Assessment procedures for narcissistic personality disorder: a comparison of the personality diagnostic questionnaire-4 and best-estimate clinical judgments

This study examined the degree of correspondence between two assessments for narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) in a mixed clinical and community sample--one using a self-report measure (Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4) and the other using clinical judgments derived from an assessment based on the longitudinal, expert, all data (LEAD) methodology. NPD scores demonstrated moderate convergence for the total scores but weak convergence for the individual criteria. The authors also examined the correlates created by each set of NPD scores using Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). The NPD scores demonstrated areas of convergence (e.g., Cooperativeness, Self-directedness) and divergence (i.e., Harm Avoidance, Novelty Seeking) with these personality scores. These divergences may be due to the wording of certain items on the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 NPD scale, which may require rewriting if it is to provide an assessment that is more highly convergent with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders NPD construct.     

Speed, accuracy, and serial order in sequence production

The production of complex sequences like music or speech requires the rapid and temporally precise production of events (e.g., notes and chords), often at fast rates. Memory retrieval in these circumstances may rely on the simultaneous activation of both the current event and the surrounding context (Lashley, 1951). We describe an extension to a model of incremental retrieval in sequence production (Palmer & Pfordresher, 2003) that incorporates this logic to predict overall error rates and speed-accuracy trade-offs, as well as types of serial ordering errors. The model-assumes that retrieval of the current event is influenced by activations of surrounding events. Activations of surrounding events increase over time, such that both the accessibility of distant events and overall accuracy increases at slower production rates. The model's predictions were tested in an experiment in which pianists performed unfamiliar music at 8 different tempi. Model fits to speed-accuracy data and to serial ordering errors support model predictions. Parameter fits to individual data further suggest that working memory contributes to the retrieval of serial order and overall accuracy is influenced in addition by motor dexterity and domain-specific skill.     

The self and social cognition: the role of cortical midline structures and mirror neurons

Recent evidence suggests that there are at least two large-scale neural networks that represent the self and others. Whereas frontoparietal mirror-neuron areas provide the basis for bridging the gap between the physical self and others through motor-simulation mechanisms, cortical midline structures engage in processing information about the self and others in more abstract, evaluative terms. This framework provides a basis for reconciling findings from two separate but related lines of research: self-related processing and social cognition. The neural systems of midline structures and mirror neurons show that self and other are two sides of the same coin, whether their physical interactions or their most internal mental processes are examined.     

Scale of attentional focus in visual search

The effects of the spatial scale of attention on feature and conjunction search were examined in two experiments. Adult participants in three age groups—young, young-old, and old-old—were given precues of varying validity and precision in indicating the location of a target letter subsequently presented in a visual array. Systematic decreases in the size of a valid precue (toward the size of the target) progressively facilitated both feature and conjunction search, with a greater benefit accruing to conjunction search. Age-related slowing in conjunction search was mitigated by precise (small and valid) precues, presumably because they reduced the need for participants in the young-old group to focus and to shift attention. Nevertheless, this benefit was reduced in the old-old group. The effects of valid location precue size varied with cue-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) in a manner that interacted with search difficulty: Effects of cue size developed more rapidly in feature search but more slowly in conjunction search. Finally, when precues were invalid for target location, search was faster with larger sized precues. Thus, in both easy feature search and hard conjunction search, the scale of visuospatial attention modulates the speed of visual search. Furthermore, when the SOA is sufficiently long for cue effects to develop, the ability to dynamically adjust the scale of visuospatial attention appears to decline in advanced age. These results go beyond current models in suggesting that visuospatial attention possesses two dynamic properties—shifting in space and varying in scale—that are deployed independently, depending on task demands.     

Parent and Teen Perceptions Regarding Parental Efforts at Controlling Teen Drunk Driving1

This research examined the potential utility of a parental control technique to prevent adolescent drunk driving by identifying parent and teen sources of resistance to an ignition interlock system. The research also examined the theoretical issue of parental control over adolescents by identifying factors parents consider when deciding to use a control technique. Parent and teen receptivity to the interlock was examined in relation to teen drunk driving. General parental control orientations (controlling vs. permissive) were examined in relation to the factors that influence parental decisions to implement such a control technique. Factors related to sources of reluctance to use the device were also examined. The findings revealed that parents were generally ambivalent toward the interlock. In contrast, teens responses varied, with approximately 20% of the sample reporting favorable attitudes toward having an interlock installed in the their cars. In addition, both parents and teens expressed concern about how the interlock would affect their relationship with each other. Finally, controlling parents tended to place less emphasis on the perceived effectiveness of the control technique when forming their attitudes toward its implementation compared to permissive parents. The findings are discussed in the context of prevention efforts for adolescent drunk driving.     

Do procedures really matter when rewards are more important? A Pakistani perspective on the effects of distributive and procedural justice on employee behaviors

Introduction

Researchers agree that procedural justice and distributive justice interact so that high procedural fairness reduces the negative consequences of distributive unfairness.

The role of pitch and temporal diversity in the perception and production of musical sequences

In two experiments we explored how the dimensions of pitch and time contribute to the perception and production of musical sequences. We tested how dimensional diversity (the number of unique categories in each dimension) affects how pitch and time combine. In Experiment 1, 18 musically trained participants rated the complexity of sequences varying only in their diversity in pitch or time; a separate group of 18 pianists reproduced these sequences after listening to them without practice. Overall, sequences with more diversity were perceived as more complex, but pitch diversity influenced ratings more strongly than temporal diversity. Further, although participants perceived sequences with high levels of pitch diversity as more complex, errors were more common in the sequences with higher diversity in time. Sequences in Experiment 2 exhibited diversity in both pitch and time; diversity levels were a subset of those tested in Experiment 1. Again diversity affected complexity ratings and errors, but there were no statistical interactions between dimensions. Nonetheless, pitch diversity was the primary factor in determining perceived complexity, and again temporal errors occurred more often than pitch errors. Additionally, diversity in one dimension influenced error rates in the other dimension in that both error types were more frequent relative to Experiment 1. These results suggest that although pitch and time do not interact directly, they are nevertheless not processed in an informationally encapsulated manner. The findings also align with a dimensional salience hypothesis, in which pitch is prioritised in the processing of typical Western musical sequences.     

Investigation of the interaction of He and D in FeBSi alloy

He and H can be produced by nuclear reaction. In addition, energetic particles of He and T and D, which are isotopes of H, in the plasma of fusion reactor induce the damage in the surface of materials, such as erosion, sputtering and blistering. To investigate the interaction of He and D, amorphous and crystalline FeBSi alloys were irradiated by He or D₂ or He?+?D₂ ions with 5?keV. The results of thermal desorption indicated that more He atoms were trapped in both the amorphous and crystalline alloy irradiated by He ions than D atoms in those alloys irradiated by D₂ ions. Although He and D atoms were trapped in FeBSi alloy irradiated by He?+?D₂ ions, desorption peaks of D₂ and He were separated. Absorption of D in an amorphous alloy was influenced by the presence of He; however, absorption of He was independent of D₂ irradiation in both alloys.