The relationships between processing facial identity,emotional expression,facial speech,and gaze direction during development

Four experiments were conducted with 5- to 11-year-olds and adults to investigate whether facial identity, facial speech, emotional expression, and gaze direction are processed independently of or in interaction with one another. In a computer-based, speeded sorting task, participants sorted faces according to facial identity while disregarding facial speech, emotional expression, and gaze direction or, alternatively, according to facial speech, emotional expression, and gaze direction while disregarding facial identity. Reaction times showed that children and adults were able to direct their attention selectively to facial identity despite variations of other kinds of face information, but when sorting according to facial speech and emotional expression, they were unable to ignore facial identity. In contrast, gaze direction could be processed independently of facial identity in all age groups. Apart from shorter reaction times and fewer classification errors, no substantial change in processing facial information was found to be correlated with age. We conclude that adult-like face processing routes are employed from 5 years of age onward.     

Verified Hormone Therapy Improves Episodic Memory Performance in Healthy Postmenopausal Women

ABSTRACT

Studies of hormone therapy (HT) and cognition have yielded conflicting results. The aim of this observational study was to examine the effect of estradiol, via serum verified HT (estradiol, estriol, progesterone) and endogenous estradiol, on 108 healthy postmenopausal women's cognitive performance. The results demonstrated that the 43 HT-users performed at a significantly higher level than non-users on episodic memory tasks and on a verbal fluency task, whereas HT-users and non-users did not differ on tasks assessing semantic memory and spatial visualization. In addition, there was a positive relationship between serum estradiol level and episodic memory performance, indicating that postmenopausal HT is associated with enhanced episodic memory and verbal fluency, independent of age and education. These observational results suggest that HT use may be sufficient to exert small, yet positive effects on female sensitive cognitive tasks. Hormone therapy compliance and formulation is discussed as confounding factors in previous research.     

Understanding the Perception of Islamic Medicine Among the Malaysian Muslim Community

This study was conducted to identify and describe the patients’ perceptions of Islamic medicine based on gender, age, marital, educational level and working status among the Malaysian Muslim population. A nationwide interviewer-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in 2013. An open-ended questionnaire pertaining to Islamic medicine was used to increase the probability of capturing maximum data. This survey implemented a multistage design, stratified by state, proportionate to the size of the state population and was representative of the Malaysian population. Post-survey classification of results was performed accordingly. Complex data analysis was carried out using SPSS 16.0. The discussion was identified and categorised into various sections. The paper concludes that Islamic medicine has a major influence in the Malaysian Muslim community compared to other alternatives. Further, its potential for growth and importance especially for treating spiritual ailments cannot be denied. The respondents indicated that two factors motivate Islamic medicine in Malaysia: (1) the Muslim community opts for alternative healing because of their dissatisfaction with conventional methods; (2) Islamic medicine focuses only on healing spiritual-related problems. The average perception of respondents is that the function of Islamic medicine in healing physical diseases is undervalued and that it is not suitable to replace the functions of modern health institutions.     

Emotion Dysregulation,Mentalization and Romantic Attachment in the Nonclinical Adolescent Female Sample

The main goal of the current study is to verify the relationships between emotion dysregulation, mentalization, and romantic attachment in late adolescent girls (N = 120). Adolescence is a very dynamic and sensitive period, in which many changes occur in attachment and emotion regulation. The role of the primary attachment figures is gradually taken over by peers, and the beginnings of the development of romantic attachment are seen. In summary, this study was able to determine that the level of dysregulation of emotions in girls during late adolescence can be partially explained by mentalization and levels of anxiety (though not of avoidance) regarding a romantic partner, though attachment anxiety is more important for explaining emotion dysregulation than the level of mentalization. Only two aspects of emotion dysregulation show relationships with mentalization: nonacceptance of emotional responses and lack of emotional clarity. Adolescence is considered to be a critical period for interventions to protect against the onset of psychopathology. Confirmation of these relationships appears to be important for the design of therapeutic interventions. Our findings may suggest that attachment patterns, mentalization and emotion dysregulation may be good targets for therapeutic intervention in adolescence.     

A Case for Theorizing Relevance: A New Entry Point to Indian Classical Political Philosophy

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - The west-centrism in approaching the knowledge systems of east has been sufficiently highlighted and problematized. This paper argues that the...     

Nostalgia for Communist Times and Autobiographical Memory: Negative Present or Positive Past?

Twenty‐five years after the fall of communism in Poland, a considerable number of citizens manifest nostalgia for the communist times. In this article, we approach this phenomenon within the framework of autobiographical memory and decide between two sets of hypotheses, one predicting that postcommunist nostalgia is experienced mostly by people who are dissatisfied with the present time (transformation “losers”) and the other predicting that it is the memory of the happy and most recollected past, and memories of particular decades of communism, that mostly trigger nostalgia. The study, carried out on a representative sample of Poles who remembered communism, provided stronger confirmation of the “negative present” hypothesis, but the positive past is also shown to matter. The decade of communism whose memory turned out to predict nostalgia the best was the 1980s and not, as predicted, the 1970s.     

Color-Conscious Multicultural Mindfulness Training in the Counseling Field

The Color-Conscious Multicultural Mindfulness (CCMM) training focuses on addressing intercultural relationship ruptures, individual inequity, and systemic disparities. In this randomized control study, the authors examined the CCMM training effectiveness with 39 prelicensed counselors and counseling students using repeated measures analyses of covariance. Participants reported statistically significant changes in multicultural competence; mindfulness; and color-blind racial attitudes related to privilege, institutional discrimination, and blatant racism. Implications for counselor training practices and future research are provided.     

When does math anxiety in parents and teachers predict math anxiety and math achievement in elementary school children? The role of gender and grade year

Social Psychology of Education - The study investigated the relationship between math anxiety in parents and teachers and math anxiety and math achievement in first- to third-grade children. The...     

Letter-detection patterns in German: A window to the early extraction of sentential structure during reading

Letters are more difficult to detect in function words than in content words, presumably because function words serve to cue sentential structure but recede to the background as meaning unfolds. This function disadvantage was found for the definite article in German for all three genders and all four cases, but it was more pronounced when the article appeared in a nominative noun phrase than in an object noun phrase. It was also more pronounced for the typical subject-predicate-object sentential format than for the object-predicate-subject sentential format and also when the definite article unequivocally specified the case of a phrase than when it was ambiguous. The results suggest that the structural frames established on line in reading are finely tuned to both phrase-level and sentence-level organization.