Sweet silent thought: alliteration and resonance in poetry comprehension

ABSTRACT— Poetic devices like alliteration can heighten readers' aesthetic experiences and enhance poets' recall of their epic pieces. The effects of such devices on memory for and appreciation of poetry are well known; however, the mechanisms underlying these effects are not yet understood. We used current theories of language comprehension as a framework for understanding how alliteration affects comprehension processes. Across three experiments, alliterative cues reactivated readers' memories for previous information when it was phonologically similar to the cue. These effects were obtained when participants read aloud and when they read silently, and with poetry and prose. The results support everyday intuitions about the effects of poetry and aesthetics, and explain the nature of such effects. These findings extend the scope of general memory models by indicating their capacity to explain the influence of nonsemantic discourse features.     

A note on stability in force applied to control a repetitive task with the legs

The forces applied to pedals during cycling were collected every 40 ms from approximately 29,000 movement repetitions. Intra-cycle mean values of force and its variability were significantly correlated, supporting Schmidt's impulse variability theory of within-movement activities of the legs. In addition, as mean forces approached peak values, coefficients of variation decreased. From averages taken minute by minute, intra-cycle forces were seen to rise or fall in concert, implying that the pattern as a whole constituted a significant neuro-muscular unit of control.     

Book reviews

The Jewish Heritage. D. Cohn‐Sherbok. Blackwell, Oxford, 1988,. Hardback £25, paperback £7.95. ISBN 0–631–15414–0 pp.xiv+204

Exploring Reality. D. Cohn‐Sherbok & Michael. Irwin, eds. Allen & Unwin, London, Boston, Sydney, Wellington 1987. 237 pp. Index, Bibliography for each chapter, Further reading. ISBN 0–01–100050–1

At the Origins of Modern Atheism. Michael J. Buckley, SJ. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1987. 445pp.     

When do false memories cross language boundaries in English—Spanish bilinguals?

To determine whether false memories cross language boundaries, we presented English-Spanish bilinguals with conceptually related word lists for five study-test trials. Some lists were heard in English, some in Spanish, and they were then followed by a recognition memory test composed of studied words, conceptually related nonstudied critical words, and unrelated words presented in the same language used at study or in a different language. Even though participants were instructed to recognize only previously heard words, they falsely recognized both same-language and different-language critical words. With practice, participants increased their accurate recognition of list words and decreased their false recognition of critical words when the study-test language was the same, and they decreased their false recognition of list words and critical words when the language differed. False memories can cross language boundaries when participants rely on conceptual representations from the word lists, but these errors decrease over trials as participants increasingly rely on language-specific lexical representations.     

Examining a community intervention to help White people understand race and racism and engage in anti-racist behaviours

Uprisings over the past decade have accelerated the search for interventions to support White people in increasing their capacity to understand historical and present-day racial dynamics. This study investigates the impacts and effectiveness of a community-led intervention developed to prime White individuals to challenge injustice through increasing knowledge, confidence, and competence related to race, racism, intragroup dialogue, and colour-blind racial attitudes. Five hundred and thirty seven participants were recruited from four cohorts of community-led groups, which read, reflected, journaled, and completed activities related to race and racism for a total of 40 hr over 10 sessions. Participants were given pre- and post-measures to assess their White racial capacity, and colour-blind racial attitudes. Participants also completed a follow-up assessment on anti-racist behaviours. The results indicated that participants were able to increase their racial capacity in terms of their understanding and knowledge of race and racism. They also indicated that they felt more confident and competent to have racial discussions in an intergroup context. The possibilities and limitations of interventions to shift attitudes and behaviours are discussed.     

Yoga-integrated psychotherapy for emotion dysregulation: A pilot study

Aims & Objectives

Yoga has been evidenced as beneficial for physical and mental health. This study sought to pilot the acceptability and feasibility of a yoga-integrated psychotherapy (YiP) intervention, aimed at alleviating difficulties in emotion regulation. A further aim was to explore the perceived effectiveness of YiP in alleviating depression, anxiety and improving well-being.

Methods

Seven participants who scored significantly on the Difficulties in Emotion Dysregulation Scale (DERS) took part in a psychological assessment session followed by six weekly one hr therapy sessions. Participants completed self-report measures in each session to quantify the effects of each YiP session on emotion regulation, well-being, depression and anxiety. Following seven sessions, five participants completed qualitative follow-up interviews to explore subjective experiences of YiP and any perceived impacts.

Findings

An ANOVA that contained data from seven participants who completed all six sessions revealed that DERS scores were significantly lower, and well-being scores were significantly higher, at both mid and end-points than at baseline. Thematic analysis of qualitative interviews identified five themes: “YiP assists the client's psychological and emotional processing,” “YiP improves insight and focus,” “YiP is culturally sensitive,” “the body facilitates regulation and resilience” and “YiP is acceptable & impactful.”

Conclusion

The study presents promising findings for the integration of yoga into psychotherapeutic practice and indicates that YiP may have beneficial effects on emotion regulation and psychological well-being. Future research should use randomised controlled methodologies to examine the ability of YiP to alleviate a wide range of affective symptoms using a larger sample of participants.     

The effects of social vigilantism and masculine honor beliefs on perceptions of confrontation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Varying opinions about the COVID-19 pandemic inspire different behaviors (e.g., mask-wearing), and confrontation may result between people with differing viewpoints. Individual differences associated with belief superiority (e.g., Social Vigilantism; SV) and/or pride (e.g., Masculine Honor Beliefs; MHB) likely related to third-person perceptions of pandemic confrontations. In this study (N = 237; US sample), we used vignettes in a 2 (Mask: Yes/No) ×  2(Confrontation Response: Vocal Defense/Walked Away) between-groups design to examine how SV and MHB predict perceptions of (1) responses to public confrontation about (not) wearing a mask and (2) the person being confronted. In general, mask-wearing and walking away from confrontation were perceived more positively. Higher SV was associated with more positive perceptions of seemingly morally-justified responses to confrontation (e.g., walking away when confronted for not wearing a mask, vocally defending oneself when confronted for wearing a mask). Contrarily, higher MHB were associated with more positive perceptions of non-mask-wearing. This research provides insight about how individual differences in SV and MHB relate to nuances in pandemic confrontations, and responses to confrontations, about (non)mask-wearing.     

Depressive Symptoms in African-American Women

This project examined the prevalence of depressive symptoms in an African-American female college student sample. Concordance rates between two of the most widely used psychometric instruments in clinical settings, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, revised edition (MMPI-2; Hathway & McKinley, 1967) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mack, & Erbaugh, 1961), were examined. Results revealed that the MMPI-2 was a more conservative scale than the BDI in identifying depressive symptom levels. Both scales, however, identified 12% to 18% of the sample as experiencing severe symptoms. Results were interpreted in light of the stress model of depression. Participants who experienced many symptoms also had high levels of anxiety and passive coping styles. One significant covariate in this sample was mother's education level. Participants whose mothers had college experience had fewer depressive symptoms than their first-generation college-experience peers. Results were interpreted in light of the possible ways mothers inoculate their daughters from stressful environments because of their experiences and possible ways to use this process to assist first-generation college students.