Pigeons encode absolute distance but relational direction from landmarks and walls

In recent studies, researchers have examined animals' use of absolute or relational distances in finding a hidden goal. When trained with an array of landmarks, most animals use the default strategy of searching at an absolute distance from 1 or more landmarks. In contrast, when trained in enclosures, animals often use the relationship among walls. In the present study, pigeons were trained to find the center of an array of landmarks or a set of short walls that did not block external cues. Expansion tests showed that both groups of pigeons primarily used an absolute distance strategy. However, on rotational tests, pigeons continued to search in the center of the array, suggesting that direction was learned in relation to array.     

Memory and reality

Although it may be disconcerting to contemplate, true and false memories arise in the same way. Memories are attributions that we make about our mental experiences based on their subjective qualities, our prior knowledge and beliefs, our motives and goals, and the social context. This article describes an approach to studying the nature of these mental experiences and the constructive encoding, revival, and evaluative processes involved (the source monitoring framework). Cognitive behavioral studies using both objective (e.g., recognition, source memory) and subjective (e.g., ratings of memory characteristics) measures and neuroimaging findings are helping to clarify the complex relation between memory and reality. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).     

Religious Involvement and Its Association to Risk Behaviors among Older Youth in Foster Care

This study examined religious involvement and its association to risk behaviors (sexual behavior, marijuana use, alcohol use, and cigarette use) among older youth in foster care (N=383). Three dimensions of religious involvement were assessed—church or religious service attendance, religious practices, and religious beliefs. Findings showed that gender, ethnic group membership, sexual abuse history, and placement type were significantly associated with older foster care youth’s religious involvement. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses showed that religious service attendance was associated with reduced odds of youth’s engagement in sexual behavior in the past 2 months and current use of cigarettes. In addition, greater religious beliefs were associated with a reduction in odds of youth’s use of alcohol in the past 6 months and current use of cigarettes. The consideration of religious involvement as a positive influence and resource that may reduce unhealthy risk behaviors among older youth in foster care is discussed.     

The structure of vocational interests in Filipino adolescents

The structure of vocational interests was investigated in Filipino high school students (N = 503), who rated their interest in 303 culture-relevant occupational titles and 93 major fields of study. Item-level principal components analyses identified general interest, prestige, and sex-type dimensions, rather than Prediger's (1982) People/Things and Data/Ideas dimensions. Additional factor analyses were conducted to derive scales that measure more specific interests, including Unskilled/Semiskilled Labor, Male-dominated, Engineering/Technology, Science, Medical, Arts, Commerce, Government/Law, and Education. The interest scales showed some resemblance or overlap with Holland's types, and gender differences on the scales conformed to expectations. However, the relationships among the scales and occupations were better accounted for by prestige and sex-type than by People/Things and Data/Ideas dimensions or by Holland's circular model. Developmental, cultural, educational, and economic factors that might account for Filipino students' focus on prestige and sex-type were discussed.     

Freedom,Frailty, and Impurity

The central question in Heidegger's philosophy, early and late, is that concerning the meaning of being. Recently, some have suggested that Heidegger himself interprets being to mean presence (Anwesen, Anwesenheit, Praesenz), citing as evidence lectures dating from the 1920s to the 1960s. I argue, on the contrary, that Heidegger regards the equation between being and presence as the hallmark of metaphysical thinking, and that it only ever appears in his texts as a gloss on the philosophical tradition, not as an expression of his own ontological commitments. In his early work Heidegger seeks to confront and even correct the traditional interpretation of being by challenging its narrow preoccupation with presence and the present. By the 1930s, however, he abandons the idea that there is anything to‐be intrinsically right or wrong about with regard to the meaning of being and turns his attention instead to what he calls ‘appropriation’ (Ereignis) or the truth of being, that is, the essentially ahistorical condition for the possibility of all historically contingent interpretations of being, including the metaphysical interpretation of being as presence.     

The Stepfamily Enrichment Program: A Prelim inary Evaluation Using Focus Groups

The Stepfamily Enrichment Program is a multicouple intervention designed to help stepfamilies successfully negotiate the process of family formation. This study was a pilot test, using data generated from a focus group interview, to provide preliminary, evaluative information on program effectiveness. Couples reported positive behavior and attitude changes in themselves and other family members at the end of the five-week program. Saliency of program topics, program atmosphere, and group process were considered important aspects of the intervention.     

Age and emotion affect how we look at a face: Visual scan patterns differ for own-age versus other-age emotional faces

We investigated how age of faces and emotion expressed in faces affect young (n=30) and older (n=20) adults’ visual inspection while viewing faces and judging their expressions. Overall, expression identification was better for young than older faces, suggesting that interpreting expressions in young faces is easier than in older faces, even for older participants. Moreover, there were age-group differences in misattributions of expressions, in that young participants were more likely to label disgusted faces as angry, whereas older adults were more likely to label angry faces as disgusted. In addition to effects of emotion expressed in faces, age of faces affected visual inspection of faces: Both young and older participants spent more time looking at own-age than other-age faces, with longer looking at own-age faces predicting better own-age expression identification. Thus, cues used in expression identification may shift as a function of emotion and age of faces, in interaction with age of participants.