Body part representations in verbal semantics

Embodied theories of language propose that word meaning is inextricably tied to—grounded in—mental representations of perceptual, motor, and affective experiences of the world. The four experiments described in this article demonstrate that accessing the meanings of action verbs like smile, punch, and kick requires language understanders to activate modality-specific cognitive representations responsible for performing and perceiving those same actions. The main task used is a word-image matching task, where participants see an action verb and an image depicting an action. Their task is to decide as quickly as possible whether the verb and the image depict the same action. Of critical interest is participants’ behavior when the verb and image do not match, in which case the two actions can use the same effector or different effectors. In Experiment 1, we found that participants took significantly longer to reject a verb-image pair when the actions depicted by the image and denoted by the verb used the same effector than when they used different effectors. Experiment 2 yielded the same result when the order of presentation was reversed, replicating the effect in Cantonese. Experiment 3 replicated the effect in English with a verb-verb near-synonym task, and in Experiment 4, we once again replicated the effect with learners of English as a second language. This robust interference effect, whereby a shared effector slows discrimination, shows that language understanders activate effector-specific neurocognitive representations during both picture perception and action word understanding.     

SAFE通路参与缺血后处理心肌保护作用机制的探讨

缺血后处理(ischemic postconditioning,IPost)是在心肌缺血后持续再灌注前给予多次短暂的再灌注/缺血处理的处理方法,对心肌缺血/再灌注损伤有着重要的保护作用.其心肌保护的具体机制十分复杂,尚未完全阐明.生存活化因子增强(survivor activating factor enhancement,SAFE)途径是IPost中新近发现的保护通路,阐明其在IPost心肌保护中的作用,将为寻找新的药物治疗靶点提供新思路.     

PROBLEM BEHAVIOR DURING PREFERENCE ASSESSMENTS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS AND PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Preferences of 2 children with developmental disabilities, whose functional analyses indicated that their problem behavior was maintained by access to tangible items, were assessed using three formats (i.e., paired stimulus [PS], multiple‐stimulus without replacement [MSWO], and free operant [FO]). The experimenter administered each format five times and compared levels of problem behavior across formats in a multielement design. Both participants exhibited problem behavior in PS and MSWO formats but not in the FO format. Results are discussed in terms of recommendations for practitioners.     

Directional learning,but no spatial mapping by rats performing a navigational task in an inverted orientation

Previous studies have identified neurons throughout the rat limbic system that fire as a function of the animal’s head direction (HD). This HD signal is particularly robust when rats locomote in the horizontal and vertical planes, but is severely attenuated when locomoting upside-down (Calton & Taube, 2005). Given the hypothesis that the HD signal represents an animal’s sense of directional heading, we evaluated whether rats could accurately navigate in an inverted (upside-down) orientation. The task required the animals to find an escape hole while locomoting inverted on a circular platform suspended from the ceiling. In Experiment 1, Long-Evans rats were trained to navigate to the escape hole by locomoting from either one or four start points. Interestingly, no animals from the 4-start point group reached criterion, even after 29 days of training. Animals in the 1-start point group reached criterion after about six training sessions. In Experiment 2, probe tests revealed that animals navigating from either 1- or 2-start points utilized distal visual landmarks for accurate orientation. However, subsequent probe tests revealed that their performance was markedly attenuated when navigating to the escape hole from a novel start point. This absence of flexibility while navigating upside-down was confirmed in Experiment 3 where we show that the rats do not learn to reach a place, but instead learn separate trajectories to the target hole(s). Based on these results we argue that inverted navigation primarily involves a simple directional strategy based on visual landmarks.     

