Is age-related stability of subjective well-being a paradox? Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from the Berlin Aging Study

Subjective well-being is thought to remain relatively stable into old age despite health-related losses. Age and functional health constraints were examined as predictors of individual differences and intraindividual change in subjective well-being, as indicated by positive and negative affect, using cross-sectional (N = 516) and longitudinal (N = 203) samples from the Berlin Aging Study (age range 70-103 years). In cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, age and functional health constraints were negatively related to positive affect but unrelated to negative affect. Cross-sectionally, controlling for functional health constraints reversed the direction of the relationship between age and positive affect and produced a negative association between age and negative affect. Findings suggest two qualifications to the average stability of overall subjective well-being: Only some dimensions of subjective well-being remain stable, while others decline; age per se is not a cause of decline in subjective well-being but health constraints are.     

The role of recent life events in the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder

Although many investigations into the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest the occurrence of potential life events as triggering factors, such an association has not been well studied to date. The purpose of the present paper is to review the literature on OCD onset in order to determine whether OCD is triggered by recent life events, what specific events may serve as triggers, and the clinical and research implications of these factors. Overall, the available studies do not consistently support the theory that OCD is triggered by specific antecedent life events. However, there is a body of evidence to support the theory that the specific life events of pregnancy and birth of a child can trigger OCD. This apparent association has led to the investigation of certain neurohormonal factors, including changes in estrogen or oxytocin levels, that may be of etiopathogenetic significance in OCD. Confirming such associations may allow clinicians to provide more targeted preventive and therapeutic interventions.     

The bar-cross-ellipse illusion: alternating percepts of rigid and nonrigid motion based on contour ownership and trackable feature assignment

We present a new multistable stimulus generated by continuously rotating an ellipse behind four fixed occluders. Despite the stimulus remaining constant, observers can alternate between one of four percepts: (1) a continuously morphing cross; (2) two independent perpendicular bars oscillating in depth; (3) a rigidly rotating ellipse observed behind the occluders; (4) a fixed cross observed through a continuously rotating, elliptical aperture. Interestingly, the initial percept naive observers tend to see is percept 1, which is the only nonrigid motion percept. This appears to be a violation of the hypothesized 'rigidity heuristic' in which rigid motion percepts tend to be perceived over retinally equivalent nonrigid ones. Here, we describe the relationships between each of the percepts and the assignment of contour ownership and figure/ground segmentation.     

Self-control, perceived opportunity, and attitudes as predictors of academic dishonesty

Academic dishonesty is a persistent and pervasive problem on college campuses. Researchers have suggested a variety of factors that influence academic dishonesty. The present study is an examination of the roles of self-control, attitude toward academic dishonesty, and perceived opportunity in predicting academic dishonesty. The dataset consisted of 853 survey responses from university students across the United States. The results showed that attitude toward academic dishonesty mediated the relationship between self-control and academic dishonesty and also between perceived opportunity and academic dishonesty. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.     

Relationship between physical education students' achievements in a French badminton service test and expert ratings of technique quality

Assessment of practical skills in physical education lessons have often been criticised as subjective. In this study three experienced judges' ratings poorly predicted the 116 students' scores on the French badminton short service test.     

Assessing the dysregulation of the Behavioral Activation System: the Hypomanic Personality Scale and the BIS-BAS scales

We discuss the Hypomanic Personality Scale (Hyp; Eckblad & Chapman, 1986) and the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS-BAS; Carver & White, 1994) and Behavioral Activation System (BAS; Gray, 1991) Scales as risk factors for bipolar disorders. The dysregulation of the BAS is considered to be central and results in higher variability in mood. Therefore, we examined how those scales are associated with mood fluctuations. A total of 59 participants completed a diary for at least 17 days. It included a modified Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (Meyer & Hautzinger, 2001) assessing depression and mania and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Hyp and BAS predicted levels of mania and of positive affect but also fluctuations of mania. Hyp also predicted instability of negative affect. Our data also suggest that mood variability is a trait-like feature. Both scales seem not to be perfect measures of the dysregulation factor. Future research should assess this dysregulation more directly.     

Reinforcement of rat hippocampal LTP by holeboard training

Hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) can be dissociated in early-LTP lasting 4-5 h and late-LTP with a duration of more than 8 h, the latter of which requires protein synthesis and heterosynaptic activity during its induction. Previous studies in vivo have shown that early-LTP in the dentate gyrus can protein synthesis-dependently be transformed (reinforced) into late-LTP by the association of arousing novel environmental stimuli. Here we show that consolidation of spatial memory also reinforces early-LTP in the dentate gyrus. Both memory consolidation and LTP-reinforcement depend on protein synthesis. Four groups of animals were trained by five, seven, eight or 10 trials, respectively, to recognize a fixed pattern of baited holes. The last trial was performed 15 min after tetanus. Errors of long-term reference memory during the last trial were significantly decreased only in the eight- and 10-trial experimental groups compared to pseudo-trained animals. In correlation to this learning effect we found a reinforcement of early-LTP only in these experimental groups compared to controls. The data suggest that the synthesis of new proteins required for spatial reference-memory formation also contributes to LTP maintenance in the hippocampal dentate gyrus.     

Concurrent-schedule performance in transition: changeover delays and signaled reinforcer ratios

Six pigeons were trained in experimental sessions that arranged six or seven components with various concurrent-schedule reinforcer ratios associated with each. The order of the components was determined randomly without replacement. Components lasted until the pigeons had received 10 reinforcers, and were separated by 10-s blackout periods. The component reinforcer ratios arranged in most conditions were 27:1, 9:1, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, 1:9 and 1:27; in others, there were only six components, three of 27:1 and three of 1:27. In some conditions, each reinforcement ratio was signaled by a different red-yellow flash frequency, with the frequency perfectly correlated with the reinforcer ratio. Additionally, a changeover delay was arranged in some conditions, and no changeover delay in others. When component reinforcer ratios were signaled, sensitivity to reinforcement values increased from around 0.40 before the first reinforcer in a component to around 0.80 before the 10th reinforcer. When reinforcer ratios were not signaled, sensitivities typically increased from zero to around 0.40. Sensitivity to reinforcement was around 0.20 lower in no-changeover-delay conditions than in changeover-delay conditions, but increased in the former after exposure to changeover delays. Local analyses showed that preference was extreme towards the reinforced alternative for the first 25 s after reinforcement in changeover-delay conditions regardless of whether components were signaled or not. In no-changeover-delay conditions, preference following reinforcers was either absent, or, following exposure to changeover delays, small. Reinforcers have both local and long-term effects on preference. The former, but not the latter, is strongly affected by the presence of a changeover delay. Stimulus control may be more closely associated with longer-term, more molar, reinforcer effects.     

Uncontrollability, depression, and the construction of mental models.

Three studies examined mental model generation after preexposure to uncontrollability and in a depressive state. The purpose of the experiments was to test the implications of the cognitive exhaustion model, applying an explicit conceptualization of social mental models and a process-tracing method developed by U. von Hecker (1997). An experimental situation was created for observation of consecutive, rule-based construction steps as a function of input diagnosticity, and for the quality assessment of constructed mental models. The findings show that participants preexposed to uncontrollability, as well as depressed students, were able, as were controls, to identify rule-relevant information needed for model construction. However, they were less able than control participants to engage in a more cognitively demanding and generative step of processing (i.e., in integrating the pieces of input information into a coherent mental model of sentiment relations).