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Develops an experimental technique for investigating the effect of certain linguistic and psychological phenomena on language behavior. Latency between semantically congruent, ambiguous and vague sentences; Linguists' reliance on formal observation and introspective analyses.

Examines the relationship between the index of contingency and the concepts of mathematical communication theory. Patterns in the repetition of words within and between sentences; Applicability of mathematical communication theory to large segments of language; Anomalies in the comparative judgment of passages with large amounts of noun repetition and minimal verb repetition and passages with large amounts of verb repetition and minimal noun repetition.

This article focuses on the measurement of grammatical constraints. By means of the coefficient of constraint (D) it is possible to measure the constraint exercised by one grammatical type on another, calculating the redundancy of the nth grammatical type when only the first of the chain is known. Mathematical communication theory has been used to calculate the information transmitted by sequences of n letters. These measures of linguistic constraint are equally adjustable to the measurement of grammatical constraint: that is, the cohesion of words. One of the aspects of this cohesion is the impact of one linguistic type on another in the sentence.

This paper discusses the possible significance of different strategies in the utterance of certain Language units. In communication between individuals, the degrees of the scale will be represented by a conventional set of symbols. By counting the frequencies with which the representational symbols occur in a given utterance, one might compute the statistical information of each; this might then be compared with rite meaning intensity number corresponding to each symbol. In this manner the reaction between the statistical and the semantic information could be investigated.

The article studies the incidental learning of accessible names and definitions. An experiment was conducted to test and improve three hypotheses concerning the effects of exposing adults to varying combinations of names, definitions, and referents when the motivation to learn was at a minimum and when instructions could be easily executed. The results indicate that denotative definitions could be accurately remembered or utilized under most conditions. Responding with a connotative definition to a name was the least efficient method of learning but only in the absence of a denotative definition.

The article investigates the processes involved in the synthesis of English vowels by researchers from London, England. The chief practical aim of experimental investigations of speech has been the design of improved methods of telephone transmission. Numerous experiments have been carried out to throw further light on the relationship between the phoneme sequences of a linguistic text and the characteristics of the resulting acoustic wave and to find the rules for generating sound waves that will be recognized as a particular speech sequence. In this study, the researchers described the construction and operation of a new speech synthesizer and an account of experiments designed to establish data for the successful synthesis of English vowels is given.

The article studies the effect of the relative intensities of dichotic messages in speech shadowing. In this study, prose messages were presented simultaneously and dichotically to a subject who was required to shadow one of them. Five different relative intensities were used. The result showed that once the two messages are of equal intensity there is little further improvement in shadowing performance if the message the subject accepts is made more intense than the message the subject rejects.

The article investigates the effect of redundancy in shadowing one of two dichotic messages. Passages of prose approaching in varying degrees of statistical approximation to English were presented to subjects to shadow while normal prose which they were to disregard was presented to their other ear. It was found that the number of mistakes in shadowing varied inversely with the order of approximation to English, while the number of omissions varied inversely with the logarithm of the order of approximation. These results are discussed in the light of recent experiments on attention.

This article examines the research on learning hierarchy. The author attempted to teach seven children on how to find formulas for sums of terms in number series and suggested that this skill could not be acquired unless the learners possessed certain prerequisite skills. All the studies of learning hierarchy suffered from small sample size, imprecise specification of component elements, use of only one question per element and placing of tests at the end of the learning program or even the omission of instruction altogether according to the author.

This article examines the research on knowledge production and utilization and their relationships to one another. The development of a new realm of inquiry having significance for the field of education inevitably attracts the attention of educational researchers. Systematic inquiry into the nature and dynamics of knowledge production and utilization within the field of education appears to be in its infancy. The use of research to improve practice is frequently taken for granted without adequate knowledge of the actual relationship under which research can contribute to the improvement of practice.

This article focuses on the pervasiveness of the mass media of communication in the U.S. The tendency in the field of mass media research is increasingly toward construction of theory. Models of communication process constructed a system of communication process. The authors provided an overview of the evolution of different means of mass media communication. Communication theorists have concentrated on the processual view, pointing out that flow of information, even in the media, is not a one-way system. An interesting development is the endeavor to use information theory in explaining communications behavior.

