Interactions between endogenous and exogenous attention during vigilance

The ability to remain vigilant over long periods of time is critical for many everyday tasks, but controlled studies of visual sustained attention show that performance declines over time when observers are required to respond to rare stimulus events (targets) occurring in a sequence of standard stimulus events (nontargets). When target discrimination is perceptually difficult, this vigilance decrement manifests as a decline in perceptual sensitivity. We examined whether sudden-onset stimuli could act as exogenous attentional cues to improve sensitivity during a traditional sustained attention task. Sudden-onset cues presented immediately before each stimulus attenuated the sensitivity decrement, but only when stimulus timing (the interstimulus interval [ISI]) was constant. When stimulus timing was variable, exogenous cues increased overall sensitivity but did not prevent performance decline. Finally, independent of the effects of sudden onsets, a constant ISI improved vigilance performance. Our results demonstrate that exogenous attention enhances perceptual sensitivity during vigilance performance, but that this effect is dependent on observers’ being able to predict the timing of stimulus events. Such a result indicates a strong interaction between endogenous and exogenous attention during vigilance. We relate our findings to a resource model of vigilance, as well as to theories of endogenous and exogenous attention over short time periods.     

The role of religious and intellectual elements in overcoming Marxism in Poland

Born in 1948, professor of philosophy of science at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Krakow, bishop of Tarnów; books and articles in Polish and English on the philosophy of science and the interaction of analytic and Christian philosophy.     

Ethics in an operations management course

Graduates of the management major at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg find employment in a variety of organizations. As future managers with employees from different professions, students expressed an interest in discussing ethics cases in the operations management class. The semester starts with students familiarizing themselves with various professional and corporate codes of ethics. Throughout the semester a number of short ethics’ cases in operations’ areas such as inventory management, scheduling, facility location, and product design are introduced to illustrate ethical issues that a manager and his/her employees might face. Students prepare individual responses before the in-class discussions. The semester ends with a long group ethics case discussion and formal case presentations. In the end-of-semester survey, students responded very favorably to an ethics component in the operations management class. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Fourteenth Annual Meeting, Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, February 24–27, 2005.     

THE ABSENT JEWISH CHILD: PHOTOGRAPHY AND HOLOCAUST REPRESENTATION IN POLAND

This article considers the representations of Holocaust in Poland by discussing the ways in which photographs of Jewish children are used in literature, film and public commemoration. It shows how a “postmemorial reading” of these images by, predominantly gentile, writers, directors and social actors might be viewed as an attempt to rhetorically fill the void left after the destruction of Poland's Jewish community and to project an image of a tolerant civic society. The article examines famous images, like the photo of the Warsaw Ghetto boy, with which this discussion begins, and lesser known pictures, such as the family photographs of Henio ?ytomirski from Lublin, which are examined towards the end of this article. While looking at these images, I reflect on the interaction between the visual representations of Jewish children, the memory of the Shoah in Poland and the fashioning of Polish national identity in the wake of the accession to European Union.     

Hope as a Psychological Factor Affecting Quality of Life in Patients With Psoriasis

Clinical observations and medical reports indicate that psoriasis has a tremendous impact on patients’ lives, lowering their quality in many important areas. However, the vast majority of research deals only with health-related issues. This study aimed to compare the general quality of life of psoriasis patients and healthy volunteers by examining psychological variables thought to modify the quality of life. 42 patients with psoriasis and 42 healthy volunteers matched for gender, age and education level were tested. Flanagan Quality of Life Scale was used to evaluate general quality of life. Basic hope level was assessed with Basic Hope Inventory. Trait hope was estimated using Trait Hope Scale. Psoriasis Area Severity Index was used to assess the severity of the disease. Psoriasis patients have a significantly lower overall quality of life (p?=?0.05), modified by Physical and Material Well-being (p?=?0.01), Personal Development and Fulfillment (p?=?0.03), and Recreation (p?=?0.04). They also have lower levels of trait hope (p?=?0.04) and its agency component (p?=?0.01). There were moderate, negative significant correlations with basic hope and such components of quality of life as Physical and Material Well-being (p?=?0.03, r?=?? 0.34) and Relations with other People (p?=?0.02, r?=?? 0.35). These results support the hypothesis of a reduced general quality of life and trait hope in psoriatics. Thus, psychological help for people suffering from dermatological disorders might be as important as medical intervention. Basic hope can be treated as a resource in coping with these disorders and trait hope as a resource conducive to well-being.     

Mapping temporal constructs: actions reveal that time is a place

Many languages employ metaphors that associate temporal constructs with locations in space (e.g., back in the old days). However, whether such space-time mappings extend beyond the linguistic domain has received little empirical attention. Noting that motor action represents a pathway through which the integration of spatial and temporal information can be revealed, the current work examined the dynamics of hand movements during a time-classification task. Results revealed that when participants were instructed to process information pertaining to the past (or future), their movements were drawn towards the left (or right). This affirms that spatiotemporal processing is grounded in the sensory-motor systems that regulate human movement.     

Motor Performance in the Third,Not the Second Month,Predicts Further Motor Development

ABSTRACT. The aim was to verify if motor performance at second or third month of life better predicts further development. The global motor development was assessed by a neurologist and by a physiotherapist in 111 children at 2, 3, 6, and 9 months. At 2 and 3 months a physiotherapist also performed the assessment of qualitative elements. The physiotherapeutic assessment in the third month showed higher compatibility with the neurological assessment. Proper motor performance at third month could ensure the level of at least 7 months in the ninth month of life. Qualitative score above 7 of 15 points in the third month ensured proper development in ninth month. Third month of life is a better predictor of further motor development.     

Auditory spectral integration in nontraditional speech cues in diotic and dichotic listening

Underlying auditory processes in speech perception were explored. Specifically of interest were the stages of auditory processing involved in the integration of dynamic information in nontraditional speech cues such as the virtual formant transitions. These signals utilize intensity ratio cues and changes in spectral center-of-gravity (instead of the actual formant frequency transitions) to produce perceived F3 glides. 6 men and 8 women (M age = 24.2 yr., SD = 2.1), recruited through posted materials from graduate students at The Ohio State University, participated in two experiments. The results for frequency-based formant transitions (Exp. 1) indicated that spectral cues to syllable identification are combined at more central levels of auditory processing. However, when the components of the virtual formant stimuli were divided between the ears in a dichotic listening task (Exp. 2), the results indicated that auditory spectral integration may occur above the auditory periphery but at stages more intermediate rather than central.