A behavioral frequency discrimination paradigm for use in adult primates

A psychophysical apparatus and procedure that can be used to define the performance and estimate the thresholds of frequency discrimination in adult primates is described. This protocol has been used to train adult owl monkeys to discriminate differences in the frequencies of successively presented sinusoidal tactile stimuli delivered to a restricted skin surface of a single digit, and to train a second set of adult owl monkeys to discriminate. differences in frequencies between paired auditory tonal stimuli. The thresholds estimated with this procedure are comparable to those measured in other primates. The advantages of using this procedure for combined behavioral and physiological studies are discussed.     

Falsely recalled items are rich in item-specific information

Current theorizing suggests that critical lures in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure are often falsely remembered because they have received considerable relational processing (e.g., spreading activation or encoding of gist information). We used a repeated-testing paradigm to assess the amount of item-specific and relational processing given to the list items and the critical lures. Research has shown that items receiving item-specific processing are more likely to be recovered across successive tests. They are also output more slowly but more steadily throughout the recall period. In two experiments, we manipulated the processing performed on list items and then used item gains and cumulative recall curves to assess the amount of item-specific an drelational information encoded for both list items and lures. The results suggest that increasing the relational processing of list items increased item-specific processing of lures, whereas increasing item-specific processing of list items decreased item-specific processing of lures. We conclude that critical lures are typically rich in item-specific information, relative to list items.     

Feedback training for facial image comparison

People are typically poor at matching the identity of unfamiliar faces from photographs. This observation has broad implications for face matching in operational settings (e.g., border control). Here, we report significant improvements in face matching ability following feedback training. In Experiment 1, we show cumulative improvement in performance on a standard test of face matching ability when participants were provided with trial-by-trial feedback. More important, Experiment 2 shows that training benefits can generalize to novel, widely varying, unfamiliar face images for which no feedback is provided. The transfer effect specifically benefited participants who had performed poorly on an initial screening test. These findings are discussed in the context of existing literature on unfamiliar face matching and perceptual training. Given the reliability of the performance enhancement and its generalization to diverse image sets, we suggest that feedback training may be useful for face matching in occupational settings.     

Special Section on LGBT Resilience Across Cultures: Introduction

This special section addresses a gap area of resilience and LGBT well‐being. Although comprehensive global diversity regarding LGBT resilience was challenging to find, the special section includes representation from outside the US (Israel and Hong Kong), ethnic/racially diverse domestic populations, immigration, and one population for which LGBT identities might be considered marginalized—Christians in the US. The full range of LGBT identities are represented in the issue along with persons identifying as queer or questioning, although transgendered people were less well represented than lesbian, gay or bisexual identities.     

Genetic Counselling for Psychiatric Disorders: Accounts of Psychiatric Health Professionals in the United Kingdom

Genetic counselling is not routinely offered for psychiatric disorders in the United Kingdom through NHS regional clinical genetics departments. However, recent genomic advances, confirming a genetic contribution to mental illness, are anticipated to increase demand for psychiatric genetic counselling. This is the first study of its kind to employ qualitative methods of research to explore accounts of psychiatric health professionals regarding the prospects for genetic counselling services within clinical psychiatry in the UK. Data were collected from 32 questionnaire participants, and 9 subsequent interviewees. Data analysis revealed that although participants had not encountered patients explicitly demanding psychiatric genetic counselling, psychiatric health professionals believe that such a service would be useful and desirable. Genomic advances may have significant implications for genetic counselling in clinical psychiatry even if these discoveries do not lead to genetic testing. Psychiatric health professionals describe clinical genetics as a skilled profession capable of combining complex risk communication with much needed psychosocial support. However, participants noted barriers to the implementation of psychiatric genetic counselling services including, but not limited to, the complexities of uncertainty in psychiatric diagnoses, patient engagement and ethical concerns regarding limited capacity.     

Neighborhood Collective Efficacy Moderates the Association between Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences and Marital Conflict

In a socio‐demographically diverse sample of 501 caregivers participating in a longitudinal birth cohort study during the childbearing years, we examined whether neighborhood collective efficacy moderated the association between maternal adverse childhood experience (ACEs) and marital conflict. Maternal ACEs were assessed via retrospective reports. Neighborhood collective efficacy was measured via maternal and paternal reports at 2 months, and maternal reports of marital conflict were collected at infant age 2 and 18 months. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that maternal ACEs were associated with increased marital conflict. Neighborhood collective efficacy moderated the association between early maternal ACEs and marital conflict, such that mothers experiencing ACEs had lower levels of marital conflict when exposed to high levels of neighborhood collective efficacy. Results suggest that extra‐familial sources of social support and control, such as feelings of security, trust, order, and connectedness with others, may buffer the effects of early adversity on marital discord.     

The Mysterious Silence of Mother Earth in Laudato Si'

Laudato si' attempts simultaneously to disrupt prevailing global environmental discourse and to reorient central concepts in Catholic moral tradition by requalifying the meaning of dominion and by ecologically expanding human dignity. The image of Earth crying out to humans from within a kinship relation plays a central role in both arguments. However, the political consequences of those shifts remain vague because the “voice” of Earth remains silent in crucial loci of the encyclical's argument.