When writing helps to heal: E-mail as therapy

A new form of therapy termed therap-e-mail, developed by the authors for use in their Internet-based counselling service Therapy Online, is explained. Two major challenges that have been brought up by other professionals concerning on-line therapy are addressed, and solutions to these challenges are proposed. Five significant advantages of therap-e-mail are discussed The need for research, and the implications for guidance and counselling, are addressed     

Correlational analysis of speakers' heights, weights, and temporal speech features.

Correlation coefficients on height, weight, and temporal features were computed separately for 15 female and 15 male speakers. With only one exception, speakers' heights and weights were not significantly correlated with their temporal characteristics. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Event-related potentials in a two-interval forced-choice detection task

In an attempt to elucidate the nature of the subject’s strategy in a two-interval forcedchoice auditory detection task, event-related potentials were studied at two intensities which yielded mean accuracies of 82% and 98%. Subjects reported the observation interval in which they judged the signal to be present and the confidence of the judgment. Principal components varimax analyses yielded four components: a CZ maximal P300, a Slow Wave, a slow negative shift, and a late negative component. The P300 amplitude findings suggest that different strategies are utilized for high-confidence and low-confidence detections. At high confidence, P300 amplitude is large for the observation interval in which the signal is presented, indicating a strategy involving serial independent detection. However, the P300 latency findings at high confidence suggest that absence of the signal in the first observation interval is nonetheless noted: P300 latency in response to signal presence is shorter for the second observation interval than for the first observation interval. At low confidence, P300 is small or absent for both observation intervals, indicating a deferred decision, presumably arrived at through comparison of the two percepts.     

Operant conditioning permits voluntary,noninvasive measurement of blood pressure in conscious,unrestrained baboons (Papio cynocephalus)

This report describes a computerized apparatus and procedure for completely automated noninvasive measurement of systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressure in conscious, unrestrained nonhuman primates. We used a specially constructed, cage-mounted oscillometric blood pressure instrument and operant reward conditioning methods to train adult baboons(Papio cynocephalus) to submit voluntarily to frequent self-initiated determinations of their blood pressures in the absence of a human operator/observer. Details concerning the operant training procedure and illustrative blood pressure data are presented. The accuracy of the method was evaluated by comparing the noninvasive blood pressure readings with simultaneously taken direct measurements obtained by means of chronically indwelling arterial catheters.     

The locus of the experimental effects in the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task

A central assumption of studies using the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) technique is that it taps purely perceptual processes. In an experiment testing this assumption, subjects were presented with seven-word sentences that were either completely intact or had their final three words replaced by three extraneous words. The subjects were significantly less accurate in reporting the first four unchanged words of the sentences in the latter condition. Contrary to assumption, this result indicates that postperceptual factors are critical in the task. It is therefore argued that theoretical conclusions based on the technique should be treated cautiously until the locus of each effect has been established.     

Visual temporal integration and simple reaction time

Intensity-time reciprocity for simple RT to foveal pulses of light was demonstrated up to 11 msec by using two experimental paradigms. The first paradigm was designed to separate two possibly confounded factors displayed by previous studies investigating the effects of increased stimulus duration on RT: (1) an asymptotic RT as a function of the increasing energy of a pulse as its duration is increased, and (2) the breakdown of integration as the pulse duration is increased. The second paradigm was designed to avoid the first factor so as to maximize the possibility of finding partial integration at long durations. In this paradigm, partial integration was demonstrated for additional light input presented as long as 64 msec after stimulus onset. The failure of other studies to demonstrate temporal integration for RT is discussed in terms of these paradigms.     

A Daily Check-In/Check-Out Intervention for Students with Internalizing Concerns

Journal of Behavioral Education - This study investigated the impact of a self-management intervention, known as “Check-in/Check-out” (CICO) on academic engaged time and internalizing...