Confirmatory factor analyses of DSM-IV Cluster C personality disorder criteria

Notwithstanding its research and clinical relevance, the dimensionality and validity of the DSM-IV avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders (PDs) criteria is still a largely unexplored topic. The aim of this study was to test the factor structure for DSM-IV Cluster C PD criteria in a sample of 641 consecutively admitted outpatients. Factor analysis results suggested that avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive PDs share a common latent dimension, and supported the three-factor structure of both observer and self-report ratings of DSM-IV Cluster C PD criteria. The pattern of factor loadings, however, was different from the one expected according to the DSM-IV classification.     

Spatial cognition and crime: the study of mental models of spatial relations in crime analysis

Several studies employed different algorithms in order to investigate criminal's spatial behaviour and to identify mental models and cognitive strategies related to it. So far, a number of geographic profiling (GP) software have been implemented to analyse mobility and its relation to the way criminals are using spatial environment when committing a crime. Since crimes are usually perpetrated in the offender's high-awareness areas, those cognitive maps can be employed to create a map of the criminal's operating area to help investigators to circumscribe search areas. The aim of the present study was to verify accuracy of simple statistical analysis in predicting spatial mobility of a group of 30 non-criminal subjects. Results showed that statistics such as Mean Centre and Standard Distance were accurate in elaborating a GP for each subject according to the mobility area provided. Future analysis will be implemented using mobility information of criminal subjects and location-based software to verify whether there is a cognitive spatial strategy employed by them when planning and committing a crime.     

Familiarity does not affect the unilateral field advantage for repetition detection

We have previously reported evidence that repetitions of letters, colors, sizes, and common motion paths are more rapidly detected when they are presented unilaterally (i.e., both in the same visual field) versus bilaterally (one element in each visual field; Butcher and Cavanagh (Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 70:714?C724, 2008). Here, we report evidence that this unilateral field advantage (UFA) for repetition detection does not depend on prior experience with the elements that comprise the repetition. In Experiment 1, native English, Persian, and Japanese speakers were tested on a repetition detection task involving characters from Western, Arabic, and Japanese character sets. The character sets were tested in blocks, in each of which subjects were presented with four characters for 16 ms and asked to report whether any two of the characters were identical. The subjects were faster detecting repetitions that were presented unilaterally rather than bilaterally, and there was no interaction with stimulus familiarity. A second experiment replicated this finding with native English speakers only, using a longer stimulus duration (150 ms). We had previously proposed that the UFA arises because the low-level processes that group physically identical items operate more efficiently within than across hemifields. Our data now indicate that this grouping process is insensitive to item familiarity, supporting the claim that the process is low-level.     

Predicting borderline personality disorder features from personality traits, identity orientation, and attachment styles in Italian nonclinical adults: issues of consistency across age ranges

The aims of this study were to assess whether Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) features could be predicted by Big Five traits, impulsivity, identity orientation, and adult attachment patterns in a sample of 1,192 adult nonclinical participants, and to evaluate the consistency of these regression models across four age groups (<30 years, 30-39 years, 40-49 years, and >50 years, respectively). In the full sample, measures of neuroticism (N), impulsivity, and anxious insecure attachment were substantial predictors of BPD features (adjusted R(2) = .38, p < .001). Attachment scales were significant predictors of BPD features across all age groups, but different scales were relevant in different age groups. Our results suggest that in nonclinical populations, BPD may represent a complex constellation of personality traits and disturbed attachment patterns.     

GOOD or BAD responder? Behavioural and neuroanatomical markers of clinical response to donepezil in dementia

We explored the neuropsychological and neuromorphometrical differences between probable Alzheimer's disease patients showing a good or a bad response to nine months treatment with donepezil. Before treatment, the neuropsychological profile of the two patient groups was perfectly matched. By the ninth month after treatment, the BAD-responders showed a decline of the MMSE score together with a progressive impairment of executive functions. A voxel-based morphometry investigation (VBM), at the time of the second neuropsychological assessment, showed that the BAD-responders had larger grey and white matter atrophies involving the substantia innominata of Meynert bilaterally, the ventral part of caudate nuclei and the left uncinate fasciculus, brain areas belonging to the cholinergic pathways. A more widespread degeneration of the central cholinergic pathways may explain the lack of donepezil efficacy in those patients not responding to a treatment that operates on the grounds that some degree of endogeneous release of acetylcholine is still available.     

Gender Representation on Gender-Targeted Television Channels: A Comparison of Female- and Male-Targeted TV Channels in the Netherlands

The current study investigated the differences in the representation of gender on male- and female-targeted channels with regard to recognition (i.e., the actual presence of men and women) and respect (i.e., the nature of that representation or portrayal). To this end, the presence of men and women on two female- and two male-targeted Dutch channels (N = 115 programs, N = 1091 persons) were compared via content analysis. The expectation that men’s channels would portray a less equal and more traditional image of gender than women’s channels was generally supported by the results. Regardless of genre as well as country of origin of the program, women were underrepresented on men’s channels, while gender distribution on women’s channels was more equal. The representation of women in terms of age and occupation was more stereotypical on men’s channels than on women’s channels, whereas men were represented in more contra-stereotypical ways (e.g., performing household tasks) on women’s channels. Since television viewing contributes to the learning and maintenance of stereotyped perceptions, the results imply that it is important to strengthen viewers’ defenses against the effects of gender stereotyping when watching gendered television channels, for instance through media literacy programs in schools.