Losing face: impaired discrimination of featural and configural information in the mouth region of an inverted face

Given that all faces share the same set of features—two eyes, a nose, and a mouth—that are arranged in similar configuration, recognition of a specific face must depend on our ability to discern subtle differences in its featural and configural properties. An enduring question in the face-processing literature is whether featural or configural information plays a larger role in the recognition process. To address this question, the face dimensions task was designed, in which the featural and configural properties in the upper (eye) and lower (mouth) regions of a face were parametrically and independently manipulated. In a same–different task, two faces were sequentially presented and tested in their upright or in their inverted orientation. Inversion disrupted the perception of featural size (Exp. 1), featural shape (Exp. 2), and configural changes in the mouth region, but it had relatively little effect on the discrimination of featural size and shape and configural differences in the eye region. Inversion had little effect on the perception of information in the top and bottom halves of houses (Exp. 3), suggesting that the lower-half impairment was specific to faces. Spatial cueing to the mouth region eliminated the inversion effect (Exp. 4), suggesting that participants have a bias to attend to the eye region of an inverted face. The collective findings from these experiments suggest that inversion does not differentially impair featural or configural face perceptions, but rather impairs the perception of information in the mouth region of the face.     

Instructing Young Children in the Use of Memorizing Strategies: Effects at Study and Recall

This study examined preschool children's abilities to apply a newly learned organizational study-recall strategy in posttraining tasks that employed stimulus items from different media and that were administered by an unfamiliar experimenter. Fortyeight 4- and 5-year-old children were assigned to training and control conditions that alternated the presentation of pictures and objects on baseline, training, and test tasks. Samemedium tasks required children to study and recall items of the same stimulus medium (pictures or objects) as that depicting items in the training tasks. Different-medium tasks required performance with items presented in the alternate medium. Training included demonstration and practice in using a study-sorting strategy to organize the stimuli, encouragement to apply the strategy in new tasks, presenting a rationale for using the strategy, giving feedback about the effectiveness of using the strategy, and providing incentive for effortful performance. Subjects in the training groups showed marked increases in the use of sorting activities in posttraining tasks but failed to show corresponding significant improvements in item recall.     

Spirituality and Substance Abuse Recovery

Researchers explored patient and staff perceptions of spiritual well-being and the spiritual needs of patients enrolled in a residential substance abuse treatment program. The Spiritual Well-Being Scale was used to gather quantitative data. Additionally, a brief questionnaire containing one qualitative and two quantitative questions was completed by both clients and staff. A statistically significant difference was found, indicating a more positive sense of spiritual well-being among patients upon discharge. Although the staff and clients of the residential program have similar perceptions regarding the concept of spiritual well-being, their definitions do not appear identical.     

Forging the Link Between Multicultural Competence and Ethical Counseling Practice: A Historical Perspective

Recognition of multicultural competence as an essential component of ethical counseling practice is a growing trend. This article presents a historical perspective of salient events that have contributed to forging a link between multicultural competence and ethical behavior. Multicultural counseling is traced from its beginnings to its emergence at a position of prominence in the profession, along with the development of ethical guidelines over time. This time line depicts the infusion of multicultural considerations into ethical standards and provides a perspective for examining the current status of multicultural competence as an ethical mandate. Implications for the counseling profession are offered.     

Natural Piety

William Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood is a meditation on the possibilities and limitations of consciousness vis-à-vis the natural world. The child's glow of delighted fascination grays into adult worries, venalities, and fear of death. But the lingering embers of our childhood bond with nature can still guide and sustain us.