This article focuses on communication theory, linguistics, and psycholinguistics. Communication is defined as a word that crops up with increasing frequency in educational literature. Although it could hardly be said that linguistics and psycholinguistics are merely riding the coat tails of communication theory, these fields also have received greater attention in the last few years. In order to apply the mathematics of information theory in any useful way, simple communication channels must be adopted. Interest in communication theory has led to a proliferation of models of the communication situation. References to modern structural linguistics were elaborated by the authors.

This article presents an analysis regarding the communication and utilization of knowledge. This analysis proceeds through a consecutive series of atomizations. It begin with a network, abstract a graph from it, and then regard a graph as a special kind of directed graph, namely a symmetric one. In the course of conducting a comprehensive survey of research and theory related to the diffusion an utilization of knowledge, R. Havelock was impressed by the lack of research based on precise theoretical models of communication. C. I. Hovland, in his review article on the effects of mass media, was similarly able to make effective use of the same formula in summarizing a large quantity of research, and others have made ample use of the same formula in writing books and articles and simply ordering their thoughts about the communication process. There appear to be two sets of conditions necessary to create a complete act of one-way communication. First of all, a certain set of elements must be present in the situation. A second set of conditions must be satisfied, which is called the compatibility conditions. Put simply, the elements must be brought together in a certain way. They have to be made compatible in space, time, and configuration.

It is a truism that individuals often over-estimate, in retrospect, the likelihood that they would have predicted whatever outcome has occurred. We hypothesized that when the consequences were important, one's tendency to second-guess would be especially pronounced. To test this hypothesis, the same decision was described to and judged by all Ss. However, when hearing about the decision, different groups of Ss had different information as to whether the consequences of a decision had been good or bad, and how serious these good or bad consequences had been. Two different experiments clearly demonstrated that the better the actual decision outcome was said to be, the more confident S was that he would have anticipated a positive outcome; the worse the actual decision outcome was said to be, the more confident S was that he would have anticipated a negative outcome. It was thought that our hypothesis, if demonstrated, could explain the tendency which exists for Ss to blame others more for the serious accidents than for trivial accidents. Unfortunately, however, our experiments did not replicate these earlier studies that we hoped to explain. In fact, Experiment I contradicted earlier studies by demonstrating that less responsibility was attributed to Ss for serious occurrences than for trivial ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article summarizes four experiments designed to investigate the relationship between member heterogeneity and dyadic creativity. Two kinds of heterogeneity were considered: heterogeneity in attitudes and in abilities. One of the experiments also permitted interaction of these two kinds of heterogeneity. Two contradictory hypotheses provided the point of departure for the present studies. First, it has been suggested that groups which are heterogeneous in attitudes solve problems more effectively than homogeneous groups. The other hypothesis suggests that individuals having diverse backgrounds were cognitively dissimilar. Such individuals had difficulty communicating, and were not attracted to each other. Thus, the first hypothesis suggests that creativity will be higher in heterogeneous than in homogeneous groups. The second hypothesis suggests the opposite. There is also the interaction between task, heterogeneity, and interpersonal attraction. It has been assumed that there is low interpersonal attraction in heterogeneous groups.

The article focuses on the study of organizational change. A main problem in the study of organizational change is that the environmental contexts in which organizations exist are themselves changing, at an increasing rate, and towards increasing complexity. The characteristics of organizational environments demand consideration for their own sake, if there is to be an advancement of understanding in the behavioral sciences of a great deal that is taking place under the impact of technological change, especially at the present time. This article is offered as a brief attempt to open up some of the problems, and stems from a belief that progress will be quicker if a certain extension can be made to current thinking about systems. In the behavioral sciences, the first steps in building a systems theory were taken in connection with the analysis of internal processes in organisms, or organizations, when the parts had to be related to the whole. A great deal of the thinking here has been influenced by cybernetics and information theory. though this has been used as much to extend the scope of closed-system as to improve the sophistication of open-system formulations.

