Children's perception of the Thatcher illusion: Evidence for development in configural face processing

The present study reports the ability of young children to detect the Thatcher illusion. Participants were asked to detect the “unusual” face in a two-alternative forced-choice version of the Thatcher illusion with greyscale (Experiment 1) and monochrome “Mooney” face images (Experiment 2). The results of Experiment 1 showed that all groups of children could see the Thatcher illusion. When processing demands were increased (Experiment 2) sensitivity to the Thatcher task increased with age and was absent for 6-year-olds. The results are discussed in terms of differential task demands determining whether evidence for or against the development of configural face processing is found.     

On boxing: Notes on the past,present and future of a sport in transition

Boxing is a sport in transition and has been under increasing attack for about 30 years. This article examines the current status of boxing, questions the basis for criticism of the sport and draws parallels between boxing and nineteenth century prize fighting (bare-knuckle boxing). Finally, it speculates briefly about the future of the sport in light of attempts to enact legislation that would ban boxing. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 8th Annual Meeting of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, Edmonton, Canada, November 4–7, 1987.     

Animal Welfare and Animal Rights: an Examination of some Ethical Problems

The spectacle of the relentless use and abuse of animals in various human enterprises led some human beings to formulate animal welfare policies and to offer philosophical arguments on the basis of which the humane treatment of animals could be defended rationally. According to the animal welfare concept, animals should be provided some comfort and freedom of movement in the period prior to the moment when they are killed. This concept emphasizes the physiological, psychological, and natural aspects of animal life with the focus on freedom. Ironically, however it is not concerned with the rights of animals; nor is it interested in their remaining alive. So, animals are least benefitted by such provisions, which is the major concern for those who defend animal rights. It seems dubious to demand comfort for a being in life, but not security for its actual life, since rights and freedom are essential for the maintenance of a normal life. This paper aims to (a) critically analyze the animal welfare system, which prioritizes only freedom; (b) to demonstrate how animal welfare is incomplete without animal rights and how they are closely related to each other; and (c) to bridge the gap between animal welfare and animal rights. The underlying principle of animal welfare concept is restricted by its anthropocentric framework with the result that the ethical element is missing. Mere ‘freedom’ is not sufficient for constituting an ideal animal welfare domain. In order to achieve real animal well-being, it is necessary to consider both the rights as well as the welfare of animals.     

The influence of anxiety on processing capacity for threat detection

In the present study, we explored the proposition that an individual’s capacity for threat detection is related to his or her trait anxiety. Using a redundant signals paradigm with concurrent measurements of reaction times and eye movements, participants indicated the presence or absence of an emotional target face (angry or happy) in displays containing no targets, one target, or two targets. We used estimates of the orderings on the hazard functions of the RT distributions as measures of processing capacity (Townsend & Ashby, 1978; Wenger & Gibson, Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance, 30,708–719, 2004) to assess whether self-reported anxiety and the affective state of the face interacted with the level of perceptual load (i.e., the number of targets). Results indicated that anxiety was associated with fewer eye movements and increased processing capacity to detect multiple (vs. single) threatening faces. The data are consistent with anxiety influencing threat detection via a broadly tuned attentional mechanism (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, Emotion, 7,336–353, 2007).     

Neuropsychological impairment in veterans who are HIV-positive

The purpose of this study was to compare the neuropsychological functioning of 12 veterans who were HIV-positive to 21 age-matched veterans who were HIV-negative. Consistent with expectations, the HIV-positive group was found to perform more poorly in areas related to attention and concentration, immediate and delayed verbal recall, immediate and delayed visual recall, visual learning, and tasks requiring psychomotor speed, while a number of language tasks were left intact. This was similar to dysfunction often seen in HIV-related dementia cases. However, this group was also significantly more impaired in confrontation naming, planning, mental calculations, and abstract thought when compared to the HIV-negative group. Comorbid substance abuse found in the majority of our HIV-positive subjects was thought to contribute to the HIV-related dysfunction.     

Information processing biases and panic disorder: relationships among cognitive and symptom measures

To test cognitive models of panic disorder, a range of information processing biases were examined among persons with panic disorder (N=43) and healthy control participants (N=38). Evidence for automatic associations in memory was assessed using the Implicit Association Test, interference effects related to attention biases were assessed using a modified supraliminal Stroop task, and interpretation biases were assessed using the Brief Body Sensations Interpretation Questionnaire. In addition, the relationship between information processing biases and clinical markers of panic (including affective, behavioral, and cognitive symptom measures) was investigated, along with the relationships among biases. Results indicated more threat biases among the panic (relative to control) group on each of the information processing measures, providing some of the first evidence for an implicit measure of panic associations. Further, structural equation modeling indicated that the information processing bias measures were each unique predictors of panic symptoms, but that the bias indicators did not relate to one another. These findings suggest that cognitive factors may independently predict panic symptoms, but not covary. Results are discussed in terms of their support for cognitive models of panic and the potential for automatic versus strategic processing differences across the tasks to explain the low relationships across the biases.     

I am going to gag: Disgust cognitions in spider and blood-injury-injection fears

There is mounting evidence that disgust plays an important role in certain anxiety disorders, yet little is known about disgust's cognitive component. The current study introduces a measure of cognitions associated with disgust and contamination to assess the role of disgust-specific primary and secondary appraisals in phobic responding. A multi-modal assessment of blood-injury-injection (BII) and spider phobia was conducted using BII (N=29) and spider (N=30) fearful groups, and a non-fearful control group (N=30). The Disgust Cognitions scale showed good reliability and validity, and distinguished among the groups. For example, relative to the other groups, the spider fear group reported higher disgust cognitions following presentation of a live spider, whereas the BII Fear group reported higher disgust cognitions following a surgery video. Moreover, the scale was associated with multiple phobic indicators (behavioral avoidance, subjective distress, symptom endorsement), suggesting cognitions may be critical to understanding how disgust contributes to anxiety disorders.