Continuous Response Monitoring of Relative Time-to-Contact Judgments: Does Effective Information Change During an Approach Event?

In many previous studies of time-to-contact (TTC) judgments of approaching objects, a response was measured after observers viewed the entire event and was used to infer the informational basis for the judgment. Such measures primarily reflect the information used at the end of the approach event and may not reveal whether observers used different information at different times during the event. Evidence indicates that observers use multiple information sources and that the effectiveness of information varies with distance. We introduce a method in which observers continuously report which of 2 approaching objects would reach them first, throughout the approach. We identified the occurrence and time of response reversals. Most observers changed their relative TTC judgments during the event. The pattern of responses indicated that observers did not use tau early during the approach when objects were far and did not use optical size later when the objects were closer. Most observers relied on either optical size or optical expansion rate early during the approach and expansion rate later during the event, although there were individual differences. A single relative TTC judgment measured after observers view an approach event may not reflect judgments or their informational basis throughout the entire event.     

Anxiety,anticipation and contextual information: A test of attentional control theory

We tested the assumptions of Attentional Control Theory (ACT) by examining the impact of anxiety on anticipation using a dynamic, time-constrained task. Moreover, we examined the involvement of high- and low-level cognitive processes in anticipation and how their importance may interact with anxiety. Skilled and less-skilled tennis players anticipated the shots of opponents under low- and high-anxiety conditions. Participants viewed three types of video stimuli, each depicting different levels of contextual information. Performance effectiveness (response accuracy) and processing efficiency (response accuracy divided by corresponding mental effort) were measured. Skilled players recorded higher levels of response accuracy and processing efficiency compared to less-skilled counterparts. Processing efficiency significantly decreased under high- compared to low-anxiety conditions. No difference in response accuracy was observed. When reviewing directional errors, anxiety was most detrimental to performance in the condition conveying only contextual information, suggesting that anxiety may have a greater impact on high-level (top-down) cognitive processes, potentially due to a shift in attentional control. Our findings provide partial support for ACT; anxiety elicited greater decrements in processing efficiency than performance effectiveness, possibly due to predominance of the stimulus-driven attentional system.     

Genetic Counseling for Fragile X Syndrome: Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors

The National Society of Genetic Counselors' (NSGC) recommendations for fragile X syndrome (FXS) genetic counseling are intended to assist health care professionals who provide genetic counseling for individuals and families in whom the diagnosis of FXS is strongly suspected or has been made. The recommendations are the opinions of genetic counselors with expertise in FXS counseling and are based on clinical experience, a review of pertinent English language medical articles, and reports of expert committees. These recommendations should not be construed as dictating an exclusive course of management, nor does use of such recommendations guarantee a particular outcome. These recommendations do not displace a health care provider's professional judgment based on the clinical circumstances of a particular client.     

Evolution, Theodicy and Value

In the first section I present a disagreement between a number of scholars (including T.H. Huxley, G.J. Romanes, George C. Williams and Holmes Rolston) concerning the goodness, indifference, evil or even wickedness both of nature and of nonhuman creatures. Section 2 examines and rejects the response to these diverse judgements that values are generated by human valuers employing different perspectives. In Section 3, the thesis that nonhuman animals are commonly either wicked or immoral is considered. The next two sections address the value or disvalue of predation and parasitism, and then of waste, selfishness and suffering. In the Section 6 I conclude that the evolutionary system of nature has vast overall value, and that although there are widespread evils within it, the only significant alternatives are a lifeless world, a world without sentient life, and a world of constant supernatural intervention, all probably worlds without such a positive balance of value as the actual world.     

SEXIST DISCRIMINATION MAY ACCOUNT FOR WELL-KNOWN GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PSYCHIATRIC SYMPTOMS

It was hypothesized that women may have more depressive, anxious, and somatic symptoms than men because they experience a deleterious stressor that men do not: sexist treatment. A total of 255 students (180 females, 75 males) at a state university completed an anonymous questionnaire containing measures of these symptoms. Women were found to exhibit significantly greater symptoms than men on all of them. Further, women who experienced frequent sexism had significantly more symptoms than men on all symptom measures, whereas women who experienced little sexism did not differ from men on any symptom measure. These findings suggest that gender-specific stressors not only play a role in psychiatric symptoms among women but may account for well-known gender differences in those symptoms as well.     

Ways of Taking a Meter

Philosophical Studies -