Transient state-dependent fluctuations in anxiety measured using STAI, POMS, PANAS or VAS: a comparative review

Abstract Several psychometric instruments can be used to measure state-dependent variations in anxiety, including the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Profile of Mood States (POMS), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Visual Analog Scales (VAS). Each of these instruments rests on specific theoretical assumptions about the construct of state anxiety, and has been widely used for this purpose in different research domains. However, it remains difficult to determine what may be the specificities of these four instruments, when the goal is to measure transient state-dependent variations in anxiety. In this work, we provide a systematic and comparative literature review of studies which have explored rapid fluctuations (i.e., test-retest intervals not exceeding 24 hours) in state anxiety by means of these specific instruments. Almost 200 studies were eventually included in our review. This comparative review confirms that, despite some disparities and specificities, each of these four instruments provides a reliable measure to capture rapid state-dependent variations in anxiety, although they have been used in non-overlapping research domains or experimental contexts.     

The impact of emotion on prospective memory and monitoring: No pain, big gain

The emotionally enhanced memory effect is robust across studies of retrospective memory, with heightened recall for items with emotional content (e.g., words like ??murder??) relative to neutral items (e.g., words like ??envelope??). Only a handful of studies have examined the influence of emotion on prospective memory (PM), with mixed results. In some cases emotion enhances PM, and in others it impairs PM. Interpretation of these findings is clouded by methodological differences across studies and by the fact that, to date, no study has examined the impact of emotion on PM monitoring. In our study, we assessed PM performance when PM targets were neutral, negative, and positive, and also investigated monitoring across these different PM target types. Participants showed heightened PM performance for positive and negative relative to neutral targets, yet there was no evidence of additional monitoring for emotional targets. In fact, measures of monitoring were significantly reduced when the PM targets were emotional rather than neutral. Our findings suggest that it is possible to boost PM performance in a focal task using emotional cues, and that the use of emotional cues reduces the need for monitoring.     

Developing a microcomputer laboratory at a small liberal arts college

This paper summarizes the development and initial implementation of a network of micro- computers for use by undergraduate psychology students at a small liberal arts college. We describe the hardware and the software, the general development plan, and some problems that should be considered by others who may plan to develop a similar laboratory.     

Wernicke''s aphasia in a 10-year-old boy

We report the case of a ten-year-old boy, who, after herpes simplex encephalitis, presented a sensory aphasia having much in common with Wernicke's aphasia in adults. The genesis of neologisms appeared very similar to the mechanisms described by Buckingham and Kertesz (1974, Brain and Language, 1, 43-61). The findings are discussed in the light of theories of hemispheric specialization and of age-related semiologies.     

Qualitative and quantitative considerations in encoding difficulty effects

We hypothesized that the effects of encoding difficulty on the memorability of verbal material would depend on both the type of processing induced by the difficulty manipulation and the type of processing afforded by the material. We predicted that if the processing induced by encoding difficulty were complementary to the processing afforded by the material, then difficulty would enhance recall more so than if the processing induced by the two sources were redundant. These expectations were tested by requiring subjects to process either a structured or an unstructured word list with either a sorting task or a pleasantness rating task; the difficulty of each orienting task was also manipulated. We assumed that sorting and pleasantness rating required primarily relational and individual-item processing, respectively, and that the structured and unstructured word lists afforded relational and individual-item processing, respectively. These assumptions were supported by clustering in free recall and by recognition performance. The primary finding was that difficult sorting increased recall only for the unrelated list, whereas difficult pleasantness judgments increased recall most robustly for the related list. These results support the present framework and help illuminate the boundary conditions of the “difficulty effect.”     

