Equivalence classes in individuals with minimal verbal repertoires

Studies from two different laboratories tested for equivalence classes in individuals with severe mental retardation and minimal verbal repertoires. In the first study, 3 individuals learned several matching-to-sample performances: matching picture comparison stimuli to dictated-word sample stimuli (AB), matching those same pictures to printed letter samples (CB), and also matching the pictures to nonrepresentative forms (DB). On subsequent tests, all individuals immediately displayed Emergent Relations AC, AD, BC, BD, CD, and DC, together constituting a positive demonstration of equivalence (as defined by Sidman). The second study obtained a positive equivalence test outcome in 1 of 2 individuals with similarly minimal verbal repertoires. Taken together, these studies call into question previous assertions that equivalence classes are demonstrable only in individuals with well-developed language repertoires.     

Health-related quality of life in Parkinson's disease after pallidotomy and deep brain stimulation

This study explored the multidimensional outcome of three neurosurgical interventions for Parkinson's disease (PD): pallidotomy (N = 23), pallidal deep brain stimulation (DBS) (N = 9), and thalamic DBS (N = 7). All patients completed the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) and the Beck Depression Inventory. Pallidotomy patients also completed the Profile of Mood States, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and a disease-specific quality of life (QOL) measure, the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). Three months after surgery, all neurosurgical groups showed significant improvements in mood and function, including physical, psychosocial, and overall functioning. Pallidal DBS and pallidotomy patients who completed additional QOL measures reported decreased anxiety and tension, increased vigor, improved mobility and ability to perform activities of daily living, and decreased perceived stigma. Psychosocial dysfunction scores from the SIP were related to depressed mood both at baseline (r = .42) and at followup (r = .45), but the physical dysfunction subscale was not related to mood at either time point, suggesting that disruption of social relationships due to PD may have more impact on affective distress than physical symptoms alone. Results suggest that neurosurgical interventions for PD improve disabling PD motor symptoms and also improve several domains of quality of life.     

Potential Effects of Faking on the NEO-PI-R: Willingness and Ability to Fake Changes Who Gets Hired in Simulated Selection Decisions

The impact of response distortion (faking) on selection decisions was investigated. Participants (N = 224) completed the NEO-PI-R under instructions to “make the most favorable impression” and/or “answer honestly.” Those instructed to fake were often over-represented at the top of the score distributions as instructions to fake resulted in higher scores both between and within groups in a test–retest situation. There was significantly lower correspondence between participants’ honest scores and their faked scores as well as multiple instances where participants with unfavorable honest scores subsequently produced the most favorable scores when faking. Response distortion may remain a serious threat to the use of personality test scores in selection.

Exploring Genetic Counseling Communication Patterns: The Role of Teaching and Counseling Approaches

The educational and counseling models are often touted as the two primary professional approaches to genetic counseling practice. Yet, research has not been conducted to examine how these approaches are used in practice. In the present study, we conducted quantitative communication analyses of BRCA1 genetic counseling sessions. We measured communication variables that represent content (e.g., a biomedical focus) and process (e.g., passive listening) to explore whether genetic counselor approaches are consistent with prevailing professional models. The Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS) was used to code 167 pre-test genetic counseling sessions of members of a large kindred with an identified BRCA1 mutation. Three experienced genetic counselors conducted the sessions. Creating composite categories from the RIAS codes, we found the sessions to be largely educational in nature with the counselors and clients devoting the majority of their dialogue to providing biomedical information (62 and 40%, respectively). We used cluster analytic techniques, entering the composite communication variables and identified four patterns of session communication: Client-focused psychosocial, biomedical question and answer, counselor-driven psychosocial, and client-focused biomedical. Moreover, we found that the counselors had unique styles in which they combined the use of education and counseling approaches. We discuss the importance of understanding the variation in counselor communication to advance the field and expand prevailing assumptions.     

Objects capture perceived gaze direction

The interpretation of another person's eye gaze is a key element of social cognition. Previous research has established that this ability develops early in life and is influenced by the person's head orientation, as well as local features of the person's eyes. Here we show that the presence of objects in the attended space also has an impact on gaze interpretation. Eleven normal adults identified the fixation points of photographed faces with a mouse cursor. Their responses were systematically biased toward the locations of nearby objects. This capture of perceived gaze direction probably reflects the attribution of intentionality and has methodological implications for research on gaze perception.     

Creativity, intelligence, and personality: a critical review of the scattered literature

The authors examined the relations among intelligence, personality, and creativity. They consider the concept and definition of creativity in conjunction with the qualifications that researchers in the field have suggested. The present authors briefly refer to historiometric studies but focus on psychometric intelligence and its relations to tests of divergent thinking (DT) and ratings of creativity. The authors consider the relation between personality and creativity in the context of Eysenckian 3-factor and 5-factor models of personality and with reference to DT tests and ratings of creativity. The authors also present recommendations for the future study of creativity.     

The leg-to-body ratio as a human aesthetic criterion

There are surprisingly few empirical studies on the aesthetic appeal of human legs, examining such variables as length or shape. The human legs are conspicuous in erotic contexts, but few studies have experimentally tested preferences for longer legs. This study examined the utility of the human leg-to-body ratio (LBR) as a specific aesthetic criterion among 71 British undergraduates. Participants rated for physical attractiveness line drawings that varied in five levels of LBR. The results showed that a longer LBR was preferred as maximally attractive in women, whereas a shorter LBR was preferred in men. Evolutionary psychological and socio-cultural explanations for this aesthetic preference are discussed, and the study's limitations are considered.     

The mind-brain relationship: the emergent self

This paper explores the mind-brain relationship, using insights from contemporary neuroscience. It seeks to investigate how our brains become who we are, how subjective experience arises. In order to do this some explanation is given of the basic concepts of how the brain produces our subjective mental life. Current neuropsychological and neurobiological understanding of early brain development, memory, emotion and consciousness are explored. There is also an attempt at mapping the mind-brain-self relationship from a uniquely Jungian perspective. Clinical material is included in order to show the relevance of these insights to our work in the consulting room, arguing the value of the affect-regulating, relational aspects of the analytic dyad that forge new neural pathways through emotional connection. Such experience forms the emotional scaffolding necessary for the emergence of reflective function.     

Self-estimates of intelligence: a study in two African countries

Black and White South Africans (n = 181) and Nigerians (n = 135) completed a questionnaire concerning the estimations of their own and their relatives' (father, mother, sister, brother) multiple intelligences as well as beliefs about the IQ concept. In contrast to previous results (A. Furnham, 2001), there were few gender differences in self-estimates. In a comparison of Black and White South Africans, it was clear the Whites gave higher estimates for self, parents, and brothers. However, overall IQ estimates for self and all relatives hovered around the mean of 100. When Black South Africans and Nigerians were compared, there were both gender and nationality differences on the self-estimates with men giving higher self-estimates than women and Nigerians higher self-estimates than South Africans. There were also gender and nationality differences in the answers to questions about IQ. The authors discuss possible reasons for the relatively few gender differences in this study compared with other studies as well as possible reasons for the cross-cultural difference.