bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Response times to stimuli of increasing complexity as a function of ageing
Authors: JORDAN T. C. , RABBITT P. M. A. 
Published: April 2011

Twelve elderly and 12 young subjects were tested on a series of experiments with increasing complexity of perceptual‐response mapping. As task complexity increased the differential slowing in performance between young and old increased and an age × task complexity interaction was observed. However, with practice this phenomenon disappeared leaving an apparent age lag constant. This slowing was due to increased central processing time rather than peripheral factors.No major differences in strategies were observed between the groups, though the old subjects tended to be less able to extract critical (useful) features from the display. Stimulus repetitions of a new kind were found where all characteristics of the stimulus (relevant and irrelevant) were important. Repetitions of coding rules rather than of particular signals or responses also facilitated RT. It was also found that later in practice old subjects were making fewer errors than the young, reversing earlier observations.
The influence of secondary depth cues on the understanding by Nigerian schoolboys of spatial relationships in pictures
Authors: Nicholson J. R. , Seddon G. M. 
Published: April 2011

The ability of 105 Nigerian schoolboys to interpret pictures three‐dimensionally was studied as a function of changing the number of depth cues on moving from monochrome photographs incorporating the effects of shadow, through fully cued line drawings, to line drawings containing only elevation cues. The experiment also investigated the effects of different amounts of previous formal training in technical drawing on performance in these tasks.The results showed a significant increase in performance as the number of depth cues increased above that contained in the minimum cued line drawings. However, the difference between the effects of fully cued line drawings and the photographs was not significant. Neither the main nor interaction effects relating to levels of formal training in technical drawing were significant.
Quantitative subjective assessments are almost always biased, sometimes completely misleading*
Authors: Poulton E. C. 
Published: April 2011

Subjective assessments are used widely in civilized societies for evaluating people, the work they do, and the stresses they work under. Yet most of the people who use subjective assessments are probably not aware of the pitfalls which they involve.Range effects introduced by the investigator almost inevitably bias quantitative subjective assessments, unless very special precautions are taken to prevent or eliminate the bias. Stevens' method of direct magnitude estimation is always biased by range effects. The international standard for calculating the loudness of noise corresponds to a 30 decibel range of sound intensity.When the investigator takes special precautions not to introduce bias, the observers may use their own well‐known standards which they bring with them to the investigation. In a height constancy investigation conducted in a field, the well‐known standard is the height of a hedge or fence. In judging just acceptable noise levels, the well‐known standards used by the observers must depend upon the noise levels which they are accustomed to.The chief danger of subjective assessments is that they may be based upon a well‐known rule which does not happen to apply in the particular circumstance of the investigation. A result may then be obtained which is the direct opposite of the truth. Examples are the well‐known rules that noise and heat interfere with work. Yet performance can improve in both noise and heat. Results of this kind are revealed by measuring performance, not by asking people how noise or heat affects them. Subjective assessments should be used to complement measures of performance, not to replace them.
Short‐term serial tactual recall: Effects of grouping on tactually probed recall of Braille letters and nonsense shapes by blind children
Authors: Millar Susanna 
Published: April 2011

The study tested the hypothesis that grouping has adverse effects on the recall of tactual shapes but facilitates the recall of tactual letters on the assumption that this depends on different processes. A further question was the relation of grouping to letter recall span (set‐size).Tactually probed recall of tactually presented serial nonsense and letter shapes by blind children was tested under grouped and ungrouped conditions.Results showed a highly significant interaction between list type and grouping, and a (smaller) higher order interaction between set size list type and grouping, in the predicted directions. Grouping had adverse effects on nonsense shape recall. Letter recall was better and was facilitated by grouping, except by subjects with poor letter recall spans who were also slow at letter naming. Mental and chronological age were associated with higher scores, but unlike set size, did not relate differentially to letter grouping. It was argued that the form of coding is a factor in determining the nature of processing and in recall efficiency.
Referential description by children in negative form
Authors: Watson Judith M. 
Published: April 2011

Previous experiments indicate that young children have difficulty in describing referents in negative terms. It is suggested that use of negation is unnatural (and therefore difficult) in many descriptive tasks because children tend to focus their attention on referent and to ignore immediate perceptual context. Additionally, negative descriptions are more natural where a referent lacks some feature of a contrasting item in context, than where it differs from it along some attribute dimension.In a small experiment normal and educationally subnormal children with mental ages from 5 to 7 years were found to have no difficulty in making negative referential descriptions in natural contexts, when their attention was drawn to context by experimenter. degree to which children's descriptions reflected awareness of context was related to their mental maturity, and there was a developmental trend in form of descriptions.
The problem of reliability in the study of early communication skills
Authors: Brinker Richard P. , Goldbart Juliet 
Published: April 2011

