Canonical analysis of two convex polyhedral cones and applications

Canonical analysis of two convex polyhedral cones consists in looking for two vectors (one in each cone) whose square cosine is a maximum. This paper presents new results about the properties of the optimal solution to this problem, and also discusses in detail the convergence of an alternating least squares algorithm. The set of scalings of an ordinal variable is a convex polyhedral cone, which thus plays an important role in optimal scaling methods for the analysis of ordinal data. Monotone analysis of variance, and correspondence analysis subject to an ordinal constraint on one of the factors are both canonical analyses of a convex polyhedral cone and a subspace. Optimal multiple regression of a dependent ordinal variable on a set of independent ordinal variables is a canonical analysis of two convex polyhedral cones as long as the signs of the regression coefficients are given. We discuss these three situations and illustrate them by examples.     

Why does placing the question before an arithmetic word problem improve performance? A situation model account

The aim of this paper is to investigate the controversial issue of the nature of the representation constructed by individuals to solve arithmetic word problems. More precisely, we consider the relevance of two different theories: the situation or mental model theory (Johnson-Laird, 1983; Reusser, 1989) and the schema theory (Kintsch & Greeno, 1985; Riley, Greeno, & Heller, 1983). Fourth-graders who differed in their mathematical skills were presented with problems that varied in difficulty and with the question either before or after the text. We obtained the classic effect of the position of the question, with better performance when the question was presented prior to the text. In addition, this effect was more marked in the case of children who had poorer mathematical skills and in the case of more difficult problems. We argue that this pattern of results is compatible only with the situation or mental model theory, and not with the schema theory.     

Suicide by jumping and accessibility of bridges: results from a national survey in Switzerland

Rates of suicide by jumping show large regional differences. Barriers on bridges may prevent suicides but also may lead to a substitution of jumping site or method. The aim of our study was to compare suicide data from regions with and without suicide bridges and to estimate the effects on method and site substitution if bridges were to be secured. In a national survey, suicide data for the years 1990 to 2003 were collected. Regions with high rates of bridge suicides were identified and compared with regions with low rates, and the analysis revealed that only about one third of the individuals would be expected to jump from buildings or other structures if no bridge was available. The results suggest no method substitution for women. For men, a trend of a substituting jumping by overdosing in regions without suicide bridges was found. We conclude that restricted access to suicide bridges will not automatically lead suicidal individuals to choose another jumping site or suicide method. The results support the notion that securing bridges may save lives.     

A longitudinal twin study of the genetic and environmental etiology of maternal hostile-reactive behavior during infancy and toddlerhood

Children's negative characteristics are thought to be a factor in evoking hostile parenting responses. This can result in genotype/environment correlations (rGE) in which children's heritable traits influence the parenting they experience. We did genetic analyses on 292 mothers' self-reported hostile-reactive behaviors toward each of their twins at 5, 18 and 30 months. Finding heritability for a parenting behavior analyzed as a child phenotype is evidence of rGE correlation. The heritability of maternal behavior was modest (29% at 5 months, 0% at 18 months, and 25% at 30 months) and longitudinal analyses indicated that genetic factors at 5 and 30 months were uncorrelated. Common environment factors, probably reflecting characteristics of the mothers, were the main source of variance at the three ages and were highly correlated through time. We concluded that children's heritable characteristics evoked maternal negative response at specific times, but were not responsible for the stability of maternal hostility from infancy to toddlerhood.     

Deep dysphasia: An analog of deep dyslexia in the auditory modality

A right-handed patient, with two left hemisphere lesions, a small one in the prefrontal lobe and a larger one in the temporal, presents an unusual syndrome: a massive deficit for oral language (expression and comprehension) contrasting with a fairly good preservation of written language (expression and comprehension). The processing of isolated words and sentences has been extensively tested with repetition and dictation tasks. The patient performs rather well with nouns, verbs, and adjectives, poorly with adverbs and function words, and completely fails with nonsense words. A remarkable feature of his repetition is the frequency of semantic paraphasias. Thus, this patient exhibits a behavior rather similar to deep dyslexia, hence the possible label "deep dysphasia." The paper presents a "preunderstanding" hypothesis to account for such behaviors.     

