Community as Outsider Witness: Utilising Community Members in the Reconstitution of Problem-Saturated Identities

This study explored community members' ability to enlist discourses affirming of psychiatric patients' quest for generative identities. The participants were members of the public who attended an exhibition of psychiatric patients' artwork (n = 7, age range 18–55). A Foucauldian discourse analysis was used to analyse the research interviews. Results revealed that the majority of community members used dominant cultural discourses to speak about psychiatric patient-artists. These discourses conferred a problem-saturated identity on to psychiatric patients. We conclude that community members can be recruited as outsider witnesses to support psychiatric patients' search for generative identities, provided community members resist discourses that produce problem-saturated identity conclusions.     

Does the level of physical exercise affect physiological and psychological responses to psychosocial stress in women?

ObjectivesTo test the Cross-Stressor Adaptation hypothesis for females by examining whether physically exercising young women show reduced physiological and psychological stress responses to a psychosocial stressor.DesignForty-seven healthy young women with different levels of physical exercise (17 not or rarely exercising, 15 moderately exercising, 15 vigorously exercising) underwent the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G); physiological and psychological stress responses during and after stress induction were compared.MethodANOVAs with repeated measures were used to compare stress reactivity and recovery between the three exercise groups. Heart rate and salivary free cortisol were used as indicators of physiological stress response, state anxiety, mood, and calmness as indicators of psychological stress response. For physiological stress reactivity, the areas under the curve with respect to the ground (AUC_G) were compared.ResultsIn all three exercise groups, experimentally induced stress led to a significant rise in heart rate, cortisol, and state anxiety; mood and calmness significantly decreased. As hypothesized, the pattern of the physiological stress response differed for the three exercise groups, with lowered reactivity in the more active groups. However, the psychological stress response partly went in the opposite direction: Exercising participants reported a higher mood decrease, suggesting a dissociation of the physiological and psychological stress responses.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that the Cross-Stressor Adaptation hypothesis is also valid for young women; however, only with regard to physiological stress response. The unexpected findings for psychological stress response need to be further explored in experimental studies.     

Can Toddlers Learn Vocabulary from Television? An Experimental Approach

This study was inspired by the rise in television targeting toddlers and preverbal infants (e.g., Teletubbies, Baby Mozart). Overall, we investigated if very young children who are in the early stages of language acquisition can learn vocabulary quickly (fast map) from television programs. Using a fast mapping paradigm, this study examined a group (n = 48) of toddlers (15–24 months) and their ability to learn novel words. Utilizing a repeated measures design, we compared children's ability to learn various novel words in 5 different conditions. These included the presentation and identification of a novel word by an adult speaker via live presentation when the toddler was attending (i.e., joint reference), an adult via live presentation when the toddler was not attending, an adult speaker on television, and an edited clip from a children's television program (Teletubbies). Overall, the toddlers were most successful in learning novel words in the joint reference condition. They were significantly less successful in the children's program condition. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between age and condition on children's performance. Both younger (15–21 months) and older (22–24 months) participants identified the target objects when they were taught the novel word by an adult speaker; however, it appeared that children under the age of 22 months did not identify the target item when they were taught the novel word via the television program.     

Visual Search for Conjunctions of Motion and Form: The Efficiency of Attention to Static versus Moving Items Depends on Practice

Visual search for some motion-form conjunctions can be performed in parallel. Yet, if the target is easy to discriminate from the nontargets (target line tilted 45 from the vertical), search can be easier for a moving than for a stationary target. Driver and McLeod (1992; Berger & McLeod, 1996) took this asymmetry to argue that gross aspects of form discrimination are performed within a motion filter thatrepresents only the moving items, whereas discrimination of stationary items (and all fine discrimination) relies on a static form system. However, recent (unsuccessful) attempts to replicate the asymmetry (Muller & Found, 1996; Muller & Maxwell, 1994) suggested that it may occur only early during task performance, due to participants having difficulty keeping the moving items out of the search for a stationary target (but not vice versa). This was confirmed by the present study, which investigated the effects of practice on search among the moving and stationary subset of items. The results suggest that attention to the stationary subsetis difficultinitially because participants cannotefficiently compensate for the natural bias of the motion filter to pass the moving items (rather than filter them out). This ability improves with practice. Thus, there is no fixed limit to performance with stationary targets and, consequently, no need to assume that any form discrimination is performed within the motion filter.     

