Psychophysiologic effects of applied tension on the emotional fainting response to blood and injury

OBJECTIVE: The present study was designed to investigate the psychophysiologic effects of "Applied Tension" (AT) on the emotional fainting response to blood and injury in a controlled experiment. METHOD: Twenty-two persons reporting to generally feel faint or to have fainted at the sight of blood or injury and 22 participants classified as Non-Fainters were randomly allocated to a treatment or control condition. Psychophysiologic responses were continuously monitored while individuals watched a video depicting open-heart surgery and a control film. Prior to the surgery film, participants in the treatment condition were instructed in the use of AT. RESULTS: All participants classified as Fainters showed a diphasic response pattern while watching the surgery film. This response, however, was significantly attenuated in Fainters in the treatment condition. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that AT provides an effective treatment strategy for the prevention of fainting responses in persons with a fear of blood and injury.     

On specifying the null model for incremental fit indices in structural equation modeling

In structural equation modeling, incremental fit indices are based on the comparison of the fit of a substantive model to that of a null model. The standard null model yields unconstrained estimates of the variance (and mean, if included) of each manifest variable. For many models, however, the standard null model is an improper comparison model. In these cases, incremental fit index values reported automatically by structural modeling software have no interpretation and should be disregarded. The authors explain how to formulate an acceptable, modified null model, predict changes in fit index values accompanying its use, provide examples illustrating effects on fit index values when using such a model, and discuss implications for theory and practice of structural equation modeling.     

The effects of stressful life events,coping, and cortisol on HIV infection

What is the role of stress and coping in changes in immunologic and clinical indicators of human immunodeficiency virus disease progression? There is substantial evidence that stressful life events and passive coping strategies, such as denial, may have a detrimental effect on HIV disease progression. Given the harmful effects of stress and passive coping, the author reviews the limited research testing the efficacy of interventions, such as cognitive-behavioral therapies for HIV-infected persons. Finally, in trying to understand psychoimmune relationships in HIV, the evidence is examined for the mediating and direct effects of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, on HIV disease progression. Delineating the role of psychosocial factors and cortisol on HIV disease progression may aid in the development of new interventions for this devastating disease.     

Relations Between Continuous Performance Test Performance Measures and ADHD Behaviors

The Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT) is a neuropsychological task that has repeatedly been shown to differentiate ADHD from normal groups. Several variables may be derived from the Conners' CPT including errors of omission and commission, mean hit reaction time(RT), mean hit RT standard error, d', and . What each CPT parameter actually assesses has largely been based upon clinical assumptions and the face validity of each measure (e.g., omission errors measure inattention, commission errors measure impulsivity). This study attempts to examine relations between various CPT variables and phenotypic behaviors so as to better understand the various CPT variables. An epidemiological sample of 817 children was administered the Conners' CPT. Diagnostic interviews were conducted with parents to determine ADHD symptom profiles for all children. Children diagnosed with ADHD had more variable RTs, made more errors of commission and omission, and demonstrated poorer perceptual sensitivity than nondiagnosed children. Regarding specific symptoms, generalized estimating equations (GEE) and ANCOVAs were conducted to determine specific relationships between the 18 DSM-IV ADHD symptoms and 6 CPT parameters. CPT performance measures demonstrated significant relationships to ADHD symptoms but did not demonstrate symptom domain specificity according to a priori assumptions. Overall performance on the two signal detection measures, d' and , was highly related to all ADHD symptoms across symptom domains. Further, increased variability in RTs over time was related to most ADHD symptoms. Finally, it appears that at least 1 CPT variable, mean hit RT, is minimally related to ADHD symptoms as a whole, but does demonstrate some specificity in its link with symptoms of hyperactivity.     

A call to collaboration: the federal commitment to suicide prevention

The federal government, largely through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), sponsors an array of science-based suicide prevention initiatives. This article details the prevention-related agendas and collaborative efforts of five operating divisions within the Department of Health and Human Services: the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Indian Health Service, and Health Resources and Services Administration. The article highlights HHS's activities and their link to the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, the plan which will guide the nation's suicide prevention efforts for the next decade.     

Effects on face recognition of spatial-frequency information contained in inspection and test stimuli

Researchers often assume a critical band of spatial frequencies is required for face recognition. Also, many studies have not measured the contrast required for recognition. On Day 1, observers viewed high-pass-filtered (HP), low-pass-filtered (LP), or unfiltered (UF) faces. On Day 2, they viewed a variety of faces, some of which were LP filtered, HP filtered, and UF. Observers adjusted contrast until they achieved both detection and recognition. Observers were most accurate and sensitive when filtered faces agreed in spatial-frequency content across days. Faces differing in spatial-frequency content were least well recognized. Unfiltered faces always fell between the 2 extremes. Observers generally used less contrast to recognize unfiltered than filtered faces. Correspondence of information between inspection and testing seemed more important than any particular range of frequencies.     

Subitizing and similarity: Toward a pattern-matching theory of enumeration

Pattern-matching theories of subitizing claim that subjects enumerate displays with small numerosities by retrieving numerical responses associated with similar displays experienced in the past. Such retrieval implies that displays with small numerosities are similar to other displays of the same numerosity and dissimilar to other displays of different numerosities. These hypotheses were tested by having subjects rate the similarities of displays of dot patterns with numerosities in the range of 1-10. One group of subjects rated patterns of the same numerosity. Their ratings were higher for patterns in the subitizing range (numerosities of 1-3) than for patterns beyond the subitizing range (numerosities of 4-10). Another group rated patterns of different numerosities. Their ratings were lower in the subitizing range than beyond the subitizing range. An analysis based on multidimensional scaling suggested that numerosity could be retrieved accurately for displays of 1-3 dots, but not for displays of 4-10 dots.     

Silences from the Deep: Mapping Being and Nonbeing in The Piano and in a Schizoid Young Woman

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Rational consensual procedure: Argumentation or weighted averaging?

The following is a defense of Jurgen Habermas' argumentational consensual procedure against Keith Lehrer and Carl Wagner's weighted averaging consensual procedure (and, I tentatively claim, against any weighted averaging consensual procedure). The argument is twofold: if Lehrer and Wagner intend, implicity, to replace what is for Habermas the metatheoretical stage of a discussion with the aggregation of judgments of respect, then their procedure fails to make use of all available information and the participants are not committed to the weighted average position on these grounds; if, on the other hand, they do not intend to replace metatheoretical discussion by aggregation, then the conditions under which the discussion could conceivably have come to a halt are such as to provide no support for the claim that it is rational to aggregate, rather than to consider the discussion unresolved until more information is available.An earlier and abbreviated draft of this paper was read at the 10th Annual International Wittgenstein Symposium, August 1985, in Kirchberg, Austria.