A test of the generality of perceptually based categories found in infants: attentional differences toward natural kinds by New World monkeys

A preference to novelty paradigm used to study human infants (Quinn, 2002) examined attention to novel animal pictures at subordinate, basic and superordinate levels in tamarins. First, pairs of pictures were presented in phases, starting with a monkey species (subordinate level) and ending with mammal and dinosaur sets (superordinate levels). After each phase, tests paired novel pictures from the familiarized set with a novel broader category. Look rates toward each picture were coded. Tamarins looked significantly longer at a novel species after being familiarized with a monkey species, a species-specific effect. Subjects attended equivalently to novel primate species after habituation to four monkey species, but looked significantly longer at pictures of mammals, marking a more global-level inclusion and exclusion. Superordinate testing revealed that more novel and diverse sets were differentiated attentionally. The evidence implies that natural categorical representation occurs at an attentional level in primates in ways similar to human infants, and is affected by recent exposure and category variability.     

Factor structure of the brief symptom inventory--18 in adult survivors of childhood cancer: results from the childhood cancer survivor study

The factor structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory--18 (BSI-18; L. R. Derogatis, 2000) was investigated in a sample of adult survivors of childhood cancer enrolled in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS; N = 8,945). An exploratory factor analysis with a randomly chosen subsample supported a 3-factor structure closely corresponding to the 3 BSI-18 subscales: Depression, Anxiety, and Somatization. Confirmatory factor analysis with structural equation modeling validated this 3-dimensional structure in a separate subsample, though an alternative 4-factor model also fit the data. Analysis of the 3-factor model showed consistent fit in male and female participants. Compared with available community-based norms, survivors reported fewer symptoms of psychological distress. Together, results support the hypothesized 3-dimensional structure of the BSI-18 and indicate the measure may be useful in assessing psychological distress in this growing population of cancer survivors.     

Dissociation of two kinds of source attributions

We examined the relationship between two different source attribution errors. One error found primarily in the cognitive psychology literature is the belief that one is an author of an idea when one is not. The other error, reported in the social psychology literature, occurs when people overestimate how long they have known an idea. Although somewhat different, both errors are a form of misappropriation of ideas to oneself. We investigated both attributions and found that when participants performed a more elaborate encoding task, erroneous claims of authorship were reduced but length-of-knowing judgments increased. The results are discussed in terms of the cognitive processing that is likely to give rise to each source attribution.     

Perceived spatial organization of cutaneous patterns on surfaces of the human body in various positions

The perceived spatial organization of cutaneous patterns was examined in three experiments. People identified letters or numbers traced on surfaces of their body when the relative spatial orientations and positions of the body surfaces and of the stimuli were varied. Stimuli on the front or back of the head were perceived with respect to a frame of reference positioned behind those surfaces, independent of the surfaces' position and orientation. This independence may relate to the way in which the sensory apparatus on the front of the head is used in planning action. Stimuli on other surfaces of the head and body were perceived in relation to the position and orientation of the surface with respect to the whole body or trunk (most of which was usually upright). Stimuli on all transverse/horizontal surfaces were perceived with respect to frames of reference associated with the head/upper chest area. These frames were also used for stimuli on frontoparallel surfaces in front of the upper body. These observations may result from the use of "central" frames of reference that are independent of the head and are associated with the upper body. Stimuli on surfaces in other positions and orientations (with two exceptions) were perceived "externally"--that is, in frames of reference directly facing the stimulated surface. The spatial information processing we found may be fairly general because several of our main findings were also observed in very young children and blind adults and in paradigms studying perception by "active touch" and the spatial organization of the motor production of patterns.     

Serial search and comparison of features of imagined and perceived objects

Four experiments studied the spatial information processing involved in making a series of same-different comparisons of features of two objects. When the path between successively compared features on one object was antiparallel with the corresponding path on the other, comparison of a series of features took longer and produced many more errors. These results were observed both when the objects were externally presented and when one object was imagined and the other externally presented. Knowing the location of the next feature seems much more important for effective search than does monitoring the location of the feature used in the preceding comparison. When paths between corresponding features are parallel, search of features of one object may guide search of the other. When the directions between corresponding features are incongruous, search for the next angle may produce a competition for processes or processing resources, or may produce interfering cross-talk between the spatial information processing of the concurrent search tasks. Because of incongruity, as demonstrated in this study, serial search of objects at different orientations is difficult.     

Mirror reversal by blind subjects in cutaneous perception and motor production of letters and numbers

A letter drawn on the forehead is often perceived as its mirror reversal. Similarly, people produce mirror reversals when asked to write a letter on the underside of a table at which they are sitting. We varied the orientation and position of the stimulated or inscribed surface, and found several examples of these two mirror-reversal phenomena in blind subjects (who had no, or very little, visual experience), as well as in sighted subjects. Furthermore, the mirror-reversal rate of the two groups of subjects as a function of orientation and position of the surface was highly correlated. Thus, the mirror-reversal phenomena should be attributed to a nonvisual, spatial cognitive scheme that is perhaps shared by sighted and blind subjects.     

Genetic Testing Considerations in Breast Cancer Patients

Genetic testing is now feasible for a growing number of cancers. Although the implications for unaffected relatives have been widely described, the impact of the tests on affected individuals are often not recognized. We present and discuss four cases that highlight some of the issues—for example, feelings of guilt and anxiety, intrafamilial conflict, and support needs—that may arise in testing affected individuals. We offer some suggestions to aid in the approach to such testing.