Distorting Face Representations in Newborn Brains

What role does experience play in the development of face recognition? A growing body of evidence indicates that newborn brains need slowly changing visual experiences to develop accurate visual recognition abilities. All of the work supporting this “slowness constraint” on visual development comes from studies testing basic-level object recognition. Here, we present the results of controlled-rearing experiments that provide evidence for a slowness constraint on the development of face recognition, a prototypical subordinate-level object recognition task. We found that (1) newborn chicks can rapidly develop view-invariant face recognition and (2) the development of this ability relies on experience with slowly moving faces. When chicks were reared with quickly moving faces, they built distorted face representations that largely lacked invariance to viewpoint changes, effectively “breaking” their face recognition abilities. These results provide causal evidence that slowly changing visual experiences play a critical role in the development of face recognition, akin to basic-level object recognition. Thus, face recognition is not a hardwired property of vision but is learned rapidly as the visual system adapts to the temporal structure of the animal's visual environment.     

Effective remote staff training of objective session notes

Session notes are a required component of documenting behavior analytic sessions. The direct training of writing objective session notes is important to the success of direct line staff completing adequate documentation and meeting requirements set forth by agencies, certification boards, and insurance funders. However, in‐person training is not always immediately available due to contextual restrictions. This study evaluated the effectiveness of implementing the teaching interaction procedure when training staff remotely to objectively document client progress within session notes. Three Registered Behavior Technicians? (RBT®s) were trained via telehealth to complete session notes objectively. Results showed that all 3 participants met the mastery criterion during probes measuring the objective documentation of home‐based behavior analytic sessions. These findings suggest that a training package, such as the teaching interaction procedure, can be effectively implemented remotely when conducting staff training.     

A quantitative analysis of accuracy,reliability and bias in judgements of functional analyses

Functional analysis can be considered a diagnostic assessment that behavior analysts use to determine behavioral function. Such a diagnosis ultimately requires a yes or no decision (i.e., a variable maintains a behavior, or it does not) that is determined by both subjective (clinical judgement) and objective (data) variables. Accurate and reliable identification of function is essential for successful treatment, yet behavior analysts' interpretation of data relies on their ability to detect visual differences in graphed data. Some research indicates that behavior analysts have questionable reliability in their visual analysis. To further examine the reliability, accuracy, and bias in visual analysis of functional analysis graphs, we simulated functional analysis results and surveyed 121 BCBA-Ds experienced in visual analysis. We then examined reliability of responses and used a signal detection theory approach to analyze accuracy and bias. Findings suggest that reliability and accuracy of judgements are questionable, and exploration of decision aids is warranted.     

Maximizing Scales Do Not Reliably Predict Maximizing Behavior in Decisions from Experience

In this paper, we explore the relationships between psychometric and behavioral measures of maximization in decisions from experience (DfE). In two experiments, we measured choice behavior in two experimental paradigms of DfE and self‐reported maximizing tendencies using three prominent scales of maximization. In the repeated consequentialist choice paradigm, participants made repeated choices between two unlabeled options and received consequential feedback on each trial. In the sampling paradigm, participants freely sampled from two options and received feedback on their sampling before making a single consequential choice. Individuals exhibited different degrees of maximizing behavior in both paradigms and across different payoff distributions, but none of the maximizing scales predicted this behavior. These results indicate that maximization scales address constructs that are different from the maximization behavior observed in DfE, and that these measures will need to be improved to reflect behavioral aspects of choice and search from experience. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrating Internal Family Systems and Solutions Focused Brief Therapy to Treat Survivors of Sexual Trauma

In a recent study 56% of women and 37% of men were survivors of childhood sexual abuse. These individuals who experience sexual trauma may experience depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or substance use disorders (Devlin et al., in Fam J 27(4):359–365, 2019). While there are several treatment approaches specifically developed to target trauma and its effects, (e.g., trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) we propose that integrating internal family systems therapy (IFS) and solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) offers a brief, systemic way to improve family relationship patterns in families where one member has experienced sexual trauma. A case vignette is used to show the integration of these two approaches.

