Strength of stereotype and response time for linear displays and rotary controls.

101 Hong Kong Chinese subjects were tested on six configurations of linear displays and rotary controls. A significant linear relationship was found between the average response times and the strength of direction-of-turn stereotype as measured by the proportion of response made by the majority of subjects.     

The discrimination of cat odours by humans

We explored the ability of humans to identify individual cats by smell. Twenty-five cat owners were required to indicate which of two odours (one belonging to their own cat and one belonging to an unfamiliar cat) smelt the strongest, most pleasant, and which belonged to their own cat. Only thirteen (52%) of the participants were able to recognise the odour of their own cat.     

Self-enhancement among high-exposure survivors of the September 11th terrorist attack: resilience or social maladjustment?

The authors examined self-enhancing bias as a predictor of adjustment among individuals in or near the World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Resilience was defined from categorical and continuous analyses of both participant self-report and friend and relative ratings of adjustment. Self-enhancement was associated with a resilient outcome, ratings of better adjustment prior to September 11th, greater positive affect, and reduced perceptions of social constraints. Additional analyses indicated that self-enhancers' reduced symptom levels were fully mediated by their low perceived social constraints. However, consistent with previous evidence suggesting a social cost to self-enhancement, at 18 months post-September 11th, self-enhancers' friends and relatives also rated them as decreasing in social adjustment and as being less honest.     

Disentangling encoding versus retrieval explanations of the bizarreness effect: Implications for distinctiveness

Recall effects attributed to distinctiveness have been explained by both encoding and retrieval accounts. Resolution of this theoretical controversy has been clouded because the typical methodology confounds the encoding and retrieval contexts. Using bizarre and common sentences as materials, we introduce a paradigm that decouples the nature of the encoding context (mixed vs. unmixed lists of items) from the retrieval set (mixed vs. unmixed retrieval sets). Experiment 1 presented unmixed lists for study, and Experiment 2 presented mixed lists for study. In both experiments, significant bizarreness effects were obtained in free recall when the retrieval set intermixed items but not when the retrieval set consisted of only one item type. Also, Experiment 1, using a repeated testing procedure, did not reveal evidence for more extensive encoding of bizarre sentences than of common sentences. The results support the idea that retrieval dynamics primarily mediate the bizarreness effect, and perhaps more generally, distinctiveness effects.     

Harvesting the living?: separating "brain death" and organ transplantation

The chronic shortage of transplantable organs has reached critical proportions. In the wake of this crisis, some bioethicists have argued that there is sufficient public support to expand organ recovery through use of neocortical criteria of death or even pre-mortem organ retrieval. I present a typology of ways in which data gathered from the public can be misread or selectively used by bioethicists in service of an ideological or policy agenda, resulting in bad policy and bad ethics. Such risks should lead us to look at alternatives for increasing organ supplies short of expanding or abandoning the dead donor rule. The chronic problem of organ scarcity should prompt bioethicists to engage in constructive dialogue about the relation of the social sciences and bioethics, to examine the social malleability of the definition of death, and to revisit the question of the priority of organ transplants in the overall package of healthcare benefits provided to most, but not all, citizens.     

Borderline personality disorder features predict negative outcomes 2 years later

In a sample of 351 young adults, the authors assessed whether borderline personality disorder (BPD) features prospectively predicted negative outcomes (poorer academic achievement and social maladjustment) over the subsequent 2 years, over and above gender and both Axis I and Axis II psychopathology. Borderline traits were significantly related to these outcomes, with impulsivity and affective instability the most highly associated. The present findings suggest that the impulsivity and affective instability associated with BPD leads to impairment in relating well with others, in meeting social role obligations, and in academic or occupational achievement. Therefore, these may be especially important features to target in interventions for BPD.     

Childhood stuttering and speech disfluencies in relation to children's mean length of utterance: a preliminary study

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of utterance length and complexity relative to the children's mean length of utterance (MLU) on stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) for children who stutter (CWS) and nonstuttering-like disfluencies (nonSLDs) for children who do not stutter (CWNS). Participants were 12 (3;1-5;11, years;months) children: 6 CWS and 6 age-matched (+/-5 months) CWNS, with equal numbers in each talker group (CWS and CWNS) exhibiting MLU from the lower to the upper end of normal limits. Data were based on audio-video recordings of each child in two separate settings (i.e., home and laboratory) during loosely structured, 30-min parent-child conversational interactions and analyzed in terms of each participant's utterance length, MLU, frequency and type of speech disfluency. Results indicate that utterances above children's MLU are more apt to be stuttered or disfluent and that both stuttering-like as well as nonstuttering-like disfluencies are most apt to occur on utterances that are both long and complex. Findings were taken to support the hypothesis that the relative "match" or "mismatch" between linguistic components of an utterance (i.e., utterance length and complexity) and a child's language proficiency (i.e., MLU) influences the frequency of the child's stuttering/speech disfluency. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to: (1) compare different procedures for assessing the relationship among stuttering, length and complexity of utterance, (2) describe the difference between relative and absolute measures of utterance length, (3) discuss the measurement and value of mean length of utterance and its possible contributions to childhood stuttering, and (4) describe how length and complexity influence nonstuttering-like disfluencies of children who stutter as well as the stuttering-like disfluencies of children who do not stutter.     

Practice variability and transfer of training: the role of self-efficacy generality

Practice variability has been shown to enhance transfer of training. The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of self-efficacy generality as a motivational mechanism in explaining the relationship between practice variability and transfer. Undergraduate students (N = 82) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 training conditions (constant or variable) for a computer decision-making task. Measures of self-efficacy (intensity and generality) and transfer (near and far) were assessed. The results provided support for some of the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, practice variability led to increased self-efficacy generality. Both self-efficacy intensity and generality influenced far transfer performance, although only self-efficacy generality served as a mediator between practice variability and far transfer.     

Rumination and overgeneral memory in depression: effects of self-focus and analytic thinking

Previous research has shown that, compared with a rumination induction, a brief distraction procedure reduces overgeneral autobiographical memory in depression. The authors investigated whether this effect depends on reductions in analytic thinking or reductions in self-focus. Focus of attention (high vs. low self-focus) and thinking style (high vs. low analytical thinking) were independently manipulated in depressed patients in a 2 x 2 design. Autobiographical recall was measured pre- and postmanipulation. Thinking style significantly affected overgeneral memory, whereas focus of attention significantly affected despondent mood. Reducing analytical self-focus reduced overgeneral memory, suggesting that high levels of naturally occurring ruminative analytic thinking may be important in the maintenance of overgeneral memory. Overgeneral memory in depression may be associated with chronic ruminative attempts to make sense of current or past difficulties.