Object-based inhibition of return in static displays

After attention has been oriented to a location, inhibition mechanisms prevent the return of attention shortly afterward. This inhibition can be associated with an object in such a way that after cuing attention to the object, inhibition can move with the object to a new location. Recent research has noted that the object-based inhibition of return effect in moving displays is much smaller than the effect observed in static displays, and hence may be of little functional utility. However, we demonstrate that, on the contrary, the large effects observed in static displays are produced precisely because of the existence of object-based frames, which can be additive with location-based frames of reference.     

Fixation point offsets facilitate endogenous saccades

Subjects produced saccades to continuously visible targets that were signaled by the pitch, not the location, of an auditory signal. Such endogenous saccades were initiated more quickly when the visual fixation point disappeared 200 msec before the signal (thus producing a “gap”), even though the alerting benefits of such a warning were eliminated by an earlier warning tone. The presence of the gap effect under these circumstances shows that the effect is more general than was previously believed: Visual fixation point offsets facilitate saccades by affecting oculomotor processes related to both visually elicited (exogenous) and centrally produced (endogenous) saccades. In addition, the magnitude of the gap effect for endogenous saccades was significantly smaller than that for exogenous saccades, suggesting that at least some of the effect arises in relatively early processes, such as those involved in the processing of sensory signals, and not exclusively in later processes, such as those involved in the preparation and production of saccades.     

Automatic and Controlled Processes in the Analytisis of Hierarchical Structure

Targets are identified faster if they appear at the same level (global vs. local) as the target on the previous trial. This effect has been attributed to a controlled attentional process wherein participants attend to the level containing the target on trial n − 1, thus facilitating performance if target level repeats on trial n. An alternative explanation (Lamb & Yund, 1966) is that automatic activation of level-specific neural mechanisms is responsible. The controlled-process hypothesis predicts better performance whenever target level is predictable, because participants can anticipate, and thus attend to, the appropriate level. The automatic-process hypothesis predicts better performance when target level repeats, regardless of target-level predictability. In the present studies, level repetitions facilitated performance regardless of target-level predictability. The data support the automatic-process explanation of level repetition and other attentional effects. The data illustrate how an automatic process can give rise to performance that seems to reflect more cognitive or strategic mechanisms.     

Making Disciples: Obstacles and Opportunities in Urban Congregations

This article looks at the current theological understanding and practice of evangelism in the United Methodist Church. In the early 2000s, the denomination crafted and adopted the mission statement “Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.” As someone who has worked at both the local church and denominational levels of the United Methodist Church, I have seen a gap between the denomination's stated mission and the actual ministry of local churches due to two primary obstacles. Congregations are unsure of what it entails to make disciples and do not understand that the purpose is for the transformation of the world. Through interviews and the study of local congregations, impediments to fulfilling this statement emerged. The article concludes by offering an example of an outlier congregation that is effectively engaged in life‐affirming evangelism in an urban setting.     

Outpatient Clinic Identification of Trauma Symptoms in Children in Foster Care

As understanding of the impact of trauma on children has grown, there has been increasing interest in the use of screening the medical setting to identify which children at risk may be symptomatic. This study was undertaken to determine whether the use of a trauma assessment tool to screen for trauma symptoms in the setting of a foster care clinic was feasible and more sensitive than non-standardized approaches in the context of outpatient primary care. Using a chart review of trauma symptom identification before and after the implementation of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSC-C) and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSC-YC), validated trauma assessment tools, we looked at the feasibility of use of this tool and likelihood of trauma symptom identification. 73 % (n = 204) of eligible patients had a trauma screening tool in the medical record following the introduction of the use of the TSC. Detection of trauma symptoms was higher in the screening period than in the baseline period for the entire population (78 vs. 46 %, p < 0.0001), and trauma symptoms were identified with more specificity following the introduction of, and likely due to, formal trauma screening. However, there were limitations as to feasibility in the outpatient medical clinic. In conclusion, the use of the TSC-C and TSC-YC in the setting of an outpatient foster care evaluation clinic increased rates and precision of identification of trauma symptoms, but had limitations to its feasibility of use in the outpatient clinic setting.     

Selective Exposure to Health Information: The Role of Headline Features in the Choice of Health Newsletter Articles

This study investigated how content and context features of headlines drive selective exposure when choosing between headlines of a monthly e-mail health newsletter in a naturalistic setting over a period of nine months. Study participants received a monthly e-mail newsletter and could freely open it and click any headline to read the accompanying article. In each e-mail newsletter, nine headlines competed with each other for selection. Textual and visual information of the headlines was content analyzed, and clickstream data on the headlines were collected automatically. The results showed that headlines invited more frequent audience selections when they provided efficacy-signaling information in an imperative voice, when they used a moderate number of negative emotion words, when they presented negative thumbnail images while mentioning cancer or other diseases, and when they were placed higher in position.