Beyond Death: The Treatment of Indigenous Human Remains—a Human Rights Perspective

Indigenous human remains that have been disinterred and removed (often overseas) without the permission of the descendants of the deceased fall within the broader category of movable cultural heritage. It is accepted that the rights associated with culture as well as certain other human rights—such as freedom of expression and association—are applicable directly to cultural heritage. When considering the human rights dimension of the treatment of indigenous human remains, it is vital to appreciate that for indigeneous peoples the bodies of their ancestors represent an important spiritual heritage as well as being an essential element in their sense of identity. Therefore, both their religious practices (which may include the worship of their ancestors) and their right to cultural identity (and the associated material heritage) should be respected. Most legal systems have laws that prohibit the disturbance of burial grounds, although it is not uncommon for old burial grounds to be turned over to other purposes. For indigenous peoples, both the dead and their burial grounds remain sacred even after thousands of years. The potential for conflict between the wider social importance of indigenous human remains as repositories of scientific information and their special significance to the indigenous community concerned is strong. This raises important ethical questions for anthropologists and museum curators in relation to the treatment of indigenous human remains.     

Effects of caffeine on persuasion and attitude change: The role of secondary tasks in manipulating systematic message processing

Two experiments are reported that examine the effects of caffeine consumption on attitude change by using different secondary tasks to manipulate message processing. The first experiment employed an orientating task whilst the second experiment employed a distracter task. In both experiments participants consumed an orange‐juice drink that either contained caffeine (3.5 mg/kg body weight) or did not contain caffeine (placebo) prior to reading a counter‐attitudinal communication. The results across both experiments were similar. When message processing was reduced or under high distraction, there was no attitude change irrespective of caffeine consumption. However, when message processing was enhanced or under low distraction, there was greater attitude change in the caffeine vs. placebo conditions. Furthermore, attitudes formed after caffeine consumption resisted counter‐persuasion (Experiment 1) and led to indirect attitude change (Experiment 2). The extent that participants engaged in message‐congruent thinking mediated the amount of attitude change. These results provide evidence that moderate amounts of caffeine increase systematic processing of the arguments in the message resulting in greater agreement. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing obsessive compulsive symptoms and cognitions on the internet: evidence for the comparability of paper and Internet administration

Administration of psychological questionnaires via the Internet has gained popularity in recent years and touts many advantages. However, before questionnaires that were originally developed as paper-and-pencil measures can be confidently administered over the Internet, it is necessary to document the equivalence of the paper and computer-generated versions [American Psychological Association. (1986). Guidelines for computer-based tests and interpretations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; Cohen, R.J., Swerdlik, M.E., & Smith, D.K. (1992). Psychological testing and assessment (2nd ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing; Cronbach, L.J. (1990). Essentials in psychological testing (5th ed.). New York: Harper Collins; Meier, S. (1994). The chronic crisis in psychological measurement and assessment: A historical survey. San Diego: Academic Press; Schulenberg, S.E., & Yutrzenka, B.A. (2001). Equivalence of computerized and conventional versions of the Beck Depression Inventory- II (BDI-II). Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality, Social, 20, 216-230]. The current study tested this equivalence for the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory [Foa, E.B., Kozak, M.J., Salkovskis, P.M, Coles, M.E., & Amir, N. (1998). The validation of a new obsessive compulsive disorder scale: The obsessive-compulsive inventory. Psychological Assessment, 10(3), 206-214] and the Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire-44 [Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group. (2005). Psychometric validation of the obsessive belief questionnaire and interpretation of intrusions inventory-Part 2: Factor analyses and testing of a brief version. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 1527-1543] in an unselected student sample. Study results support the equivalence of these measures of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms and beliefs independent of administration method (paper versus secure project website). These findings create new opportunities for conducting OCD-related research online.     

