Psychometric Properties and Norms for the Personality Assessment Inventory in Egg Donors and Gestational Carriers

Although psychological evaluations are an integral element of screening for third-party reproduction and the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is commonly used for these evaluations, little is known about the psychometric properties or normative scores on the PAI among egg donors and carriers. We evaluated the PAI among 1,044 egg donors and gestational carriers from various fertility clinics across the United States. PAI scales were generally internally consistent in this population, although range restriction appeared to attenuate reliability on several scales. The PAI profiles of egg donors and carriers had elevated positive impression management and suppressed clinical scale scores relative to the community standardization sample, as would be expected given the contingencies of this assessment context. Scores were similar across egg donors and carriers and were similar whether the carrier or donor was known or not known to the prospective parents. Sample-specific norms are provided for the use of the PAI in this setting.     

Sensory substitution: an approach to the experimental study of perception / Sustitución sensorial: un abordaje para el estudio experimental de la percepción

Abstract

Sensory substitution refers to the phenomenon where object and environment information normally acquired through one sense can be obtained by another sense. For example, visual input being provided by hearing or touching. Sensory substitution devices are technological designs that transform the characteristics of one sensory modality into stimuli of another sensory modality. These devices were developed with two purposes: (1) to assist people with sensory disabilities in daily tasks; and (2) to study the involved mechanisms of brain plasticity. This article reviews studies in which sensory substitution phenomenon is employed as a methodological strategy to study visual perception. Furthermore, its use is discussed as an experimental platform to contrast new perceptual theories and underlying neurophysiological mechanisms that are currently under review.     

Seeing through the eyes of anxious individuals: An investigation of anxiety-related interpretations of emotional expressions

The interpretation of emotional states is necessary for successful social communication. Often individuals interpret emotional expressions intuitively and without full cognitive awareness. The aim of the present study was to test whether anxiety would influence affect interpretation in the manner suggested by interpretation bias—the tendency to interpret ambiguous cues in a threatening way. Interpretation of social cues was assessed with the similarity rating task (simtask) in two studies (n₁ = 116, n₂ = 76). The similarity ratings were analysed with a multidimensional scaling (MDS) approach, and the effects of anxiety on the interpretation of emotional expressions were analysed with multilevel modelling. The results of both studies showed evidence for an anxiety-related interpretation bias. High-anxious individuals tended to interpret milder threats as more negative than low-anxious individuals did. The consequences for anxiety research are discussed.     

Test of Motowidlo et al.'s (1997) Theory of Individual Differences in Task and Contextual Performance

This article examines 20 key issues related to the sliding band method of candidate referral in personnel selection. It does so in a point-and-counter-point format. Its purpose is to facilitate consideration of relevant issues, to correct what we believe are misconceptions and misunderstandings of the technical, legal, and social implications of the method, and to allow us to state our position on these issues clearly. Some scientists and practitioners may choose not to use this approach, but at least their decisions should be based on a clear understanding of the logic and technical basis for it.     

Mental rotation of letters,pictures, and three-dimensional objects in German dyslexic children

This study examines mental rotation ability in children with developmental dyslexia. Prior investigations have yielded equivocal results that might be due to differences in stimulus material and testing formats employed. Whereas some investigators found dyslexic readers to be impaired in mental rotation, others did not report any performance differences or even superior spatial performance for dyslexia. Here, we report a comparison of mental rotation for letters, three-dimensional figures sensu Shepard and Metzler, and colored pictures of animals or humans in second-grade German dyslexic readers. Findings indicate that dyslexic readers are impaired in mental rotation for all three kinds of stimuli. Effects of general intelligence were controlled. Furthermore, dyslexic children were deficient in other spatial abilities like identifying letters or forms among distracters. These results are discussed with respect to the hypotheses of a developmental dysfunction of the parietal cortex or a subtle anomaly in cerebellar function in dyslexic readers.     

