Digit Ratio 2D:4D,facial masculinization and aggressiveness in Spanish adolescents / Índice 2D:4D,masculinización facial y agresividad en adolescentes españoles

Abstract

This study aims to test whether two morphometric characteristics, the second to fourth finger length ratio (2D:4D index) and the facial width-to-height ratio (FWH index), which reflects the degree of facial masculinization, are related to aggression in adolescents of both sexes. Previous studies have proposed that the 2D:4D index (a trait related to prenatal testosterone) and the FWH (related to testosterone during puberty) are related to aggressiveness in adult males (although there is evidence to the contrary). In the present study we investigate the relationship of both traits with different measures of aggression in a mixed population of 296 adolescents (14–19 years old). We did not find relationships between 2D:4D and FWH with aggressiveness. Furthermore, our results suggest that the FWH index must be used only after controlling for body mass index.     

Dynamic balance between grain refinement and grain growth during high-pressure torsion of Cu powders

High-pressure torsion (HPT) was applied to unmilled coarse-grained (CG) Cu powders with low initial dislocation density and cryomilled nanocrystalline (nc) Cu powders with high initial dislocation density, with identical processing parameters. HPT of unmilled CG Cu powders resulted in exceptional grain refinement and increase in dislocation density, whereas significant grain growth and decrease in dislocation density occurred during HPT of cryomilled nc Cu powders. Equilibrium structures were achieved under both conditions, with very similar stable grain sizes and dislocation densities, suggesting dynamic balances between deformation-induced grain refinement and grain growth, and between deformation-induced dislocation accumulation and dislocation annihilation. The equilibrium structures are governed by these two dynamic balances.     

Mourning and psychosis: a psychoanalytic perspective

The author attempts to develop some of the basic models and concepts relating to mourning processes in psychotic patients on the assumption that situations of loss and mourning are key moments for psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and therapeutic approaches in general. Secondly, he reminds us that 'mourning processes in psychotics' are not always 'psychotic mourning processes', that is to say, that they do not necessarily occur within, or give rise to, a psychotic clinical picture. These ideas are illustrated by a number of sessions and vignettes concerning two psychotic patients in psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic treatment. In theoretical terms, it seems vitally important in this context to combine a relationship-based approach within a framework of special psychoanalytic psychopathology with an updated view of processes of mourning and affective loss. A fundamental requirement at clinical level is to determine the role to be played by psychoanalytically based treatments in combined, integrated or global therapies when working with psychotic patients. For this purpose, the paper ends by outlining a set of principles and objectives for such treatments.     

Emotion and recognition memory: the discrimination of negative information as an adaptive process

We studied the effect of emotion generated by IAPS (International Affective Picture System) pictures on incidental recognition of these pictures for short retention periods (15 min). Memorization distraction tasks and reaction time tasks were used together with short exposure times (2 seconds per picture) in order to prevent a high recognition rate that would impede testing for the effect of emotion on discrimination parameters (A′) and response bias (B′′D) (ceiling effect). We used 80 pictures representing the medium and high levels of two-dimensional emotional space. The results showed greater discrimination and a more conservative response style to unpleasant and medium arousal level pictures. These pictures produced higher confidence and lower response times in the recognition phase. The results can be explained by the negative content of the pictures and activation level effects on attentional processing and memory, and can be interpreted as a phenomenon that is evolutionarily adaptive.     

Assessment of the global intelligence and selective cognitive capacities in preterm 8-year-old children

The aim of this study was to assess various cognitive abilities such as attention, IQ, reasoning, and memory related to academic achievement in 8- and 9-year-old preterm children. A total of 141 children were assessed. The preterm group (=37 weeks) comprised 63 children and was compared to 78 full-term children. Attention was evaluated using the d2 Selective Attention test, and the IQ by the L-M form of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, establishing a profile of abilities: perception, memory, comprehension, reasoning, and verbal fluency. Significant differences in IQ were found between the preterm and full-term children. Of the cognitive abilities assessed, the only significant differences were found in verbal fluency, with preterm boys showing lower verbal fluency scores than full-term children. In conclusion, all preterm groups have attention ability similar to that of full-term children. However, preterm children obtain lower scores in intelligence measures. In addition, preterm boys have verbal fluency difficulties. Taking into account the increase in preterm births, suitable intervention programs must be planned to attend the difficulties found.     

