Categories and Levels of Reality

The discussion of the relation of levels of reality to categories is important because categories have often been interpreted as constituting levels of reality. This article explores whether this view is correct, and argues it is not. Categories as such should not be understood to constitute levels of reality, although particular categories may. The article begins with a discussion of levels of reality and then turns to specific questions about categories and how they are related to these levels.     

BOLD activation varies parametrically with corner angle throughout human retinotopic cortex

The Alternating Brightness Star (ABS) is an illusion that provides insight into the relationship between brightness perception and corner angle. Recent psychophysical studies of this illusion have shown that corner salience varies parametrically with corner angle, with sharp angles leading to strong illusory percepts and shallow angles leading to weak percepts. It is hypothesized that the illusory effects arise because of an interaction between surface corners and the shape of visual receptive fields: sharp surface corners may create hotspots of high local contrast due to processing by center-surround and other early receptive fields. If this hypothesis is correct, early visual neurons should respond powerfully to sharp corners and curved portions of surface edges. Indeed, the primary role of early visual neurons may be to localize the discontinuities along the edges of surfaces. If so, all early visual areas should show greater BOLD responses to sharp corners than to shallow corners. On the other hand, if corner processing is exclusively constrained to certain areas of the brain, only those specific areas will show greater responses to sharp vs shallow corners. To address this we explored the BOLD correlates of the ABS illusion in the human visual cortex using fMRI. We found that BOLD signal varies parametrically with corner angle throughout the visual cortex, offering the first neurophysiological correlates of the ABS illusion. This finding provides a neurophysiological basis for the previously reported psychophysical data that showed that corner salience varied parametrically with corner angle. We propose that all early visual areas localize discontinuities along the edges of surfaces, and that specific cortical corner-processing circuits further establish the specific nature of those discontinuities, such as their orientation.     

Statutory reform is associated with improved court practice: results of a tri-state comparison

PURPOSE: This study investigates the impact of statutory reform in adult guardianship on court practice. METHODS: Case files for 298 cases of adult guardianship were reviewed in three states with varying degrees of statutory reform: MA (no reform), PA (major amendments in 1992), and CO (full re-enactment of statute per UGPPA in 2000). Five court practices associated with progressive statutory reform were studied: (1) diversion to less restrictive alternatives; (2) minimal and appropriate use of emergency procedures; (3) presence of the alleged incapacitated person at the hearing; (4) use of functional evaluation; (5) use of limited orders. RESULTS: CO more frequently utilized all five practices, whereas PA used diversion to less restrictive alternatives and less frequent emergency procedures, but not other practices. MA files rarely showed evidence for use of any of these reforms. IMPLICATIONS: Statutory reform may improve court practice. More study of the effects of reform on court practices, and the vulnerable adults served by these courts, is needed.     

Are indigenous personality dimensions culture-specific? Mexican inventories and the Five-Factor Model

The universality versus cultural specificity of Mexican personality dimensions was investigated by examining: (a) the replicability of Mexican personality dimensions assessed by indigenous inventories; and (b) the extent to which Mexican dimensions are encompassed by the Five-Factor Model (FFM), one hypothesized universal model of personality structure. Mexican university students (N = 794) completed nine indigenous inventories and the Spanish version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. The FFM replicated well, although reliability was poor for a few facet scales. Reliability was acceptable for the indigenous Mexican scales. However, for most indigenous instruments, a cross-sample replication criterion suggested alternative structures of fewer, more replicable dimensions. Multiple regression and joint factor analyses revealed that most of the Mexican dimensions were well subsumed by the FFM. Thus, cultural differences did not involve clearly culture-specific dimensions, but more subtle differences in the salience or cultural flavor of particular traits.     

