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This study tested the hypothesis that heterosexuals with traditional sex role values would be less negative toward lesbians after reading a nonstereotypical description of a lesbian couple as opposed to a stereotypical description. Two experiments were conducted to assess stereotypes of lesbian couples and to test the hypothesis. Consistent with the hypothesis, traditional males showed significantly more positive attitudes toward lesbians as a result of exposure to less stereotypical depictions of couples. For nontraditional males treatments were ineffective, as expected. Counter to the hypothesis, exposure to nonstereotypical depictions of lesbian couples had no significant effect on traditional or nontraditional females' attitudes toward lesbians.

The purpose of this study was to determine which factors based in social cognitive theory are associated with risky sexual behavior in heterosexual college females. Results showed that negative attitudes toward condoms and toward involvement in a relationship were associated with less consistent condom use; frequent alcohol use preceding intercourse and low sexual satisfaction were associated with less consistent contraceptive use. Sex education on the college campus currently provides protection information only; these strategies have not proved successful. We encourage the development of more comprehensive educational strategies, which include discussion of the social cognitive factors shown here to be associated with risky sexual behavior.

Two subjects estimated the length of the central line in red and blue Müller-Lyer figures that were viewed both foveally and parafoveally. The illusion figures were defined by either lightness and hue differences between figure and ground or by a hue difference alone. For both subjects, the figures defined solely by hue produced larger illusions. Since depth-cue scaling and other cognitive factors did not cause the enlargement, it was concluded that the robust, hue-produced illusions resulted from contour interactions generated within parvocellular channels that are specialized for coding color.

The threshold for the dark interval between two flashes was used to examine differences in stimulus persistence in 72 subjects aged 20 to 79 years. The data were then combined with results from two previous studies involving children and adolescents; thus, a cross sectional, adult, life-span view of differences in the dark-interval threshold was presented. Results showed that during childhood and adolescence there is a decline in stimulus persistence as a result of decreased receptor sensitivity. In adulthood, however, the dark-interval threshold remains fairly stable until the 70s where it increases significantly. Two possible explanations for this increase in stimulus persistence in old age are discussed.

176 students in grades 2-12 were tested for visual acuity as a function of minimally resolvable red, yellow, green, and blue lines. A 3-way mixed analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the colors, with better acuity for longer wavelengths. Significant age effects as well as a sex X condition interaction were also found. Post hoc analysis revealed a significant quartic trend for age. It is argued that the differential acuity thresholds for hue and the curvilinear age trend may depend upon the coordination of the accommodation and refractive power of the eye, which are affected by differential growth rates of the lens and the axial length of the eye.

Mueller-Lyer illustrations produced by hue contrast were used to investigate age differences with participants ranging in age from 20 to 79 years. As expected, there was no age difference in the magnitude of the illusion when the Mueller-Lyer figure was produced by hue contrast. A significant main effect of hue was found, with no interaction between hue and age. These findings support Pollack's nondevelopmental explanation for age effects on Type I illusions.

The Delboeuf illusion (Type I) and Usnadze Effect (Type II) were used to investigate changes in perceptual processes in 72 female subjects, aged 20-79 years. Unlike other studies, small figures (less than 2 degrees) were presented for brief periods under fixation conditions. The magnitude of the Delboeuf illusion increased in old age, while the magnitude of the Usnadze Effect showed no change.

The purpose of this study was to investigate problem-solving ability as a function of age, sex and problem content by using 20 problems chosen from the problem-solving literature. The problems were administered without time limits to 8 males and 8 females in each of three age groups: 20--30, 40--50, 60--70. Analysis revealed that only age influenced performance with the middle-age group scoring significantly higher than the other groups. Analysis of the time required by each age group to solve the problems showed the young group required significantly less time than the other groups. Finally, the young group was seen to make more errors of commission while the older group made more errors of omission.

