Paws + cause = pause? Memory load and memory blends in homophone recognition

Previous research has shown that separate information sources, activated closely together in time, can induce errors suggestive of memory blends. In Experiment 1, homophones were used to induce such memory errors. In a study task, participants made relatedness judgments to word pairs that included homophones (e.g., PAWS-BEAR). During this task, one group (study-similar) maintained memory loads with words that were orthographically similar to the presented homophones (e.g., JAWS). Another group (test-similar) maintained memory loads similar to those obtained for the study homophone's alternate spelling (e.g., CAUSE). A third group maintained no memory load during the task. In a surprise recognition test, participants were presented both previously viewed homophones (PAWS) and non-presented alternate spellings (PAUSE). We hypothesized that partially activated alternate spellings, in conjunction with the orthographically similar memory words, would result in the creation of blended memories. The results followed suit: The test-similar condition produced significantly elevated false alarms, relative to both the study-similar and the no-load conditions. Experiment 2 replicated these results while including memory loads to control for potential orthographic confusions. The findings are discussed in terms of multiple, episodic memories later activated as single, blended memories.     

Using the multifaceted Rasch model to improve the TAT/PSE measure of need for achievement

We used the Rasch (1980) model to develop new pictures for the Thematic Apperception Test (C. D. Morgan & Murray, 1938; McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Lowell, 1953) or picture story exercise to measure need for achievement (nAch). In Experiments 1 and 2, we analyzed stories to assess the difficulty level of a total of 8 pictures using the multifaceted Rasch model with picture difficulty, story probe difficulty, and participant ability as facets with a partial credit model (FACETS; Linacre, 2005). A total of 6 pictures were retained and 4 new ones added for Experiment 3 in which 201 participants wrote 6 stories to a random set of the 10 pictures. FACETS analysis revealed improved person separation reliability. In Experiment 4, 206 participants wrote 1 story to the Studying picture either before or after filling out a battery of achievement-related questionnaires. The 2 experimental groups did not differ in the amount of nAch in their stories. The coder facet was demonstrated with 2 independent coders using the revised coding system for nAch.     

The Virtues of Evidence

Evidence-based medicine has been defined as the conscientious and judicious use of current best evidence in making clinical decisions. This paper will attempt to explicate the terms "conscientious" and "judicious" within the evidence-based medicine definition. It will be argued that "conscientious" and "judicious" represent virtue terms derived from virtue ethics and virtue epistemology. The identification of explicit virtue components in the definition and therefore conception of evidence-based medicine presents an important starting point in the connection between virtue theories and medicine itself. In addition, a unification of virtue theories and evidence-based medicine will illustrate the need for future research in order to combine the fields of virtue-based approaches and clinical practice.     

Validity and reliability of the general well-being schedule with northern plains American Indians diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus

The General Well-being Schedule is a brief indicator of subjective feelings of psychological well-being and distress. It is easy to administer, reliable, and valid, although its validity with American Indians has not been established. This study then assessed reliability, validity, and factor structure for a sample of 88 diabetic American Indians, who sought care for diabetes at an Indian Health Service hospital. Cronbach alpha was .89. A factor analysis indicated four dimensions. Adequate concurrent and divergent validity were noted in association with scores on the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition, the depression scale on the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, and Family-Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, & Resolve. These results suggest that the General Well-being Schedule is a reliable and valid measure of general well-being for this population of American Indians.     

Examining Relationships Among Ethnicity,PTSD, Life Functioning,and Comorbidity in Female OEF/OIF Veterans

There is much literature on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and male combat veterans, but little on PTSD by gender and ethnicity among women combat veterans. We examine ethnic differences in PTSD and comorbid disorders among 37 Hispanic, 27 White, and 15 Native female Operaton Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) combat veterans. Participants completed the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, Axis I (SCID-Axis I and II), Life Events Checklist (LEC), Military Stress Exposure Questionnaire (MSEQ), and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36). Hispanics differed from Whites in having less education, more trauma exposure, higher levels of PTSD, mood disorder comorbidity, and poorer physical and emotional functioning. Natives differed from Whites with more trauma exposure, higher levels of PTSD, poorer emotional functioning, and higher rates of Cluster B PDs.     

