Visual perspective taking for avatars in a Simon task

In modern digital applications, users often interact with virtual representations of themselves or others, called avatars. We examined how these avatars and their perspectives influence stimulus–response compatibility in a Simon task. Participants responded to light/dark blue stimuli with left/right key presses in the presence of a task-irrelevant avatar. Changes in stimulus–response compatibility were used to quantify changes in the mental representation of the task and perspective taking toward this avatar. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that perspective taking for an avatar occurred in orthogonal stimulus–response mappings, causing a compatibility effect from the avatar’s point of view. In the following two experiments we introduced a larger variety of angular disparities between the participant and avatar. In Experiment 3, the Simon effect with lateralized stimulus positions remained largely unaffected by the avatar, pointing toward an absence of perspective taking. In Experiment 4, after avatar hand movements were added in order to strengthen the participants’ sense of agency over the avatar, a spatial compatibility effect from the avatar’s perspective was observed again, and hints of the selective use of perspective taking on a trial-by-trial basis were found. Overall, the results indicate that users can incorporate the perspective of an avatar into their mental representation of a situation, even when this perspective is unnecessary to complete a task, but that certain contextual requirements have to be met.     

Nonepileptic seizures: an overview

Since before the time of Charcot, nonepileptic seizures (NES) have intrigued and perplexed physicians. With the advent of the electroencephalogram, particularly with the addition of continuous video monitoring, the diagnosis of NES has received increasing evaluation. Characteristic historical features and clinical signs of NES, coupled with new diagnostic techniques, have progressively refined our understanding of the disorder. The treatment of patients who have NES has received much less attention and the prognosis of these patients illustrates the need for a more comprehensive, systematic, and validated intervention. These issues are discussed with an emphasis on the need for future research.     

Parents' Attitudes and Expectations About Children's Cross-Gender Behavior

The goals of the present study were to assessparents' attitudes toward crossgender boys and girls, aswell as to explore possible reasons for differentialevaluations. A total of 224 White parents of five-year old children completed questionnaires probingtheir attitudes toward cross-gender behavior inchildren, and their expectations regarding the futureadult behavior of typical boys, typical girls,cross-gender boys and cross-gender girls. The resultsrevealed that cross-gender boys were more negativelyregarded than crossgender girls and thatmen perceivedmore societal acceptance of cross-gender boys thanwomen. Cross-gender children were predicted tocontinue to show cross-gender behavior in adulthood andto be less psychologically welladjusted as adults thantypical boys and girls. Cross-gender boyswere expected to be less psychologicallywell-adjusted than cross-gender girls. When predictingfuture sexual orientation, cross-gender boys were deemedto have a greater likelihood of being gay thancross-gender girls of being lesbian. Men expectedcross-gender boys to be more likely to show male-malesexual behavior than typical boys inadulthood while women predicted typicalgirls to be more likely to show female-female sexual behavior in adulthoodthan cross-gender girls.     

The Feeling-Tone Questionnaire: Reliability and Validity of a Direct Patient Assessment Screening Instrument for the Detection of Depressive Symptoms in Cases of Dementia

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid measure of affective disorder in elderly demented patients. The field lacks instruments which are sensitive to detecting depressive signs in severely as well as mildly and moderately demented subjects. Two samples of subjects were chosen for study. The first sample consisted of subjects from six institutions, which were chosen for study from a probability sample of 25 long-term care institutions in New York City. This sample was part of the Cross-National Institutional Study conducted in New York and London (Gurland et al., 1979; Mann et al., 1984). Thirty patients were selected at random within each institution. The second sample consisted of 52 inpatients at Willard Psychiatric Center, a traditional state psychiatric hospital in upstate New York. All subjects had a chart diagnosis of dementia and were 60 years old or older. The mean age of the sample was 82 years and 56% of the subjects were female. The Feeling-Tone Questionnaire, which was developed for these analyses, consists of 16 dichotomous items and 16 5-point Likert ratings of affect. The reliability of this scale using Cronbach's alpha is .91 for the long-term care institutional sample and .90 for the psychiatric hospital sample. Interrater reliability for two raters on ten cases is .99. Test–retest reliability on ten cases with a 1-day to 2-day interval between trials is .81. A short mood scale was developed from the observational data as a validity measure for the Feeling-Tone Questionnaire. Evidence for the validity of the Feeling-Tone Questionnaire is provided.     

