Charles Richman | Wake Forest University (original) (raw)

Papers by Charles Richman

Bulletin of the psychonomic society, Mar 1, 1977

This report investigates those factors, necessary for, or facilitative of, stimulus organization.... more This report investigates those factors, necessary for, or facilitative of, stimulus organization. Part I considers three experimentally controlled factors: (1) stimuli; (2) responses; and (3) temporal organization of stimuli. The results revealed that temporal specing accounted for different findings. When the intertrial interval (ITI) was present chunking occurred, however, this was not the case when there was no ITI. Part II investigates the nature of the organization changes observed in Part I, by use of the free recall clustering technique. Clustering results were in the appropriate direction, while recall pointed to an incompatibility of recognition and recall tasks. Thus the nature of the stimulus organization in Part I remains unclear. Part III investigates four individual difference factors (channel capacity, immediate memory, span of attention, and intelligence) and their influence on S-R learning and stimulus organization. Results showed that none of the factors had any effect on S-R learning. The data from the study is suggestive of the role of these factors in concept formation. (ER)

Contemporary Educational Psychology, 1987

The present study was conducted to assess the psychological effects of success/ failure on the No... more The present study was conducted to assess the psychological effects of success/ failure on the North Carolina Minimum Competency Test (MCT). Measures of self-esteem decreased and neuroticism and apprehension increased following knowledge of MCT failure. However, when high-academic-risk students passed the MCT, indices of dominance/assertiveness increased without corresponding changes in self-esteem, neuroticism, or apprehension. These data were discussed in terms of their relationship to current educational policies as they impact on high school students.

PubMed, 1985

This study assessed the effects of gender, race, and social class on the general and area-specifi... more This study assessed the effects of gender, race, and social class on the general and area-specific self-esteem of high school students. One hundred and ninety-five high school students served as subjects in a 2 (gender: male, female) X 2 (race: black, white) X 3 (social class: low, middle and high) factorial design. The Rosenberg General Self-Esteem, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept, and the Brookover Self-Concept of Ability and School Achievement scales were the measures of either general or specific self-esteem. Females, whites, and lower social class adolescents were consistently lower in their self-esteem scores than were males, blacks, and upper social class teenagers, respectively. White females were found to be lower in general and happiness self-esteem than all other gender by race subgroups. High SES white students were lower on the happiness and behavior self-esteem measures than black students and white middle-class students. Black males and white females were less confident in their school ability than were black females and white males.

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dec 1, 1979

What might a theory of mental imagery look like, and how might one begin formulating such a theor... more What might a theory of mental imagery look like, and how might one begin formulating such a theory? These are the central questions addressed in the present paper. The first section outlines the general research direction taken here and provides an overview of the empirical foundations of our theory of image representation and processing. Four issues are considered in succession, and the relevant results of experiments are presented and discussed. The second section begins with a discussion of the proper form for a cognitive theory, and the distinction between a theory and a model is developed. Following this, the present theory and computer simulation model are introduced. This theory specifies the nature of the internal representations (data structures) and the processes that operate on them when one generates, inspects, or transforms mental images. In the third, concluding, section we consider three very different kinds of objections to the present research program, one hinging on the possibility of experimental artifacts in the data, and the others turning on metatheoretical commitments about the form of a cognitive theory. Finally, we discuss how one ought best to evaluate theories and models of the sort developed here.

Developmental Psychology, 1972

Employed a set of 8 16-point nonsense figures in a 2 * 3 * 3 factorially designed experiment with... more Employed a set of 8 16-point nonsense figures in a 2 * 3 * 3 factorially designed experiment with 360 undergraduates. The design consisted of 2 types of shift training (reversal and half-reversal shift), 3 levels of original training (undertraining, criterion, and overtraining), and 3 types of ITIs (2 groups given a .6-sec interstimulus interval and a 20-sec ITI and

Social Behavior and Personality, 1984

General and area specific self-esteem scores of high school students were found to be inversely r... more General and area specific self-esteem scores of high school students were found to be inversely related to indices of maladaptive behavior. The specific maladaptive behaviors that were associated with self-esteem varied as a function of gender and social class. Implications for the possible causal relationship between self-esteem and maladaptive behaviors as they relate to gender and social class are discussed.

Journal of experimental psychology, 1968

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1980

When Kosslyn, Ball, and Reiser asked subjects to scan a memorized picture, they found a strong po... more When Kosslyn, Ball, and Reiser asked subjects to scan a memorized picture, they found a strong positive linear relationship between distance scanned and reaction time. However, more recent research has suggested that this result may be as much a function of the demand characteristics of the experiment as a reflection of any structural properties of the image. To further test this possibility with complex stimuli, college subjects were either presented with Kosslyn's pictorial stimuli or verbal descriptions of same in a "nonexperiment" and were asked to predict their scanning times. The subjects were able to produce high linear correlations between scanning distance and predicted scanning time. This result is consistent with a demand characteristics explanation of the correlation between distance and reaction time that is obtained in actual image-scanning studies.

Journal of experimental psychology, Nov 1, 1976

The difficulty of four binary conceptual rules (conjunctive, disjunctive, conditional, and bicond... more The difficulty of four binary conceptual rules (conjunctive, disjunctive, conditional, and biconditional) was assessed using the rule-learning paradigm in a variety of stimulus populations. Decreasing the number of unique stimuli representing each truth-table class had a facilitative effect on learning the conditional and biconditional rules. Manipulating the relative frequency of truth-table classes changed the difficulty of particular truth-table classes but had no effect on overall measures of performance. It was suggested that either increasing the occurrence of a difficult stimulus or simplifying that stimulus facilitates learning. Furthermore, changes in relative frequency affect the stability of preexperimental biases, and changes in complexity affect choice of strategy. Based on the finding that rule learning was a function of preexperimental bias, a multibiased modification of the Sawyer-Johnson rule-difficulty model was developed and tested. An additional finding was that preexperimental bias may be affected by the specific relevant attributes used to assess it.

