Electroencephalographic responses to photic stimulation in habitual smokers and nonsmokers.

Two studies are reported in which electroencephalograms (EEGs) of habitual cigarette smokers and of nonsmokers were taken before and after they were required to smoke a cigarette. The EEGs were scored for incidence of EEG "driving" responses to photic stimulation, an index that appears to reflect the balance between central adrenergic and cholinergic nervous systems. The findings suggest that smokers tend to have a central autonomic balance less in favor of adrenergic functioning than do nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking may alleviate a possible central adrenergic insufficiency of smokers. These findings suggest a solution to "Nesbitt's paradox," which has reference to the fact that while nicotine is a central adrenergic stimulant, smokers describe the effect of smoking in sedational terms (i.e., as relaxing or calming).     

The effects of perspective alterations on apparent size and distance scales

Ss made magnitude estimations first of the areas, then of the distances, of four circles presented at five distances within an enclosed box 9 ft long. There were three viewing situations: the box had parallel walls, converging walls, or diverging walls. The variations in perspective cues influenced the apparent distance scales: with converging and parallel walls, apparent distance grew as the 1.4 power of physical distance; with diverging walls, it grew as the .95 power. Apparent area was related to distance differently in the three conditions: with converging walls, apparent area increased with distance; with parallel and diverging walls, apparent area decreased with distance. Apparent area was thus not related to changes in physical distance as the apparent distance effects would predict. In each condition, the ratio of apparent area to apparent distance (S′/D′) was a monotonie increasing function of retinal angle θ, but the rate of growth varied among the three conditions. The failure of θ D′ to define a unique value of S′ across conditions indicates that the size-distance invariance hypothesis is inadequate to predict the outcome of this experiment.     

Decision making in dual-task environments: analysis of hemispheric competition effects

Performance degradations in multitasking situations have been reported frequently as a predictable effect of competition that arises from different processing demands whose hemispheric locations are too proximal. This model might be useful in explaining performance deficits in complex workplaces. To test this assertion, a laboratory study was designed to create an analogue of the processing demands required by a tactical decision-making task performed by 24 right-handed men. Vocalization, dichotic listening and decision-making performance were assessed under single- and dual-task conditions. The results were consistent with the predictions from hemispheric competition in the case of dichotic listening but not with vocalization. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for both research and systems design.     

Taking “the boss” into the real world: Field interrater reliability of the Short‐Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version

There is emerging evidence that the performance of risk assessment instruments is weaker when used for clinical decision‐making than for research purposes. For instance, research has found lower agreement between evaluators when the risk assessments are conducted during routine practice. We examined the field interrater reliability of the Short‐Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV). Clinicians in a Dutch secure youth care facility completed START:AV assessments as part of the treatment routine. Consistent with previous literature, interrater reliability of the items and total scores was lower than previously reported in non‐field studies. Nevertheless, moderate to good interrater reliability was found for final risk judgments on most adverse outcomes. Field studies provide insights into the actual performance of structured risk assessment in real‐world settings, exposing factors that affect reliability. This information is relevant for those who wish to implement structured risk assessment with a level of reliability that is defensible considering the high stakes.     

Biased Assimilation and Attitude Polarization in Response to Learning About Biological Explanations of Homosexuality

According to attribution theory stigmatized behaviors with biological explanations will be perceived more positively than those with psychological explanations, but informing people of the biological explanations of homosexuality has produced mixed results on attitudes. To examine if biased processing could explain previous findings we tested whether biased assimilation (initial attitudes’ effect on perceived persuasiveness) and attitude polarization (initial attitudes’ effect on reported attitude change) affected learning about biological explanations of homosexuality among 210 U.S. undergraduates. General Linear Model analyses showed that (1) individuals with positive attitudes toward homosexuality saw biological explanations as a more persuasive reason to accept homosexuality than those with negative attitudes, and (2) initial attitudes generally led to a strengthening of those attitudes after learning about biological explanations.     

Attentional enhancement during multiple-object tracking

What is the role of attention in multiple-object tracking? Does attention enhance target representations, suppress distractor representations, or both? It is difficult to ask this question in a purely behavioral paradigm without altering the very attentional allocation one is trying to measure. In the present study, we used event-related potentials to examine the early visual evoked responses to task-irrelevant probes without requiring an additional detection task. Subjects tracked two targets among four moving distractors and four stationary distractors. Brief probes were flashed on targets, moving distractors, stationary distractors, or empty space. We obtained a significant enhancement of the visually evoked P1 and N1 components (～100–150 msec) for probes on targets, relative to distractors. Furthermore, good trackers showed larger differences between target and distractor probes than did poor trackers. These results provide evidence of early attentional enhancement of tracked target items and also provide a novel approach to measuring attentional allocation during tracking.