Postural Sway and the Amplitude of Horizontal Eye Movements

In 2 experiments, we evaluated relations between postural activity and the amplitude of visually guided eye movements. Participants shifted their gaze to follow horizontal oscillation of a visible target. The target moved with amplitude 9° or 24°. In different experiments, the frequency of target oscillation was 0.5 Hz or 1.1 Hz. In both experiments, the variability of head and torso motion was reduced (in the anterior-posterior axis) when participants viewed moving targets, relative to sway during viewing of stationary targets. Sway variability was not influenced by the amplitude of target motion. The results are compatible with the hypothesis that postural activity was modulated relative to the demands of suprapostural visual tasks.     

Problems of dependence and development: Discussion

Abstract

Anna Freud: Normality and Pathology in Childhood. Assessments of Development. International Universities Press, Inc., New York, 1965. Pp. XII and 273.

M. L. Kellmer Pringle: Deprivation and Education. Longmans Green &; Co. Ltd., London, 1965. Pp. vi and 311. 42s. 6d.     

Executive Functioning and Gambling: Performance on the Trail Making Test is Associated with Gambling Problems in Older Adult Gamblers

ABSTRACT

Rates of gambling problems in older adults have risen with increased accessibility of gambling venues. One possible contributor to problem gambling among older adults is decreased self-control brought about by diminished executive functioning. Consistent with this possibility, Study 1 revealed that older adults recruited from gambling venues reported greater gambling problems if they also experienced deficits in executive functioning, measured via the Trail Making Test. Study 2 replicated this finding and demonstrated that problem gambling is associated with increased depression among older adults, mediated by increased financial distress. These studies provide support for the hypothesis that older adult gamblers who have executive functioning problems are also likely to have gambling problems.     

Advantages of Rhythmic Movements at Resonance: Minimal Active Degrees of Freedom,Minimal Noise,and Maximal Predictability

Using time delay embedding, the authors applied phase space reconstruction to the time series of rhythmic movements of a hand-held pendulum. Subjects (N = 6) produced the manual oscillations about the wrist at the pendulum's resonant frequency and at a higher and a lower frequency. The number of active degrees of freedom required to capture the dynamics of the rhythmic behavior was 3 for the resonant frequency and 4 for each of the nonresonant frequencies. The residual high-dimensional noise was similarly lowest for the resonant frequency. Whereas 33% and 20%, respectively, of the vectors in the phase spaces of the dynamics higher and lower than resonance were unpredictable, only 12% were unpredictable at resonance. Finally, the predictability of the evolving dynamics extended farther into the future for oscillations at the resonant frequency. At resonance, the prediction horizon was 5 times farther than the prediction horizon for the higher than resonance behavior and 2.5 times farther than that for the lower than resonance behavior. The results suggest that, in pendular oscillations of a limb or limb segment, attunement of the central nervous system to the resonant frequency minimizes the variables to be controlled and maximizes the predictability of the rhythmic movement's chaotic dynamics.     

Prime time news: The influence of primed positive and negative emotion on susceptibility to false memories

We examined the relation between emotion and susceptibility to misinformation using a novel paradigm, the ambiguous stimuli affective priming (ASAP) paradigm. Participants (N = 88) viewed ambiguous neutral images primed either at encoding or retrieval to be interpreted as either highly positive or negative (or neutral/not primed). After viewing the images, they either were asked misleading or non-leading questions. Following a delay, memory accuracy for the original images was assessed. Results indicated that any emotional priming at encoding led to a higher susceptibility to misinformation relative to priming at recall. In particular, inducing a negative interpretation of the image at encoding led to an increased susceptibility of false memories for major misinformation (an entire object not actually present in the scene). In contrast, this pattern was reversed when priming was used at recall; a negative reinterpretation of the image decreased memory distortion relative to unprimed images. These findings suggest that, with precise experimental control, the experience of emotion at event encoding, in particular, is implicated in false memory susceptibility.     

Teacher acquisition of functional analysis methodology

The current study examined methods for training teachers to use functional analysis methods. Teachers first received written and verbal instructions detailing attention and demand conditions. They then received training that included modeling, rehearsal, and performance feedback. Finally, probes were taken during ongoing class instruction. Results indicate that teachers acquired the skills and used them in classroom settings.     

Person perception across the menstrual cycle: hormonal influences on social-cognitive functioning

Women's reactions to men shift during the menstrual cycle. For example, during the phase of high conception risk, women prefer men with masculinized facial features. A favored explanation for this effect is that women display an enhanced sensitivity to stimuli that have significant reproductive relevance during the phase of the menstrual cycle in which conception risk is high. Consistent with this viewpoint, the present research demonstrated that women's cycle–dependent attentiveness to "maleness" also extends to basic aspects of the person–perception process. Specifically, during the phase of high conception risk, women displayed an enhanced ability both to categorize men and to access associated category–related (i.e., stereotypic) material from semantic memory. The implications of these findings for contemporary treatments of person perception are considered.     

REM restriction persistently alters strategy used to solve a spatial task

We tested the hypothesis that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is important for complex associative learning by restricting rats from entering REM sleep for 4 h either immediately after training on an eight-box spatial task (0-4 REMr) or 4 h following training (4-8 REMr). Both groups of REM-restricted rats eventually reached the same overall performance level as did nonrestricted controls, but 0-4 REMr animals were delayed in their improvement in the first few days and lagged behind controls in the middle portion of the training period. More importantly, performance gains of 0-4 REMr rats depended more on simple local cues throughout the 15-d study since, unlike control and 4-8 REMr animals, their error rate increased after daily disruption of the relationship between local (intramaze) cues and the food reward. Thus, although overall performance was only subtly and transiently impaired, due to the ability to use alternate, nonspatial behavioral strategies, complex associative (spatial) learning was persistently impaired by restricting REM for a short critical period each day.     

Developmental cascades: linking academic achievement and externalizing and internalizing symptoms over 20 years

A developmental cascade model linking competence and symptoms was tested in a study of a normative, urban school sample of 205 children (initially 8 to 12 years old). Internalizing and externalizing symptoms and academic competence were assessed by multiple methods at the study outset and after 7, 10, and 20 years. A series of nested cascade models was tested through structural equation modeling. The final model indicated 2 hypothesized cascade effects: Externalizing problems evident in childhood appeared to undermine academic competence by adolescence, which subsequently showed a negative effect on internalizing problems in young adulthood. A significant exploratory effect was consistent with internalizing symptoms containing or lowering the net risk for externalizing problems under some conditions. These 3 cascade effects did not differ by gender and were not attributable to effects of IQ, parenting quality, or socioeconomic differences. Implications are discussed for developmental models of cascades, progressions, and preventive interventions.