Factor-analytic structures in the English and Japanese versions of the Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status (OMEIS)

This research describes an exploratory factor analysis for the purposes of factorial validation for both the English and Japanese versions of the Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status (OMEIS)—Ideological version (Adams, Bennion, & Huh, 1989). The Japanese OMEIS is a direct translation of the English OMEIS (Ohnishi, 1998). The study reports the factor structure of the OMEIS—Ideological version in English and Japanese. A principal factor analysis (PFA) with both oblique and orthogonal solutions was performed. Alpha reliabilities for the factors are presented. The present research compares and contrasts the factor structures of OMEIS—Ideological version, derived from a U.S. sample and a Japanese sample, comprising women from late adulthood to middle age. Cultural differences between the two sample populations are explored.     

Listening with an Accent: Speech Perception in a Second Language by Late Bilinguals

The goal of the present study was to examine functioning of late bilinguals in their second language. Specifically, we asked how native and non-native Hebrew speaking listeners perceive accented and native-accented Hebrew speech. To achieve this goal we used the gating paradigm to explore the ability of healthy late fluent bilinguals (Russian and Arabic native speakers) to recognize words in L2 (Hebrew) when they were spoken in an accent like their own, a native accent (Hebrew speakers), or another foreign accent (American accent). The data revealed that for Hebrew speakers, there was no effect of accent, whereas for the two bilingual groups (Russian and Arabic native speakers), stimuli with an accent like their own and the native Hebrew accent, required significantly less phonological information than the other foreign accents. The results support the hypothesis that phonological assimilation works in a similar manner in these two different groups.     

Aligning Islamic Spirituality to Medical Imaging

This paper attempts to conceptualize Islamic spirituality in medical imaging that deals with the humanistic and technical dimensions. It begins with establishing an understanding concerning spirituality, an area that now accepted as part of patient-centred care. This is followed by discussions pertaining to Islamic spirituality, related to the practitioner, patient care and the practice. Possible avenues towards applying Islamic spirituality in medical imaging are proposed. It is hoped that the resultant harmonization between Islamic spirituality and the practice will trigger awareness and interests pertaining to the role of a Muslim practitioner in advocating and enhancing Islamic spirituality.     

Predicting Reading in Vowelized and Unvowelized Arabic Script: An Investigation of Reading in First and Second Grades

This study examined the orthographic transparency of Arabic by investigating the contribution of phonological awareness (PA), vocabulary, and Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) to reading vowelized and unvowelized words. The results from first and second grade children showed that PA contribution was similar in the vowelized and unvowelized orthographies. The RAN contribution was weak and similar in both versions. The vocabulary contribution increased with grade and was slightly higher in the unvowelized than vowelized orthography. Since orthography transparency in Arabic is determined solely by vowelization, these results are discussed in relation to its position on the transparency-depth continuum.     

Patients’ Experience of a Narrative Group Therapy Approach Informed by the “Tree of Life” Model for Individuals with Anorexia Nervosa

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a pilot group using the Tree of Life model for individuals with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. Qualitative feedback from patients was collected in a focus group and analyzed using thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: (1) an image to remember, share, and change, (2) constructing an alternative perspective, (3) hope, and (4) creating a sense of community. The results and their implications are discussed.     

Persistence of overconfidence in young children: Factors that lead to more accurate predictions of memory performance

Young children are typically overconfident regarding both cognitive abilities. This overconfidence may be due to development underpinnings. Previous research has demonstrated that children exhibit robust and persistent overconfidence in a simple memory-recall task. Two experiments investigated this overconfidence in 1st–4th and 4th–6th grade students. In the first experiment, we explored both the development of accurate predictions of recall and young students’ confidence in their memory performance predictions. It was found that not until 4th grade did students’ overconfidence begin to wane. In the second experiment, we investigated a condition under which 4th–6th graders might make more accurate predictions of their ability to recall simple stimuli, specifically, when the items to be remembered were unfamiliar to the students. The results confirmed our overconfidence in familiarity hypothesis. We discuss these findings in the context of metacognition.     

A Brief Report on the Assessment of Distress Tolerance: Are We Measuring the Same Construct?

Distress tolerance (DT) refers to an individual’s capacity to cope with aversive internal (e.g., physical, cognitive, emotional) states. A growing body of evidence suggests that there is a relationship between DT and the development and maintenance of problematic behavioral patterns. Despite emerging evidence for such associations, a number of issues remain unresolved. The results of recent studies suggest problems with the convergent validity of the primary measures used to assess DT, despite the fact that these measures are used interchangeably in the DT literature. In order to further examine the relationships among DT assessments, we evaluated intercorrelations among various self-report and behavioral measures of DT in an unselected undergraduate sample (n = 83). Results indicate that two self-report measures of DT were highly correlated with one another, but that neither measure was significantly correlated with the behavioral measures. The relationships among the behavioral measures and between self-report and behavioral measures were weak and non-significant. Correlations between self-report measures only were strong. The findings partially replicate prior research indicating weak correlations between certain, commonly used measures of DT, and raise questions about the current conceptualization of the construct.     

Containment and exclusiveness: Their measurement and correlates(2)

The present report offers two measures for two tendencies reported as containment and exclusiveness. The criterion of containment is the extent of agreeing with statements which evaluate willingness of adopting readily adaptable, and socially reinforcing attitudes to induce others to share one's desired thinking and goals. Exclusiveness, on the other hand, expresses willingness to exert influence by cutting off interaction with others and to adopt defensive style attitudes of control. Two scales (CON and EX) of 25 and 48 items to tap the individual differences in these two tendencies are described. This report also presents internal consistencies along with some studies which describe personal and social properties of the two scales. Limitations and further research topics are suggested.     

Involvement of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex in consolidation of inhibitory avoidance memory: interaction with the basolateral amygdala

Previous findings suggest that the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) is involved in memory for emotionally arousing training. There is also extensive evidence that the basolateral amygdala (BLA) modulates the consolidation of emotional arousing training experiences via interactions with other brain regions. The present experiments examined the effects of posttraining intra-rACC infusions of the cholinergic agonist oxotremorine (OXO) on inhibitory avoidance (IA) retention and investigated whether the BLA and rACC interact in enabling OXO effects on memory. In the first experiment, male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with bilateral cannulae above the rACC and given immediate posttraining OXO infusions. OXO (0.5 or 3 ng) induced significant enhancement of retention performance on a 48-h test. In the second experiment, unilateral posttraining OXO infusions (0.5, 3.0 or 10 ng) enhanced retention when infused into rACC, but not caudal ACC, consistent with previous evidence that ACC is composed of functionally distinct regions. A third experiment investigated the effects of posttraining intra-rACC OXO infusions (0.5 or 10 ng) in rats with bilateral sham or NMDA-induced lesions of the BLA. The BLA lesions did not impair IA retention, but blocked the enhancement induced by posttraining intra-rACC OXO infusions. Lastly, unilateral NMDA lesions of rACC blocked the enhancement of IA retention induced by posttraining ipsilateral OXO infusions into the BLA. These findings support the hypothesis that the rACC is involved in modulating the storage of emotional events and provide additional evidence that the BLA modulates memory consolidation through interactions with efferent brain regions, including the cortex.