Near-death experiences: Perceptionis reality

The authors propose three etiologies responsible for the neardeath experience, which they refer to as an altered state of consciousness: physiologic, pharmacologic, and psychologic. They recommend research to determine what developmental factors influence the emotionality of the experience and how in-depth understanding can be used to provide better patient care.     

Encoding variability and organization in free recall

Measures of category clustering and subjective organization are well-established predictors of performance in free recall tasks. The present studies demonstrate that a measure of encoding variability affords equally powerful and independent prediction of free recall performance. They also illustrate an interaction between encoding processes and organizational activity. In Experiments 1 and 2, the independent contributions of organization and encoding variability are demonstrated in categorizable and uncategorizable lists and in subjects whose recall is expected to increase (adults) or decrease (children) as a function of more varied encodings across trials. In Experiment 3, a category labeling procedure is used to demonstrate that the negative relationship between encoding variability and recall can be reversed by inducing adult-like organizational activity in children.     

Human covariation judgment: Accuracy and strategy

Judgment strategy is proposed as a contributor to the variability of findings in past research on human covariation judgment. Mathematically sophisticated judgment strategies will accurately judge all event covariations. However, faulty judgment rules will also produce correct judgments of many event relationships. Several methods have been used in past research to identify subjects' strategies of covariation judgment. Each of these methods indicates that humans employ simplistic, error-prone rules to judge event relationships. Shifts in covariation strategy use are proposed as a source of past findings that judgment accuracy depends on the decision conditions.     

Gaze and emotional expression: The effects of message positivity-negativity and emotional intensity

The effects of emotional positivity-negativity and emotional intensity on actor's gaze were examined by simulating emotional situations to a camera. Female subjects were first asked to act out a neutral message as if they were speaking to a person to obtain a baseline for direct gaze. Subjects were then asked to perform a positive or a negative message to the camera. Half the subjects attempted to express the message with strong emotion; half expressed it with weak, ambivalent emotion. As expected, it was found that more direct gaze was maintained when expressing strong emotion. Whether the message was positive or negative did not affect gaze direction. The results were discussed in relation to the dimensions of nonverbal communication.     

Whom you may marry

Pastoral Psychology -     

Single and multiple suicide attempts and associated health risk factors in New Hampshire adolescents

In this study we examined self-reported suicide attempts and their relationship to other health risk factors in a community sample of 16,644 adolescents. Fifteen percent endorsed suicide attempts (10% single; 5% multiple attempts) We hypothesized that multiple attempters would show higher prevalence of comorbid health risks than single or non-attempters. The three groups showed significant differences in ten health risk domains, on factors such as depressed mood, sexual assault, weight problems, and drug and alcohol use (ORs: 3.26-13.57). Repeated suicide attempts appear to be related to increased vulnerability and likelihood of harm in multiple domains of health risk.