According to Labouvie-Vief (1985) the predominant explanatory mechanism for performance decline among the elderly incorporates a regression-oriented view of cognitive development: The present study tested the hypothesis that age-related performance decline may be explained by the quantitative changes in lower-level visual functions, such as those due to preretinal aging, which preclude the expression of intact cognitive (qualitative) processes. Thirty undergraduate female volunteers (18 to 25 years) viewed the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) under three conditions: no-filter viewing, .6 neutral-density filter viewing, and simulated-aged (yellow-filter plus .5 neutral-density filter) viewing. A one-way ANOVA revealed significant viewing condition effects for the number of items solved, the number of errors, and time-to-solution. Significant linear trends were found for levels of luminous transmittance. Results supported the hypothesis that preretinal aging appears to degrade EFT performance.

Ninety-six female college students were tested to determine the effects of hue, saturation, fundus pigmentation, and simulated aging on the magnitude of the Muller-Lyer illusion. In the first experiment, main effects for hue and saturation as well as an interaction effect between them were found to be significant. In the second experiment, filters served to simulate receptor aging by decreasing the visual sensitivity of young adults. A significant main effect of hue and an interaction effect between hue and saturation were found. However, there was no significant effect for fundus pigmentation in either experiment. Comparative analysis of the two experiments showed that only the magnitude of the illusion produced by an unsaturated blue figure decreased significantly when viewed through aging-simulation filters.

Witkin's Embedded Figures Test (EFT) was used to measure the changes with age in field dependence and problem-solving ability Qualitative data concerning problem-solving strategies and quantitative data were collected. EFT was administered to 12 females in each of the following decades: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60, 70s. All subjects were moderately to well educated, healthy, and relatively active members of the community. All had at least 20/33 corrected or uncorrected vision. An interview was held with each participant after completion of the EFT. ANOVA of time scores indicated that significantly (p less than 0.01) more time is needed to solve the items with an increase in age; a Tukey (a) test revealed a significant (p less than 0.05) increase between the 40s and 60s age groups. With an increase in age a significant (p less than 0.01) decline in the number of items solved was found. Partial correlations revealed that age is the most important factor, vis-á-vis general intelligence, visual acuity, and the personality factors measured by the Eysenck Personality Inventory. The relative stability of performance up through 49 and after 50 implies a decline in field independence rather than in higher-order cognitive processes.

A cross-sectional study comparing response time and the percentage of items correctly identified in three color vision tests (Pflügertrident, HRR-AO pseudoisochromatic plates, and AO pseudoisochromatic plates) was carried out on 72 women (12 in each decade) ranging from ages 20 to 79 years. Overall, time scores increased across the age groups. Analysis of the correctness scores indicated that the AO pseudoisochromatic plates requiring the identification of numbers was more difficult than the other tests which consisted of geometric forms or the letter E. This differential difficulty increased as a function of age. There was no indication of color defect per se which led to the conclusion that figure complexity may be the key variable determining performance. The results were similar to those obtained by Lee and Pollack (1978) in their study of the Embedded Figures Test.

This study examined the hypothesis that preretinal aging may adversely affect performance in older adults. The relationship between preretinal aging and a perceptual variable (i.e., color) was also explored. Under standard testing procedures, the (a) normal, (b) light-attenuated, and (c) simulated aged performance of 90 young women was compared to the performance of 30 elderly women, using two forms (colored or noncolored) of the Embedded Figures Test (EFT). Results revealed that young women performed significantly better than elderly women on all measures, suggesting that neither the simulation of preretinal aging nor color was a significant factor in EFT performance. Inasmuch as the present study failed to replicate Ball and Pollack (1989), the critical age-related factors in cognitive/perceptual performance have yet to be identified.

Mueller-Lyer figures produced by lightness contrast (white on black) and by hue contrast in the absence of lightness contrast (red, yellow, green, or blue on gray) were presented to subjects aged nine to adult. Contrary to Piagetian expectations, the illusion magnitudes resulting from the colored figures did not decline with age.