Effects of Left-Right Orientation and Position Reversals on Spatial Perspective Taking in Young Children
Authors: Phinney Jean S. , Nummedal Susan G.
Published: September 2011

50 boys and 50 girls, from Grades K through 4, were presented with 180° perspective-taking tasks that varied arrays in terms of the number of front-back and left-right orientation reversals and left-right position reversals. Results confirmed existing evidence that left-right orientation reversals are more difficult than front-back orientation reversals in arrays of one object. However, with arrays of two objects, left-right orientation reversals appear easier than front-back orientation reversals, apparently because of the relationship between the objects.
Handedness of Handedness Researchers
Authors: Etaugh Claire , Hoehn Sandra
Published: September 2011

This study tested the hypothesis that laterality and handedness researchers are more likely than other researchers to be left-handed. A questionnaire assessing hand preference was sent to authors of articles which either dealt with handedness ( N = 50) or other aspects of laterality ( N = 100) or did not concern laterality ( N = 50). The proportion of left-handers was highest in the handedness group (12.9%) and lowest in the non-laterality group (5.0%), but this difference did not reach significance.
Effect of Varying Picture-Sentence Congruence on Children's Free Recall
Authors: Carroll Wayne R. , Carroll Richard W. , Rogers Cecil A.
Published: September 2011

70 fourth-grade children were shown objects arbitrarily arranged in an integrated scene. Subjects were randomly assigned to conditions which either presented a sentence that correctly labeled and correctly described the physical arrangement of the objects, presented a sentence containing the correct labels of the objects but not the correct physical arrangement, or presented a sentence which did not contain the correct labels and incorrectly described the physical arrangement. Control conditions either provided subjects with correct labels or omitted presentation of verbal prompts. Congruence between the object display and the sentence produced significantly higher recall and clustering than the incongruence or control conditions. The incongruence conditions did not produce significantly higher recall than the control conditions, suggesting that incongruence interferes with formation of stable grouping of items which appears to be an important factor in facilitating free recall.
Interactions between Instructions for Speed versus Accuracy and Performance
Authors: Hedges D. G. , Dickinson J.
Published: September 2011

20 male and 20 female subjects were blocked in four groups (5 males and 5 females) of 10 each in a Fitts tapping task. All subjects performed 18 15-sec. trials. Accuracy group trials were all under accuracy-with-speed instructions; speed group trials were under speed-maximizing instructions. Half-and-half group subjects undertook nine accuracy and nine speed trials; alternaring group Subjects had nine of each type of trial, alternating with each trial. Number of responses, target bandwidth, and average amplitude of response were found for each trial using a 10% maximum error criterion on accuracy trials. Significant performance, instruction, arid interaction effects were observed between accuracy and speed groups. Alternating speed with accuracy trials tended to improve information-processing rate ( Ip) of speed trials when compared with speed-only subjects but to depress accuracy information-processing scores when compared with accuracy-only subjects. Implications regarding feedback redundancy and the information-processing capacity of the motor and visual systems are discussed.
Top-down Processing and Target Search in Reading
Authors: Martin Maryanne
Published: September 2011

Models of reading may be categorized as postulating that the processing of different types of sentential information occurs in either bottom-up, top-down, or parallel forms. A review of evidence concerning the detection of different types of written target is reported which indicates that the assumption that processing is top-down provides a satisfactory quantitative account of available data.
Subjective Hypotenuse Estimation: A Test of the Pythagorean Theorem
Authors: Weiss David J. , Gardner Gwendolyn S.
Published: September 2011

The Pythagorean theorem constitutes a normative model for the estimation of the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angled figure. Tested with functional measurement methods, this mathematically correct model was inappropriate as a descriptive model. The problem was an orientation effect; hypotenuse estimates for vertically oriented figures were larger than those for horizontally oriented figures composed of the same lengths. Because of this discrepancy, no additive model could describe the judgments.
Imagery Ratings and Recall in Congenitally Blind Subjects
Authors: Cornoldi Cesare , Calore Daniela , Pra-Baldi Alvaro
Published: September 2011

