EFFECTS OF REALISTIC AND UNREALISTIC CRITERIA FOR PERFORMANCE ON THE STUDYING BEHAVIOR OF EXPERT ADULT READERS

Thirty undergraduates read an extended text about identical twins and completed one of three question‐answering tasks for the purpose of ascertaining the effects of no criterion, a realistic criterion, or an unrealistic criterion on studying behavior. Subjects receiving the unrealistic criterion (i.e., 75 out of a possible 54 similarities) produced significantly more non‐redundant responses to the text‐based question than either the realistic criterion (i.e., 40 out of a possible 54 responses) treatment or the non‐criterion treatment group. The expected difference in performance satisfaction among the treatment groups did not emerge, though a clear link between demonstrated performance satisfaction and second effort at task was shown. There was also a significant difference in reported performance satisfaction from first to second attempts for those subjects choosing the reanswering option.     

Prejudiced or not? Hidden sectarianism among students in Northern Ireland

The authors developed a new measure of implicit prejudices of students in Northern Ireland, which they derived from a study by G. Haddock, M. Zanna, and V. M. Esses (1993). Using two student surveys, the authors modified and tested the new implicit prejudice measure, which was based on a "Budget Survey." The present study's results indicate that the measure is valid and useful in the student context. Investigators can easily adapt the measure to groups other than students in Northern Ireland, and it may hence be useful for the future investigation of hidden prejudice in a society that experiences low-level ethnopolitical conflict.     

Goal orientations, motivational climate, equality, and discipline of Spanish physical education students

This study analyzes how dispositional goal orientations and perception of different motivational climates are related to the students' perception of sex-related egalitarian treatment and the appearance of disciplined or undisciplined behaviors in physical education classes. Analyses showed that ego orientation is a predictor of undisciplined behavior. Task orientation was positively associated to discipline. The perception of task-involving motivational climate is related to the students' perception of equal treatment. On the contrary, the perception of ego-involving climate has been linked positively to the prediction of the perception of sex discrimination in physical education classes and negatively to the perception of equality and the appearance of disciplined behavior. This study discusses the implications of these results related to teaching instructional actions in physical education classes.     

Increased interhemispheric interaction is associated with decreased false memories in a verbal converging semantic associates paradigm

Recent evidence indicates that task and subject variables that are associated with increased interaction between the left and right cerebral hemispheres result in enhanced performance on tests of episodic memory. The current study looked at the effects of increased interhemispheric interaction on false memories using a verbal converging semantic associates paradigm. In Experiment 1, strong right-handedness (which is associated with decreased interhemispheric interaction) was associated with higher rates of false memories. In Experiment 2, bilateral saccadic eye movements (which are associated with increases in interhemispheric interaction) were associated with fewer false memories. The results provide further support for an interhemispheric basis for episodic/explicit memory.     

Demonstrating the acquired familiarity of faces by using a gender-decision task

We report an experiment in which participants made gender judgments (male or female) to faces. There were three groups of faces: unfamiliar, familiar (celebrities), and a set which had been learned earlier by the participants during the experimental session. The principal purpose of this study was to establish an indirect measure of assessing whether faces have become familiar through learning that does not require overt recognition. Bruce and Young's (1986 British Journal of Psychology 77 305-327) model of face recognition suggests face-processing tasks are independent of one another and so familiarity should have no impact on the time taken to perform gender decisions. However, recent studies have suggested that some face processes are not completely independent. A gender judgment is a simple task which would be useful in face-learning experiments. We examined whether exposure to previously novel faces facilitates a later gender decision to those faces. During a learning stage, participants viewed a set of unfamiliar faces. At test, participants were able to assign gender faster to previously familiar (famous) faces and learned faces than they were to unfamiliar faces. Therefore familiarity can influence the speed at which gender is analysed. We explain our findings with reference to the Burton et al (1990 British Journal of Psychology 81 361-380) interactive activation and competition (IAC) model of face recognition and discuss how the gender judgment might be employed as a means of tracking the acquisition of familiarity in face-learning studies.     

Social and affective impairments are important recovery after acquired stroke in childhood

Despite a congenital stroke, overall intelligence at school age is generally within the normal range. Language acquisition problems are more prominent when children are younger (<5 years of age) than when they are older. They are present after both right and left lesions, but appear to have different features. They are less apparent than in the child with a developmental language disorder. Acquired aphasia in childhood results in subtle and often persisting deficits. Children with congenital strokes are at risk for behavioral and psychiatric problems. Those with congenital right hemisphere strokes appear to be more difficult infants, but there is no clear side of lesion effect in older children. Children with congenital right hemisphere strokes have more prominent spatial difficulties than their left lesion counterparts. Evaluating both the process and the product highlights this. Increasing the difficulty of the task often brings out deficits in the right lesion group even when they seemingly recovered.     

Comparison of muscle functions during three contrasting abdominal exercises

That different amplitudes of muscle activities during various abdominal exercises not only reflect the inherent differences in motor control but movement speed as well was hypothesized. 20 healthy adults (M age = 23 yr.) performed three exercises that involved varying amounts of trunk control: the partial sit-up, full sit-up, and AbSlide roll. Covariate analyses indicated that the amplitude of muscle activities could be partitioned into three categories: motor control and scaling (speed and amplitude), scaling only, and motor control only. Overall, the AbSlide exercise activated the most amount of muscular activity, followed by the full and partial sit-up exercises. Results are discussed in terms of how the various muscles contribute to motor control and velocity scaling.     

A modified DBT skills training program for oppositional defiant adolescents: promising preliminary findings

A modified skills training component of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was implemented in a group therapy format for non-suicidal outpatient young adolescents who met criteria for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Thirty-two youths completed the 16-week program, as well as pre- and post-treatment measures. The treatment was effective not only in decreasing negative behaviors, but also in increasing positive behaviors, per caregiver report. The youths reported a significant reduction in externalizing and internalizing symptoms and in depression. Reliable change indices indicated that far more participants were in the improved category than in the deteriorated category on the measures of interest. Despite the absence of control groups but consistent with the treatment outcome research literature for DBT-based treatments for other disorders, this study demonstrated that DBT skills training is feasible and shows promise in improving the behavior of ODD young adolescents.     

Neuropsychological assessment with the Visual Gestalt Test: psychometric properties and differential diagnostic probabilities

The Visual Gestalt Test is a neuropsychological instrument developed for evaluation of learning and memory of visuo-spatial material. A revised strategy of scoring has motivated the present study, where data from 153 normal persons, 99 epilepsy patients, and 24 depressed patients are presented and compared. The Visual Gestalt Test is observed to discriminate between normal and diagnosed groups in several ways. Additionally it is found to discriminate between depressed and brain damage subgroups of patients. Data are presented in order to supplement previously published ways of scoring and norms. Practical guidelines for the clinical applications of the test are suggested as perspectives.