Relation of religiosity with academic dishonesty in a sample of college students

This study was conducted to estimate the relationship between academic dishonesty and religiosity in a convenient sample of college students. Scores on the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire and the Academic Practices Survey were correlated for 70 undergraduate students. Overall, religiosity and academic dishonesty were not significantly related. However, follow-up analyses by sex indicated that this association was significant for women but not men. Research should be conducted to investigate whether this pattern is robust and indicates a differing role for religiosity as a standard for appropriate or inappropriate behavior.     

Effects of nicotine deprivation on craving response covariation in smokers

Most models of craving propose that when cravings are strong, diverse responses--thought to index an underlying craving state--covary. Previous studies provided weak support for this hypothesis. The authors tested whether nicotine deprivation affects degree of covariation across multiple measures related to craving. Heavy and light smokers (N = 127) were exposed to smoking cues while either nicotine deprived or nondeprived. Measures included urge ratings, affective valence, a behavioral choice task assessing perceived reinforcement value of smoking, and smoking-related judgment tasks. Results indicated higher correlations in the nicotine-deprived than in nondeprived group. The measures principally responsible for this effect loaded onto a single common Craving factor for nicotine-deprived but not nondeprived smokers. These findings suggest that, under certain conditions, measures of craving-related processes covary.     

Research note: American children's time use in after-school activities

90 Grade 4 children from upstate New York completed a "what I usually do" questionnaire, reporting on their after-school activities. Contrary to the concerns of some psychologists, there was no evidence that the children were being "hurried" out of childhood or "hot-housed" to develop academic or other excellence. The children's time was largely spent in enjoyable, self-chosen, and nonacademic activities, most often play or television viewing.     

Comparing the sensitivity of manual pursuit and perceptual judgments to pictorial depth effects

Abstract - We examined whether a pictorial depth illusion influences the manual pursuit of a moving dot to the same extent that it influences the dot's apparent displacement. Fourteen subjects performed two tasks. In one case, they used their unseen hand to track a dot that moved on an elliptical path. In the other, they first watched the dot move on the same path, and then set an ellipse to match the shape of the dot's path. The illusion influenced the two tasks to the same extent, suggesting that the visual information processing is the same for the two tasks.     

Changes in functional status among older adults in Japan: successful and usual aging

This research aimed to chart the trajectories of functional status in old age in Japan and to assess how self-rated health and cognitive functioning differentiate these trajectories and account for interpersonal differences. Data came from a 5-wave panel study of a national sample of 2,200 Japanese older adults between 1987 and 1999. The sample as a whole showed an accelerated increase in functional limitations with age. approximated by a quadratic function. More important, 3 major trajectories of functional change were identified: (a) minimal functional decrement, (b) early onset of functional impairment. and (c) late onset of functional impairment. These findings may serve as useful benchmarks for observations derived from other developed nations.     

Awareness is relative: dissociation as the organisation of meaning

This essay discusses how the organisation of mental material within the cognitive system can influence consciousness and awareness, and presents a theory of dissociation based on the premise that awareness is relative, contingent on the activated representation of the ongoing event being linked to the activated self-representation. It allows four possible variations of integration: (i) non-integrated experience--perceptions about an object/event are either not perceived or they remain at the sensory level: traditional dissociative states, amnesia, depersonalisation etc; (ii) variably integrated experience--activation of information of a specific valence about an object blocks activation of information of contrasting valence: splitting; (iii) alternatively integrated experience--experience is integrated into a specific, limited active self-representation: fugue and multiple identity states; (iv) dis-integrated experience-the ongoing experience of innate drives and needs is no longer consistently activated in the core self-representation: repression and isolation.     

The Espinet and the perceptual learning effects in flavour aversion conditioning: do they depend on a common inhibitory mechanism?

In three experiments rats were given short or long preexposure (4 or 10 sessions) to two compound flavours, AX and BX, according to an intermixed or a blocked schedule. Following preexposure, aversion conditioning trials were given with AX as the conditioned stimulus (CS). In Experiments 1 and 2, retardation and summation tests were then carried out to assess the inhibitory properties of B (an Espinet procedure). In Experiment 3, test trials evaluated generalization from AX to BX (the standard perceptual learning procedure). The results showed that B performed as an inhibitor of the unconditioned stimulus (US; an Espinet effect) only after long intermixed preexposure, whereas a reliable perceptual learning effect was observed both after short and after long preeexposure. The observation that B had no detectable inhibitory properties after short preexposure casts doubt on the suggestion that inhibitory learning is responsible for perceptual learning after brief exposure to AX and BX.     

Antecedents Of Trust: Establishing A Boundary Condition For The Relation Between Propensity To Trust And Intention To Trust

Two studies were conducted to examine the antecedents of intention to trust proposed by Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman [1995, Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709–734]. In their model, intention to trust is influenced by the perceived characteristics of the trustee and the predisposition of the trustor. We found that perceived ability, benevolence, and integrity of the trustee predicted an individuals intention to trust. Propensity to trust, that is, an individuals disposition to trust, correlated with intention to trust when information about trustworthiness was ambiguous, but did not correlate with intention to trust when information about trustworthiness was clear. The notion of strong and weak situations is used to argue that situational strength is a boundary condition of the relation between propensity to trust and intention to trust.     

The role of visual attention in predicting driving impairment in older adults

This study evaluated the role of visual attention (as measured by the DriverScan change detection task and the Useful Field of View Test [UFOV]) in the prediction of driving impairment in 155 adults between the ages of 63 and 87. In contrast to previous research, participants were not oversampled for visual impairment or history of automobile accidents. Although a history of automobile accidents within the past 3 years could not be predicted using any variable, driving performance in a low-fidelity simulator could be significantly predicted by performance in the change detection task and by the divided and selection attention subtests of the UFOV in structural equation models. The sensitivity and specificity of each measure in identifying at-risk drivers were also evaluated with receiver operating characteristic curves.     

Assessment of infant oral sensorimotor and swallowing function

The development of feeding and swallowing is the result of a complex interface between the developing nervous system, various physiological systems, and the environment. The purpose of this article is to review the neurobiology, development, and assessment of feeding and swallowing during early infancy. In recent years, there have been exciting advances in our understanding of the physiology and neurological control of feeding and swallowing. These advances may prove useful in furthering our understanding of the pathophysiology of dysphagia in infancy. Progress in developing standardized, reliable, and valid measures of oral sensorimotor and swallowing function in infancy has been slow. However, there have been significant advances in the instrumental analysis of feeding and swallowing disorders in infancy, including manometric analyses of sucking and swallowing, measures of respiration during feeding, videofluoroscopic swallow evaluations, ultrasonography, and flexible endoscopic examination of swallowing. Further efforts are needed to develop clinical evaluative measures of dysphagia in infancy.