The question of the reliability of data in studies of child language has rarely been addressed although the objectivity of such observation is open to question. The social and communicative behaviour of 28 preschool children was classified in terms of pragmatic functions (for gestures and vocalizations) or semantic functions (for single words). Nineteen of these children were developmentally delayed. Each child was observed for 15 min sessions by each of four observers. Only 13 of the 40 behavioural codes were stable across these four observation sessions. Fifteen of the children were jointly observed on 27 occasions yielding 83 inter‐observer agreement comparisons among the four observers. Cohen's kappa (a measure of percentage agreement after chance agreement has been removed) ranged from 0.01 to 0.66 (mean = 0.29, SD = 0.22). Pearson correlations for the total frequency of each behaviour by each observer during a 15 min observation ranged from 0 03 to 0.99 (mean = 0.84, SD = 0.15). Four children were videotaped and transcripts of their behaviour were independently rated by two observers producing an average kappa of 0.74. Finally inter‐observer agreement from observations of developmentally delayed and normal children was compared. No statistically significant difference was found.The results were discussed in terms of the necessity for measures of reliability, the appropriate level of data analysis in light of such measures, and the problem of inter‐subjectivity in the study of early communicative development.
Ratings of the degree of synonymity of 279 noun pairs
Authors: Wilding John , Mohindra Naresh 
Published: April 2011

Ratings were obtained from 100 subjects on a seven‐point scale of the degree of synonymity of 279 pairs of nouns, half the subjects rating the pairs presented in one order and half in the other. Alternative synonyms were also invited. Mean ratings ranged from 6.76 to 3.34. Forty‐six pairs were identical with those presented in a similar American study by Whitten et al. (1979). While the British ratings showed some differences from the American ones, the two sets of ratings were significantly correlated over these pairs.As in the American study, order of presentation significantly affected rated similarity in some pairs, though the American and British studies were not highly consistent in this respect. No distinguishing characteristic of such pairs was apparent.
Effects of Transcendental Meditation on self‐identity indices and personality
Authors: Turnbull Michael J. , Norris Hugh 
Published: April 2011

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is an increasingly popular mental technique producing relaxation. To assess specific personal effects, a role construct repertory grid and an Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) were completed by subjects, once before and twice after starting the regular practice of TM. Comparison subjects did not learn TM and were assessed in the same ways at the same times. Initially the two groups differed only in that meditation subjects tended to judge other people to be more unlike their ideal selves than did comparison subjects. This difference was maintained.With meditation subjects the grid results showed a systematic pattern of significant changes over the three tests. These indicate that meditators came to perceive their actual‐selves as being increasingly similar to their ideal‐ and social‐selves and that they developed a more strongly defined concept of their actual‐selves. The strength of definition of self concepts was indicated by the newly defined index ‘Self Defining Polarization’ (SDP). EPQ results showed increased extraversion in meditators. Comparison subjects did not show consistent or significant changes between tests on any measure.Subjects practising Transcendental Meditation appear to have experienced consistent and definable changes of a generally beneficial nature. The value of TM as a therapeutic tool is thereby suggested.
Asymmetries in moving faces
Authors: Campbell Ruth 
Published: April 2011

One hundred and two right‐handed judges viewed a series of 16 frontally displayed moving faces. They reported which side of each face appeared to move more when the faces were seen (a) speaking and (b) performing face exercises (pulling faces).The left‐of‐face was judged more mobile than the right at pulling faces, while there was no asymmetry in the judged movement of the speaking face. Viewing conditions (mirror‐reversed/normal orientation) affected judgements of exercising faces, but not of speaking faces. There was a leftward bias in judgements of exercising faces, so that a greater left preference obtained when viewing mirror‐reversed rather than normally oriented faces. These results are interpreted with reference to explanations of asymmetries in facial expression and interpretation involving notions of cerebral lateralization.
Towards a conceptualization of hand preference
Authors: Beukelaar L. J. , Kroonenberg P. M. 
Published: April 2011

