Confounding of sources of variation in factor-analytic techniques.

Illustrates a statistical model which is a 2-way analysis of variance model which requires that factor-analytic techniques be used to decompose the interaction parameters. Factor-analytic techniques are commonly applied directly to matrices which contain a grand mean and/or row and/or column effects in addition to row * column interaction. Each factor obtained from such an analysis will generally account for variation due to all sources of variation present in the initial matrix. Some ways in which such confounding of sources of variation causes difficulties in making valid interpretations of factors are discussed. Special attention is given to the problem of describing individual differences in patterns of performance on a set of measurements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some sources of variance in skin conductance.

Investigated factors that might contribute to the variance associated with skin conductance in 30 Whites and 11 Blacks (aged 20–39 yrs). Using dorsal and palmar measures of skin reflectance on the hand, psychometric variables, electrodermal indices, and heart rate, Blacks were found to have lower levels of skin conductance than Whites. There were no differences in heart rate or in self-report measures of arousal between the groups, and the contribution of personality variables to skin conductance variance was, in part, anomalous. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some sources of divisiveness among psychologists.

"Psychology is suffering from growing sociopolitical schism in its ranks." Major lines of cleavage occur between psychologists who are labeled as scientists as opposed to others labeled as practitioners. This development is irrational and destructive to psychology. 3 factors are involved: "a social process, a political conflict, and a not widely understood methodology-related clash of 2 subcultures." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensory deprivation versus sensory variation.

Compared verbal and physiological reactions to sensory deprivation (SD) and extreme sensory variation (SV). 22 male undergraduates were confined to a cubicle for 8 hr. in each condition on 2 different occasions. 2 other 8-hr sessions were spent in a relatively normal, nonconfined condition. Ss found SD more boring, dislikable, and anxiety and depression provoking than SV. More unreality stress was reported after SD. However, more autonomic activation was found in SV. Both SD and SV produced more hostility, somatic complaints, and adrenocortical output than control conditions. Trait anxiety was associated with stress response to both conditions. Subjective stress is associated with a condition, SD, which produces less than optimal arousal. Confinement may produce hostility and adrenocortical activation at either extreme of sensory variation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some sources of variance in "accurate empathy" ratings.

Recorded the initial therapy interviews of 8 psychotherapists with 54 inpatients. Interviews were rated on the accurate empathy scale by 2 raters. Estimates of the consistency of therapists from 1 segment to another within the same session and from one patient to the next suggest that accurate empathy may not be a stable quality of the therapist, as is usually assumed, but instead may reflect a dyadic or relationship variable. Thus, the usual method of assessing the interrater reliability of the scale using the number of patient-therapist combinations rather than the number of therapists alone may be defensible in spite of recent criticisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A "freeloading" effect: Changes in response rate following non-contingent food reward.

Trained 82 male albino rats to barpress on an operant schedule. Ss were then given noncontingent reward training with the bar removed, and retested on the barpressing response. In each of the 4 experiments, rates of responding were generally depressed following noncontingent rewards on either VI or FI schedules. Reward schedules during barpressing affected the depression effect very little. Several hypotheses were tested in the last 2 studies, but none were supported by the data. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural variation in verbal versus spatial neuropsychological function across the life span.

Established culture-invariant measures are needed for cross-cultural assessment of verbal and visuospatial speed of processing and working memory across the life span. In this study, 32 younger and 32 older adults from China and from the United States were administered numerically based and spatially based measures of speed of processing and working memory. Chinese superiority on the numerically based tasks was found for younger adults. Age and increasing task demands diminished this cultural effect, as predicted by the framework proposed by D. C. Park, R. Nisbett, and T. Hedden (1999). However, the visuospatial measures of both working memory and speed of processing did not differ cross-culturally for either age group. The authors concluded that these visuospatial measures provide culture-invariant estimates of cognitive processes in East Asian and Western cultures, but that numerically based tasks show evidence of cultural and linguistic biases in performance levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "hidden observer" phenomenon in hypnosis: Some additional findings.

23 highly hypnotizable undergraduates (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility) underwent 2 specially constructed 7-item hypnotic inductions. Over the 14 items, the main finding was of a relationship between E. R. Hilgard's (1973, 1977, 1979) "hidden observer" effect and 2 aspects of hypnotic age regression. Ss reporting a hidden observer experienced duality during regression to age 5, in which they were aware of being both adult and child. When asked to write a complex sentence, most did so, usually without spelling errors. The Ss not reporting this effect experienced quasi-lateral age regression in which they had the exclusive feeling of being 5 yrs old, with no sense of an adult identity. Most of these Ss were unable to write the same complex sentence when requested to during age regression. The study replicated Hilgard's finding of the hidden observer phenomenon in terms of its incidence and obtained similar verbal reports from Ss experiencing it. At the same time, the results suggest that a neodissociation account of hypnosis may need some modifications to accommodate these additional findings. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some determinants of milk ingestion in suckling rats.

