Sensitivity of the 16 PF Motivational Distortion Scale to response bias

The shortened versions of the 16 PF (Forms C or D) were given to 227 college students (who took Form D twice), 33 prisoners (who took Forms C and D), and 95 substance abusers (who took Form C twice). All were asked to answer honestly, then retake these tests to appear in a better light. Significant differences in Motivational Distortion scores were found between test and retest in each group.     

Support vector machines categorize the scaling of human grip configurations

In previous work (Cesari & Newell, 2002), we used a graphical dimensional analysis to show that grip transitions obey the body-scaled relation K = lnL(o) + InM(o)h/(a + bM(h) + cL(h)), where L. and Mo are the object's length and mass, and Lh and Mh the length and mass of the grasper's hand. However, the generality of the equation was limited by the ad hoc graphical method that defined the lines for grip separation and by the assumption that these lines be negatively sloped and parallel to one another. This article reports an independent test of this relation by the geometrical and statistical categorization of body-scaled invariants for the transition of human grip configurations through support vector machines (SVMs). The SVM analysis confirmed the fit of linear, negatively sloped, and approximately parallel transition boundaries in the scaling of human grip configuration within a single hand. The SVM analysis has provided a theoretical refinement to the scaling model of human grip configurations.     

The job involvement modulating role in the relationship between stress and job satisfaction

This paper analyzes the modulator role of job involvement in the relationship between stress and job satisfaction, using the OSI (Occupational Stress Indicator) model. For this purpose, we analyzed: six sources of stress, the OSI job satisfaction results, and a job involvement scale. The sample consisted of 779 professional soldiers from the Spanish Army. The results show that when the levels of the two dimensions job involvement (psychological identification and job-related feelings of duty-obligation are high, stress due to achievements and career development and social relationships will have no influence on job satisfaction. However, we found higher job satisfaction, even when stress is high, in those situations where psychological identification is low and job-related feelings of duty-obligation are high.     

Effects of texture and shape on perceived time to passage: Knowing “what” influences judging “when”

In the present study, we examined whether it is easier to judge when an object will pass one’s head if the object’s surface is textured. There are three reasons to suspect that this might be so: First, the additional (local) optic flow may help one judge the rate of expansion and the angular velocity more reliably. Second, local deformations related to the change in angle between the object and the observer could help track the object’s position along its path. Third, more reliable judgments of the object’s shape could help separate global expansion caused by changes in distance from expansion due to changes in the angle between the object and the observer. We can distinguish among these three reasons by comparing performance for textured and uniform spheres and disks. Moving objects were displayed for 0.5–0.7 sec. Subjects had to decide whether the object would pass them before or after a beep that was presented 1 sec after the object started moving. Subjects were not more precise with textured objects. When the disk rotated in order to compensate for the orientation-related contraction that its image would otherwise undergo during its motion, it appeared to arrive later, despite the fact that this strategy increases the global rate of expansion. We argue that this is because the expected deformation of the object’s image during its motion is considered when time to passage is judged. Therefore, the most important role for texture in everyday judgments of time to passage is probably that it helps one judge the object’s shape and thereby estimate how its image will deform as it moves.     

Social structure features in three inbred strains of mice, C57Bl/6J, Balb/cj, and NIH: a comparative study

Some features of social living were investigated in three inbred strains of mice: C57Bl/6j, Balb/cj, and NIH. Five social behaviors--Aggression, Submission, Allogrooming, Social Rest and Rest Alone, as well as Wheel Running Activity--were recorded 2 h daily for a week, in 26 groups of seven male mice living in an enriched environment. Dominants and subordinates among strains shared some behavioral characteristics, but strain contributions upon social structure were also detected. Similarities among strains included the appearance of a single dominant mouse per group rated as the most aggressive, besides from being the animal presented with most Submissions. Allogrooming was more frequent among subordinates than among dominants and subordinates. Differences among strains were that agonistic behavior among subordinates was higher in the Balb/cj and NIH groups than in the C57Bl/6j mice. NIH mice were recorded in Rest Alone more often than mice from the other strains. C57Bl/6j dominants showed higher rates of Wheel Running Activity than subordinates.     

BDNF serum levels in subjects developing or not post-traumatic stress disorder after trauma exposure

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a syndrome resulting from exposure to a severe traumatic event that poses threatened death or injury and produces intense fear and helplessness. The neural structures implicated in PTSD development belong to the limbic system, an important region for emotional processing. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin that serves as survival factor for selected populations of central nervous system (CNS) neurons and plays a role in the limbic system by regulating synaptic plasticity, memory processes and behavior. Impaired BDNF production in the brain can lead to a variety of CNS dysfunctions including symptoms associated with PTSD. However, so far fewer studies have investigated this neurotrophin in patients with PTSD. Furthermore, given the multiple role of BDNF in various CNS disorders, it cannot be excluded that traumatic events per se may influence neurotrophin levels, without a direct association to the PTSD syndrome.     

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.     

The effects of different aperture-viewing conditions on the recognition of novel objects

The process of learning the structure of novel objects involves the selective use of information available in the distal stimulus. By allowing participants to explore the object within a limited field of view, we were able to examine more rigorously what regions of the object are actually selected in the learning process. Participants explored objects either by moving a circular aperture over a stationary novel object (the aperture-movement condition), or by moving the object behind a stationary aperture (the object-movement condition). Given the differences in how the spatial layout of object parts is revealed in the two study conditions, we expected that exploration would be more systematic in the aperture-movement condition than it would be in the object-movement condition, and would lead to better object recognition. We show evidence that in the aperture-movement condition exploration patterns were more related to the structure of the object and, as a consequence, the aperture-movement condition resulted in more accurate recognition in a later old--new discrimination test.     

Confirmation of the three-factor model of problematic internet use on off-line adolescent and adult samples

As the Internet became widely used, problems associated with its excessive use became increasingly apparent. Although for the assessment of these problems several models and related questionnaires have been elaborated, there has been little effort made to confirm them. The aim of the present study was to test the three-factor model of the previously created Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ) by data collection methods formerly not applied (off-line group and face-to-face settings), on the one hand, and by testing on different age groups (adolescent and adult representative samples), on the other hand. Data were collected from 438 high-school students (44.5 percent boys; mean age: 16.0 years; standard deviation=0.7 years) and also from 963 adults (49.9 percent males; mean age: 33.6 years; standard deviation=11.8 years). We applied confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the measurement model of problematic Internet use. The results of the analyses carried out inevitably support the original three-factor model over the possible one-factor solution. Using latent profile analysis, we identified 11 percent of adults and 18 percent of adolescent users characterized by problematic use. Based on exploratory factor analysis, we also suggest a short form of the PIUQ consisting of nine items. Both the original 18-item version of PIUQ and its short 9-item form have satisfactory reliability and validity characteristics, and thus, they are suitable for the assessment of problematic Internet use in future studies.     

Beliefs About Psychological Services (BAPS): development and psychometric properties

A scale to measure attitudes towards seeking psychological help was developed (Beliefs About Psychological Services [BAPS]) and evaluated. This scale was based on items gathered from students, colleagues, and the authors when asked about common positive and negative attitudes toward psychologists and their services. Items were also based on the Fischer and Turner (1970 Fischer, EH and Turner, JLeB. 1970. Orientations to seeking professional help: Development and research utility of an attitude scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 35: 79–90. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]) Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Services (ATSPPH) measure. Three studies are reported describing the construction and evaluation of the psychometric properties of the BAPS. The BAPS is an 18-item measure consisting of three subscales: Intent, Stigma Tolerance, and Expertness. Support was found for the reliability and validity of the measure.