Two factors of restraint: concern for dieting and weight fluctuation

Factor analysis of the Restraint Scale produced two replicated factors: Concern for Dieting and Weight Fluctuation. Concern for Dieting reflects heightened attention to and emotional association with eating. Weight Fluctuation reflects extent of previously-experienced weight gain and loss. Weight Fluctuation was more highly positively correlated with indices of overweight status than was Concern for Dieting. Concern for Dieting was positively correlated with Public Self-Consciousness and Social Anxiety while Weight Fluctuation was not. Both versions of Restraint were weakly and inversely correlated with Body Image, although this relationship was mediated by degree of overweight status. The findings indicate that the two factors are sufficiently distinct to preclude combination into a single scale. Furthermore. Weight Fluctuation appears to be the more promising subscale for future research.     

Emotional deceit: False words versus false action

What speaks louder, false words or false action? Raters assessed the anxiety level of 10 actors portraying their actual anxiety level and simulated displays of high anxiety. Raters were required to base judgments on either video cues alone or audio cues alone. Findings indicate that false words speak louder than false action, with audio-based judgments generating greater judgmental error in both straight and dissembled anxiety conditions. Although raters expressed equal confidence in judgments based on either verbal or nonverbal cues, results indicated that verbal cues played a larger role in emotional deceit. Differences between real and simulated anxiety cues were delineated, suggesting ways of detecting emotional deception. Results were discussed in light of current thought regarding channel contribution in deception.     

Response selection and initiation in speeded reactions: a pupillometric analysis

Three studies are described in which the task-evoked pupillary response is recorded during simple and disjunctive reactions in order to examine its contribution as a measure of the motoric and cognitive aspects of performance in these tasks. In simple reactions a pupillary dilation began about 1.5 sec before the imperative stimulus and peaked about 1 sec after the stimulus. The rate of dilation was inversely related to the interstimulus interval. In disjunctive reactions, both "Go" and "No-Go" responses elicited significant dilations but the No-Go dilation was smaller than the Go dilation. When the response was delayed 2.5 sec after the discrimination stimulus, the dilation to both Go and No-Go responses was much reduced. The pupillary response related to response selection was estimated at 55% of that associated with motor preparation and execution. The probability of responding was found to affect the amplitude of the dilation to No-Go responses but not that to Go responses. The data point to a significant contribution of preparatory motor processing in No-Go reactions and to an overlap between decisional and motoric processing in disjunctive reactions.     

The complexity continuum in the radex and hierarchical models of intelligence

The hierarchical and radex models of ability organization are shown to be parallel. Both models suggest a complexity continuum along which cognitive performance tasks can be arrayed. In our revised radex model, the complexity continuum from the center to the periphery is shown to correspond to the general-to-specific dimension in factor analyses, or to test correlations with the general factor; complexity is redefined as apparent processing complexity. Examination of the theoretical and empirical bases for this continuum indicates its central importance for theories of intelligence.     

Cholinergic system in the toad's (Bufo bufo L.) visual system

The brain structures mediating the prey-catching behavior of the toad have been described in earlier studies but none of these studies has identified the transmitter systems in the optic tectum responsible for this behavior. Behavioral tests with different test compounds provide evidence that the cells responsible for the orienting, jumping, and snapping behaviors associated with feeding in toads are normally inhibited by cholinergic synapses.     

Flavor-illness aversions: potentiation of odor by taste is disrupted by application of novocaine into amygdala

Taste and odor have different properties in toxiphobic conditioning. When each is used alone, taste becomes aversive when followed by immediate or delayed poison, while odor becomes aversive only if followed by immediate poison. However, if odor and taste are presented as a compound and followed by delayed poison, then odor does become aversive when tested alone. It is as if taste has potentiated the odor signal. Several experiments assessed the role of the amygdala in this potentiation effect by anesthetizing the amygdala with 10% novocaine. Novocaine applied 30 min before presentation (Pre-CS) of an odor-taste compound disrupted the potentiated odor aversion but not the taste aversion. In contrast, novocaine applied 1 min after the compound odor-taste or 1 min prior to LiCl poison did not dissociate odor and taste aversions; both odor and taste aversions were facilitated. Novocaine applied 30 min before an odor alone also disrupted an odor aversion induced by immediate LiCl. But identical treatment did not disrupt odor avoidance conditioned by immediate foot-shock, suggesting that amygdala anesthesia does not simply produce anosmia. Pre-CS novocaine treatment also disrupted flavor neophobia prior to conditioning. The results suggest that novocaine applied to the amygdala disrupts the integration of odor with taste and illness during toxiphobic conditioning.     

Resolving legal questions with psychological data.

Psychologists are ever finding new legal arenas for their psychological data and concepts. Findings about the character and operation of stereotyping have been introduced in sex discrimination litigation in the United States. Findings about conformity, obedience to authority, and bystander apathy have been introduced into death penalty cases in South Africa. These concrete and detailed applications of psychological science demonstrate the expanding role that psychology is playing in the legal world.     

A decade of research and services for homeless mentally ill persons. Where do we stand?

Over the past decade, researchers have documented the range of needs and devised new methods for increasing our understanding of the homeless severely mentally ill population. Clinicians have developed an appreciation of the difficulty and complexity of effectively treating this population, and policymakers have become increasingly aware of the barriers to developing services and housing. In this article, the progress-to-date in research, the evolution of new service approaches, and the development of federal, state, and local policies to meet the needs of homeless mentally ill individuals are assessed. The many challenges that remain are also considered.     

Homelessness and dual diagnosis.

People who are dually diagnosed with severe mental illness and substance use disorders constitute 10%-20% of homeless persons. They are a heterogeneous and extremely vulnerable subgroup with complex, poorly understood needs. In this article recent research on the epidemiology, subject characteristics, and service needs of the dually diagnosed homeless population is reviewed. Also, the range of evolving approaches to providing social services, housing, and mental health and substance-abuse treatments; the relevant system issues and legal issues; and problems with current research, as well as future research directions, are discussed. The importance of the distinction between providing appropriate living environments and mental health treatments emerges throughout.