Perceptual and Motor Skills

An apparatus was developed for measuring peripheral CFF under low levels of illumination rendering the stimuli functionally invisible when centrally fixated. The responses of 27 psychiatric patients with EEG abnormalities were compared with 34 control patients with normal EEGs. One-third of the abnormal Ss had right field-left field CFF discrepancy scores greater than all but one of the control Ss. This experimental sample included 4 Ss with lateralized left-hemisphere EEG defect. However, CFF impairment in these Ss was most pronounced in the left visual field (right cerebral hemisphere). This suggested the possibility that instead of a sensory defect the primary defect may have been one of verbal labelling with maximal impairment occurring under interhemispheric test conditions. That is, verbal labelling of sensory events (a left hemisphere function) may have been differentially impaired for contralateral as opposed to ipsalateral CFF stimulation.

This study represents a pre-post design to determine the possible effects of cosmetics on self-concept in a group of 42 college girls with various degrees of facial blemishes which could not be improved by high standards of hygiene. The MMPI was given to all Ss who then received weekly instruction in the use of cosmetics by a qualified instructor. After 3 mo. use of these agents, the MMPI was again applied. The D scale (Depression) and the Pt scale (Psychasthenia) were selected as sensitive indicators of self-perception; comparison of pre- and post-treatment scores indicated improvement on both scales (D scale, p = .001; Pt scale, p = .02) as a function of the cosmetic.

This study explored the effect of sensory restriction on perceptual thresholds. The experimental predictions were formulated from Lindsley's model of the reticular activating system (RAS). Attention was focused upon changes in the visual CFF threshold, loudness discrimination and pitch discrimination as related to two levels of visual restriction. Ss were 60 male volunteers. Statistical analysis included analysis of covariance followed by a priori group comparisons. Statistical support (p < .05) was found for 3 of 4 general hypotheses. It was concluded that the RAS attempts to maintain cortical arousal at an optional level by regulating stimulus input. A reduction in this input apparently lowers perceptual thresholds in the sensory system restricted and other systems as well.

60 Ss were randomly and equally divided into three groups (2 experimental, 1 control) to investigate the effect of lack of feedback on sequential temporal estimates. The production method was employed, as was a “filling” task designed to be cognitively related to Ss' future expectations. As predicted, systematic changes occurred across trials for all groups, independent of differential expectations. These results were related to “judgment drift” and to the nature of the interpolated filling activity.

Several variables which might be useful in explaining the relationship between frequency of exposure and attitudinal liking are investigated. Complexity of the stimuli and their familiarity were the major variables of interest. Also involved were the sex of Ss and the individual stimuli. Four sets of stimuli were presented 20 times to independent groups of Ss, with scale ratings taken on the 1st and 20th presentations. The results showed that familiarity and complexity interacted in a complex fashion for liking. For highly familiar stimuli, an inverse relationship between complexity and affect held (p = .10), but for novel stimuli a significant direct relationship held. Implications of the data for the hypothesized relationship of affect and complexity were discussed.

Cold-pressor stimulation significantly increased the reversal rate of the Necker cube for 84 college Ss instructed to observe passively. A moderate negative relationship was found between GSR and the number of reversals (r = –.35) while a small positive relationship existed between heart rate and cube reversal (r = .22).

An experiment was carried out to determine how proximity is perceived as a cue in dyadic interaction. Ss held conversations with 3 confederates at distances of 2, 4, and 8 ft. and completed 21 7-point rating scales. Proximity did not account for any significant amount of variance in any scale. Confederates were perceived differently after interviews than after informal conversations. Ss did not give more favourable ratings to confederates who sat nearer their own preferred proximity, as determined by the method of limits. It is concluded that while proximity has certain dear determinants, e.g., liking and emotional adjustment, these are not reflected in the way proximity is perceived.

Attitude scale construction techniques give, at best, only indirect attention to the prediction capabilities of individual items. Although conventional scaling procedures can be augmented by an item analysis sequence that uses known-affiliation groups, many uncertainties surround this approach. Laboratory analogues of the social processes central to a scale are recommended as a source of data for item analysis. The group autokinetic experiment is suggested as an example of a laboratory analogue of the social processes central to a scale intending to measure attitudes toward dissent.

