bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
THE ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD OF ELECTRIC SHOCK
Authors: GREEN ROBERT T. 
Published: April 2011

Thresholds for electric shock were obtained under twelve conditions. Three types of stimulus were used; constant voltage, constant current, and constant power. These, combined with three sizes of electrode, gave nine conditions in all. A further three thresholds were obtained using the three types of stimulus and the medium size electrodes, with the addition of electrode jelly to improve contact.The results indicated that power is the relevant variable, and that sensitivity to threshold shocks probably depends on the amount of power dissipated in the immediate vicinity of the skin receptors. This view is supported by the observation that skin thickness seems to be of considerable importance—the thicker the skin, the higher the threshold.The influence of ambient temperature and humidity were found to be inoperative within the limits investigated. A low skin temperature did, however, raise the threshold.Subjective sensations associated with electric shock are discussed, including an anomalous lowering of the threshold as a result of rapidly repeated strong stimulation.Implications for the use of electric shock as a negative reinforcer in psychological experiments and as an agent in ‘therapy’ are considered. In both cases there would appear to be sound arguments for using a constant wattage a.c. stimulus to counteract the variations in the impedance of a biological circuit.
IS THE SERIAL‐POSITION CURVE INVARIANT?
Authors: JENSEN ARTHUR R. 
Published: April 2011

The evidence presented by McCrary & Hunter and later researchers, which suggests that the form of the serial‐position curve is constant throughout variations in a large number of factors that affect rate of learning, has been found inadequate to answer the question of the curve's invariance. Differences in percentage of total errors in serial learning data obtained under different experimental conditions would lead to the conclusion that the serial‐position curve is not invariant under all the conditions for which invariance has been claimed.Serial learning data may be analysed into three components—difficulty (number of trials to criterion), efficiency (percentage of errors), and relative difficulty of learning each position, i.e. the so‐called serial‐position effect. The main methodological inadequacy in studies of the serial‐position effect is that the serial‐position curve has always been confounded with either one or two of the other components, making it impossible properly to compare various serial curves based on data which differ either in difficulty or in efficiency. Plotting the serial curves simply in terms of the percentage of total errors at each position does not solve the problem; this method tends to eliminate the difficulty component but still leaves the curves confounded with the efficiency component.An index of Relative Difficulty was proposed as a method of representing the serial‐position effect. It has the advantages of not being confounded with the other components and of being the same shape whether it is based on errors or on correct responses. It results in what might be called a ‘pure’ serial‐position curve and permits the direct comparison of serial‐position curves obtained under various conditions. The Index is recommended as the only satisfactory method for comparing different serial‐position curves. It is especially important in comparing serial‐position effects in sets of data having different total error percentages. It is urged that future research on the serial‐position effect adopt the proposed Index.
TRANSFER BETWEEN DIFFICULT AND EASY TASKS*
Authors: HOLDING D. H. 
Published: April 2011

The existing literature on unequal transfer between difficult and easy tasks shows that it is impossible to predict the direction of optimum transfer on the basis of the relative difficulty of the two tasks. The first experiment explores an absolute difficulty hypothesis to the effect that transfer might be greater from a point of optimum difficulty, whether to an easier or to a more difficult task; changes in difficulty were achieved by controlled variation of the complication of pursuit tracking courses. However, after a week's practice on the twelve task conditions, it appeared that transfer was consistently most effective in the difficult–easy direction.In a second experiment, subjects were transferred between tasks with easy and difficult course amplitudes, at both easy and difficult levels of complication. In this case, the easy‐difficult order of practice was better with the simpler courses, while the complex courses favoured difficult‐to‐easy transfer. It is concluded that difficulty is not a useful category for the prediction of transfer efficiency, and that the solution lies in examining the skills involved. Explanations are outlined in terms of inclusion and error size constancy, although it is probable that many other factors play a part.
PERCEPTUAL JUDGEMENT AS A FUNCTION OF CONTEXT
Authors: IMMERGLUCK LUDWIG 
Published: April 2011

Perceptual contrast has been traditionally demonstrated with stimulus attributes involving size, perspective, or brightness of given stimulus objects. The present investigation aims to examine the operation of perceptual contrast in such qualitative dimensions as geometric stability, symmetry, or general design quality of a stimulus.The results show that the stimulus figure, a square, was perceived as geometrically more perfect when presented in a disordered and unstable context as compared with an ordered and stable one.
THE MAUDSLEY PERSONALITY INVENTORY USED WITH PSYCHIATRIC INPATIENTS
Authors: McGUIRE R. J. , MOWBRAY R. M. , VALLANCE R. C. 
Published: April 2011

