Changes in subject performance during the semester: An empirical investigation

Two experiments were conducted to probe for performance differences between early-semester subjects and late-semester subjects in an introductory psychology subject pool. In Experiment 1A, hypotheses regarding changes in performance included differential effort, changes in subjects’ attention to the task, and changes in subjects’ sensitivity. A signal detection paradigm was used, and 278 subjects were sampled over the course of the semester. No evidence of changes in subject performance was found, in spite of sufficient power to detect relevant patterns of change. The results of a replication (N = 135) were consistent with those of Experiment 1A. Experiment 2 (N = 118) employed a text comprehension task to examine possible differences in subject performance with a more cognitive task. Again, there was no evidence to support the idea that late-semester subjects were performing differently from early-semester subjects.     

Adult urinary incontinence: Assessment,intervention, and the role of clinical health psychology in program development

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a disorder receiving little attention from clinical health psychologists. This paper establishes the importance of addressing the issue of UI within the clinical and research practices of clinical health psychologists. Over 10 million Americans suffer from loss of bladder control. Incontinence affects over half of older individuals in long-term care institutions, about one-third of hospitalized elderly, and up to 30% of Americans over the age of 60 living at home. Because of social stigma and misconceptions attached to urinary incontinence, it is estimated that less than half of those affected see a physician about their condition. Since UI is generally associated with medical, social, psychological, and economic consequences, a multidisciplinary perspective is important because these factors are integral in the selection of appropriate treatment. Definitions of UI, its incidence and costs, and brief reviews of treatment and management techniques are presented. Psychological sequelae and treatments are presented as a foundation for developing further treatment and research approaches. Guidelines for collaboration and consultation by clinical health psychologists with medical professionals in the area of UI are also discussed.     

Visual motion and attentional capture

Previous work has shown that abrupt visual onsets capture attention. This occurs even with stimuli that are equiluminant with the background, which suggests that the appearance of a new perceptual object, not merely a change in luminance, captures attention. Three experiments are reported in which this work was extended by investigating the possible role of visual motion in attentional capture. Experiment 1 revealed that motion can efficiently guide attention when it is perfectly informative about the location of a visual search target, but that it does not draw attention when it does not predict the target’s position. This result was obtained with several forms of motion, including oscillation, looming, and nearby moving contours. To account for these and other results, we tested anew-object account of attentional capture in Experiment 2 by using a global/local paradigm. When motion segregated a local letter from its perceptual group, the local letter captured attention as indexed by an effect on latency of response to the task-relevant global configuration. Experiment 3 ruled out the possibility that the motion in Experiment 2 captured attention merely by increasing the salience of the moving object. We argue instead that when motion segregates a perceptual element from a perceptual group, a new perceptual object is created, and this event captures attention. Together, the results suggest that motion as such does not capture attention but that the appearance of a new perceptual object does.     

Time perspective in vocational maturity and career decision making

This study investigated the hypothesis that time perspective is a component in vocational maturity and career decision making. Ninety-seven college freshmen responded to two measures of time perspective and seven measures selected to represent attitudinal vocational maturity, cognitive vocational maturity, and career decision making. The nine variables were intercorrelated and the resulting matrix was subjected to alpha factor analysis. Three factors were extracted and titled Attitudinal Vocational Maturity, Cognitive Vocational Maturity, and Career Decision Making. As predicted, time perspective was a component in the Attitudinal Vocational Maturity and Career Decision-Making factors. The results supported the hypothesis and specifically linked time perspective to planfulness and degree of indecision.     

A comparison of children who receive and who do not receive permission to participate in research

In a study examining children's social competence in elementary school settings, the authors had the opportunity to compare children who received parental permission to participate to children who did not receive permission. Results indicated that children who were not involved in the study were more likely to be viewed by teachers as having unsatisfactory relationships with peers than children who were in the study. The present results suggest that investigators begin reporting the number of children who do not participate in a given study and begin examining whether minors who receive parental permission differ on important dimensions from minors who do not receive such permission. Ethical considerations of the present study are discussed.