A multiple regression equation [Y = 91.62 – 0.73 (Originality) + 0.32 (Elaboration)] was developed with 67 Ss' scores from Torrance's Thinking Creatively With Pictures, Form A, on Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration as predictor variables and the Leiter International Performance Scale score as the criterion variable.

The purpose of this study was to measure the effectiveness with which different types of visual displays facilitated S's achievement of different learning objectives when these were used to complement oral instruction. Questions preceded each display and were designed to direct S's attention to relevant learning cues. Each S received a pretest, participated in his respective visualized presentation, and received 5 individual criterial measures. Analyses indicated that (a) the use of questions to complement the more realistic visuals is not an effective technique for improving S's achievement and (b) all types of visual displays are not equally effective in facilitating S's achievement of different learning objectives.

This experiment dealt with the relationship between a personality variable and behavior in coacting groups. 96 male Ss differing in test anxiety (high, middle, low) were equally divided at random into 2 groups and given either a paired-associate learning task or 2 performance tasks (vowel cancellation and multiplication problems) under 1 of 2 conditions. Half the Ss worked in coacting groups of 4 members each while the remainder worked on the tasks alone. With the learning task, no significant differences were found between Ss who learned in groups and those who learned alone regardless of anxiety level. With the performance tasks, the group situation was detrimental for both the high- and middle-anxious Ss while facilitative for the low-anxious Ss on the vowel cancellation task; however, no significant effects were found on the multiplication task.

Using a photographic animation technique, the effects of qualitative and quantitative factors on the perception of mechanical causality were investigated. The results indicated that the type of response required of S has a significant effect on the proportion of responses of causality reported. Several of Michotte's (1954) findings were supported, while others were rejected. In addition, the use of easily identifiable rather than abstract objects, greatly enhanced the impression of causality.

This experiment tested the effects of three levels of judgmental similarity on evaluative-attraction and on uncertainty reduction. A significant increase in evaluative-attraction and a nonsignificant increase in certainty were found, as similarity in quantitative (error-choice type) judgments increased. The findings extended the generality of the similarity-attraction hypothesis and suggested limited support for the effectance-reduction hypothesis.

A ranking of 12 disabilities, in the order they were perceived as most disturbing, was obtained from 54 health professionals. It was found that after blindness, the disabilities associated with impairments of motor ability were considered to be the most disturbing.

Observations obtained during the first 6 mo. of a psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapeutic procedure, capable of shortening and easing the initial phase of psychotherapy of LSD users, are reported. This procedure consisted of combined individual and group therapy, adding the LSD users to open mixed groups of abstinent patients. This procedure enabled the LSD users to participate in psychoanalysis, using the classical procedure, within less than 6 mo. Specific character trends and the underlying psychodynamic processes are also suggested. These processes appear to be specific for the LSD user and differ from those of the heroin addict and the chronic alcoholic.

Satisfactory test-retest (.81) and interjudge (.91) reliabilities were obtained on a measure of proportionality for male figure drawings utilizing 20 college students.

An analysis of the responses of 50 junior and senior men and women in undergraduate educational psychology classes using alternate forms of Onomatopoeia and Images as tests of originality and of 27 graduate students in a seminar on creative behavior using Form I of Sounds and Images and Form I of Onomatopoeia and Images shows increasing originality with each repetition of the stimuli. The break away from perceptual set for the production of original responses seems to be effective in both instances and the results support the present mode of presentation of Onomatopoeia and Images and Sounds and Images. Results also support the idea that original thought requires considerable effort.

A series of four studies was conducted examining a variety of correlates of the Obscure Figures Test. Using hospitalized alcoholic patients as Ss, the OFT was found to be positively related to education, intelligence, and numerical aptitude, manual and finger dexterity, sensation-seeking, scientific and computational interests, and to the K, Ma, and Es scales of the MMPI. Negative relationships were found with Social Introversion and Welsh's R scale of the MMPI. The results were felt to support an analysis of “cognitive innovation” in terms of capacity to innovate and interest in stimulational variety.

