Dominance,sex, and leader emergence

A 3×2×2 incomplete factorial design was employed to test the effects of sex, dominance, and their interaction on leader emergence. The factors included dominance distribution (high/high, high/low, middle/middle), sex (male-female), and dyad composition (mixed sex-same sex). The subjects were all Caucasians and were pretested on the California Psychological Inventory Dominance Scale. The data revealed that dominance was a predictor of leader emergence in same-sex conditions where high-dominant individuals assumed the role of leader in much greater proportions than their low-dominant partners. In mixed-sex dyads, sex appeared to be a more potent predictor with males becoming leaders at levels greater than would be suspected given dominance levels.     

Spatial cognition and neighborhood use: the relationship in older adults.

Measures of spatial cognition, neighborhood knowledge, and neighborhood use from the research described by Walsh, Krauss, and Regnier (1981) were examined to determine if laboratory tests of spatial cognition were significant predictors of older adults' use of their neighborhoods. The overall results show that laboratory-based measures of spatial cognition and subjects' knowledge of their neighborhoods are both significant predictors of their use of neighborhood goods and services. The ability to learn and remember the location and orientation of objects, when contextual cues were not provided at test, was more predictive of the participants' neighborhood use than either the participants' number of years in the neighborhood or their mobility. Spatial memory as measured by the Educational Testing Service Building Memory task predicted neighborhood knowledge, which was predictive of neighborhood use.     

Age-related differences in three tests of visual imagery.

Adult age differences were explored on 3 short tests of the ability to generate and manipulate mental images. Age-related decrements were found in all 3 tests and were especially marked on the Clock Test. The tests are all reliable, as shown by test-retest reliability coefficients. Correlations also revealed that the Brooks Letter Test and the East-West Test appear to tap one common underlying ability, whereas the Clock Test measured a somewhat different ability. The East-West and Clock tests, in particular, may provide rapid and easily administered assessments of age-related changes in aspects of mental imagery.     

Crime and the elderly: a review of British and American research

Research into the victims of crime is of fairly recent origin and has been centred in America. However, a review of research into the experience of the elderly as the victims of crime, and their anxiety about crime, reveals a paradox. Numerous studies show that while the elderly are less likely to be the victims of crime than are the other age groups, they are among those who exhibit most anxiety over crime. The research is discussed in the context of theories of why the elderly appear as a low-risk group and in terms of an attempt to explain the paradox.     

Heart rate--QT relationships during baroreceptor stimulation with diminished autonomic influence on the ventricles. Ventricular autonomic tone and QT interval.

The shortening of the QT interval of the electrocardiogram coincident with acceleration of heart rate and vice versa has been accepted for many years as evidence that the action potential duration and hence QT are necessarily dependent on heart rate. Exceptions to this rule have been attributed to the intervention of counteracting autonomic effects. In order to test this assumption, 26 conscious dogs divided into three groups were tested during baroreceptor stimulation by a bolus injection of phenylephrine. Seventeen dogs had been used in earlier studies in which they had undergone an experimental anterior myocardial infarction with apparent full recovery. A group of those dogs underwent beta-adrenergic blockade by intravenous atenolol 30 min prior to the baroreceptor activation. To test the intactness of the baroreceptor responses in the previously infarcted dogs, a third group of nine dogs that had had no prior myocardial infarction was included. All dogs were adapted to the laboratory environment and were not sedated during experiments. Simultaneous recordings of RR, QT interval, and phasic arterial pressure were made in all dogs before and during baroreceptor stimulation. In the normal group, and the previously infarcted group that received no atenolol, baroreceptor stimulation elicited a small (8/msec), but significant prolongation of the QT associated with a nearly 50% reduction in heart rate. The QT interval of the atenolol-treated dogs, although significantly more prolonged before stimulation, remained unchanged during the reflex. The data indicate that withdrawal of ventricular sympathetic tone may prolong the QT interval, thereby confirming the role of sympathetic innervation in the control of QT.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Predictors of myocardial infarction over a span of 30 years in Roseto, Pennsylvania.

Predictors of myocardial infarction with or without survival were sought in a 30-year study of Roseto, Pennsylvania, a nearly exclusively Italian community of approximately 1,600, compared to the immediately adjacent town of Bangor with a population of approximately 5,000. At the start of the study the death rate from myocardial infarction among men in Roseto was less than half that in Bangor despite an equal prevalence of the usual risk factors, mainly smoking and diet. The communities were followed prospectively for 30 years during a striking social change in Roseto toward less family and community cohesion and more commitment to individual goals and adherence to materialistic values. During this period the prevalence of and mortality from myocardial infarction increased sharply to equal the situation in Bangor. The predictive values of measurements made of Rosetans during individual examinations in 1962-63 were tested against the outcome in 1990. Those who experienced fatal myocardial infarction and those who had a well documented infarction and survived were matched with and compared to controls. Although subjects with cholesterol concentration above 200 were twice as likely to experience myocardial infarction as those with concentrations below 200, less than 20% of those whose cholesterol concentration was above 200 experienced any evidence of myocardial infarction over the nearly 30-year period. Moreover, there were no significant differences between the coronary patients, with or without survival, and their sex, age, and cholesterol matched controls; nor were smoking, evidence of hypertension, diabetes, or obesity predictive of significant differences between the two groups. These data lead to the inference that while those with the conventional risk factors are more likely to develop myocardial infarction than are those without the risk factors, an even larger proportion of the population may have the risk factors and not succumb to myocardial infarction over a period of nearly three decades.     

Three intensive community-based programs for children and youth with serious emotional disturbance and their families

Systems of care for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families have generally lacked intensive community-based programs. We describe three types of newly established community-based programs in New York State and present a general evaluation plan for determining which programs work for various children and their families. The three community-based programs are Intensive Case Management, Family-Based Treatment, and Family-Centered Intensive Case Management. Process and outcome evaluations are being conducted for each of these programs. These evaluations make use of common intake and termination instruments, based on a minimum data set, standardized assessment instruments, and a common logic model, thus facilitating the comparison of findings across evaluations.     

Motor-motor adaptation: preliminary findings

This study investigated the relationship between speech perception and speech production. An experimental technique called motor-motor adaptation was devised. Subjects produced a speech token repeatedly (20 to 40 repetitions), then produced a second token one time. These tokens all contained stop consonants and were subsequently analyzed for voice onset time. The results paralleled previous findings using the experimental procedure, perceptuomotor adaptation. The present study supports the notion of a perception-production link.     

Hypnotic susceptibility and its relationship to outcome in the behavioral treatment of asthma: some preliminary data

12 subjects from an experiment on relaxation therapy for asthma were given the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. Full scale hypnotic susceptibility scores were positively correlated, at a borderline significance, with improvement in the methacholine challenge test, a measure of asthma severity. Performance on the amnesia item of the Harvard Group Scale was correlated with improvement in self-reported symptoms of asthma.