Eight experiments were conducted to examine several possible determinants and controls of milk intake in 10-day-old preweanling Sprague-Dawley rats. Results indicate that while the amount of milk the mother provides is a major determinant of milk consumption, pups will individually adjust their intake in response to certain treatments. Deprived pups ingested more milk than nondeprived littermate controls if given access to enough milk. Intragastric intubations of skimmed milk or distilled water reduced milk intake; heavy cream or isotonic saline did not. Injections of polyethylene glycol or formalin, which produced hypovolemia, increased milk consumption, and hypertonic saline decreased it. Results indicate that preweanling rats are behaviorally responsive to certain changes in body fluids and suggest that milk intake involves more than an invariant reflex. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some aspects of the variation of the strain anisotropy in titanium

Strain anisotropy in commercial purity titanium was studied between 77° and 973°K using the technique of Rittenhouse and Picklesimer. Both longitudinal and transverse tensile specimens were used that were machined from a plate with a strong alignment of the basal planes of the grains parallel to the rolling plane. The contractile strain along the transverse plate direction was always larger than that parallel to the rolling plane normal. The strain anisotropy was greatest at the highest temperature. With decreasing temperature it became smaller at an ever increasing rate. At 973°K the strain anisotropy was strain independent. At lower temperatures it decreased with increasing strain. It is believed that deformation twinning can account for most of the temperature and strain dependence of the strain anisotropy. Quantitative microstructure studies show good correspondence between changes in the volume fraction of twins and changes in the strain anisotropy. Transverse specimens exhibited a greater degree of strain anisotropy, and this is consistent with the original texture of the titanium plate used in this investigation.     

Effects of using high- versus low-performing job incumbents as sources of job-analysis information.

We investigated the relation between incumbent performance level and job-analysis information using three different methods. Separate groups of high- and low-performing incumbents generated lists of tasks and of knowledges, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for the job of youth officer for a large metropolitan police force. These lists were virtually the same for all groups. In addition, those tasks and KSAs omitted by any of the groups were found to be unimportant in later ratings. Group differences in the ratings of the inventories on a number of scales as well as the ratings of the 18 cognitive Fleishman Ability Scales by the entire incumbent population (N?=?179) and their supervisors (N?=?9) were examined. The individual scales were factor analyzed, and discriminant analyses were applied to the factor scores to identify any differences in the ratings of high and low performers and supervisors. No differences were found. The limitations of this study are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rejoinder to Tucker's "Comments on 'Confounding of sources of variation in factor-analytic techniques.' "

Reveals that L. R. Tucker's (see 43:2) 2nd rotated factor confounds variation due to pocket vs. wrist watch preferences and variation due to quality preferences. The factor-analytic variation (FANOVA) model does not assume that stimulus main effects represent fundamental psychological constructs. Nor does it make assumptions regarding the presence or absence of general tendencies or individual differences in the data. It describes these aspects of the data separately. Since Tucker's identities break down in most actual applications, the differences between the models are not oridinarily reduced simply to a matter of preference as to which way the mean responses are to be presented. When the intent is specifically to describe individual differences, the FANOVA analysis is more parsimonious and straightforward than analysis of original measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some determinants of a natural food aversion in Norway rats.

Adult male Long-Evans rats were permitted to feed on the carcasses of adult male rodents, freshly sacrificed by CO? asphyxiation. In a 2-choice preference test (Exp I), hungry Ss were offered 1 conspecific and 1 house mouse, the pair of carcasses being either intact or skinned. 18 Ss offered intact carcasses fed on the mouse or on neither carcass, but 18 Ss offered skinned carcasses fed indiscriminately, usually on both carcasses. In Exp II, 10 hungry Ss that earlier had observed a cagemate feeding on intact conspecific carcasses fed more readily on a similar carcass during a single-choice test than did 8 controls. In Exp II, 20 food-deprived Ss (96 hrs) fed more readily and consumed more tissue from an intact conspecific carcass than did 20 nondeprived Ss. It is concluded that the aversion to feeding on the intact carcass of a freshly sacrificed adult conspecific is deprivation dependent and is mediated by chemoreceptive stimuli from the skin and/or fur. The aversion is diminished by social facilitation. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