420 male and 324 female Ss were given photographs, previously scaled as being high, moderate, or low in physical attractiveness, and were instructed to fill out Rotter's I-E scale as they thought the person in the photograph would. Persons low in attractiveness were perceived as more external in I-E control than persons either high or moderately attractive, there being no difference between the latter. In addition, males perceived females as significantly more external than males, although female Ss did not make this distinction. The results were interpreted as demonstrating the relevance of I-E in interpersonal perception, and in particular the cue value of physical attractiveness in evoking varying perceptions of I-E in a first impression setting.

Neuropsychological assessment of children with, without, and with questionable epilepsy was reported, using the WISC, MPD, and Bender recall tests. The major finding was the presence of a continuum of neuropsychological deficit which was absent or minimal in those children without epilepsy, somewhat more obvious in the questionable cases, and of considerable prominence in children with confirmed diagnoses of epilepsy. Interrelationships among the measures were explored. Some sex and seizure-type differences in test scores did emerge in the epilepsy group; however, handedness did not produce any significant results.

Recent retention research has applied the concepts of the Tanner and Swets signal detection model to recognition and recall measures. While the literature is not extensive, the evidence tentatively suggests that d' and criterion changes are potentially useful descriptive constructs. Several methodological problems were noted in the literature reviewed. Specifically, comparative analyses of the data are difficult since different detection procedures were employed to estimate d' and criterion changes as a function of the same retention variables. In addition, an empirical relationship needs to be established between memory system output (e.g., response strength, familiarity, etc.) and the rating scale values which are fundamental to a retention detection analysis. Finally, a clear framework is needed for d' and criterion changes in memory.

Groups of 18 high school introductory typing students, initially high and low in performance (speed and accuracy), were tested once a week for 13 weeks. It was found that once low achievers reached a similar level of achievement to the high achievers, subsequent performance measures for the groups were not significantly different. Speed of typing appeared to be the most reliable differential predictor.

Since the serial-position effect has been demonstrated to diminish as learning progresses, it was hypothesized that only a weak recency serial-position effect would result from demand recall of concepts in a complex problem-solving situation. Six groups of 14 Ss solved 15 problems, 5 soluble by each of 3 concepts (rules), recalled from prior instruction. Each group received a different permutation of the 3 concepts. The serial-position effect appeared to be minimal for demand recall of concepts with the predicted weak recency effect (.01 < p < .05) but no primacy effect.

The Reitan-Halstead Organic Test Battery has been found of little practical value in general psychiatric populations in that it does not separate hospitalized organics from schizophrenics. An attempt was made to improve such discrimination through the application of response-contingent censure for poor performance during administration of one test from this battery. Ss were 48 hospitalized patients diagnosed schizophrenic reaction or brain syndrome. The Tactile Performance Test was administered to half of each group under standard administration conditions and to the other half under conditions of response-contingent censure. Under the latter condition there was a significant difference in performance by the groups, fewer schizophrenics scoring within the brain-damaged range.

The influence of signal probability during an auditory pretest on performance on a visual monitoring task was examined in a split-plot factorial analysis of variance. 52 Ss were given an auditory pretask in which white noise was intermittently terminated at either a high (p = .18) or low (p = .02) probability during any 2-sec. interval; then a visual monitoring task was performed in which the signal probability was either high (p = .18) or low (p = .02). Ss who received the high auditory pretask performed reliably better than the low group (p < .01). The within-session decrement varied as a function of the different pretest and task signal probabilities. The results support the expectancy theory of vigilance and suggest the importance of the role of pretask adaptation in the vigilance paradigm.

Thysell (1969) reported bimodal simple reaction-time distributions of single motor units to light. Lieblich's suggestion that the lower mode of the distributions (at the interval 150 to 174 msec.) reflects the orienting response of the units was not supported by analysis. However, the hypothesis was not completely discredited, for the orienting response may occur as a function of the sequential relationships between intertrial intervals.

The rate of reversals possibly experienced in observing ambiguous figures and in binocular rivalry are shown to distinguish at a statistically significant level among cancer patients, patients with duodenal ulcers, rheumatoid arthritics, and a control group with miscellaneous disorders; also between matched groups of schizophrenic patients with and without cancer. These results are discussed in terms of the part played by the integrative systems of the organism both in relationship to the test results and the disorders experienced.

