Measures of spatial memory and routes of learning

Spatial memory was investigated in two experiments by direct methods. Methods included scaling of distances, estimation of bearings, and positioning of objects. Participants learned small-scale configurations under different orders of presentation. In Exp. 1, routes included a shortest path, i.e., a traveling salesman solution, a random sequence, and a path that maximized distances. In Exp. 2, spatial and temporal distances varied independently. It was analyzed whether the different methods yielded the same information. For bearing estimates a new scaling procedure was developed. Computations resulted in two-dimensional Euclidean solutions in close correspondence with the stimulus configuration. In addition, solutions showed an effect of temporal conditions of learning.     

Minority influence and musical preference: Innovation by conversion not coercion

Studied the effect of social categorization, strength of influence and predisposition to influence on social influence concerning musical preferences. One-hundred and sixty-eight French adolescents (age 15 years) were assigned to the eight conditions of a 2 (social categorization: majority/minority) × 2 (strength of influence: strong/weak) × 2 (predisposition to influence: pervious/impervious) design. Influence source was an opinion poll based on pupils from two types of secondary school. Direct influence was exerted from ‘hard-rock’ to ‘new wave’ music; indirect influence was measured by subjects' preferences for hard-rock versus ‘contemporary’ music. Ratings of the source were also elicited. Analyses of variance revealed indirect influence to be significantly greater with the minority than the majority source (p < 0.02). Indirect influence was especially high for subjects with a clear predisposition to influence and when the influence was weak (p < 0.0005). Further analyses confirmed the effect to be due to the actual numbers of subjects influenced. The study thus demonstrated the generalizability of the ‘conversion’ notion (minority influence on an indirect level) from numerical to social minorities.     

An empirical classification of non-violent offenders using the MMPI

MMPI protocols of 87 non-violent male offenders were cluster analysed on eight experimental scales. Four clusters emerged. These were compared with the findings from 105 prisoners with convictions for violence. Clusters tended to be similar across the two samples with the exception of the ‘Inhibited’ offender. This non-violent group tended to be less psychiatrically disturbed, as well as less introverted, anxious and hostile than its corresponding violent cluster.     

Relational information processing of novel unrelated actions by infants

Declarative memory in infants is often assessed via deferred imitation. Not much is known about the information processing basis of the memory effect found in these experiments. While in the typical deferred imitation study the order of actions remains the same during demonstration and retrieval, in two experiments with n=30 respective n=25, 10- and 11-month-old infants, the order of novel unrelated actions in demonstration and retrieval was varied (same, reversed, mixed). This allowed a separation of item-specific from item-relational information processing. In both experiments best memory performance was found when the order of target actions remained the same during encoding and recall, demonstrating that infants seem to rely on item-specific as well as item-relational information which has to be ad hoc constructed while encoding.     

Rapid facial reactions to emotional facial expressions

This study explored how rapidly emotion specific facial muscle reactions were elicited when subjects were exposed to pictures of angry and happy facial expressions. In three separate experiments, it was found that distinctive facial electromyographic reactions, i.e., greater Zygomaticus major muscle activity in response to happy than to angry stimuli and greater Corrugator supercilii muscle activity in response to angry stimuli, were detectable after only 300–400 ms of exposure. These findings demonstrate that facial reactions are quickly elicited, indicating that expressive emotional reactions can be very rapidly manifested and are perhaps controlled by fast operating facial affect programs.     

When a threat to the brand is a threat to the self: the importance of brand identification and implicit self-esteem in predicting defensiveness

This research examines how people respond when a commercial brand they identify with is threatened. Across four studies, the authors found that among participants who identified with a brand, a threat to the brand elicited the same responses as a threat to the self. Specifically, participants with low implicit self-esteem defended the brand when the self was activated, unlike their high implicit self-esteem counterparts. In addition, brand defense was reduced when individuals had the opportunity to affirm a valued aspect of their self-concept. These findings suggest that when a brand that people identify with is threatened, they may defend the brand to preserve the integrity of the self. More broadly, these findings are consistent with the notion that brands may be included into the extended self-concept, which supports William James's original ideas concerning the breadth and heterogeneity of the self.     

Can a Scientist Be a Young,Attractive Woman? The Stereotype of a Scientist and the Lexical Choices of Women and Men

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - The question of the conformance of a researcher’s features to the stereotype of a scientist is rarely addressed in the context of scientific research....     

Top-down search strategies determine attentional capture in visual search: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

To investigate how attentional capture in visual search is affected by generalized top-down search strategies, ERPs and behavioral performance were measured in two experiments where spatially nonpredictive color singleton cues preceded visual search arrays that contained one of two equally likely color singletons. When both singletons served as targets, irrelevant-color singleton cues produced behavioral attentional capture effects and elicited an N2pc component, indicative of a singleton search mode. When responses were required to only one of the two color singletons, the same cues no longer elicited behavioral spatial cuing effects, and the N2pc to these cues was attenuated and delayed, in line with the hypothesis that search was now guided by a feature-specific search strategy. Results demonstrate that the ability of visual singleton stimuli to capture attention is not simply determined by their bottom-up salience, but strongly modulated by top-down task sets.     

Zur Häufigkeit der Schuldfähigkeitsbegutachtung von Sexualstraftätern im Erkenntnisverfahren

This study investigated how often and depending on which factors sexual offenders are examined by mental health experts regarding their criminal responsibility. Out of a total of 306 legal charges against sex offenders accused of child sexual abuse (CSA: n?=?145), rape or sexual assault (n?=?89), exhibitionism (n?=?39), sexual abuse of adolescents, mentally defective, physically helpless or warded persons (n?=?18) that were admitted by a criminal court in 2001 in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, 209 (95.6 %) were analyzed regarding the following questions: how often was the accused examined by a mental health professional regarding mental responsibility? Was the chance of being examined systematically related to certain factors (e.g., personality of the accused)? Expert advice regarding the mental responsibility of the accused was obtained by the court in only 34 cases (11.7 %). No systematic relationships of personal variables as well as the modus operandi and the chance of commissioning a mental health expert were found. The main reason for assigning a forensic expert opinion was the vague impression of a psychic disorder. Re-offending increased the rate of a mental health examination only in CSA (34.6 % of re-offenders were examined compared to 9.2 % of first-time offenders), but not in rape or sexual assault. Also age does not predict the commissioning of an expert opinion. Only one fifth of all accused below the age of 21 were investigated by a mental health professional. Results are discussed in terms of legal background, consequences for risk assessment and relapse prevention.