Assertive training for agoraphobics

Twenty-one unassertive agoraphobic patients were assigned to one of three treatments: (1) prolonged exposure in vivo, (2) assertive training and (3) a combination of assertive training and prolonged exposure in vivo. Each treatment was conducted in groups which were led by two therapists. Assessments involved both phobic targets and assertiveness, and were made before and after treatment, and at 1-month follow-up. Exposure in vivo was found to be superior to assertive training on phobic targets. Assertive training produced greater gains in assertiveness than exposure in vivo. The combination of treatments produced results comparable to exposure in viro. Results indicated that the type of change produced by the treatments is a rather specific one and is related to the specific target of treatment.     

Influence of instruction on velocity and accuracy of overarm throwing

This study investigated the influence of instruction on the ball velocity and accuracy of a goal-directed overarm throw. 9 experienced Norwegian male team handball players executed a throwing task randomly seven times under 5 different instructions varying from emphasizing speed to accuracy. When instructions increasingly emphasized accuracy, velocity decreased. However, accuracy did not improve when subjects were instructed to focus on it. A possible explanation for this finding could lie in the specific subject group. The subjects were highly experienced team handball players with an average of 12 years in the sport. Thus, the accuracy they demonstrated at high velocity might actually be already extremely high and difficult to improve upon when reducing throwing velocity. Further, the velocity of throwing when instruction emphasized accuracy was approximately 85% of the maximal velocity, indicating that experienced team handball players are trained to throw accurately at relatively high velocity.     

Interidentity amnesia for neutral,episodic information in dissociative identity disorder

Interidentity amnesia is considered a hallmark of dissociative identity disorder (DID) in clinical practice. In this study, objective methods of testing episodic memory transfer between identities were used. Tests of both recall (interference paradigm) and recognition were used. A sample of 31 DID patients was included. Additionally, 50 control subjects participated, half functioning as normal controls and the other half simulating interidentity amnesia. Twenty-one patients subjectively reported complete one-way amnesia for the learning episode. However, objectively, neither recall nor recognition scores of patients were different from those of normal controls. It is suggested that clinical models of amnesia in DID may be specified to exclude episodic memory impairments for emotionally neutral material.     

What response times tell of children's behavior on the balance scale task

Analysis of accuracy of responses to balance scale problems gives a global idea of the cognitive processes that underlie problem-solving behavior on this task. We show that response times (RTs) provide additional detailed information about the kind and duration of these processes. We derive predictions about the RTs from Siegler's (1981) model for the balance scale task, including the counterintuitive prediction that young adults are slower than children in solving particular balance scale problems. The predictions were tested in a study in which 191 6- to 22-year-old participants were presented with a computerized balance scale task. RTs were analyzed with regression models. In addition to qualitative differences between items, we also modeled quantitative differences between items in the regression models. Analyses supported the predictions and provided additional knowledge on the rules. Rule II was reformulated as a rule that always involves the encoding, but not always the correct application of the distance cue. RTs provided evidence for the use of a buggy-rule and not an addition-rule. Finally, a relation between rule inconsistency and increased RT was found.     

Velocity dependence of the interocular transfer of dynamic motion aftereffects

It is well established that motion aftereffects (MAEs) can show interocular transfer (IOT); that is, motion adaptation in one eye can give a MAE in the other eye. Different quantification methods and different test stimuli have been shown to give different IOT magnitudes, varying from no to almost full IOT. In this study, we examine to what extent IOT of the dynamic MAE (dMAE), that is the MAE seen with a dynamic noise test pattern, varies with velocity of the adaptation stimulus. We measured strength of dMAE by a nulling method. The aftereffect induced by adaptation to a moving random-pixel array was compensated (nulled), during a brief dynamic test period, by the same kind of motion stimulus of variable luminance signal-to-noise ratio (LSNR). The LSNR nulling value was determined in a Quest-staircase procedure. We found that velocity has a strong effect on the magnitude of IOT for the dMAE. For increasing speeds from 1.5 deg s(-1) to 24 deg s(-1) average IOT values increased about linearly from 18% to 63% or from 32% to 83%, depending on IOT definition. The finding that dMAEs transfer to an increasing extent as speed increases, suggests that binocular cells play a more dominant role at higher speeds.     

The duration of response inhibition in the stop-signal paradigm varies with response force

In a previous study, we have found that the speed of stopping a response is delayed when response readiness is reduced by cuing the probability of no-go trials [Acta Psychol. 111 (2002) 155]. Other investigators observed that responses are more forceful when the probability to respond is low than when it is high (e.g. [Quart. J. Exp. Psychol. A 50 (1997) 405]). In this study, the hypothesis was tested that low probability responses are more forceful than high probability responses and that these responses are more difficult to stop. Subjects performed on a choice reaction task and on three tasks with respectively 100%, 80%, and 50% response probabilities. Stop signals were presented on 30% of the trials, instructing subjects to withhold their response. Response force on non-signal (go) trials and the duration of response inhibition on signal (stop) trials increased as response probability decreased. This pattern of findings was interpreted to support the hypothesis predicting that stopping is more difficult when response readiness is low than when it is high.     

Effects of mixed versus blocked design on stimulus evaluation: combining underadditive effects

According to the asynchronous discrete coding model of Miller, two manipulations should display underadditive effects on reaction time if they slow down noncontingent stages associated with the processing of two separable dimensions of a stimulus. Underadditive effects are also predicted by a dual route model when a task variable is factorially varied with design type (mixed vs blocked). Interpretations of both underadditive effects and their combination were evaluated. Intact and degraded stimuli were presented to 18 young adults either in a single block (mixed) or in separate blocks (blocked). Spatial stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility was manipulated in all conditions. Stimulus degradation and S-R compatibility interacted underadditively, but only in blocked presentations. Both interpretations of underadditive effects were supported. Eye-movement registrations provided additional support for the alternative routes model.     

The Unchangeable Judicial Formats

An analysis of a broad sample of Dutch judicial and semi-judicial decisions shows similar structures as the ones Bhatia and Mazzi found before. The question is posed what explains this seemingly unchangeable judicial format. From a perspective of argumentative and communicative efficacy and comprehensibility, the format is certainly not the optimal choice. The explanation is that the format is a sign of an ideology. The format suggests an objectivity of the decision taken. This is actually a myth. This makes a decision to change the format an ideological one.