Making heads turn: the effect of familiarity and stimulus rotation on a gender-classification task

Recent work has demonstrated that facial familiarity can moderate the influence of inversion when completing a configural processing task. Here, we examine whether familiarity interacts with intermediate angles of orientation in the same way that it interacts with inversion. Participants were asked to make a gender classification to familiar and unfamiliar faces shown at seven angles of orientation. Speed and accuracy of performance were assessed for stimuli presented (i) as whole faces and (ii) as internal features. When presented as whole faces, the task was easy, as revealed by ceiling levels of accuracy and no effect of familiarity or angle of rotation on response times. However, when stimuli were presented as internal features, an influence of facial familiarity was evident. Unfamiliar faces showed no increase in difficulty across angle of rotation, whereas familiar faces showed a marked increase in difficulty across angle, which was explained by significant linear and cubic trends in the data. Results were interpreted in terms of the benefit gained from a mental representation when face processing was impaired by stimulus rotation.     

Personality characteristics associated with susceptibility to false memories

This study examined whether certain personality characteristics are associated with susceptibility to false memories. Participants first answered questions from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator in order to measure various personality characteristics. They then watched a video excerpt, the simulated eyewitness event. They were next encouraged to lie about the videotaped event during an interview. A week later, some participants recognized confabulated events as being from the video. Two personality characteristics in particular--the introversion-extroversion and thinking-feeling dimensions--were associated with susceptibility to false memories.     

The influence of augmented feedback and prior learning on the acquisition of a new bimanual coordination pattern

The present research examined two variables regarding the acquisition of a new bimanual coordination pattern: the role of previous experience and the nature of augmented feedback. Two groups of participants acquired a new coordination pattern (135 degrees relative phase) following two sessions of practice of another novel pattern (90 degrees relative phase). Transfer of learning in these groups was compared to two groups that had not previously learned a new pattern, but were nevertheless influenced by coordination patterns that are intrinsic to the task of bimanual relative timing (in-phase, 0 degrees, and anti-phase, 180 degrees). The findings revealed that new learning overshadowed the influence of the intrinsic patterns. Learning was also greatly affected by augmented feedback: dynamic, on-line pursuit tracking information was more effective in transfer than static, terminal feedback. Implications of these findings regarding theoretical constructs in motor learning are discussed.     

Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START): The case for a new structured professional judgment scheme

The Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) is a new structured professional judgment scheme intended to inform multiple risk domains relevant to everyday psychiatric clinical practice (e.g. risk to others, suicide, self-harm, self-neglect, substance abuse, unauthorized leave, and victimization). The article describes the processes involved in establishing an interdisciplinary approach to risk assessment and management. The authors present a review of the rationale for START, including the value of dynamic variables, the importance of strengths, and the extent to which clinicians must be attentive to multiple risk domains, reflecting theoretical and scientific evidence of the overlap among risks. Using the development, validation, and implementation of START as an example, the authors describe the processes by which other researchers, clinicians, and administrators could adapt existing assessment schemes or create new ones to bridge some remaining gaps in the risk assessment and management continuum.     

Aging and the perception of 3-D shape from dynamic patterns of binocular disparity

In two experiments, we investigated the ability of younger and older observers to perceive and discriminate 3-D shape from static and dynamic patterns of binocular disparity. In both experiments, the younger observers' discrimination accuracies were 20% higher than those of the older observers. Despite this quantitative difference, in all other respects the older observers performed similarly to the younger observers. Both age groups were similarly affected by changes in the magnitude of binocular disparity, by reductions in binocular correspondence, and by increases in the speed of stereoscopic motion. In addition, observers in both age groups exhibited an advantage in performance for dynamic stereograms when the patterns of binocular disparity contained significant amounts of correspondence "noise." The process of aging does affect stereopsis, but the effects are quantitative rather than qualitative.     

Hearing a face: cross-modal speaker matching using isolated visible speech

An experiment was performed to test whether cross-modal speaker matches could be made using isolated visible speech movement information. Visible speech movements were isolated using a point-light technique. In five conditions, subjects were asked to match a voice to one of two (unimodal) speaking point-light faces on the basis of speaker identity. Two of these conditions were designed to maintain the idiosyncratic speech dynamics of the speakers, whereas three of the conditions deleted or distorted the dynamics in various ways. Some of these conditions also equated video frames across dynamically correct and distorted movements. The results revealed generally better matching performance in the conditions that maintained the correct speech dynamics than in those conditions that did not, despite containing exactly the same video frames. The results suggest that visible speech movements themselves can support cross-modal speaker matching.     

The Social Ecological Model and Physical Activity in African American Women

Little is known about the social and contextual correlates (e.g., social norms, environment, social networks, and organizational support) influencing the adoption and maintenance of regular physical activity among minority and underserved populations. The purpose of this review was to apply the social ecological model to better understand physical activity among African American women. A review of the literature pertaining to correlates of physical activity among African American women was conducted and applied to a social ecological perspective. Understanding and addressing social and contextual correlates of physical activity behavior among African American women are necessary to establish comprehensive programs, particularly within community settings. The social ecological model provides a strong theoretical basis to guide physical activity intervention in this population.     

Muscular proprioception contributes to the control of interceptive actions

The authors proposed a model of the control of interceptive action over a ground plane (Chardenon, Montagne, Laurent, & Bootsma, 2004). This model is based on the cancellation of the rate of change of the angle between the current position of the target and the direction of displacement (i.e., the bearing angle). While several sources of visual information specify this angle, the contribution of proprioceptive information has not been directly tested. In this study, the authors used a virtual reality setup to study the role of proprioception when intercepting a moving target. In a series of experiments, the authors manipulated proprioceptive information by using the tendon vibration paradigm. The results revealed that proprioception is crucial not only to locate a moving target with respect to the body but also, and more importantly, to produce online displacement velocity changes to intercept a moving target. These findings emphasize the importance of proprioception in the control of interceptive action and illustrate the relevance of our model to account for the regulations produced by the participants.