Four heads are better than one: combining face composites yields improvements in face likeness

Four participants constructed face composites, of familiar and unfamiliar targets, using Pro-Fit, with reference images present or from memory. The "mean" of all 4 composites, created by morphing (4-morph) was rated as a better likeness than individual composites on average and was as good as the best individual likeness. When participants attempted to identify targets from line-ups, 4-morphs again performed as well as the best individual composite. In a second experiment, participants familiar with target women attempted to identify composites, and the trend showed better recognition from multiple composites, whether combined or shown together. In a line-up task with unfamiliar participants, 4-morphs produced most correct choices and fewest false positives from target-absent or target-present arrays. These results have practical implications for the way evidence from different witnesses is used in police investigations.     

Personality disorder and antisocial deviance: comments on the debate on the structure of the psychopathy checklist-revised

The recent debate on the structure of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R: Hare, 1991; 2003) has been presented primarily as a statistical issue, but underlying it are longstanding conceptual issues about the relationship of personality concepts to deviant behavior and of psychopathy to criminality and personality disorder. I discuss these issues in this paper. The antisocial items of the PCL-R seem to reflect a propensity to commit crimes that has long been of interest to criminology. This disposition overlaps with, but differs conceptually from personality dispositions, but these surface dispositions do not provide a causal account of criminality. I present data that indicate that the core personality characteristics of psychopathy are more closely related to narcissistic and histrionic personality disorders than to antisocial personality disorder. Overemphasis on involvement in crime has obscured the nature of psychopathy as a disorder of personality characterised by interpersonally harmful behavior that need not necessarily take criminal form.     

Brief report: Response inhibition and processing speed in children with motor difficulties and developmental coordination disorder

A previous study reported that children with poor motor skills, classified as having motor difficulties (MD) or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), produced more errors in a motor response inhibition task compared to typically developing (TD) children but did not differ in verbal inhibition errors. The present study investigated whether these groups differed in the length of time they took to respond in order to achieve these levels of accuracy, and whether any differences in response speed could be explained by generally slow information processing in children with poor motor skills. Timing data from the Verbal Inhibition Motor Inhibition test were analyzed to identify differences in performance between the groups on verbal and motor inhibition, as well as on processing speed measures from standardized batteries. Although children with MD and DCD produced more errors in the motor inhibition task than TD children, the current analyses found that they did not take longer to complete the task. Children with DCD were slower at inhibiting verbal responses than TD children, while the MD group seemed to perform at an intermediate level between the other groups in terms of verbal inhibition speed. Slow processing speed did not account for these group differences. Results extended previous research into response inhibition in children with poor motor skills by explicitly comparing motor and verbal responses, and suggesting that slow performance, even when accurate, may be attributable to an inefficient way of inhibiting responses, rather than slow information processing speed per se.     

Benefits of regular aerobic exercise for executive functioning in healthy populations

Research suggests that regular aerobic exercise has the potential to improve executive functioning, even in healthy populations. The purpose of this review is to elucidate which components of executive functioning benefit from such exercise in healthy populations. In light of the developmental time course of executive functions, we consider separately children, young adults, and older adults. Data to date from studies of aging provide strong evidence of exercise-linked benefits related to task switching, selective attention, inhibition of prepotent responses, and working memory capacity; furthermore, cross-sectional fitness data suggest that working memory updating could potentially benefit as well. In young adults, working memory updating is the main executive function shown to benefit from regular exercise, but cross-sectional data further suggest that task-switching and posterror performance may also benefit. In children, working memory capacity has been shown to benefit, and cross-sectional data suggest potential benefits for selective attention and inhibitory control. Although more research investigating exercise-related benefits for specific components of executive functioning is clearly needed in young adults and children, when considered across the age groups, ample evidence indicates that regular engagement in aerobic exercise can provide a simple means for healthy people to optimize a range of executive functions.     

It's All in the Mind: PETTLEP-Based Imagery and Sports Performance

Two studies examined the effects of PETTLEP-based imagery compared to more traditional imagery interventions. PETTLEP imagery aims to produce a realistic and more functionally equivalent imagery experience than traditional imagery methods through factors such as wearing the correct clothing or imaging in the correct environment. In Study 1, 48 varsity hockey players were divided into four groups: “Sport-specific” imagery, “clothing” imagery, “traditional” imagery, and control. Imagery participants imaged 10 penalty flicks daily for six weeks, and controls spent an equivalent time reading hockey literature. In the post-test, the sport-specific group scored significantly higher than the clothing group, who scored significantly higher than the traditional imagery group. In Study 2, 40 junior gymnasts attempted a turning jump on the beam. They were split into four groups: A physical practice group, a PETTLEP imagery group, a stimulus only imagery group, and a control (stretching) group. Each group performed their task three times per week for six weeks. Both the physical practice and PETTLEP groups improved significantly from pre-test to post-test, with no significant difference between them, but the stimulus and control groups did not improve significantly. Taken together the results from Study 1 and 2 provide support for the efficacy of PETTLEP-based imagery over more traditional imagery interventions.     

Factors Associated with Psychological Distress among Women of African Descent at High Risk for BRCA Mutations

Little is known about psychological distress among women of African descent who are at high risk for a BRCA mutation. This is a group for whom breast cancer risk reduction is critical due to the group’s high rates of breast cancer mortality. Distress is important to consider as it may reduce the potential benefit of genetic counseling and negatively affect decision making related to risk reduction. The goals of the current study were to examine breast cancer-specific distress and depressive symptoms in women of African descent at who are at high risk for a BRCA mutation and to identify background factors associated with these outcomes. Participants were 148 high-risk African American and Caribbean women who were part of a larger study that offered participants BRCA counseling at no cost. Participants completed the Impact of Events Scale, which assessed breast cancer-specific distress, and the Center of Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, which assessed depressive symptoms. Results of analyses revealed that almost half of the sample achieved scores indicating high and clinically significant breast cancer-specific distress, while almost one-third had clinically significant depression scores. Results further showed that low income was significantly associated with cancer-specific distress, while having a cancer diagnosis was significantly associated with depressive symptoms. These results underscore the need for targeted psychological support throughout the genetic risk assessment process for this particular high-risk group.     

The Prevalence of Coping Behaviour,Posttraumatic Growth and Psychological Well-Being in Women who Experienced Childhood Sexual Abuse

This study investigated the prevalence of coping behaviour, posttraumatic growth and psychological well-being in adult South African women (n=60, mean age=32, ethnicity=70% European, 28% African and 2% Asian descent). Specifically, the study considered the prevalence of constructive coping, posttraumatic growth and psychological well-being with a history of childhood sexual abuse. All participants self-reported being sexually abused before the age of 18 years. They completed measures of coping, posttraumatic growth, and psychological well-being, in a cross-sectional survey design. Results showed moderate to high correlations among scales indicating conceptual coherence as indicators of constructive coping, posttraumatic growth and psychological wellness. About 58% of participants manifested constructive coping, 60% manifested posttraumatic growth, and 42% manifested psychological well-being. These women survivors of childhood sexual abuse had higher levels of posttraumatic growth than reported in previous studies.