Major Psychological Factors Determining Public Acceptance of the Siting of Nuclear Facilities

The purpose of this study was to examine the hypothesis that factors that determine public acceptance of nuclear facilities in a general situation are different from factors that determine public acceptance of nuclear facilities in a siting situation by using a causal model. A survey was conducted in Japan with 1,000 randomly selected adult participants. The results were that in a general situation, both perceived risk and perceived benefit are important for public acceptance of nuclear facilities. In addition, in a siting situation, perceived risk is very important for public acceptance of nuclear facilities, whereas perceived benefit has little importance for public acceptance. Thus, for discussions concerning public acceptance of a facility associated with risk, it is important to clarify whether the viewpoint of a general situation or the viewpoint of a siting situation should be adopted.     

Normalized pulse volume and blood volume as separate indices of finger arterial and venous vascular tone: Examination under propofol

Abstract: This study examined the newly proposed indices for estimating finger vascular tone, which can be obtained from near infrared transmittance photoplethysmographic recordings; normalized pulse volume (NPV) and blood volume (BV). They were recorded for seven male and two female students under continuous infusion of and recovery from propofol. Concomitant hemodynamic measurements were made with a non-invasive impedance cardiograph and a continuous blood pressure monitor. Normalized pulse volume showed no apparent dose-dependency and was negatively correlated with total peripheral resistance. In contrast, BV increased dose-dependently with propofol concentration and was negatively correlated with cardiac preload index (PLI) and with stroke volume (SV) at higher concentrations. The supplementary structural equation modeling procedure effectively illustrated causal relationships between BV, PLI and SV. In conclusion, the present data suggest that NPV and BV independently reflect arterial and venous tone in the finger tip, respectively. Although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, BV is more sensitive to vascular dilation under propofol anesthesia.     

Changes in Families’ Caregiving Experiences through Involvement as Participants then Facilitators in a Family Peer‐Education Program for Mental Disorders in Japan

A family peer‐education program for mental disorders was developed in Japan, similar to existing programs in the United States and Hong Kong. Families that serve as facilitators in such programs may enhance their caregiving processes and, thereby, their well‐being. This study's aim was to describe how families’ caregiving experiences change, beginning with the onset of a family member's mental illness, through their involvement in a family group or peer‐education program as participants then facilitators. Thus, this study was conducted in a family peer‐education program for mental disorders in Japan. Group interviews were conducted with 27 facilitators from seven program sites about their experiences before, during, and after becoming facilitators. Interview data were coded and categorized into five stages of caregiving processes: (1) withdrawing and suppressing negative experiences with difficulty and regret; (2) finding comfort through being listened to about negative experiences; (3) supporting participants’ sharing as facilitators; (4) understanding and affirming oneself through repeated sharing of experiences; and (5) finding value and social roles in one's experiences. The third, fourth, and fifth stages were experienced by the facilitators. The value that the facilitators placed on their caregiving experiences changed from negative to positive, which participants regarded as helpful and supportive. We conclude that serving as facilitators may improve families’ caregiving processes.     

An evolutionary hypothesis of suicide: why it could be biologically adaptive and is so prevalent in certain occupations

From an evolutionary perspective, suicide is a puzzle, because it has serious adverse effects, yet is remarkably common and heritable. An hypothesis is proposed to explain this puzzle, by explaining how suicide could be adaptive through reducing risk that individuals will transmit infections to kin. Empirical evidence supports four predictions from the hypothesis. There are well-established mechanisms by which infections and immune factors increase risk for mental disorders that contribute to suicide. Suicide is more prevalent in occupations with greater exposure to infection and immune-compromising factors and at higher latitudes, where key environmental factors increase vulnerability to infection. In several other highly social species, suicide-like behaviors have evolved to reduce transmission of infections. If the hypothesis is correct, detection and treatment of underlying infections and immune dysfunction should help predict and prevent suicidal behavior, while also combating spread of infectious diseases.     

