Face aftereffects indicate dissociable, but not distinct, coding of male and female faces

It has been claimed that exposure to distorted faces of one sex induces perceptual aftereffects for test faces that are of the same sex, but not for test faces of the other sex (A. C. Little, L. M. DeBruine, & B. C. Jones, 2005). This result suggests that male and female faces have separate neural coding. Given the high degree of visual similarity between faces of different sexes, this result is surprising. The authors reinvestigated male and female face coding using a different face distortion. In Experiment 1, participants adapted to distorted faces from one sex (e.g., male contracted faces) and were tested with faces of both sexes. Aftereffects were found for both male and female faces, suggesting the existence of common coding mechanisms. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants adapted to oppositely distorted faces from both sexes (male contracted and female expanded faces). Weak opposite aftereffects were found for male and female faces, suggesting the existence of sex-selective face coding mechanisms. Taken together, these results indicate that both common and sex-selective mechanisms code male and female faces.     

Role of motion signals in recognizing subtle facial expressions of emotion

Three studies investigated the importance of movement for the recognition of subtle and intense expressions of emotion. In the first experiment, 36 facial emotion displays were duplicated in three conditions either upright or inverted in orientation. A dynamic condition addressed the perception of motion by using four still frames run together to encapsulate a moving sequence to show the expression emerging from neutral to the subtle emotion. The multi‐static condition contained the same four stills presented in succession, but with a visual noise mask (200 ms) between each frame to disrupt the apparent motion, whilst in the single‐static condition, only the last still image (subtle expression) was presented. Results showed a significant advantage for the dynamic condition, over the single‐ and multi‐static conditions, suggesting that motion signals provide a more accurate and robust mental representation of the expression. A second experiment demonstrated that the advantage of movement was reduced with expressions of a higher intensity, and the results of the third experiment showed that the advantage for the dynamic condition for recognizing subtle emotions was due to the motion signal rather than additional static information contained in the sequence. It is concluded that motion signals associated with the emergence of facial expressions can be a useful cue in the recognition process, especially when the expressions are subtle.     

Positive Coping among Wives of Male Christian Clergy

Clergy spouses experience various life stressors, yet many cope and function effectively in the midst of their daily challenges. Mental health professionals were asked to identify wives of male clergy who exemplify emotional and spiritual health. Nominees were contacted and interviews conducted with 25 women. Each interviewee was asked about coping with normal life stressors, stressors associated with being married to a minister, and catastrophic life events. All interviews were transcribed and coded, using grounded theory. Participants emphasized the importance of spirituality, social support, limit-setting, and healthy lifestyle choices. Implications are discussed.

Links between socialization goals and child‐rearing practices in Chinese and Indian mothers

Mothers of preschoolers in China and India reported on the value they accorded to items tapping two socialization goals, Filial Piety and Socioemotional Development and two parenting styles, Authoritative and Authoritarian. In both cultures, maternal valuing of Filial Piety was associated with greater exertion of parental control, whereas greater valuing of Socioemotional Development was related to more frequent use of Authoritative practices. However, patterns in relationships between Filial Piety, Socioemotional Development and Authoritative parenting differed across Chinese and Indian mothers. Positive associations were found among these three variables for Indian mothers, reflecting Hindu beliefs about young children and childhood. Among Chinese mothers, on the other hand, Filial Piety was negatively related with Socioemotional Development and the use of Authoritative practices. Our results suggest that Chinese mothers believe that the use of authoritative practices, which encourage socioemotional development in children, will inhibit achievement of filial behaviour and academic achievement. Contrasts between these two Asian cultures highlight the importance of considering parents' socialization goals and beliefs in cross‐cultural studies of child‐rearing practices. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceptual adaptation to facial asymmetries

Humans and other animals are highly sensitive to deviations from bilateral symmetry and prefer symmetric mates. Fluctuating asymmetries (FAs) are random deviations from perfect symmetry that can result from developmental instability. Human perceptions of facial asymmetry are driven by FAs and insensitive to directional asymmetries (DAs), which have a consistent direction of bias (e.g., left side always larger) across the population and are unrelated to developmental stability. We hypothesized that perceptual adaptation may filter out DAs and provide a proximate mechanism for this perceptual focus on FAs. We created a small population of faces with DAs by applying a unilateral distortion to the same side of each face. After 5 min of adaptation, (new) faces with these DAs looked less asymmetric and the most symmetric-looking distortion shifted toward the adapting asymmetry level. Parallel changes occurred for attractiveness. We suggest that perceptual adaptation may provide the proximate mechanism for an evolutionarily adaptive focus on FAs.     

Learning Through Shared Christian Praxis: Reflective Practice in the Classroom

The cultivation of reflective practice has become a commonly accepted goal of theological education. However, theological educators must face the challenge of teaching and assessing reflective practice. Hypothesizing that this concern is best addressed in community, the authors of this article devised a collaborative action‐research project using Thomas Groome's “shared Christian praxis” model. They describe the ways in which they have, over the course of the project, modified their pedagogy to improve their students' reflection on practice.     

Effect of dichotomous thinking on the association of depression with BMI and weight change among obese females

This study tested whether a dichotomous thinking style moderates the association of depression with body mass, and investigated the effect of dichotomous thinking and depression on weight loss during a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention.Overweight and obese females (n = 76) participated in CBT for weight management for 12 weeks. Before treatment, dichotomous thinking moderated the association of depression with BMI, such that depression was positively associated with BMI among those with low dichotomous thinking, but was not associated among those with high dichotomous thinking. Weight loss was negatively associated with pre-treatment depression and frequency of treatment attendance, but not with dichotomous thinking. Females who regard their weight as unacceptably high and who think dichotomously may experience high levels of depression irrespective of their actual weight, while depression may be proportionate to the degree of obesity among those who do not think dichotomously. Depression, but not dichotomous thinking, is likely to interfere with the ability to adhere to short-term weight loss strategies.     

Fetal testosterone and autistic traits

Studies of amniotic testosterone in humans suggest that fetal testosterone (fT) is related to specific (but not all) sexually dimorphic aspects of cognition and behaviour. It has also been suggested that autism may be an extreme manifestation of some male‐typical traits, both in terms of cognition and neuroanatomy. In this paper, we examine the possibility of a link between autistic traits and fT levels measured in amniotic fluid during routine amniocentesis. Two instruments measuring number of autistic traits (the Childhood Autism Spectrum Test (CAST) and the Child Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ‐Child)) were completed by these women about their children (N=235), ages 6–10 years. Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was measured in a subset of these children (N=74). fT levels were positively associated with higher scores on the CAST and AQ‐Child. This relationship was seen within sex as well as when the sexes were combined, suggesting this is an effect of fT rather than of sex per se. No relationships were found between overall IQ and the predictor variables, or between IQ and CAST or AQ‐Child. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that prenatal androgen exposure is related to children exhibiting more autistic traits. These results need to be followed up in a much larger sample to test if clinical cases of ASC have elevated fT.     

Picture book exposure elicits positive visual preferences in toddlers

Although the relationship between “mere exposure” and attitude enhancement is well established in the adult domain, there has been little similar work with children. This article examines whether toddlers’ visual attention toward pictures of foods can be enhanced by repeated visual exposure to pictures of foods in a parent-administered picture book. We describe three studies that explored the number and nature of exposures required to elicit positive visual preferences for stimuli and the extent to which induced preferences generalize to other similar items. Results show that positive preferences for stimuli are easily and reliably induced in children and, importantly, that this effect of exposure is not restricted to the exposed stimulus per se but also applies to new representations of the exposed item.