Twenty-four-hour sleep-wake patterns in a nursing home population

Sleep-activity patterns were objectively recorded over a 24-hr period in 19 elderly nursing home residents. On average, both sleep and wake times were observed during every hour of the 24 recorded hours; however, the sleep pattern of the residents was fragmented so that they rarely experienced even a single hour of consolidated time spent sleeping. It is hypothesized that several independent factors, including compensation for lost sleep, increased total time in bed, weakening of social constraints, and deterioration of the circadian sleep-wake rhythm, are interacting to produce this increase in sleep fragmentation.     

Preventive group psychotherapy for at-risk infants and their mothers

There is increased evidence that infants who receive poor quality social stimulation from their primary caregiver are at risk for later developmental difficulties. This paper describes a preventive intervention for mother-infant dyads exhibiting impaired patterns of social interaction. An impaired relationship with the primary caregiver has been found to be associated with social and emotional deficits in early childhood as well as with significant psychopathology in adulthood. The intervention consisted of group treatment of mothers and their infants. Each group session has 4 subsections which, together, were directed towards improving the mothers' ability to relate in a stimulating and nurturant manner to their children. Types of intervention included didactic instruction, modeling, and interpretation of the infant's behavior. Qualitative data suggested that the group intervention has positive effects on the mother-infant dyads.     

Cognitive mechanisms mediating the biasing effects of leader sex on ratings of leader behavior

The present study examined the effects of the sex of the leader, the sex of the rater, and the temporal position of leader performance information on ratings of leader behavior. Male and female subjects listened to an audiotape of a male or female leader and then rated the leader's initiating structure and consideration behaviors. The position of the leader performance information was manipulated by describing the leader as successful before or after raters listened to the audiotape or not presenting raters with the performance information. Analyses indicated that the sex of the leader and/or sex of the rater biased ratings of initiating structure when the performance information was presented after the audiotape and when no leader performance information was presented. Consideration ratings were affected only by the position of the leader performance information. The results are interpreted within a cognitive/implicit sex theory framework. Implications for leadership research are also discussed.Portions of the data analyzed in this study were collected by the second author as part of a master's thesis directed by Joseph A. Sgro.     

Temporal manipulation of stimulus patterns using the Apple II: Tachistoscopic and part presentation

A technique is described in which line-drawn pictures can be rapidly interlaced, allowing for sequential part presentation or tachistoscopic presentation on the Apple II. This is accomplished using a two-stage process in which the pictorial stimuli are converted into machine code data files and then used to create a rapidly changing display consisting of two or more line drawings. The latter stage could be accomplished in less than 2 msec but is limited by the frame time of the monitor (17–20 msec).     

The facial muscle patterning of posed and imagery-induced expressions of emotion by expressive and nonexpressive posers

Much research on emotional facial expression employs posed expressions and expressive subjects. To test the generalizability of this research to more spontaneous expressions of both expressive and nonexpressive posers, subjects engaged in happy, sad, angry, and neutral imagery, and voluntarily posed happy, sad, and angry facial expressions while facial muscle activity (brow, cheek, and mouth regions) and autonomic activity (skin resistance and heart period) were recorded. Subjects were classified as expressive or nonexpressive on the basis of the intensity of their posed expressions. The posed and imagery-induced expressions were similar, but not identical. Brow activity present in the imagery-induced sad expressions was weak or absent in the posed ones. Both nonexpressive and expressive subjects demonstrated similar heart rate acceleration during emotional imagery and demonstrated similar posed and imagery-induced happy expressions, but nonexpressive subjects showed little facial activity during both their posed and imagery-induced sad and angry expressions. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Experts, amateurs, and refrigerators: Comparing expert and amateur negotiators in a novel task

Recently a controversy has arisen among behavioral decision theory researchers concerning the generalizability of research based upon student subject samples to the behavior of expert decision makers. This study compared the influence of framing and performance constraints (goals or limits) on the ability of expert and amateur negotiators to reach integrative agreements in a negotiation task novel to both. The results suggested that while experts did outperform amateurs on comparable competitive market simulations, the patterns of their performance as influenced by framing and performance constraints were consistent.     

The influence of information redundancy upon the use of traits and persons as organizing categories

The following question is addressed: How do multiple, simultaneously present cognitive structures influence the representation and recall of social information? In an empirical study examining both free and cued recall, we found the variable information redundancy to influence both the organization and accuracy of subjects' recollections of trait-related behaviors. Redundancy was defined in terms of the degree of person/trait overlap in a social information ensemble. Some evidence indicated that this effect is attributable to an increase in the discriminability of the organizational structures during encoding. The implications of these findings for understanding the formation of integrated cognitive representations of individuals and the spontaneous use of traits in social information processing are discussed.