Validity of the MMPI-2 and Beck Depression Inventory for making decisions of organ allocation in renal transplantation

Psychosocial factors are presented which affect clinical decision-making regarding the allocation of renal organs. Patients were rated as being either High Risk or Low Risk transplant candidates. High Risk candidates were scored as being significantly different from the Low Risk candidates on many psychosocial variables. Interestingly, significant differences were not found between these two groups on either the MMPI-2 or the Beck Depression Inventory. The validity of using information from these inventories to allocate organs is discussed.     

Long-term memory,forgetting, and deferred imitation in 12-month-old infants

Long-term recall memory, as indexed by deferred imitation, was assessed in 12-month-old infants. Independent groups of infants were tested after retention intervals of 3 min, 1 week and 4 weeks. Deferred imitation was assessed using the ‘observation-only’ procedure in which infants were not allowed motor practice on the tasks before the delay was imposed. Thus, the memory could not have been based on re-accessing a motor habit, because none was formed in the first place. After the delay, memory was assessed either in the same or a different environmental context from the one in which the adult had originally demonstrated the acts. In Experiments 1 and 3, infants observed the target acts while in an unusual environment (an orange and white polka-dot tent), and recall memory was tested in an ordinary room. In Experiment 2, infants observed the target acts in their homes and were tested for memory in a university room. The results showed recall memory after all retention intervals, including the 4 week delay, with no effect of context change. Interestingly, the forgetting function showed that the bulk of the forgetting occurred during the first week. The findings of recall memory without motor practice support the view that infants as young as 12 months old use a declarative (nonprocedural) memory system to span delay intervals as long as 4 weeks.     

Inhibition of return to color: A replication and nonextension of Law, Pratt, and Abrams (1995)

We presented subjects with an unpredictive cue that was followed after a 150- to 900-msec interstimulus interval (ISI) by a detection target. Cue and target were blue or red squares that appeared at fixation and in an otherwise uniform black field. In a filler condition, a task-irrelevant filler stimulus (magenta square) was presented during the ISI; in a no-filler condition, no stimulus appeared during the ISI. Using only a 900-msec ISI, Law, Pratt, and Abrams (1995) reported slower reaction times (RTs) when cue and target were the same color, but only when the task-irrelevant filler was presented during the ISI. They argued that attention is first drawn to the cue color and that inhibition of return (IOR; see Posner & Cohen, 1984) is established when attention is drawn away from that cue color representation by the task-irrelevant filler. Critical to their view is the assumption that IOR occurs only after attention is drawn away from the cue color by the filler. Assuming a time course for the withdrawal of attention from the cue color representation, Law et al. ’s view predicts growth of the inhibitory effect as a function of ISI in the filler condition as well as facilitation at early ISIs in the no-filler condition (because there is no filler to withdraw attention from the cue color). Contrary to these predictions, we found that the inhibitory effect observed by Law et al. at the 900-msec ISI was present at—and did not vary in magnitude across—the range of ISIs tested. And there was never facilitation in the no-filler condition. These results challenge Law et al. ’s inference that IOR for foveally presented colors was operating in their paradigm.     

Antecedents of Goal Commitment: An Empirical Examination of Personal and Situational Factors1

The purpose of this study was to provide a partial test of the Hollenbeck and Klein (1987) model of goal commitment. Four variables from that model (reward structure, social influence, type-A behavior, and self-esteem) were examined as to their relationships with the expectancy and attractiveness of goal attainment and goal commitment. The results, based on 88 college students performing an anagram task, were generally supportive. Significant person by situation interactions were also observed.     

Self-consciousness,evaluation of physical characteristics,and physical attractiveness

Results from an investigation of the relationship between habitual awareness of oneself as a social object (Public self-consciousness) and speed of processing information about the overt self are reported. Since high public self-consciousness subjects report themselves to be concerned about their physical appearance, they were expected to have more readily retrievable evaluative judgments concerning their physical characteristics. Consistent with this prediction, high compared to low public consciousness subjects required significantly less time to report their evaluations of eleven of their physical features. In a second study, high public self-consciousness was shown to be positively related to judged physical attractiveness in two geographically diverse samples. The quicker evaluations of the high public self-consciousness group were discussed in terms of information processing model recently described by Markus (1977).     

