A counselling service for nurses in training

An account is given of the inception and development of a counselling service for nurses in training at a large London teaching hospital. The aims of the service are described, as are the evolving role of the counsellor and the use made of the service both by student nurses and other members of the hospital organisation. Some recommendations are made concerning the future development of counselling services within National Health Service hospitals.     

Serial position effects in the recall of picture sequences

Sequences of 10 pictures of familiar objects were presented for immediate recall, and typically bow-shaped serial position curves were obtained. The effects of redundant stimulus suffixes, and of redundant stimulus prefixes, which could be either extra pictures, or written words (the names of similar familiar objects) were examined. In the prefix conditions, extra words produced a general decrement over positions 1-4, as compared with a control condition. Picture prefixes had no effect. In the suffix conditions, redundant words affected positions 9 and 10, whereas the main effect of redundant pictures was at positions 8 and 9. The differential serial position effects are taken to reflect the presence of two memory codes, a verbal one and a visual one, which vary in trace-strength or accessibility at different list positions.     

Hemispheric differences in a letter classification task

The experiment examined hemispheric differences in same-different judgments for unilaterally presented letter pairs which could be classified as “same” on the basis of name identity (NI, e.g., Aa) or physical identity (PI, e.g., AA). Two groups of Ss were tested, a right-handed group and a predominantly left-handed group. The experiment employed a reaction time measure, and fixed the duration of brief exposures to yield an overall performance level of 90% correct. Analysis of the results focused on the difference between RTs for the NI matches and for the PI matches in each hemisphere. The method allowed differences in cognitive processing to be assessed while sensory and response factors were minimized. The right-handed group all showed a smaller mean NI-PI difference in the left hemisphere (84 msec) than in the right hemisphere (181 msec). The left-handed group showed smaller and less consistent differences, but the group as a whole had a reversed asymmetry, with a mean NI-PI difference of 128 msee in the left hemisphere and 90 msec in the right hemisphere.     

The influence of the minority on perception: A note on a possible alternative explanation

This research note raises some concerns about possible alternative explanations to studies using perceptual change as indicative of minority vs majority influence. Having failed to replicate the original study (S. Moscovici & B. Personnaz, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1980, 16, 270–282), using the same and an alternate measuring procedure, inspection of additional data introduces the role of suspiciousness in explaining this and previous findings. An informal study adds further credence to this explanation.     

Levels of Processing and Retrieval: Recency Effects After Incidental Learning in A Reaction Time Task

In their development of the levels-of-processing approach to memory Craik and Jacoby (1975) proposed a dual-process theory of retrieval which involves both the scanning of recent episodic memory and a process of reconstruction in semantic memory. The theory predicts that a depth of processing effect will emerge only when the latter retrieval process is employed. Two experiments tested this prediction under the “conveyor-belt” assumption that scanning will be adopted for recent items while earlier items must be retrieved by reconstruction. An incidental-learning paradigm was employed, in which subjects performed an orienting reaction-time task on a sequence of word-pairs. Each word-pair was judged at either a semantic, phonemic or (in Experiment I) orthographic level of coding. In the first experiment half the subjects subsequently attempted free recall while half performed a recognition task; in the second experiment subjects were cued for recall in the last six serial positions, followed by free recall of the remaining items. A consistent “levels” effect emerged in both recall and recognition and this was particularly clearly observed in recency positions. A significant difference also emerged between positive and negative judgements. Although it is argued that these effects might emerge even in scanning it is concluded that these experiments provide no support for the proposal of two distinct retrieval modes.     

Investigating the stability of and relationships among global/local processing measures

Global/local stimuli have been used to estimate global processing biases in individuals and groups, as well as in response to various manipulations. Throughout the literature, multiple different versions of global/local stimuli have been used, such as traditional hierarchical letters and numbers (i.e., Navon letters), abstract hierarchical shapes, and high- and low-spatial-frequency gratings and faces. However, currently it is unclear how reliable or stable performance is on these measures within individuals over time, and whether these seemingly different measures are tapping into the same underlying process. As such, the purpose of the present study was to examine the stability of individual performance on three distinct global/local measures over time and to examine the relationships among the measures. In two studies, we examined the reliability of the biases within, and the relationships among, standard Navon letters in a traditional interference task, hierarchical shapes in a forced choice task, and superimposed high- and low-pass spatial frequency faces in a forced choice task. In both studies, participants completed all three of the tasks, and then returned 7–10 days later to again complete the same tasks. The degree of global/local bias within an individual was found to be highly reliable in the hierarchical shape task and the spatial frequency face task, but less reliable in the traditional Navon letter task. Interestingly, in both studies we found that none of the three measures of global bias were related to each other. Therefore, while these measures do appear to be reliable over time, they may be tapping into distinct aspects of global/local processing.     

Timing processes in motor imagery

Previous research shows inconsistencies in the timing of imagined and actual actions. Little is known about the timing in imagery, or how it relates to other forms of timing. Two studies examined whether imagery timing followed Weber's law, where variations in judgements grow linearly as the interval duration increases, or Vierordt's law, where short durations are overestimated and longer durations underestimated. In Study 1 participants (n=22) mentally walked and estimated journey times for flat paths and stairways, with and without a load. The timing patterns that emerged did not conform to Weber's law. In Study 2 participants (n=20) completed imagery, reproduction, production, and estimation timing tasks. Timing errors for imagery along a straight path, reproduction, estimation, and production all showed “Vierordt-like” effects. However, when imagining walking in a square participants consistently overestimated. It was concluded that imagery and interval timing processes are similar, but imagery timing is task dependent.     

Husserl’s philosophy of mathematics: its origin and relevance

This paper offers an exposition of Husserl's mature philosophy of mathematics, expounded for the first time in Logische Untersuchungen and maintained without any essential change throughout the rest of his life. It is shown that Husserl's views on mathematics were strongly influenced by Riemann, and had clear affinities with the much later Bourbaki school.

Expert face coding: Configural and component coding of own-race and other-race faces

Configural and holistic coding are hallmarks of face perception. Although recent studies have shown that own-race faces are coded more holistically than other-race faces, the evidence for better configural coding of own-race faces is equivocal. We directly measured configural and component coding of own- and other-race male faces in Caucasian and Chinese participants. We manipulated individual features (components) or their spatial relations (configurations) using a novel morphing method to vary difficulty parametrically and tested sensitivity to these changes in a sequential matching task. Both configural and component coding were better for upright own-race than for upright other-race faces. Inversion impaired detection of configural changes more than it did detection of component changes, but also impaired performance more for easier discriminations,independent of type of change. These results challenge explanations of face expertise that rely solely on configural and holistic processing, and also call into question the widespread interpretation of large inversion decrements as diagnostic of configural coding.     

Effects of a 6-week aerobic dance intervention on body image and physical self-perceptions in adolescent girls

Research examining the impact of physical activity on body image dissatisfaction and physical self-perceptions has been both limited and equivocal. The current research investigated the effects of 6-week aerobic dance on these variables with 50 British schoolgirls aged 13–14 years. A cross-over design was used with two equivalent groups taught normal physical education and aerobic dance in a different order. The Body Attitude Questionnaire (BAQ) and Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile (CY-PSPP) were administered as pre, mid and post-test to each participant in each group before the first intervention, at the change over and after 12 weeks. The results of this study revealed that participation in 6 weeks of aerobic dance significantly reduced body image dissatisfaction (Attractiveness, Feeling Fat, Salience and Strength and Fitness) and enhanced physical self-perceptions (Body Attractiveness and Physical Self-Worth), although these improvements were not sustained. The implications and future research directions are discussed.