Psychological Research

Wist, Eugene; Susen, Paul

doi: 10.1007/BF00424650pmid: 4725978

Evidence is presented that the degree of simultaneous contrast produced by the bisecting line in the Koffka ring is greatly lessened by varying the perceived depth interval between this line and the Koffka figure. The retinal disparity between the line and the figure was varied to produce this effect. The slight lateral displacements of the bisecting line in the monocular images themselves necessary to produce retinal disparity with binocular viewing had no effect on the magnitude of simultaneous contrast. Interpretations based on processes operating at the retinal level such as lateral inhibition level are not supported by this finding. The results are interpreted in terms of the adjacency principle.

Park, Tschang

doi: 10.1007/BF00424651pmid: N/A

Two experiments were conducted with chaining paradigm in which three lists were differentiated in semantic organization. In Experiment I, chaining (A-B, B-C, A-C), pseudo-chaining (A-B, B'-C, A-C) and non-chaining (A-B, D-C, A-C) conditions produced no difference in the performance on the A-C list in Stage III and A-B recall in Stage IV was the same for all conditions, corresponding to the same performance on the A-B list in Stage I. The findings were confirmed by Experiment II in which two types of mediators (preposition versus contentive) were used in chaining paradigm. No evidence of mediated facilitation was found. The results were discussed with regard to whether mediation process could provide an adequate explanatory device of language acquisition process.

Wagenaar, W.

doi: 10.1007/BF00424652pmid: 4725979

Two basic conditions for the application of methods provided by signal detection theory are that the subject's response criterion and sensitivity remain stable during a series of presentations. It is experimentally shown that these conditions are significantly violated. This results in an average underestimation of d', amounting to 8 to 10 % on the average, but with large individual differences.

Meili, Richard; Hürsch, Luzius

doi: 10.1007/BF00424653pmid: N/A

In the factorial analysis of a battery of 40 tests various rotations directed by certain hypotheses were performed and the basic factors as formerly defined by Meili partially reappeared. There were no indications of other, as yet undefined conditions. However, it is not possible to match in an unequivocal way the psychologically defined factors with a mathematical solution. As an explanation the hypothesis is proposed that mathematical factors can correspond to interaction of the basic conditions. Conditions related to the material appear rather clearly and a new hypothesis is suggested to deal with them.

Feger, H.; Kluck, M.; Westhoff, K.

doi: 10.1007/BF00424654pmid: N/A

In a model of conflict behavior Feger and Sorembe (1972) recently explained the relationships found between dependent variables in decision-making situations by assuming an underlying anticipation process. The model implied for example that the decision time is a function of an additive combination of the time spent anticipating the consequences for each of the alternatives in conflict. By applying Bechtels (1971) scaling model it was tested whether the assumption of additive effects of the alternatives was correct. 140 majors in psychology acted as Ss in real conflicts, the alternatives of which were related to a new examination regulation.

Scheerer, Eckart

doi: 10.1007/BF00424655pmid: 4725980

The identification of a briefly presented test stimulus is impaired when the test stimulus is followed by a masking stimulus consisting of random contours. Two theories have been proposed to account for this effect (backward masking by visual noise). According to interruption theory, the time which is available for test stimulus processing is limited by the onset of the masking stimulus. According to integration theory, test stimulus and masking stimulus are combined in a single percept where the test stimulus is degraded by the contours of the masking stimulus. A review of the methods used to decide between the two theories permits the conclusion that backward masking by visual noise requires a two-factor theory: integration for “short” (less than about 100 msec) and interruption for “long” test stimulus-masking stimulus asynchronies. It is shown that evidence for interruption can only be obtained when processing load is used as a converging operation. Finally, some approaches to the measurement of processing rate under backward masking are discussed.