Sex, sexual orientation, and identification of positive and negative facial affect

Sex and sexual orientation related differences in processing of happy and sad facial emotions were examined using an experimental facial emotion recognition paradigm with a large sample (N = 240). Analysis of covariance (controlling for age and IQ) revealed that women (irrespective of sexual orientation) had faster reaction times than men for accurate identification of facial emotion and were more accurate in identifying male faces than female ones, whereas men performed the same regardless of the sex of the face. However, there were no overall sex differences in accuracy. These findings suggest a limited role for sex in the perception of facial affect.     

Searching in the center: pigeons (Columba livid) encode relative distance from walls of an enclosure

Pigeons (Columba livia) searched for food hidden in the center of a square enclosure. On occasional tests without food, the enclosure was (a) unchanged from training (control tests), (b) moved to different corners of the testing room (corner tests), or (c) doubled in size (expansion tests). The birds showed localized search in the center of the enclosure on control and corner tests. On expansion tests, some birds searched near the center of the enclosure, suggesting relative-distance encoding. Other birds searched at locations that maintained the training distance from walls, suggesting absolute-distance encoding. These results are consistent with previous studies on chicks (Gallus gallus) in similar enclosures and contrast with previous results on pigeons' responses to expansions of discrete landmark arrays.     

Eye-fixation patterns of high- and low-span young and older adults: down the garden path and back again

Young and older adults' eye fixations were monitored as they read sentences with temporary ambiguities such as "The experienced soldiers warned about the dangers conducted the midnight raid." Their fixation patterns were similar except that older adults made many regressions. In a 2nd experiment, high- and low-span older adults were compared with high- and low-span young adults. Pint-pass fixations were similar, except low-span readers made many regressions and their total fixation times were longer. High-span readers also used the focus operator "only" (e.g., "Only experienced soldiers warned about the dangers.") to immediately resolve the temporary ambiguities. No age group differences were observed. These results are discussed with reference to theories of the role of working memory in sentence processing.     

The associative memory deficit of older adults: further support using face-name associations

Previous studies have established an associative deficit hypothesis (Naveh-Benjamin, 2000), which attributes part of older adults' deficient episodic memory performance to their difficulty in creating cohesive episodes. In this article, the authors further evaluate this hypothesis, using ecologically relevant materials. Young and old participants studied name-face pairs and were then tested on their recognition memory for the names, faces, and the name-face pairs. The results extend the conditions under which older adults exhibit an associative deficit. They also show that reduced attentional resources are not the sole mediator of this deficit.     

Borderline personality disorder features predict negative outcomes 2 years later

In a sample of 351 young adults, the authors assessed whether borderline personality disorder (BPD) features prospectively predicted negative outcomes (poorer academic achievement and social maladjustment) over the subsequent 2 years, over and above gender and both Axis I and Axis II psychopathology. Borderline traits were significantly related to these outcomes, with impulsivity and affective instability the most highly associated. The present findings suggest that the impulsivity and affective instability associated with BPD leads to impairment in relating well with others, in meeting social role obligations, and in academic or occupational achievement. Therefore, these may be especially important features to target in interventions for BPD.     

Systematic application and removal of protective equipment in the assessment of multiple topographies of self-injury

We evaluated the effects of systematic application and removal of protective equipment on three topographies of self-injurious behavior (SIB) exhibited by a girl who had been diagnosed with autism. Results showed that when protective equipment was applied, SIB decreased to near-zero levels. In addition, withdrawal of protective equipment for specific topographies of SIB (by removing only the corresponding padding) increased rates of SIB only for that topography of SIB. Next, a functional analysis of hand SIB showed that protective equipment suppressed this behavior in all conditions and that the behavior was maintained by automatic reinforcement when padding was removed. Results are discussed in terms of sensory extinction as a possible mechanism responsible for response suppression.     

Lying to insurance companies: the desire to deceive among physicians and the public

This study examines the public's and physicians' willingness to support deception of insurance companies in order to obtain necessary healthcare services and how this support varies based on perceptions of physicians' time pressures. Based on surveys of 700 prospective jurors and 1617 physicians, the public was more than twice as likely as physicians to sanction deception (26%versus 11%) and half as likely to believe that physicians have adequate time to appeal coverage decisions (22%versus 59%). The odds of public support for deception compared to that of physicians rose from 2.48 to 4.64 after controlling for differences in time perception. These findings highlight the ethical challenge facing physicians and patients in balancing patient advocacy with honesty in the setting of limited societal resources.     

"Capacity" reconsidered: interindividual differences in language comprehension and individual alpha frequency

The influence of interindividual differences in cognitive mechanisms on language comprehension remains controversial not only due to conflicting experimental findings, but also in view of the difficulty associated with determining which measure should be used in participant classification. Here, we address the latter problem by proposing that an electrophysiological measure, individual alpha frequency (IAF), may be a suitable means of classifying interindividual differences in sentence processing. Interindividual differences in IAF have been shown to correlate with performance on memory tasks and speed of information processing. In two experiments using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), IAF-based participant groups differed systematically with regard to the processing of ambiguous sentences such that the low-IAF group showed a sustained positivity in the ambiguous region, while the high-IAF group did not. These interindividual differences were independent of whether the ambiguity was syntactic (Experiment 1) or sentence-level semantic (Experiment 2). Moreover, they were reliable only when participants were classified according to IAF, but not in classifications based on reading span, speed of processing (reaction time), or accuracy of processing (error rate).     

The construct validity of depressive personality disorder

This study examined the construct validity of depressive personality disorder (DPD: American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Adult psychiatric outpatients (N = 900) underwent comprehensive Axis I and II evaluations and provided data on 4,768 of their 1st-degree relatives. Despite modest overlap, DPD was not redundant with any Axis I or II disorder. Participants with DPD exhibited more Axis I and Axis II comorbidity, and greater psychosocial dysfunction, than participants without DPD. Relatives of participants with DPD had higher rates of mood disorders, alcohol abuse, and antisocial personality. Results are consistent with findings of several other similar investigations. The authors argue that DPD is a valid construct and should be conceptualized as a personality disorder as opposed to a mood disorder.     

Training parents to implement pediatric feeding protocols

Four different multicomponent training packages were evaluated to increase the treatment integrity of parents implementing pediatric feeding protocols. In Study 1 we exposed 3 parents to a training package that consisted of written protocols (baseline), verbal instructions, therapist modeling, and rehearsal training. Results suggested that the package was successful in increasing treatment integrity of the feeding protocols to high levels. Study 2 investigated three different parent-training packages comprised of components used in Study 1. Two parents were exposed to written protocols, verbal instructions, and modeling; 2 parents were exposed to written protocols, verbal instructions, and rehearsal; and 2 parents were exposed to written protocols and verbal instructions. Results of Study 2 showed that each parent-training package produced very high treatment integrity. Follow-up data in the clinic and home for 5 participants suggested that the results were durable for up to 3 months. These results demonstrate a first step in the transfer and application of research findings into routine clinical practice because we evaluated several methods for training parents to implement behavioral feeding protocols, and we demonstrated that these methods resulted in high levels of treatment integrity in a controlled clinical setting.