African–American Religious Affiliation in the Late 20th Century: Cohort Variations and Patterns of Switching, 1973–1998

This article investigates shifts in religious affiliation among African Americans over the last three decades and across cohorts. I examine data from the 1973–1998 General Social Surveys to analyze denominational growth and decline, and patterns of religious switching. I compare variations in religious loyalty/switching and patterns of mobility across eight salient religious groupings; cohort variations are tested across pre– and post–civil rights cohorts. I examine a range of log–linear and log–multiplicative models to summarize patterns of switching and to see whether patterns vary across cohorts. I find that the "black mainline" Methodist and Baptist denominations lose members from switching and have lower market share because of the ascendance of conservative sects. Further, nonaffiliation is growing, particularly in the post–civil rights cohort. I found no variations in patterns of mobility over time or across cohorts—only in the rates of switching that drive the levels of mobility.     

A Sociological Assessment of Centenarians from Central Illinois Cemeteries, 1825–1985

Centenarians, the fastest growing age group in the United States, recently have become the focus of medical and social research. However, historically, little is known of centenarians beyond anecdotal narrative. This research identifies 60 centenarians from 55,914 burials between 1825 and 1985 in a single Midwest county. These centenarians are compared to a sample of burials from the same county and time span, and to patterns of current centenarians. The prevalence of centenarians, historically, compares more favorably with current prevalence rates than anticipated, suggesting regional concentrations of the oldest old. Racial crossover was found, as anticipated, but historically, centenarians were not as disproportionately female as is the contemporary centenarian population. Seasonal death patterns of centenarians are similar to, but more exaggerated than, the seasonal patterns of younger elderly. Finally, findings suggest that centenarians came from larger families than noncentenarians, and that these families experienced greater longevity.     

Turning an advantage into a disadvantage: Ambiguity effects in lexical decision versus reading tasks

When performing a lexical decision task, participants can correctly categorize letter strings as words faster if they have multiple meanings (i.e., ambiguous words) than if they have one meaning (i.e., unambiguous words). In contrast, when reading connected text, participants tend to fixate longer on ambiguous words than on unambiguous words. Why are ambiguous words at an advantage in one word recognition task, and at a disadvantage in another? These disparate results can be reconciled if it is assumed that ambiguous words are relatively fast to reach a semantic-blend state sufficient for supporting lexical decisions, but then slow to escape the blend when the task requires a specific meaning be retrieved. We report several experiments that support this possibility.     

Neural correlates of person recognition

Rapidly identifying known individuals is an essential skill in human society. To elucidate the neural basis of this skill, we monitored brain activity while experimental participants demonstrated their ability to recognize people on the basis of viewing their faces. Each participant first memorized the faces of 20 individuals who were not known to the participants in advance. Each face was presented along with a voice simulating the individual speaking their name and a biographical fact. Following this learning procedure, the associated verbal information could be recalled accurately in response to each face. These learned faces were subsequently viewed together with new faces in a memory task. Subjects made a yes-no recognition decision in response to each face while also covertly retrieving the person-specific information associated with each learned face. Brain activity that accompanied this retrieval of person-specific information was contrasted to that when new faces were processed. Functional magnetic resonance imaging in 10 participants showed that several brain regions were activated during blocks of learned faces, including left hippocampus, left middle temporal gyrus, left insula, and bilateral cerebellum. Recordings of event-related brain potentials in 10 other participants tracked the time course of face processing and showed that learned faces engaged neural activity responsible for person recognition 300-600 msec after face onset. Collectively, these results suggest that the visual input of a recently learned face can rapidly trigger retrieval of associated person-specific information through reactivation of distributed cortical networks linked via hippocampal connections.     

MFT Students’ Recount Experiences of Attending Phone and Online Overeaters Anonymous Meetings

The purpose of this study was to explore Marriage and Family Therapy students’ experiences attending Overeaters Anonymous (OA). Utilizing a qualitative survey administered in an addictions course at an institution located in a rural area of the United States, 18 marriage and family therapy (MFT) graduate students reflected on their participation in both online and telephone meetings. In this study, MFT students provided their perspectives regarding the feasible utilization of Overeaters Anonymous in clinical treatment, with an emphasis on the consideration of social support for clients who may reside in rural areas. Three major themes emerged which included (1) enlightenment through exposure; (2) OA as a viable adjunct to therapy; and (3) convenience and comfort. The study addressed recommendations for MFT education, clinical implications, and future research.     

RESPONSE ALLOCATION IN CONCURRENT CHAINS WHEN TERMINAL‐LINK DELAYS FOLLOW AN ASCENDING AND DESCENDING SERIES

Eight pigeons were trained in a concurrent‐chains procedure in which the terminal‐link immediacy ratio followed an ascending or descending series. Across sessions, one terminal‐link delay changed from 2 s to 32 s to 2 s or from 32 s to 2 s to 32 s, while the other was always 8 s. For all pigeons, response allocation tracked changes in delay and was biased towards the 8‐s alternative on the descending series, indicating a hysteresis effect, and was more sensitive to changes in the terminal‐link delay ratio for relatively long (> 8 s) than short (< 8 s) delays. Both the hysteresis and effect of delay duration were predicted by an extended version of Grace and McLean's (2006) decision model. The extended decision model provided an overall better account of the results than a simple linear‐operator model (Grace, 2002), and holds promise for an integrated account of choice in concurrent chains for both acquisition and steady‐state conditions.     

Looking and touching: what extant approaches reveal about the structure of early word knowledge

The goal of the current study is to assess the temporal dynamics of vision and action to evaluate the underlying word representations that guide infants' responses. Sixteen‐month‐old infants participated in a two‐alternative forced‐choice word–picture matching task. We conducted a moment‐by‐moment analysis of looking and reaching behaviors as they occurred in tandem to assess the speed with which a prompted word was processed (visual reaction time) as a function of the type of haptic response: Target, Distractor, or No Touch. Visual reaction times (visual RTs) were significantly slower during No Touches compared to Distractor and Target Touches, which were statistically indistinguishable. The finding that visual RTs were significantly faster during Distractor Touches compared to No Touches suggests that incorrect and absent haptic responses appear to index distinct knowledge states: incorrect responses are associated with partial knowledge whereas absent responses appear to reflect a true failure to map lexical items to their target referents. Further, we found that those children who were faster at processing words were also those children who exhibited better haptic performance. This research provides a methodological clarification on knowledge measured by the visual and haptic modalities and new evidence for a continuum of word knowledge in the second year of life.     

Golf players exhibit changes to grip speed parameters during club release in response to changes in club stiffness

The influence of golf club stiffness on driving performance is currently unclear, and it is possible that this ambiguity is due in part to golfer adaptation to equipment. The purpose of the current study was to elucidate mechanisms of adaptation to club stiffness, during the golf swing, by employing tendon vibration to distort proprioceptive feedback. Vibration (～50 Hz, ～1 mm amplitude) was applied to the upper extremities of 24 golfers using DC motors with eccentric weights. Golfers hit golf balls in a laboratory setting using three clubs of varying shaft stiffness, and club kinematics were recorded using high speed (180 Hz) digital cameras. The results demonstrated significant slowing of the club grip during club release for a high-stiffness shaft with vibration. This suggests that, when proprioceptive feedback is available, players adapt to changes in club stiffness by modifying the release dynamics of the club late in the downswing.