Inhibition of return for the length of a line?

Inhibition of return is most often measured using an exogenous spatial cuing method. The experiments presented here follow up on a small number of studies that have examined whether a similar effect occurs for nonspatial stimulus attributes. In Experiments 1 and 2, the task was to identify a target line as either short or long. In this context, targets on valid trials were of the same length as that of a preceding cue, whereas targets on invalid trials were of a different length than that of a preceding cue. The results were similar to those in spatial orienting studies in that responses were slower for valid than for invalid targets only at stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) longer than 300 msec. In Experiment 3, the stimuli were the same but the task was to detect the onset of the target line. This task change resulted in slower responses for valid than for invalid targets at all SOAs. A similar result was observed in Experiment 4, in which validity was defined by color rather than line length, and the task was to identify the target color. The discussion centers on an opponent process approach to interpreting cuing effects, and consequent difficulties in distinguishing spatial and nonspatial cuing effects based on their time course.     

Changes in behavior and behavioral intentions among middle-age women: results from an osteoporosis prevention program

The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in behaviors and behavioral intentions that occurred among 342 middle-age women (M age 49.5 yr.) after participating in an Osteoporosis Prevention Program. The valid and reliable Osteoporosis Preventing Behaviors Survey (developed by Doheny and Sedlak) and a survey developed for this work were measures. Significant changes in behaviors were reported, especially increases in weight-bearing physical activity, dairy product intake, and decreases in consumption of caffeine-containing beverages. Many subjects reported intentions to increase physical activity and calcium intake. An Osteoporosis Prevention Program may help promote osteoporosis prevention behaviors, but intents must be followed up to check actual change.     

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN EXTINCTION AND PUNISHMENT EFFECTS OF RESPONSE BLOCKING: A REPLICATION

Lerman and Iwata (1996) described a method for distinguishing between sensory extinction and punishment effects of response blocking on self-injurious behavior maintained independent of social contingencies. Results of their study suggested that blocking decreased the self-injurious hand mouthing of their participant via punishment. The current replication of these procedures with the self-injurious eye poking of a woman with developmental disabilities produced patterns of responding indicating that, for this participant, blocking functioned as an extinction procedure.     

Superstitious Rule Generation is Affected by Probability and Type of Outcome

The Psychological Record - One hundred and fifty participants played a computer task in which pOints were either gained (reinforcement) or lost (punishment) randomly on 75%, 50%, or 25% of trials....     

Visual acuity improvement following fading and feedback training—I. Comparison of myopic and emmetropic volunteers

18 myopes and 18 emmetropes were randomly assigned in pairs to either Fading and Feedback training or a no-treatment control condition. The emmetropes were fitted with plus lenses equivalent to the spherical correction of the paired myope to simulate myopic visual acuity. Extensive visual acuity measures were obtained pre- and post-training. Data analyses indicated significant increases in recognition visual acuity for trained subjects, compared to no-treatment controls. The myopia/emmetropia variable did not interact with training even though there were noticably greater increases in visual acuity for trained myopes compared to the other conditions. Resolution visual acuity did not change as a function of training. These data are discussed in terms of their implications for better understanding the mechanisms responsible for visual acuity increases following behavioural training.     

Hope and Coping with Cancer by College Women

The relations of dispositional hope to various self-reported cancer-related coping activities were examined in 115 college women. Dispositionally high- as compared to low-hope women were more knowledgeable about cancer, and this relationship remained when the shared variances due to previous academic achievement, experience with cancer among family or friends, and positive and negative affectivity were removed. Additionally, high- as compared to low-hope women reported more hope-related coping responses in four separate imagined phases of cancer (prevention/risk, detection, temporal course, and impact), and these relationships remained when shared variances related to previous academic achievement, knowledge about cancer, experience with cancer, and negative affectivity were removed. Hope is discussed as means of maintaining a "fighting spirit" for coping with cancer.     

Establishing a Descriptive Database for Teachers with Aggressive Students

While establishing a database that describes students' aggressive behaviors and the conditions present at the time of occurrence, we discovered a variety of definitions of aggression in the literature. This lack of consistency limits the information provided to teachers working with the frequent problem of violence. We propose an inclusive and verifiable definition of aggression gleaned from experience and the literature. The definition incorporates verbal, paraverbal, nonverbal, and physical aggression. Validation is presented from the literature, and from 39 practicing teachers who used the definition to categorize 659 target behaviors. The teachers' level of agreement with the authors' categorization was 93% (median).     

The Impact of Job Applicants' Facial Maturity, Gender, and Academic Achievement on Hiring Recommendations

Two studies investigated the impact of job applicants' facial maturity, gender, and achievement level on hiring recommendations. The results revealed that discrimination based on gender and facial appearance varies with the type of job for which an applicant is being considered. Applicants who were babyfaced or female were favored for jobs requiring qualities of warmth and submission, whereas those who were maturefaced or male were favored for jobs requiring qualities of shrewdness and leadership. These hiring preferences were most pronounced for high achieving applicants. They were also paralleled by stereotypical perceptions of the job- relevant attributes possessed by the applicants, which suggests that the effects of applicants' gender and facial maturity are mediated by the perceived fit between their assumed attributes and the job requirements. Finally, the jobs for which male and maturefaced applicants were favored were those for which high-achieving applicants were also favored, which suggests that female and babyfaced applicants are most apt to be discriminated against when applying for higher status jobs.     

Interactive versus passive dynamics and the exploratory analysis of multivariate data

In two experiments, we examined subjects’ ability to infer structure from three-dimensional data presented dynamically in interactive versus passive mode and in static scatterplots. Accuracy of estimating the number of clusters in three-dimensional data sets was measured for each of these conditions, as a function of cluster discriminability.     

The Empire of Women: Rousseau on Domination and Sexuality

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's works are often a touchstone and inspiration for many when it comes to thinking carefully about domination. We find Rousseau-inspired analyses across a wide range of political theories centering the concept of domination, from republicanism, liberalism, and Marxism to critical theory, feminisms, and beyond. This article aims to raise questions about a powerful, prevailing, and compelling reading of Rousseau's conception of domination. Beyond that, I hope to offer further insight into the components of his view of domination by centering his account of sexuality as a domination/subordination relation. Ultimately, I suggest that Rousseau's considered view is that domination is a matter of being in a dependency relation. In other words, to be dependent upon others (whether a particular other or group of others) is sufficient for being dominated. However, not all domination relations are illegitimate. Both sexuality and the specific case of forming a social compact are sites of domination relations that can be rendered legitimate under certain conditions.