Things are looking up: differential decline in face recognition following pitch and yaw rotation

Previous research into the effects of viewpoint change on face recognition has typically dealt with rotations around the head's vertical axis (yaw). Another common, although less studied, source of viewpoint variation in faces is rotation around the head's horizontal pitch axis (pitch). In the current study we used both a sequential matching task and an old/new recognition task to examine the effect of viewpoint change following rotation about both pitch and yaw axes on human face recognition. The results of both tasks showed that recognition performance was better for faces rotated about yaw compared to pitch. Further, recognition performance for faces rotated upwards on the pitch axis was better than for faces rotated downwards. Thus, equivalent angular rotations about pitch and yaw do not produce equivalent viewpoint-dependent declines in recognition performance.     

Normative Publication Productivity of Communication Scholars at Selected Career Milestones

This study builds on past research on normative publication practices in the communication discipline by exploring rates of contribution to the discipline’s literature as represented in the Communication Institute for Online Scholarship’s ComAbstracts database. The ComAbstracts database, spanning 90 years and more than 46,000 publications, provides significantly greater breadth and depth than previously available data sources. The strategy for sampling scholars included in this study also differs from prior work by limiting the sample to scholars affiliated with the communication field through membership in one of its primary professional societies. For purposes of studying historical change in productivity, the sample of scholars was divided into six cohorts at different points in their careers to discover norms for publication productivity at milestone intervals following career onset, defined as the date of award of the Ph.D. or an equivalent terminal degree. Among other findings, results suggest (a) that rates of contribution of single‐authored articles have fallen significantly over the years without compensating increases in the number of multiauthored publications, (b) that an early high rate of publication productivity is highly predictive of a sustained high rate, and (c) that more than one third of the membership of the scholars sample had not contributed any articles to the field’s mainline periodical literature. As well, a metric for determining exceptionally high and low productivity rates by career stage is suggested and illustrated, revealing a way of identifying top‐tier and subnormal productivity adjusted for years in career.     

Measuring the discrepancy between current and ideal spiritual and religious functioning in problem drinkers.

The idea that spiritual and religious functioning (SRF) is associated with alcohol misuse is generally supported, but problems with typical research methods limit the utility of findings. Problems in SRF were conceptualized as discrepancies between current and ideal SRF. Two separate studies were conducted to develop and evaluate a scale to measure the subjective importance and adequacy of aspects of SRF that seem to be associated with alcohol problems. The 1st study suggested that a questionnaire developed to evaluate self-reported ratings of current and ideal SRF is both internally consistent and temporally stable. In the 2nd study, the questionnaire was administered to persons seeking treatment for alcohol problems and persons who indicated that they had never sought treatment for an alcohol problem. Results indicate that those with a drinking problem were more likely to report substantial discrepancies between current and ideal SRF, supporting the validity of the measure as an indicator of problems in SRF. The usefulness of this method for treatment and research is discussed.     

Coercive and precocious sexuality as a fundamental aspect of psychopathy

Sexual behavior is closely associated with delinquency and crime. Although psychopaths, by definition, have many short-term sexual relationships, it has not been shown that sexuality is a core aspect of psychopathy. A Darwinian view of psychopathy led to the hypothesis that psychopaths have a unique sexuality involving early, frequent, and coercive sex. Our subjects were 512 sex offenders assessed on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R). Five variables reflecting early, frequent, and coercive sex loaded on the same principal component in exploratory factor analysis on a subset of the sample, whereas PCL-R items pertaining to adult sexual behavior did not. Confirmatory factor analysis of the remaining subjects yielded a measurement model containing three inter-correlated factors - the traditional two PCL-R factors, and coercive and precocious sexuality. Taxometric analyses gave evidence of a natural discontinuity underlying coercive and precocious sexuality. Coercive and precocious sexuality yielded statistically significant associations with other study variables predicted by the Darwinian hypothesis. The present findings are consistent with prior empirical findings and support the hypothesis that psychopathy has been a nonpathological, reproductively viable, alternate life history strategy.     

Dissociating motivational direction and affective valence: specific emotions alter central motor processes

We aimed to clarify the relation between affective valence and motivational direction by specifying how central and peripheral components of extension movements are altered according to specific unpleasant affective states. As predicted, premotor reaction time was quicker for extension movements initiated during exposure to attack than for extension movements initiated during exposure to all other valence categories (mutilation, erotic couples, opposite-sex nudes, neutral humans, household objects, blank). Exposure to erotic couples and mutilations yielded greater peak force than exposure to images of attack, neutral humans, and household objects. Finally, motor reaction time and peak electromyographic amplitude were not altered by valence. These findings indicate that unpleasant states do not unilaterally prime withdrawal movements, and that the quick execution of extension movements during exposure to threatening images is due to rapid premotor, rather than motor, reaction time. Collectively, our findings support the call for dissociating motivational direction and affective valence.     

Is television traumatic? Dreams, stress, and media exposure in the aftermath of September 11, 2001

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were traumatic for people living throughout the United States. It has been suggested that people living far from the attacks experienced increased stress because of their exposure to the terrorist events via the media, particularly via television. Following a traumatic or stressful event, individuals may have dreams that reflect that experience. As part of a course on dreaming, individuals recorded their dreams both prior to and following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. On September 12, these same individuals reported their activities and media exposure the previous day. Results revealed (a) changes in dream features following the attacks and (b) a strong relation between exposure to the events on television and changes in dream features after the attacks. Because of the study's within-subjects design, the results provide evidence for a direct association between television viewing and subsequent increases in stress and trauma.     

Parents' perceptions of pharmacological and cognitive-behavioral treatments for childhood anxiety disorders

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy are the most well-established treatments for childhood anxiety disorders. This study examined how parents (N=71) seeking treatment for their child's anxiety disorder perceive the acceptability, believability, and effectiveness of these treatments. While both treatments were perceived favorably, CBT was rated as more acceptable, believable, and effective in the short- and long-term. Children's treatment history influenced parents' perceptions of pharmacotherapy, with parents of children with no treatment history perceiving medication treatment as less acceptable and believable than parents of children with a history of medication alone or in combination with behavior therapy. No effect of treatment history was found for perceptions of CBT. Significant positive correlations emerged between parents' perceived acceptance and believability for pharmacotherapy and child age and level of dysfunction due to their child's anxiety, respectively. The level of the child's anxiety was not significantly correlated with parents' perceptions of either CBT or pharmacotherapy. Our results suggest that parents of anxious children prefer CBT to medication for the treatment of their child's anxiety disorder. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Investigating the effects of tic suppression on premonitory urge ratings in children and adolescents with Tourette's syndrome

Tics represent a complex class of behaviors that have a neurobiological origin and are influenced by factors both internal and external to the individual. One factor that has gained recent attention is the premonitory urge. Contemporary behavioral models suggest that some tics are preceded by aversive somatic urges that increase in severity when tics are suppressed and are attenuated by performance of the tic. It has been proposed that the removal of premonitory urges may strengthen or maintain tics via negative reinforcement. This investigation is the first to empirically evaluate the effect of tic suppression on the premonitory urge phenomenon. Five children and adolescents, ages 8–17 years, participated in the study. Using an ABAB reversal design, tic frequency and subjective premonitory urge ratings were recorded under conditions of free-to-tic baseline (BL) and reinforced tic suppression (differential reinforcement of zero-rate behavior). Results show that four of the five children demonstrated reliable suppression. Of the four children who achieved suppression, three demonstrated a pattern in which subjective urge ratings were higher during suppression than during BL. Results provide preliminary support for the negative reinforcement view of tic function for some children.