Anxiety in Kuwaiti and American college students

Samples of Kuwaiti (n=646) and American (n=320) undergraduates responded to the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale in Arabic and English, respectively. Differences by sex were significant, with women having a higher mean anxiety score than men and by country with Kuwaiti women having a higher anxiety score than American women.     

Task switching: the effect of task recency with dual- and single-affordance stimuli

When we switch to a new task, performance is transiently relatively poor, but improves dramatically after one trial. Such a “switch cost” may result from the preceding task being highly primed while the new task is not yet primed. This predicts that it should become more difficult to switch back to Task A when more trials of Task B have intervened. Such a lag effect has been found in some but not in most previous experiments, and to resolve this discrepancy we examined the effects of task lag with different stimuli. We found that when stimuli uniquely and clearly cued the task—minimizing the need for control—switch reaction time increased with task lag. However, when the need for control was increased by using similar or identical stimuli in the two tasks, this lag effect was abolished or reversed. Thus only when control processes are minimized can priming explain the difficulty of switching back from Task B to Task A. Second, we asked how the impact of control is mediated in conditions where it is not minimized. If it is mediated through altering the relative activation states of competing tasks, then as it becomes easier to do one task—the relative task-set activation state is tipped in that task's favour—it should always become harder to do the other task. On the other hand, if control bias affects switch performance directly, this relationship need not hold. We found that as it becomes easier to perform one task it can become easier, not harder, to switch to the competing task. Thus control bias must act directly on switch performance, rather than only through its influence on relative task-set activation.     

Involvement of IP3 receptors in LTP and LTD induction in guinea pig hippocampal CA1 neurons

The role of inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs) in long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) was studied in CA1 neurons in guinea pig hippocampal slices. In standard solution, short tetanic stimulation consisting of 15 pulses at 100 Hz induced LTP, while three short trains of low-frequency stimulation (LFS; 200 pulses at 1 Hz) at 18-min intervals or one long train of LFS (1000 pulses at 1 Hz) induced stable LTD in both the slope of the field EPSP (S-EPSP) and the amplitude of the population spike (A-PS). Bath application of 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB), an IP3R antagonist, or of alpha-methyl-4-carboxyphenylglycine (MCPG), a wide-spectrum metabotropic glutamate receptor antagonist, during weak tetanic stimulation significantly increased the magnitude of the LTP in both the S-EPSP and A-PS. Three short trains of LFS or one long train of LFS delivered in the presence of 2-APB or MCPG did not induce LTD, but elicited LTP. Based on these results, we conclude that, in hippocampal CA1 neurons, IP3Rs play an important role in synaptic plasticity by attenuating LTP and facilitating LTD.     

Computer-Facilitated Therapy: Reality-Based Dialogue with People with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is often characterized by deficits in information processing, attention, and memory that profoundly disrupt communication. Two vignettes are presented to illustrate how computer word-processing technique can be used with people with schizophrenia to facilitate reality-based conversation, to help them remember or remain focused in therapy session, and to participate with them in the development of cognitive-behavioral statements in managing their psychiatric symptoms. By visually representing the spoken words on the computer screen, the author hypothesizes that people with schizophrenia can partially compensate for the difficulties in remaining focused in a typically auditory-based conversational mode. Print-outs given from the conversational sessions can also be helpful as a memory aid.     

A new driver behavior model to create realistic urban traffic environment

This paper presents a new driver behavior model, which emulates various driving styles (i.e. behaviors) for different categories of drivers. The model was highly parametric and was developed based on a two-layer Hierarchical Concurrent State Machines (HCSM) programming framework. Our study has been specifically oriented to create a realistic urban traffic environment with hazardous situations typical of real life in a driving simulator, and let the novice drivers to practice in a safe environment. In our study, we used TRAFIKENT driving simulator as a test-bed. Experiments and evaluations demonstrated satisfactory results in terms of behavioral validity of our model.     

Hunger and Social Motivation: Hungry People are Less Interested in Social Activities than Satiated People

College students (N = 207) were asked their level of interest in sex, dating, and friendship affiliation before or after eating dinner at a dining hall. The threat of hunger before dinner was predicted to make participants focus on satisfying this need and therefore be less interested in social activities, compared to participants after dinner who were not hungry. Consistent with predictions, hungry males and females were less interested in sex, dating, and hanging out with friends compared to individuals who had just eaten. Results are considered in the context of motivation theory and recent research findings in the areas of physical attraction and social inclusion.     

Impact of Religious Activities on Quality of Life and Cognitive Function Among Elderly

Journal of Religion and Health - Religiosity and spirituality have previously been found to have significant effects on mental and physical health. This study aimed to compare...     

Numbers for Boys and Words for Girls? Academic Gender Stereotypes among Chinese Parents

Academic gender stereotypes contribute to observed gender differences in educational enrollment and attainment. Investigating parents’ stereotypes among 907 families in China, this study used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to uncover four latent factors: boys-Math, boys-Sciences, girls-Chinese, and girls-Liberal Arts stereotypes. The former two depicted boys as more gifted, enthusiastic, and higher-achieving learners in Math and Sciences, and the latter two favored girls in Chinese and Liberal Arts. This four-factor structure was invariant across parents with sons and daughters after accounting for the nonindependence of parents within families. The boys-Math and boys-Sciences stereotypes were found to be stronger than the other two stereotypes. Further analyses revealed nuances concerning the boys-Math stereotype: it was more pronounced among mothers than fathers in families with daughters, fathers with sons than daughters, and girls’ mothers without college degrees than those with degrees. Within the same family, mothers more commonly held stereotype-consistent perceptions concerning Math and Chinese than fathers, but there was a general agreement over gendered perceptions of all four achievement domains regardless of child gender. The findings highlight the need for family-based awareness-raising programs targeting parents’ gender stereotypes to create gender-fair and gender-inclusive learning environments.