Imagery ratings, incidental free recall, and intentional free recall of a group of young congenitally blind adults living in an institute for the blind and of a control group were compared. Words to be rated and recalled belonged to three categories: (a) high-imagery words whose referents can be sensorially experienced also by the blind; (b) high-imagery words whose referents cannot be experienced; and (c) low-imagery words. In the control group, both ratings of imagery and recall were affected by the category to which the word belonged. For the blind group the category of the word affected only the ratings of imagery which still assumed a peculiar form since words in category b received extremely low ratings. It is concluded that the blind can evaluate the imagery value of a word, but that their recall is not affected by the level of its imagery value. Therefore, the imagery value really seems to describe, as Paivio asserts, the susceptibility of an item to being coded in a specific visuo-imaginal way, which is more available for sighted than for blind people.
Factor Analysis of a System of Students' Learning Styles
Authors: Neumann Karl F. , Barton John W. , Critelli Joseph W.
Published: September 2011

Teachers' ratings of their students on a 40-item learning style checklist based on Rosenberg's descriptive theory of four learning styles were factor analyzed for a predominantly black sample of 377 eighth-grade students. The factor analysis identified four orthogonal factors which corresponded to the four hypothesized learning styles: undisciplined, creative, acceptance-anxious, and rigid-inhibited. Implications for the potential utility of this system in the classroom setting are discussed.
Aesthetic Dimensions and Picture Memory: A Structural Re-Analysis
Authors: Farley Frank H. , Cohen Arie , Sanfeliz Aurora
Published: September 2011

The data of Franken and Davis (1975) on the prediction of memory for pictures from aesthetic ratings were re-analyzed, employing smallest space analysis to explore the structural aspects of memory and the aesthetic dimensions. The major results of this re-analysis identified one relatively pervasive dimension, distinctiveness, which encompassed most of the memorial and aesthetic variables.
Role of Contextual Cues in Determining Transfer of Oddity Rule in Children
Authors: Maruno Syunichi
Published: September 2011

60 kindergarten and 60 first grade children were trained on an oddity problem with perceptual (P) or conceptual (C) attribute for a fixed number of trials (30). After mastering the training problem, the subjects were randomly assigned to either an intradimensional (CC or PP group) or an extra-dimensional (CP or PC group) oddity shift. The transfer performance showed CC > PC > PP = CP group. These differences were attributed to the pattern hypotheses sampled at the start of transfer. Subjects who had acquired a conceptual oddity rule in the training had a strong tendency to sample hypotheses by the prior rule, but subjects under conditions where a perceptual-oddity rule was relevant tended to make a shift to a cue from new (conceptual oddity) rule. The older children yielded more of such a sampling mode than the younger children did, and the former were easily able to abandon a dis-confirmed rule and sample hypotheses from the relevant rule domain.
Paradoxical Complementarity in the Esthetic Preferences of the Cerebral Hemispheres: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Chemtob Claude M.
Published: September 2011

Significant differences in the consistency of intrahemispheric and interhemispheric preferences indicate reliable differences in the esthetic choices associated with each hemisphere. Given an initial like or dislike of stimuli by the hemisphere first activated, the other hemisphere will exhibit preferences in the opposite direction. This suggests a process of paradoxical complementarity between the hemispheres in which the preferences of the hemispheres are antithetical but not fixed.
Importance of Cosmetics Related to Aspects of the Self
Authors: Theberge Lorraine , Kernaleguen Anne
Published: September 2011

101 non-academic women were administered a Cosmetic Importance Scale, a measure of Body and Facial Cathexis, and Body Barrier. The results demonstrate that the degree to which cosmetics are important to the individual is directly related to body and face cathexis. Body Barrier did not relate to either measure of cathexis or to the importance of cosmetic variables.
Biofeedback and Relaxation Effects in Electromyographic Biofeedback Training: A Methodological Note
Authors: Dale Alexander , Anderson David , Klions Herbert , Tane Kimberly , Blankstein Kirk
Published: September 2011

The present study documented progressive reductions of electromyographic potentials in a biofeedback study involving instructions to 11 female and 5 male college students to both increase and decrease the feedback (and therefore the muscle tension). When only pre-experimental baselines were employed, electromyographic reductions were found with instructions to decrease the feedback. When repeated, nontreatment baseline conditions were employed as references for analysis, no electromyographic reductions were detected beyond the progressive reductions that occurred during those baselines.
Information Processing in a Binary Classification Task
Authors: Adkins Cephas J. , Morgan Ben B. , Alluisi Earl A.
Published: September 2011

