Internally driven strategy change

The behavioural analysis of normal adults solving a combinatorial game—the subtraction game—that was previously studied by Gneezy, Rustichini, and Vostroknutov (2010 Gneezy, U., Rustichini, A. and Vostroknutov, A. 2010. Experience and insight in the race game. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 75: 144–155.  [Google Scholar]) allows one to identify the transition from one strategy to a novel strategy. Based on protocol analysis and debriefing, two different strategies used by participants in this task are identified and compared with behavioural measurements (reaction times, accuracy, and mouse movements). One is a (forward) exploration strategy and the other is a more complex but efficient backward induction procedure. The clear determination of the transition from the standard forward exploration strategy to a novel internally generated strategy is established by both protocol reports and behavioural measurements. It allows for the potential investigation of the underlying transition to be carried out by cognitive neuroscience methods. A set of characteristics of such transitions to internally generated novel strategies are discussed.     

Lightness effects in Delboeuf and Ebbinghaus size-contrast illusions

We examined lightness effects observed in Delboeuf and Ebbinghaus size-contrast illusions. Results of four experiments are reported. Experiment 1 was conducted with Delboeuf-like stimuli and shows that the disk that appears bigger appears either lighter or darker than the disk that appears smaller, depending on the contrast polarity between disks and background. Experiment 2 shows that the direction of these lightness effects is not influenced by the luminance of the size-contrast inducers. Experiment 3 shows that a similar lightness effect is also observed in modified Ebbinghaus size-contrast displays. Experiment 4 tested the presence of the size-contrast illusion in the stimuli used in experiments 2 and 3.     

Counseling in Thailand: Development From a Buddhist Perspective

The authors present historical and current accounts of the counseling profession in Thailand. In addition to the influences of Buddhism on counselor training and practices, professional issues such as licensure, professional organizations, and the relationship between counselors and other mental health professionals are summarized. The role of counselors in recent political and natural disasters is highlighted, along with the importance of adapting Western counselor training and service practices to better meet the needs of the Thai population.     

Idiolects and Language

The present paper is intended to analyse from a theoretical point of view the relationships between natural language and idiolects in the context of communication by means of the Davidson–Dummett controversy on the nature of language. I will explore from a pragmatic point of view the reliability of an alternative position inspired by the recent literalism/contextualism debate in philosophy of language in order to overcome some limitations of Dummett’s and Davidson’s perspectives on language, idiolects and communication.     

Does terrain slope really dominate goal searching?

If you can locate a target by using one reliable source of information, why would you use an unreliable one? A similar question has been faced in a recent study on homing pigeons, in which, despite the presence of better predictors of the goal location, the slope of the floor in an arena dominated the searching process. This piece of evidence seems to contradict straightforward accounts of associative learning, according to which behavior should be controlled by the stimulus that best predicts the reward, and has fueled interest toward one question that, to date, has received scarce attention in the field of spatial cognition: how are vertical spaces represented? The purpose of this communication is to briefly review the studies on this issue, trying to determine whether slope is a special cue--driving behavior irrespective of other cues--or simply a very salient one.     

Eye gaze cannot be ignored (but neither can arrows)

Recent studies have tried to shed light on the automaticity of attentional shifts triggered by gaze and arrows with mixed results. In the present research, we aimed at testing a strong definition of resistance to suppression for orienting of attention elicited by these two cues. In five experiments, participants were informed with 100% certainty about the future location of a target they had to react to by presentation of either a direction word at the beginning of each trial or instructions at the beginning of each block. Gaze and arrows were presented before the target as uninformative distractors irrelevant for the task. The results showed similar patterns for gaze and arrows-namely, an interference effect when the distractors were incongruent with the upcoming target location. This suggests that the orienting of attention mediated by gaze and arrows can be considered as strongly automatic.     

Spiritual Wellness for Clients With HIV/AIDS: Review of Counseling Issues

The epidemic of HIV/AIDS has resulted in an increasing population of individuals in need of counseling services: persons living with AIDS, as well as family, friends, and caregivers. The relationship between HIV/AIDS clients' counseling and spiritual issues is demonstrated by a review of salient literature. Three broad themes are used: terminal illness issues such as post-death existence and existential meaning of life, religious disenfranchisement from society or families of origin, and multicultural spiritual and religious issues. Practical recommendations for counselors and research implications are included.     

The Family Environment in Chronic Pain Patients: Comparison to Controls and Relationship to Patient Functioning

Operant and cognitive-behavioral models of chronic pain have called attention to the importance of examining the marital and family environments of chronic pain patients. In this study, 50 chronic pain patients and their spouses and 33 control participants and their spouses completed measures of the family environment, marital satisfaction, and patient physical and psychological functioning. Patients' overt pain behaviors were coded from videotapes of patient–spouse interactions. Compared to controls, pain patients and their spouses rated their family environments as lower in cohesion and higher in control, and there was a trend for spouses to report more marital dissatisfaction. Chronic pain patient depression was associated negatively with patient-rated family cohesion and expressiveness and spouse-rated family organization and positively with patient-rated family conflict. Overt patient pain behaviors and spouse-rated patient disability were related negatively to spouse-rated family cohesion. Spouse marital satisfaction was associated negatively with patient depression and with spouse ratings of patient disability and pain behaviors.     

When figure-ground segmentation modulates brightness: the case of phantom illumination

In the phantom illumination illusion, luminance ramps ranging from black to white induce a brightness enhancement on an otherwise homogeneous dark background. The strength of the illusion was tested with regard to the extension of the brightness inducing perimeter, surrounding the target area by manipulating the number of inducers (exp. 1) and the size of the inducers (exp. 2). Participants' task was to rate the difference in brightness between the target area and the background. Results show that the illusion occurs only when the target area is not completely segregated from the background by luminance ramps; vice versa, when the target area is delimited by a continuous gradient, it appears darker than the background. These findings suggest a major role of figure-ground organization in the appearance of the illusion. This hypothesis was tested in a rating task experiment with three types of target area shapes circumscribed by four types of edges: luminance contours, illusory contours, no contours, and ambiguous contours. Illusory contours, just as luminance contours, hinder the illusion and produce a darkening of the target area. A control experiment measured the brightness of the previous stimuli without luminance ramps: all configurations resulted in a darkening of the target area. Results from all experiments suggest that figure-ground segmentation plays a major role in the determination of both illumination and lightness in stimuli with luminance gradients.