Acquisition of a visual discrimination and reversal learning task by Labrador retrievers

Optimal cognitive ability is likely important for military working dogs (MWD) trained to detect explosives. An assessment of a dog’s ability to rapidly learn discriminations might be useful in the MWD selection process. In this study, visual discrimination and reversal tasks were used to assess cognitive performance in Labrador retrievers selected for an explosives detection program using a modified version of the Toronto General Testing Apparatus (TGTA), a system developed for assessing performance in a battery of neuropsychological tests in canines. The results of the current study revealed that, as previously found with beagles tested using the TGTA, Labrador retrievers (N = 16) readily acquired both tasks and learned the discrimination task significantly faster than the reversal task. The present study confirmed that the modified TGTA system is suitable for cognitive evaluations in Labrador retriever MWDs and can be used to further explore effects of sex, phenotype, age, and other factors in relation to canine cognition and learning, and may provide an additional screening tool for MWD selection.     

The impact of implicit prejudice about the elderly on the reaction to stereotype confirmation and disconfirmation

Previous research demonstrated that perceivers explicitly condemn ingroup members who use racial stereotypes but that they are implicitly more likely to favor those ingroup members rather than ingroup members who do not use racial stereotypes (Castelli et al., 2001). The present study has two main goals. First, we want to investigate whether the same effects can be detected in the domain of ageism. In particular, we predicted that young adults would implicitly but not explicitly favor a young male who describes an old man in a stereotype-consistent way rather than in a stereotypeinconsistent way. Most importantly, we hypothesized that this tendency is related to participants’ prejudice level as assessed through an implicit measure (IAT, Greenwald et al., 1998), so that high prejudice individuals will implicitly favor stereotypere and derogate ingroup members who use stereotype-inconsistent information. Results provide general support for the hypotheses, and their implications for stereotype maintenance and change are discussed. Preparation of this paper was supported by a research grant from the University of Padova to the first author (CPDG018859).     

Distribution of Spatial Visualization and Mathematical Problem Solving Scores: A Test of Stafford's X-linked Hypotheses

This study investigated distribution of spatial visualization scores (Space Relations test of the Differential Aptitude Test) and mathematical problem solving scores (Mental Arithmetic Problems) obtained by 161 male and 152 female, 9th grade, white students for fit to the distributions predicted by the X-linked hypotheses of recessive inheritance of these skills. Data did not support the X-linked hypotheses. No significant sex-related differences were found between mean scores of tests of spatial visualization or mathematical problem solving.     

Type-based bigram frequencies for five-letter words

Researchers often require subjects to make judgments that call upon their knowledge of the orthographic structure of English words. Such knowledge is relevant in experiments on, for example, reading, lexical decision, and anagram solution. One common measure of orthographic structure is the sum of the frequencies of consecutive bigrams in the word. Traditionally, researchers have relied ontoken-based norms of bigram frequencies. These norms confound bigram frequency with word frequency because each instance (i.e., token) of a particular word in a corpus of running text increments the frequencies of the bigrams that it contains. In this article, the authors report a set oftype-based bigram frequencies in which each word (i.e., type) contributes only once, thereby unconfounding bigram frequency from word frequency. The authors show that type-based bigram frequency is a better predictor of the difficulty of anagram solution than is token-based frequency. These norms can be downloaded fromwww.psychonomic.org/archive/.     

Homoerotic Countertransference The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name?

Despite the recent interest in erotic countertransference and self-disclosure, little has been written about these phenomena when both analyst and patient are the same gender. Since homoerotic feelings can surface in any treatment, regardless of the participants' sexual orientation, this may well be a phobic avoidance that restricts many treatments, as well as our profession. I propose that the analyst's awareness of homoerotic feelings in the countertransference—including struggling with ways to express them—ultimately can create an atmosphere of safety. I offer an extended case example of one man with whom I colluded to ignore frightening aspects of his sexual fantasies. It was only by using my erotic countertransference, especially at a charged and pivotal moment, that I was able to help the patient begin to integrate split-off aspects of his sexuality.     

Self-affirmation and affective forecasting: Affirmation reduces the anticipated impact of negative events

When forecasting how they will feel in the future, people overestimate the impact that imagined negative events will have on their affective states, partly because they underestimate their own psychological resiliency. Because self-affirmation enhances resiliency, two studies examined whether self-affirmation prior to forecasting reduces the extremity of affective forecasts. Participants in self-affirmation conditions completed a values scale or wrote an essay asserting their most important value, whereas participants in the no-affirmation condition asserted a relatively unimportant value. Participants then predicted their affective reactions to a negative or positive imagined event. In both studies, self-affirmation reduced the unpleasant affect expected to result from a negative event, but had no impact on affective forecasts for a positive event. This pattern was mediated by participants’ cognitive appraisals of the imagined event, but not by differential focus on that event. Results are consistent with self-affirmation activating or enhancing psychological resiliency to counteract immune neglect during affective forecasting of a negative event.     

Improving Health Education for Women Who Carry an <Emphasis Type="Italic">FMR1</Emphasis> Premutation

Women who carry an FMR1 (i.e., fragile X) premutation have specific health risks over their lifetime. However, little is known about their experience understanding these risks and navigating their health needs. The aim of this study was to use qualitative analysis to uncover both barriers and facilitators to personal healthcare using a framework of the Health Belief Model. Five focus groups were conducted with a total of 20 women who carry the FMR1 premutation using a semi-structured discussion guide. All sessions were transcribed verbatim and independently coded by two researchers. The coders used a deductive – inductive approach to determine the prominent themes related to the participants’ experiences seeking healthcare for premutation-related conditions. Salient barriers to personal healthcare included difficult clinical translation of research findings, lack of knowledge among healthcare providers and among the women themselves, different priorities, and shortage of premutation-specific support and targeted educational materials. Facilitators included family members, national and community support organizations, research studies, compassionate physicians, and other premutation carriers. Addressing barriers to personal healthcare through up-to-date educational materials can help diminish misperceptions regarding health risks. Targeted educational materials will aid in information sharing and awareness for women who carry the FMR1 premutation and their physicians.