Cross-modality matching functions generated by magnitude estimation

It is possible to generate cross-modality matching functions by having subjects make magnitude estimates of sets of stimuli appropriate to different modalities. The sets are interspersed among each other in the same test session and judged on a common absolute scale of sensory magnitude. An appropriate statistical device locates stimulus levels that appear, on the average, to match. The method is fast, efficient, circumvents the need for continuous stimulus adjustment, and holds promise for the study of the individual as well as the average psychophysical function. To illustrate its potential uses, advantages, and limitations, we used the method to generate cross-modality matching functions relating loudness and brightness. Compared to the scales of loudness and brightness generated by the magnitude estimations of the same stimuli, the matching functions (1) conform better to power functions, (2) may show less variation in slope (exponent), and (3) show far less variation in absolute magnitude (position).     

A comparison of trichotillomania and obsessive-compulsive disorder

The validity of conceptualizing trichotillomania (TCM) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as separate and distinct diagnoses was examined in a study of 20 patients with each disorder. A comparison of demographic, psychometric, and clinical features between the two groups revealed a number of statistically significant differences. Patients meeting the criteria for OCD scored higher on measures of psychiatric symptomatology including ratings of obsessions and compulsions, depression, interpersonal sensitivity, general anxiety, phobic anxiety, and psychoticism. Patients meeting the criteria for TCM reported an earlier age at onset than those with OCD. Stressors associated with onset were also significantly different between groups. These results support the validity of conceptualizing TCM and OCD as differing behavioral disorders.Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (March 1992) in Dallas, TX, and at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (May 1992) in Washington, DC.     

Establishing and maintaining a low-cost zebrafish breeding and behavioral research facility

The purpose of this paper is to describe how to establish and maintain a low-cost zebrafish facility that can be used for both teaching and research purposes. The cost of the facility ranges from about 250 to250 to 1,000, depending on the size of the facility and the experiments that will be conducted. The facility plan presented here also has the advantage that it can be disassembled so that it need not function year-round. A detailed list of supplies and materials is provided, along with detailed instructions on how to set up and maintain the adult and breeding portions of the facility. Finally, there is discussion of some of the general uses of a zebrafish facility, including a variety of procedures that are currently being used in behavioral research with this species.     

Propositions,Numbers, And The Problem Of Arbitrary Identification

Those inclined to believe in the existence of propositions as traditionally conceived might seek to reduce them to some other type of entity. However, parsimonious propositionalists of this type are confronted with a choice of competing candidates – for example, sets of possible worlds, and various neo-Russellian and neo-Fregean constructions. It is argued that this choice is an arbitrary one, and that it closely resembles the type of problematic choice that, as Benacerraf pointed out, bedevils the attempt to reduce numbers to sets – should the number 2 be identified with the set Ø or with the set Ø, Ø? An “argument from arbitrary identification” is formulated with the conclusion that propositions (and perhaps numbers) cannot be reduced away. Various responses to this argument are considered, but ultimately rejected. The paper concludes that the argument is sound: propositions, at least, are sui generis entities.

     

Perception of the Mccolloch Effect Correlates with Activity in Extrastriate Cortex: A Functional MagneticResonance Imaging Study

The McCollough effect is a striking color aftereffect that is linked to the orientation of the patterns used to induce it. To produce the McCollough effect, two differently oriented grating patterns, such as a red-and-black vertical grating and a green-and-black horizontal grating, are viewed alternately for a few minutes. After such colored gratings are viewed, the white sections of avertical black-and-white test grating appear to be tinged with green, and the white sections of a horizontal grating appear to be tinged with pink. We present evidence from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study that the perception of the McCollough effect correlates with increased activation in the lingual and fusiform gyriùextrastriate visual areas that have been implicated in color perception in humans.     

On the Tenability of Non-Factualism with Regard to the A Priori

In a number of recent articles, Hartry Field has attempted to reclaim the a priori for his own brand of non-factualist epistemology by introducing a non-epistemic notion of the a priori based purely upon the position of individual beliefs within belief systems. In this article we examine (i) whether a robust enough notion of aprioricity is available to Field, and, by extension, to the radical empiricist and (ii) whether it is possible to connect up the non-epistemic notion of aprioricity with questions about the epistemic status of those beliefs that happen to be a priori in the non-epistemic sense.     

Cotherapy in psychodynamic group psychotherapy: An approach to training

Cotherapy in a training relationship with a senior therapist/supervisor and a trainee/junior leader is presented. A structured training year with planned sessions for the junior leader to lead the group alone, as well as intensive supervision, is described. The training relationship is seen as evolving into an egalitarian, collegial working relationship. An incidental benefit of this cotherapy approach is that additional opportunities are provided for group members to work through attitudes, feelings, and behaviors associated with attachment, interpersonal relationship (autonomy and affiliation), separation, and loss. Potential drawbacks and applications are also noted.The authors express their appreciation to the many group members and cotherapists whose experiences provided the stimulation and clinical material for the present formulation.     

Precipitating Circumstances of Suicide among Active Duty U.S. Army Personnel Versus U.S. Civilians, 2005–2010

To help understand suicide among soldiers, we compared suicide events between active duty U.S. Army versus civilian decedents to identify differences and inform military prevention efforts. We linked 141 Army suicide records from 2005 to 2010 to National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) data. We described the decedents’ military background and compared their precipitators of death captured in NVDRS to those of demographically matched civilian suicide decedents. Both groups commonly had mental health and intimate partner precipitating circumstances, but soldier decedents less commonly disclosed suicide intent.