Brain c-Fos immunocytochemistry and cytochrome oxidase histochemistry after a fear conditioning task

The involvement of the basolateral and the medial amygdala in fear conditioning was evaluated using different markers of neuronal activation. The method described here is a combination of cytochrome oxidase (CO) histochemistry and c-Fos immunocytochemistry on fresh frozen brain sections. Freezing behavior was used as an index of auditory and contextual fear conditioning. As expected, freezing scores were significantly higher in rats exposed to tone-shock pairings in a distinctive environment (conditioned; COND), as compared to rats that did not receive any shocks (UNCD). CO labeling was increased in the basolateral and medial amygdala of the COND group. Conversely, c-Fos expression in the basolateral and medial amygdala was lower in the COND group as compared to the UNCD group. Furthermore, c-Fos expression was particularly high in the medial amygdala of the UNCD group. The data provided by both techniques indicate that these amygdalar nuclei could play different roles on auditory and contextual fear conditioning.     

Job stress and burnout in residential child care workers in Spain

The aim of this study is to identify the variables related to stress and burnout syndrome among child residential care workers, as well as the most problematic areas of their work. A random sample of 257 professionals working in the Residential Child Care sector in Spain was studied by means of the TBQ questionnaire (Teachers' Burnout Questionnaire), adapted to child care workers. The results enabled us to detect the principal sources of job dissatisfaction, as well as revealing a greater incidence of stress than of burnout. Certain personal and work variables displayed relevant relationships with these measures.     

Psychometric properties of the d2 selective attention test in a sample of premature and born-at-term babies

The psychometric properties of the d2 Selective Attention Test are analyzed in two samples of premature ( n = 63) and born-at-term ( n = 78) children. The reliability coefficients (internal consistency) reached values of around .90. Principal components analysis revealed a three-factor structure, which accounts for 58% of the variance, and thus coincides with the number of factors presented in the manual of the Spanish adaptation of the test but not with their composition. Results suggest that the d2 test has adequate psychometric properties both for the global sample and for each sub-sample.     

Psychological Follow-up of Presymptomatic Genetic Testing for Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 2 (SCA2) in Cuba

Presymptomatic testing for spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) in Cuba started five years ago. We have now investigated the psychological impact of test results on 150 individuals at 50% risk for SCA2. In a prospective study, psychological instruments were used to evaluate depression, anxiety and family functioning (1) before testing and (2) one year after disclosure of the test result. One year after, anxiety and depression levels decreased both in carriers and non-carriers, but anxiety decreased significantly more in carriers. Pathological levels of anxiety were seen mostly in members of dysfunctional families, but decreased more in them than in other consultands. Presymptomatic testing thus seems to have been especially beneficial for these testees, possibly due to a greater gain from the psychosocial support received. It would be pertinent to evaluate now the impact of other psychosocial variables and perform longer-term longitudinal studies.     

Glucocorticoid-mediated effects of systemic oxytocin upon memory retrieval

During the last decade, a considerable amount of evidence has accumulated to show that oxytocin (OT) is involved with functions other than its classical roles in reproduction-associated processes, such as social recognition, maternal behavior and neuroendocrine regulation of the stress response. It has been shown, for instance, that post-training systemic administration of oxytocin in mice produces an amnestic effect on the step-through inhibitory avoidance. Since it is still unclear how systemic levels of OT may affect CNS memory processes, our aim here was to investigate the hypothesis that systemic OT effects on memory retrieval might be mediated through an oxytocin-induced decrease in glucocorticoid release. In our first experiment, we have found an amnestic effect of i.p. pre-test 0.4 microg/kg of OT upon memory retrieval in the inhibitory avoidance task (IA); this OT dose was shown to (a) significantly decrease plasma corticosterone levels when compared to the saline group, and (b) not to cause any anxiety effects by itself in a plus-maze task. At last, an ineffective-by-itself dose of dexamethasone was able to reverse the amnestic effect of this OT dose. Our results suggest that the amnestic effect of systemically administered oxytocin upon memory retrieval in the inhibitory avoidance task was probably caused by an oxytocin-induced decrease in glucocorticoid release from the adrenal gland.