How bad is a 10% chance of losing a toe? Judgments of probabilistic conditions by doctors and laypeople

We presented a Web questionnaire to 139 physicians and medical researchers and 109 laypeople. The subjects made judgments of badness and importance of prevention for eight medical conditions at each of seven different probability levels. By assuming that the response to each of the 56 risks was monotonically related to transformations of the probability and of the disutility of the condition, we could assess the relative effect of probability and disutility on each subject's judgments. Physicians' judgments were more sensitive than laypeople's judgments to changes in probability. Older and female laypeople were less sensitive to probability (and correspondingly, more responsive to differences in severity among medical conditions). Laypeople varied more than physicians in their responsiveness to probability. These results point to general individual differences in the effect of probability on evaluations of medical risks. They may also provide insight into causes and noncauses of physician-patient miscommunication.     

Impaired odor recognition memory in patients with hippocampal lesions

In humans, impaired recognition memory following lesions thought to be limited to the hippocampal region has been demonstrated for a wide variety of tasks. However, the importance of the human hippocampus for olfactory recognition memory has scarcely been explored. We evaluated the ability of memory-impaired patients with damage thought to be limited to the hippocampal region to recognize a list of odors. The patients were significantly impaired after a retention delay of 1 h. Olfactory sensitivity was intact. This finding is in agreement with earlier reports that rats with hippocampal lesions exhibited memory impairment on an odor delayed nonmatching to sample task (after 30 min and 1 h) and that patients with damage thought to be limited to the hippocampal region were impaired on an odor span memory task. Olfactory recognition memory, similar to recognition memory in other sensory modalities, depends on the integrity of the hippocampal region.     

The wish to die and the wish to commit suicide in the adolescent: two different matters?

We shall try to demonstrate the difference between two wishes--the wish to die and the wish to commit suicide--as they express themselves during adolescence. First, death is seen as irreversible, while the suicidal act, at least during adolescence, is seen as reversible. While thoughts of suicide may be a part of normal adolescence, and the suicidal act a manifestation of pathological development specific to this stage in life, the wish to die has no age restrictions and may accompany life as a shadow, devoid of any suicidal act, for many years. It should be noted that both of these wishes may be balanced with the wish to live. Pathology appears when there is an imbalance of wishes and abnormal developmental processes. This imbalance can result in two distinct activities: suicidal acts and death behaviors. We suggest that the two stem from different mechanisms and personality pathologies. Therefore, they should be evaluated separately in order to better understand differences between suicidal and other aggressive acts and manifestations of the death wish during adolescence.     

How is emergent writing based on drawing? Analyses of children's products and their sorting by children and mothers

Writing and drawing produced by children 28-53 months old were compared. Israeli and Dutch preschoolers were asked to draw and write, to classify their products as drawing and writing, and to decide what they had drawn or written. Israeli and Dutch mothers classified the products. Scores on a scale for writing composed of graphic, "writing-like," and symbolic schemes showed improvement with age. Recognition of drawings as drawings preceded recognition of writings as writings. Scores on writing and drawing were substantially correlated, even with age partialed out, suggesting (a) that when children start drawing objects referentially, they write by drawing "print" and (b) that progress in object drawing involves progress in drawing print, so that their writing becomes more writing-like. Children unable to communicate meaning by writing spontaneously resort to drawing-like devices, indicating the primacy of drawing as a representational-communicative system.     

The Guilty Knowledge Test and the modified Stroop task in detection of deception: an exploratory study

The current study tested whether a simple Stroop paradigm can be used to detect deceptive behavior. 40 university students (34 women), half of whom committed a mock crime, were administered a Guilty Knowledge Test and modified Stroop task to detect guilt or innocence. The Guilty Knowledge Test is a well-known psychophysiological detection method, which consists of multiple-choice questions about details of the crime while skin conductance is recorded. Subjects possessing guilty knowledge are expected to show enhanced differential responses to the relevant stimuli. The modified Stroop task required color-naming of colored words related to the mock crime or an irrelevant crime. Each version of the Stroop task was presented in story form. Subjects possessing guilty knowledge were expected to produce larger reaction times to the relevant version relative to the irrelevant version. The test correctly identified 100% of innocent participants and 78% of guilty participants. In contrast, Stroop interference. i.e., reaction times for irrelevant crime details subtracted from those for mock crime details, did not differentiate between the two groups, suggesting that the story form of the Stroop paradigm is not suitable for lie detection.     

