Lexical discrimination and letter-string identification in the two visual fields.

Right-handed subjects were tachistoscopically presented three-letter words and nonword permutations in a single visual field for 20 msec. Although the subjects were unable to identify the stimuli at this exposure duration, their lexical decisions were better than chance, and were superior in the left visual field. When the exposure duration was increased, subjects demonstrated superior identification of the words in the right visual field. Results are discussed within an information processing framework.     

Effect of head movement on the localization of sounds in the equatorial plane

Five experiments examined the effect of head movement on the localization of sound sources in the equatorial plane. Under most conditions, head movement produces poorer localization for sound sources in the equatorial plane. Only one condition demonstrated an improvement in localization with head movement. The sound source was located toward the side of the head and the source duration was long enough to permit reorientation of the position of the head with re-spect to the sound source.     

Maternal Care and Individual Differences in Defensive Responses

Abstract— Familial transmission of mental illness is common. Recent studies in behavioral neuroscience and biological psychiatry reveal the importance of epigenetic mechanisms of transmission that center on the developmental consequences of variations in parental care. Studies with rats suggest that environmental adversity results in patterns of parent–offspring interactions that increase stress reactivity through sustained effects on gene expression in brain regions known to regulate behavioral, endocrine, and autonomic responses to stress. While such effects might be adaptive, the associated cost involves an increased risk for stress-related illness.     

The Relational Health Indices: A Study of Women's Relationships

A new measure of women's relationships, the Relational Health Indices (RHI), comprises three scales that assess growth-fostering connections with peers, mentors, and communities. The RHI was developed using the Relational Model (Jordan, Kaplan, Miller, Stiver, Surrey, 1991; Miller & Stiver, 1997), a theory of women's psychological development. The 37-item measure assesses three conceptual dimensions of growth-fostering relationships: engagement, authenticity, and empowerment/zest. This study examined the psychometric properties of the RHI with a group of 450 students at a women's liberal arts college, providing evidence for the reliability, validity, and utility of the new measure. The factor analyses confirmed a three-subscale structure: engagement, authenticity, empowerment/zest. The RHI's components generally demonstrate good overall internal consistency. Furthermore, associations between RHI scales and convergent validation scales were significant and in the direction hypothesized. Correlations with adjustment scales varied across the RHI components. The RHI has potential for enriching our understanding of important, subtle qualities and complex dynamics of both dyadic and group relationships, especially among women. The instrument is available for use by researchers interested in continuing the scale and theory development.     

Team reasoning and collective rationality: piercing the veil of obviousness

The experiments reported in our target article provide strong evidence of collective utility maximization, and the findings suggest that team reasoning should now be included among the social value orientations used in cognitive and social psychology. Evidential decision theory offers a possible alternative explanation for our results but fails to predict intuitively compelling strategy choices in simple games with asymmetric team-reasoning outcomes. Although many of our experimental participants evidently used team reasoning, some appear to have ignored the other players' expected strategy choices and used lower-level, nonstrategic forms of reasoning. Standard payoff transformations cannot explain the experimental findings, nor team reasoning in general, without an unrealistic assumption that players invariably reason nonstrategically.     

Insight without cortex: lessons from the avian brain

Insight is a cognitive feature that is usually regarded as being generated by the neocortex and being present only in humans and possibly some closely related primates. In this essay we show that especially corvids display behavioral skills within the domains of object permanence, episodic memory, theory of mind, and tool use/causal reasoning that are insightful. These similarities between humans and corvids at the behavioral level are probably the result of a convergent evolution. Similarly, the telencephalic structures involved in higher cognitive functions in both species show a high degree of similarity, although the forebrain of birds has no cortex-like lamination. The neural substrate for insight-related cognitive functions in mammals and birds is thus not necessarily based on a laminated cortical structure but can be generated by differently organized forebrains. Hence, neither is insight restricted to mammals, as predicted from a “scala naturae”, nor is the laminated cortex a prerequisite for the highest cognitive functions.     

Who gets a mentor? A longitudinal assessment of the rising star hypothesis

This study assessed the rising star hypothesis, which proposes that individuals who are on the fast track to career success are more likely to gain mentors than others. The study used a sample of employees who had never been mentored and examined the relationship between rising star attributes measured at Time 1 and the attainment of a mentor a year later. In support of the hypothesis, individuals who were on the fast-track for promotion, had higher advancement expectations, and engaged in more proactive career behaviors were more likely to gain a mentor than individuals lacking these attributes. Implications of these results for the theory, research and practice of mentoring are discussed.