Factors influencing newborns' preference for faces with eye contact

We investigated newborns' sensitivity to the direction of gaze of another's face by using a preferential looking technique. This study extends earlier work on a preference for faces with direct gaze in newborns. In Experiment 1, we replicate the basic finding of Farroni and colleagues that newborns prefer to look at faces with direct gaze. In Experiments 2 and 3, we establish that a preference for faces with direct gaze in newborns is present only within the context of an upright face and a straight head, suggesting that relatively primitive configuration-sensitive mechanisms may be operating. Overall, these results further the view that relatively simple perceptual biases in newborns may be an essential foundation for later social-cognitive development.     

When and why is ease of retrieval informative?

In two experiments, we examined when and why ease of retrieval of information from memory affects behavioral frequency and attitudinal judgments. Overall, the results suggest that when the subjective experience of ease of retrieval is consistent with the expected ease of retrieval, the content of the information retrieved is used to make judgments. However, when there is a discrepancy between experienced and expected ease of retrieval, the subjective experience of ease of retrieval is used to make judgments. Ease of retrieval is more informative when the discrepancy between experienced and expected ease of retrieval cannot be attributed to task contingencies; when it can, ease of retrieval ceases to be informative.     

Event-related brain potential evidence of spared knowledge in Alzheimer's disease

The authors recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to picture primes and word targets (picture-name verification task) in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in elderly and young participants. N400 was more negative to words that did not match pictures than to words that did match pictures in all groups: In the young, this effect was significant at all scalp sites; in the elderly, it was only at central-parietal sites; and in AD patients, it was limited to right central-parietal sites. Among AD patients pretested with a confrontation-naming task to identify pictures they could not name, neither the N400 priming effect nor its scalp distribution was affected by ability to name pictures correctly. This ERP evidence of spared knowledge of these items was complemented by 80% performance accuracy. Thus, although the name of an item may be inaccessible in confrontation naming, N400 shows that knowledge is intact enough to prime cortical responses.     

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Job Stressors and Reactions Among Employees Holding Comparable Jobs in Two Countries

The present study examined occupational stress in a cross-cultural context with a sample of female clerical employees from an Eastern and a Western culture, namely, India and the United States. An open-ended methodology was used to study occupation-specific stress. Two other variables that researchers have studied in the job stress process, locus of control and social support, were also examined. Large differences were obtained in the perception of the source of stress, the coping mechanisms, and reactions to the stressor. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Design and efficacy of a head-coil bite bar for reducing movement-related artifacts during functional MRI scanning

This article describes the design, construction, application, and effectiveness of a simple bite bar for use with an MRI whole-head coil to reduce head-movement-related artifacts during functional brain imaging. The device is comfortable to use and allows considerable flexibility in positioning the subject’s head. Eleven subjects were scanned while performing a motor-sequencing experiment with and without the bite bar. The bite bar was generally effective in reducing maximum head movement to less than 0.5 mm (translation) and 0.5° (rotation).     

The effect of post‐identification feedback on the recall of crime and perpetrator details

The present study examines the effect of identification feedback on the quantity and accuracy of crime event details recalled, willingness to attempt misleading questions and confidence in the accuracy of these details. All participants (N = 60) viewed a short video clip of a staged building society robbery and then made a false identification of the robber from a target‐absent photospread. Eyewitnesses were next given confirming feedback (i.e. told that they had identified the suspect), disconfirming feedback (i.e. told that they had failed to identify the suspect) or no feedback. All eyewitnesses then attempted a series of short‐answer questions relating to details about the robber, accomplice, victim, building society, theft and getaway. Disconfirming feedback significantly reduced eyewitness confidence in recall accuracy but there was no significant effect of feedback on the overall quantity and accuracy of details recalled or willingness to attempt misleading questions. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unravelling the effects of sequential presentation in culprit‐present lineups

It is well established that sequential presentation of faces in an eyewitness situation can reduce false identification rates. The effect of a sequential presentation on the probability of accurately identifying a culprit when present in a lineup is less clear. The current study examined the efficacy of the sequential procedure in culprit present lineups approximating the real life condition where a person's appearance has changed between the time they were seen and the identification. Young (17–33 years) and older (58–80 years) witnesses viewed a video of a crime and then engaged in some filler tasks. Later they viewed a culprit‐present lineup presented in a simultaneous or sequential format. Some witnesses viewed lineups in which target appearance (hairstyle) had changed and some where it had not. Sequential testing was associated with fewer choices (hits and foil choices) as compared to simultaneous testing. A change of appearance lowered hit rates in sequential test conditions among young adults. Finally, participants in sequential conditions were more likely to report that they expected the target to be present in the lineup. We advise policy makers not to advocate sequential testing until we have a full understanding of the conditions under which the sequential‐superiority effect may be observed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Autobiographical narratives of deaf and hearing adults: an examination of narrative coherence and the use of internal states

To examine the impact of early linguistic experiences on later verbal report of autobiographical memory, 13 hearing adults and 13 deaf adults born to hearing parents described events that occurred before and after the age of 10 years. The contextual, temporal, and thematic coherence of the narratives was rated. The use of emotional, perceptual, mental, and physiological states was also recorded. There were differences in the coherence of the narratives and use of internal states according to the age at which the events occurred. There were no group differences in coherence, but hearing adults provided longer narratives than deaf adults. When narrative length was controlled, deaf adults included more emotional states than hearing adults. Results suggest that early unavailability of language does not impact the coherence of adults' narratives, although certain features of linguistic expression specific to ASL may result in greater saturation of emotional states references in autobiographical narratives of deaf adults.