Tactile spatial acuity differs between fingers: a study comparing two testing paradigms

Tactile spatial acuity (TSA) is a reliable and reproducible measure of somatosensory system function that has been used to study abroad range of subject populations. Although TSA is most often assessed at the fingertip, published studies employing identical stimuli disagree on whether TSA differs between the fingers of neurologically normal subjects. Using a validated grating orientation discrimination task, we determined TSA bilaterally at the index and ring fingers of 16 healthy young adults. Motivated by earlier work, we utilized two stimulus presentation paradigms, the method of constant stimuli (MCS) and a staircase (SC) method. We found that TSA was significantly higher (the discrimination threshold was lower) at the index than at the ring finger, which was consistent with a prior study. Although mean thresholds at both fingers were higher when measured with the SC than with the MCS paradigm, this difference did not reach statistical significance (p = .14). These findings should facilitate both design and interpretation of future studies investigating TSA.     

The relationship between fine and gross motor ability, self-perceptions and self-worth in children and adolescents

The present study examined the impact of fine and gross motor ability on self-perceptions of male and female children and adolescents. Participants were compared across age group, sex, and level of motor ability. When intercorrelations between self-perceptions were taken into account, the level of movement ability was found to impact upon perceived athletic competence and scholastic competence. When movement was considered in terms of fine and gross motor ability, it was found that those with higher perceived scholastic competence were in the younger group and had better fine motor skills. Furthermore, those with greater perceived athletic competence were also in the younger group, were predominantly male and had better gross motor skills. The types of self-perceptions that influenced self-worth were dependent on the level of motor ability of the participants and varied according to their sex. The implications of these findings are discussed with reference to the necessity to assess specific types of motor deficit when tailoring intervention strategies for children with motor disorders, particularly within the academic setting.     

Psychoanalytic patients in the U.S., Canada,and Australia: II. A DSM-III-R validation study

A study was conducted to validate our previous work on the DSM-III-R disorders diagnosed in patients in psychoanalysis in the U.S., Canada, and Australia and to determine which specific mood, anxiety, and personality disorders were the most common in these patients. The earlier study consisted of three surveys of psychoanalytic practice that together obtained data on 1,718 patients, through extensive mail surveys to analysts in the three countries. In the validation study, 206 patients were diagnosed using a different technique. Analysts similar in important respects to those who participated in the original surveys rated patients diagnostically before and after DSM-III-R training. After training, no significant changes appeared in the rates for any of the specific mood disorders. For the thirty disorders examined, training effects decreased the identification of the generalized anxiety disorder, and increased the identification of three personality disorders: avoidant, dependent, and personality disorder not otherwise specified. Thus, analysts slightly underdiagnosed the number of personality disorders, and some "anxious" patients appear to have qualified for personality disorders. Some limitations of the DSM-III-R notion of narcissistic personality are discussed, as are the importance and stability of the self-defeating (masochistic) personality disorder. The most common Axis I disorder in psychoanalytic patients was dysthymia, followed by major depression, recurrent. This study reinforces the findings of the original three surveys. Minor corrections were developed to adjust the original three surveys.     

When knowing more means less: the effect of fan on metamemory judgments

The authors used a "fan" paradigm (J. R. Anderson, 1974) to test the accessibility and competition models of metamemory using judgments of learning (JOLs). JOLs in this study reflect one's confidence level in subsequently recognizing newly learned material. The number of facts, or "fan," associated with JOL-queried concepts varied from 1 to 3 associates. Results of 3 experiments indicated that as the level of fan increased, the magnitude of JOLs decreased. This finding was observed even when the fan effect (i.e., slower recognition as number of facts increase) was attenuated on a verification task in 2 of the experiments by manipulating the organization of the multiple concepts. The results supported the competition hypothesis (T. A. Schreiber, 1998; T. A. Schreiber & D. L. Nelson, 1998) as an important determinant of JOLs.     

Regional variation of cloze probabilities for sentence contexts

In 1980, Bloom and Fischler published a paper describing a set of sentence contexts (SCs) and their cloze probabilities (CPs). This material has subsequently been employed in numerous studies of linguistic processing. We sought to define the completion words and their CPs for Bloom and Fischler’s sentences in an inner-city British population in order to establish reliable norms for subsequent studies in the U.K. One hundred and fifty incomplete SCs were presented to 73 volunteers. The CPs for each of the words used to complete the SCs were computed. We then compared the CPs from our sample with those from Bloom and Fischler. There were significant differences between CPs from each sample in 14% of the SCs analyzed (p < .01). Our data suggest that studies employing SCs and CPs may require locally defined norms if the test population differs substantially from the original one. The consequences of employing SCs and CPs to study linguistic processing without normalization are discussed.     

Dissociative tendencies and memory performance on directed-forgetting tasks

The current article presents two studies that aimed to replicate DePrince and Freyd's (2001, 2004) studies demonstrating that high and low dissociators differentially recall neutral and trauma words under conditions of varying cognitive load. We did not find this effect. This lack of replication was apparent for both free recall and word recognition memory and in both studies. In effect, we found little evidence to support betrayal trauma theory, yet observed increased memory fallibility, as demonstrated by lower general recall and (in one study) commission errors, in high dissociators.     

Neurocognitive Effects of Methamphetamine: A Critical Review and Meta-analysis

This review provides a critical analysis of the central nervous system effects of acute and chronic methamphetamine (MA) use, which is linked to numerous adverse psychosocial, neuropsychiatric, and medical problems. A meta-analysis of the neuropsychological effects of MA abuse/dependence revealed broadly medium effect sizes, showing deficits in episodic memory, executive functions, information processing speed, motor skills, language, and visuoconstructional abilities. The neuropsychological deficits associated with MA abuse/dependence are interpreted with regard to their possible neural mechanisms, most notably MA-associated frontostriatal neurotoxicity. In addition, potential explanatory factors are considered, including demographics (e.g., gender), MA use characteristics (e.g., duration of abstinence), and the influence of common psychiatric (e.g., other substance-related disorders) and neuromedical (e.g., HIV infection) comorbidities. Finally, these findings are discussed with respect to their potential contribution to the clinical management of persons with MA abuse/dependence.     

Triangulation mobility of auto‐theft offenders

This research paper presents an examination of the journey to and from crime for auto‐theft offenders in the UK. For 852 offences, ‘wheel’ distances are calculated for triangles formed by offenders' home location, theft location, and vehicle disposal location. The study demonstrates typical isosceles mobility triangles; distances travelled to and from home locations are roughly equal, whereas distances between theft and disposal points were shorter. Distances travelled by offenders under 17 years old and offences involving drug and drink were shown to be shorter than comparison groups. Prolific offenders tend to travel further, although there is significant variation in this subgroup. Explanations and implications are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.