Short-term consolidation of individual identities leads to Lag-1 sparing

A rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) technique was used to investigate the role of the nature of processing carried out on targets in the Lag-1 sparing phenomenon. Lag-1 sparing refers to a higher accuracy in the task associated with the 2nd target when the 2 targets are immediately successive in the RSVP stream relative to when there are 1 or 2 intervening items between the targets. In 5 experiments, 0, 1, or 2 digits were embedded with equal probability in RSVP streams of letter distractors. In 4 of the experiments, subjects identified the digits in some blocks of trials, and they counted the number of presented digits in other blocks. In a 5th experiment, the counting task was replaced with a digit-sum task. The most interesting results were those from trials with 2 digits. Lag-1 sparing was always evident when the task involved the explicit identification of the digits. In addition, Lag-1 sparing was evident when subjects were required to sum 2 digits or to count digits of a prespecified parity subclass (e.g., count only even digits). In striking contrast, Lag-1 sparing was absent when subjects were required to count the digits independent of their parity subclass. These results suggest that the occurrence of Lag-1 sparing depends on the type of mental representation that must be generated on the basis of target information.     

Quantity discrimination in female mosquitofish

The ability in animals to count and represent different numbers of objects has received a great deal of attention in the past few decades. Cumulative evidence from comparative studies on number discriminations report obvious analogies among human babies, non-human primates and birds and are consistent with the hypothesis of two distinct and widespread mechanisms, one for counting small numbers (<4) precisely, and one for quantifying large numbers approximately. We investigated the ability to discriminate among different numerosities, in a distantly related species, the mosquitofish, by using the spontaneous choice of a gravid female to join large groups of females as protection from a sexually harassing male. In one experiment, we found that females were able to discriminate between two shoals with a 1:2 numerosity ratio (2 vs. 4, 4 vs. 8 and 8 vs. 16 fish) but failed to discriminate a 2:3 ratio (8 vs. 12 fish). In the second experiment, we studied the ability to discriminate between shoals that differed by one element; females were able to select the larger shoal when the paired numbers were 2 vs. 3 or 3 vs. 4 but not 4 vs. 5 or 5 vs. 6. Our study indicates that numerical abilities in fish are comparable with those of other non-verbal creatures studied; results are in agreement with the hypothesis of the existence of two distinct systems for quantity discrimination in vertebrates.     

Health literacy, health inequality and a just healthcare system

Limited health literacy is a pervasive and independent risk factor for poor health outcomes. Despite decades of reports exhibiting that the healthcare system is overly complex, unneeded complexity remains commonplace and endangers the lives of patients, especially those with limited health literacy. In this article, we define health literacy and describe the empirical evidence associating health literacy and poor health outcomes. We recast the issue of poor health literacy from within the ethical perspective of the least well-off and argue that poor health outcomes deriving from limited health literacy ought to be understood as a fundamental injustice of the healthcare system. We offer three proposals that attempt to rectify this injustice, including: universal precautions that presume limited health literacy for all healthcare users; expanded use of technology supported communication; and clinical incentives that account for limited health literacy.     

Crime behaviours and distance travelled in homicides and rapes

We explored (1) distances between home and offence in homicides and rapes; (2) whether these distances differed from each other; and (3) whether offence features were associated with distances. The sample consisted of solved homicides (N = 40) and rapes (N = 37) from Finland with co‐ordinates for offence and offender home locations and information on crime features. Empirical models of incident density as a function of distance were estimated using CrimeStat III (Levine, 2004). Most of the distances were short displaying distance decay. Homicide median distance was 0.85km (Inter Quartile Range (IQR) = 0.13–7.69km) and rape median distance 2.44km (IQR = 0.83–6.96km) from perpetrators' home location. These distances differed significantly (Mann‐Whitney U = 543.0, p < 0.045). It was possible to identify crime features that were correlated with distances in both offence types. Spatial Behaviour Indices combining crime feature information correlated r_s = 0.77 with distance in homicides and r_s = 0.72 in rapes. Identifying theoretical constructs for understanding links between different crime features instead of looking at them in isolation is important. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Moral Integrity and Academic Research

This paper focuses on some moral issues in academic journal publishing, from the standpoints of Publishers, editors, referees and authors.     

