Recovering faces from memory: the distracting influence of external facial features

Recognition memory for unfamiliar faces is facilitated when contextual cues (e.g., head pose, background environment, hair and clothing) are consistent between study and test. By contrast, inconsistencies in external features, especially hair, promote errors in unfamiliar face-matching tasks. For the construction of facial composites, as carried out by witnesses and victims of crime, the role of external features (hair, ears, and neck) is less clear, although research does suggest their involvement. Here, over three experiments, we investigate the impact of external features for recovering facial memories using a modern, recognition-based composite system, EvoFIT. Participant-constructors inspected an unfamiliar target face and, one day later, repeatedly selected items from arrays of whole faces, with "breeding," to "evolve" a composite with EvoFIT; further participants (evaluators) named the resulting composites. In Experiment 1, the important internal-features (eyes, brows, nose, and mouth) were constructed more identifiably when the visual presence of external features was decreased by Gaussian blur during construction: higher blur yielded more identifiable internal-features. In Experiment 2, increasing the visible extent of external features (to match the target's) in the presented face-arrays also improved internal-features quality, although less so than when external features were masked throughout construction. Experiment 3 demonstrated that masking external-features promoted substantially more identifiable images than using the previous method of blurring external-features. Overall, the research indicates that external features are a distractive rather than a beneficial cue for face construction; the results also provide a much better method to construct composites, one that should dramatically increase identification of offenders.     

A Tale of Two Perspectives: Regulation Versus Self-Regulation. A Financial Reporting Approach (from Sarbanes–Oxley) for Research Ethics

Reports of research fraud have raised concerns about research integrity similar to concerns raised about financial accounting fraud. We propose a departure from self-regulation in that researchers adopt the financial accounting approach in establishing trust through an external validation process, in addition to the reporting entities and the regulatory agencies. The general conceptual framework for reviewing financial reports, utilizes external auditors who are certified and objective in using established standards to provide an opinion on the financial reports. These standards have become both broader in scope and increasingly specific as to what information is reported and the methodologies to be employed. We believe that the financial reporting overhaul encompassed in the US Sarbanes?COxley Act of 2002, which aims at preventing accounting fraud, can be applied to scientific research in 4 ways. First, Sarbanes?COxley requires corporations to have a complete set of internal accounting controls. Research organizations should use appropriate sampling techniques and audit research projects for conformity with the initial research protocols. Second, corporations are required to have the chief financial officer certify the accuracy of their financial statements. In a similar way, each research organization should have their vice-president of research (or equivalent) certify the research integrity of their research activities. In contrast, the primary responsibility of the existing Research Integrity Officers is to handle allegations of research misconduct, an after-the-fact activity. Third, generally accepted auditing standards specify the appropriate procedures for external review of a corporation??s financial statements. For similar reasons, the research review process would also require corresponding external auditing standards. Finally, these new requirements would be implemented in stages, with the largest 14 research organizations that receive 25% of the total National Institutes of Health funding, adopting these research oversight enhancements first.     

Minority stress,substance use,and intimate partner violence among sexual minority women

Compared to the research literature on intimate partner violence (IPV) in heterosexual relationships, our understanding of IPV among sexual minority women (SMW) lags far behind. This paper reviews the literature regarding the prevalence of IPV among SMW and discusses disparities between SMW and heterosexual women. Methodological issues in this area are also discussed. Moreover, we review associations among substance use, sexual minority stress, and IPV in this population. Finally, potential protective factors, such as social and community support, identity, mastery, and coping, are examined. As researchers and clinicians work to improve the health of SMW it is important to consider the associations among relationship violence, substance use, and minority stress. Moreover, it is essential to understand what factors may promote adjustment among SMW.     

“If They Notice I’m Mexican”: Narratives of Perceived Discrimination from Individuals Who Crossed the U.S.-Mexico Border at Ports of Entry

ABSTRACT

Understanding individuals’ encounters with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the largest law enforcement agency in the United States, is an important theoretical and policy-relevant issue. Travelers entering the U.S. through ports of entry may generalize their experiences with border officials to local law enforcement, and thus, negative experiences at ports of entry may reduce travelers’ willingness to cooperate with police and report victimization. Existing studies, however, have primarily examined unauthorized border crossings rather than travelers’ port of entry experiences. This study uses grounded theory and qualitative data to explore the perceptions and experiences of 191 young adults who discussed how individuals are treated when crossing the U.S.-Mexico border at land ports of entry. Findings show that participants reported perceptions and experiences of discrimination based on physical appearances, language differences, and nationality. Participants also described border officials engaging in routine law enforcement behaviors, including poor policing practices.     

Therapist attentiveness and negative capability in dialogical family meetings for psychosis

Jaakko Seikkula (2008) has pointed towards the importance of practitioners working in the present moment in dialogical therapy. Extrapolating from Seikkula's work, this article considers the significance of the qualities of therapist attentiveness, generosity and negative capability in dialogical family meetings for psychosis. It is proposed that these qualities are of particular importance when family meetings occur in crisis situations, as when under pressure practitioners can easily be drawn into prematurely interventionist stances that may unintentionally promote chronicity for the person experiencing psychosis. The value of co‐working arrangements in enabling practitioners to maintain attentiveness and negative capability in this work is also considered.     

Relative importance of perceptual and mnemonic variance in human temporal bisection

We investigated the relative contributions of perception and reference memory to behavioural variability in a temporal discrimination with human subjects. We used two temporal bisection tasks. In both tasks each trial consisted of a sequential presentation of three intervals, two standards, and a probe, and subjects were asked to judge the similarity of each probe against the two standards. In a "single bisection", the standards' duration was constant across trials. In a "roving bisection", the two standards were trial unique. We compared our results with the predictions from a model related to Scalar Expectancy Theory, with the added assumption that the decision process minimizes the expected number of errors given the information available. The model shows that if errors in reference memory were dominant the psychometric function should be identical for single and roving tasks, and if perceptual errors were dominant the psychometric function should be steeper for the single than for the roving bisection. As we found that psychometric functions were steeper for the single than for the roving tasks, we concluded that perceptual errors are dominant.     

Problem Solving and Suicidal Behavior

Research on suicidal behavior falls into two main areas: studies that aim to identify demographic and social risk factors, and studies that aim to investigate the psychological processes mediating suicidal behavior. Within the latter approach, impaired problem-solving ability has been found to be an important variable. This paper reviews recent research focusing on problem-solving deficits and their relation to suicidal behavior and considers some of the methodological problems that arise. These findings are discussed in terms of active versus passive problem solving, state or trait factors, and the psychological processes underlying problem solving. Suggestions for further research are made, focusing on the links between suicidal behavior, problem solving, and autobiographical memory.