What are human express saccades?

When a fixation point is removed 200 msec prior to target onset (the gap condition), human subjects are said to produce eye movements that have a short latency (80–120 msec), that form the early peak of a bimodal latency distribution, and that have been labeled “human express saccades” (see, e.g., Fischer, 1987; Fischer & Breitmeyer, 1987; Fischer & Ramsperger, 1984, 1986). In three experiments, we sought to obtain this express saccade diagnostic pattern in the gap condition, We orthogonally combined target location predictability with the presence versus absence of catch trials (Experiment 1). When target location was fixed and catch trials were not used, we found mostly anticipations. In the remaining conditions, where responses were under stimulus control, bimodality was not frequently observed, and, whether it was or not, latencies were not in the express saccade range. Using random target locations, we then varied stimulus luminance and the mode of stimulus presentation (LEDs vs. oscilloscope) in the gap and overlap (fixation is not removed) conditions (Experiment2). Bimodality was rarely observed, the gap effect (overlap minus gap reaction time) was additive with luminance, and only the brightest targets elicited saccades in the express range. When fixed locations and no catch trials were combined with latency feedback (Experiment 3), we observed many responses in the express saccade range and some evidence for bimodality, but the sudden introduction of catch trials revealed that many early responses were not under stimulus control. Humanscan make stimulus-controlled saccades that are initiated very rapidly (80–120 msec), but unless catch trials or choice reaction time is used, it is not possible to distinguish such saccades from anticipatory responses that are prepared in advance and timed to occur shortly after target onset. Because the express saccade diagnostic pattern is not a characteristic feature of human saccadic performance, we urge investigators to focus their attention on the robustgap effect     

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy in the Treatment of Fear of Flying

A new and innovative approach to treating fear of flying has been developed using Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy. This article discusses the development of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy and reviews a case study of a fear of flying patient seen in our practice. Early results are very promising and may indicate that Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy may also lead to creative interventions with other anxiety disorders.     

From Oughts to Goals: A Logic for Enkrasia

This paper focuses on (an interpretation of) the Enkratic principle of rationality, according to which rationality requires that if an agent sincerely and with conviction believes she ought to X, then X-ing is a goal in her plan. We analyze the logical structure of Enkrasia and its implications for deontic logic. To do so, we elaborate on the distinction between basic and derived oughts, and provide a multi-modal neighborhood logic with three characteristic operators: a non-normal operator for basic oughts, a non-normal operator for goals in plans, and a normal operator for derived oughts. We prove two completeness theorems for the resulting logic, and provide a dynamic extension of the logic by means of product updates. We illustrate how this setting informs deontic logic by considering issues related to the filtering of inconsistent oughts, the restricted validity of deontic closure, and the stability of oughts and goals under dynamics.

     

Citizen Neuroscience: Brain–Computer Interface Researcher Perspectives on Do-It-Yourself Brain Research

Science and Engineering Ethics - Devices that record from and stimulate the brain are currently available for consumer use. The increasing sophistication and resolution of these devices provide...     

Social Representations of Human Rights Amongst Czech University Students

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a general legislative framework for democratic societies. Studying the social representations of these basic human rights helps to explain how people understand and assess the basic rights and how these rights relate to everyday life. Over 400 Czech university students rated the 30 articles of the Declaration of Human Rights on various scales (degree of understanding, personal relevance, consequences for individual responsibility, for government, political parties, etc.). A semantic space was identified in which concepts (i.e. the Articles of the Declaration) could be located. A typology (clusters) of articles was then established within that semantic space. A factor analysis of the scales resulted in a two-dimensional solution (‘positive attitude’ and ‘personal influence’). Five clusters of assessed articles were identified within this semantic space. (© 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)