The eyes or the mouth? Feature salience and unfamiliar face processing in Williams syndrome and autism

Using traditional face perception paradigms the current study explores unfamiliar face processing in two neurodevelopmental disorders. Previous research indicates that autism and Williams syndrome (WS) are both associated with atypical face processing strategies. The current research involves these groups in an exploration of feature salience for processing the eye and mouth regions of unfamiliar faces. The tasks specifically probe unfamiliar face matching by using (a) upper or lower face features, (b) the Thatcher illusion, and (c) featural and configural face modifications to the eye and mouth regions. Across tasks, individuals with WS mirror the typical pattern of performance, with greater accuracy for matching faces using the upper than using the lower features, susceptibility to the Thatcher illusion, and greater detection of eye than mouth modifications. Participants with autism show a generalized performance decrement alongside atypicalities, deficits for utilizing the eye region, and configural face cues to match unfamiliar faces. The results are discussed in terms of feature salience, structural encoding, and the phenotypes typically associated with these neurodevelopmental disorders.     

Genetic Counselors’ Religiosity & Spirituality: Are Genetic Counselors Different from the General Population?

Although there is evidence that the religious beliefs of genetic counselors (GCs) can induce internal conflict in at least some genetic counseling scenarios, empirical research on the religiosity of GCs is limited. This study compares genetic counselors to a representative sample of the adult U.S. population on multiple religiosity measures. After controlling for several sociodemographic factors the percentage of GCs who report having a religious affiliation is similar to the general U.S., but GCs are less likely to affiliate with conservative Christian religions and are more likely to be Jewish. GCs are significantly less likely than the general U.S. population to: believe in god, attend religious services, pray, and believe in an afterlife even after controlling for relevant sociodemographic factors. Despite the lower levels of religiosity, a majority of GCs do report themselves to be moderately to highly spiritual. We explore potential reasons for religiosity differences as well as possible implications in the context of the GC scope of practice.     

Affective forecasting and self‐control: Why anticipating pride wins over anticipating shame in a self‐regulation context

We demonstrate that anticipating pride from resisting temptation facilitates self-control due to an enhanced focus on the self while anticipating shame from giving in to temptation results in self-control failure due to a focus on the tempting stimulus. In two studies we demonstrate the effects of anticipating pride (vs. shame) on self-control thoughts and behavior over time (Studies 1 and 2) and illustrate the process mechanism of self vs. stimulus focus underlying the differential influence of these emotions on self-control (Study 2). We present thought protocols, behavioral data (quantity consumed) and observational data (number/size of bites) to support our hypotheses.     

Thinking in the space between Winnicott and Lacan

The author, following André Green, maintains that the two most original psychoanalytic thinkers since Freud were Donald Winnicott and Jacques Lacan. Winnicott, it has been said, introduced the comic tradition into psychoanalysis, while Lacan sustained Freud's tragic/ironic vision. Years of mutual avoidance by their followers (especially of Lacan by Anglophone clinicians) has arguably diminished understanding of the full spectrum of psychoanalytic thought. The author outlines some basic constructs of Winnicott and of Lacan, including: their organizing tropes of selfhood versus subjectivity, their views of the "mirror stage", and their definitions of the aims of treatment. While the ideas of Winnicott and Lacan appear at some points complementary, the goal is not to integrate them into one master discourse, but rather to bring their radically different paradigms into provocative contact. A clinical vignette is offered to demonstrate concepts from Lacan and Winnicott, illustrating what it might mean to think and teach in the potential space between them.     

The Hidden Prejudice in Selection: A Research Investigation on Skin Color Bias

In this era of affirmative action, racial discrimination in the workplace has been studied widely. A common negligence of these studies is that they disregard the subject of skin-tone stratification, and present an analysis of discrimination based on treatment of Blacks and Whites (both as collective units); thereby overlooking a prevalent issue that has long existed in western culture—colorism. This study examined the influence of colorism on job selection, and discovered a significant preferential difference among Black applicants based on their skin complexion. The findings suggest that skin tone plays a considerable role in the favorability of a Black applicant; indicating that skin color is more salient and regarded more highly than one's educational background and prior work experience.     