The Maudsley Personality Inventory was given to an unselected group of psychiatric inpatients. All diagnostic groups were differentiated from normals on the Neuroticism scale but neither this nor the Extraversion scale distinguished between diagnostic groups. Contrary to Eysenck's claim, hysterics and dysthymics were not distinguished on the Extraversion scale.The negative correlation between Extraversion and Neuroticism in neurotic groups and the use of the short form of the scales are discussed. Because Eysenck's original report is not readily available, some general comments are offered about the methods used to devise and standardize the test.The results suggest that the test is unlikely to be of value in the individual case.
A FURTHER ATTEMPT AT DELAYED GSR CONDITIONING
Authors: MARTIN IRENE 
Published: April 2011

A delayed conditioning schedule was employed so that latency and frequency changes of all GSRs occurring in the CS‐UCS interval could be followed. Two experimental groups received initial (simultaneous) pairings of CS–UCS, and four control groups received initial CS series only, prior to the introduction of the delayed series.There was no evidence of an increase in latency of GSRs over trials, and only a slight increase in frequency over the first few trials in the control groups; this latter effect was attributed to the disinhibiting or novel effect of changing from one stimulus series to another, and not to acquisition of a conditioned response. It was concluded that no gradual increase of CR strength over trials was demonstrated.Highly significant correlations were obtained between measures of skin resistance responsiveness, such as spontaneous and orienting responses; this suggests that many so‐called measures of GSR conditioning are probably related to some factor such as response sensitivity.
AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF IMAGERY AND ITS RELATION TO ABILITIES AND INTERESTS
Authors: CHOWDHURY K. RAY , VERNON P. E. 
Published: April 2011

Student subjects were assessed for four main types of imagery employed in carrying out short mental tasks, on the basis of their introspections. Some relation was found between these categories and regularity‐irregularity of respiration, as claimed by Golla and Short; but no consistent relation was found with ordinary questionnaire self‐reports nor with some of the alleged tests of imagery.There was slight confirmation only of the supposed relevance of visual imagery to spatial ability. However, a number of associations at moderate to high levels of significance were found with (self‐rating) tests of interests in different fields, and to a lesser extent with information about these fields.
BINOCULAR BRIGHTNESS AVERAGING AND CONTOUR INFORMATION
Authors: LEVELT W. J. M. 
Published: April 2011

Binocular brightness averaging has been investigated under two conditions: with identical contour information in both eyes and with different contour information.Equibrightness curves are presented for the simple case, in which right and left test fields are identical in pattern but different in luminance. These curves are for the most part linear; i.e. if the weighted sum of left and right luminance is constant, the same binocular brightness impression is produced. The sum of the weighting co‐efficients is unity (law of complementary shares). In the absence of eye dominance, the weights are equal; otherwise a correction for eye dominance must be made.If monocular contour information is present in one test field, brightness averaging remains linear, but the weight for that eye increases at the cost of the weight for the other eye. In a region close to a monocular contour (within 1° of visual angle), the weight approaches unity, so that binocular brightness in this region is dependent upon the luminance in one eye only.A suggested explanation of Fechner's paradox is given, and the implications of the approach for the mechanism of binocular rivalry are considered.
EFFECTS OF AGE ON SHORT‐TERM STORAGE AND SERIAL ROTE LEARNING
Authors: INGLIS JAMES , ANKUS MARY N. 
Published: April 2011

Previous studies have shown that, as age advances, there is a progressive decrease in the ability to respond sequentially to simultaneous stimuli. It has been suggested that this impairment with age is due to a decline in the efficiency of some short‐term storage process. In those studies, however, the relation of this process to performance on other learning tasks had not been traced in normal subjects, nor have the possible effects of changes in sensory acuity, perception or attention been adequately controlled.This paper describes the results obtained from 120 normal subjects aged from 11 to 70 yr in their reproduction of dichotic digits (a) when the order of recall is left to the free choice of the subject, (b) when the order of recall has been specified before, and (c) after these digits have been delivered. The correlation of performance on this task with performance on serial learning is also described.The results obtained confirm the view that it is a change in some short‐term storage process rather than in any perceptual function which principally affects performance in this kind of experimental situation. Evidence was also obtained that short‐term storage is an important, but not a unique component, of longer term learning.
WATER, FOG AND THE SIZE—DISTANCE INVARIANCE HYPOTHESIS
Authors: ROSS HELEN E. 
Published: April 2011