Are Women Perceived as Engaging in More Maladaptive Worry Than Men? A Status Interpretation

Studies 1 and 2 addressed people's perceptions of women's and men's overall maladaptive worry. In Study 1, participants rated how they perceive women's and men's worry in general. In Study 2, participants rated the worry of either a woman or a man whom they know well. As expected in both studies, participants perceived women as experiencing more maladaptive worry than men. A second objective was to compare people's perceptions of women's and men's worry to their perceptions of low- and high-status individuals' worry to determine if a status model can account for the perception that women worry more than men. In Study 3, participants were presented a minimal instantiation of status (Conway, Pizzamiglio, & Mount, 1996). As expected, participants perceived low-status individuals as experiencing more maladaptive worry than high-status individuals. Findings are discussed in terms of gender stereotypes and theoretical models of gender.     

Influence of neighborhood size and exposure duration on visual-word recognition: evidence with the yes/no and the go/no-go lexical decision tasks

We present two experiments in which we measured lexical decision latencies and errors to words with few or many orthographic neighbors (ie., Coltheart's N). The main goal of the study was to examine whether or not the neighborhood size effect in a lexical decision task could be affected by the exposure duration of the stimulus item (unlimited vs. limited time exposure, 150 msec plus a backward mask) and the type of decision involved in the task (yes/no vs. go/no-go lexical decision tasks). In the yes/no task, the results showed a facilitative neighborhood size effect for low frequency that did not interact with exposure duration (Experiment 1). In contrast, in the go/no-go task (in this task, participants are instructed to respond as quickly as they can when a word is presented and not to respond if a nonword is presented), the neighborhood size effect for low-frequency words (and for nonwords) was greater under limited viewing time (Experiment 2). In addition, the word frequency effect was greater in the go/no-go task than in the yes/no task, replicating Hino and Lupker (1998, 2000). The results were interpreted in terms of the interaction of decision and lexical factors in visual-word recognition.     

Terminal decline and cognitive performance in very old age: does cause of death matter?

Cross-sectional differences and longitudinal changes in cognitive functioning in relation to mortality across a 7-year follow-up period, with 3 times of measurement, were examined in a population-based sample of very old adults. The authors also sought to determine whether cause of death (cerebro/cardiovascular disease [CVD]; non-CVD) modified the magnitude of mortality-related cognitive deficits. Cognitive performance was indexed by tests of general cognitive ability, episodic memory, primary memory, verbal fluency, and visuospatial ability. Results indicated cross-sectional differences on all domains of functioning, with persons who would die within 3 years after baseline testing performing more poorly. Longitudinally, greater decrements were observed on all domains for persons who would die after the first follow-up period, as compared with survivors. Cause of death failed to modify the magnitude of the cross-sectional and longitudinal deficits. The pattern of results point to the general nature of this phenomenon.     

Mental pain and its relationship to suicidality and life meaning

Shneidman (1996) proposed that intense mental pain is related to suicide. Relatedly, Frankl (1963) argued that the loss of life's meaning is related to intense mental pain. The first goal of this research was to test Shneidman's proposition by comparing the mental pain of suicidal and nonsuicidal individuals. Meaning in life and optimism are the polar opposites of suicidality and hopelessness, and the examination of these variables in relation to mental pain was undertaken to provide a test of Frankl's proposition. In two studies, a relationship between a newly developed measure of mental pain--the Orbach & Mikulincer Mental Pain Scale, 2002 (OMMP; see also Orbach, Mikulincer, Sirota & Gilboa-Schechtman, 2002)--and suicidal behavior and life meaning were examined. Results confirmed both propositions. Implications for the study of mental pain and suicide are discussed.     

Psychodynamische Kurzzeittherapie bei dependenter und vermeidender Persönlichkeitsstörung

Although dependent and avoidant personality disorders are frequent in patient populations, there are only few studies in which the efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions for these two personality disorders was reviewed. The purpose of this study was to examine whether psychodynamic short-term therapy based on the model of the cyclic maladaptive pattern (CMP) is effective for reducing the mental impairment of patients diagnosed with a dependent or an avoidant personality disorder. Data were collected via a self-report scale (Symptom-Checklist, SCL) and expert ratings by therapists [Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale and Severity of Impairment-Score (Beeinträchtigungsschwere-Score, BSS)]. In the study 20 patients received 25 sessions of outpatient therapy. Mental impairment decreased significantly from the beginning to the end of the therapy; moreover this decrease remained stable over a 2-year period following completion of the therapy. The findings show that psychodynamic short-term therapy can lead to an enduring improvement in the mental health of patients with a dependent or an avoidant personality disorder.