How emotional pictures influence visuospatial binding in short-term memory in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease?

The present study examines the prediction that emotion can facilitate short-term memory. Nevertheless, emotion also recruits attention to process information, thereby disrupting short-term memory when tasks involve high attentional resources. In this way, we aimed to determine whether there is a differential influence of emotional information on short-term memory in ageing and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Fourteen patients with mild AD, 14 healthy older participants (NC), and 14 younger adults (YA) performed two tasks. In the first task, involving visual short-term memory, participants were asked to remember a picture among four different pictures (negative or neutral) following a brief delay. The second task, a binding memory task, required the recognition by participants of a picture according to its spatial location. The attentional cost involved was higher than for the first task. The pattern of results showed that visual memory performance was better for negative stimuli than for neutral ones, irrespective of the group. In contrast, binding memory performance was essentially poorer for the location of negative pictures in the NC group, and for the location of both negative and neutral stimuli in the AD group, in comparison to the YA group. Taken together, these results show that emotion has beneficial effects on visual short-term memory in ageing and AD. In contrast, emotion does not improve their performances in the binding condition.     

Meaningfulness in Day Centers for People With Psychiatric Disabilities: Gender and Empowerment Aspects

This study investigated the experience of meaningfulness in occupations at day centers among people with psychiatric disabilities from an empowerment and gender perspective. One hundred eight participants, from eight day centers in Sweden, completed instruments measuring experienced meaning, empowerment, psychosocial functioning, and socio-demographic factors. Mixed methods were used, combining statistical analyses and content analysis. Gender differences were found concerning principal occupations performed. These confirmed traditional gender roles. The experience of meaning in day center occupations, particularly the domain of meaning pertaining to personal development, was significantly associated with empowerment. These results may be used in the future development of day centers.     

Impact of Tactile Sensation on Dexterity: A Cross-Sectional Study of Patients With Impaired Hand Function After Stroke

The authors sought to explore the impact of tactile sensation on manual dexterity and the validity of the strength-dexterity test in subjects with chronic impairments after stroke in a cross-sectional study of 24 patients with impaired hand function after stroke. Dexterity was assessed by the strength-dexterity test, Box and Blocks, and Nine-Hole Peg Test, and the ABILHAND questionnaire. Sensation was measured by pinprick, cotton-wool, graphesthesia, and 2-point discrimination tests. Sensation in the paretic hand had strong association with paretic hand performance in the strength-dexterity test and Nine-Hole Peg Test and explained 13% of the variance. Sensation in the nonparetic hand was associated with the results of the ABILHAND questionnaire. Among sensory tests, 2-point discrimination had the strongest association with dexterity tests. No significant correlations between sensation, pinch force, and dexterity tests were found for the nonparetic hand. The strength-dexterity test exhibited strong correlations with the other dexterity measures and with pinch force. There is an association between tactile sensation and dexterous performance in the paretic hand; activity level performance is associated with sensation in the nonparetic hand. The study supports the validity of the strength-dexterity test when applied in subjects in the chronic stage after stroke.     

The accuracy of memory for faces of personally known individuals

The present study was aimed at evaluating whether the very high accuracy of memory for familiar faces, demonstrated by Ge et al (2003, Perception 32 601-614) with a very familiar famous person, generalises to faces of personally known individuals. The accuracy of participants' perceptual memory for a close colleague's face and for their own face was evaluated by presenting original and manipulated pictures of these two targets. The manipulation consisted of increasing or decreasing the interocular distance. As in Ge et al's study, results indicated that proportions of correct recognition of the original faces, and just noticeable differences for the detection of alterations in the recognition task, were not significantly different from the corresponding measures in a perceptual discrimination task performed by a sample of participants who did not know the target persons at all. High accuracy of memory generalises to faces of personally known individuals.     

Effects of A Training Program on Teacher Behavior and Handicapped Children's Self-Concepts

The purpose of this research was to assess the effectiveness of the revised Utah State University Self-Concept Protocol Program in changing teacher behaviors presumed to be related to pupil self-concept. This program was focused on teachers with handicapped pupils in mainstreamed classrooms (grades 4 through 6). Ten volunteer teachers were trained in the self-concept behaviors as part of an inservice course. Eight additional volunteer teachers served as a no-treatment control group. Program-related teacher behaviors were observed and a pupil self-concept measure was administered before and after the inservice course. Results indicated that, although no changes occurred in program-related behaviors for the control group teachers, experimental group teachers showed significant increases on six of the 12 program-related behaviors. No gains in self-concept were made by handicapped children; however, there was some evidence for differential effectiveness of the program for learning disabled and emotionally handicapped children.     

