When categories collide: accumulation of information about multiple categories in rapid scene perception

Experiments have shown that people can rapidly determine if categories such as "animal" or "beach" are present in scenes that are presented for only a few milliseconds. Typically, observers in these experiments report on one prespecified category. For the first time, we show that observers can rapidly extract information about multiple categories. Moreover, we demonstrate task-dependent interactions between accumulating information about different categories in a scene. This interaction can be constructive or destructive, depending on whether the presence of one category can be taken as evidence for or against the presence of the other.     

Auditory and visual memory in musicians and nonmusicians

Numerous studies have shown that musicians outperform nonmusicians on a variety of tasks. Here we provide the first evidence that musicians have superior auditory recognition memory for both musical and nonmusical stimuli, compared to nonmusicians. However, this advantage did not generalize to the visual domain. Previously, we showed that auditory recognition memory is inferior to visual recognition memory. Would this be true even for trained musicians? We compared auditory and visual memory in musicians and nonmusicians using familiar music, spoken English, and visual objects. For both groups, memory for the auditory stimuli was inferior to memory for the visual objects. Thus, although considerable musical training is associated with better musical and nonmusical auditory memory, it does not increase the ability to remember sounds to the levels found with visual stimuli. This suggests a fundamental capacity difference between auditory and visual recognition memory, with a persistent advantage for the visual domain.     

Assessing Dimensions of Parental Discipline

This study examines the advisability to distinguish dimensions of discipline, by evaluating the Dimensions of Discipline Inventory (DDI, Straus and Fauchier 2007) in a sample of Belgian undergraduate students (N = 371) who retrospectively reported on their mothers’ and fathers’ discipline behaviors aimed at correcting child misbehavior at age 10. First, confirmatory factor analyses showed that a model with nine factors fitted the data best, but also a model with four second-order factors was acceptable. Second, a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis with a Belgian and a U.S. sample (N = 633) provided additional evidence for the nine-factor structure. Correlations between DDI scales and other parenting related variables demonstrated meaningful relations. Additionally, some DDI subscales were associated with measures of current problem behavior. To conclude, the present study illustrated that it is both useful and possible to differentiate between discipline constructs.     

Surface‐ and deep‐level dissimilarity effects on social integration and individual effectiveness related outcomes in work groups: A meta‐analytic integration

Prior research linking demographic (e.g., age, ethnicity/race, gender, and tenure) and underlying psychological (e.g., personality, attitudes, and values) dissimilarity variables to individual group member's work‐related outcomes produced mixed and contradictory results. To account for these findings, this study develops a contingency framework and tests it using meta‐analytic and structural equation modelling techniques. In line with this framework, results showed different effects of surface‐level (i.e., demographic) dissimilarity and deep‐level (i.e., underlying psychological) dissimilarity on social integration, and ultimately on individual effectiveness related outcomes (i.e., turnover, task, and contextual performance). Specifically, surface‐level dissimilarity had a negative effect on social integration under low but not under high team interdependence. In return, social integration fully mediated the negative relationship between surface‐level dissimilarity and individual effectiveness related outcomes under low interdependence. In contrast, deep‐level dissimilarity had a negative effect on social integration, which was stronger under high and weaker under low team interdependence. Contrary to our predictions, social integration did not mediate the negative relationship between deep‐level dissimilarity and individual effectiveness related outcomes but suppressed positive direct effects of deep‐level dissimilarity on individual effectiveness related outcomes. Possible explanations for these counterintuitive findings are discussed.     

Therapeutic alliance in guided internet-delivered cognitive behavioural treatment of depression, generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder

Guided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) has been found to be effective in several controlled trials, but the mechanisms of change are largely unknown. Therapeutic alliance is a factor that has been studied in many psychotherapy trials, but the role of therapeutic alliance in ICBT is less well known. The present study investigated early alliance ratings in three separate samples. Participants from one sample of depressed individuals (N = 49), one sample of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (N = 35), and one sample with social anxiety disorder (N = 90) completed the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) modified for ICBT early in the treatment (weeks 3-4) when they took part in guided ICBT for their conditions. Results showed that alliance ratings were high in all three samples and that the WAI including the subscales of Task, Goal and Bond had high internal consistencies. Overall, correlations between the WAI and residualized change scores on the primary outcome measures were small and not statistically significant. We conclude that even if alliance ratings are in line with face-to-face studies, therapeutic alliance as measured by the WAI is probably less important in ICBT than in regular face-to-face psychotherapy.     

TripleR: An R package for social relations analyses based on round-robin designs

In this article, we present TripleR, an R package for the calculation of social relations analyses (Kenny, 1994) based on round-robin designs. The scope of existing software solutions is ported to R and enhanced with previously unimplemented methods of significance testing in single groups (Lashley & Bond, 1997) and handling of missing values. The package requires only minimal knowledge of R, and results can be exported for subsequent analyses to other software packages. We demonstrate the use of TripleR with several didactic examples.     

The language of landmarks: the role of background knowledge in indoor wayfinding

To effectively wayfind through unfamiliar buildings, humans infer their relative position to target locations not only by interpreting geometric layouts, especially length of line of sight, but also by using background knowledge to evaluate landmarks with respect to their probable spatial relation to a target. Questionnaire results revealed that participants have consistent background knowledge about the relative position of target locations. Landmarks were rated significantly differently with respect to their spatial relation to targets. In addition, results from a forced-choice task comparing snapshots of a virtual environment revealed that background knowledge influenced wayfinding decisions. We suggest that landmarks are interpreted semantically with respect to their function and spatial relation to the target location and thereby influence wayfinding decisions. This indicates that background knowledge plays a role in wayfinding.     

Brain Fag: A Case Study Showing the Diagnosis and Therapy in Nigeria

The co-occurrence of somatic complaints along with other forms of mental illness such as depression, anxiety and brain fag is well documented in mental health literature. In Africa, the notion that somatic complaints are a variant of depression is popular. However objective empirical efforts to prove this notion are inconclusive. The common co-occurrence of somatic complaints along with depression, anxiety and brain fag complaints in Nigeria may put clinicians in a dilemma in making diagnostic and therapeutic decisions for their clients. In this paper the authors applied the Harmony Restoration Therapy (HRT) in the management of somatic, depressive, anxiety and brain fag symptoms of a client. The HRT is a psychotherapeutic framework based on the Africa world view of health and illness where health is harmony and illness is disharmony in one’s world of relationships. The case was used to illustrate the co-morbidity of depression, anxiety, somatization and Brain Fag and tries to contribute to how Brain Fag can be treated.     

The impact of uncertainty and communal coping on mental health following natural disasters

Abstract

Feelings of uncertainty are a central feature of the disaster experience. Surprisingly, though, there is very little systematic quantitative research about the impact of uncertainty on disaster survivors. Moreover, communal coping has increasingly received attention as a potential buffer of the negative effects of stressors but that literature is also limited in its application to disasters. This investigation applies research in the domain of uncertainty, together with the Theoretical Model of Communal Coping to better understand the experience of a community exposed to three wildfires in a one year period. A random-digit dialing procedure was used to gather data from 402 individuals. Participants completed measures of mental health, uncertainty, and communal coping in the context of their experience with the most personally stressful of the three wildfires. All analyses were examined separately for those who were evacuated and those who were not. Results support the negative impact of uncertainty across both evacuated and nonevacuated sub-samples and show a strong buffering role for communal coping among those who evacuated. The implications of these findings for the understanding of wildfire survivors' experiences are noted and future directions are proposed.