It is better to smile to women: Gender modifies perception of honesty of smiling individuals across cultures

Social perception studies have revealed that smiling individuals are perceived more favourably on many communion dimensions in comparison to nonsmiling individuals. Research on gender differences in smiling habits showed that women smile more than men. In our study, we investigated this phenomena further and hypothesised that women perceive smiling individuals as more honest than men. An experiment conducted in seven countries (China, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Republic of South Africa and USA) revealed that gender may influence the perception of honesty in smiling individuals. We compared ratings of honesty made by male and female participants who viewed photos of smiling and nonsmiling people. While men and women did not differ on ratings of honesty in nonsmiling individuals, women assessed smiling individuals as more honest than men did. We discuss these results from a social norms perspective.     

Slow wave sleep and recollection in recognition memory

Recognition memory performance reflects two distinct memory processes: a conscious process of recollection, which allows remembering specific details of a previous event, and familiarity, which emerges in the absence of any conscious information about the context in which the event occurred. Slow wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep are differentially involved in the consolidation of different types of memory. The study assessed the effects of SWS and REM sleep on recollection, by means of the "remember"/"know" paradigm. Subjects studied three blocks of 12 words before a 3-h retention interval filled with SWS, REM sleep or wakefulness, placed between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Afterwards, recognition and recollection were tested. Recollection was higher after a retention interval rich in SWS than after a retention interval rich in REM sleep or filled with wakefulness. The results suggest that SWS facilitates the process of recollection in recognition memory.     

Patterns and personality disorders in persons with cocaine dependence in treatment

The aim of the present study is to determine patterns and personality disorder in subjects under cocaine dependence treatment using MCMI-II, and their relationship with sociodemographic variables and consumption characteristics. We assess 102 subjects under cocaine dependence treatment in Drug Abuse Centers in Galicia (Spain). The results indicate that the most prevalent basic scales of personality are the passive-aggressive, antisocial, narcisism and histrionic. Borderline and paranoid scales are the most prevalent with regard to the pathological personality scales. These results coincide with other international and national studies. We conclude pointing out the necessity to carry out studies with wider cocaine dependence samples in treatment, and the specific inclusion criteria should be established in the study. We also indicate the importance of carrying out a previous assessment of all demanding treatment subjects to design the objectives of the mentioned treatment.     

Narrow-band 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, and 96 cycles/360 degrees angular frequency filters

We measured human frequency response functions for eleven angular frequency filters using a forced-choice procedure in a supra-threshold summation paradigm. Each of the eleven functions of 17 experimental conditions was measured 4-9 times among 12 observers. Results show that, for the arbitrarily selected filter phases, maximum summation effect occurred at test frequency for all filters. These results lead to the conclusion that there are narrow-band angular frequency filters operating in human visual system mostly through summation surrounded by inhibition at the specific test frequency ranges. Our previous suggestion (Simas and Santos, 2002), arguing that summation for the higher angular frequency filters should occur if background angular frequency contrast were set to a maximum of 5 times the test frequency threshold, was supported.     

Short- and long-term effects of cannabinoids on the extinction of contextual fear memory in rats

Facilitation of memory extinction by manipulation of the endocannabinoid (eCB) system has been recently studied in several paradigms. Our previous results pointed to facilitation of contextual fear memory extinction by a low dose of a cannabinoid agonist, with a suggestion of short-term effects. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the effects of cannabinoid drugs in the short- and long-term extinction of conditioned fear using an extended extinction protocol. Male Wistar rats were placed in a conditioning chamber and after 3 min received a footshock (1.5 mA, 1 s). On the next day, they received i.p. drug treatment (WIN55212-2 0.25 mg/kg, AM404 10 mg/kg, SR141716 A 1 mg/kg) and were re-exposed to the conditioning chamber for 30 min (extinction training). No-Extinction groups received the same drug treatment, but were exposed for 3 min to the conditioning chamber. A drug-free test of contextual memory (3 min) was performed 7 days later. The cannabinoid agonist WI55212-2 and the inhibitor of eCB metabolism/uptake AM404 facilitated short-term extinction. In addition, long-term effects induced by treatments with WIN55212 and AM404 were completely divergent to those of SR141716A treatment. The present results confirm and extend previous findings showing that the eCB system modulates short-term fear memory extinction with long-lasting consequences.     

