Perceptual learning and perceptual search are altered in male university students with higher Autism Quotient scores

Two experiments investigated the validity of the Autism Quotient (AQ) scale for measuring traits associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in a population of male university students. Both studies found evidence that individuals who scored higher on the AQ questionnaire performed in a similar way to individuals with ASD on tasks with a perceptual component. Experiment 1 demonstrated a difference in the degree to which higher scoring AQ individuals performed on a perceptual learning task; with higher AQ scorers showing no advantage for familiar over novel items less. In Experiment 2, higher scorers showed fewer errors when judging the elements, as opposed to the global configuration, of a Navon task letter. Both of these patterns of results had previously been noted in individuals with ASD. These results suggest that the AQ may have some validity in identifying individuals in the nonclinical population with similar performance profiles to those with ASD.     

Bias in the Reporting of Family History: Implications for Clinical Care

Family history of cancer is critical for identifying and managing patients at risk for cancer. However, the quality of family history data is dependent on the accuracy of patient self reporting. Therefore, the validity of family history reporting is crucial to the quality of clinical care. A retrospective review of family history data collected at a community hospital between 2005 and 2009 was performed in 43,257 women presenting for screening mammography. Reported numbers of breast, colon, prostate, lung, and ovarian cancer were compared in maternal relatives vs. paternal relatives and in first vs. second degree relatives. Significant reporting differences were found between maternal and paternal family history of cancer, in addition to degree of relative. The number of paternal family histories of cancer was significantly lower than that of maternal family histories of cancer. Similarly, the percentage of grandparents' family histories of cancer was significantly lower than the percentage of parents' family histories of cancer. This trend was found in all cancers except prostate cancer. Self-reported family history in the community setting is often influenced by both bloodline of the cancer history and the degree of relative affected. This is evident by the underreporting of paternal family histories of cancer, and also, though to a lesser extent, by degree. These discrepancies in reporting family history of cancer imply we need to take more care in collecting accurate family histories and also in the clinical management of individuals in relation to hereditary risk.     

South Korean culture and history: The implications for workplace bullying

This paper began by suggesting that culture might influence how people construe workplace bullying. Referring back to the studies of cultural differences in cognition, it was suggested that people of the Far East might construe workplace bullying differently from the people of Western countries. Taking South Korean culture as an example, this paper explained how historical background and culture shaped Korean's psyche in relation to workplace bullying. Currently available evidence was discussed including the way Koreans construed workplace bullying and how close social bonding might act as a buffer against a conflict escalating into bullying.     

Convivial Acts for an Ecosensual Labyrinth

Abstract

This paper addresses queer conviviality across Crab & Bee’s “Plymouth Labyrinth” project (2018–19); a 6-month activity including group walks, ritual sharings, group readings, postal art, poetry groups, site-specific dance, exhibition and making workshops. Based around convivial web-walking, the account examines how, through spinning out of collaborations and unfolding new forms, a web of work and activity was generated to support intensity and connectivity. The paper attends to queer aspects of conviviality, such as attention to unhuman partners, becoming-animal, simultaneity/plateauing in haecceity, dispersals of subjectivity and relations of threads (lines of desire) to web making.