Perceptions of adulthood among Anglo and Latino parents

The transition to adulthood presupposes that a developing adolescent acquires a set of characteristics that enables him or her to perform expected adult behaviors. There is a gap in the literature in identifying these expected behaviors as they pertain to different cultural and racial groups. To fill this gap, parent-generated indicators of adulthood were studied, including the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that are either common or specific to Anglo and Latino parents. College students at an urban university in the Los Angeles area were recruited to enlist their parents to complete a questionnaire. Equal numbers from each ethnic group were surveyed. The results of this study indicate that Anglo participants defined adulthood in terms of independence significantly more often than Latino participants. Furthermore, Latino participants defined adulthood in terms of event-related markers, such as marriage, significantly more often than Anglo participants. This research points to the need to define adulthood in ways that reflect the ethnic diversity of the United States. The authors express their thanks to Russell Espinoza, Ileana Garoz, Anna Rivera, Sandra Samayoa, Gabriella Chavira, Maria Hernandez, Angel Lahr, and Kevin Kim for their invaluable assistance. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1997 meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Seattle.     

Intact conceptual priming in the absence of declarative memory

Priming is an unconscious (nondeclarative) form of memory whereby identification or production of an item is improved by an earlier encounter. It has been proposed that declarative memory and priming might be related-for example, that conceptual priming results in more fluent processing, thereby providing a basis for familiarity judgments. In two experiments, we assessed conceptual priming and recognition memory across a 5-min interval in 5 memory-impaired patients. All patients exhibited fully intact priming in tests of both free association (study tent; at test, provide an association to canvas) and category verification (study lemon; at test, decide: Is lemon a type of fruit?). Yet the 2 most severely amnesic patients performed at chance on matched tests of recognition memory. These findings count against the notion that conceptual priming provides feelings of familiarity that can support accurate recognition judgments. We suggest that priming is inaccessible to conscious awareness and does not influence declarative memory.     

Patterns of attachment and parents' adjustment to the death of their child

The impact of adult attachment on psychological adjustment among bereaved parents and the mediating effect of relationship satisfaction were examined among a sample of 219 couples of parents. Data collection took place 6, 13, and 20 months after loss. Use of the actor partner interdependence model in multilevel regression analysis enabled exploration of both individual as well as partner attachment as predictors of grief and depression. Results indicated that the more insecurely attached parents were (on both avoidance and anxiety attachment), the higher the symptoms of grief and depression. Neither the attachment pattern of the partner nor similarity of attachment within the couple had any influence on psychological adjustment of the parent. Marital satisfaction partially mediated the association of anxious attachment with symptomatology. Contrary to previous research findings, avoidant attachment was associated with high grief intensity. These findings challenge the notion that the avoidantly attached are resilient.     

Empirical evaluation of the MCMI-III personality disorder scales

The MCMI-III personality disorder scales were empirically validated with a sample of 870 clinical patients and inmates. Prevalence rates of personality disorders were in general lower on the MCMI-III than clinical ratings, but trait prevalence was generally higher; thus a base rate of 75 on the MCMI-III could be a guideline in the screening of trait prevalence. However, the sensitivity of some MCMI-III scales was very low. Moreover, the correlations of most personality disorder scales of the MCMI-III were significant and positive with corresponding measures on clinical ratings and MMPI-2 personality disorder scales, but these were, in general, not significantly higher than some other correlations. As a consequence the discriminant validity seems to be questionable. The MCMI-III alone cannot be used as a diagnostic inventory, but the test could be useful as a screening device as a part of a multimethod approach that allows aggregation over measures in making diagnostic decisions.