Eye centring in portraits: a theoretical and empirical evaluation

Tyler (1998 Nature 392 877) proposed that 'painters centre one eye in portraits', and that this is a hidden aesthetic principle used implicitly by artists and by viewers of portraits. We assess that hypothesis in three related studies: a Monte-Carlo analysis of eye placement in synthetic faces randomly placed within a frame; a survey of eye position in 786 painted portraits from Western art of the past six centuries; and an experimental study in which fifty subjects were asked which of two versions of 60 pairs of portraits they preferred, in only one of which the eye was precisely centred. Taken together, the three studies showed no evidence to support Tyler's hypothesis, and in particular there was no evidence for subjects having an aesthetic preference for a centred eye in portraits. We conclude that one eye tends to be relatively close to the vertical midline because of geometric constraints on the placing of a relatively large object, the head, within a pictorial frame.     

Differences in attentional set between athletes and nonathletes

The purpose of this study was to determine if the ability to set attention is different between athletes and nonathletes. University volleyball players were compared with nonathletes on a spatial cuing task similar to that of C. L. Folk, R. W. Remington, and J. C. Johnston (1992). As expected, both groups showed evidence of entering into a specific attentional set because attentional cuing effects were found only when cues and targets shared a task-relevant feature (onset or color). In addition, the cuing effects when the cues matched the targets were greater for the athletes than for the nonathletes. The results are discussed in terms of the orienting of attention and athletic performance.     

The relationship between self-esteem level, self-esteem stability, and cardiovascular reactions to performance feedback

The authors examined the notion that individuals with unstable high self-esteem possess implicit self-doubt. They adopted the framework of the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat and assessed spontaneous cardiovascular reactions in the face of success versus failure performance feedback. Study 1 revealed predicted interactions between feedback condition, self-esteem level, and self-esteem stability, such that participants with unstable high self-esteem exhibited relative threat (a negative reaction) in the failure condition, whereas those with stable high self-esteem exhibited relative challenge (a positive reaction). Study 2 replicated these results and provided additional evidence against plausible alternative explanations.     

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation improves depersonalization: a case report

Depersonalization disorder is a poorly understood and treatment-resistant condition. This report describes a patient with depersonalization disorder who underwent six sessions of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation produced a 28% reduction on depersonalization scores.     

Examining the State-Trait Anxiety Relationship: A Behavioural Genetic Approach

State and trait anxiety define different aspects of anxiety, and may represent environmentally and genetically mediated components of this phenotype. Furthermore their relationship, where trait anxiety is expressed through levels of state anxiety under threatening circumstances, may represent a process of interplay between a genetic vulnerability factor and an environmental stressor. To test these hypotheses, we explored genetic and environmental influences on measures of state and trait anxiety in a sample of 1058 twins (521 males and 537 females) aged 8–16. The results were consistent with these hypotheses. State anxiety is largely influenced by environmental factors in males and females whereas trait anxiety shows moderate genetic effects and substantial non-shared environment effects. Their association was accounted for by non-shared environmental effects, with modest genetic and shared environmental inputs. The implications of these results for vulnerability mechanisms involving stress reactivity on anxiety are discussed.     

Serial dependence in the estimation of a car's arrival time

Serial dependence of a car's arrival time. We have studied the sequential structure of data in the arrival- time estimations. Forty participants estimated the arrival-time of a vehicle under two experimental conditions: real car and video-image. Various time series regression models were fit to our data, and residuals autocorrelations were computed. For each serial-dependence model, data were fit to three functions, namely, power, logarithmic, and linear. In both experimental conditions, the response magnitude (R) on a given trial in t was a function of the stimulus intensity (S) in such a trial (t) and of the S and R on t-1 and t-2. Assimilation effect to the previous responses and contrast effect to the previous stimuli has been found.     

Hardy personality as moderator variable of burnout syndrome in firefighters

In last years, theorists and researchers have pointed to the relevance of personal factors in resilience and vulnerability on burnout. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of hardy personality as moderator of the relationship between job stressors and burnout. A total of 405 firefighters of the Community of Madrid participated in the study. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that the challenge component of hardy personality buffer the influence of job stressors on the occurrence of burnout. Results support the hypothesis that hardy personality may have moderator effects on burnout. Furthermore, commitment appeared as a mediator of the relationships between burnout and its associated symptomatology. Finally, discussion emphasized the need to focus on the interaction between personal and contextual factors in order to make advances in understanding the burnout process.     

A fiber-optic system for recording skin conductance in the MRI scanner

The acquisition of the skin conductance response (SCR) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) raises significant safety issues, as well as practical ones, which need to be addressed in order for these experiments to be conducted safely and successfully. Metallic and conductive wires in the presence of time-varying gradient magnetic fields such as those present in fMRI experiments may induce heating, as well as electric fields, in these components and, if in contact with the subject, could produce severe burns and electric shocks. Moreover, these metallic and conductive components can significantly distort the magnetic field, resulting in image artifacts. A system for recording the SCR in humans simultaneously with fMRI is presented. The device is a fiber-optic-based transducer, which records the SCR from two fingers of the same hand, using electrodes containing inline radio frequency (RF) suppression filters and protective resistive loads. The fiber-optic SCR transducer was tested using 1.5 and 3.0 Tesla MRI scanners running EPI sequences. This system was able to safely record SCRs free of RF interference during an fMRI experiment, and the fiber-optic design of the transducer eliminated any artifacts on the MRI scan.