Imitation in neonatal chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

This paper provides evidence for imitative abilities in neonatal chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), our closest relatives. Two chimpanzees were reared from birth by their biological mothers. At less than 7 days of age the chimpanzees could discriminate between, and imitate, human facial gestures (tongue protrusion and mouth opening). By the time they were 2 months old, however, the chimpanzees no longer imitated the gestures. They began to perform mouth opening frequently in response to any of the three facial gestures presented to them. These findings suggest that neonatal facial imitation is most likely an innate ability, developed through natural selection in humans and in chimpanzees. The relationship between the disappearance of neonatal imitation and the development of social communicative behavior is discussed from an evolutionary perspective.     

Correlates of retrospective early life experience with personality in young Japanese women

To examine the influence of early experiences on the development of personality. We used the Temperament and Character Inventory to assess 98 young women who had first entered a company. Different early experiences were linked, albeit weakly, to test scores. Both partial correlations and multiple regression analyses indicated that Self-directedness was higher if women reported more care of parents. Partial correlation, but not multiple regression analyses, showed that Cooperativeness was greater if women reported more care of parents and less frequent abuse. Reports of early parental loss or negative or positive early life events showed no correlation with scores on any of the Temperament and Character Inventory subscales.     

Repetition priming reveals sustained facilitation and transient inhibition in reaction time

Reaction time (RT) in a detection or a location discrimination task increases when a target is repeatedly presented at the same location (inhibition), whereas RT decreases in feature (color or orientation) discrimination tasks (facilitation; Y. Tanaka & S. Shimojo, 1996a). Here, the time course of inhibition and facilitation was examined, using a repetition priming paradigm. Results indicate that inhibition occurred only in the immediately successive trial, whereas facilitation accumulated over several trials with location repetition. Moreover, inhibition and facilitation occurred in a task-relevant manner: Detection-location discrimination tasks produced transient RT increase, whereas feature discrimination tasks produced cumulative RT decrease. These results suggest a functional dissociation between spatial orienting and feature analysis, as well as top-down modulations by tasks leading to different types of visual memory.     

An encoding advantage for own-race versus other-race faces

Studies have shown that individuals are better able to recognise the faces of people from their own race than the faces of people from other races. Although the so-called own-race effect has been generally regarded as an advantage in recognition memory, differences in the processing of the own-race versus other-race faces might also be found at the earlier stages of perceptual encoding. In this study, the perceptual basis of the own-race effect was investigated by generating a continuum of images by morphing an East Asian parent face with a Caucasian parent face. In a same/different discrimination task, East Asian and Caucasian participants judged whether the morph faces were physically identical to, or different from, their parent faces. The results revealed a significant race-of-participant by race-of-face interaction such that East Asian participants were better able to discriminate East Asian faces, whereas Caucasian participants were better able to discriminate Caucasian faces. These results indicate that an own-race advantage occurs at the encoding stage of face processing.     

A second Leonardo da Vinci?

We describe a young woman who suddenly began mirror writing with her right hand and has not reverted to normal writing for more than 6 years, although she writes normally with her left hand. She is ambidextrous, although she had previously used only her right hand for writing and drawing. Since it is much easier for her to use right-handed mirror writing, she uses her left hand only for writing meant to be read by others and her right hand for all other writing. Her hobbies are sculpture and painting, and her chief complaint is migraine accompanied by sensory and perceptive disturbances.     

The body-inversion effect

Researchers argue that faces are recognized via the configuration of their parts. An important behavioral finding supporting this claim is the face-inversion effect, in which inversion impairs recognition of faces more than nonface objects. Until recently, faces were the only class of objects producing the inversion effect for untrained individuals. This study investigated whether the inversion effect extends to human body positions, a class of objects whose exemplars are structurally similar to each other. Three experiments compared the recognition of upright and inverted faces, houses, and body positions using a forced-choice, same/different paradigm. For both reaction time and error data, the recognition of possible human body postures was more affected by inversion than the recognition of houses. Further, the recognition of possible human body postures and recognition of faces showed similar effects of inversion. The inversion effect was diminished for impossible body positions that violated the biomechanical constraints of human bodies. These data suggest that human body positions, like faces, may be processed configurally by untrained viewers.