The apparent shape of afterimages in the Ames room.

When observers project afterimages of circular patterns onto a surface slanting away from them the images are reported as being oval in shape. In this paper it is reported that this does not occur when similar afterimages are projected onto the slanting rear wall of an Ames room. Instead of appearing as ovals, the afterimages remain circular. It appears as though the actually-slanted rear wall of the room not only looks as if it is normal to the line of vision, but also that it functions as if it was in such an orientation as far as a projection surface for afterimages is concerned. While these results are consistent with Emmert's law and with traditional accounts of shape and size constancy, they raise once again the age-old issue of whether the 'image on the retina' constitutes an object of perception that can be described in terms of its shape or size.     

Suicide Ideations,Suicide Attempts,and Completed Suicide in Persons with Pathological Gambling and Their First‐Degree Relatives

We examined the relationship between suicidal ideations and attempts in 95 probands with pathological gambling (PG), 91 controls, and 1075 first‐degree relatives. The results were analyzed using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations. Thirty‐four PG probands (35.8%) and 4 controls (4.4%) had attempted suicide (OR = 12.12, p < .001); in 13 probands, the attempt occurred before PG onset. Lifetime suicidal ideations occurred in 60 PG probands (63.2%) and 12 controls (13.2%) (OR = 11.29, p < .001). Suicidality in PG probands is a marker of PG severity and is associated with greater psychiatric comorbidity. Offspring of PG probands had significantly higher rates of suicide attempts than control offspring.     

Method of Suicide in the Mentally Ill: A National Clinical Survey

Comparisons of psychiatric patients who die by suicide using different methods are scarce. We aimed to establish the methods of suicide used by those who are currently or have recently been in contact with mental health services in England and Wales (N = 6,203), and describe the social and clinical characteristics of suicides by different methods. We found that hanging, self‐poisoning, and jumping (from a height or in front of a moving vehicle) were the most common methods of suicide, accounting for 79% of all deaths. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.     

Effects of a weight maintenance diet on bulimic symptoms in adolescent girls: an experimental test of the dietary restraint theory.

It is widely accepted that dieting increases the risk for bulimia nervosa, but there have been few experimental tests of this theory. The authors conducted a randomized experiment with adolescent girls (N=188) to examine the effects of a weight maintenance diet on bulimic symptoms. A manipulation check verified that the diet intervention resulted in weight maintenance and significantly reduced the risk for obesity onset and weight gain observed in assessment-only controls. As hypothesized, the diet intervention resulted in significantly greater decreases in bulimic symptoms and negative affect than observed in controls. These experimental findings, which converge with those from a weight loss diet experiment, appear antithetical to dietary restraint theory and suggest instead that dietary restriction curbs bulimic symptoms.