The Risks of Revolution: Ethical Dilemmas in 3D Printing from a US Perspective

Additive manufacturing has spread widely over the past decade, especially with the availability of home 3D printers. In the future, many items may be manufactured at home, which raises two ethical issues. First, there are questions of safety. Our current safety regulations depend on centralized manufacturing assumptions; they will be difficult to enforce on this new model of manufacturing. Using current US law as an example, I argue that consumers are not capable of fully assessing all relevant risks and thus continue to require protection; any regulation will likely apply to plans, however, not physical objects. Second, there are intellectual property issues. In combination with a 3D scanner, it is now possible to scan items and print copies; many items are not protected from this by current intellectual property laws. I argue that these laws are ethically sufficient. Patent exists to protect what is innovative; the rest is properly not protected. Intellectual property rests on the notion of creativity, but what counts as creative changes with the rise of new technologies.     

The combined effects of noncontingent reinforcement and punishment on the reduction of rumination

The current study extends the literature on the assessment and treatment of rumination through the evaluation of a combined reinforcement‐ and punishment‐based intervention. The study included a single participant with a history of rumination maintained by automatic reinforcement, as identified via a functional analysis. Both noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) with preferred edible items and punishment, in the form of a facial screen, were implemented separately to evaluate their independent effects on the occurrence of rumination. The final treatment package included both NCR and punishment procedures. Implementation of the combined treatment resulted in a 96.5% reduction in rumination relative to baseline. Procedural modifications and integrity errors also were evaluated.     

The role of disgust and fear in blood and injection-related fainting symptoms: A structural equation model

Structural equation models were used to examine the relationship of blood, injection, and injury (BII) fears, disgust sensitivity, and trait anxiety to having experienced fainting-related symptoms in 722 university students. The latent variable representing BII fears was highly positively related to faint symptoms whereas that relating to disgust experiences was inversely related to fainting. A second disgust sensitivity variable was not directly related to fainting. Trait anxiety added nothing directly to the model, although it was related to BII latent variable. Additional analyses included a gender-related cross-validation which showed that models developed on one gender group did not fit well when applied to the other gender group. Blood drawings were the most common faint eliciting situations and were found to be reportedly more likely to elicit faint symptoms than were injections.     

Talker continuity and the use of rate information during phonetic perception

Research has shown that speaking rate provides an important context for the perception of certain acoustic properties of speech. For example, syllable duration, which varies as a function of speaking rate, has been shown to influence the perception of voice onset time (VOT) for syllableinitial stop consonants. The purpose of the present experiments was to examine the influence of syllable duration when the initial portion of the syllable was produced by one talker and the remainder of the syllable was produced by a different talker. A short-duration and a long-duration /bi/-/pi/ continuum were synthesized with pitch and formant values appropriate to a female talker. When presented to listeners for identification, these stimuli demonstrated the typical effect of syllable duration on the voicing boundary: a shorter VOT boundary for the short stimuli than for the long stimuli. An /i/ vowel, synthesized with pitch and formant values appropriate to a male talker, was added to the end of each of the short tokens, producing a new hybrid continuum. Although the overall syllable duration of the hybrid stimuli equaled the original long stimuli, they produced a VOT boundary similar to that for the short stimuli. In a second experiment, two new /i/ vowels were synthesized. One had a pitch appropriate to a female talker with formant values appropriate to a male talker; the other had a pitch appropriate to a male talker and formants appropriate to a female talker. These vowels were used to create two new hybrid continua. In a third experiment, new hybrid continua were created by using more extreme male formant values. The results of both experiments demonstrated that the hybrid tokens with a change in pitch acted like the short stimuli, whereas the tokens with a change in formants acted like the long stimuli. A fourth experiment demonstrated that listeners could hear a change in talker with both sets of hybrid tokens. These results indicate that continuity of pitch but not formant structure appears to be the critical factor in the calculation of speaking rate within a syllable.