Framing the figure: Mental rotation revisited in light of cognitive strategies

The mental rotation literature commonly reports a sex difference, almost always favoring men. Two strategies have been proposed in the literature to account for this difference: holistic and piecemeal. However, there is great variability in rotation performance suggesting other possible contributing factors. This study investigated the effects of stimuli characteristics and habitual spatial thinking on mental rotation performance. In three experiments, participants completed a mental rotation task with two modifications: (1) 3-D figures were presented with their cut versions to promote piecemeal strategy, and (2) block figures were either presented within a frame or none, in light of reference framework model or perceptual grouping model. Overall, whole figures generated faster responses than cut figures and this was more pronounced with greater angular disparity. Shape or the presence of a frame affected rotation performance. Having a frame seemed to impede overall rotation, especially for cut figures, supporting an object-based reference frame. However, a 3-D frame did not have the same effect, possibly suggesting the unitary configuration idea. Men rotated more accurately than women, but still sex was not as robust as it was suggested in the literature. Interestingly, there were similarities between possible strategy use and habitual spatial thinking. People who were categorized as having landmark-centered representations and who preferred verbal directions showed a pattern suggesting the use of a piecemeal strategy, and survey-centered representations and map preference seemed to reflect a holistic strategy.     

The path more travelled: Time pressure increases reliance on familiar route-based strategies during navigation

Navigating large-scale environments involves dynamic interactions between the physical world and individuals’ knowledge, goals, and strategies. Time pressure can result from self-imposed goals or relatively dynamic situational factors that induce varied constraints. While time pressure is ubiquitous in daily life and has been shown to influence affective states, cost-benefit analyses, and strategy selection, its influence on navigation behaviour is unknown. The present study examined how introducing varied time constraints during virtual urban navigation would influence spatial strategies and impact the efficiency and effectiveness of goal-directed wayfinding. Participants learned a large-scale urban virtual environment by wayfinding between a series of 20 successive landmark goals (e.g., You have reached the Theater. Now find the Bank.). A day later, they again performed the same task, but landmark-to-landmark trials were characterized by conditions of low-, moderate-, or high-pressure time limits as quantified by a pilot experiment. As time pressure increased, participants more likely navigated along previously experienced paths and less likely travelled in the global direction of the destination. Results suggest strategy shifts under time constraints that increase reliance on egocentric, route-based strategies and decrease reliance on global configural knowledge, probably in an attempt to reduce cognitive demands and support performance under pressure.     

Dyslexic and nondyslexic reading fluency: Rapid automatized naming and the importance of continuous lists

Rapid automatized naming (RAN; Denckla & Rudel, 1976) tasks are consistent predictors of fluency that also discriminate between dyslexic and nondyslexic reading groups. The component processes of RAN that are responsible for its relationship with reading ability remain underspecified, however. We report a study on dyslexic and nondyslexic adult groups that experimentally manipulated RAN formats to elucidate how different components of RAN differentially influence dyslexic and nondyslexic performance. The dyslexic group showed a pervasive deficit in rapid access of individually presented items. Additionally, they showed a significant impairment when multiple items were presented, whereas nondyslexic readers showed marginal facilitation for this format. We discuss the implications of these findings with respect to reading-group differences in reading fluency.     

Differentiating Diversities: Moral Diversity Is Not Like Other Kinds1

Diversity is widely celebrated in American society. But from a social psychological point of view, diversity ought to cause a number of problems, such as divisiveness and conflict. A resolution of this paradox is proposed: There are several kinds of diversity, with different profiles of costs and benefits. In particular, moral diversity is identified as being problematic and even self‐contradictory. Three studies of attitudes and desires for interaction among college students confirmed that moral diversity reduces desires for interaction more than does demographic diversity, and that both kinds of diversity are valued more in a classroom than in other social settings. These findings have important implications for discussions of diversity, multiculturalism, affirmative action, identity politics, and immigration policy.     

Contralateral visual search deficits following TMS

Transcranial magnetic stimulation of posterior parietal vs. superior temporal sites cause differential effects on conventional conjunction vs. feature search tasks, respectively. We now report that when a decision has to be made on the target's left/right location, different lateralized deficits emerge in these two cases. With full‐field arrays, we found a specific PPC search deficit for contralateral space. With smaller, structured arrays presented in left or right hemispace, we found a specific STG deficit for contralateral parts of the array.     

Children's and adults' processing of anomaly and implausibility during reading: evidence from eye movements

The eye movements of 24 children and 24 adults were monitored to compare how they read sentences containing plausible, implausible, and anomalous thematic relations. In the implausible condition the incongruity occurred due to the incompatibility of two objects involved in the event denoted by the main verb. In the anomalous condition the direct object of the verb was not a possible verb argument. Adults exhibited immediate disruption with the anomalous sentences as compared to the implausible sentences as indexed by longer gaze durations on the target word. Children exhibited the same pattern of effects as adults as far as the anomalous sentences were concerned, but exhibited delayed effects of implausibility. These data indicate that while children and adults are alike in their basic thematic assignment processes during reading, children may be delayed in the efficiency with which they are able to integrate pragmatic and real-world knowledge into their discourse representation.     

The Effects of Weight Loss Attempts, Exercise Initiation, and Dietary Practices on Health Related Quality of Life

This study (N = 98) randomly placed participants in either a higher protein or American Heart Association diet group with each group initiating an aerobic exercise program. Body composition (BC) was measured using four different methodologies (DEXA, BIA, skinfold, BMI) along with height and weight, while Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) changes were measured using the Medical Outcomes Short Form 36 (SF-36). There were no significant time/diet interactions in HRQOL scores, body fat measures, and weight with the exception of Role-Physical scores (p = .006) with posttest scores higher in participants in Diet 1. Role-Physical scores changed significantly in participants in Diet 1 (p = .0001) and Diet 2 (p = .026) with higher posttest scores in each group. Social functioning had a significant main effect for time in both groups with pretest scores in both diet groups lower than their respective posttest scores (p = .015). HRQOL pretest scores were not significantly different between groups at baseline (p = .56). ANOVA revealed no significant differences in average calories between groups (p = .88). Analysis revealed no differences in exercise in minutes (p = .66) nor statistically significant changes in BC or weight (p = .65). Conclusions: Improvements in HRQOL were demonstrated in two subscales related to physiological and psychological functioning. These novel findings add to literature suggesting that HRQOL, at least concerning social functioning, work and other daily activities (Role-Physical) may improve by initiating an exercise and dietary program even when weight loss or BC improvements have been unsuccessful.     

Investigation of a developmental model of risk for depression and suicidality following spousal bereavement

Data from a community-based multi-wave investigation were used to examine a developmental model of risk for depression and suicidality following the death of a spouse. Measures of perceived parental affection and control during childhood were administered to 218 widowed adults 11 months after the death of the spouse. Self-esteem, spousal dependency, depression, and suicidality were assessed 9 months later. Dependency on the deceased spouse mediated a significant association between retrospectively reported parental control during childhood and post-loss depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms mediated significant associations of dependency on the deceased spouse and low self-esteem with suicidal ideation and behavior.     

The Effectiveness of Individual Wellness Counseling on the Wellness of Law Enforcement Officers

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the effectiveness of wellness counseling on increasing wellness among law enforcement officers. The study also examined whether position in the Transtheoretical Model (J. O. Prochaska & C. C. DiClemente, 1982) and self‐efficacy influenced the effectiveness of counseling on wellness. These findings indicate that counseling may increase wellness among law enforcement officers.