Concurrent verbal interference of right and left proximal and distal upper extremity tapping

The purpose of this study was to investigate crossed and uncrossed control of the proximal (upper arm and shoulder) and distal (lower arm and hand) musculature of the arms using the dual-task paradigm. Forty-one strongly right-handed men performed a tapping task using primarily the musculature of the upper or lower arms, with and without concurrent verbal processing demands. The results showed that the left distal region was distinguished from the other three effector locations by its relative insensitivity to the demands of the dual-task (verbal processing) condition. Rapid alternating movements of the left arm were functionally independent from the left index finger location in response to dual-task demands. Dual verbal and tapping demands at this effector produced greater interference on both the primary and secondary task. The results preclude the attribution of interference effects to manual dominance factors alone. The results generally support anatomical accounts of increased ipsilateral control over left side arm but not hand movements. Neither the traditional cognitive hemispheric model nor the manual dominance hypothesis were adequate in accounting for the results. An alternative generalized capacity hypothesis was required to account for performance at the LE.     

A beautiful day in the neighborhood: What factors determine the generation effect for simple multiplication problems?

In four experiments, we examined the generation effect for the free recall of simple multiplication answers. Large-product-size problems showed a consistent generation-effect advantage over small-product-size problems, except when each answer was generated twice, via two different sets of operands (Experiment 2). Also, measures of problem-solution time and strategy use accounted for the large-product-size advantage. Across experiments, however, small-product-size problems (but not large-product-size problems) showed considerable variation in the size of their generation effect. We discovered that solving small-product-size problems via direct memory retrieval increased the episodic recall probability of other problems that were near neighbors to the generated answer, and we attribute this result to a spreading activation mechanism in semantic memory. A measure of neighbor activations, combined with RT to solve each problem, accounted for 51% of the observed generation-effect variance.     

Psychological consultation under Oregon's 1994 Death With Dignity Act: ethics and procedures

The Oregon 1994 Death With Dignity Act prescribes an evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist when the patient is suspected to be suffering from impaired judgment. Several attempts have been made to propose procedures for assessing end-of-life mental conditions and competence. The psychologist's role may include ethical considerations, protecting patients' rights to autonomy, ensuring competent judgment, preventing unnecessary suffering and appropriate diagnoses of mental disorders, and supporting family members and the health care team.     

A Behavior-Analytic Approach to Behavioral Reflexivity

The Psychological Record - The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of behavioral reflexivity from a behavior-analytic perspective. Two quotations from behavioral researchers are first...     

Place of Birth, Place of Residence, and Concentration in Social Occupations

To explore the hypothesis that people who migrate across international, provincial, and state borders tend to veer away from occupations that require intense social interaction, demographic data were obtained on 2,638 North Americans who have attained eminence within their chosen fields. Occupations were blind-coded either as "social" or "nonsocial." While there were similar concentrations in social occupations among Native Americans (75.00%) and Native Canadians (73.02%), there were successively fewer social occupations among Canadian emigres (59.53%), world (predominantly European) emigres (51.46%), and Asian emigres (40.99%) to the U.S. Findings suggest that Asian Americans' well-documented tendencies to veer away from lines of work that involve forceful self-expression reflects a continuous variable rather than a dichotomous variable that sharply separates Asian and North American cultures.     

Auditory discrimination: role of time and intensity in the precedence effect.

Rats were trained to respond on a lever adjacent to a sounding speaker (the sound source) when a single click was emitted. A second click (the artificial echo) was presented through a second speaker on the opposite side. In Condition I, the echo (equal in intensity to the source) was delayed from .015 to 32 milliseconds; greater than 75% correct responses were given for delay times between about .040 milliseconds (lower threshold) and 8 milliseconds (upper threshold). In Condition II, the echo (simultaneous with the source) was reduced in intensity relative to the source over a range from 2.5 decibels to 40 decibels; greater than 75% correct responses occurred for intensity reductions greater than 5 decibels. In Condition III, both the intensity and the delay time of the echo were manipulated in a manner analogous to that which would occur under natural conditions; greater than 95% correct responses were given for delay times from 1 to 32 milliseconds. These data indicate that both time and intensity differences are necessary for localization of primary sources, with delay time contributing more at short echo path distances, and intensity differences at long distances.     

Sexual Peak: Socially Shared Cognitions About Desire,Frequency, and Satisfaction in Men and Women

Is a man’s sexual peak earlier than a woman’s? Three studies were conducted to examine (a) whether the perception that men achieve their sexual peak at a younger age than do women is shared across individuals of different ages and sexes, (b) whether sexual peak is defined differently for men and women, and (c) whether differences between definitions contribute to differences in the age at which men and women are perceived to reach sexual peak. Study 1 suggested that participants believed that females reach their sexual peak at an older age than do males. Study 2 indicated that the defining feature of sexual peak for males was sexual desire and for females was sexual satisfaction. Study 3 suggested that predictions of male sexual peak coincided with participants’ predictions of male age of highest desire and frequency, but not satisfaction, and that female sexual peak coincided with participants' predictions of female age of highest satisfaction but not frequency or desire. Discussion focuses on potential reasons for differences between the perception of male and female sexuality, as well as the social and evolutionary importance of each of the dimensions of sexuality for both males and females.     

Integrating traditional and non‐traditional approaches to treat a client with a co‐occurring addictive and mental disorder: A case study

This paper presents a case study of a male client with co‐occurring addictive and psychological problems. The aim is to describe this client's treatment within an inpatient facility that provided integrated care for those diagnosed with both mental illness and substance abuse. The course of treatment from admission to discharge and follow‐up are discussed in an effort to provide a detailed account of the treatment modalities used to best help this client. Implications for counselling clients with similar issues and concerns are discussed.