Two-year-olds' search strategies and visual tracking in a hidden displacement task

Children younger than 3 years have difficulty with search tasks that involve hidden displacement. Partial visual information was provided about a ball's path as it moved toward a hiding place. Children (2.0 and 2.5 years old) saw a ball rolling down a ramp placed behind a transparent screen with 4 opaque doors. A wall, placed on the ramp and directly behind 1 of the doors, protruded above the screen and stopped the ball. Children were asked to find the ball. The transparency of the screen permitted visual tracking of the ball between the doors, but its final resting place was obscured. Both age groups were equally proficient at tracking the ball as it rolled behind the screen, but the 2.5-year-olds were more likely to reach to the correct door. Looking behavior was related to errors in the younger group in that tracking that stopped short or continued past the correct door was associated with incorrect choices.     

Linking theory of mind and central coherence bias in autism and in the general population

Three experiments investigated whether 2 characteristic aspects of the psychological profile of autism, theory-of-mind deficits and weak central coherence, might be functionally related. Experiment 1 showed that in the general population, performance on a proposed test of theory of mind was inversely related to speed on the Embedded Figures Test, a measure of central coherence bias. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed that poor theory-of-mind performance was linked to weak central coherence among typically developing children and among children with autism; however, the correlations between these measures were reliable only after accounting for differences in individuals' verbal mental ages. This pattern of results is interpreted in terms of a relationship between individual differences in theory of mind and central coherence bias, a relationship that is separate from any developmental differences in these domains.     

Divided attention, aging, and priming in exemplar generation and category verification

Transfer-appropriate processing theories differentiate between conceptual- and perceptual-priming tasks. The former are said to be influenced by the nature of processing engaged in at study, but not by changes in modality between study and test; the latter are sensitive to changes in format between study and test, but not to variations in the extent of semantic processing at study. In the present experiments, we examined the effects of divided attention and aging on priming in exemplar generation and category verification, two tasks that require access to semantic information at test. Manipulations of attention during encoding affected the extent of priming in exemplar generation, but not in category verification. Priming effects were similar in young and older adults in exemplar generation following study in both full and divided attention. Although older adults did not demonstrate priming in category verification in one experiment, no effects of age or divided attention were observed in a second experiment. In addition, priming in category verification was unaffected by varying the level of processing at encoding. However, the absence of levels-of-processing and attention effects in category verification does not signal that priming in this task has a perceptual basis; priming in category verification was insensitive to modality shifts between study and test. The implications of these findings for theories of priming and cognitive aging are considered.     

Remembering Alexandra Symonds

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

The effects of age upon the perception of depth and 3-D shape from differential motion and binocular disparity

The ability of younger and older adults to perceive the 3-D shape, depth, and curvature of smooth surfaces defined by differential motion and binocular disparity was evaluated in six experiments. The number of points defining the surfaces and their spatial and temporal correspondences were manipulated. For stereoscopic sinusoidal surfaces, the spatial frequency of the corrugations was also varied. For surfaces defined by motion, the lifetimes of the individual points in the patterns were varied, and comparisons were made between the perception of surfaces defined by points and that of more ecologically valid textured surfaces. In all experiments, the older observers were less sensitive to the depths and curvatures of the surfaces, although the deficits were much larger for motion-defined surfaces. The results demonstrate that older adults can extract depth and shape from optical patterns containing only differential motion or binocular disparity, but these abilities are often manifested at reduced levels of performance.     

Validating a distinction between primary and secondary psychopathy with measures of Gray's BIS and BAS constructs

Investigators commonly distinguish between primary and secondary psychopathy (H. Cleckley, 1976; D.T. Lykken, 1995), though there is a lack of consensus regarding the best means to achieve this distinction. To address the validity of using R. D. Hare's (2003) Psychopathy Checklist and the G. Welsh (1956) Anxiety Scale for this purpose, the authors used 2 measures of J. A. Gray's (1987) behavioral inhibition system/behavioral activation system (BIS/BAS). Following D. T. Lykken (1995) and D. C. Fowles (1980), the authors hypothesized that primary psychopathy would be associated with a weak BIS and a normal BAS, whereas secondary psychopathy would be associated with a strong BAS and a normal BIS. Results for primary psychopathy were as predicted. Results for secondary psychopathy clearly supported the strong BAS prediction but provided mixed support for the normal BIS prediction.     