Correcting Big Five Personality Measurements for Acquiescence: An 18‐Country Cross‐Cultural Study

For groups of persons with low or medium levels of education, Big Five personality scales typically yield scores that poorly replicate the idealized Big Five factor pattern. On the basis of representative samples of German adults, Rammstedt et al. have demonstrated that correcting each person's score for acquiescence eliminates this problem. In the present 18‐country study using large samples representative of each country's adult population, we found that, in all cases, correcting for acquiescence did indeed improve the congruence of factor loadings with an idealized Big Five pattern. However, although this correction led to acceptably high correspondence levels in all countries classified as individualistic, this was not always true for non‐individualistic countries. Possible reasons for this finding are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Drug testing in organizations: Applying Horwitz's theory of the effectiveness of social control

Folk crimes, offenses that do not impair the public identity of offenders as respectable, law‐abiding citizens, were studied among a group of New England shellfishermen. Through observation, it was discovered that a pattern of mutual accommodation between enforcers and violators distinguishes folk crime from other violations of the same law. The subjective interpretation of the offenses and accommodation as a reaction is based on considerations of rule intent, logical implications of relevant rules, costs and consequences of rule invocation for enforcers, evaluation of violators’ motives, perceived consequences of violations, and the imputed identity of violators.     

Meeting Deadlines in Work Groups: Implicit and Explicit Mechanisms

Nous nous sommes demandés, dans cette étude, si les groupes étaient mieux à même de respecter les délais quand leurs membres partageaient les mêmes cognitions temporelles, c'est-à-dire quand ils s'accordaient sur les dimensions temporelles de leur tâche. Dans une étude longitudinale portant sur 31 groupes, nous avons étudié l'effet des cognitions temporelles partagées sur le respect d'un délai et exploré deux antécédents des cognitions temporelles partagées: la cohérence des rythmes des membres du groupe et l'échange des rappels concernant le temps. Nos résultats montrent que ces deux facteurs ont un impact sur les cognitions temporelles partagées et cela à différentes étapes du travail collectif. De plus, il est apparu que les cognitions temporelles partagées pouvaient aussi bien faciliter que contrecarrer le respect des délais: cela dépend des rythmes des membres du groupe.
In this study, we examined whether groups were better able to meet deadlines when group members had shared temporal cognitions, that is, when they agreed on the temporal aspects of their task. In a longitudinal study involving 31 groups, we studied the effect of shared temporal cognitions on meeting a deadline and explored two antecedents of shared temporal cognitions: the similarity in group members' pacing styles and the exchange of temporal reminders. Our findings suggest that both antecedents are relevant to shared temporal cognitions, be it at different stages of group collaboration. Furthermore, we found that shared temporal cognitions may either facilitate or impede meeting a deadline, depending on the content of group members' pacing styles.     

Personality characteristics in primary benzodiazepine-dependent patients: Comparison with controls and polydrug users

The present study applied Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) to study (i) if patients with benzodiazepine dependence have a characteristic personality profile, (ii) if the personality characteristics in patients with benzodiazepine dependence differ from those of polydrug users and normal controls, (iii) if differences in treatment outcome existed between the groups, and (iv) if the possible difference in treatment outcome was associated with any particular personality characteristic shown by the patients. The personality characteristics of primary benzodiazepine dependent patients (BDZ) and a group of polydrug users (MIX) were studied initially (during the first week in project as an inpatient) and approximately one year after drug discontinuation, and a comparison was made with healthy controls on both test occasions. The results showed that the personality of both groups of patients differed significantly from the Controls in the following characteristics: Detachment, Socialization, Somatic Anxiety, Muscular Tension, Psychic Anxiety, and Psychasthenia. Significant differences existed between the polydrug and benzodiazepine users in Somatic and Psychic Anxiety as well as in Socialization. The MIX group differed significantly from the BDZ group and from the Controls in Suspicion. Results of treatment outcome indicated that the benzodiazepine dependent patients were significantly more successful in quitting their drug use compared to polydrug users. Further, the results demonstrated that patients scoring high in the investigated personality characteristics are those who fail the treatment goal of quitting their drug use, especially the patients with a high level of anxiety and detachment.