Accuracy of health-related quality of life assessment: what is the benefit of incorporating patients' preferences for domain functioning?

This study investigated the accuracy benefit of incorporating patients' preferences for domains of functioning into health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measurement. Using policy-capturing techniques, 102 medical outpatients judged the HRQOL of 16 scenarios describing varying levels of functioning in 3 domains. For each participant, regression analysis determined relative domain preferences and 2 decision models were built: one incorporating (preference-weighted) and one ignoring (equally weighted) domain preferences. To assess accuracy, the average proportion of judgment variance accounted for by each model was determined and both accounted for approximately 50%. However, for patients showing the greatest differences in importance across domains, the preference-weighted model was more accurate. Findings are discussed in the context of enhancing HRQOL assessment.     

Individual differences in perceptual sensitivity and response bias in anxiety: Evidence from emotional faces

We investigated the perception of emotional stimuli in anxious individuals and non-anxious cohorts. Signal detection theory analysis was applied to the discrimination of emotionally charged faces at several points along a continuum of emotional intensity. This design permitted the derivation of multiple measures of sensitivity and response bias for fearful and for happy faces. Anxious individuals lacked a conservative bias in judging fearful stimuli and a liberal bias in judging positive stimuli compared with non-anxious individuals. In addition, anxious participants had lower perceptual sensitivity (d′) than non-anxious participants for mildly threatening stimuli, as well as a trend towards lower perceptual sensitivity for moderately positive stimuli. These results suggest that the processing of threat information in anxiety is affected by sensitivity and bias differently at different levels of affective intensity.     

Perceptual learning in humans: Roles of preexposure schedule, feedback, and discrimination assay

In three experiments, humans received preexposure to two compound flavours (AX and BX: saline-lemon and sucrose-lemon) that were presented either in an intermixed (e.g., AX, BX, . . . BX, AX, . . .) or a blocked (e.g., AX, AX, . . . BX, BX. . .) fashion. Subsequently, AXwas paired with an unpleasant bitter taste, and the discriminability of AX and BX was assessed using the accuracy of same/different judgements and by the extent to which any learned dislike of AX generalized to BX. When participants received feedback about the accuracy of their same/different judgements during preexposure those given intermixed preexposure were more accurate in making these judgements during the test than those given blocked preexposure (Experiments 1 and 2A), however, there was no evidence of any learned dislike in these experiments. In Experiment 2B, in which participants did not receive feedback about the accuracy of their judgements, there was no effect of the preexposure regime on same/different judgements, but there was a learned dislike of AX, and this generalized less to BX in participants given intermixed than in those given blocked preexposure. The beneficial effects of intermixed preexposure are consistent with results from other species (chicks and rats), but the differences created by the presence or absence of feedback place constraints on the analysis of these effects.     

Behavioral Risk Assessment of the Guarded Suicidal Patient

Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are trained to assess patients by direct observation and examination. Short inpatient length of stay, brief outpatient visits, emergency room evaluations, and other time‐limited clinical settings require rapid assessment of suicide risk. Recognition of behavioral suicide risk factors can assist in the early identification of the guarded suicidal patient, thus avoiding total reliance on the patient's reporting.     

Reliability and sensitivity of suicide certification in higher-income countries.

World Health Organization age-, sex-, and cause-specific mortality data for the United States and 19 other democratic higher-income countries were utilized to assess the reliability and sensitivity of suicide certification for purposes of cross-national research. Data are found to be highly reliable across age and sex (rs > 0.92; P < 0.001). Relative discrepancies between official suicide rates (putative lower limits) and projected upper limits vary widely internationally. Austrian and Dutch suicide certification is the most sensitive. Least sensitive is certification for certain subpopulations in Finland, Greece, Ireland, Israel, and the United Kingdom. We recommend similar analyses be performed for routine, low-cost surveillance of suicide data quality, and to guide choice of population groups for multivariate comparative research.     

Parity still isn't a generalisation problem

Clark & Thornton take issue with my claim that parity is not a generalisation problem, and that nothing can be inferred about back-propagation in particular, or learning in general, from failures of parity generalisation. They advance arguments to support their contention that generalisation is a relevant issue. In this continuing commentary, I examine generalisation more closely in order to refute these arguments. Different learning algorithms will have different patterns of failure: back-propagation has no special status in this respect. This is not to deny that a particular algorithm might fortuitously happen to produce the "intended" function in an (oxymoronic) parity-generalisation task.     

Deconstructing Locus of Control: Implications for Practitioners

Locus of control is demonstrated as being an important individual belief for counselors to consider in their work. Western cultural bias that has influenced the research with locus of control, and may influence how counselors conceptualize clients' problems, is the notion that internal control is always more desirable than external control. Several areas of locus of control theory are reviewed, including sociocultural influences in the formation of the theory, cultural differences in locus of control, and differing conceptualizations of the construct. In addition, selected research with locus of control and mental health is briefly reviewed. Finally, important implications for practitioners are suggested.