Objects generally appear too large under water. The usual explanation for this is that they are magnified by the change of refractive index between air and water. However, they are only magnified because they are optically nearer. If size constancy operates normally they should be seen the correct size but nearer, or enlarged in size but farther than the optical distance. The problem was investigated by requiring sixteen divers to make size and distance judgements of a range of white disks of different sizes set at various distances. Judgements were made for the same display both under water and on land. It was found that size judgements were greater under water, and that this corresponded to relative overestimation of distance. A weak form of size—distance invariance was found both under water and on land, but the relation between size and distance judgements was not the same in both conditions.Overestimation of size and distance was also found in a fog on land. It was suggested that the overestimation of distance in a fog and under water was due to the exaggerated reduction of brightness contrast with distance, which increases ‘aerial perspective’.
A COMPARISON OF STEREOGNOSTIC RECOGNITION IN NORMAL CHILDREN AND SEVERELY SUBNORMAL ADULTS
Authors: MACKAY C. K. , MACMILLAN JANETTE 
Published: April 2011

Recently some doubt has been cast on the generality of Hermelin & O'Connor's (1961) finding that imbecile children perform better on a tactual exploration—tactual recognition task than do normals of equivalent mental age. The present investigation is in part a replication of the original study, using normal children and SSN adults matched for mental age. The same subjects are used to investigate differences in stereognostic recognition of familiar material, where verbal coding may be assumed to be involved.Both groups obtained higher recognition scores on the familiar material. The normals were superior to the SSNs on recognition of common objects, but the SSNs were superior to the normals on recognition of unfamiliar material. An attempt is made to explain this interaction by postulating relatively intact stereognostic ability in the SSN group and by examining the role of verbal coding in the retention of information from stereognostic exploration. It is also suggested that apparently dissonant evidence on the tactual recognition of shapes by normal and retarded children is not incompatible with the present findings.
THE INFLUENCE OF AGE AND TEMPERAMENT ON THE ADULT HUMAN SLEEP—WAKEFULNESS PATTERN
Authors: TUNE G. S. 
Published: April 2011

Over 600 adult subjects (aged 20–79) were asked to keep a day‐by‐day record of their hours of sleep on sleep charts for a period of 56 days. When completed the charts gave details of the duration of sleep, the times of falling asleep and awakening, the number and duration of nocturnal disturbances of sleep and the number and duration of mid‐day naps. A sample of 240 subjects (20 males and 20 females in each decade from the 20s to the 70s inclusive) was made consisting only of people who recorded for 50 or more days. These subjects were matched, as far as possible, in terms of neuroticism, temperament and intelligence.It was found that although the average amount of sleep taken per day declined slightly from the 20s to the 50s, there was an increase in the 60s. This was partly due to an increase in the number of mid‐day naps taken. The extraverts slept longer than the introverts. The incidence of nocturnal disturbances increased with advancing age, especially in females. These and other findings are discussed and it is suggested that in later years, when social and occupational pressures are reduced, there is a tendency for a polycyclic sleep—wakefulness pattern to reappear.
THE EFFECT OF ELECTROCONVULSIVE SHOCK ON A CONDITIONED EMOTIONAL RESPONSE IN THE RHESUS MONKEY
Authors: WILLI FRANZ J. P. 
Published: April 2011

A series of four experiments were conducted with Rhesus monkeys in order to investigate previously reported attenuating effects of electroconvulsive shocks (ECS) upon a conditioned emotional response (CER) of the ‘fear’ or ‘anxiety’ type. The fourth experiment in this series investigated the cardiovascular changes associated with the CER procedure and the effects of ECS upon such cardiovascular functions.The results of Expt. I identified the previously reported attenuating effect of ECS upon the CER and confirmed the transient nature of this effect. Expt. II failed to confirm the protective effect of ‘prophylactic’ ECS treatments in preventing the reappearance of the CER 20 days after completion of an intensive ECS treatment series. There were, however, important variations in procedure to which this outcome may be attributable. Similarly, procedural variations may account for the only partial replication in Expt. III of the previously reported reduction in the effectiveness of delayed ECS in attenuating the CER. Finally, Expt. IV demonstrated that the cardiovascular changes (significant reductions in heart rate and blood pressure) which accompany the behavioural changes observed during the CER are also markedly attenuated as a result of the ECS treatments.
SELF‐REPORT AND ERROR CHOICE: INTER‐INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE OPERATION OF THE ERROR‐CHOICE PRINCIPLE AND THEIR VALIDITY IN PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE TESTS
Authors: WILDE G. J. S. , de WIT O. E. 
Published: April 2011