Perceptions of Dating Violence Following a Sexualor Nonsexual Betrayal of Trust: Effects of Gender, Sexism, Acceptance of Rape Myths, and Vengeance Motivation

College womens (N = 220) and mens (N = 208) perceptions of violence following a betrayal by a romantic partner were studied in an independent groups design that varied gender of the participant, type of betrayal (sexual or nonsexual), and gender of the betrayed individual. Participants read one of four brief vignettes in which the betrayed person slapped his/her partner and made his/her lip bleed. Justification of this action was rated on 10 items. Factor analysis of these items indicated the presence of three factors for men and four for women. Both men and women indicated that hitting the partner, getting even, and being angry were more justifiable following a sexual betrayal. The hitting of a male partner by a betrayed woman was perceived as more justified than the hitting of a female partner by a betrayed man. In absolute terms, hitting and getting even by both women and men were generally viewed as unjustifiable, whereas being angry was viewed as justifiable. For both women and men, scores on the Vengeance Scale (Stuckless & Goranson, 1992) and Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1995) were related to getting even. For men, the Hostile Sexism Scale (Glick & Fiske, 2001) was related to getting even or being angry and breaking up. Results indicated that perceptions of reactions to betrayal are related to type of betrayal and to the dispositional characteristics of the perceiver.     

Familiarity and pronounceability of nouns and names

Ratings of familiarity and pronounceability were obtained from a random sample of 199 surnames (selected from over 80,000 entries in the Purdue University phone book) and 199 nouns (from the Ku?era-Francis, 1967, word database). The distributions of ratings for nouns versus names are substantially different: Nouns were rated as more familiar and easier to pronounce than surnames. Frequency and familiarity were more closely related in the proper name pool than the word pool, although both correlations were modest. Ratings of familiarity and pronounceability were highly related for both groups. A production experiment showed that rated pronounceability was highly related to the time taken to produce a name. These data confirm the common belief that there are differences in the statistical and distributional properties of words as compared to proper names. The value of using frequency and the ratings of familiarity and pronounceability for predicting variations in actual pronunciations of words and names are discussed.     

Anger Can Help: A Transactional Model and Three Pathways of the Experience and Expression of Anger

Anger is a significant human emotion with far‐reaching implications for individuals and relationships. We propose a transactional model of anger that highlights its relational relevance and potentially positive function, in addition to problematic malformations. By evolutionary design, physical, self‐concept, or attachment threats all similarly trigger diffuse physiological arousal, psychologically experienced as anger‐emotion. Anger is first a signaling and motivational system. Anger is then formed to affirming, productive use or malformed to destructive ends. A functional, prosocial approach to anger organizes it for protective and corrective personal and relational adaptation. In our model, threat perception interacts with a person's view of self in relation to other to produce helpful or harmful anger. Inflated or collapsed views of self in relation to other produce distinct manifestations of destructive anger that are harmful to self, other, and relationship. Conversely, a balanced view of self in relation to other promotes constructive anger and catalyzes self, other, and relationship healing. Clinical use of the model to shape healing personal and relational contact with anger is explored.     

Multisystemic therapy for young offenders: families' experiences of therapeutic processes and outcomes

Multisystemic Therapy (MST) has been found to be effective in reducing youth antisocial behavior, but little is known about the process and impact of MST from the perspective of families themselves. This qualitative study explored parents' and young people's experiences of MST, focusing on aspects of the intervention that promoted or limited change. Thirty-seven semistructured interviews were conducted with a consecutive sample of 21 families (21 parent interviews, 16 young people) who had participated in a randomized controlled trial of MST for young offenders in the United Kingdom. Thematic analysis yielded 10 themes, organized into two domains: (a) engagement in MST and initial processes of change captures the central importance of the therapeutic relationship and the MST engagement model in families' positive experiences of MST; and (b) outcomes are complex reflects the range of positive outcomes reported (notably increased parental confidence and skills, improved family relationships, a return to education, and greater reflection and aspiration on the part of the young person) and mixed behavior outcomes. Even when the young person had reoffended, respondents indicated a range of other benefits for the family. The findings support the MST theory of change as well as point to some outcomes not usually measured in MST outcome studies. They also suggest some adaptations that may increase the impact of the intervention, including more attention to the influence of deviant peers, and ongoing support for families struggling to maintain strategies beyond the prescribed treatment period.