Three experiments examined the nature of individual differences and the role of advance information in reading comprehension. Subjects read short passages, in some cases preceded by a given type of advance organizer, then recalled the information therein, and finally sorted ideas from the passage into groups of similar ideas. Parameter estimates for the Kintsch and van Dijk (1978) model, together with a derived measure for the idea-sorting task, showed that good readers were better at recalling propositions and organizing ideas than poorer readers. When the effects of different types of advance organizers were considered, it was found that good readers usually showed greater recall of detail when given either type of advance organizer, whereas poorer readers displayed enhanced recall of detail only for a particular type of advance organizer.
An experiment to test an encounter group assumption that touching increases interpersonal attraction was conducted. Twenty-one college women were randomly assigned to a touch or no-touch condition. In the touch condition the subject was paired with an experimental accomplice who joined her in three bogus ESP experiments, the last of which involved mutual touching for 11o seconds. The no-touch condition was identical, save touching. Subjects then evaluated the experimental accomplice on four dimensions. A comparison of total evaluation scores verified the hypothesis: subjects who touched the accomplice perceived her as a more attractive person than those who did not touch her.
Two experiments were conducted to determine if discontinuity detection limits the visual integration of two stimuli presented successively. If this is the case, then presenting two dim stimuli should permit better integration than presenting two bright stimuli. In Experiment 1, five observers named the position of the missing dot in a 5 x 5 dot matrix. Twelve randomly selected dots were presented in each of two stimulus presentations. The stimuli varied in intensity in a ratio of 15:1 and stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) varied between 50 msec and 80 msec. At the longer SOAs, presenting two bright stimuli led to a higher percentage of correct responses than presenting two dim stimuli. There was no difference between those conditions at the shorter SOAs. In Experiment 2, 12 naive observers rated the amount of integration of the same stimuli on a 7-point scale, under the same presentation conditions. Rated integration was higher with two dim stimuli than with two bright stimuli. These apparently contradictory results are explained in terms of Hawkins and Shulman's distinction between two kinds of visual persistence. It is concluded that subjects can respond to integration and discontinuity detection separately. No evidence was found that discontinuity detection limits the integration.
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