Small subitizing range in people with Williams syndrome

Recent evidence suggests that the rapid apprehension of small numbers of objects—often called subitizing—engages a system which allows representation of up to 4 objects but is distinct from other aspects of numerical processing. We examined subitizing by studying people with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic deficit characterized by severe visuospatial impairments, and normally developing children (4–6.5 years old). In Experiment 1, participants first explicitly counted displays of 1 to 8 squares that appeared for 5 s and reported “how many”. They then reported “how many” for the same displays shown for 250 ms, a duration too brief to allow explicit counting, but sufficient for subitizing. All groups were highly accurate up to 8 objects when they explicitly counted. With the brief duration, people with WS showed almost perfect accuracy up to a limit of 3 objects, comparable to 4-year-olds but fewer than either 5- or 6.5-year-old children. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to report “how many” for displays that were presented for an unlimited duration, as rapidly as possible while remaining accurate. Individuals with WS responded as rapidly as 6.5-year-olds, and more rapidly than 4-year-olds. However, their accuracy was as in Experiment 1, comparable to 4-year-olds and lower than older children. These results are consistent with previous findings, indicating that people with WS can simultaneously represent multiple objects, but that they have a smaller capacity than older children, on par with 4-year-olds. This pattern is discussed in the context of normal and abnormal development of visuospatial skills, in particular those linked to the representation of numerosity.     

Limitations of perceptual segmentation on contextual cueing in visual search

In visual search, detection of a target in a repeated layout is faster than search within a novel arrangement, demonstrating that contextual invariances can implicitly guide attention to the target location (“contextual cueing”; Chun & Jiang, 1998). Here, we investigated how display segmentation processes influence contextual cueing. Seven experiments showed that grouping by colour and by size can considerably reduce contextual cueing. However, selectively attending to a relevant subgroup of items (that contains the target) preserved context-based learning effects. Finally, the reduction of contextual cueing by means of grouping affected both the latent learning and the recall of display layouts. In sum, all experiments show an influence of grouping on contextual cueing. This influence is larger for variations of spatial (as compared to surface) features and is consistent with the view that learning of contextual relations critically interferes with processes that segment a display into segregated groups of items.     

Identification and goal choice of managerial candidates–organizational and individual perspectives

Abstract

Goal-setting theory and organizational culture research both emphasize that correspondence of individual and organizational goals is important, especially for executives and managerial candidates. The formerly dominating perspective of a passive individual eager to adopt organizational goals has recently been contrasted by a perspective of an active individual trying to pursue his/her own personal work goals in the organization. In a longitudinal study, 904 German academic managerial candidates were surveyed in order to investigate the causes of their identification with organizational goals, their expectations of advancement and their choice of personal work goals. The influence of organizational characteristics, i.e. number of employees, sector, and organizational culture, as well as the influence of individual job orientations were examined. Results show, that on the one hand organizational culture influenced managerial candidates' identification with organizational goals and their expectations of advancement, but had hardly any impact on their personal work goals. On the other hand, job orientations of managerial candidates affect both their identification with the organization and their personal work goals beyond organizational characteristics. Implications for selection and development of managerial candidates are discussed.     

Getting the closer object? An information‐based dissociation between vision for perception and vision for movement in early infancy

In human adults two functionally and neuro‐anatomically separate systems exist for the use of visual information in perception and the use of visual information to control movements (Milner & Goodale, 1995 , 2008 ). We investigated whether this separation is already functioning in the early stages of the development of reaching. To this end, 6‐ and 7‐month‐old infants were presented with two identical objects at identical distances in front of an illusory Ponzo‐like background that made them appear to be located at different distances. In two further conditions without the illusory background, the two objects were presented at physically different distances. Preferential reaching outcomes indicated that the allocentric distance information contained in the illusory background affected the perception of object distance. Yet, infants' reaching kinematics were only affected by the objects' physical distance and not by the perceptual distance manipulation. These findings were taken as evidence for the two‐visual systems, as proposed by Milner and Goodale ( 2008 ), being functional in early infancy. We discuss the wider implications of this early dissociation.     

Mortality-Related Differences and Changes in Episodic Memory Among the Oldest Old: Evidence From a Population-Based Sample of Nonagenarians

We examined cross-sectional differences and longitudinal changes in episodic memory performance related to impending death among a group of very old people, aged 90–101 years. Participants were assessed at 3 measurement points across a 6-year interval. Three groups were identified: those who survived the entire follow-up period (n =40), those who died before the first follow-up (n =44), and those who died after the first follow-up (n =14). Participants completed a battery of episodic memory tasks consisting of face recognition, word recognition, word recall, and object recall with selective reminding. Those who survived performed better than those who were going to die in object recall at baseline. A Cox regression analysis, controlling age, revealed that object recall performance was significantly related to subsequent mortality status. Longitudinal analyses demonstrated significant 3-year decline for both face recognition and object recall, but no evidence of differential decline as a function of mortality group. Thus, longitudinal changes in memory preceding death were not as pronounced as the corresponding cross-sectional differences in this very old sample. In general, the results suggest that mortality-related memory deficits are present in extreme old age, although these deficits are relatively small and task-specific.     

Das „Good Lives Model“ (GLM)

The central idea of the good lives model (GLM) is that new criminal offences can be prevented above all by virtue of a satisfying way of life in the wake of the criminal offence. One important rehabilitation strategy is to support clients in this way of life. The aim of the article is to provide a concise overview of the criteria that define this kind of life from the point of view of the GLM, to evaluate the relationship of criminal behavior with regard to these criteria and to point out ways how the rehabilitation model can be fruitfully applied in practical and therapeutic terms. The article closes with a critical evaluation of the rehabilitation model.