The objective of the investigation was to ascertain the reliability and concurrent validity of a new omnibus mental ability test which has considerably more ceiling than do most group intelligence tests, and which is proposed for use either as a speed or power device, once the appropriate norms are established. When administered to 184 college students under untimed conditions, the test was found to have a split-half reliability coefficient of .84 and a KR-20 reliability coefficient of .85. Regarding validity, the test correlated significantly with grades assigned in the classes which participated in the study (.26) and also with cumulative grade point average based on all courses taken at the university (.40).

3 groups of approximately 20 children each, aged 3½ to 6½ yr., were presented with a number of tasks designed to assess skill in counting and enumeration. Contrary to usual expectations, certain counting tasks were more difficult than enumeration tasks, although both did show clear age trends. Results also showed that childern who could count when given a new point from which to start (regardless of age) performed consistently better on all other numerical tasks, perhaps indicating that fluent counting does not depend primarily on rote factors, but rather upon the recognition that natural numbers are a rule-governed system independent of the immediate perceptual environment. Results were also discussed in terms of Piaget's analysis of numerical development, with present findings seen as essentially supporting this analysis.

The nature of the forms and labels used in the Carmichael, et al. study of the effect of language on the memory for form, upon which subsequent studies and theory have been based, were investigated because of some doubts about their methodological status. Matching and identification techniques were used in a perception task, followed by a recall measure, as a means of examining the appearance of the forms, and the retention of the labels. The forms were not found to be equally assignable to their sets of labels, and to a lesser degree, the pairs of labels were unequally recalled. This absence of control over the materials, while noted as an aspect of the data in previous research, has apparently been overlooked in interpreting earlier findings. As a consequence, it remains doubtful whether modifications in the memory for form are the result of verbal suggestions.

The present study was an attempt to describe and contrast a variety of states of consciousness. The results indicate that dreams, hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences, depersonalization, déjà vu, synesthesia, and daydreams can be differentiated by means of a series of descriptive characteristics.

3 groups of Ss were used to study the effect of listening to one's own voice. One group, of 10 male and 10 female Ss without speech defects, heard themselves and responded by marking equivalent forms of a semantic differential inventory. The second group, characterized by speech or voice defects, followed the same procedure. A third group, without speech problems, marked the semantic differential inventory without hearing themselves. Analysis of covariance indicated that Ss with speech defects show a greater reaction to hearing themselves than do Ss without speech defects. Also, women with and without speech defects show a significantly greater semantic differential reaction to hearing their own voices than did the control group.

52 college girls (mean age 20 yr.) were clinically divided into groups according to the severity of their acne. They were then given a battery of tests, of which the MMPI was found to be the most sensitive. Ss then applied a three-step cosmetic preparation once daily to their faces and the same battery of psychological tests was given subsequent to 3 and 6 mo. of treatment. It was found that MMPI scale score differences reached minimal to fairly high levels of significance between acne and nonacne Ss and between mild and severe acne sample groups. In the mild-acne group the therapeutic effects of skin treatment were reflected in relevant scale score changes; severe acne Ss became more defensive and somewhat conventionalized in their test responses.

Deaf children for whom color was relatively more salient than form were assigned to tasks of invariance detection. The invariant of liquid amount was successfully detected by Ss in the condition that varied color but not in ones that varied form or color plus form.

Four studies have yielded eight variables that are related to Greenberg and Jenkins' (1964) concept of language distance. These values for each of the 24 CCVCs of Greenberg and Jenkins' (1964) list 1 were correlated. The correlations were subjected to a principal components analysis with a varimax rotation. Three factors that account for 96% of the variance are reported. These are: (1) the perception and production of speech sounds, (2) language distance, and (3) the effort involved in pronouncing sounds subvocally.

Performance of college students on the Squares Test was related to immediate and delayed recognition of unfamiliar concept names in a representational learning task. Although previous research has not substantiated predictions from the assimilation model when the task involved associative learning, the present study clearly indicated (p < .01) the superiority of “sharpeners” to “levelers” in representational learning with the stimulus phrases embedded in prose material and low-meaning response terms.

