Sensitivity to aversive events in depression: Antecedent,concomitant, or consequent?

This study tested whether sensitivity to aversive events is a concomitant versus antecedent/consequent of depression. Twenty currently depressed subjects, twenty subjects with remitted depression, and twenty control subjects completed psychophysiological and learning tasks involving aversive components. Both currently depressed and remitted subjects, when compared to control subjects, exhibited greater decreases in skin resistance response reactions to negative social scenes and a greater sensitivity to extinction in the learning condition involving an aversive component. The fact that the responses of remitted subjects were very similar to those of currently depressed subjects on both tasks is consistent with the view that sensitivity to aversive events is an antecedent or consequent of depression, as opposed to being only a concomitant. The results also provide some support for the passive avoidance model of depression.This study was based on portions of a doctoral dissertation by the first author, with the second author as chairperson, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.This research was aided by a Grant-in-Aid of Research to the first author from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, an award from the Jill Shelby Memorial Fund to the first author, and support from National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH17071, awarded to C. R. Snyder.Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, August 1989, and at the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Washington, DC, November, 1989.     

Aging, expertise, and narrative processing.

In a study of how aviation expertise influences age differences in narrative processing, young and older pilots and nonpilots read and recalled aviation and general narratives. They chose referents for sentences referring to a protagonist or minor character mentioned 1 sentence (recent character) or 3 sentences (distant character) before this target sentence. All groups chose referents less accurately for sentences about distant and minor characters than about recent and protagonist characters, perhaps because these referents were less likely to be in working memory. Young readers and pilots were more accurate for distant and minor character target sentences in aviation narratives, and recalled aviation narratives more accurately. Expertise did not reduce age differences. Expertise differences may reflect decreased demands on working memory capacity, and age declines may reflect reduced capacity.     

An educational program to overcome language and cultural barriers to genetic services

Providing genetic services to families who do not speak English and whose cultures are quite diverse presents a unique challenge to genetic specialists. One approach that is being employed successfully is the use of specially trained genetic assistants to provide outreach, case finding, referral, support, interpretation, advocacy, and follow-up counseling. A basic genetic assistant training program for five bicultural/bilingual Southeast Asian case managers is described. The course syllabus can be used to train health workers who represent a variety of cultures and languages.     

The effects of experimental variables on the perception of American English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese listeners

The effects of variations in response categories, subjects’ perception of natural speech, and stimulus range on the identification of American English /r/ and /l/ by native speakers of Japanese were investigated. Three experiments using a synthesized /rait/-/lait/ series showed that all these variables affected identification and discrimination performance by Japanese-subjects. Furthermore, some of the perceptual characteristics of /r/ and /l/ for Japanese listeners were clarified: (1) Japanese listeners identified some of the stimuli of the series-as/w/.(2). Apositive correlation between the perception of synthesized stimuli and naturally-spoken stimuli was found. Japanese listeners who were able to easily identify naturally spoken stimuli perceived the synthetic series categorically but still perceived a /w/ category on the series. (3) The stimulus range showed a striking effect on identification consistency; identification of /r/ and /l/ was strongly affected by the stimulus range, the /w/ identification less so. This indicates that Japanese listeners tend to make relative judgments between /r/ and /l/.     

Electronic maps for terminal area navigation: effects of frame of reference and dimensionality

Two experiments are reported that contrast rotating versus fixed electronic map displays, which pilots used for a simulated approach to a landing. In Experiment 1, a rotating versus fixed-map display was experimentally crossed with a two-dimensional (2D) versus three-dimensional (3D) view (perspective map) as pilots' ability to maintain the flight path and demonstrate awareness of the location of surrounding terrain features were assessed. Rotating displays supported better flight path guidance and did not substantially harm performance on terrain awareness tasks. 3D displays led to a substantial cost for vertical control but did not differ from 2D displays in lateral control. In Experiment 2, pilots flew with the rotating 2D display and with an improved version of the rotating 3D display, designed to reduce the ambiguity of representing altitude information. Vertical control improved as a result of the 3D display design improvement, but lateral control did not. The results are discussed in terms of the costs and benefits of presenting information in 3D, ego-referenced format for both flight path control and terrain awareness.     

A computer-controlled administration of the matching familiar figures test

The Kagan Matching Familiar Figures Test of Impulsivity/Reflectivity was modified to allow computer control of stimulus presentation and data acquisition via IBM-compatible systems. The comparability of computer administration and traditional hand administration was examined in a split-half study with a sample of 58 students (ages, 18–39 years). Analyses of variance revealed no significant differences between the administration techniques for latency and a small but significant difference for accuracy. Correlations between the two administration techniques were .61 for latency and .40 for error scores. Internal consistency coefficients for computer administration exceeded those for hand administration on both latency and accuracy. These data compare favorably with results reported by others and suggest that computer administration offers a viable alternative to traditional hand administration of the MFFT in research applications.     

The relationship between religiosity and health-risk factors in geriatrics

Background: This study investigates the relationship between religion and alcohol use, sedentary life style, and tobacco use. A survey of 990 noninstitutionalized persons 62 years of age and older was completed. Five life-style questions, three religious questions, and patient demographic information were studied. Results and conclusions were clear. Persons who are married, above the poverty level, non-white, and male are more likely to use alcohol. Subjects with sedentary life styles are more likely to be older, single, non-white, and female. Smokers are more likely to be below the poverty line and non-white. Finally, the relationship between religion and health risks seems minimal, possibly because of a selection bias.     

RELATIVISM AND ANTI-REALISM

I characterise a relativist account of truth as one according to which the truth value of a sentence can vary without its meaning changing. Relativism is to be contrasted with absolutism, which states that the truth values of sentences cannot change, so long as their meanings remain constant. I argue that absolutism follows from the realist account of meaning and truth conditions. According to realism, the meaning of a sentence consists in objective truth conditions and sentences are true if and only if certain objective conditions obtain. Relativism is a consequence of anti-realism. Anti-realists believe that the meanings of sentences consist in recognisable conditions and that sentences are true if and only if certain recognisable conditions obtain. I contrast the sorts of relativism which results from partial, empiricism-based anti-realisms, and global anti-realism, which is linked to a coherence theory of knowledge. I offer a few remarks on how global anti-realists can restrict the scope of their relativism.