Estimating time to contact and impact velocity when catching an accelerating object with the hand

To catch a moving object with the hand requires precise coordination between visual information about the target's motion and the muscle activity necessary to prepare for the impact. A key question remains open as to if and how a human observer uses velocity and acceleration information when controlling muscles in anticipation of impact. Participants were asked to catch the moving end of a swinging counterweighted pendulum, and resulting muscle activities in the arm were measured. The authors also simulated muscle activities that would be produced according to different tuning strategies. By comparing data with simulations, the authors provide evidence that human observers use online information about velocity but not acceleration when preparing for impact.     

Lower level mediation in multilevel models

Multilevel models are increasingly used to estimate models for hierarchical and repeated measures data. The authors discuss a model in which there is mediation at the lower level and the mediational links vary randomly across upper level units. One repeated measures example is a case in which a person's daily stressors affect his or her coping efforts, which affect his or her mood, and both links vary randomly across persons. Where there is mediation at the lower level and the mediational links vary randomly across upper level units, the formulas for the indirect effect and its standard error must be modified to include the covariance between the random effects. Because no standard method can estimate such a model, the authors developed an ad hoc method that is illustrated with real and simulated data. Limitations of this method and characteristics of an ideal method are discussed.     

A systematic review of the traits and cognitions associated with use of and belief in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is widespread despite the controversy over its effectiveness. Although previous reviews have examined the demographics and attitudes of CAM users, there is no existing review on the traits or cognitions which characterise either CAM users or those who believe in CAM effectiveness. The current systematic review set out to address these gaps in the literature by applying a narrative synthesis. A bibliographic search and manual searches were undertaken and key authors were contacted. Twenty-three papers were selected. The trait openness to experience was positively associated with CAM use but not CAM belief. Absorption and various types of coping were also positively associated with CAM use and belief. No other trait was reliably associated with CAM use or belief. Intuitive thinking and ontological confusions were positively associated with belief in CAM effectiveness; intuitive thinking was also positively associated with CAM use. Studies researching cognitions in CAM use/belief were mostly on non-clinical samples, whilst studies on traits and CAM use/belief were mostly on patients. The quality of studies varied but unrepresentative samples, untested outcome measures and simplistic statistical analyses were the most common flaws. Traits and cognition might be important correlates of CAM use and also of faith in CAM.     

Psychological therapy in prisons: Professionals’ perceptions

This study explored professionals’ perceptions of providing psychological therapy in prisons. Eight professionals, affiliated with counselling as well as counselling, clinical and forensic psychology, were interviewed. A social constructionist paradigm was used to understand how social and discursive practices shaped professionals’ accounts, allowing for critical engagement with taken-for-granted practices. Participants’ accounts were analysed using a social constructionist informed thematic analysis. Four themes were constructed: (a) performing therapy, (b) humanising the client, (c) frames inside frames and (d) a challenging but rewarding experience. The findings of this investigation indicated that therapy provision was interwoven with the socio-political ideals governing prison, which created a conflict between therapeutic values and penal values. This conflict has important implications for establishing and maintaining ethical and deontological practices in prison, particularly surrounding the dynamics power. The study indicated it is important for professionals to monitor and manage potential stigma and discrimination within therapy or service delivery. The results also found that working in prisons is a complex experience, which requires careful consideration for enhancing professional development for the prison therapist.     

Negativity,Finitude, and the Leap in Heidegger's Contributions to Philosophy

This article examines Heidegger's assessment of negativity and finitude in the late 1930s and his enlargement of these issues in the name of a leap from one type of philosophy, one type of beginning, to a wholly other beginning. The guiding concerns of this article are negativity, finitude and the leap, and how these overlapping concerns coalesce around Heidegger's attempts to move towards a wholly other type of philosophy; in fact, one which no longer understands itself to be philosophy at all. The article concludes with a discussion of the role of death, sacrifice, and mourning in Heidegger's thought in the 1930s.     

Differential short-term memorisation for vocal and instrumental rhythms

This study explores differential processing of vocal and instrumental rhythms in short-term memory with three decision (same/different judgments) and one reproduction experiment. In the first experiment, memory performance declined for delayed versus immediate recall, with accuracy for the two rhythms being affected differently: Musicians performed better than non-musicians on clapstick but not on vocal rhythms, and musicians were better on vocal rhythms in the same than in the different condition. Results for the second experiment showed that concurrent sub-vocal articulation and finger-tapping differentially affected the two rhythms and same/different decisions, but produced no evidence for articulatory loop involvement in delayed decision tasks. In a third experiment, which tested rhythm reproduction, concurrent sub-vocal articulation decreased memory performance, with a stronger deleterious effect on the reproduction of vocal than of clapstick rhythms. This suggests that the articulatory loop may only be involved in delayed reproduction not in decision tasks. The fourth experiment tested whether differences between filled and empty rhythms (continuous vs. discontinuous sounds) can explain the different memorisation of vocal and clapstick rhythms. Though significant differences were found for empty and filled instrumental rhythms, the differences between vocal and clapstick can only be explained by considering additional voice specific features.     

Self‐Regulation and Power: How Self‐Regulatory Failures Can Enhance Social Power

Low self‐control is often associated with poor life outcomes. Here, we propose that self‐control failures may also provide social benefits by signaling and maintaining power. We identify several pathways by which reduced self‐control can assist in ascending social hierarchies. First, the self‐enhancing tendencies adopted by people with low self‐control may contribute to making positive first impressions and advertising power to new acquaintances. The direct and disinhibited communication styles that stem from self‐control failures may also enhance power and lubricate difficult social interactions. Disinhibited aggression can help people maintain and acquire material resources and establish dominance over rivals. Finally, the parallels between the behavior of people with low self‐control and people with power (e.g., self‐enhancement, disinhibition, approach‐orientation, aggression) suggest that people with impaired self‐control will be perceived as more powerful than people with intact self‐control. Evidence for these propositions and directions for future research are discussed.     

Effects of social support visibility on adjustment to stress: experimental evidence

Previous fieldwork has suggested that visible social support can entail an emotional cost and that a supportive act is most effective when it is accomplished either (a) outside of recipients' awareness or (b) within their awareness but with sufficient subtlety that they do not interpret it as support. To investigate the latter phenomenon, the authors conducted 3 experiments in which female participants were led to expect a stressful speech task and a confederate peer provided support in such a way that it was either visible or invisible (N=257). Invisible support (practical and emotional) reduced emotional reactivity relative to visible and no support. Visible support was either ineffective or it exacerbated reactivity. Explanatory analyses indicated that support was effective when it avoided communicating a sense of inefficacy to recipients.