Three choice-reaction time studies were conducted to investigate whether information processing is exhaustive or self-terminating, serial or parallel, and N-dependent or N-independent. A total of 54 subjects were requited to make key-pressing responses to one, two, or three digits presented in a circular display; one key was pressed if the display contained one or more target digits and another key was pressed if the display contained only nontarget digits. The first two studies utilized within-subjects designs in which the displays were consttucted from only one target and one nontarget item (Study 1) or from three target and seven nontarget items (Study 2). The third study used a between-subjects design in which different groups of subjects responded to one-, two-, or three-element displays. In general, the results indicate that CRTs increased as the total number of display elements increased and decreased as the number of target elements (or the ratio of target to nontarget items) increased for a given display size. When only target elements were presented, CRT was independent of the number of elements displayed, and when only one target was presented, CRT increased as total number of elements increased. These combined results are interpreted as support for the inference that information processing in visual search tasks tends to be self-terminating, serial, and N-dependent (of limited capacity).
A Method for Testing Selective Attention in Vision
Authors: Irwin H. J.
Published: September 2011

A simple and highly flexible technique is described for testing selective attention in vision. This test has a number of advantages over techniques currently in use.
Perceived Exertion of Professional Hockey Players
Authors: Rosentswieg J. , Williams D. , Sandburg C. , Kolten K. , Engler L. , Norman G.
Published: September 2011

18 professional hockey players were tested on the treadmill with a modified Balke procedure and also for maximum isokinetic strength with the Cybex II instrument. Immediately after each test the subject completed the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion. The treadmill effort was perceived as being “somewhat hard work” while the maximum strength effort was considered “very light.” This conflicts with previous literature. It may be that professional hockey players adapt to physical stress and do not respond perceptually to such stimuli in a typical manner.
Behavioral Contrast during the Acquisition of Speechreading
Authors: Johnson C. Merle , Kaye James H.
Published: September 2011

Two hearing-impaired children were taught to speechread the names of 18 objects divided into three sets. A multiple baseline across sets of objects was obtained for each subject. Tokens presented contingent upon correct responses to certain sets of names increased the frequencies of those correct responses. Both subjects exhibited positive behavioral contrast during the acquisition of speechreading; correct responses to one set increased above the previously established level when the contingencies for a second set changed from token reinforcement to extinction. The obtained contrast effect was conducive to learning and the procedure was effective in teaching the children to speechread the training words.
Effects of Personality, Perceptual Difficulty and Pacing of a Task on Productivity, Job Satisfaction, and Physiological Stress
Authors: Salvendy Gavriel , Humphreys Anthony P.
Published: September 2011

The relative psychological, physiological, and performance advantages and disadvantages of utilizing machine-paced and self-paced work were examined by having 12 subjects perform a marking-stapling task at 2 levels of perceptual difficulty and under 2 pacing conditions for 30 min. each. (a) 3 subjects who on the personality tests were identified as introverted, reserved, and trusting preferred to work in the machine-paced condition, while 9 subjects who were identified as extroverted, outgoing and suspicious preferred the self-paced condition, (b) the performance errors in machine-paced operation were 372% higher than for self-paced work, and (c) there were no differences between machine-paced and self-paced work on physiological variables, except for sinus arrhythmia for the task with high perceptual load, and quantity of production.
Association of Weight and Overactivity in Institutionalized Mentally Retarded Adults
Authors: Roszkowski Michael J. , Wallen Arleen
Published: September 2011

An analysis was conducted on the association between weight and overactivity in a sample of 148 mentally retarded adults. The results indicate an inverse relationship between weight and degree of overactivity.
Time Estimation and Hyperactivity, Replication
Authors: Senior Neil , Towne David , Huessy Hans
Published: September 2011

Three groups of boys included 135 of normal IQ, showing normal activity; 6 were hyperactive and of normal IQ, and 6 showed normal activity but low IQ. Their ability to estimate a 30-sec. interval showed only the 6 normally active boys of low IQ had significantly different elapsed and estimated times. Time estimation is not clinically useful for identifying hyperactive boys.
Influence of Ball and Background Patterns on Perception of Visual Direction of a Moving Object
Authors: Ridenour Marcella V.
Published: September 2011

