Practice schedule and cognitive style interaction in learning a maze task

In the present study the effects of contextual interference on the retention and transfer performance of reflectives and impulsives on a maze task were studied. Forty-seven subjects were randomly assigned to either a high contextual interference group or to a low contextual interference group. Within the two groups subjects were further classified according to their preferred modes of responding. Retention and transfer were measured immediately following practice and after a 4-week delay. The dependent variables were tracing time and errors. Reflectives made fewer errors and moved more quickly after practising under conditions of high contextual interference. Impulsives tended to have fewer errors after practising under conditions of high contextual interference but moved more slowly. Based on these results it was suggested that trainers consider individual differences in reflectivity-impulsivity before designing particular practice schedules.     

Training and credentialing in forensic psychology

The number of training programs in forensic psychology has grown considerably in the past 15 years. Numerous opportunities exist for individuals interested in pursuing careers in the forensic area. Interdisciplinary training in several forms is discussed: J.D. -Ph.D. Programs, specialist Ph.D. Programs, predoctoral internships, and postdoctoral fellowships. Continuing professional education, credentialing, and board certification in forensic psychology are also addressed. Despite the face validity of these various types of training and credentialing, little is known about their relative utilities.     

Values and the psychotherapist

One cannot live without encountering the problem of values. Certainly, one cannot go through psychotherapy without becoming involved implicitly and explicitly in the problem. Nor can one engage in psychotherapy as a therapist without bringing certain convictions about values into one's work. These convictions may or may not be specifically communicated to the patient, but they underlie the therapist's activity; they help determine the goal he sets for himself and his patient; and they are consciously or unconsciously reflected in his questions, statements or other reactions.“^1,p.1     

Are research participants truly informed? Readability of informed consent forms used in research

Researchers typically attempt to fulfill disclosure and informed consent requirements by having participants read and sign consent forms. The present study evaluated the reading levels of informed consent forms used in psychology research and other fields (medical research; social science and education research; and health, physical education, and recreation research). Two standardized measures of readability were employed to analyze a randomly selected sample (N = 108) of informed consent forms used in Institutional Review Board-approved research projects at a midwestern university during the 1987-1988 academic year. Results indicate that informed consent forms are typically written at a higher reading level than is appropriate for the intended population and that there are no consistently significant differences in readability among areas of research or between college student and noncollege student participants. Due to the unacceptably high reading level of the consent forms, one must question whether participants can comprehend the information contained in the consent form.     

Is the mind-body interface microscopic?

This paper puts forward the hypothesis that consciousness might be linked to matter in a way which is more sophisticated than the traditional macroscopic Cartesian hypothesis suggests.Advances in the biophysics of the nervous system, not only on the level of its macroscopic functioning but also on the level of individual ion channels, have made the question of how finely consciousness is tied to matter and its dynamics more important. Quantum mechanics limits the attainable resolution and puts into doubt the idea of an infinitely fine-woven attachment. A recent approach to physics rekindles such a rationalist hope. Endophysics focuses on the global implications of microscopic computer simulations of chemical and biophysical processes. A complete artificial universe can be set up in the computer. It produces non-classical and nonlocal effects inside — on the interface that exists between an internal observer (fluid neuron) and the rest of the world. This interface is finer than any brain property to which the status of the mind-body interface has been attributed hitherto. A new class of experiments becomes possible in the artificial world and, by analogy, in the real world. Magnetic resonance imaging experiments, routinely performed under open-loop conditions, can be repeated under psychophysical (closed-loop) conditions — in search for microscopically induced changes in the perceived and measured structure of the world.     

Suicide attempts with drugs]

A sample of 352 subjects, who had made a suicide attempt by ingesting pills examined in the aspects of age and sex, number and origin of used tablets and combination of pill ingestion with alcohol or other methods. Younger people under 20, took nearly exclusively tablets, which they accidentally found at home. Elder patients over 50, used nearly exclusively prescribed drugs. The typical patients attitudes to this suicidal method gives us the right to speak about such suicide attempts as "attempts by tablets". The pharmacological substance is unimportant and plays a secondary role. The seriousness of suicide attempts depends on topical situation of person, biological and social factors; it does'nt dependent on number or pharmacological substance of tablets.