Moving Toward Comprehensiveness and Sustainability in a Social Ecological Approach to Youth Violence Prevention: Lessons from the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center

Youth violence is a serious public health problem affecting communities across the United States. The use of a social ecological approach has helped reduce its prevalence. However, those who have put the approach into practice often face challenges to effective implementation. Addressing social ecology in all its complexity presents one obstacle; the ability of private non-profit and public agencies to sustain such comprehensive efforts presents another. Here, we provide an example of our efforts to prevent youth violence. We worked with the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center (APIYVPC) and two communities on O`ahu. We provide a case example from the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center (APIYVPC) of our work, in collaboration with two communities on O`ahu, to develop and implement a youth violence prevention initiative that is becoming both comprehensive and sustainable. We illustrate the incremental nature of what it means to be comprehensive and we underscore the importance of reaching sustainability as the project unfolds.     

A Social Ecological Conceptual Framework for Understanding Adolescent Health Literacy in the Health Education Classroom

With the rising concern over chronic health conditions and their prevention and management, health literacy is emerging as an important public health issue. As with the development of other forms of literacy, the ability for students to be able to access, understand, evaluate and communicate health information is a skill best developed during their years of public schooling. Health education curricula offer one approach to develop health literacy, yet little is known about its influence on neither students nor their experiences within an educational context. In this article, we describe our experience applying a social ecological model to investigating the implementation of a health education curriculum in four high schools in British Columbia, Canada. We used the model to guide a conceptual understanding of health literacy, develop research questions, select data collection strategies, and interpret the findings. Reflections and recommendations for using the model are offered.     

Screening and assessment of psychosocial dysfunction in a private pediatric practice

Fifty-one mother-infant pairs were screened at birth and at one month of age using the Neonatal Perception Inventories (NPI). This instrument identified 20 infants who were judged at high risk for the development of subsequent emotional disorder. Evaluation of the study group at 14–17 months of age, using the Infant Mental Health Profile, documented impairment in the areas of attachment, confidence and coping in 80–95% of those infants with high risk NPI ratings. The use of the NPI as a screening instrument in a primary care private pediatric setting is discussed.     

Eponymy,obscurity, Twitmyer,and Pavlov

The discovery of the conditioned reflex is generally credited to Ivan P. Pavlov. So closely is Pavlov associated with this phenomenon that it is commonly referred to as the Pavlovian conditioned reflex. Edwin B. Twitmyer independently discovered the conditioned reflex at approximately the same time and reported the finding in 1904 at the meeting of the American Psychological Association. Unlike Pavlov's, Twitmyer's data had little impact on psychology. There have been various hypotheses to explain the failure of the field to recognize Twitmyer's discovery. These explanations are criticized and modified to reflect an emphasis on Twitmyer's and Pavlov's respective social and intellectual contexts.     

Visual and verbal working memory loads interfere with scene-viewing

Working memory is thought to be divided into distinct visual and verbal subsystems. Studies of visual working memory frequently use verbal working memory tasks as control conditions and/or use articulatory suppression to ensure that visual load is not transferred to verbal working memory. Using these verbal tasks relies on the assumption that the verbal working memory load will not interfere with the same processes as visual working memory. In the present study, participants maintained a visual or verbal working memory load as they simultaneously viewed scenes while their eye movements were recorded. Because eye movements and visual working memory are closely linked, we anticipated the visual load would interfere with scene-viewing (and vice versa), while the verbal load would not. Surprisingly, both visual and verbal memory loads interfered with scene-viewing behavior, while eye movements during scene-viewing did not significantly interfere with performance on either memory task. These results suggest that a verbal working memory load can interfere with eye movements in a visual task.