30 boys and 30 girls, 6 yr. old, participated in a study assessing the influence of the visual patterns of moving objects and their respective backgrounds on the prediction of objects' directionality. An apparatus was designed to permit modified spherical objects with interchangeable covers and backgrounds to move in three-dimensional space in three directions at selected speeds. The subject's task was to predict one of three possible directions of an object: the object either moved toward the subject's midline or toward a point 18 in. to the left or right of the midline. The movements of all objects started at the same place which was 19.5 ft. in front of the subject. Prediction time was recorded on 15 trials. Analysis of variance indicated that visual patterns of the moving object did not influence the prediction of the object's directionality. Visual patterns of the background behind the moving object did not influence the prediction of the object's directionality except during the conditions of a light nonpatterned moving object. It was concluded that visual patterns of the background and that of the moving object have a very limited influence on the prediction of direction.
Daydreaming: A Measurable Concept
Authors: Cundiff Gary , Gold Steven R.
Published: September 2011

Research has been reported which supports the psychometric properties of the Imaginal Processes Inventory. The purpose was to confirm and extend this research as well as investigate the interrelationships between daydreaming and depression, locus of control, and visual imagery. This inventory (7 scales), Beck Depression Inventory, Rotter Locus of Control Scale (I-E), and Gordon's Test of Visual Imagery Control were administered to 100 female undergraduates. A sample of 39 subjects were retested on the scales an average of 6.8 wk. after the first administration. Correlations with Imaginal Processes inventory and test-retest data were consistent with Giambra's (1977) findings for males and support the reliability and generalizability of the scores. Other results include significant intercorrelations between the various scales of this inventory and the others. Implications for an understanding of the process of depression are discussed.
Mental and Physical Practice and the Learning and Retention of Open and Closed Skills
Authors: McBride Ethel R. , Rothstein Anne L.
Published: September 2011

Female high school students ( N = 120) performed the task of hitting a solid whiffle golf ball with a paddle at a target in an open or closed environment. Subjects practiced under mental, physical, or physical-mental conditions for three successive days, were tested on a fourth day, and took a retention test immediately, a day later, a week later, or a month later. Accuracy scores were recorded in blocks of 10 trials during acquisition and in blocks of 5 trials during testing and retention. Mental practice required mentally hitting 40 balls, physical practice actually hitting 40 balls, and combined practice alternated actually hitting 10 with mentally hitting 10 until 40 balls were hit. All practice conditions led to improvement in accuracy but the combined treatment was most effective, the physical next, and the mental treatment least effective in terms of over-all accuracy. All groups showed retention of accuracy regardless of the duration of retention interval. While evidence was produced for a differential effect of combined practice on skill performed in open and closed environments, the rapid improvement, during early learning, of accuracy in the skill performed in the closed environment makes firm comparisons unwise. Suggestions for further research which will clarify the relationship between type of practice and type of environment are included.
Classification of Placebo Drugs: Effect of Color
Authors: Jacobs Keith W. , Nordan Frances M.
Published: September 2011

To study the role of color in the psychological effects of placebo drugs, 100 subjects were asked to place each of six different colored capsules into one of three classifications of drug effects. Results indicate that red and yellow placebos are classified as stimulants while blue placebos are classified as depressants.
Cognitive Correlates of Sex-Role Identification
Authors: Small Arnold , Erdwins Carol , Gross Ruth , Gessner Ted
Published: September 2011

This study examined sex role and its relationship to several cognitive variables. No relationship between these variables and sex role but a significant difference between males and females was found for only a perceptual-motor speed task. These findings may indicate that sex role is unrelated to cognitive style as measured here.
Fitts' Reciprocal Tapping Task, a Measure of Motor Capacity?
Authors: Salmoni Alan W. , McIlwain John S.
Published: September 2011

