Auditory streaming and vertical localization: Interdependence of “what” and “where” decisions in audition

When a sequence of two tones is presented over headphones in an ascending or descending order of pitch, it is heard as correspondingly ascending or descending in space. The illusion of spatial change that accompanies pitch change can be induced onto a pair of noise bursts by presenting them in synchrony with the tones. When cues known to produce stream segregation are introduced, the perceived position of the noises is less influenced by the tones. Stream organization is seen to be implicated in the ability to separately localize concurrent sources of sound. This suggests that “what” and “where” decisions are highly interactive and that neurological evidence that suggests separate pathways for these decisions must be interpreted with caution.     

Prior experience and patterning in a prisoner's dilemma game

Female college students first played a pseudo-prisoner's dilemma (PPD) game with the experimenter, who followed a fixed strategy. In the first experiment the experimenter's strategies for different groups of subjects were: (a) play tit-for-tat; (b) play randomly; (c) always cooperate; (d) always defect (‘cooperation’ and ‘defection’, defined as in an actual prisoner's dilemma game). Only the tit-for-tat group increased cooperation over trials; other groups decreased cooperation. After playing the PPD with the experimenter, subjects played an actual prisoner's dilemma (PD) game with each other. In the PD game, subjects began cooperating moderately but cooperation deteriorated regardless of what the experimenter's strategy had been in the earlier (PPD) game. In a second experiment, subjects again played a PPD game with the experimenter and then played a PD game with each other. Half played one trial at a time as in the first experiment while half played in patterns of four trials at a time. In the PD game, patterning of trials retarded the development of mutual defection regardless of previous experience. The cooperation-preserving effect of patterning of trials in this social task is compared with similar effects on individual tasks involving self-control and risk-aversion. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trends in Telehealth versus On-site Clinical Genetics Appointments in Manitoba: A Comparative Study

Telehealth involves the use of information and communications technology to deliver health services to patients over distance. Canada is well suited to benefit from telehealth since many individuals live in remote, rural and isolated locations. Manitoba is the easternmost prairie province and MBTelehealth is an active Canadian program that currently has 105 sites in 73 communities. Although studies of patient satisfaction comparing telehealth to on-site clinical visits have been conducted, a comparative study of the types of genetics patients seen via these two modalities has not been performed previously. In this study we: (1) examined the uptake of telehealth in Genetics in Manitoba; (2) contrasted telehealth usage in Genetics with other clinical programs; and (3) performed a comparative study of the types of Genetics referrals seen in 2008 on-site versus via telehealth. Results indicate the uptake of telehealth is increasing and has made genetics outreach clinics unnecessary. The Program of Genetics and Metabolism is consistently one of the top ten utilizers of telehealth within the province. With respect to discipline, chi square analysis revealed the trends were not significantly different for on-site and telehealth encounters, with prenatal referrals being the most common and Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer referrals being the least common. Referrals within each discipline varied depending on the need for fetal assessment and physical examination. Telehealth was utilized regularly for test results sessions across all disciplines.     

Limited information estimation and testing of discretized multivariate normal structural models

Discretized multivariate normal structural models are often estimated using multistage estimation procedures. The asymptotic properties of parameter estimates, standard errors, and tests of structural restrictions on thresholds and polychoric correlations are well known. It was not clear how to assess the overall discrepancy between the contingency table and the model for these estimators. It is shown that the overall discrepancy can be decomposed into a distributional discrepancy and a structural discrepancy. A test of the overall model specification is proposed, as well as a test of the distributional specification (i.e., discretized multivariate normality). Also, the small sample performance of overall, distributional, and structural tests, as well as of parameter estimates and standard errors is investigated under conditions of correct model specification and also under mild structural and/or distributional misspecification. It is found that relatively small samples are needed for parameter estimates, standard errors, and structural tests. Larger samples are needed for the distributional and overall tests. Furthermore, parameter estimates, standard errors, and structural tests are surprisingly robust to distributional misspecification. This research was supported by the Department of Universities, Research and Information Society (DURSI) of the Catalan Government, and by grants BSO2000-0661 and BSO2003-08507 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology.     

Onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder: premorbid conditions and prodromal phase

This article focuses on the clinical onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), specifically addressing the age of onset, gradual and acute onset, and whether there are some types of premorbid conditions or a prodromal phase that predispose individuals to the onset of OCD. Clinical and epidemiological studies have come to different conclusions regarding age at onset as well as regarding differences between the sexes. Data gleaned from research to date have demonstrated a relationship between OCD and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), although OCPD does not appear to be the more prevalent personality disorder among patients with OCD. Preliminary research has suggested that Axis I disorders may predispose individuals to OCD onset; however, the significance of this relationship remains to be clarified. Evidence of the association between OCD and subthreshold obsessive-compulsive syndrome suggests that these disorders lie on a continuum of severity, with some cases developing OCD while others do not.     

Supervision in rational emotive behavior therapy

This paper deals with the general process of supervision of therapists learning to understand and practice rational emotive behavior therapy. The endeavor of supervision is viewed as one of education, training, and practive with critical and constructive feedback. Major sections discuss and describe Educational Aspects of Supervision, Training Aspects of Supervision, Evaluation of Supervisees Performance, and Preferable Characteristics and Traits for REBT Practitioners.This paper is based on a chapter prepared for a forthcoming book,Handbook of Psychotherapy Supervision, edited by C. Edward Watkins, Jr.Paul J. Woods, Ph.D. is a Fellow of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy, and a former Co-Editor of thisJournal. He is in private practice in Roanoke, VA. Albert Ellis, Ph.D. is the founder of REBT and the President of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York.     

Evaluation of the Responding in Peaceful and Positive Ways (RIPP) Seventh Grade Violence Prevention Curriculum

We evaluated the impact of RIPP-7, a seventh grade violence prevention curriculum designed to strengthen and extend the effects of the sixth grade RIPP-6 curriculum. Classes of seventh graders at two urban middle schools serving predominantly African-American youth where RIPP-6 had been implemented the preceding school year were randomized to intervention (N = 239) and control groups (N = 237). Compared to students in the control group, students who participated in RIPP-7 had fewer disciplinary code violations for violent offenses during the following school year. A limited number of main effects were found on self-report outcome measures and measures of attitudes. Although significant main effects were not found on self-report measures of physical aggression, drug use, or anxiety, analyses of interactions with pretest scores indicated that intervention effects were significantly moderated by pretest scores for several outcome measures. Students most likely to benefit from the intervention were those who reported higher pretest rates of problem behaviors including violent behavior, nonphysical aggression, and delinquent behavior.     

Active school travel is associated with fewer suicide attempts among adolescents from low-and middle-income countries

Background/Objective: This study explored the association between active school travel (AST) and suicide attempts among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Method: We used the data from the Global School-based Health Survey, including 127,097 adolescents aged 13-17 years from 34 LMICs. A self-reported survey was used to collect data on AST and suicide attempts as well as some variables. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to assess the association between AST and suicide attempts. A meta-analysis with random effects was undertaken to identify the difference in the association between AST and suicide attempts. Results: Across all the adolescents, the prevalence of AST was 37% and the prevalence of suicide attempts was 11.60%. Adolescents who engaged in AST were less likely to have suicide attempts irrespective of gender. The country-wise analysis indicated a large inconsistency in the association between AST and suicide attempt across the countries. Conclusions: AST would appear to be a protective factor for reducing suicide attempts among adolescents. However, the association between AST and suicide attempts varied greatly across the countries. Future studies should confirm the association between AST and suicide attempts.