A left hemisphere, but not right hemispace, advantage for tactual simultaneity judgments

Hemispheric asymmetries for tactile simultaneity judgments were investigated in 34 dextral adults. Pairs of vibrotactile stimuli with simultaneous or successive onsets were delivered unilaterally to the left or right hand. Participants made a forced-choice, bipedal response, indicating whether a stimulus was simultaneous or successive. The effect of hemispatial attentional biases was investigated, using ipsilateral (arms uncrossed) and contralateral (arms crossed) hand placements. Trials presented to the right hand were associated with fewer errors and a trend for faster response times than were those presented to the left hand. There was no asymmetry in response bias. Manipulations of hemispace did not affect the right hand advantage. These results confirm the existence of a left hemisphere temporal-processing advantage but fail to demonstrate that the asymmetry is the result of a rightward attentional bias. The implications of these results for absolute and relative models of hemispheric specialization are discussed.     

Sequential processing in hemispheric word recognition: the impact of initial letter discriminability on the OUP naming effect

The cerebral hemispheres have been proposed to engage different word recognition strategies: the left hemisphere implementing a parallel, and the right hemisphere, a sequential, analysis. To investigate this notion, we asked participants to name words with an early or late orthographic uniqueness point (OUP), presented horizontally to their left (LVF), right (RVF), or both fields of vision (BVF). Consistent with past foveal research, Experiment 1 produced a robust facilitatory effect of early OUP for RVF/BVF presentations, indicating the presence of sequential processes in lexical retrieval. The effect was absent for LVF trials, which we argue results from the disadvantaged position of initial letters of words presented in the LVF. To test this proposition, Experiment 2 assessed the discriminability of various letter positions in the visual fields using a bar-probe task. The obtained error functions highlighted the poor discriminability of initial letters in the LVF and latter letters in the RVF. To confirm that this asymmetry in initial letter acuity was responsible for the absent OUP effect for LVF presentations, Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 1 using vertical stimulus presentations. Results indicated a marked facilitatory effect of early OUP across visual fields, supporting our contention that the lack of OUP effect for LVF presentations in Experiment 1 resulted from poor discriminability of the initial letters. These findings confirm the presence of sequential processes in both left and right hemisphere word recognition, casting doubt on parallel models of word processing.     

Assessing risk for violence among male and female civil psychiatric patients: the HCR-20, PCL:SV, and VSC

This study evaluated the predictive validity of violence risk assessments conducted using the HCR-20, the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV), and by the Violence Screening Checklist (VSC) in a sample of 268 involuntarily hospitalized male and female psychiatric patients. Information pertaining to violence and crime was coded from medical charts and correctional records. The HCR-20/PCL:SV evidenced modest non-significant associations in postdictive assessments of inpatient violence among men. Moderate to strong significant associations were found between the HCR-20/PCL:SV and inpatient violence among women. Pseudo-prospective assessments using the HCR-20 and PCL:SV resulted in moderate to large relationships with violence and crime in men and women following community discharge. It is concluded that the VSC is a promising tool for assessing acute inpatient violence risk with men. Findings offer preliminary validation of the predictive validity of the HCR-20 and PCL:SV with female civil psychiatric patients.     

Trunk- and head-centred spatial coordinates do not affect free-viewing perceptual asymmetries

Turning the trunk or head to the left can reduce the severity of leftward neglect. This study sought to determine whether turning the trunk or head to the right would reduce pseudoneglect: A phenomenon where normal participants underestimate the rightward features of a stimulus. Participants made luminance judgements of two mirror-reversed greyscales stimuli. A preference for selecting the stimulus dark on the left was found. The effect of trunk-centred coordinates was examined in Expt. 1 by facing the head toward the display and turning the trunk to the left, right or toward the display. Head-centred coordinates were examined in Expt. 2 by directing the eyes toward the display and then turning the head and trunk. No effect of rotation was observed. It was concluded that the leftward bias for the greyscales task could be based on an object-centred attentional bias or left-to-right eye scanning habits.     

Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START): The case for a new structured professional judgment scheme

The Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) is a new structured professional judgment scheme intended to inform multiple risk domains relevant to everyday psychiatric clinical practice (e.g. risk to others, suicide, self-harm, self-neglect, substance abuse, unauthorized leave, and victimization). The article describes the processes involved in establishing an interdisciplinary approach to risk assessment and management. The authors present a review of the rationale for START, including the value of dynamic variables, the importance of strengths, and the extent to which clinicians must be attentive to multiple risk domains, reflecting theoretical and scientific evidence of the overlap among risks. Using the development, validation, and implementation of START as an example, the authors describe the processes by which other researchers, clinicians, and administrators could adapt existing assessment schemes or create new ones to bridge some remaining gaps in the risk assessment and management continuum.     

Corporeal awareness and proprioceptive sense of the phantom

Phantom limb perception almost invariably follows limb amputation, and can be characterized by various corporeal and proprioceptive qualities. We report a study of 283 amputees, which administered a structured questionnaire to systematically determine the relative frequency and nature of various bodily aspects of phantom limb perception. These include the size, shape, posture, and telescoping of the phantom; exteroceptive sensations of itch, touch, pressure, vibration, temperature, and ‘electric’ sensations; and prosthesis embodiment. Phantom limbs were generally found to be characterized by properties that parallel those of the intact body, although with anatomically impossible configurations sometimes being perceived. We suggest that both the internal limb image and limb schemata play a significant role in the continued perception of phantom limbs.     

Factorial validity of the Mental Toughness Questionnaire-48

The purpose of this study was to assess the factorial validity of the Mental Toughness Questionnaire-48 (Clough, Earle, & Sewell, 2002). In total, 8207 participants (male n = 4019, female n = 3922, unspecified = 266) aged between 16 and 68 years (M = 37.00, SD = 12.09) completed the MTQ48. Model fit was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling, in addition to the robust maximum likelihood estimator. Overall, our results support the factorial validity of the MTQ48 and indicate that the MTQ48 is a robust psychometric measure of mental toughness. Along with previous data, which supports the internal validity of the MTQ48 in addition to results of this study, it would appear that the MTQ48 is an acceptable method of assessing mental toughness.