Examining Cognitive Functioning Following TASER Exposure: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Individuals who experience electrical injury suffer significant, sometimes long‐term deficits in neuropsychological functioning. The TASER, an electrical device used by thousands of police departments, generates a high‐voltage (up to 50 000 V), low‐amperage (2.1 mA) current of electricity that is designed to disable a resistive criminal suspect. Questions have emerged regarding the potential for TASER exposure to cause impairment in cognitive functioning. In the current study, healthy human volunteers were randomly assigned to four groups, two of which received a TASER exposure. Participants completed a battery of cognitive tests before and after receiving their assigned treatment. Participants who received a TASER exposure experienced statistically meaningful declines in measures of verbal learning and memory, although deficits lasted less than 1 hour. After TASER exposure, participants also self‐reported significant difficulties with concentration, anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed. Other dimensions of cognitive functioning were not affected. Our findings show that the effects of TASER exposure on brain functioning are not well understood. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Religious belief,age, and sexual orientation on attributions of younger and older gay and heterosexual men

Using 4 vignettes and 20 response items, this exploratory study investigated attributions about older or younger gay or heterosexual men with a history of multiple sex partners, substance abuse, and legal problems. The character is diagnosed with a terminal illness and two options for care: no treatment or an aggressive treatment protocol with a small chance of recovery. When controlling for respondents’ (N?=?324) religious identification, frequency of attendance at religious services, and ethno-cultural identification, a General Linear Model was significant (F?=?57.014, df?=?20, p?<?.001). Differences in the vignette responses centred on perceptions of quality of life, the character's lifestyle, and suicide.     

Social Representations of Memory and Gender in Later Medieval England

Social representations in later medieval culture have attracted little attention amongst psychologists, pre-dating the development of the so-called ??public sphere?? in the eighteenth century. In addition, the association of pre-modern societies with ??traditional?? modes of communication in social psychology places implicit limits on areas that may be studied through the lens of social representation theory. This article analyses the way in which knowledge circulated in late medieval society, noting initially the plural nature of representations of events and marginal groups, and the myriad channels through which beliefs were consolidated. In later medieval England perceptions of the past depended on collective and group memory, with customary rights and local histories forged through ??common knowledge??, hearsay and the opinions of ??trustworthy men?? of the village. The final section of this commentary provides an analysis of testimony from the late medieval church courts, in which witnesses articulated gender ideologies that reflected perceptions drawn from everyday life. Social representations of women were thus deployed in ecclesiastical suits, on the one hand supporting evidence of female witnesses and on the other justifying misogynistic stereotypes of women??s behaviour.     

Biased interpretation in perfectionistic concerns: an experimental investigation

Background and objectives: Perfectionism is associated with the development and maintenance of several disorders. Given the importance of perfectionism understanding the biased information processes that underpin it is critical. The present study tested the hypothesis that heightened concern over mistakes subscale scores of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale are characterized by a tendency to impose emotionally negative interpretations on perfectionism-relevant situations.

Method and design: Seventy-six non-clinical, general population participants’ were presented with interpretations of scenarios where a protagonist was described as achieving well above what was required, but fell short of their own high standard. Using a within-subjects, quasi-experimental design, we assessed interpretations of these scenarios by examining the degree to which participants rated test sentences as being likely implications of the original scenarios.

Results: A generalized linear mixed model revealed higher concern over mistakes scores were associated with an increased tendency to rate negative target test sentences as being similar to the original perfectionism-relevant scenarios, and a reduced tendency to rate positive target test sentences as being similar to these original scenarios.

Conclusions: The findings provide support for the cognitive–behavioral model of perfectionism. These findings support the inclusion of strategies in cognitive–behavioral treatment of perfectionism to reduce interpretation bias.     

Web-based strategies to disseminate a sun safety curriculum to public elementary schools and state-licensed child-care facilities.

The Sunny Days, Healthy Ways curriculum, which has been effective in previous trials, was disseminated to public elementary schools (n=2,030) and state-licensed child-care facilities (n=3,755) in 4 states. Two Web sites were created, varying in the amount and type of information. Mailings referred principals and directors to the sites. Overall 117 unique users made 172 visits to the sites. More repeat visits were made to the enhanced than to the basic site (p=.04). In a survey, 20.0% of principals and directors recalled receiving the mailings and 80.9% of these read them. Web-based strategies were weak, but the low response rate may be typical for such marketing. They will require supplementation by more personal approaches.