In the present study, we have investigated the structure of hand preference by means of a questionnaire of 51 items, using the data from 977 persons. On the basis of the scores over a larger part of the items, the respondents were divided into three groups, right‐handers (523), left‐handers (412) and those impossible to classify (42). The items were subjected to a cluster analysis for the left‐handers and right‐handers separately.The results show a clear grouping of items for left‐handers, and a vaguely similar grouping for right‐handers. The clusters can be characterized by the muscle groups and joints which are involved in performing the tasks. Some attention is given to the question of whether hand preference can be better viewed as a natural dichotomy or a single continuum.
The effects of noise and time on task on recall of order information
Authors: Smith Andrew P. 
Published: April 2011

Recent evidence has suggested that noise may improve recall of order information, although one should note that certain experiments have found either no effect of noise or an impairment in noise. The first experiment showed that the effect of noise on recall of order changed during the course of the task, performance being slightly improved by noise in the first half but impaired by noise in the second. Thus, the usual finding of improvement in recall of order is especially likely to be obtained with short experiments.Another experiment was carried out to determine whether the later impairment by noise was due to previous exposure to the noise, practice at the task, or both. Taken together, the results of the two experiments showed that both noise and practice were necessary to produce the later impairment of order recall.
Erratic sequential eye‐movements in dyslexics: Comments and reply to Stanley et al.
Authors: Pavlidis George Th. 
Published: April 2011

The results of the Pavlidis' dyslexia studies are consistent with the existing literature and have also been recently replicated using the same subject selection criteria, instructions to subjects, experimental procedures, tests and analyses.Stanley et al.'s: (a) subject selection criteria, (b) instructions to subjects, (c) experimental procedures, (d) temporo‐spatial characteristics of the sequentially illuminated LEDs and (e) data analysis procedures differ from those used in the Pavlidis' studies and, therefore, also differ their results.
Sex and age differences in sensation seeking: Some national comparisons
Authors: Ball Ian L. , Farnill Douglas , Wangeman John F. 
Published: April 2011

Zuckerman et al. (1978) reported national comparisons and sex and age differences on the total score and the four subscales of the recently constructed Sensation Seeking Scale, Form V (SSS). The samples showed clear sex differences and a strong decline with age. Sex differences were seen to reflect different kinds of socialization and the age decline was thought to be associated with biological processes.Australian data were collected from 335 females and 363 males, distributed over the age range 17–60 years. Overall, males showed higher SSS scores than females, replicating Canadian, American and English data. Thrill and adventure seeking scores showed this difference most clearly. However, the total SSS scores displayed a significant sex by age interaction, a result differing most markedly from previously published findings, with females in the 30–39 age group recording higher scores than males. The experience seeking (ES) results were particularly different from English data, displaying a significant sex by age interaction. Whereas males showed a decline over age on ES, females reported increasing ES behaviours until the fall towards male levels in the 40–49 age group. The elevation in ES by the younger female groups, accompanied by dips in the linear trends for disinhibition and boredom susceptibility scores for males at the 30–39‐year level, contributed to the major sex by age interaction in total SSS scores. Scale reliabilities were generally higher than those reported by Ridgeway & Russell (1980). The evidence strongly indicated the wisdom of control for age in research on sensation seeking.
On choosing to make aversive events predictable or unpredictable: Some behavioural and psychophysiological findings
Authors: Evans Philip D. , Phillips Keith C. , Fearn Joan M. 
Published: April 2011

Choice and psychophysiological correlates of choice were examined for 36 subjects in a laboratory paradigm where one of two visual display channels could be selected. The first gave warning of an aversive event (shock or noise). The second channel provided an interesting distraction but gave no warning of an aversive event. The subjects were led to believe that aversive events were either avoidable, possibly avoidable or unavoidable. The events were also described as differing in likelihood from trial to trial.Results suggested that threat of unexperienced events produced more monitoring for warning. Controllability and likelihood enhanced choice of monitoring though male subjects showed some anomalous results. There was some tentative evidence to suggest that subjects scoring internally on the locus of control dimension may show more definite preference for one or other channel.Monitoring was associated with greater subjective tension, tonic heart‐rate and skin conductance fluctuations. The pattern of correlations among arousal and choice indices across trials suggested that the cardiovascular measure reflected the vigilant aspect of active coping whilst the subjective tension and electrodermal measures reflected affective aspects of arousal.Results are discussed in terms of the literature on coping strategies and stress, and possible applications of experimental work on controllability.
Noise, time of day and test expectations in recall and recognition
Authors: Breen‐Lewis Kristin , Wilding John 
Published: April 2011