连铸方坯中心线凝固行为波动现象及变化规律

连铸坯中心线区域钢液的凝固行为与中心偏析缺陷的形成及控制密切相关。基于中碳钢连铸方坯纵断面的实际凝固组织,以中心偏析点内部二次枝晶间距计算局部冷却速率,揭示了铸坯中心线局部冷却速率的波动特征。结合连铸三维凝固模型,研究了铸坯中心线固相率波动引起局部冷却速率波动并最终影响铸坯中心组织和性能的均匀性的机理;对不同工况铸坯中心线固相率和局部冷却速率波动的周期性进行了分析对比,提出了连铸坯凝固终点位置的周期性波动机理并得到了不同拉速下凝固终点波动距离的判断方程,对于所选连铸方坯,凝固终点波动距离为25.0～27.5 mm;在此基础之上,研究了拉速对中心线固相率波动程度的影响规律,并分析了凝固终点波动距离变化对末端电磁搅拌(final electromagnetic stirring, F-EMS)和轻压下(mechanical soft reduction, MSR)作用均匀性的影响。结果表明,拉速由1.8 m/min提高至2.4 m/min后,虽然液相穴长度增加可能增加整体偏析程度,但铸坯中心线固相率波动程度降低了20%,这有利于减轻中心线偏析沿拉坯方向的波动性,提高铸坯中心质量的均匀性。并...     

Coding of hierarchical versus linear pattern structure in rats and humans.

In 3 Exps, rats and humans learned serial patterns composed of 24, 30, or 36 items. Patterns had a 2-, 3-, or 4-level hierarchical rule structure. In Exp 1 and 2, patterns had either perfect hierarchical structure or 2 modified chunks that violated hierarchical structure, thus producing linear structure. For both rats and humans, pattern structure predicted pattern learning difficulty and also the nature and relative frequency of errors. Both treated chunks that were inconsistent with hierarchical structure as violation chunks, and made errors that reflected their "tendency to regularize the perception of an irregular pattern" (F. Restle & B. L. Burnside, 1972). The results support the view that rats can abstract and encode a representation of multilevel hierarchical structure in serial patterns in much the same way as humans do in analogous tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discriminability and the contrafreeloading phenomenon.

According to previous reports of the contrafreeloading phenomenon, animals will work for a reward, and sometimes work quite hard, in the presence of the same reward available freely. Results of the present 2 experiments with a total of 21 male Holtzman albino rats suggest that the contrafreeloading data are explainable with a basic learning principle, discriminability, and its accompanying response decrement. For some Ss the change in stimulus conditions with introduction of free water was made more highly discriminable by a change in earned reinforcement conditions. The other Ss remained on the same earned reinforcement conditions under which all the Ss had been trained. Findings demonstrate that the discriminability between the conditions of working and freeloading was a most important factor contributing to the continued responding in the presence of free rewards. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flow-cytogenetics: sources of DNA content variation among euploid individuals

We have studied possible sources of resting human lymphocyte DNA content variation among euploid males and females as determined by flow-microfluorometry. A major source of variation arises from instrumental instability, most notably flow-rate changes. This variation can be detected and minimized by the use of chicken erythrocytes as an internal standard. A second source of variation arises from differences in rates of lymphocyte stain uptake. The lowest coefficients of variation (0.3%) among individuals of like sex, and optimal distinction between sexes, were achieved after exposing lymphocyte samples for 24 h to the hypotonic staining solution. Four males and females with either low or high relative DNA contents within their respective sexes showed correspondingly divergent values upon repeat venipuncture. Some of the observed interindividual DNA content variation might therefore reflect truly genetic differences. For two male samples with repeatedly divergent DNA content values, preliminary C-banding of conventional metaphases suggest corresponding differences in constitutive heterochromatin.     

Systematic analysis of the detention phenomenon in mice.

Results of an experiment with 1,033 female CF1 albino mice indicate that detaining Ss for some time in the safe compartment of the apparatus in which they had been conditioned decreased the level of the passive-avoidance CR. The extent of the decrease varied (a) as a direct function of the duration of the detention period, and (b) as an inverse function of the time interval between detention and learning trial and of the strength of the CR. After detention the CR, though weakened, underwent the usual process of incubation. When Ss were exposed to 2 periods of detention, the 2nd period did not produce any additional amnesic effect, although it would have been effective if Ss had been exposed to it alone. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some implications of self versus ideal-self congruence on the revised Adjective Check List.

The Adjective Check List was administered to 490 American men, 216 American women, 600 Italian men, and 178 Italian women to elicit both self and ideal-self portraits. An abbreviated measure of congruence had a median correlation of .88 with a total distance measure based on all 37 scales, and the 2 indexes had almost identical patterns of relations to other tests (i.e., the California Psychological Inventory and MMPI) and observational data. Ss with large self–ideal discrepancies were characterized as prone to anxiety and self-doubt and as lacking in interpersonal skills. Ss with small discrepancies were characterized as socially poised, confident, and adept in their dealings with problems of everyday living. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)