Rise in landing-related skydiving fatalities

The purpose was to assess whether adoption of potentially dangerous skydiving gear and skydiving practices has led to an increase in fatalities. Beginning in the early 1990s, civilian skydivers began to utilize high performance parachutes that fly much faster and are much more responsive than older style parachutes. Also, skydivers began to fly these parachutes in a more aggressive manner. An analysis of data from the 507 skydiving fatalities in the USA between 1986 and 2001 indicated that this shift toward high performance parachutes and aggressive flying techniques was temporally associated with an increase in parachute-landing deaths. During the same time period, the total number of fatalities remained fairly stable.     

Neuropsychological dissociations between priming and recognition: a single-system connectionist account

A key claim of current theoretical analyses of the memory impairments associated with amnesia is that certain distinct forms of learning and memory are spared. A compelling example is that amnesic patients and controls are indistinguishable in repetition priming but amnesic patients are impaired at recognizing the study items. The authors show that this pattern of results is predicted by a single-system connectionist model of learning in which amnesia is simulated by a reduced learning rate. They also demonstrate that the model can reproduce the converse pattern in which priming but not recognition is impaired if the input is assumed to be additionally degraded in a priming test. The authors conclude that dissociations between priming and recognition do not require functionally or neurally distinct memory systems.     

Transfer in artificial grammar learning: the role of repetition information

In this article, the authors report 2 experiments that investigated the sources of information used in transfer and nontransfer tasks in artificial grammar learning. Multiple regression analyses indicated that 2 types of information about repeating elements were crucial for performance in both tasks: information about the repetition of adjacent elements and information about repetition of elements in the whole item. Similarity of test items to specific training items and chunk information influenced participants' judgments only in nontransfer tasks.     

Accuracy of self-reported arrests among a forensic SPMI population

Self-reports are prone to response error even in the most structured and standardized environment, but the highly stigmatizing nature of illegal behavior and the possible cognitive problems inherent to the SPMI population increase the likelihood of such error. Using administrative data as the gold standard, the validity of self-reported arrests was examined among 85 mentally ill substance-abusing individuals with justice involvement. The overall accuracy of self-reported arrests during a three-month recall period was 84.7%. Validity was higher among individuals who at the time of the follow-up interview were either in a jail diversion program or incarcerated. Individuals with a mood disorder appeared to be somewhat less accurate in their self-reports than subjects with schizophrenia, despite the implication of cognitive distortion accompanying this latter diagnostic category. Further research on issues such as the accuracy of self-reports over longer recall periods, or the accuracy of self-reported frequency of arrest, is necessary, given the reliance on self-report methodology in outcome studies.     

The disclosure dilemma for gay men and lesbians: "coming out" at work

This study examined disclosing sexual orientation at work for 220 gay men and 159 lesbians. Self-acceptance, the centrality of one's identity, how "out" one is to friends and family, employer policies, and perceived employer gay-supportiveness were associated with disclosure behaviors at work for gay/lesbian employees. Disclosing at work and working for an organization perceived to be more gay supportive was related to higher job satisfaction and lower job anxiety. Reactions of coworkers to gay or lesbian workers mediated the relationship between disclosure and gay/lesbian workers' job attitudes. Implications and solutions for management are discussed.     

Are developmental disorders like cases of adult brain damage? Implications from connectionist modelling

It is often assumed that similar domain-specific behavioural impairments found in cases of adult brain damage and developmental disorders correspond to similar underlying causes, and can serve as convergent evidence for the modular structure of the normal adult cognitive system. We argue that this correspondence is contingent on an unsupported assumption that atypical development can produce selective deficits while the rest of the system develops normally (Residual Normality), and that this assumption tends to bias data collection in the field. Based on a review of connectionist models of acquired and developmental disorders in the domains of reading and past tense, as well as on new simulations, we explore the computational viability of Residual Normality and the potential role of development in producing behavioural deficits. Simulations demonstrate that damage to a developmental model can produce very different effects depending on whether it occurs prior to or following the training process. Because developmental disorders typically involve damage prior to learning, we conclude that the developmental process is a key component of the explanation of endstate impairments in such disorders. Further simulations demonstrate that in simple connectionist learning systems, the assumption of Residual Normality is undermined by processes of compensation or alteration elsewhere in the system. We outline the precise computational conditions required for Residual Normality to hold in development, and suggest that in many cases it is an unlikely hypothesis. We conclude that in developmental disorders, inferences from behavioural deficits to underlying structure crucially depend on developmental conditions, and that the process of ontogenetic development cannot be ignored in constructing models of developmental disorders.     

Genetic counseling and the disabled: feminism examines the stance of those who stand at the gate

This essay examines the possible systematic bias against the disabled in the structure and practice of genetic counseling. Finding that the profession's "nondirective" imperative remains problematic, the authors recommend that methodology developed by feminist standpoint epistemology be used to incorporate the perspective of disabled individuals in genetic counselors' education and practice, thereby reforming society's view of the disabled and preventing possible negative effects of genetic counseling on the self-concept and material circumstance of disabled individuals.     

Atypical trajectories of number development: a neuroconstructivist perspective

Despite the fact that number deficits are as prevalent as literacy deficits, research on basic numerical skills lags seriously behind the successful studies identifying low-level deficits in dyslexia. We review current debates on number, discussing how the competing theories pertain to mathematical disabilities in normal children and numeracy deficits in genetic disorders. We stress the need to consider these issues within the framework of a developing system rather than from the neuropsychological perspective of focal damage. The earlier the exploration of atypical trajectories in very basic numerical skills, the better we will be able to chart their developmental impact on subsequent, higher-level arithmetic abilities.