An investigation was made of the possibilities of the error‐choice principle as an alternative to direct questioning in personality questionnaires. A standard personality inventory consisting of 91 items was administered to 150 subjects (normals and neurotics), who were also given an error‐choice version of the same items, written on the basis of exact p‐values of the self‐report items. The error‐choice version consisted of items followed by two response percentages (‘representing’ the p‐values in the general population), each of which was equally wrong, but in opposite directions from the correct p‐value. The subject had to encircle the percentage that he believed to be correct, and the test form was presented to him as a test of the subject's ability to be insightful of other people.Of all the 150 subjects, 141 showed positive correlations between self‐report response and error‐choice response to the corresponding items. This phenomenon was interpreted as a manifestation of dissonance reduction and it was found in the majority of subjects in all kinds of items studied. The strength of the phenomenon was found to differ between different subjects (as well as between different items) and to be positively related to behavioural adjustment as measured by an external criterion and self‐report questionnaire variables. Personality scales were derived from the error‐choice items in a way similar to the familiar self‐report procedure, and these scales showed consistent correlations with the corresponding self‐report scales as well as with the external adjustment criterion. Varimax and criterion‐orientated graphical rotations of centroid factors of all variables in the investigation showed very satisfactory factorial validities for the error‐choice scales. Moreover, a salient error‐choice (or dissonance reduction) factor was found. The results suggest some interesting practical and theoretical implications of the error‐choice principle in the measurement of personality differences.
THE EFFECT OF VARYING THE TIME INTERVAL BETWEEN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE CORIOLIS ACCELERATIONS
Authors: REASON JAMES T. , GRAYBIEL ASHTON 
Published: April 2011

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effect of varying the time interval between two equal and opposite Coriolis accelerations upon the duration of the subjective responses evoked by the second stimulus. It was also designed to evaluate certain predictions generated from a ‘torsion pendulum’ model of the neural events mediating these subjective phenomena.Theoretical curves derived from the torsion pendulum model approximated fairly closely the way in which the reported durations of the subjective phenomena increased as a function of the time interval between the two Coriolis accelerations. This result supported the a priori assumption that the neural events underlying the subjective phenomena are closely linked to mechanical events occurring within the cupula‐endolymph system. However, an explanation resting entirely upon peripheral phenomena would be inadequate to account for two additional findings: (1) the estimated time constants of signal decay were shorter than those expected on the basis of the known mechanics of the semicircular canal system, and (2) the persistence of the Coriolis sensation (feelings of apparent whole body motion without visual reference) was greater at all intervals than the Coriolis oculogyral illusion. Adequate explanation of these findings requires the postulation of additional central mechanisms.
LEARNING AND THE SPIRAL ILLUSION
Authors: HOUTMAN S. D. 
Published: April 2011

A generally accepted explanation of the spiral illusion is that the receptor cells sensitive to the specific motions being observed become ‘suppressed’ by inhibition consequent upon that stimulation. However, an original neurological model suggests that inhibition is a short‐term process, whereas perception is also dependent upon longer‐term ‘learning’. The model predicts that the duration of the illusion will be increased by the accumulation of ‘learned records’ of the moving spiral.In the experiment, ‘learning sessions’ followed daily tests of duration, and an increase was demonstrated on the next day, more than 22 hours after such a session. No increase was detected where the ‘learning session’ was omitted or replaced by a ‘fatigue session’ employing an oppositely drawn spiral. In this way the ‘learning effect’ was distinguished from ‘suppression’, or a possible improved ‘discrimination’ due to practice. The results confirm the predictions of the new model and are difficult to reconcile with the ‘suppression’ hypothesis.
AH 2 AND AH 3: PARALLEL TESTS OF REASONING
Authors: HEIM A. W. , WATTS K. P. , SIMMONDS V. 
Published: April 2011

Tests AH 2 and AH 3 are group tests of reasoning with several features usually associated with individual tests of intelligence. In particular, they yield a three‐point profile in addition to their total or general score, and their range of relevance extends from 10‐year‐olds to intelligent young adults. They have a certain flexibility in that they can be administered with either a long or a short time‐limit, norms having been established on both sets of times. New techniques have been used in devising items and building‐in checks to ensure that there is one and only one defensible answer for each question.In the course of standardizing the two tests, several widely accepted findings have been confirmed, notably male superiority on Numerical, female superiority on Verbal and the greater variance found generally among males than females. Two further results are, however, worth noting: (a) the data do not support the suggestion, often made by teachers and other educationists, that girls tend to excel boys around 10–12 years of age owing to their earlier physical and mental maturation ‐ to be rejoined, or surpassed, by the boys in their early teens; (b) it seems well worth while incorporating pictorial items in a group test of reasoning, intended to cover a wide age range. This type of item enables the younger (and the less able) to show their strength in an area usually neglected in group tests and it proves to be a task in which they delight.