The role of beneficence in clinical genetics: Non-directive counseling reconsidered

The popular view of non-directive genetic counseling limits the counselor's role to providing information to clients and assisting families in making decisions in a morally neutral fashion. This view of non-directive genetic counseling is shown to be incomplete. A fuller understanding of what it means to respect autonomy shows that merely respecting client choices does not exhaust the duty. Moreover, the genetic counselor/client relationship should also be governed by the counselor's commitment to the principle of beneficience. When non-directive counseling is reexamined in light of both these principles, it becomes clear that there are cases in which counselors should attempt to persuade clients to reconsider their decisions. Such attempts are consistent with non-directive counseling because, while respecting the clients' decision-making authority, they insure that clients act with full knowledge of the moral consequences of their decisions.     

Self‐control as generalized operant behavior by adults with autism spectrum disorder

The present investigation attempted to teach self‐control to 3 adults who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Using a self‐control training procedure that coupled a gradual fading of delay to access a large delayed reinforcer with a concurrent work requirement, each participant was exposed to conditions in which baseline levels of choices for large delayed reinforcers and task engagement increased 10‐fold. Furthermore, generalization effects were partially demonstrated in a novel context.     

The Struggle for the Nature of “Prejudice”: “Prejudice” Expression as Identity Performance

This article develops an identity performance model of prejudice that highlights the creative influence of prejudice expressions on norms and situations. Definitions of prejudice can promote social change or stability when they are used to achieve social identification, explanation, and mobilization. Tacit or explicit agreement about the nature of prejudice is accomplished collaboratively by persuading others to accept (1) an abstract definition of “prejudice,” (2) concrete exemplars of “prejudice,” and (3) associated beliefs about how a target group should be treated. This article reviews three ways in which “prejudice” can be defined in the cut and thrust of social interaction, namely, by mobilizing hatred and violence, by accusation and denial, and by repression. The struggle for the nature of prejudice determines who can be badly treated and by whom. Studying such ordinary struggles to define what counts (and does not count) as “prejudice” will allow us to understand how identities are produced, norms are set into motion, and populations are mobilized as social relations are reformulated.     

Prior experience and complex procedures

The role of prior knowledge in learning complex procedures was investigated in a transfer task in which subjects learned two related procedures in sequence. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the conceptual and structural similarity between the two procedures; in Experiment 2, we manipulated whether the order of the steps within subprocedures was the same or different during training and transfer, or whether the order of the subprocedures was the same or different. The results lead us to hypothesize that transfer in complex procedures is mediated primarily by a memory for specific steps rather than by conceptual understanding or problem solving. In particular, we were able to model the results precisely on the assumption that subjects use superficial similarity to retrieve the sequences of steps needed to perform segments of the procedure.     

Scripts and checkerboards: The influence of ordered visual information on remembering locations in infancy

Five-month-old infants were trained to fixate 4 event locations, and memory for sequential locations was assessed following training. Results of two studies reveal that ordered visual information influences young infants' memory for sequential events.     

Use it or lose it: engaged lifestyle as a buffer of cognitive decline in aging?

Data from the Victoria Longitudinal Study were used to examine the hypothesis that maintaining intellectual engagement through participation in everyday activities buffers individuals against cognitive decline in later life. The sample consisted of 250 middle-aged and older adults tested 3 times over 6 years. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to examine the relationships among changes in lifestyle variables and an array of cognitive variables. There was a relationship between changes in intellectually related activities and changes in cognitive functioning. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that intellectually engaging activities serve to buffer individuals against decline. However, an alternative model suggested the findings were also consistent with the hypothesis that high-ability individuals lead intellectually active lives until cognitive decline in old age limits their activities.     

Learned helplessness in the gerbil?

Evidence of learned helplessness was demonstrated in Mongolian gerbils. Two consecutive days of jump-up escape were followed 24 hr later by testing in a bar-press escape task. Reliable differences occurred between escapable and inescapable animals and between inescapable and control animals.     

Let's pretend: The role of motoric imagery in memory for sentences and words

A number of theories suggest that for young children, concepts should have an important motoric (or sensory-motor) component. A levels-of-processing theory is proposed which predicts that processing on motoric imagery should facilitate memory for both isolated words and for sentences. Experiment 1 examined the effects of motoric enactment (viz., pretend play) of sentences on memory for the sentences. Motoric imagery facilitated memory for both children (5 to 7 years of age) and adults, though, contrary to expectations, the effects were weaker for the children than for the adults. Further, it was found that motoric imagery affected the initial acquisition, but was not important as a retreival cue. Experiment 2 examined the effects of motoric imagery on free recall of lists of unrelated words. Under these conditions, motoric imagery facilitated memory for both children (7 to 9 years of age) and adults equally; in contrast, visual imagery instructions had no effect on memory. These results indicate that motoric imagery may facilitate memory under conditions in which visual imagery has no effect. Theoretical implications are explored for previous experiments on pretend play which suggest that training for pretent enactment can facilitate cognitive development.     

A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF PHOTO-OBJECT MATCHING SKILLS OF SEVERELY RETARDED ADOLESCENTS

Matching-to-sample procedures were used to assess picture representation skills of severely retarded, nonverbal adolescents. Identity matching within the classes of objects and life-size, full-color photos of the objects was first used to assess visual discrimination, a necessary condition for picture representation. Picture representation was then assessed through photo-object matching tasks. Five students demonstrated visual discrimination (identity matching) within the two classes of photos and the objects. Only one student demonstrated photo-object matching. The results of the four students who failed to demonstrate photo-object matching suggested that physical properties of photos (flat, rectangular) and depth dimensions of objects may exert more control over matching than the similarities of the objects and images within the photos. An analysis of figure-ground variables was conducted to provide an empirical basis for program development in the use of pictures. In one series of tests, rectangular shape and background were removed by cutting out the figures in the photos. The edge shape of the photo and the edge shape of the image were then identical. The results suggest that photo-object matching may be facilitated by using cut-out figures rather than the complete rectangular photo.     

Algorithms and selective attention

Selective attention is hypothesized to be controlled by intentionally chosen algorithms that specify how stimuli are to be processed. These experiments attempted to measure the time to select such algorithms. Subjects were given a two-choice reaction time task with a variety of different possible stimuli. Prior to each trial, subjects viewed a cue under their control that indicated the two possible stimuli for the upcoming trial. During this interval, subjects presumably selected a stimulus identification algorithm appropriate for that pair of letters; the duration of the interval was used as an index of algorithm selection time. The results indicated that selection time increases with the number of alternative algorithms and that algorithms may consist, in part, of perceptual tests to determine which of the two possible stimuli was presented. A specific model of the selection process was proposed to account for the results.