Illusory colors promote interocular grouping during binocular rivalry

When dissimilar monocular images are presented separately to each of a person’s eyes, these images compete for visual dominance, with dominance of one image or the other alternating over time. While this phenomenon, called binocular rivalry, transpires, local image features distributed over space and between the eyes can become visually dominant at the same time; the resulting global figure implicates interocular grouping. Previous studies have suggested that color tends to influence the incidence of global dominance; in this study, we assess whether illusory color can also influence interocular grouping. To test this, we exploited the McCollough effect, an orientation-contingent color aftereffect induced by prolonged adaptation to different colors paired with different orientations. Results show that during binocular rivalry, illusory colors induced by the McCollough adaptation enhance strong interocular grouping relative to preadaptation testing, to an extent comparable in strength with the enhancement induced by real colors. Thus, illusory colors that are present only in an observer’s mind are sufficiently potent to influence low-level visual processes such as binocular rivalry.     

Opposite effects of a single versus repeated doses of gabapentin on retention performance of an inhibitory avoidance response in mice

CF-1 male mice were trained in an inhibitory avoidance (IA) task. A single gabapentin (GBP) administration (50mg/kg, ip) immediately after training enhanced retention performance when mice were tested 8 days after training. On the contrary, when the same dose of the anticonvulsant drug was given twice a day for 7 days (repeated treatment), a significant impairment on retention performance 12h after the last injection of GBP was observed. When the retention test was delayed 7 days after the end of the repeated treatment, the retention performance was not significant different from the control group, whereas if the retention test was delayed 14 days, retention performance was higher than control group but similar to that observed when GBP was administered once immediately after training. The impairment on retention performance was correlated with a significant decrease in the high affinity choline uptake in the hippocampus at the end of the retention test. The pretest administration of the direct muscarinic cholinergic agonist oxotremorine (50 microg/kg, ip) reversed the impairment on retention performance. This reversion was prevented by the muscarinic cholinergic antagonist scopolamine (0.5 mg/kg, ip). Taken together, these results suggest that the impairment on retention performance of an IA task in mice induced by repeated administration of GBP affected memory retrieval but not memory consolidation and that this impairment may be attributable to a reduction on central cholinergic activity.     

An evaluation of in vivo desensitization and video modeling to increase compliance with dental procedures in persons with mental retardation

Fear of dental procedures deters many individuals with mental retardation from accepting dental treatment. This study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of two procedures, in vivo desensitization and video modeling, for increasing compliance with dental procedures in participants with severe or profound mental retardation. Desensitization increased compliance for all 5 participants, whereas video modeling increased compliance for only 1 of 3 participants.     

Multidimensional voice program analysis in profoundly deaf children: quantifying frequency and amplitude control

Characterization of the vocal profile of profoundly deaf children using an objective voice analysis was carried out in a university-based pediatric otolaryngology clinic. 21 persons ages 3.5 to 18 years were assessed. From each sustained phonation of the vowel /a/ the following acoustic variables were extracted: fundamental frequency (F0), jitter percentage, shimmer percentage, fundamental frequency variation (vF0), peak amplitude variation (vAM), and first, second, and third formant frequencies (F1, F2, F3). Mean F0 was 267.8 Hz and consistent with established normative data. Mean measurements of jitter (0.88%) and shimmer (3.5%) were also within normal limits. The notable feature of the acoustic analysis was a statistically significant elevation in vF0 (2.81%) and vAM (23.58%). With the exception of one subject, the F1, F2, and F3 formant frequencies were comparable to those for normal hearing children. Auditory deprivation results in poor long-term control of frequency and amplitude during sustained phonation. The inability to maintain a sustained phonation may represent the partial collapse of an internal model of voice and speech.     

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Call for papers electronic archiving: Norms, stimuli, and data a special issue ofBehavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers     

Visual recognition of biological motion is impaired in children with autism

Autistic children and typically developing control children were tested on two visual tasks, one involving grouping of small line elements into a global figure and the other involving perception of human activity portrayed in point-light animations. Performance of the two groups was equivalent on the figure task, but autistic children were significantly impaired on the biological motion task. This latter deficit may be related to the impaired social skills characteristic of autism, and we speculate that this deficit may implicate abnormalities in brain areas mediating perception of human movement.