The article focuses on the relation between topological communication models and small group performance in problem-solving. There is a significant positive relation between the degree of centrality of topological communication networks and the performance of the groups, except in the case of more complex problems. This means that for problem-solving groups it is important that all relevant information about the problems comes together in one person, except when the problem so difficult that the "central" person cannot solve it without the help of others in the group. Most of the group tasks that occur in an organization are of a different type: they cannot be solved by one person. but require discussion between a number of specialists who each choose, constantly, certain information out of fairly large "reservoirs" of knowledge and experience. The author attempts to explore the influence of centrality on decision-taking in a management game, played by three teams of four persons. This management game created a highly involved task situation, in which participants became very enthusiastic and determined to win the game.

The article presents a study focused on organizing theoretical formulations in information and action theory and examines the circumstances in which mass-media news workers produce reports of events for the mass audience. Four-man groups in a news-story writing task were used to study communication structure and group atmosphere in relation to oral communication, group morale, and productivity. Results of the research show that democratic groups have a higher rate of task-irrelevant communication as compared to authoritarian groups.

This article presents the thesis that schizophrenese is a language in that (1) it has a vocabulary, rules, and criteria for the application of rules; and (2) it is used as a language. Specifically, schizophrenese is a private language that is based on a private meaning system of private objects which are inner, unknown, and unshared. Although schizophrenese is a private language (or one which cannot be understood by anyone other than the source), two types of intersubjectivity are still possible: predicative joint-meanings and topical joint-meanings. A paradigm for the study of schizophrenese is given, and some practical and programmatic implications are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information regarding the sociology of instruction. Modern communication with its many facets is a prime mover in the educational process. The vehicles of mass media, especially television and radio, have revolutionized the flow of first-hand information. The events of the global world are paraded as they occur to a vast audience. A story of the living past, the present, and visions of the future are unveiled to the viewer like the pages of a book. Such experiences are vastly educational because they arouse interest, stimulate thinking, provoke discussion, and encourage reading for acquiring further knowledge. Mass communication is a powerful force and has a definite influence on culture. The wide sweep of technological and scientific progress is and will have definite social implications for the family, community, and nation. New ways of communicating ideas will emerge in the instructional process to provide a more effective picture of change and its social implications for society. The changing times necessitate educating the individual to the social implications and new meanings involved for better understanding present civilization.

This article focuses on the alternative theory of social action discussed by Murray J. Leaf in his book titled, Information and Behavior in a Sikh Village. In this book, Leaf offers a full-scale alternative theory of society and behavior. Leaf adopts a modified version of communication theory as a basis for his hypothesis. The method Leaf proposes is based on the mathematical theory of communication. Message sources are pictures of key elements of reality. The message sources of Shadipur village, India, that are described in the book are the ecology, economy, division of labor, religion, kinship and parties. The message sources are compared in terms of their relative degrees of organization, entropy and information value. One of the greatest value of this book is its theoretical and epistemological boldness. It is by no means clear whether the approach Leaf adopts can handle culture and cultural variation. This book is an important contribution to anthropological theory and to the sociology of India. He even looks at what he considers to be the deficiencies in some traditional approaches to the study of social life.

The article presents information on statistical comparison of two series of graded readers. In the search for a useful method of quantifying the difficulty level of text intended for children, a redundancy measure derived from information theory was considered. Redundancy of letters in written English is a function of the relative frequency of each letter and of the constraints that operate in the language to produce combinations of letters with vastly different frequencies. In view of the stability of these measures with a sample size of six thousand letters, it is of some interest to apply them to a comparison of two series of graded readers. The texts of three levels of two widely used series of basic, readers, Sheldon Basic Reading Series and Ginu Basic Readers, were key-punched on IBM cards, using a 28-character alphabet: the 26 letters of the English alphabet plus word mark and sentence mark. It is apparently possible to design reading texts for a given level of difficulty, since two different series show great similarity in redundancy, growth of sequential constraint, mean word-length, and mean sentence-length at each of three levels.

The article focuses on the book "Sociology and Modern Systems Theory," by Walter Buckley. This book examines various general theories in this rapidly developing field with considerable lucidity and argues that better explanations are to be derived from general systems research and communications theory. The ideas are applied in the more circumscribed area of social organizations.