Employing Fitts' reciprocal tapping task, the capacity of the motor system in bits processed/second was assessed across different ages. In Exp. I a comparison was made among Grades 1, 5, 9, and university females. Motor capacity and average movement time/tap were significantly lower for Grade 1 girls than the other three grades. In addition, within-subject variability and percentage error rate decreased with increasing grade level. These findings were discussed in comparison to other studies looking at motor capacity changes across ages. Exp. II was designed to study the changes in motor capacity throughout 25 days of practice by two 5-yr.-old children. Two different methods were used to calculate motor capacity. One method (Kay, 1962) which assessed motor capacity separately for each tapping condition led to the conclusion that capacity increased with practice. A second method (Fitts & Peterson, 1964) treating all tapping conditions together in a regression equation and measuring capacity as the reciprocal of the slope (1/b) showed capacity to decrease with practice for one subject and oscillate with practice for the other subject. The general conclusion drawn from the two experiments was that motor capacity, as assessed by Fitts' tapping task, is not an extremely useful measure. Consideration of movement time is usually just as informative.
Perception: A Model Comprising Two Modes of Consciousness
Authors: Aurell Carl G.
Published: September 2011

A model of human perception is proposed in which conscious awareness is assumed to be the result of two separate mechanisms each involving consciousness, one outer, sensori-produced, and one inner, conceptual. By mediation of flexible memory representations the sensory data of the outer consciousness give rise to a matched “copy” in the inner consciousness which conceptually organizes the former and also serves as input to the memory store. The model is applied to some perceptual problems in vision such as ambiguous stimuli, subjective contours, space perception, a case of metacontrast, and subliminal perception.
Effects of Cerebral Dominance on College-Level Achievement
Authors: Bracken B. A. , Ledford T. L. , McCallum R. S.
Published: September 2011

Ability to perform successfully on multiple-choice tests was assessed for students displaying various cognitive styles. Male and female undergraduate students were classified according to right, left, or integrated cerebral functioning as determined by Your Style of Learning and Thinking test. The students participated in introductory classes in educational psychology and completed multiple-choice questions designed to assess content. The effects of cerebral dominance on student's ability to complete multiple-choice questions successfully were determined. Students designated by SOLAT as left dominant correctly completed significantly more multiple-choice questions than did right-dominant students. Implications for education were discussed.
Effect of Answer until Correct Testing on Reliability
Authors: Hanna Gerald S. , Long Carl A.
Published: September 2011

Seventh- and eighth-grade students took an 18-item multiple-choice achievement test. One group of 131 randomly assigned examinees took the test under a procedure which required them to answer until correct and gave immediate total feedback while the other group of 156 students took the test under conventional multiple-choice conditions. The coefficient alpha reliabilities of the two sets of scores were .64 and .53, respectively. The generality of the findings of this and previous studies was discussed.
Clinical Utility of the WISC-R and the French Pictorial Test of Intelligence with Native American Primary Grade Children
Authors: Hynd George W. , Kramer Rick , Quackenbush Ray , Conner Robert , Weed Wendy
Published: September 2011

Cultural bias and the clinical utility of the WISC-R and French Pictorial Test of Intelligence were evaluated using scores of 22 male and 22 female Navajo primary grade children. There were no significant differences in performance on either test according to sex. As expected, the Verbal IQ and Full Scale IQ of the WISC-R and the Deviation IQ of the French provided significantly depressed estimates of ability. A prorated Performance IQ might be the least depressed measure of potential among these children.
Augmentation-Reduction and Pain: Reply to Petrie
Authors: Elton D. , Vagg P. R. , Stanley G. V.
Published: September 2011

The comments by Petrie (1978) on our earlier paper (Elton, et al., 1978) are discussed. Clarification of procedures demonstrates that Petrie's comments do not warrant any modification of our conclusion that the relationship between perceptual reactance and pain has not been clearly established.
Personality and Environmental Variables Associated with Dental Anxiety
Authors: Franco Juan N. , Croft Don B.
Published: September 2011

94 adult dental patients' anxiety was assessed. Scores on Spielberger, et al.'s inventory showed attractiveness of the waiting room, age. and Edwards' Harmavoidance were significantly related to anxiety.
Temporal Locus of Inference in the Comprehension of Brief Passages: Recognizing and Verifying Implications about Instruments
Authors: Singer Murray
Published: September 2011