Disconnection, Depression, and Spirituality: A Study of the Role of Spirituality and Meaning in the Lives of Individuals with Severe Depression

This qualitative study explores the role of spirituality and meaning among 15 participants suffering from severe depression. During the time of this study, all the participants were in treatment at Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center. The emerging themes are: (1) depression creates a sense of spiritual disconnection. Participants indicated feeling disconnected from God, the community, and oneself; (2) spirituality plays an important role in coping with the pain of depression; (3) there exists a deep yearning for a sense of meaning and a struggle to make sense of one’s pain; and (4) coming to terms with one’s circumstances and one’s depression at some level assists in the healing process.     

Effects of the iodine deficiency on intellectual variables among children

An association between severe iodine deficiency and poor mental development has been found in many studies. We examined the relationship between moderate or mild iodine deficiency and intellectual capacity in order to determine whether problems common to severe iodine deficiency (including mental retardation) also emerge in a more subtle form. We also wished to know whether the classic methodology (comparing iodine-deficient zones with nondeficient zones) is the most adequate, and propose to combine this grouping by zones with urinary iodine presented by individuals in each zone. We measured IQ, manipulative and verbal capacity, attention, visual motor ability and disruptive behaviour, variables that have barely been studied in this kind of investigations. The sample comprised 760 schoolchildren from the province of Jaén (southern Spain). Our results show that children with low levels of iodine intake and with urinary iodine concentration lower than 100 microg/litre had a lower IQ and displayed more disruptive behaviour than children with high levels of the criteria. The other variables were not associated with iodine deficiency.     

Agency,Consciousness, and Executive Control

On the Causal Theory of Action (CTA), internal proper parts of an agent such as desires and intentions are causally responsible for actions. CTA has increasingly come under attack for its alleged failure to account for agency. A recent version of this criticism due to François Schroeter proposes that CTA cannot provide an adequate account of either the executive control or the autonomous control involved in full-fledged agency. Schroeter offers as an alternative a revised understanding of the proper role of consciousness in agency. In this paper we criticize Schroeter’s analysis of the type of consciousness involved in executive control and examine the way in which the conscious self allegedly intervenes in action. We argue that Schroeter’s proposal should not be preferred over recent versions of CTA.     

Fibromyalgia in men and women: comparison of the main clinical symptoms

The prevalence of fibromyalgia (FM) in males is much lower than in women. Thus, current knowledge about the syndrome has been developed from research with women. The aim of the present study is to analyze whether FM manifestations differ as a function of sex. Two clinical groups with FM (21 males and 21 women) and a control group of healthy men (n= 21) participated in the study. Several aspects of pain, sleep, fatigue, psychopathology, emotional distress and functional impact of FM were evaluated with an algometer and questionnaires. The clinical groups showed a significantly greater impairment than the control group in all the self-report measures. However, the FM patients only showed significant differences in the sensibility threshold to the pain, which was lower in the women. In addition, the best predictor of the experience of pain in males was sleep quality, and in the women, catastrofying pain. Our results suggest that the most effective therapeutic strategies to control pain may be different for men and women.     

Personality, emotions and coping styles: predictive value for the evolution of cancer patients

This study had a twofold goal: to define differences in psychological aspects between cancer patients and a control group and to explore the predictive value of such aspects for the evolution of the disease two years later. Firstly, personality, anxiety, anger and depression were assessed in both groups. Results of t-analyses revealed significant group differences. In personality, cancer patients had higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness than the control group. In emotional variables, cancer patients had higher levels of anxiety and some aspects of anger, but there were no group differences in depression levels. Secondly, applying a quasi-prospective design, the predictive value of personality, emotions and coping styles for the evolution of cancer (favourable or unfavourable) was explored using generalized linear models and logistic regression. A four-predictor logistic model was fitted: Anger Expression-In, Resignation, Self-blame and Conscientiousness, indicating that the higher Anger Expression-in, Resignation, and Self-blame scores together with a lower Conscientiousness score, the more likely it is for patients' cancer to evolve unfavourably. These results indicate the crucial role of psychological aspects for the evolution of the disease and the need to include such aspects in the design of clinical interventions.