Explanation of Two Anomalous Results in Statistical Mediation Analysis

Previous studies of different methods of testing mediation models have consistently found two anomalous results. The first result is elevated Type I error rates for the bias-corrected and accelerated bias-corrected bootstrap tests not found in nonresampling tests or in resampling tests that did not include a bias correction. This is of special concern as the bias-corrected bootstrap is often recommended and used due to its higher statistical power compared with other tests. The second result is statistical power reaching an asymptote far below 1.0 and in some conditions even declining slightly as the size of the relationship between X and M, a, increased. Two computer simulations were conducted to examine these findings in greater detail. Results from the first simulation found that the increased Type I error rates for the bias-corrected and accelerated bias-corrected bootstrap are a function of an interaction between the size of the individual paths making up the mediated effect and the sample size, such that elevated Type I error rates occur when the sample size is small and the effect size of the nonzero path is medium or larger. Results from the second simulation found that stagnation and decreases in statistical power as a function of the effect size of the a path occurred primarily when the path between M and Y, b, was small. Two empirical mediation examples are provided using data from a steroid prevention and health promotion program aimed at high school football players (Athletes Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids; Goldberg et al., 1996), one to illustrate a possible Type I error for the bias-corrected bootstrap test and a second to illustrate a loss in power related to the size of a. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Job Performance as Multivariate Dynamic Criteria: Experience Sampling and Multiway Component Analysis

Questions about the dynamic processes that drive behavior at work have been the focus of increasing attention in recent years. Models describing behavior at work and research on momentary behavior indicate that substantial variation exists within individuals. This article examines the rationale behind this body of work and explores a method of analyzing momentary work behavior using experience sampling methods. The article also examines a previously unused set of methods for analyzing data produced by experience sampling. These methods are known collectively as multiway component analysis. Two archetypal techniques of multimode factor analysis, the Parallel factor analysis and the Tucker3 models, are used to analyze data from Miner, Glomb, and Hulin's (2010) experience sampling study of work behavior. The efficacy of these techniques for analyzing experience sampling data is discussed as are the substantive multimode component models obtained.     

Bottled memories: On how alcohol affects eyewitness recall

This study investigated how different doses of alcohol affected eyewitness recall. Participants (N = 126) were randomly assigned to three groups with different blood alcohol concentration (BAC), either a control group (mean BAC 0.00%, N = 42), a lower alcohol dose group (mean BAC 0.04%, N = 40), or a higher alcohol dose group (mean BAC 0.06%, N = 44). After consumption, participants witnessed a movie of a mock crime and were interviewed one week later. The main results showed that witnesses with the higher intoxication level recalled fewer details compared to witnesses with the lower intoxication level. The amount of alcohol consumed did not have an impact on the accuracy rate. No sex differences were found. The results are discussed in the light of past research. We conclude that more studies are needed before recommendations can be made to an applied setting.     

Lifestyle changes are related to reductions in depression in persons with elevated coronary risk factors

This observational study investigates whether persons with elevated coronary risk factors (CRFs >3 and/or diabetes) and depression [i.e., ≥16 on the Center for Epidemiological Scale – Depression (CES-D)] can make changes in health behaviours over 3 months and improve depressive symptoms and other CRFs. Analyses were based on data from 310 men and 687 women enrolled in the high-risk arm of the Multisite Cardiac Lifestyle Intervention Program, targeting diet (10% fat), exercise (3 h per week) and stress management (7 h per week). As expected, at study entry, depressed persons had a more adverse medical status, consumed more dietary fat and practiced less stress management than non-depressed persons. To examine 3-month changes, participants were grouped into (1) depressed persons who became non-depressed (CES-D ≤ 16, n = 248; 73%), (2) persons who remained or became depressed (CES-D >16, n = 76) and (3) non-depressed persons who remained non-depressed (n = 597). All persons, regardless of group, met program goals. The greatest improvements (i.e., diet, exercise, perceived stress, hostility and mental health) were observed in Group 1 relative to Groups 2 and 3, which did not differ from each other. Comprehensive lifestyle changes appear to be feasible and beneficial for initially depressed persons with elevated CRFs.