Recent investigations of language comprehension have shown that people frequently report recognizing test sentences which express ideas that were only implied in an antecedent passage. The present study asked whether the inferences underlying these false alarms are drawn when the original message is encoded or at test time. In Exp. 1, it was shown that the recognition rate for direct quotations from brief passages is clearly higher than for sentences expressing implications about the instruments used to perform anions. In Exps. 2, 3, and 4 the subjects were timed while they decided whether test sentences (a) had been heard verbatim in the passage or (b) were true concerning the passage. In all conditions, subjects needed about .2 sec more to respond affirmatively to “implicit” sentences than to ones that quoted or paraphrased the passage. It was concluded that at least a subset of the cognitive processes associated with the inferences in question is executed at test time.
Effects of Instructions and Format on Reported Visual Imagery
Authors: McKelvie Stuart J.
Published: September 2011

156 subjects (students and working adults) completed Marks' Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire in one of two formats reflecting item order (blocked, random) under one of three instructional conditions (easy, neutral, difficult) reflecting ease of image formation. Although the effect of instructions (but not format) was significant, scores were lower, i.e., more vivid imagery was reported, in the easy than in the neutral or difficult conditions, which did not differ. These results suggest that the validity of Marks' questionnaire is not seriously weakened by response leniency.
An Argument for Administering WISC-R Digit Span
Authors: Evans J. Gary , Hamm Harry A.
Published: September 2011

An argument is presented in favor of always administering the optional Digit Span subtest of the WISC-R. Use of Digit Span in conjunction with other subtests in a subtest grouping schemata—according to factor loadings—will substantially increase the usefulness of the WISC-R. Data show that often the Digit Span is not being given.
Some Conditions Affecting the Utility of Subjectively Weighted Models in Decision Making
Authors: Nystedt Lars , Murphy Kevin R.
Published: September 2011

The accuracy of multiple regression models, models employing subjective weights and models employing relative subjective weights in reproducing judgments was studied. Multiple regression models were most accurate. When subjects were divided into two groups according to the degree of configurality shown in their matrix of subjective weights, striking differences were found in the degree of overlap of the multiple regression models and the models employing subjective weights. In particular, when subjective policies were essentially linear, the predicted judgments produced by these policies were highly correlated with the predicted judgments of the multiple regression models. When subjective policies were highly configural, the subjective models accounted for variance in judgments not accounted for by the linear multiple regression model.
Differing Lateralized Perceptual-Motor Patterns in Schizophrenic and Non-Psychotic Children
Authors: Krynicki Victor E. , Nahas Abbas D.
Published: September 2011

A neuropsychological assessment stressing lateralized perceptual-motor and cognitive abilities was administered to two groups of hospitalized child and adolescent psychiatric patients, 25 schizophrenics and 25 non-psychotics. The findings included an increased incidence of crossed eye-hand dominance in schizophrenics, poorer tactile sensory function in the right hands of schizophrenics than in the left hands, and lower Vocabulary and Similarities WISC subtest scores than Block Design and Object Assembly scores for schizophrenics. Right-left confusion was associated with finger agnosia for schizophrenics. The results supported the hypothesis that there may be left-hemisphere dysfunction in schizophrenia; however, no single pattern of dysfunction was apparent.
Role of Potential Gain and Loss in Choice-Dilemma Decisions
Authors: St. Jean Richard
Published: September 2011

The effects of potential gain and loss on choice-dilemma decisions were assessed by experimentally manipulating the content of four choice-dilemma items. Results indicated that the loss manipulation had a major impact on both individual decisions and group shifts, but the gain manipulation did not.
A First Order Approximation of Satiation Time: (IRT)2/Rt
Authors: Persinger Michael A.
Published: September 2011

Habituation, satiation, adaptation, and boredom are a few of the words used to Label the behavioral consequences of a fundamental operation: repeated and protracted presentation of a stimulus. The cumulative measure of the response associated with that stimulus is expected to display an inflection at some time Ti after which the slope approaches zero. Ti can be estimated by dividing the square of the interresponse time (IRT)2 by the duration of the response associated with reinforcement (Rt), where Rt is expressed in the nearest whole temporal unit of interresponse time. Calculated TiS for habituation to the same sexual, aggressive, or social stimuli are compatible with general observation.