Time course of planning for object and action parameters in visually guided manipulation

Under visual guidance, subjects reached for and manipulated an object that variedin weight and surface texture (slipperiness). The manipulatory action was either grasping, lifting, or posting in a slot. The task was constrained or unconstrained with respect to speed, grasp pattern, and contact force. Initiation time (pre-reach), movement time (reach), and post-contact errors were measured, to examine planning for task performance at three points in time. Results indicate that in the constrained task, the manipulatory action was planned during the initiation time, but planning for object parameters was deferred until the reach interval. With relaxed task constraints, initiation times increased,and texture and manipulatory action had independent effects on premovement planning. Errors were affected interactively by all variables. The results suggest a planning process that unfolds over time, incorporating in turn the manipulatory action, object texture, and object weight. This unfolding accommodates variables proximate to the time where they will affect physical action.     

Value revelations: disclosure is in the eye of the beholder

In interpersonal interactions ranging from job interviews to romantic dates, it is common for people to tell each other about what they care about and value. Six experiments explored the general hypothesis that people view their disclosures about what they value as more revealing of themselves than do others. This effect is demonstrated across a variety of contexts, ranging from the brief and anonymous to the more in-depth and social. A source of it is explored in actors' feeling that their most important values are especially important to them. Studies suggest that this feeling involves actors' sense of the intensity with which they hold their values, as opposed to their beliefs about the uniqueness of those values. Studies also show that actors' tendency to view value disclosures as more revealing than do observers is somewhat specific to value disclosures--that is, actors do not view their relatively off-the-cuff responses (Study 4) or their disclosures of their nonvalues (Study 6) as more revealing. Implications of this research for self-other differences and for interpersonal intimacy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Facilitating Online Counseling: Perspectives From Counselors in Training

To address the need for research regarding online counseling, the authors explore the experiences of 4 female and 2 male Caucasian counseling students who facilitated 5 chat‐based online counseling sessions. Conducting semistructured interviews based in grounded theory methods, the authors discuss technological barriers, counseling without visual and verbal cues, online counseling techniques, counseling from home, and factors related to the pace of the sessions. They suggest that online counseling requires specific technical, ethical, and clinical considerations.     

Latent growth modeling of the relationship between depressive symptoms and substance use during adolescence.

To explicate the nature of the relationship between depressive symptoms and substance use, the authors conducted research that incorporated both individual and group approaches and utilized longitudinal data across development. Multiple-group latent growth curve models were used to assess specific dimensions (cross-sectional and longitudinal correlation, within-individual change, and movement off developmental trajectories) of the relationship between depressive symptoms and substance use during adolescence and how this relationship differs by gender. Annual survey data from 8th through 11th grade were provided by 441 girls and 510 boys in the Raising Healthy Children project (E. C. Brown, R. F. Catalano, C. B. Fleming, K. P. Haggerty, & R. D. Abbott, 2005). Levels of depressive symptoms and substance use in early adolescence were positively associated for alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use for girls, but only for marijuana use for boys. Individual changes in depressive symptoms and substance use across adolescence were positively associated for each type of substance use. Evidence was also found for positive association between episodic expressions of depressive symptoms and alcohol use that fell outside developmental trajectories. Predictive relationships across constructs were not found, with the exception of higher level of depressive symptoms in early adolescence predicting less increase in alcohol use.     

Three Pervasive Presuppositions about Human Life and Ethics Strongly Warrant Analysis

Common philosophical discussions concerning the ethics of human interaction with the biosphere and universe have been significantly informed by certain presuppositions: (1) nature is conquerable; (2) human cultural and social (contrasted with moral) progress is somewhat like a thing, beyond human control, and is inevitable and benevolent; and (3) Homo sapiens is the superior life‐form. Although arguments, such as whether humans should conquer nature, founded upon these presuppositions have sometimes been challenged, each of these three presuppositions wants direct analysis. The three have become so ingrained in professional and everyday discourse that they have mythic proportions, as though beyond question. Because of the weightiness of the relevant philosophical issues, they merit overt analysis. Although they are independent and may be analyzed separately, this article treats them as whole, as they often work together in arguments. After finding substantial problems, the article suggests alternative ways of building sustainable presuppositions in similar territory.     

