Lying about facial recognition: an fMRI study

Novel deception detection techniques have been in creation for centuries. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a neuroscience technology that non-invasively measures brain activity associated with behavior and cognition. A number of investigators have explored the utilization and efficiency of fMRI in deception detection. In this study, 18 subjects were instructed during an fMRI "line-up" task to either conceal (lie) or reveal (truth) the identities of individuals seen in study sets in order to determine the neural correlates of intentionally misidentifying previously known faces (lying about recognition). A repeated measures ANOVA (lie vs. truth and familiar vs. unfamiliar) and two paired t-tests (familiar vs. unfamiliar and familiar lie vs. familiar truth) revealed areas of activation associated with deception in the right MGF, red nucleus, IFG, SMG, SFG (with ACC), DLPFC, and bilateral precuneus. The areas activated in the present study may be involved in the suppression of truth, working and visuospatial memories, and imagery when providing misleading (deceptive) responses to facial identification prompts in the form of a "line-up".     

Incorporating adolescent females' perceptions of their partners' attitudes toward condoms into a model of female adolescent condom use

The highest rates of sexually transmitted infections in the U.S. occur among adolescent females. One prevention strategy promoted for sexually active adolescents is condom use: therefore, influences on correct and consistent condom use are worth examining. Because interventions and observational research into predicting and increasing condom use have yielded mixed results, we hypothesized that a theoretically driven model incorporating female adolescents' perceptions about partner sentiments along with their own perceptions, intentions, and behaviours would improve condom use predictions. We also measured condom use errors and consistency for a more precise estimate of effective use than is common in the literature. In three structural equation models tested on a sample of 519 female adolescents, we found that intentions were associated with both correct and consistent condom use; that females' expectancy beliefs about condom use were associated with intentions; and that females' expectancy beliefs about partners' sentiments reduced the impact of their expectancy beliefs about condom use. The implications of these relations upon condom use correctness and consistency are discussed with respect to informing interventions, among other future research.     

Adolescent computer use and academic achievement

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between adolescent computer use and academic achievement. Questionnaires and seven-day time logs were used to gather data from 101 tenth-grade students in southwestern Ohio. The adolescents both estimated and documented their computer use. The correlation between computer use and grade point average was not found to be significant. However, gender differences were found across grade point average and time spent doing homework on and off the computer. Estimates of time spent per week using the computer were correlated with the time recorded in logs.     

Central New York Psychiatric Center: an approach to the treatment of co-occurring disorders in the New York State correctional mental health system

Central New York Psychiatric Center operates a maximum security inpatient treatment hospital and outpatient mental health services for all of the 72 New York State prisons. In this article prevalence data, patient characteristics, and interventions offered to inmates diagnosed with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders in the New York State prison system are reviewed and discussed. Available interventions have resulted from the close collaboration of the State Department of Correctional Services and State Office of Mental Health. Aspects of current programs and plans for future service developments are discussed along with implications for the treatment of an offender population diagnosed with a co-occurring disorder.     

Using Behavioral Skills Training to Promote the Generalization of Parenting Skills to Problematic Routines

Research has demonstrated the efficacy of a behavioral parent training program for skills acquisition; however, few studies have examined the extent to which those skills generalize to the home or the effect that they have on child behavior. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to assess (a) caregiver accuracy with implementation of three parenting skills, and (b) the effects of the parenting skills on child behavior. Results demonstrated that three caregiver participants successfully generalized parenting skills taught during behavioral skills training (BST) to naturally occurring routines, and the behavior of each caregiver's child improved following BST.     

Value Perceptions of Integrative Health Care: A Study of Primary Care Physicians and Professional Clinical Counselors

A study was conducted to identify value perceptions of primary care physicians and Professional Clinical Counselors on integrative health care. Surveys were collected from 54 primary care physicians and 33 Professional Clinical Counselors in Central Ohio. Quantitative and qualitative results indicate favorable perceptions and opportunities for professional collaboration.     

Conceptual Errors and Social Externalism

Åsa Maria Wikforss has proposed a response to Burge's thought experiments in favour of social externalism, one which allows the individualist to maintain that narrow content is truth–conditional without being idiosyncratic. The narrow aim of this paper is to show that Wikforss' argument against social externalism fails, and hence that the individualist position she endorses is inadequate. The more general aim is to attain clarity on the social externalist thesis. Social externalism need not rest, as is typically thought, on the possibility of incomplete linguistic understanding or conceptual error. I identify the unifying principle that underlies the various externalist thought–experiments.