Beck, Prazdny, and Ivry's (1984) interpretation of Metelli's theory of phenomenal transparency is reexamined here. There are no constraints, because the theory considers only balanced transparency and nothing is asserted against the existence of forms of unbalanced transparency. Experiment 4 of the present study proves that conditions of intensity are primary for complete balanced transparency and cannot be overcome if figural conditions strongly suggest transparency.The equation ex = (p-q)/(a-b) does not require further restrictions because the cases cited by Beck et al. concern nonbalanced transparency. Experiment 1 proves that figural conditions cannot be considered primary and thus be the cause of the perception of transparency. The present paper reports that, contrary to the results Beck et al. obtained in their Experiment 4, a series of experiments in which experienced subjects were used and in which estimation oftransparency was compared with predictions calculated with the ex formula gave satisfactory results. Beck et al.'s thesis, according to which ex *ex' hinders transparency whereas t*t' allows it, is confirmed. Experienced subjects and simple instructions appear to yield clearer results.However, one must keep in mind-a thing Beck et al. failed to do-that the deduction of Equations 3 and 4 is valid only in the case of the episcotister, where the as and the ts are the same in Equations I and 2. 4 where a, b, p, and q are the reflectances of the respective regions (Figure la), t is the virtual reflectance of the transparent layer T, and a and (I-a) are the proportions into which the p and q colors split in giving rise to the color of that part of region A (or B) seen through transparency, and to the transparent layer T. 3 From the system of two equations with two unknowns, the values of a and t can be obtained; that is, speed before a bicolored ground, the perceptual result is a gray transparent disk, through which the colors of the background are visible (Figure 1). Figure la indicates the symbols of the four resulting regions; that is, A and B are parts of the bicolored ground that are directly visible, and P and Q are regions where a transparent disk, T, and parts of the underlying background are perceived. But if part of one of the regions where scission is perceived is isolated with a pierced screen, scission disappears and a single fusion color, p, in the P region, or q, in the Q region, is perceived through the hole."The situation can be described by the following two equations.(1) (2) p = aa+(1-a)t q = ab+(l-a)t, Beck, Pradzny, and Ivry's (1984) paper, "The perception of transparency with achromatic colors, " starts with an exposition of the theory of transparency proposed by the senior author of this paper, which however lacks an essential part.The theory, based on Heider's (1933) theory and, restated by Koffka (1935), is that transparency is a phenomenal scission, in which a stimulation-which, if isolated, gives rise to a single color-gives rise, with scission, to the perception of two co...

In the literature, a memory advantage for bizarre items over common ones has been found only in a few studies, especially with materials prepared ad hoc by the experimenter and with free recall rather than cued recall tests. These results contrast with the widespread conviction that bizarreness helps recall. The present paper explores the role of some variables involved in the “bizarreness” effect: (1) It examines the typical self-generation procedure in which the subject is asked to create an interaction between a pair of nouns, as well as the case in which only one noun is given. Higher freedom in generating sentences appears to correspond to higher free recall of bizarre items. (2) It is shown that bizarre items must be distinguished from “unusual” ones, which have different effects on memory. (3) By contrasting groups instructed to use either imagery or verbal elaboration, it is shown that the bizarreness effect is linked to the use of imagery. Instructions to use imagery without the possibility of creating bizarre representations do not improve the recall of common items. (4) The classification of parts of sentences generated reveals that, under common instructions, one subject's choice of verb and noun is more likely to be shared by other subjects. This fact may explain the different effects found by previous research in cued and free recall. (5) The overestimation of the recallability of bizarre items appears less evident than in previous research, probably because subjects had direct experience of the difficulties met in generating bizarre images.

Existing literature on bizarreness effects in verbal learning mainly focuses on the common assumption that bizarre images are easier to recall than common ones. In so doing, however, researchers have obtained more negative than positive results. Further, among the few investigations that found this effect three used the same procedure and the same material in which a bizarre relationship between subject and object was achieved by substituting human beings for animals and vice versa. It was observed that a clear bizarreness effect may still be observed if inanimate sentences are constructed in accordance with the same principle of distorting typical relations (Expt 1). This effect remains, albeit in a milder form, when aspects of the original procedure are manipulated, such as eliminating complementary sentences (Expt 2) or abstract sentences (Expt 3) from the lists. This seems to demonstrate that the traditional opinion that bizarre images make the mnemonic task easier is, at least in part, true. Nevertheless, if one uses the procedure used by Merry & Graham (1978) and others with semantically unpredictable sentences, the bizarreness effect was attenuated and even normal sentences sometimes achieved higher scores (Expt 4). In general, these results reveal that bizarre sentences are more likely to result in better recall as regards number of nouns remembered, whereas the opposite is true as regards number of complete sentences remembered. This is consistent with the view that recall of normal sentences is facilitated by the unitization. These four experiments carried out with adult subjects demonstrate the generality of the bizarreness effect and some of the factors which contribute to it

- The law of February 8, 2006 has theoretically sanctioned the principle of parental dichotomy, putting the two parents at the same level; however the Italian judicial system often seems (to represent an optimal field to increase) to sharpen the contrast that it pretends to reduce as solutions (adapted) suitable for single, rather than for the whole family system, are often proposed. The partition of children is a specific case; they sometimes are divided among parents. In such context a particular type of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) can arise which can be defined as inter-crossed or bilateral. In this work I intend to provide useful information to characterize PAS, although still little is known and studied in Italy, through a review of the existing literature and some suggestions that are the result of my experience in the field, offering a diagnosis of the phenomenon through the observation of minor children and their families' dynamics.Key words: separation, shared confidence, Parental Alienation Syndrome