Does interhemispheric competition mediate motion-induced blindness? A transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Motion-induced blindness (MIB) is a phenomenon, perhaps related to perceptual rivalry, where stationary targets disappear and reappear in a cyclic mode when viewed against a background (mask) of coherent, apparent 3-D motion. Since MIB has recently been shown to share similar temporal properties with binocular rivalry, we probed the appearance-disappearance cycle of MIB using unilateral, single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)--a manipulation that has previously been shown to influence binocular rivalry. Effects were seen for both hemispheres when the timing of TMS was determined prospectively on the basis of a given subject's appearance-disappearance cycle, so that it occurred on average around 300 ms before the time of perceptual switch. Magnetic stimulation of either hemisphere shortened the time to switch from appearance to disappearance and vice versa. However, TMS of left posterior parietal cortex more selectively shortened the disappearance time of the targets if delivered in phase with the disappearance cycle, but lengthened it if TMS was delivered in the appearance phase after the perceptual switch. Opposite effects were seen in the right hemisphere, although less marked than the left-hemisphere effects. As well as sharing temporal characteristics with binocular rivalry, MIB therefore seems to share a similar underlying mechanism of interhemispheric modulation. Interhemispheric switching may thus provide a common temporal framework for uniting the diverse, multilevel phenomena of perceptual rivalry.     

Morphological patterns in Hungarian children with Williams syndrome and the rule debates

Williams syndrome (WMS), a rare neurogenetic disorder, has been in the forefront of research in cognitive psychology for the last 10 years. Studies of grammatical development in 14 Hungarian WMS children are presented: they were examined on tasks testing regular and irregular morphology; measures of digit span were also obtained. Results on the production of accusative and plural forms confirmed for Hungarian that regardless of the frequency of the item, inflected forms of irregulars are harder to produce, and often regularized in WMS, revealing a dissociation between the rules of grammar vs. the mental lexicon. Overall performance on the morphology task is associated with the capacity of phonological short-term memory: subjects with higher span perform better on both tasks. The specification of the surprisingly close relation of phonological short-term memory with the linguistic measures awaits further study.     

The cultural adjustment and mental health of Japanese immigrant youth

Interviews were conducted with eight Japanese immigrant youth about their experiences with respect to adjusting to life in the United States, dealing with discrimination, and coping with cultural challenges. They were also questioned about their mental health and family and peer relations. Results indicate that participants managed to maintain bicultural identities and to cope with the problems that they encountered. Nevertheless, they experienced the following difficulties: racism and prejudice, language barriers, and conflict regarding identity and values. In terms of coping, participants mostly relied on friends for support; only one had sought the help of a professional counselor. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of working with immigrant youth from Japan.     

A parent-report measure of children's anxiety: psychometric properties and comparison with child-report in a clinic and normal sample

This study examined the psychometric properties of the parent version of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P); 484 parents of anxiety disordered children and 261 parents in a normal control group participated in the study. Results of confirmatory factor analysis provided support for six intercorrelated factors, that corresponded with the child self-report as well as with the classification of anxiety disorders by DSM-IV (namely separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, social phobia, panic/agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and fear of physical injuries). A post-hoc model in which generalized anxiety functioned as the higher order factor for the other five factors described the data equally well. The reliability of the subscales was satisfactory to excellent. Evidence was found for both convergent and divergent validity: the measure correlated well with the parent report for internalizing symptoms, and lower with externalizing symptoms. Parent-child agreement ranged from 0.41 to 0.66 in the anxiety-disordered group, and from 0.23 to 0.60 in the control group. The measure differentiated significantly between anxiety-disordered children versus controls, and also between the different anxiety disorders except GAD. The SCAS-P is recommended as a screening instrument for normal children and as a diagnostic instrument in clinical settings.     

A cross-cultural study of psychosocial aspects of sickle cell disease in the UK and Nigeria

Pain experience, health service utilization and psychological coping in adult patients with sickle cell disease were compared cross-culturally between the UK and Nigeria. Patients in the UK experienced a significantly greater number of pain episodes and of longer duration, with more frequent visits to accident and emergency departments compared with those in Nigeria. The Nigerian patients, on the other hand, applied more psychologically active coping strategies such as distraction to deal with their sickle cell pain in the community. These significant differences are explained in relation to external health locus of control factors including beliefs, and the cost of healthcare in relation to the use of health services. Clinical implications of these findings are also considered.     

The Impact of Clients’ and Therapists’ Characteristics on Therapeutic Alliance and Outcome

Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - This article investigates distances between therapists and their clients in their experience of the therapeutic alliance across the duration of the...     

Automatic stimulus‐goal comparisons: Support from motivational affective priming studies

In three studies, we found that responses to positive targets were facilitated when the preceding prime was an exemplar belonging to the semantic category (i.e., animal or profession) that was rewarded on that particular trial, whereas responses to negative targets were facilitated when the prime belonged to the nonrewarded category. These findings indicate that the match between an actual (the prime) and a desired state (the rewarded category) can be determined automatically at the time of stimulus presentation, as is assumed in several appraisal theories of emotion (e.g., Frijda, 1986, 1993; Lazarus, 1991; Scherer, 1993).