The patterns seen when alternating electric current is passed through the eye

When alternating current of frequency up to 210 c's. is passed through the eye while the retina is brightly and uniformly illuminated, conspicuous spatial patterns are seen. Other such patterns are seen when current of frequency up to 100 c/s. is passed through the eye in darkness. These patterns are here described, and their origin is discussed.     

The role of eye movements in the perception of visually induced motion

Changes in eye position were recorded while S experienced visually induced motion. Movement of the eye was not found to correlate, in either direction or extent, with this type of apparent motion. Induced movement was explained, therefore, in terms of a change in phenomenal rather than retinal location.     

Three aspects of self-disclosure as they relate to quality of adjustment

Subjects completed two measures of actual self-disclosure (one for intimacy of self-presentation and one for inwardness of self-presentation)and a self-report of past self-disclosure. and California Psychological Inventory. For both sexes the two measures of actual disclosure correlated positively but neither instrument related positively to the self-report measure. Females disclosed more than males on both measures of actual disclosure. Quadratic, inverted-U relationships were hypothesized for the self-disclosure and CPI scales, but by and large they were not found. Linear associations were noted, the major ones being a positive pattern of correlations between the inwardness of actual disclosure and measures of flexible autonomy, responsibility and socialization for the males, a negative set of relations between the intimacy of actual disclosure and scales indicative of good interpersonal adjustment for the females, and a positive relationship between the self-report measure and scales indicative of social poise, extraversion and socialization for both sexes.     

An attentional mechanism in the analysis of spatial frequency

Sinusoidal gratings of various spatial frequencies were used as masking stimuli in a detection task and a vernier acuity task. The test stimuli were 1 cycle/deg square-wave gratings. The spatial frequency of the most effective mask was 1 cycle/deg for the detection task but 3 cycles/deg for the vernier acuity task. The different masking functions for the two tasks show that the visual system analyzes the square-wave stimulus into its various spatial-frequency components. Since the test stimulus was the same for both tasks, the different masking functions may be the result of an attentional mechanism that weighs the importance of the output from various spatial-frequency analyzers. Whether the information from a particular spatial-frequency analyzer is attended or not depends upon the task the visual system must perform.     

The neural bases of strategy and skill in sentence-picture verification

This experiment used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to examine the relation between individual differences in cognitive skill and the amount of cortical activation engendered by two strategies (linguistic vs. visual-spatial) in a sentence-picture verification task. The verbal strategy produced more activation in language-related cortical regions (e.g., Broca's area), whereas the visual-spatial strategy produced more activation in regions that have been implicated in visual-spatial reasoning (e.g., parietal cortex). These relations were also modulated by individual differences in cognitive skill: Individuals with better verbal skills (as measured by the reading span test) had less activation in Broca's area when they used the verbal strategy. Similarly, individuals with better visual-spatial skills (as measured by the Vandenberg, 1971, mental rotation test) had less activation in the left parietal cortex when they used the visual-spatial strategy. These results indicate that language and visual-spatial processing are supported by partially separable networks of cortical regions and suggests one basis for strategy selection: the minimization of cognitive workload.     

Reducing Binge Drinking in Adolescents through Implementation of the Strategic Prevention Framework

The Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) is a conceptual model that supports coalition‐driven efforts to address underage drinking and related consequences. Although the SPF has been promoted by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and implemented in multiple U.S. states and territories, there is limited research on the SPF's effectiveness on improving targeted outcomes and associated influencing factors. The present quasi‐experimental study examines the effects of SPF implementation on binge drinking and enforcement of existing underage drinking laws as an influencing factor. The intervention group encompassed 11 school districts that were implementing the SPF with local prevention coalitions across eight Kansas communities. The comparison group consisted of 14 school districts that were matched based on demographic variables. The intervention districts collectively facilitated 137 community‐level changes, including new or modified programs, policies, and practices. SPF implementation supported significant improvements in binge drinking and enforcement outcomes over time (p < .001), although there were no significant differences in improvements between the intervention and matched comparison groups (p > .05). Overall, the findings provide a basis for guiding future research and community‐based prevention practice in implementing and evaluating the SPF.     