Measuring preschool cognitive growth while it's still happening: The Learning Express

Educators need accurate assessments of preschool cognitive growth to guide curriculum design, evaluation, and timely modification of their instructional programs. But available tests do not provide content breadth or growth sensitivity over brief intervals. This article details evidence for a multiform, multiscale test criterion-referenced to national standards for alphabet knowledge, vocabulary, listening comprehension and mathematics, developed in field trials with 3433 3–5¹/₂-year-old Head Start children. The test enables repeated assessments (20–30 min per time point) over a school year. Each subscale is calibrated to yield scaled scores based on item response theory and Bayesian estimation of ability. Multilevel modeling shows that nearly all score variation is associated with child performance rather than examiner performance and individual growth-curve modeling demonstrates the high sensitivity of scores to child growth, controlled for age, sex, prior schooling, and language and special needs status.     

The Findings of a Cochrane Meta-Analysis of Couple Therapy in Adult Depression: Implications for Research and Clinical Practice

The association between depressive symptoms and distressed intimate relationships supported the assumption that couple therapy, by focusing on the interpersonal context of depression, might be more effective as a treatment for depression than individual psychotherapy or drug therapy. This issue was addressed by a Cochrane meta-analysis assessing the evidence from clinical trials of couple therapy for depression in comparison with individual psychotherapy, drug therapy, and no/minimal intervention, including fourteen studies with 651 participants. No study was found free of bias and the quality of the evidence was low, with major problems of small sample sizes, missing outcome data, selective reporting, lack of information on random sequence generation and allocation concealment, recruitment of people not representative of clinical practice, and allegiance bias. The meta-analysis showed that both couple therapy and individual psychotherapy improved depressive symptoms at end of treatment and after 6 months or longer, with moderate effect sizes, without any difference between the two treatments. Couple therapy was more effective in reducing couple distress. This effect was larger in studies with distressed couples only and should be considered as relevant in its own right. Couple therapy is a viable option for the treatment of a depressed partner, especially in discordant couples. Future research should address several issues left open to provide a sound empirical foundation for clinical practice.     

The Role of Philosophy in Academic Ethics

This paper seeks to provide some of the roles of philosophy in the field of academic ethics.     

Effect of stress on hippocampal nociceptin expression in the rat

Nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) peptide and its receptor are not only ubiquitously expressed in mammalian brain and spinal cord but are also abundant in limbic structures, particularly in the hippocampus. The widespread distribution of N/OFQ reflects the broad spectrum of its biological actions such as nociception, food intake, spontaneous locomotor activity, and learning and memory processes. Since the hippocampus is involved in the control of adrenocortical activity, its role in stress-related phenomena is well characterized. In male Wistar rats, we first examined the effects of acute restraint stress (120?min) on the brain immunohistochemical localization of N/OFQ. The analysis carried out on sections obtained at the onset of stress revealed enhanced expression of N/OFQ in CA1, CA3, and the dentate gyrus as well as increased plasma corticosterone concentrations. Next, we examined whether endogenous glucocorticoid hormone plays a role in the modulation of hippocampal N/OFQ expression in response to stress. To this end, rats were injected with corticosterone (1?mg/kg) or subjected to restraint stress 1 week after adrenalectomy. Two hours after corticosterone administration, plasma glucocorticoid concentrations were comparable to those observed after restraint stress, while N/OFQ expression had significantly increased in all the hippocampal subfields examined. By contrast, in adrenalectomized rats, stress did not modify protein expression. These results confirm that stress can affect N/OFQ expression and that glucocorticoids may constitute hormonal mediators of this complex interplay.