Psychonomic science, Jun 1, 1967

Psychonomic science, May 1, 1968

Intersubject and intrasubject variability in the consumption of alcohol I Ad lib alcohol selectio... more Intersubject and intrasubject variability in the consumption of alcohol I Ad lib alcohol selection level was shown to remain quite stable within individual rats during 26 weeks of access to 6% EtOH and water. lntersubject variability was high and did not alter systematically over time. The results were taken as contradictory to the hypothesis that history of exposure to, or consumption of, alcohol affects the subsequent level of alcohol consumption, but to indicate that pre-experimental variables strongly affect consumption rate.

Psychological Reports, Dec 1, 1990

22 male American and 24 male French college students' knowledge of AIDS scores were equiv... more 22 male American and 24 male French college students' knowledge of AIDS scores were equivalent on a currently constructed 18-item questionnaire. Both groups answered more than 75% of the questions correctly. The American students' homophobic bias and reaction scores were higher than those of the French students on a 43-item homophobic questionnaire. The latter findings were interpreted as consistent with reduced effects of conservative, orthodox religion in France and the stability of traditional religious influence in America over the past three decades. No relation was found between knowledge of AIDS and homophobia in these small conveniently available samples.

Designed to make disabled individuals aware of their own potential entrepreneurial capacities, th... more Designed to make disabled individuals aware of their own potential entrepreneurial capacities, this self-help manual provides information to help potential entrepreneurs make appropriate small business decisions and to find needed information and resources. Following a discussion of entrepreneurship as an employment option, various topics relevant to the disabled entrepreneur are covered, including entrepreneurial success stories, entrepreneurship and the self-help movement, and home-based entrepreneurs. Examined in a section on small business opportunities for disabled workers are the small business climate, the disabled worker, and special government help. Following a profile of the entrepreneur, the entrepreneurial decision and decision-making help are addressed. In a section devoted to developing and organizing a business enterprise the following topics are discussed: gathering ideas for business opportunities, the business outlook, entrepreneurial business opportunity areas for the 1980s, and forms of business organization. Guidelines are set forth for developing a business plan. Outlined next are types and sources of public and private assistance. Completing the guide is a section on locating a new enterprise, determining capital needs, and getting good help. Appended to the manual are lists of Small Business Administration regional offices, state vocational rehabilitation programs, and university business development centers. (MN)

Psychological Reports, 1970

Brightness cues as a determinant of spontaneous alternation behavior were investigated in a maze ... more Brightness cues as a determinant of spontaneous alternation behavior were investigated in a maze that has been assumed to induce high probability visual attention. Rats were shown to demonstrate above chance level alternation behavior to brightness stimuli; spatial cues had no effect on alternation rates.

Current Psychology, Dec 1, 1986

Factors affecting spontaneous alternation behavior (SAB) in animals, for example, age, gender and... more Factors affecting spontaneous alternation behavior (SAB) in animals, for example, age, gender and species studied; type of apparatus and cues employed; and neuro-anatom-ical, neuro-chemical and motivational status of the organism, were reviewed. Despite a myriad of experiments ...

Journal of Special Education, Apr 1, 1986

High school students who had failed the North Carolina Minimal Competency Test (MCT) were adminis... more High school students who had failed the North Carolina Minimal Competency Test (MCT) were administered a battery of psychological tests prior to and following a 10-week remedial training program. Those students who were given reattribution and success-only training and a control group of students with a teacher's aide were more likely to pass the MCT than the regular feedback and control with no aide groups. Furthermore, in the former three groups of students, self-esteem scores were higher and anxiety and depression scores lower than the scores in the latter two groups of students. The use of specific remediation programs for at-risk students are discussed.

Journal of experimental psychology, Nov 1, 1970

Four groups of rats were either undertrained, criterion trained, overtrained, or strictly overtra... more Four groups of rats were either undertrained, criterion trained, overtrained, or strictly overtrained in a T maze on a simple spatial discrimination problem prior to reversal learning. As a function of increased preshift training levels animals reversed the problem in less days, thereby demonstrating the overtraining reversal effect. The speed of reversal learning was found to be inversely related to the level of spontaneous alternation behavior during the initial stages of reversal training.

Physiology & Behavior, Mar 1, 1972

Effects of bulbectomization, strain~ and gentling on emotionality and exploratory behavior in rat... more Effects of bulbectomization, strain~ and gentling on emotionality and exploratory behavior in rats. PrIYStOL. BEHAV. 8(3) 447-452, 1972.-The present research was concerned with the effects of olfactory bulb removal, strain, and gentling on emotionality, exploration and spontaneous alternation behavior. Whereas, emotionality and open-field ambulation were found to be increased; exploration behavior was reduced following bulbectomization. Strain differences were also observed. Within a broad range of emotionality, bulbectomization was not found to adversely effect the level of spontaneous alternation behavior.

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Aug 1, 1972

Two experiments were conducted with rats. The first study showed that in the T-maze a brightness ... more Two experiments were conducted with rats. The first study showed that in the T-maze a brightness discrimination learning problem was more difficult than a spatial learning problem, but in a Ross-maze a brightness problem was less difficult than a spatial task. T-maze brightness and Ross-maze spatial tasks were found to be of equal difficulty. In the second experiment rats were trained either on a brightness or spatial discrimination reversal problem in the Ross-maze. It was found that overtraining facilitated reversal performance in the spatial task but not in the brightness problem. The theoretical implications of these results were discussed.