Cognitive Influences on the Perception of Somatic Change During a Feigned Chemical Release1

The role of psychological processes in the perception of bodily symptoms was investigated during a feigned chemical release. Somatic change was manipulated through exercise, while chemical pollutant cues were used to provide explanatory frameworks for illness perceptions. Experimental participants were informed that they would be exposed to a common urban chemical pollutant while they exercised or rested in an atmosphere‐controlled chamber. In actuality, no pollutant was released. Control participants were informed correctly that they would be exposed only to room air in the chamber. Results showed that the presence of a chemical cue resulted in more attributions of symptoms to a chemical cause, in addition to the report of a greater number of symptoms. However, only during states of arousal induced by the exercise did the chemical cue have an effect on symptom intensity reporting. Participants who exercised in the context of salient chemical pollutant cues reported heightened levels of chemical‐exposure‐type symptoms (e.g., dizziness, dry throat) as compared to control participants and participants whose exercise arousal had diminished. Findings show that individuals will use a chemical explanatory framework for symptoms when conditions suggest toxic exposure, and that adoption of these explanatory frameworks modifies the experience of somatic change.     

Relations between acceptance of multiple sclerosis and positive and negative adjustments

This study examines relations between acceptance as defined in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and adjustment to multiple sclerosis (MS). A first step in this investigation was the development of a measure of acceptance of MS called the MS Acceptance Questionnaire (MSAQ). Consistent with prior findings and theoretical propositions, it was predicted that acceptance would be associated with better adjustment to MS (lower distress and higher positive affect, life satisfaction and marital adjustment and better health). A total of 128 persons with MS completed measures of demographics, illness and adjustment at Time 1 and measures of acceptance and adjustment 12 months later (Time 2). Factor analyses of the MSAQ revealed two factors, action and willingness. Associations between the MSAQ and other validated acceptance measures supported convergent validity. As predicted, after controlling for the effects of initial adjustment and relevant demographic and illness variables, greater acceptance was related to better adjustment, although the action factor emerged as the strongest predictor of better adjustment. This is the first study to examine the role of acceptance (as defined in ACT) in adjusting to MS over time and as such provides a first step for further investigation of acceptance in MS.     

Social desirability, approval and public good contribution

Behaviour in public good experiments is usually attributed partly to rational self-interest and partly to social norms and preferences. This paper examines if sensitivity to social desirability affects public good contribution and in what way. A pre-experimental measure of social desirability (SDS17) was used to match partners in a two-person public good game. Half the participants received experimenter approval based upon their investment. Contrary to predictions, the highest public good investment was by low social desirability participants in the approval condition. Social desirability was not positively related to pro-social behaviour. We consider its relation to experimental and social conformity.     

An intervention that increases parental sensitivity in families referred to Child Protective Services also changes toddlers’ parasympathetic regulation

Experiencing maltreatment in early childhood predicts poor parasympathetic regulation, characterized by low baseline parasympathetic activity and strong withdrawal of parasympathetic influence in response to tasks. The Promoting First Relationships^® (PFR) program improves parental sensitivity toward young children in families identified as maltreating. Using a subsample from a randomized control trial, we examined whether parental participation in PFR had lasting effects on toddlers’ parasympathetic regulation, as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), relative to a resource and referral control condition. In addition, we examined whether parental sensitive and responsive behavior mediated or moderated associations between parent treatment group and children's RSA. More than 6 months after completing treatment, 29 families in the PFR condition and 30 families in the control condition were visited at home, and toddlers’ RSA was assessed at baseline and during five moderately challenging tasks. Groups did not differ in baseline RSA, but differed in RSA reactivity to the tasks. Across tasks, toddlers of parents in the control condition manifested significantly larger RSA decreases than toddlers of parents in the PFR condition. Parental behavior showed divergent associations with RSA change for toddlers of parents in the PFR versus control condition, with PFR treatment predicting RSA change ranging from small decreases to increases in toddlers of parents who showed the most sensitive, responsive behavior in the 6 months following treatment. This preliminary study showed that the same intervention that improved parenting also improved toddlers’ parasympathetic regulation in response to everyday activities, warranting further experimental investigation.