Duration and intensity of the SAE were judged under five conditions: Angle Constant (A)—retinal speed and visual angle were held constant across several spiral-size, viewing-distance combinations; Size-Constant—a single spiral size was used at several distances, with retinal speed either varied (S₁) or held constant (S₂); Distance Constant—several spiral sizes were used at a constant distance with retinal speed either varied (D₁) or held constant (D₂). Duration and intensity measures were affected similarly, with perceptual rather than physical variables seeming to account for the results. Assuming that perfect size constancy occurred during the experiment, SAE durations were longer, in general, for larger values of perceived size per unit of retinal size. Retinal speed variation had no apparent influence, except possibly at low values.

The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS) was administered to 21 women intercollegiate athletes and scores were compared with those of a normative group of college women. Results indicated that the women athletes were significantly different on 2 of the 15 variables measured by the EPPS.

Retention of kinesthetic information from blind positioning responses was examined for 56 Ss. During a 30-sec. retention interval, half of the Ss sat quietly with their hands on the lever; the other half learned an interpolated target which required an antagonistic response. Both conditions showed significant amounts of forgetting. The mean differences between conditions as well as the differences between correlation coefficients across retention intervals were not significant. The results were consistent with memory-trace decay predictions.

This experiment was designed to compare the monitoring performance of Ss using a visual display with the performance of Ss using an auditory display. 24 Ss were randomly assigned to monitor either the visual or the auditory display for a 3-hr. period. Two measures of performance, reaction time and probability of responding, were obtained during the monitoring session. An analysis of the results indicates that Ss who monitored the auditory display had shorter reaction times, higher probability of responding, and less variability than Ss who monitored the visual display.

Spatial discrimination reversal learning was explored for mice genetically selected for high brain weight and unselected controls with lower brain weights. Control-line Ss escaped from a water maze more rapidly, but high-line Ss made fewer errors and took less trials to reach criterion on the first reversal. Control-line Ss were unable to complete more than 1 reversal, while high-line Ss all completed at least 7 reversals. This positive relation between reversal learning and brain size is consistent with comparisons among species and experiments manipulating brain size by means of drugs or surgery.

No relationship was found between isotonic strength and relative isotonic endurance. Additional support was provided by the insignificant results in the analysis of the endurance performance of the three groups based on strength level. Implications for the use of relative isotonic endurance tests in future study of perseverance were discussed.

30 smokers and 30 non-smokers were found to differ significantly on the EPPS in Change (Chg), Nurturance (Nur), Exhibition (Exh), and Deference (Def). Smokers scored higher in Change and Exhibition while non-smokers were higher in Nurturance and Deference. The differences supported previous findings regarding less social responsibility among smokers.

A technical description and circuit schematic are given in sufficient detail for fabrication of a device for presenting visual stimuli at points throughout the visual field and measuring the associated response times. The device is relatively simple and inexpensive to construct, employs transistorized logic, and features completely silent operation to avoid extraneous stimulus cues to S.

Caimans were trained to escape shock in a T-maze with either brightness cues or confounded brightness and spatial cues relevant. After criterion was reached on the confounded problem, the positions of the brightness cues were then varied for these Ss with position becoming an irrelevant cue and the color of the positive cue unchanged. Although the confounded problem was learned more quickly than the brightness problem, there was no statistically reliable difference in the over-all training required to learn the brightness problem regardless of prior training on the confounded task.

30 first graders of average ability were administered Cards 3 and 7 of the Bender-Gestalt test and 4 modifications of each. Cards judged easy were reproduced with slightly less error. Interpretation of performance was in terms of the Gestalt principle of good continuation.

Children in a Montessori preschool were administered a series of tests at the beginning of the school year and retested on the same battery 8 mo. later, at the end of the school year. The children exhibited a mean gain of about 11 points on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test IQ. They also exhibited a decline in Impuisivity and an increase in Superego scores, on the average, as measured by the Arrow-Dot Test. These longitudinal results corroborate an earlier cross-sectional analysis; and, as these results follow a prediction from Freudian theory, give indication of construct validity for the test.

A series of 11 pictures was developed to provide a method of measuring health ideation and adaptive health behavior. Responses were obtained from 31 Cub Scouts aged 8 to 10 yr. Coding procedures established for 3 dimensions, general perceptual awareness, health ideation and adaptive health behavior, proved to be highly reliable, and the pictures were found to provide internally consistent measures within each dimension.