Eighty‐five compared with 65 dBC white noise presented at input was found to improve the free recall of subjects expecting a recall test and to impair that of subjects anticipating a recognition test, suggesting that noise enhances differences in strategies between recall and recognition test expectations.The results of a similar experiment examining the interaction between test expectations and time of presentation showed that test expectations had no effect on recall in the morning but influenced performance in the afternoon. Thus noise appears to reinforce the instructions and morning presentation to override them.It was concluded that the effects of noise and time of day must be considered in relation to the task requirements.
The experience of unemployment among black and white urban teenagers
Authors: Warr Peter , Banks Michael , Ullah Philip 
Published: April 2011

The psychological health and labour market commitment of 1150 unemployed 17‐year‐olds in 11 urban areas of England were examined. Distress levels were significantly higher than among comparable employed samples, and symptoms had usually commenced after the onset of unemployment. Unemployed black respondents (of Afro‐Caribbean descent) were found to exhibit significantly lower levels of distress and depression than whites. However, no differences were recorded between black and white respondents in respect of anxiety, financial strain and concern over being unemployed.Commitment to the labour market was significantly greater among white males than black males, perhaps because the latter have responded realistically to their disadvantaged labour market position. However, ethnic differences in commitment were generally absent in the case of females. Length of time out of work was unrelated to affective well‐being and employment commitment in both ethnic groups, but job search attitudes were significantly less positive among respondents who had been unemployed for longer periods.
Orthographic and phonetic coding in developmental dyslexia
Authors: Rack John P. 
Published: April 2011

Memory coding in dyslexic readers and reading‐age‐matched controls was investigated using cued recall. In the first phase of the experiment subjects made rhyme judgements about pairs of words. In the second phase one member of each pair (the cue) was used to cue recall of the other member of the pair (the target). Cues and targets were either rhyming and orthographically similar, rhyming and orthographically distinct, orthographically similar and not rhyming, or unrelated.Dyslexics were as accurate at detecting rhyme compared to the reading‐age‐matched controls; however, they were slower and were subject to a greater orthography effect (Seidenberg & Tanenhaus, 1979). Overall memory performance did not differ between the two groups. However, dyslexics were found to make more use of an orthographic code with both visual and auditory presentation. They made less use of a phonetic code in the visual but not the auditory condition. The results support the view that dyslexics have less easy access to a phonological code in memory, but they are able to compensate for this by increased use of a visual/orthographic code.
Fearlessness and courage: A laboratory study of paratrooper veterans of the Falklands War
Authors: McMillan T. M. , Rachman S. J. 
Published: April 2011

In two earlier studies it was found that decorated military bomb‐disposal operators showed lower cardiac responses under stress than comparable but non‐decorated operators. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether that distinctive reaction to stress could be demonstrated in other military subjects. The stress reactions of decorated and non‐decorated paratrooper veterans were therefore investigated. Utilizing the method that was employed in previous studies, it was found that members of the Second Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, who had been decorated for conduct during the Falklands War, did not differ from similarly experienced but non‐decorated paratroopers in cardiac response to laboratory stress, or in their ratings of fear. A relationship between estimates of physical fitness and cardiac response to stress was not found.When the results from the two groups of paratrooper veterans were combined to form a single group, it was found that their cardiac responsiveness and subjective accounts of fear were lower than those of non‐decorated bomb‐disposal operators. The relatively low levels of fear in the reports given by these veteran paratroopers, and their competent behavioural responses during the stress test, justifies their description as ‘fearless’.
Attentional bias and decision order in a reasoning task
Authors: Evans J. St B. T. , Ball L. J. , Brooks P. G. 
Published: April 2011

An experiment is reported which is designed to test the hypothesis that selection errors in the abstract form of the Wason four‐card selection task derive from an attentional bias. Specifically, it is hypothesized that subjects' choices are based upon the perceived relevance of the exposed sides of the cards, as determined by linguistic cues, and that they do not reflect any analysis of the possible hidden sides of the card as required by the logical task.The methodology used derives from an earlier, unpublished experiment in which the task was presented by a microcomputer which recorded the order in which decisions were made about each of the four cards. It was predicted that subjects would consider first those cards deemed to be ‘relevant’. The earlier study had found predicted associations between decision order and decision frequency based upon the well‐established ‘matching bias’ effect. This finding was replicated and extended to another linguistic bias in the experiment reported here which improved upon the design of the previous experiment in several respects.In the earlier study, a strong left‐to‐right influence of spatial layout of the cards on decision order was also observed. In the present experiment a rectangular layout reduced but did not eliminate the effects of spatial location. Subjects' decisions to accept or reject cards were also biased by their spatial location, in a surprising manner. The results are discussed with reference to contemporary theories of reasoning.