TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE: NOTES ON THE ISRAEL ELECTIONS OF 1988

The Israeli elections of 1988 split the Jewish vote evenly betweenthe two major parties (almost 80% of the electorate), thus reinforcingthe pattern established in the mid-70's when the Likud overcamethe entrenched Labour lead of the '50s and '60s. Survey resultsshow that both parties strongly depend on ethnic support: morethan two-thirds of those of European origin vote Labour, andmore than two thirds of those of African/Asian origin vote Likud.That the campaign ignored these pluralistic interests in favorof issues of peace and security helps explain the surprisingshow of strength (15%) by the ethnic-religious parties. Thatthe crass demands of these fundamentalist parties proved unacceptableboth to Likud and Labour helps explain the reconstitution ofa national-unity coalition. During the election, a majorityof the electorate disapproved of the prospect of another Governmentof the two parties, but became reconciled, apparently, followingthe post-election bargaining.     

Children's memories for painful cancer treatment procedures: implications for distress

Children (ages 3 to 18, N = 55) diagnosed with leukemia were tested for their memories of lumbar punctures (LPs), a repeated and painful part of the cancer treatment protocol. Memory for both event details and the child's emotional responses was assessed one week after the LP. Children of all ages displayed considerable accuracy for event details, and accuracy increased with age. Overall recall accuracy for event details and emotional responses was similar. Recall among children given oral Versed was similar to that among children not given Versed. Finally, higher distress predicted greater exaggerations in negative memory 1 week later (although controlling for age weakened this relationship); moreover, greater exaggerations in negative memory predicted higher distress at a subsequent LP. These results indicate that children's memories play an important role in their experience of distress during repeated stressful events.     

A Combination of Vocal f0 Dynamic and Summary Features Discriminates between Three Pragmatic Categories of Infant-Directed Speech

To assess the relative contribution of dynamic and summary features of vocal fundamental frequency (f₀) to the statistical discrimination of pragmatic categories in infant-directed speech, 49 mothers were instructed to use their voice to get their 4-month-old baby's attention, show approval, and provide comfort. Vocal f₀ from 621 tokens was extracted using a Computerized Speech Laboratory and custom software. Dynamic features were measured with convergent methods (visual judgment and quantitative modeling of f₀ contour shape). Summary features were f₀ mean, standard deviation, and duration. Dynamic and summary features both individually and in combination statistically discriminated between each of the pragmatic categories. Classification rates were 69% and 62% in initial and cross-validation DFAs, respectively.     

Testing the translational-symmetry hypothesis of abstract-concept learning in pigeons

The translational-symmetry hypothesis of abstract-concept learning was tested in a same/different (S/D) task with pairs of pictures. The translational-symmetry hypothesis proposes that subjects discriminate same trials by the simultaneous repetition of features in the two pictures (and different trials by the lack of feature repetition). Pigeons that had learned a simultaneous S/D task were tested with delays between the two pictures to remove emergent perceptual cues. In Experiment 1, we tested delays of 0 and 1 sec. The results did not show the accuracy decrease expected according to the translational-symmetry hypothesis. In Experiment 2, we expanded the delays to 2 and 6 sec. Even at the longest delay, there was no evidence of the precipitous performance decline or default strategy that would be predicted by translational symmetry. The results provide evidence against translational symmetry (or other perceptually emergent features) that might control these pigeons’ performance in our two-item S/D task.