Constraints on infants' musical rhythm perception: effects of interval ratio complexity and enculturation

Effects of culture-specific experience on musical rhythm perception are evident by 12 months of age, but the role of culture-general rhythm processing constraints during early infancy has not been explored. Using a habituation procedure with 5- and 7-month-old infants, we investigated effects of temporal interval ratio complexity on discrimination of standard from novel musical patterns containing 200-ms disruptions. Infants were tested in three ratio conditions: simple (2:1), which is typical in Western music, complex (3:2), which is typical in other musical cultures, and highly complex (7:4), which is relatively rare in music throughout the world. Unlike adults and older infants, whose accuracy was predicted by familiarity, younger infants were influenced by ratio complexity, as shown by their successful discrimination in the simple and complex conditions but not in the highly complex condition. The findings suggest that ratio complexity constrains rhythm perception even prior to the acquisition of culture-specific biases.     

AN EXAMINATION OF WOMEN'S PERSPECTIVES ON POWER

Historically, theoretical and popular conceptions about power have not included or addressed women's experiences. This study adds to the growing body of knowledge about women by examining women's perceptions of and relationship to power. One hundred twenty-five women, ranging in age from 21 to 63, were asked to define and explore power through a variety of structured and open-ended questions. The results showed that women's definition of power differed significantly from their perception of society's definition of power, as well as from the way power has traditionally been conceptualized. More theoretical and empirical attention should be given to understanding the role of personal authority in both women's and men's experience of power.     

Does Problem Focused Coping Buffer the Effects of Trait Anxiety on Depressive Symptoms of Chronic Urticaria Patients?

The present study examined the moderating role of problem-focused coping in trait anxiety—depressive symptoms' relationship in patients with chronic urticaria (CU). Eighty-eight CU patients, who applied to an outpatient clinic of Clinical Immunology and Allergic Diseases, filled out a questionnaire set including State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Ways of Coping Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory. The results suggested that CU patients high on trait anxiety reported more depressive symptoms, and the ones using more problem-focused coping (PFC) strategies reported less depressive symptoms. Also, PFC strategies moderated trait anxiety-depressive symptoms relation. Accordingly, PFC strategies did not lead to any significant difference in CU patients who were low on trait anxiety in terms of the level of depressive symptoms. However, CU patients with high trait anxiety experienced significantly less depressive symptoms if they used more PFC strategies. The findings were discussed in the light of the relevant literature.     

Contextual interference effect on acquisition and retention of pistol-shooting skills

The effects of contextual interference on learning pistol-shooting skills in a natural training environment were examined. The shooting skills consisted of three "stages" with different requirements for the skill variations commonly used in the field. 12 participants were randomly assigned into one of two practice conditions, blocked vs serial. Following a 20-min. safety and skill instructional session, Blocked group practiced 10 trials in a row at each stage, while Serial group performed 5 trials in a row for each of the three stages and then repeated the cycle. Both groups completed a total of 30 practice trials over the three stages. A 10-min. rest interval was provided prior to a retention test which included 9 trials (3 trials at each stage in a blocked format). Results based on the data of Stage III, the most complex skill among the three stages, showed a pattern consistent with previous findings that practicing in the serial schedule depressed performance during initial training but maintained the performance better at retention, relative to the blocked practice.     

Interparental Conflict and Youth Problem Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis

We examined the proposition that interparental conflict is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in youth ages 5 to 18. This examination was done by conducting a meta-analysis of 348 statistical effects from 68 studies. The average effect size (d-value) was .32. There was considerable variability among effect sizes and this variability was associated with the average time since separation for separated/divorced parents, the socioeconomic status composition of the sample, and average parental education in the sample. The variability among effect sizes also was associated with the source of the informant used to assess interparental conflict and youth problem behaviors. Surprisingly, many of the other study characteristics we coded were not associated with variability in the effect sizes.     

The role of cue additivity in salience in taste aversion conditioning

In toxiphobia conditioning certain cues are more easily associated with malaise (i.e., more salient) than others. The present experiments show that cue additivity can account for previously found differences in salience of certain fluids. The relative salience of saccharin, saline and casein hydrolysate was tested in normal rats and in animals rendered anosmic by treatment of their nasal passages with zinc sulphate. The normally more salient casein was reduced in salience to the same level as saccharin and saline in the anosmic animals, while anosmia did not affect the relative salience of saccharin and saline. A second study tested the cue properties of vanilla, a fluid of very low salience. Anosmic animals could not show a conditioned aversion to vanilla. Normal animals readily learned the aversion but could not show it following a later anosmia treatment. Anosmia did not disrupt a saccharin aversion previously conditioned in normal animals. The data show that some of the “tastes” used in toxiphobia conditioning have olfactory components, and some are purely olfactory. Further, olfactory cues can summate with taste cues to form a more salient stimulus.     

Journeys of Hope: Tragedy, Time and the Desert

Book reviewed:
The Sacred Desert: Religion, Literature, Art and Culture , David Jasper, Blackwell 2004 (Hb 1-4051-1974-8, Pb 1-4051-1975-6), pp. xix + 208, Hb £50, Pb £15.99
Towards Tragedy/Reclaiming Hope: Literature, Theology and Sociology in Conversation , Pink Dandelion, Douglas Gwyn, Rachel Muers, Brian Phillips and Richard E. Sturm, Ashgate 2004 (0-7546-0765-8), pp. xxvii + 157, Hb £45