Propositions pour un positivisme

Summary The author tries to specify a philosophical attitude which could be considered a form of Positivism, but this does not necessarily mean that it coincides with the doctrine of Auguste Comte or with that of the Vienna Circle.In order to facilitate the exposition the author formulates eight theses whose abrupt character is merely a consequence of the manner of presentation and by no means a manifestation of dogmatism.Eachdatum presents itself as finite experience (1) which is organized with the help ofsymbols, either on the level of perception or on the level of language (2). Inside the perception itself a reduction of experience which is essentially pragmatic first constitutes thephenomena (3). Theobject which is constituted by science on the basis of the phenomena is merely structural and always delimited (4). Its constitution is unceasingly revisable and it never corresponds to an alleged essence of reality.What is here called dialectic never consists in a set of rules governing a movement of phenomena, objects, or ideas; it is a general, historical movement of experience itself, taken as a whole, and the specific movement of the symbolic statements which inform it. One should not confuse it with a kind of general logic, nor with a so-called science of totalities (5). Logic explains the rules of the symbolic systems (6), andscience is the mediate determination of objects by means of the symbolism, and is not an immediate determination of reality (7). It constructs coherent and effective models of phenomena.As far asphilosophy is concerned, it wishes to interpret experience as a totality, not-withstanding experience's finitude as datum (8). Thus it is radically distinguished from science in that philosophy does not intend to construct models, but to explain the meanings of the phenomena and, in general, of experience. That is why the category of truth taken in a rigorous sense does not apply to philosophy's statements.     

Eine informationstheoretische Methode zur Bestimmung der ästhetischen Wirkung von Flächenmustern

Zusammenfassung In dieser Arbeit entwickeln wir eine Form der informationsanalytischen Charakterisierung von Flächenmustern, welche es ermöglicht, schön wirkende von häßlich wirkenden Mustern zu trennen. Wir betrachten ein Flächenmuster als eine Menge von Rasterpunkten. Jeder Rasterpunkt kann hinsichtlich der drei Variablen horizontale Lage, vertikale Lage und Farbton kategorisiert werden. Wir charakterisieren durch eine multivariate Informationsanalyse die statistischen Beziehungen zwischen den genannten Variablen mit zwei Kennwerten. Diese Kennwerte sind die Interaktion zwischen den drei Variablen und ein Balancekoeffizient für die Variablen horizontale und vertikale Lage. Hinsichtlich dieser beiden Kennwerte unterscheiden sich Muster, die von Vpn als schön empfunden werden von solchen, die als häßlich empfunden werden. Schöne Muster haben signifikant höhere Interaktionen und signifikant niedrigere Balancekoeffizienten als häßliche. Hinsichtlich beider Parameter streuen schöne Muster signifikant weniger als häßliche.

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An information analytic method to estimate the esthetical effect of pictures

Summary In this paper we show, that multivariate information analysis can be used to separate pictures regarded as nice from pictures regarded as ugly. A picture may be considered as a set of pictureelements. Each pictureelement can be classified with regard to three variables, namely vertical position, horizontal position and colour tone. We characterize the statistical relations between these variables by multivariate information analysis which results in two parameters. These parameters are the interaction between the variables and a balance coefficient for the variables vertical- und horizontal-position. In respect of these parameters pictures, which are regarded as nice by human subjects are separable from ugly pictures. Nice pictures show significantly higher interactions and lower balance coefficients than ugly ones. The dispersion of interactions and balance coefficients is lower at nice pictures.

     

Acute non-traumatic transverse syndrome from a neurosurgical standpoint]

With a seventh of 233 neuro-surgical patients operated on in the area of the spinal canal, an acute or sub-acute transverse syndrome had become manifest before operation. The analysis of these cases shows that 2 out of 12 cervical, and 12 out of 100 lumbar cases of dislocation of the disk cause an acute or sub-acute transverse lesion of the cord with paraplegia. In 56 cases of intradural extra-medullary tumours, no acute development was observed. However, this was seen in 55% of the extra-dural tumour growths. The role of a vasal component in the event of speedy development of the transverse symptomatology in such cases is mentioned.     

The measurement of hallucinatory predisposition in male and female prisoners

This paper describes the development of a 12-item questionnaire scale to measure hallucinatory predisposition. The scale, which conforms to at least one mathematical model of unidimensionality, includes both pathological items and other items which appear to represent sub-clinical forms of hallucinatory experience.The scale was used to test certain hypotheses concerning the link between aggressive-paranoid tendencies and hallucinatory predisposition (using the Eysenck's P scale) in a prison sample. The significant results presented do confirm such a link, although the precise behavioural correlates of hallucinatory predisposition require further definition.