Measuring Cohesion and Self-Disclosure in Psychotherapy Groups for Patients with Advanced Cancer: An Analysis of the Psychometric Properties of the Group Therapy Experience Scale

Objective: Understanding that the group process informs group interventions. However, there is little systematic research on group process variables in psychotherapy groups for patients with cancer. Method: We analyzed the psychometric properties of the Group Therapy Experience Scale (GTES) and evaluated its potential importance in advanced cancer therapy groups. Results: The GTES demonstrated good internal consistency (coefficient alpha = .84). An exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation yielded four factors. Although all four models were explored, the 1- and 2-factor models appeared to provide the best fit for the data. The GTES total score was negatively correlated with group size and positively correlated with number of groups attended by participants. Further, the GTES total score was correlated with post-intervention spiritual well-being, benefit finding, post-traumatic growth, and quality of life.     

The Partners for Change Outcome Management System: A Both/And System for Collaborative Practice

Systematic client feedback (SCF) is increasingly employed in mental health services worldwide. While research supports its efficacy over treatment as usual, clinicians, especially those who highly value relational practices, may be concerned that routine data collection detracts from clinical process. This article describes one SCF system, the Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS), along a normative (standardized measurement) to communicative (conversational) continuum, highlighting PCOMS’ origins in everyday clinical practice. The authors contend that PCOMS represents “both/and,” providing a valid signal of client progress while facilitating communicative process particularly prized by family therapists steeped in relational traditions. The article discusses application of PCOMS in systemic practice and describes how it actualizes time‐honored family therapy approaches. The importance of giving voice to individualized client experience is emphasized.     

Electrophysiological evidence for age effects on sensory memory processing of tonal patterns

In older adults, difficulties processing complex auditory scenes, such as speech comprehension in noisy environments, might be due to a specific impairment of temporal processing at early, automatic processing stages involving auditory sensory memory (ASM). Even though age effects on auditory temporal processing have been well-documented, there is a paucity of research on how ASM processing of more complex tone-patterns is altered by age. In the current study, age effects on ASM processing of temporal and frequency aspects of two-tone patterns were investigated using a passive listening protocol. The P1 component, the mismatch negativity (MMN) and the P3a component of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to tone frequency and temporal pattern deviants were recorded in younger and older adults as a measure of auditory event detection, ASM processing, and attention switching, respectively. MMN was elicited with smaller amplitude to both frequency and temporal deviants in older adults. Furthermore, P3a was elicited only in the younger adults. In conclusion, the smaller MMN amplitude indicates that automatic processing of both frequency and temporal aspects of two-tone patterns is impaired in older adults. The failure to initiate an attention switch, suggested by the absence of P3a, indicates that impaired ASM processing of patterns may lead to less distractibility in older adults. Our results suggest age-related changes in ASM processing of patterns that cannot be explained by an inhibitory deficit.     

Stress regulation and incision in borderline personality disorder-a pilot study modeling cutting behavior

Emotion dysregulation in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by high baseline negative intensity, high reactivity, and slow return to baseline. Patients with BPD often engage in self-injurious behavior because it leads to immediate relief of stress levels. We aimed to assess stress regulation as well as the influence of tissue damage on subjective (aversive tension) and objective (heart rate) stress correlates in BPD. In 14 unmedicated patients with BPD and 18 healthy controls, a stress induction was followed by an incision into the forearm conducted by an investigator. For aversive tension, we found elevated baseline levels as well as slower return to baseline in BPD. In controls, incision resulted in a short-term increase of aversive tension, whereas tension and heart rate decreased in the BPD group. Our preliminary results support the hypothesis that tissue damage may play a role in disturbed stress regulation in BPD.     

A calibration explanation of serial position effects in evaluative judgments

Judges often evaluate stimulus series on dimensions for which no physical scale exists; for example, when judging academic ability in oral examinations. We propose that judges deal with this problem by calibrating an internal judgment scale that maps stimulus input onto available judgment categories. This calibration process implies serial position effects: Judges should initially avoid extreme categories, because using extreme categories reduces judgmental degrees of freedom, thereby increasing the possibility of internal consistency violations. In four experiments, we show that judgments become indeed more extreme later in a series of judgments. Judges evaluated the same good (poor) performances more positive (negative) at the end of a sequence compared to the beginning. Judges’ expertise did not prevent the effect, but allowing end-of-sequence judgments reduced serial position effects. We discuss the implications and possible remedies of these calibration effects on judgment extremity.