The structure and correlates of kanashibari.

The present research is an examination of the parameters and correlates of kanashibari, operationally defined as being unable to move upon awakening or before falling asleep. Nonclinical Japanese individuals (N = 720), 34% of whom reported an experience of kanashibari at least once, were administered D. I. Templer's (1970) Death Anxiety Scale, R. Brown's (1990) Locus of Control Scale, and a questionnaire devised by the authors to collect information about kanashibari. The results showed that the kanashibari experience was positively correlated with death anxiety, with being a woman, and with external-other locus of control; this last measure assessed the extent to which these individuals felt that their lives were determined by fate, good luck, or chance.     

Neurodevelopmental influences in the genesis and epigenesis of schizophrenia: An overview

The classical view of schizophrenia as a dementing disorder has recently been challenged by several findings pointing to a prenatal/perinatal origin of at least some of the brain abnormalities seen in these patients. This article reviews evidence from a number of different fields, including postmortem neuropathology, in vivo neuroimaging, developmental neuropsychology, and obstetric epidemiology in assessing the viability of a neurodevelopmental perspective of schizophrenia. Although the case for viewing schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental condition is still circumstantial, and several gaps in this model remain, evidence from these diverse lines of inquiry converge to indicate at least a partial role of disturbances of brain development in the disorder's genesis and epigenesis.     

A constructive approach to frustration in the practice of ministry

Conclusion The original frustration-aggression hypothesis was stated in very strong terms—every frustration produces an aggressive tendency and every aggression can be traced to a frustration. We know now that there can be other responses to frustration—aregression to childish behavior, apathetic withdrawal, or, even, quietly effectiveproblem-solving behavior. A person who learns how to use his frustration in problem-solving will not only be effective in his work, but will enjoy it.By organizing our time and planning our activities we eliminate those oppressing feelings of guilt, failure, and frustration. We are free to enjoy our work and play. Someone has said that the problem most people have is that they think about playing while working and think about working while playing, and do not do either one well. The minister who is thinking about a pastoral call while preparing his sermon or thinking about his sermon while visiting a parishioner does not do either one very well.A frustrated person cannot accomplish much because frustration blocks creativity, wastes time and energy as it divides the individual. To accept the challenge of dealing with frustration creatively is to make life a much more exciting and productive venture. It makes a minister an effective leader of people as he displays self-discipline, expresses concern, and shares the Gospel through the many activities of his life and church.     

Vocal reaction times to tachistoscopically presented high- and low-frequency verbs: some evidence for selective minor hemisphere linguistic analysis

The current study investigated the capacity of the right hemisphere to process verbs using a paradigm proven reliable for predicting differential, minor hemisphere lexical analysis in the normal, intact brain. Vocal reaction times of normal subjects were measured to unilaterally presented verbs of high and of low frequency. A significant interaction was noted between the stimulus items and visual fields. Post hoc tests showed that vocal reaction times to verbs of high frequency were significantly faster following right visual-field presentations (right hemisphere). No significant differences in vocal reaction time occurred between the two visual fields for the verbs of low frequency. Also, significant differences were observed between the two types of verbs following left visual-field presentation but not the right. These results were interpreted to suggest that right-hemispheric analysis was restricted to the verbs of high frequency in the presence of a dominant left hemisphere.     

Effects of auditory masking by white noise on variability of fundamental frequency during highly similar productions of spontaneous speech

Six adults (3 men, 3 women) produced highly similar spontaneous speech utterances during quiet and 90-dB SPL white noise. Although subjects' fundamental frequency (fo) was significantly increased when speaking in noise, their fo variability (coefficients of variation) throughout the utterance was not affected by the auditory disruption. This indicated that their ability to vary fo for linguistic stressing was preserved under short-term disturbed auditory feedback. These findings further supported the hypothesis that fo is under open-loop regulation.     

Gaze cuing and affective judgments of objects: I like what you look at

When we see another person look somewhere, we automatically attend to the same location in space. Thisjoint attention emerges early in life and has a great impact on social interactions in development and in everyday adult life. The direction of another’s gaze indicates what object is of current interest, which may be the target for a subsequent action. In this study, we found that objects that are looked at by other people are liked more than objects that do not receive the attention of other people (Experiment 1). This suggests that observing averted gaze can have an impact on the affective appraisals of objects in the environment. This liking effect was absent when an arrow was used to cue attention (Experiment 2). This underlines the importance of other people’s interactions with objects for generating our own impressions of such stimuli in the world.     

Gender differences in patterns of emotional distress following heart transplantation

The study provides the first empirical evaluation of gender differences in psychological symptomatology and DSM-III-R major depressive disorder (MDD) across the first year following heart transplantation. An important goal was to identify physical health-related and psychosocial factors that could account for, or mediate, any association between gender and psychological distress. The sample for the present analyses was drawn from a larger cohort of 172 heart recipients and included all 28 women in the cohort plus 118 men who were matched demographically with the group of women. Detailed patient assessments were completed at 2, 7, and 12 months posttransplant. As expected, women's symptom levels were consistently higher than men's. However, while men's symptom levels in all areas declined with time posttransplant, women's distress in the area of depression initially improved but then worsened by the 12-month assessment. The distribution of episodes of MDD showed a temporal pattern of gender differences similar to that of depressive symptoms. The most important mediators of the gender-depression relationship were factors related to early posttransplant daily functional limitations: women reported more impairments in daily activities. Higher levels of such impairments, in turn, predicted subsequently higher depression levels by 12 months posttransplant. Several additional variables pertaining to transplant-related concerns and a low sense of personal mastery—while not serving as mediators—exerted their own independent effects on 12-month depression levels. The findings are relevant to the tailoring of educational and clinical interventions to the individual needs of women and men who receive heart transplants.Roberta G. Simmons, Ph.D., died on February 15, 1993, during data collection for this paper.