Expanding Echo: Coordinated Head Articulations as Nonmanual Enhancements in Sign Language Phonology

Echo phonology was originally proposed to account for obligatory coordination of manual and mouth articulations observed in several sign languages. However, previous research into the phenomenon lacks clear criteria for which components of movement can or must be copied when the articulators are so different. Nor is there discussion of which nonmanual articulators can echo manual movement. Given the prosodic properties of echoes (coordination of onset/offset and of dynamics such as speed) as well as general motoric coordination of various articulators in the human body, we expect that the mouth is not the only nonmanual articulator involved in echo phonology. In this study, we look at a fixed set of lexical items across 36 sign languages and establish that the head can echo manual movement with respect to timing and to the axis/axes of manual movement. We propose that what matters in echo phonology is the visual percept of temporally coordinated movement that repeats a salient movement property in such a way as to give the visual impression of a copy. Our findings suggest that echoes are not obligatory motor couplings of two or more articulators but may enhance phonological distinctions that are otherwise difficult to see.     

Individual strategy preferences and decisional fit

The present research introduces the concept of decisional fit. A decision maker experiences decisional fit when the individually preferred decision strategy fits the actually applied strategy. In accordance to other fit‐concepts in psychology (e.g., person–environment fit), we expected positive effects of decisional fit. Five studies examine the effects of a fit between the individual preference for intuition and deliberation (PID) and the actually used decision strategy (intuition or deliberation). A comparison of extreme types (according to participants' values on the PID scale) revealed that decisional fit enhances the perceived value of the chosen or evaluated object (Studies 1–3). In Studies 4 and 5, participants experienced less regret after decisional fit. The findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences when comparing intuitive and deliberate decision making, because strategy preferences interact with applied strategies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring religious attitudes: reliability and validity of the German version of the Systems of Belief Inventory (SBI-15R-D) in a representative sample

Forgiveness is a core value within Christianity and many other religions, but it is unclear whether valuing forgiveness results in individuals being more forgiving. This study examines the effect of Christian religious belief on forgiveness; tests the theoretical speculation that trust fosters forgiveness; explores the effect of cynicism, and examines age effects on forgiveness with a British sample. Christian clergy (N?=?209), general population samples of Christians (N?=?176), and a group with NRA (N?=?65) completed the Heartland Forgiveness Scale measuring forgiveness of self, others, and situations, and measures of trust, cynicism, and the importance of forgiveness. The clergy score higher on total forgiveness, forgiveness of self, others, and situations; rate forgiveness as being more important; are more trusting; and are less cynical than the Christian and no religious affiliation (NRA) samples in the general population. While the Christian sample value forgiveness more than the NRA group, they are not more forgiving on any of the measures tested. Age is a significant predictor only for situational forgiveness. Trust is not a positive mediator of forgiveness for any of the participant groups, and neither is cynicism a negative mediator of forgiveness.     

The Effect of Plausible Versus Implausible Balance Scale Feedback on the Expectancies of 3- to 4-Year-Old Children

Previous studies (Case, 1985 Case , R. ( 1985 ). Intellectual development: Birth to adulthood . New York , NY : Academic . [Google Scholar]; Siegler, 1981 Siegler , R. S. ( 1981 ). Developmental sequences within and between concepts . Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development , 46 , 1 – 84 . [Google Scholar]) have shown that children under the age of 5 years have little understanding of balance scales when required to encode the influence of weight or distance from the fulcrum. More recently, however, Halford, Andrews, Dalton, Boag, and Zielinski (2002 Halford , G. S. , Andrews , G. , Dalton , C. , Boag , C. , & Zielinski , T. ( 2002 ). Young children's performance on the balance scale: The influence of relational complexity . Journal of Experimental Child Psychology , 81 , 417 – 445 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) noted that an understanding based on weight alone is present even in 2-year-olds. In all these experiments, weight was varied using multiple objects of the same weight. Consequently, the children's decisions could have been based upon visual features (size, number) without necessarily taking the weight into account. The present study investigated whether young children are able to correctly encode the relevance of weight in influencing the behavior of a balance scale. We studied how well 3- to 4-year-old children learn to use one of two different weights (of equal appearance) to tip the scale. In the plausible condition, the heavy weight produced the desired outcome. In the implausible condition, the light weight caused the scale to tip. Only 4-year-olds' performance differed between conditions by learning more effectively in the plausible than the implausible condition. Our results suggest that children younger than 4 years of age have not yet developed clear expectations of the role of weights on the movements of a balance scale.     

Post-irradiation annealing behaviour of oxide dispersion strengthened Fe-Cr alloys studied by nanoindentation

ABSTRACT

To study the nature of irradiation-induced nanofeatures in oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) Fe-Cr alloys, post-irradiation isochronal thermal annealing up to 600°C was performed for ODS Fe-9%Cr and Fe-14%Cr alloys ion-irradiated at 300°C and 500°C. Nanoindentation indicated hardening for all as-irradiated alloys and complete hardness recovery upon post-irradiation annealing. Cross-sectional TEM indicated an irradiation-induced defect band near peak damage mainly consisting of dislocation loops. Candidate mechanisms of recovery were critically evaluated. Shrinkage of loops via capture of thermal vacancies was found to correctly reflect the annealing behaviour of ODS Fe-9Cr irradiated at 300°C.     

Ambulante Psychotherapie in Deutschland aus Sicht der Patienten

This study analyzed the provision of outpatient psychotherapy services in Germany in typical practice settings. In a representative survey (from June 2008 to September 2009) 1,212 subjects who received outpatient psychotherapy during the past 6 years were questioned about their experiences with outpatient psychotherapy via telephone interviews. Socio-economic data, reasons for seeking treatment, access paths, financial resources and psychosocial support data were collected. Therapeutic settings and modalities and concomitant medication treatment are described. The findings illustrate the problem of multiple psychiatric morbidity in the clinical practice and confirm the urgent need for patient access to professional psychotherapeutic services. Improving access to these services requires close cooperation between care providers.     

The relationship between suppression and subsequent intrusions: the mediating role of peritraumatic dissociation and anxiety

Background and objectives: Although previous studies showed that thought and emotion suppression represent risk factors for intrusions development, the mechanisms that explain these relations were less explored. This study aims to examine the relationships between thought and emotion suppression and the symptoms of intrusion following the exposure to a trauma-related event. Moreover, we explored if these relationships would be mediated by peritraumatic state dissociation and state anxiety.

Design and methods: The trauma film paradigm was used and the participants were students (N?=?148) experimentally exposed to an aversive film to model a traumatic experience. Thought and emotion suppression were measured before the trauma exposure. After exposure, the participants completed scales for measuring state dissociation and state anxiety. Intrusive images and thoughts of the film were recorded in the subsequent week using an intrusion diary.

Results: Thought suppression predicted intrusive thoughts frequency, and this effect was mediated by the peritraumatic anxiety. State anxiety predicted both intrusive images and thoughts, while state dissociation only predicted intrusive images.

Conclusions: Intrusive images and intrusive thoughts are different phenomena and they are predicted by different variables. The practical implications of these results for posttraumatic stress disorder treatment and secondary traumatization are discussed.