Efficacy of a group memory training method for older adults based on visualization and association techniques: A randomized,controlled trial with a placebo group

The aim of this trial has been to determine the efficacy of a group memory training method. The experimental group was compared to a placebo group (health education) or to a control group (waiting list). Forty‐five adults between the ages of 60 and 70 years (M = 66.9) were recruited by placing notices in senior citizen community centres, which encouraged people with memory problems to participate in the study. Data were collected at baseline, 1 week, and 6 months after the intervention. The efficacy of the training was evaluated by measures of objective and subjective everyday memory performance. After intervention, the experimental group participants showed an increase in objective memory performance (d = 1.95). The effect size was even higher at 6 months after intervention (d = 2.88). Further, their subjective experience related to everyday memory slips decreased (d = ?0.52). The memory training method was effective in improving everyday memory in older people with some cognitive decline. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of perceptual grouping on positive and negative priming

The effects of perceptual grouping/segregation of targets and distractors by means of colour on positive and negative priming were examined in two experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2 we examined whether grouping of target and distractors by means of common colour in the prime display affected positive and negative priming, or whether these effects depend on prime–probe contextual similarity in colour. In addition, we examined the effects of the predictability of target colour in the prime and the probe displays across the experiments using mixed (Experiment 1) or blocked procedures (Experiment 2). The pattern of results was similar in both experiments, indicating that the positive priming effect was determined by target repetition and enhanced by perceptual segregation of target from distractors in the prime display. The negative priming effect was determined by grouping the target and distractors by common colour in the prime display. The results of the present experiments are consistent with inhibition-based models of negative priming.     

Effects of perceived mutual gaze and gender on face processing and recognition memory

Perceived gaze contact in seen faces may convey important social signals. We examined whether gaze perception affects face processing during two tasks: Online gender judgement, and later incidental recognition memory. Individual faces were presented with eyes directed either straight towards the viewer or away, while these faces were seen in either frontal or three-quarters view. Participants were slower to make gender judgements for faces with direct versus averted eye gaze, but this effect was particularly pronounced for faces with opposite gender to the observer, and seen in three-quarters view. During subsequent surprise recognition-memory testing, recognition was better for faces previously seen with direct than averted gaze, again especially for the opposite gender to the observer. The effect of direct gaze was stronger in both tasks when the head was seen in three-quarters rather than in frontal view, consistent with the greater salience of perceived eye contact for deviated faces. However, in the memory test, face recognition was also relatively enhanced for faces of opposite gender in front views when their gaze was averted rather than direct. Together, these results indicate that perceived eye contact can interact with facial processing during gender judgements and recognition memory, even when gaze direction is task-irrelevant, and particularly for faces of opposite gender to the observer (an influence which controls for stimulus factors when considering observers of both genders). These findings appear consistent with recent neuroimaging evidence that social facial cues can modulate visual processing in cortical regions involved in face processing and memory, presumably via interconnections with brain systems specialized for gaze perception and social monitoring.     

The International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS): Spanish norms

The International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS): Spanish Norms. The Spanish norms for the International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS) are reported. The IADS is a standardized set of 110 digitalized sounds which are both reliable and valid for the experimental study of emotional processes. The construction of the IADS is based on Peter J. Lang's dimensional model of emotions. Participants were 1.716 university students (1.136 women) who assessed the sounds using the three scales of the Self-Assessment Manikin: affective valence, arousal, and dominance. The results show a distribution of the sounds, within the bidimensional plot defined by valence and arousal, similar to the North-American student population with a typical boomerang shape. No significant differences were found when comparing men and women nor when comparing the Spanish and North-American samples in the total set of sounds. The results are discussed in relation to the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). The norms for each of the 110 sounds are presented in an annexed table.