Effects of test order and modality on sustained attention in children with epilepsy.

Neurological conditions affect sustained attention, but the effects of modality and interactions with test order have not been examined. In a 2 x 2 (Order x Modality) design using 54 children with chronic epilepsy, performance was compared on an auditory measure (modified Seashore Rhythm Test) versus a visual measure of attention (modified Conners' Continuous Performance Test). Auditory scores were worse than visual, F(1, 52) = 98.93, p<.001, but there was no order effect or interaction (p>.05). Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed.     

Effects of a Curriculum Designed to Generalize Self-Efficacy From Weight-Training Exercises to Activities of Daily Living Among Adults With Spinal Injuries

This study examined the effects of a special curriculum designed to facilitate generalization of self-efficacy from weight-training exercises to activities of daily living (ADL) among a sample of adults with spinal injuries. Participants ( N = 17) were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: (a) a weight-training instruction and self-efficacy generalization group; (b) a weight-training instruction only group; or (c) a control group. The 2 groups that received weight-training instruction received 6 weight-training lessons. The group that also received the self-efficacy generalization curriculum was exposed to techniques designed to generalize self-efficacy. Participants in the group exposed to the self-efficacy generalization curriculum experienced a significantly greater generalization of self-efficacy than did those who received weight-training instruction only and those in the control group.     

Factors Related to the Long-Term Course of PTSD in Older Ex–Prisoners of War

This study examined relationships between socioenvironmental factors occurring in later-life and current and changing PTSD symptom levels in a sample of 177 community-dwelling World War II and Korean era ex–prisoners of war. Factors examined included negative life events, negative health events, social support, and death acceptance. PTSD was assessed at Time 1. PTSD and the later-life factors were then assessed 4 years later (Time 2). Cross-sectional analysis examined the relationship of the later-life factors to current PTSD symptomatology. Longitudinal analysis examined their relationship to changing PTSD symptomatology over the 4-year interval. Negative health changes, social support, and death acceptance were significantly related to current and changing PTSD symptomatology, but negative life events were not. The authors conclude that health and psychosocial factors that may occur in later-life can be related to PTSD symptom levels even many decades after a traumatic experience.     

Inhibition and reappraisal within emotional disclosure: the embodying of narration

The emotional disclosure paradigm (EDP) associates better health with repeated disclosure of emotional experiences. However, disclosure does not bring health benefits for all, and neither does the EDP adequately specify embodied mechanisms or neural pathways whereby benefits might be produced. This paper addresses these issues by offering more sophisticated notions of emotional inhibition and cognitive reappraisal. It then outlines aspects of the somatic marker hypothesis which supports a more comprehensive conceptualization of the processes that may enable both the positive and negative health effects of disclosure.     

Women Negotiating Modernity: A Gender Perspective on Fundamentalisms in Catholicism and Islam

In the present age, the forces of globalized modernity are impacting upon and shifting the power structures of many aspects of civilizations as we have known them. Many studies of ‘fundamentalism’ have rightly diagnosed it as a reactive movement against the forces of modernity, yet fundamentalism has been little studied from a gender perspective. While many of the struggles outlined in this article are being fought out internally within both the Catholic Church and the Islamic world, at times they spill over into international forums, as occurred at United Nations forums in Cairo (1994) and Beijing (1995). This article explores the impact of fundamentalism on women's lives and their responses to it, with a focus on Catholicism and Islam.     

Semantic and subword priming during binocular suppression

In general, stimuli that are familiar and recognizable have an advantage of predominance during binocular rivalry. Recent research has demonstrated that familiar and recognizable stimuli such as upright faces and words in a native language could break interocular suppression faster than their matched controls. In this study, a visible word prime was presented binocularly then replaced by a high-contrast dynamic noise pattern presented to one eye and either a semantically related or unrelated word was introduced to the other eye. We measured how long it took for target words to break from suppression. To investigate word-parts priming, a second experiment also included word pairs that had overlapping subword fragments. Results from both experiments consistently show that semantically related words and words that shared subword fragments were faster to gain dominance compared to unrelated words, suggesting that words, even when interocularly suppressed and invisible, can benefit from semantic and subword priming.