Predicting persistence or withdrawal in female handballers with social exchange theory

Two complementary studies were conducted to explain the dropout phenomenon with French female handball players, utilizing the tenets of social exchange theory (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959; Rusbult, 1980). In the first study, the aim was to more fully explore the sources of enjoyment by emphasizing the key variables in the costs/benefits analysis. We postulate that the costs/benefits analysis consists in each athlete estimating the probability of reaching the most desired consequences for him or her (e.g., learn and improve skill, affiliation with others, be better than the others). The subjects were 488 French women aged from 15–19 years. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that enjoyment in handball was predicted by a latent variable (named perceived benefits) subjacent to perceptions of competence, autonomy, relatedness, progress, coach's support, and time of play. In the second study, we tested a sport commitment model based on the social exchange postulates, using SEM analyses and a prospective design over 8 months. In view of the results of study 1, we replaced the construct of enjoyment with perceived benefit. This analysis provides a more comprehensive understanding of the enjoyment construct and is more consistent with the notion of cost and benefits outlined in social exchange theory. Participants were 253 French handball players between the ages of 14 and 16 years. A first set of analyses, focused on the differences, showed that dropout players perceived themselves as significantly less competent, less autonomous, less related to their team, lower in progress and less supported by their coach than persistent players. The second set of analyses with SEM revealed that the commitment level was positively associated with perceived benefits and negatively with social constraints and alternatives opportunities. Finally, a lack of commitment led to dropping out of the sport 8‐months later.     

The Effect of a Brief Mindfulness Training on Distress Tolerance and Stress Reactivity

Poor distress tolerance (DT) is considered an underlying facet of anxiety, depression, and a number of other psychological disorders. Mindfulness may help to increase DT by fostering an attitude of acceptance or nonjudgment toward distressing experiences. Accordingly, the present study examined the effects of a brief mindfulness training on tolerance of different types of distress, and tested whether trait mindfulness moderates the effect of such training. Undergraduates (n = 107) naïve to mindfulness completed a measure of trait mindfulness and underwent a series of stress tasks (cold pressor, hyperventilation challenge, neutralization task) before and after completing a 15-minute mindfulness training or a no-instruction control in which participants listened to relaxing music. Participants in the mindfulness condition demonstrated greater task persistence on the hyperventilation task compared to the control group, as well as a decreased urge to neutralize the effects of writing an upsetting sentence. No effect on distress ratings during the tasks were found. Overall trait mindfulness did not significantly moderate task persistence, but those with lower scores on the act with awareness facet of mindfulness demonstrated greater relative benefit of mindfulness training on the hyperventilation challenge. Mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects of mindfulness training on cold pressor task persistence and urges to neutralize through the use of the nonjudge and nonreact facets of mindfulness. These results suggest that a brief mindfulness training can increase DT without affecting the subjective experience of distress.     

Infants' visual and auditory communication when a partner is or is not visually attending

In the current study we investigated infants' communication in the visual and auditory modalities as a function of the recipient's visual attention. We elicited pointing at interesting events from thirty-two 12-month olds and thirty-two 18-month olds in two conditions: when the recipient either was or was not visually attending to them before and during the point. The main result was that infants initiated more pointing when the recipient's visual attention was on them than when it was not. In addition, when the recipient did not respond by sharing interest in the designated event, infants initiated more repairs (repeated pointing) than when she did, again, especially when the recipient was visually attending to them. Interestingly, accompanying vocalizations were used intentionally and increased in both experimental conditions when the recipient did not share attention and interest. However, there was little evidence that infants used their vocalizations to direct attention to their gestures when the recipient was not attending to them.