The failure to detect tactile change: A tactile analogue of visual change blindness

A large body of empirical research now shows that people are surprisingly poor at detecting significant changes in visually presented scenes. This phenomenon is known aschange blindness in vision. A similar phenomenon occurs in audition, but to date no such effect has been documented in touch. In the present study, we explored the ability of people to detect changes introduced between two consecutively presented vibrotactile patterns presented over the body surface. The patterns consisted of two or three vibrotactile stimuli presented for 200 msec. The position of one of the vibrotactile stimuli composing the display was repeatedly changed (alternating between two different positions) on 50% of the trials, but the same pattern was presented repeatedly on the remaining trials. Three conditions were investigated: No interval between the patterns, an empty interval between the patterns, and a masked interval between the patterns. Change detection was near perfect in the no-interval block. Performance deteriorated somewhat in the empty-interval block, but by far the worst change detection performance occurred in the masked-interval block. These results demonstrate that “change blindness” can also affect tactile perception.     

The rhetorician's craft, distinctions in science, and political morality

In his response to Szasz' Secular Humanism and Scientific Psychiatry, the author considers the use of rhetorical devices in Szasz' work, Szasz' avoidance of acknowledging psychiatry's scientific distinctions, and Szaszian libertarianism versus liberalism.     

Behavioural inhibition, anxious symptoms, and depressive symptoms: a short-term prospective examination of a diathesis-stress model

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between behavioural inhibition (BI) and anxious symptoms within a diathesis-stress framework, using a short-term prospective design. In addition, we examined whether BI acts as a specific vulnerability to anxious symptoms, or as a common vulnerability to both anxious and depressive symptoms. At time 1, 384 children in grades 3 through 6 completed self-report measures of BI, anxious symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Six weeks later, they completed self-report measures of hassles, anxious symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Results demonstrated that children with high BI who experienced high levels of hassles during the 6-week follow-up interval showed increases in anxious symptoms, but not depressive symptoms.     

The effect of encoding time on retention by infants and young children

Using a Visual Recognition Memory (VRM) procedure, we examined the effect of encoding time on retention by 1- and 4-year olds. Irrespective of age, shorter familiarization time reduced retention, and longer familiarization time prolonged retention. The amount of familiarization that yielded retention after a given delay decreased as a function of age.     

The cumulative semantic cost does not reflect lexical selection by competition

The cumulative semantic cost describes a phenomenon in which picture naming latencies increase monotonically with each additional within-category item that is named in a sequence of pictures. Here we test whether the cumulative semantic cost requires the assumption of lexical selection by competition. In Experiment 1 participants named a sequence of pictures, while in Experiment 2 participants named words instead of pictures, preceded by a gender marked determiner. We replicate the basic cumulative semantic cost with pictures (Exp. 1) and show that there is no cumulative semantic cost for word targets (Exp. 2). This pattern was replicated in Experiment 3 in which pictures and words were named along with their gender marked definite determiner, and were intermingled within the same experimental design. In addition, Experiment 3 showed that while picture naming induces a cumulative semantic cost for subsequently named words, word naming does not induce a cumulative semantic cost for subsequently named pictures. These findings suggest that the cumulative semantic cost arises prior to lexical selection and that the effect arises due to incremental changes to the connection weights between semantic and lexical representations.     

The role of comorbid disruptive behavior in the clinical expression of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder

This study explored the impact of disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) comorbidity on a number of theoretically relevant outcomes among 192 children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Youth were divided into three groups: OCD Only, OCD+DBD comorbidity and OCD+Other comorbidity. Relative to those without a comorbid condition and those with any non-DBD comorbidity, comorbid DBD was associated with greater family accommodation and less symptom resistance. Youth with comorbid DBD exhibited greater OCD symptom severity, OCD-related impairment, anxiety, and internalizing problems than those with no comorbidity. Those with comorbid DBD were over 3.6 times as likely to be taking an atypical antipsychotic medication relative to children without comorbidity. The present results suggest that comorbid DBD contributes to more severe illness presentation above and beyond an OCD diagnosis alone, and may be associated with differing pharmacotherapy prescribing practices.     

Passive‐Submissive and Active‐Emotional Trait Dependency: Evidence for a Two‐Factor Model

ABSTRACT Dependency plays an important role in both normal and abnormal personality, but the construct remains loosely defined, both in clinical practice and the research literature. Moreover, although a number of measures purport to measure trait dependency, little agreement exists as to the structure of dependency within or across these instruments. Furthermore, what constitutes the low end of trait dependency remains unclear. Five hundred nine undergraduates completed a battery of 14 dependency scales and subscales, a subset of whom (n=322) also completed a broad measure of personality pathology (SNAP‐2). Exploratory factor analysis of the dependency measures yielded two correlated factors—Passive‐Submissive and Active‐Emotional dependency—as well as a third, unrelated factor, Detachment/Autonomy, all with differential correlates to the pathological personality traits of the SNAP‐2. Taken together, these data suggest a clear, 2‐factor model for trait dependency that is distinct from detachment/autonomy.     

The contingent a priori and the publicity of a priori knowledge

Kripke maintains that one who stipulatively introduces the term ‘one meter’ as a rigid designator for the length of a certain stick s at time t is in a position to know a priori that if s exists at t then the length of s at t is one meter. Some (e.g., Soames 2003) have objected to this alleged instance of the contingent a priori on the grounds that the stipulator's knowledge would have to be based in part on substantive metalinguistic knowledge. I examine Soames's argument for the a posteriority of the relevant metalinguistic knowledge, and I argue that its main premise is false.     

Characterisation of magnesium oxide and its interface with α-Mg in Mg–Al-based alloys

Magnesium oxide (MgO) films and particles have been collected by pressurised filtration of a Mg-8.6wt%Al-0.67wt%Zn (AZ91D) alloy melt. The morphology of the oxides and their interfaces with the α-Mg phase were investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the oxide films consisted of large numbers of sub-micrometre-sized MgO particles, and that melt shearing can effectively break up the oxide films and disperse the oxide particles. For the first time, orientation relationships (ORs) of OR I: [1?1?1]_MgO～2° from (0?0?0?1)_α-Mg and (0?1?1)_MgO?//[2?1?1?0)_α-Mg; and OR II: (1?1?1)_MgO//(1?1?0?1)_α-Mg and [0?1?1]_MgO//[1?2?1?1]_α-Mg, were observed between the MgO particles and the α-Mg matrix. The calculated Bramfitt planar disregistries were 5.5% and 2.5% for the two ORs, respectively, indicating good lattice matching between MgO and α-Mg at the interface. With the evidence of grain refinement effect observed in the sheared AZ91D magnesium alloy, the possibility of MgO particles to act as potent nucleants for heterogeneous nucleation of α-Mg grains is discussed in terms of the crystallographic criterion.