Perceptual grouping produced by line figures

Two experiments, one with 2 and one with 3-line figures, studied the relative effectiveness of differences in orientation and shape in producing grouping by Similarity. The results showed that changes in shape or orientation which leave the component lines of the figures vertical and horizontal do not facilitate grouping as readily as changes which alter the direction of the component lines to 45° and 135°. These results corroborate and extend the findings of Beck (l966a, 1966b) and are discussed in relation to the problem of specifying the properties of line figures that produce grouping by similarity.     

Fiction and Fictions: On Ricoeur on the route to the self

Abstract

In reaching his narrative view of the self in Oneself as Another, Paul Ricoeur argues that, while literature offers revealing insights into the nature of the self, the sort of fictions involving brain transplants, fission, and so on, that philosophers often take seriously do not (and cannot). My paper is a response to Ricoeur's charge, contending that the arguments Ricoeur rejects are not flawed in the way he suggests, and that his own arguments are sometimes guilty of the very charges he lays at the door of his opponents.     

Use of the Beck Depression Inventory-II with depressed geriatric inpatients

To provide information about the clinical utility of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) [Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A., & Brown, G.K. (1996b). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation] with geriatric inpatients, the BDI-II was administered to 130 psychiatric inpatients who were 55 years old or above and who were diagnosed with principal DSM-IV major depressive disorders (MDD) (N = 85, 65%) or adjustment disorders with depressed mood (N = 45, 35%). The internal consistency of the BDI-II was high (coefficient alpha = 0.90), and its total score was not significantly related to sex, age, or ethnicity. An iterated maximum-likelihood factor analysis found the Cognitive and Noncognitive dimensions which have been reported for the BDI-II by Steer and co-workers (Steer R.A., Ball R., Ranieri W.F., & Beck A.T. (1999). Dimensions of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in clinically depressed outpatients. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 55, 117-128) in a younger sample of clinically depressed psychiatric outpatients. The mean BDI-II total score of the 85 geriatric inpatients with MDD was also comparable to that of 42 younger (< or = 54 years old) inpatients with MDD. The results were discussed as supporting the use of the BDI-II with clinically depressed geriatric inpatients.