Action influences spatial perception: Neuropsychological evidence

We present neuropsychological evidence indicating that action influences spatial perception. First, we review evidence indicating that actions using a tool can modulate unilateral visual neglect and extinction, where patients are unaware of stimuli presented on one side of space. We show that, at least for some patients, modulation comes about through a combination of visual and motor cueing of attention to the affected side (Experiment 1). Subsequently, we review evidence that action‐relations between stimuli reduce visual extinction; there is less extinction when stimuli fall in the correct colocations for action relative to when they fall in the incorrect relations for action and relative to when stimuli are just associatively related. Finally, we demonstrate that action relations between stimuli can also influence the binding of objects to space, in a patient with Balint's syndrome (Experiment 2). These neuropsychological data indicate that perception–action couplings can be crucial to our conscious representation of space.     

Mental health attitudes among Middle Eastern/North African individuals in the United States

ABSTRACT

Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) individuals may have heightened risk for developing mental health problems due to unique cultural stressors. However, traditional cultural and religious practices and beliefs socialised within the family environment may reduce the likelihood of seeking mental health services. This qualitative study aimed to better understand the intersection of cultural, religious, and mental health attitudes among MENA individuals. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with MENA adults who had received therapy services (N?=?13) and were analysed for emergent themes. Respondents reported lack of understanding of mental illness within their communities, and prominent levels of perceived and self-stigma. Families and religious practices/beliefs played an important role in responding to mental illness. Results suggest that incorporating psychoeducation and community awareness campaigns alongside religious services may help to reduce barriers to receiving mental health treatment.     

Koran reading and negotiation with jinn: strategies to deal with mental ill health among Swedish Somalis

In this paper, we discuss traditional Somali concepts of mental ill health. Qualitative interviews were conducted with some 20 Swedish Somali interviewees about factors causing mental ill health, traditional classification, strategies to deal with mental ill health, and attitudes to the mental health care services in Sweden. Social mobilisation and religious healing are cornerstones of traditional Somali measures to deal with mental suffering. Traditional Somali views of mental ill health stand in stark contrast to classification of mental ill health in the western biomedical model. These views deserve attention since they may have an impact on health-seeking behaviour among Somali immigrants in western countries. Yet a too strong focus on cultural aspects may over-shadow the fact that much mental suffering among Somali migrants must be understood within social, economic, and political contexts.     

Unintentional collective action

In this paper, I examine the manner in which analyses of the action of single agents have been pressed into service for constructing accounts of collective action. Specifically, I argue that the best analogy to collective action is a class of individual action that Carl Ginet has called ‘aggregate action.’ Furthermore, once we use aggregate action as a model of collective action, then we see that existing accounts of collective action have failed to accommodate an important class of (what I shall call) ‘unintentional collective actions.’     

Public Attitudes Toward the Use of Bioremediation to Clean Up Toxic Contamination

Bioremediation is an innovative approach to environmental management that uses microorganisms or plants to clean up toxic contamination in the environment. This research examines public attitudes toward the use of bioremediation at 2 sites in California: an urban site (Avila Beach) and a natural site (Guadalupe Dunes). At both sites, the study participants preferred excavation of the contaminated soil to bioremediation. The survey results help to explain the reasons why there is limited support for the use of bioremediation.     

Inhibiting children's memory of an interactive event: the effectiveness of a cover‐up

Children are generally more susceptible than adults to suggestive interview techniques. Children's memories of an event can be altered and added to by presenting post‐event information (PEI). What is not known is whether embedding silence about a particular scene within the PEI makes that scene less likely to be reported. Children aged 5–6 years made cakes with an agent ‘Mrs Flour’. The following day they received PEI in which a target scene from the original event was omitted, resulting in children reporting the target scene significantly less often than did controls (control= 57% and omit= 23% correct responses). There was direct evidence from the children's language that the omission led to a detriment in memory for the original scene itself. Allowing children to draw during the interview did not reduce the effect. Implications are discussed in terms of child victims and witnesses particularly regarding child sexual abuse. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

College Mothers' Academic Achievement Goals as Related to their Children's Attitudes Toward Learning

The present study considers the relationship between college mothers' academic achievement goals (both learning and performance) and the mothers' attitudes toward their children's schoolwork as well as the relationship between each of these sets of characteristics in mothers and their elementary-school-age children's attitudes about learning. Results indicate that a mother's adoption of learning goals in her college education is positively related to the endorsement of a process/indirect focus with respect to assisting and evaluating her child on academic tasks and is associated with more personal satisfaction with providing homework assistance and greater optimism concerning the benefits of such assistance. Results also suggest that college mothers with more of a learning goal orientation and/or more of a process/indirect focus have children who display a similar concern with learning and a positive attitude about homework. Mothers who adopted more of a person/product focus with respect to their child's schoolwork had children who were less likely to interpret homework and other school tasks as opportunities to learn.