The present study was designed to provide information concerning the extent to which startle disrupts motor performance, the rate of recovery, and characteristics of Ss who differ in susceptibility to startle. 30 Ss were trained on both reaction time and tracking tasks. Continuous recordings were taken of heart rate and skin conductance. During a subsequent period of continuous tracking, “startle” stimuli (115 db random noise) were unexpectedly presented. Results showed the recovery of tracking performance following startle to be quite rapid; performance returned to pre-stimulus levels within 15 sec. following stimulation. Contrary to several previous studies, reaction times to the startle stimuli decreased relative to nonstartle reaction times. Ss with the greatest increase in tracking error following startle were least proficient prior to startle. There was also an indication that these Ss reacted more strongly to startle, in terms of both their subjective response and heart-rate acceleration, than those Ss whose tracking was least impaired by startle. An apparent covariation between recovery curves for heart rate and tracking error was found following startle.

This report describes a patient, successfully treated by systematic desensitization, in whom all the imagery was on an emotional plane, and the patient was unable to produce any visual or auditory images. The argument is put forward that the important therapeutic factor in the desensitization procedure may be the production and subsequent elimination of evoked emotional reactions, and other forms of imagery, though extremely helpful, may possibly not be essential for desensitization to take place.

48 Ss rated four voiceless fricatives, f, s, sb, and th on 12 bipolar scales of a semantic differential. Analysis of variance revealed significant main effects and significant interaction effects for Sound × Dimension (p < .001) and Sound × Scale (p < .001). The greater sensitivity of the presumed kinesthetic scales for some sounds suggests that both the scale and the articulatory characteristics of a sound may determine whether ratings reflect primarily denotative or connotative semantic systems.

Ratings of category size were found to be affected by the normative frequency of the words representing the category with low-frequency exemplars decreasing perceived category size.

The investigation examined the effects of target velocity and angle of approach on the accuracy of intersection estimation of two moving targets. An inferred movement display was utilized in which two rows of lights, flashing serially across the display, simulated two moving targets. Five different target velocities and two angles of approach (30° and 90°) were used. The targets were displayed halfway to the actual intersection point. Ss' task was to observe the targets until they disappeared and then indicate when he thought they intersected. Each S was given 100 trials. Raw data in the form of the difference between estimated and actual intersection time were collected and converted to constant and absolute error scores for each trial. In three-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures on 2 variables, target velocity and angle of approach were significant sources of variation. Second-order and third-order interactions between angle, speed, and Ss were also statistically significant. Time estimations were converted to velocity estimates, and standard deviations of estimates were plotted against mean velocity estimates. A linear function was obtained similar to that reported by Brown (1961).

An experiment reporting evidence of one type of learning impairment in schizophrenic and brain-damaged patients was replicated. Results supported the findings in the first experiment relating to these two diagnostic groups. A random sample of patients in the experiment was selected for additional testing. The correlations between performance in the experiment and intelligence test scores and also performance on a clinical test battery for diagnosing brain injury are reported.

Four decades of dedicated research provided insight into new techniques, methods and procedures in determining qualifications of and the training required for safe motor vehicle driving.

The literature contains evidence that age and intelligence affect Trail Making Test (TMT) performance and probably its validity as a screening device for organicity. This study systematically explored the nature of these effects. The TMT and WAIS were administered to 93 brain-damaged patients and 106 control patients, ranging in age from 20 to 72 yr. The results showed that: (1) TMT performance decreased with age, as did TMT validity; (2) TMT performance increased with intelligence; and (3) Reitan's (1958) cut-off point misclassified half the control patients, the misclassification rate increasing markedly with age. The results clearly indicate the need for local age-corrected norms.

The influence of increasing the requirements of a later RT task upon the performance of an earlier RT task was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment controlled the probability of the occurrence of the second reaction signal and the second experiment manipulated the complexity of the second task by introducing alternative distractor events to the reaction signal. The results of both experiments were interpreted as supporting a shared processing capacity theory of human performance in which the allocation of ‘preparation’ or ‘concentration’ is distributed in accordance with the demands of the component tasks.

This case relates success experiences of an adult non-reader, i.e., one who scores below Grade 1.0 on standardized reading tests. The success experiences are attributed to the techniques of immediate positive feedback and the reinforcement for successive approximations, demonstrating to S that he can read.