Environmental,Lifestyle, and Psychological Factors in the Health and Well-Being of Military Families1

Army families living in apartments and mobile homes near a large Army base were assessed for feelings about their housing, morale, marital harmony, health, and well-being. Reactions to mobile homes and apartments were similar. Higher quality housing was associated with positive housing ratings but not with more favorable morale, harmony, health, or well-being. The experience of housing problems is related to negative housing evaluation, while the experience of Army lifestyle problems is related to lowered morale, harmony, health, and well-being. Results were generally similar for enlisted men and their spouses.     

Some Effects of Reduction of Extra-Classroom Crowding in a School Environment

The effects of reduced enrollment were studied by examining two architecturally identical schools. One school experienced a 43% reduction in enrollment while the other's enrollment remained constant. Reduction in enrollment had a number of positive benefits, including improved attitudes about the school environment and reduced faculty absenteeism. Findings regarding academic performance were less clear.     

Code-switching across brainstorming sessions: implications for the revised hierarchical model of bilingual language processing

The revised hierarchical model (RHM) of bilingual language processing posits independent word form representations for the dominant language (L1) and the nondominant language (L2), facilitated translation from L2 words to L1 words, access to common concepts for L1 and L2, and stronger activation of concepts for L1 than for L2. Spanish-English and English-Spanish bilinguals brainstormed for two sessions; half switched languages (L1-L2 or L2-L1) and half stayed in the same language (L1-L1 or L2-L2) across sessions. In both sessions, L1 brainstorming resulted in more efficient idea productivity than L2 brainstorming, supporting stronger concept activation for L1, consistent with the RHM. Switching languages from L2 to L1 resulted in the most efficient idea productivity in Session 2, suggesting that switching to L1 not only permits strong concept activation, but also the activation of concepts that are relatively different than those activated by L2, inconsistent with the RHM. Switching languages increased the proportion of Session 1 ideas repeated during Session 2, despite instructions not to repeat. This finding suggests that there is activation of concepts as well as word forms in same language brainstorming and that this dual activation aids in following instructions not to repeat, consistent with the RHM. It is suggested that the RHM be re-specified to accommodate the notion that L1 and L2 access relatively different concepts.     

Preliminary evidence for validity of the Bahasa Indonesian version of Study Process Questionnaire

This study provides preliminary evidence for the validity of the Bahasa Indonesian version of the Study Process Questionnaire (BI-SPQ) from a sample of 147 psychology students (22 men and 125 women; M age = 21.8 yr., SD = 1.3). The internal consistency alpha of the BI-SPQ subscales were found to range from .46 (Surface Strategy) to .77 (Deep Strategy), with a median of .67. Principal component analysis indicated a two-factor solution, where the Deep and Achieving subscales loaded onto Factor 1 and the Surface subscales loaded on Factor 2. Students' GPAs were associated negatively with Surface Motive (r = -.24) and were associated positively with Deep and Achieving Motives (rs = .20). Further studies with larger samples involving students majoring in other disciplines are needed to provide further evidence of the validity of the BI-SPQ.     

Motor performance improved by exercises in cerebral ischemic rats

Physical exercise may induce neuroprotective effects against brain damage after stroke. The authors aimed to investigate the effects of various exercises on motor function, striatal angiogenesis, and infarct volume in cerebral ischemic rats. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion and randomly assigned to 1 of the 4 groups: Rota-rod training, lower speed treadmill training, higher speed treadmill training, or no exercise control. Motor function, striatal angiogenesis, and infarct volume were evaluated before or after motor training. After training, motor function and striatal angiogenesis changed significantly in Rota-rod and higher speed treadmill training groups as compared with the control group. Improvement in motor function significantly correlated with striatal angiogenesis after motor training. Infarct volumes were significantly decreased in lower and higher speed treadmill training groups. The results indicated that both motor training procedures can be used as effective training programs in stroke rehabilitation.     

Gender of the expresser moderates the effect of emotional faces on the startle reflex

It has been suggested that the impact of emotional expressions on the startle reflex is influenced by the intention communicated by the expression (e.g., the intention to attack). However, we propose that the meaning of an emotional expression is not only based on the intention, but is also influenced by characteristics of the expresser such as gender: since men are typically seen as more dominant than women, anger expressed by men should be perceived as particularly threatening, thus amplifying the startle response. We compared the influence of anger, fear and neutral expressions shown by men and women on the startle reaction. Startle reactions were measured using electromyography. As predicted, we found stronger startle reactions after the presentation of anger expressed by men compared to fearful and neutral expressions shown by men. For female expressers, the startle response was not affected by expression type.     

Preschoolers’ generosity increases with understanding of the affective benefits of sharing

Research has demonstrated that sharing with others is rewarding, suggesting a proximal mechanism of humans’ extraordinary tendency to engage in prosocial behavior. The current study explored the cognitive basis of the relation between generosity and happiness early in ontogeny. We demonstrate that preschool children understand the relation between generosity and happiness. Moreover, our results show that children's emotion ratings are predictive for their subsequent sharing behavior. This finding provides evidence for the theoretical claim that prosocial behavior may be related to the anticipation of positive feelings, and that this mechanism may explain early instances of generosity in preschool children.     

Experience matters: 11-month-old infants can learn to use material information to predict the weight of novel objects

In contrast to previous findings, this study demonstrates that 11-month-old infants are able to learn the relationship between object material and object weight when exploring different objects that provided a systematic covariation of both object features. This guides their action in a subsequent preferential-reaching task.     

Transcranial direct current stimulation and visual perception

Membrane potentials and spike sequences represent the basic modes of cerebral information processing. Both can be externally modulated in humans by quite specific techniques: transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). These methods induce reversible circumscribed cortical excitability changes, either excitatory or inhibitory, outlasting stimulation in time. Experimental pharmacological interventions may selectively enhance the duration of the aftereffects. Whereas rTMS induces externally triggered changes in the neuronal spiking pattern and interrupts or excites neuronal firing in a spatially and temporally restricted fashion, tDCS modulates the spontaneous firing rates of neurons by changing resting-membrane potential. The easiest and most common way of evaluating the cortical excitability changes is by applying TMS to the motor cortex, since it allows reproducible quantification through the motor-evoked potential. Threshold determinations at the visual cortex or psychophysical methods usually require repeated and longer measurements and thus more time for each data set. Here, results derived from the use of tDCS in visual perception, including contrast as well as motion detection and visuo-motor coordination and learning, are summarised. It is demonstrated that visual functions can be transiently altered by tDCS, as has been shown for the motor cortex previously. Up- and down-regulation of different cortical areas by tDCS is likely to open a new branch in the field of visual psychophysics.     

Making Group Brainstorming More Effective: Recommendations From an Associative Memory Perspective

Much literature on group brainstorming has found it to be less effective than individual brainstorming. However, a cognitive perspective suggests that group brainstorming could be an effective technique for generating creative ideas. Computer simulations of an associative memory model of idea generation in groups suggest that groups have the potential to generate ideas that individuals brainstorming alone are less likely to generate. Exchanging ideas by means of writing or computers, alternating solitary and group brainstorming, and using heterogeneous groups appear to be useful approaches for enhancing group brainstorming.