Reaction-anticipation transitions in human perception-action patterns

We investigated the hypothesis that reaction and anticipation in human perceptual-motor performance are two coordinative modes of a single pattern-forming dynamical system, rather than separate behaviors. Subjects coordinated the onset of finger flexions with visual metronome flashes in each of three patterns: reactive, synchronized, or syncopated. The stimulus frequency was progressively increased (0.125–1.375 Hz) or decreased (1.375-0.125 Hz) in small steps (0.125 Hz) every 10 cycles. We observed qualitative transitions in both the time interval between stimulus and corresponding action (Δt) and their relative phase (ø) at critical values of the stimulus frequency, corresponding to changes from ‘reactive-to-anticipatory’ and ‘anticipatory-to-reactive’ performance. Such transitions provide evidence of a single, multifunctional system, which can be adequately described by the dynamics of collective variables characterizing the respective perception-action patterns.     

Psychopathic personality traits and temporal perspective: A test of the short time horizon hypothesis

A number of authors have proposed that psychopathic individuals possess an abnormally constricted time horizon (i.e., foreshortened sense of the future). This hypothesis was tested among 101 undergraduates, who were administered a battery of (1) self-report indices of psychopathic personality traits, antisocial behavior, and normal-range personality traits; (2) self-report indices of time perspective; (3) projective tests of time perspective; and (4) laboratory tasks assessing time estimation and capacity for foresight and impulse control. Measures of psychopathy/antisocial behavior tended to be negatively correlated with several self-report indices assessing preoccupation with the future and with a projective task assessing the frequency of thoughts concerning future events, although only one of the correlations with this latter task was significant. In most cases these correlations were not attributable to the variance shared by measures of psychopathy/antisocial behavior and measures of (low) anxiety-proneness, although several correlations decreased substantially after levels of harmavoidance were controlled. In contrast, measures of psychopathy/antisocial behavior were negligibly correlated with laboratory tasks. These results provide mixed support for the short time horizon hypothesis and suggest that further attention to the role of method factors in investigations of future time perspective is warranted.     

Cognitive processing therapy for chronic PTSD from childhood sexual abuse: A case study

This paper describes a case of chronic Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV, 4th edn; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). The client has a long history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), as well as repeated sexual victimization as an adult and addiction issues. She presented with significant avoidance symptoms, including a highly restricted range of affect and distinct feelings of detachment from others. These symptoms had been greatly reduced by the end of the 17-week therapy including both individual and group modalities. The paper elaborates on theoretical issues, the Cognitive Processing Therapy model (Resick & Schnicke, 1993) as it was adapted for use with survivors of childhood sexual abuse, the various phases of the therapeutic process, and specific examples of therapeutic change with this particularly complicated case.     

The PsyCLE project: Developing a psychology computer-based learning environment

PsyCLE is a 3-year project involving over 30 United Kingdom universities to develop multimedia resources for introductory psychology courses. Our goal is to support active learning and encourage students to form a sound understanding of concepts under study. The developments focus on interactive tasks, illustrative case study material, and tools to support critical thinking and analysis. We discuss the rationale for the approach adopted and describe the developed resources and their evaluation and use.     

The measurement of imagery ability

When variations in imagery ability are used to predict task performance, distinct and consistent relationships do not tend to emerge. A selective review of studies is undertaken to outline some basic reasons why individual difference measures of imagery are often so unsuccessful. Relevant studies concerning the learning and performance of motor skills are examined in some detail. It is concluded that the major problem in these studies is the types of imagery tests that have been employed; these tests have not adequately measured imagery ability. A recently developed instrument, the Movement Imagery Questionnaire, which has been designed to assess individual differences in visual and kinesthetic imagery of movement is discussed.     

The children of Mexican-American migrant workers: A population at risk?

The present study assessed intellectual, academic, and emotional strengths and weaknesses for a group of Mexican-American children of migrant farm workers. In order to test the vulnerability hypothesis, the test profiles of these children were contrasted with those of two groups of black children with similar demographic makeup. The children of one group (Clinical Black) had been referred previously for a psychological consultation while the children of the other (Nonreferred Black) had not. Across dependent measures, between-groups contrasts tended to describe the scores of the Migrant children as similar to those of the Clinical Black children and significantly below those of the Nonreferred Black children. The findings suggested specific intellectual, academic, and emotional vulnerabilities of the Migrant children and demonstrated the need to develop ameliorative programs for these children.The authors wish to thank the staff of C & Y, University of Virginia Hospital, especially Ms. Deborah Johnson and Ms. Suzanne Canale, whose cooperation and assistance made this project possible.     

A test of the self-perception explanation of the effects of rewards on intrinsic interest

An experiment was conducted to test the proposition that rewards undermine or enhance intrinsic interest in a task to the extent that individuals interpret their behavior as being motivated by the reward. It was predicted that when subjects were denied the opportunity to develop and confirm this attribution, rewards would not produce an undermining effect, but rather would enhance dispositions and behavior. Subjects were recruited to evaluate a new sugar-free soft drink. Two levels of incentives (reward-no reward), two levels of examination (opportunity-no opportunity), and three levels of outcome (good-neutral-poor) were employed. The results support the prediction that an incentive's effect depends on the examination opportunity. In the examination condition, rewarded subjects attributed their behavior more to external factors than did unrewarded subjects, but gave more negative product evaluations only after tasting it. In the no examination condition, there were no differences in the attributions made by rewarded and unrewarded subjects, and rewarded subjects were more positively disposed toward the product both before and after tasting it. These results are explained as a consequence of two properties of rewards, enhancement through reinforcement and undermining through discounting, and of hypothesis-testing processes.     

Nasality and precision of articulation

Two reading passages, one with nasal consonants and one without, were tape-recorded for 72 subjects: 34 selected as having precise articulation and 38 selected as having imprecise articulation. These speech samples were evaluated for degree of precision and also for degree of nasality by the psychological scaling method of equal-appearing intervals employing a 7-point scale. Analysis indicated a relationship between degree of precision and degree of unpleasant nasality, that is, a tendency for decreases in precision to be accompanied by increased nasality and a tendency for males to be more imprecise in articulation and more nasal than females.     

Extradimensional shift learning in pigeons: Positive and negative transfer produced by prior discrimination training

Four groups of pigeons were trained on a free operant successive discrimination between line-stimuli differing in orientation. The groups differed according to their previous treatment. Two groups had received true discrimination (TD) training with stimuli differing in colour and two groups had received pseudo-discrimination (PD) training. For one pair of groups the line-stimulus that was to become the positive stimulus in the transfer stage of the experiment was superimposed on both colours and in these the subjects given PD training learned the orientation discrimination more readily than those given TD training. In the other pair of groups TD animals learned more readily than PD. These results require us to modify current theories of attentional factors in transfer.