Attributions of guilt and punishment as functions of physical attractiveness and smiling

The authors found an interaction between sex of participant and sex of defendant in the leniency bias toward a smiling defendant. Differences occurred for male participants when levying punishment for a smiling male defendant vs. a smiling female defendant and for a smiling male defendant vs. a nonsmiling male defendant, whereas differences did not occur for female participants. The authors found moderating effects of physical attractiveness and smiling between guilt and punishment. The only significant positive relationship between guilt and punishment occurred for the defendant whom participants rated low in physical attractiveness and who was not smiling. When guilty, the smiling and unattractive defendant received less punishment than did the smiling and attractive defendant. The authors discussed complex relationships between physical attractiveness, smiling, guilt, and punishment.     

Graduate admissions criteria in psychology: an update

Ratings of importance were reviewed for nine graduate admissions criteria for the 573 graduate degree programs listed in American Psychological Association's Graduate Study in Psychology (2003). Overall, the three criteria receiving the highest percentages of importance ratings were letters of recommendation, statement of goals and objectives, and grade point average. Importance ratings varied depending on the degree programs offered. Results are discussed in terms of the advice offered students interested in admission to graduate school and the importance of students tailoring their graduate admissions process to their specific degree program.     

Fluent versus nonfluent primary progressive aphasia: a comparison of clinical and functional neuroimaging features

To better characterize fluent and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Although investigators have recognized both fluent and nonfluent patients with PPA, the clinical and neuroimaging features of these variants have not been fully defined. We present clinical and neuropsychological data on 47 PPA patients comparing the fluent (n=21) and nonfluent (n=26) subjects. We further compared language features with PET/SPECT data available on 39 of these patients. Compared to the nonfluent PPA patients, those with fluent PPA had greater impairment of confrontational naming and loss of single word comprehension. They also exhibited semantic paraphasic errors and loss of single word comprehension. Patients with nonfluent PPA were more likely to be female, were more often dysarthric, and exhibited phonological speech errors in the absence of semantic errors. No significant differences were seen with regard to left hemisphere abnormalities, suggesting that both variants result from mechanisms that overlap frontal, temporal, and parietal regions. Of the language measures, only semantic paraphasias were strongly localized, in this case to the left temporal lobe. Fluent and nonfluent forms of PPA are clinically distinguishable by letter fluency, single word comprehension, object naming, and types of paraphasic errors. Nevertheless, there is a large amount of overlap between dysfunctional anatomic regions associated with these syndromes.     

The relationships between television viewing in midlife and the development of Alzheimer's disease in a case-control study

The relationship between leisure activities and development of cognitive impairment in aging has been the subject of recent research. We examined television viewing in association with risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a case-control study. Given recent focus on the importance of intellectually stimulating activities as preventive measures against cognitive decline, it is important to examine the effects of less stimulating but common activities. Data are from 135 Alzheimer's disease cases and 331 healthy controls. Demographic characteristics and life history questionnaire responses on the number of hours spent on 26 leisure activities during middle-adulthood (ages 40-59) were analyzed. Logistic regression was used to examine the effects of middle-adulthood leisure activities on case vs. control status. Results indicate that for each additional daily hour of middle-adulthood television viewing the associated risk of AD development, controlling for year of birth, gender, income, and education, increased 1.3 times. Participation in intellectually stimulating activities and social activities reduced the associated risk of developing AD. Findings are consistent with the view that participation in non-intellectually stimulating activities is associated with increased risk of developing AD, and suggest television viewing may be a marker of reduced participation in intellectually stimulating activities.     

Assessing Parental Satisfaction with Children’s Mental Health Services with the Youth Services Survey for Families

We assessed parent satisfaction with childrens mental health services with a new instrument: The Youth Services Survey for Families (YSSF). The Dillman method was used to administer the survey to a random sample of 1,500 parents of Medicaid youth from Kentuckys 14 community mental health centers (CMHCs). The response rate was 37% (n = 534 parents). A factor analysis of YSSF identified five parent-perceived factors: (a) Appropriateness, (b) Outcome, (c) Participation in Treatment, (d) Access, and (e) Cultural Sensitivity. About 70% of parents reported a high level of endorsement with the Appropriateness factor, but only 47% reported high levels of endorsement with the Outcome factor. Results were interpreted as providing support for the reliability of the YSSF in evaluating childrens mental health services in CMHCs.     

Reexamining the familial association between asthma and ADHD in girls

The objective of this study is to further evaluate the association between asthma and ADHD, addressing issues of familiality in female probands. A case control study of referred ADHD proband girls, controls, and relatives are used. Participants include 140 ADHD proband girls and 122 non-ADHD comparisons, with 417 and 369 first-degree biological relatives, respectively. Relatives are stratified into four groups according to proband ADHD and asthma status. The authors compare rates of asthma and ADHD in relatives. ADHD does not increase the risk for asthma in probands. Patterns of familial aggregation are mostly consistent with independent transmission of ADHD and asthma in families of girl probands. The results extend to female probands' previously reported findings that asthma and ADHD are independently transmitted in families. These findings further support the conclusion that ADHD symptoms should not be dismissed as part of asthma symptomatology or a consequence of its treatment.     

Media images of the "ideal" female body: can acute exercise moderate their psychological impact?

Exposure to the media's “ideal” physique increases mood and body image disturbance, especially for at-risk women. Because exercise decreases mood and body image disturbance, we examined the ability of acute aerobic exercise to moderate the negative psychological impact of exposure to media pictures of the “ideal” female body. Women reporting high drive for thinness and media internalization viewed pictures of either nonphysique or “ideal” physique pictures after engaging in 30 min of either aerobic exercise or quiet rest. Compared to the nonphysique pictures, viewing the physique pictures resulted in increased depression and body dissatisfaction. Acute aerobic exercise, however, did not moderate the negative mood states elicited by the media images. Implications of our results and future directions for research are discussed.     

Effects of d-amphetamine on observing behavior in the squirrel monkey

Four squirrel monkeys were trained to press a lever, which produced stimuli indicating availability or non-availability of reinforcement for pushing a key. Food reinforcements were available for the key response at random intervals with an average rate of 1 per min. When food was available, a single lever response produced a red light behind the key. Reinforcement availabilities and red keylights remained until terminated by a reinforced key response. When reinforcement was not available, each lever response produced a 0.5-sec green light on the key. Except after lever responses, the key remained dark. Under this procedure, lever responses functioned as observing behavior in that they produced discriminative stimuli correlated with the availability or non-availability of reinforcement for key responses. The procedure generated a high rate of responding on the lever, short latencies of the key response after onset of red lights and few responses to the key in the absence of red lights. Intra-muscular d-amphetamine, in doses from 0.125 to 1.0 mg/kg, abolished both observing behavior and key responding for periods that increased as a function of dose. However, both observing and key rates were increased at the smallest dose in two subjects whose performances included responding to the key in the absence of red lights. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings regarding effects of amphetamines on operant behavior and on observing and monitoring performance.