An evaluation of emerging preference for non‐preferred foods targeted in the treatment of food selectivity

Several studies have shown that the acquisition of food consumption does not occur until after escape prevention is implemented. However, the mechanism responsible for the maintenance of food consumption may be due to participants contacting the reinforcing properties of food targeted during intervention such that the food naturally reinforces food consumption. The present study extended the literature on feeding disorders by conducting pre‐ and post‐treatment preference assessments to determine if preference for non‐preferred foods (NPFs) had developed after exposure to a treatment comparison of sequential and simultaneous food presentation; presentation methods were implemented alone and combined with escape prevention in the form of a non‐removal of the spoon (NRS) procedure. Results for three participants with food selectivity indicated that preference for NPFs developed after being exposed to those foods during either treatment sessions or generalization probes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of simultaneous versus sequential presentation of novel foods in the treatment of food selectivity

The present study extended the literature on feeding disorders by conducting a comparison of sequential and simultaneous food presentation in the treatment of food selectivity. In the simultaneous condition, a highly preferred food was presented in the same bite with a non‐preferred food (NPF), and during the sequential condition, a highly preferred food was delivered as a consequence for acceptance and consumption of NPFs. Generalization and maintenance of food consumption was assessed. Although results for two participants indicated that both presentation methods produced an increase in acceptance and consumption of NPFs when combined with an escape extinction procedure, anecdotal observations suggested that participants may have had a preference for eating foods in a sequential fashion. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Communicating and Philosophizing About Authenticity or Inauthenticity in a Fast-Paced World

North Americans live in an increasingly fast-paced world. Not only might this be physically and relationally unhealthy, a fast pace of life might prevent people from living life to its fullest and achieving happiness. Using Heidegger’s theory of Dasein, this study examines how individuals talk about time in holiday letters. Results of the study indicate that many letter writers were living inauthentic lives. According to Heidegger, inauthenticity prevents individuals from experiencing life at its fullest; implications of the findings blending philosophy and communication are discussed.     

Help-Seeking and Internal Obstacles to Receiving Support in the Wake of Community Violence Exposure: The Case of Arab and Jewish Adolescents in Israel

We examined help-seeking and internal obstacles to receiving psychosocial support in the wake of community violence exposure in a sample of 1,835 Arab and Jewish adolescents living in Israel. Paper and pencil surveys conducted in schools examined adolescents’ personal victimization and witnessing of community violence in the past year, and then queried adolescents about their help-seeking after violence exposure. Our findings indicated widespread exposure to community violence, particularly for the Arab respondents. Only one in three Arab and one in four Jewish adolescents reported seeking help from anyone to cope with such experiences following their violence exposure, and only rarely did adolescents seek help from a mental health professional (one in twenty for Jewish and one in nine for Arab adolescents). Adolescents across both samples indicated a variety of internal obstacles that might explain their lack of seeking help to cope with violence exposure, including cognitive minimization of the event, deliberately maintaining the secrecy of the event, wishing to maintain their autonomy, and failing to believe in the efficacy of seeking help from others. Such findings shed light on the difficult challenges to providing professional support to adolescents when they are exposed to community violence, and suggest that such challenges, while varying to a degree across cultures, are also prevalent across cultures.     

Profiling Derald Wing Sue: Blazing the Trail for the Multicultural Journey and Social Justice in Counseling

This article reviews contributions of Derald Wing Sue to the counseling profession through his scholarship, teaching, leadership, and innovation in articulating multicultural issues in counseling. The article profiles Sue's multicultural journey by blending summaries from his writings, comments from professional colleagues, and information from a personal interview. The profile provides a snapshot of Sue's pioneering contributions to building the multicultural counseling movement while giving an overview of personal and professional benchmarks within his career.     

Counselling values and their relationships with self-efficacy among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong

Two-hundred-and-ninety-nine Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong were assessed on their endorsement of counselling values using a 19-item self-report checklist, and on their perceived self-efficacy towards helping using the 10-item Schwarzer-Wegner scale. These teachers were found to share the same counselling values as counselling psychologists. They prized most highly the humanistic counsellor qualities, followed by counselling practice with a preventive, developmental and holistic perspective. Their relative endorsement of scientific values suggested that they were not resistant to the promotion of empirically supported and evidence-based treatment approaches. Teachers’ self-efficacy towards helping was also predictable from endorsing values related to interpersonal relationships and diversity in counselling practice. Implications of the findings for improved counselling training for teachers are discussed.