     

The elephant in the room: attention to salient scene features increases with comedic expertise

Cognitive Processing - What differentiates the joke writing strategy employed by professional comedians from non-comedians? Previous MRI work found that professional comedians relied to a greater...     

Using behavioral economics to optimize safer undergraduate late-night transportation

Many universities sponsor student-oriented transit services that could reduce alcohol-induced risks but only if services adequately anticipate and adapt to student needs. Human choice data offer an optimal foundation for planning and executing late-night transit services. In this simulated choice experiment, respondents opted to either (a) wait an escalating delay for a free university-sponsored “safe” option, (b) pay an escalating fee for an on-demand rideshare service, or (c) pick a free, immediately available “unsafe” option (e.g., ride with an alcohol-impaired driver). Behavioral-economic nonlinear models of averaged-choice data describe preference across arrangements. Best-fit metrics indicate adequate sensitivity to contextual factors (i.e., wait time, preceding late-night activity). At short delays, students preferred the free transit option. As delays extend beyond 30 min, most students preferred competing alternatives. These data depict a policy-relevant delay threshold to better safeguard undergraduate student safety.     

Depicting the Missing: Prospective and Retrospective Person Memory for Age Progressed Images

One approach that has been used to help recover missing children is forensic age progression. In forensic age progression, outdated photographs of missing children are aged to provide an estimate of the current appearance of the child. We examined the effectiveness of age progressed images in the context of both prospective person memory and retrospective person memory. Memory for outdated and age progressed images did not significantly differ. Moreover, there was some indication that age progressed images were associated with a more conservative response bias. The results failed to demonstrate an advantage for age progressed pictures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Suicide (SPI) and Violence Potential Indices (VPI) from the Personality Assessment Inventory: A Preliminary Exploration of Validity in an Outpatient Psychiatric Sample

Assessing risk of harm to self and others is an important component of psychological assessment, although methods for risk assessment vary considerably. The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is frequently administered to evaluate general psychological functioning, as well as to provide information about suicide and violence risk. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the construct validity of the PAI Suicide (SPI) and Violence Potential (VPI) indices in a sample of 158 psychiatric outpatients referred for psychological and neuropsychological assessment within a large northeastern academic medical center between 2007 and 2011. Results generally supported the convergent and divergent validity of both SPI and VPI when evaluating groups with and without a history of suicide and violence risk, and effect sizes were moderate to large even after controlling for other covariates. SPI and VPI scores were also found to vary significantly across different psychiatric groups in ways that would be expected. Finally, we explored the relationship between SPI and VPI, and executive functioning impairment??a neuropsychological variable found to be associated with impulsive self and other-harming behaviors. Consistent with prior research, SPI and VPI were found to be significantly elevated in groups demonstrating executive dysfunction. The implications of these findings and specifically the utility of using SPI and VPI in the assessment of risk are discussed.     

The longitudinal relationship between fear of positive evaluation and fear of negative evaluation

Available research suggests that fear of negative evaluation and fear of positive evaluation are related but distinct constructs that each contribute to social anxiety, implying a need to focus on these fears in treatment. Yet, this research is almost entirely based on cross-sectional data. We examined the longitudinal relationship between fears of positive and negative evaluation over three time points in a sample of undergraduate students. We tested competing models consistent with two basic positions regarding these fears: (1) that fear of positive evaluation only appears to affect social anxiety because it arises from the same, single underlying trait as fear of negative evaluation, and (2) fears of positive and negative evaluation are correlated, but clearly distinct, constructs. The best-fitting model was an autoregressive latent-trajectory model in which each type of fear had a separate trait-like component. The correlation between these trait-like components appeared to fully account for the relationships between these constructs over time. This investigation adds to the evidence in support of the second position described above: fear of positive evaluation is best interpreted as a separate construct from fear of negative evaluation.