The Effect of Training on Preparatory Attention in Older Adults: Evidence for the Role of Uncertainty in Age-Related Preparatory Deficits

Thirty-two older adults and 20 younger adults completed a simple visual detection task in which the preparatory interval (PI; 1, 3, and 5 s) that separates the warning signal from the target varied randomly on each trial. Participants were divided into two groups. In a control condition, participants completed four blocks of trials with the three PIs occurring equally often within a block. In the experimental condition, participants completed an equal probability block (Block 1) followed by two blocks (Blocks 2 and 3) in which the shortest PI (1 s) occurred on 2/3 of the trials, followed again by an equal probability block (Block 4). In Block 1, the results indicated a larger PI effect in older than younger participants, independent of general slowing. Increasing the likelihood of the shortest PI (Blocks 2 and 3 in the experimental condition) improved RT in older and younger adults and led to an equivalent PI effect in both age groups. This was not observed in the control condition, in which the age-related difference persisted during the four blocks of trials. Importantly, the improvement observed in the experimental group was maintained in the fourth block, where the PIs were reverted to an equal probability distribution. This supports the hypothesis that elderly participants prepare for events that have the greatest probability of occurrence and that this is a flexible process that can be modulated with brief training.     

Episodic Encoding in Normal Aging: Attentional Resources Hypothesis Extended to Musical Material

The goal of the present study was to examine age-related changes in musical episodic memory for novel tunes. This was conducted by manipulating the encoding condition in a recognition paradigm. After receiving memory instructions (intentional condition), older and younger participants obtained equivalent hits. In contrast, when intentional encoding was accompanied by a dancing judgment (dancing + intentional condition), the recognition performance of the older persons was severely impaired. Impaired recognition was also found when participants only judged the excerpts without being instructed to memorize them (dancing judgment condition). Although older participants demonstrated a preserved ability to perform the dancing judgment on its own, this ability was not optimal and likely precluded the initiation of more elaborate encoding strategies. These results suggest that asking older persons to divide their attention in the study phase reduces the quality of their musical encoding. Given this extension to musical material, we discuss the notion that the age-related attentional resource decline appears to be domain-general rather than specific to verbal material.     

BRIEF REPORT Perception of the duration of emotional events

Participants were trained on a temporal bisection task in which visual stimuli (a pink oval) of 400 ms and 1600 ms served as short and long standards, respectively. They were then presented comparison durations between 400 ms and 1600 ms, represented by faces expressing three emotions (anger, happiness, and sadness) and a neutral‐baseline facial expression. Relative to the neutral face, the proportion of long responses was higher, the psychophysical functions shifted to the left, and the bisection point values were lower for faces expressing any of the three emotions. These findings indicate that the duration of emotional faces was systematically overestimated compared to neural ones. Furthermore, consistent with arousal‐based models of time perception, temporal overestimation for the emotional faces increased with the duration values. It appears, therefore, that emotional faces increased the speed of the pacemaker of the internal clock.     

Adherence to Hormone Replacement Therapy: A Longitudinal Study Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour

The aim of this longitudinal study was to assess the stability and determinants of the intention to adopt HRT over a one-year period using the Theory of Planned Behaviour. At baseline, a total of 644 middle-aged premenopausal women who had never used HRT, were recruited. At follow-up, 417 women completed an interview to assess any change in their reproductive status and in their behavioural intention. Among women who stayed premenopausal (n = 172) and among those who became perimenopausal (n = 209), the intention to adopt HRT was quite stable over the one-year period. However, being perimenopausal had a significant effect on the intention to adopt HRT at follow-up, as did subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and moral norm measured at baseline. Attitude towards HRT did not have a significant effect on the intention to adopt HRT one year later. Therefore, interventions to support women's decision-making about HRT should be tailored to their menopausal status and take into account their perception of social pressure to perform, control over this behaviour and moral obligation.     

Phenomenology,psychopathology, and short‐term therapeutic outcome of 102 infants aged 0 to 12 months consecutively referred to a community‐based 0 to 3 mental health clinic

Infants ages 0 to 1 year consecutively referred for psychiatric treatment during the year 2005 were followed, and variables associated with diagnosis and short‐term outcome were assessed. Infants were evaluated using the Psychiatric Infant Navigator Chart and Evaluation that includes nosological diagnoses [Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood, (DC 0–3), Zero to Three, 1994] as well as risk and protective factors, treatment procedure, and outcomes. Seventy‐six percent of the infants had an Axis I diagnosis, with anxiety disorders and a mixed disorder of emotional expressiveness being the most frequent. Twenty‐five percent had an Axis II diagnosis. Multiple correspondence analyses showed that two dimensions corresponding grossly to DC 0–3 Axes I and II emerged. They emphasized three clinical profiles characterized by (a) good infant functioning, parent's awareness of their own difficulties, and a good outcome; (b) moderate child symptoms, overinvolved relating, and a good/intermediate outcome; (c) severe child symptoms, underinvolved relating, and a less favorable short‐term outcome, signaling the risk for developmental disorders. Among the associated risk factors were cumulative parental stress, maternal psychopathology, and family dysfunction. Clinical implications of these findings indicated that infants under the age of 1 year who are referred for mental health evaluation and intervention are a heterogeneous group in terms of both severity and prognosis. Clinicians should differentiate subgroups of young children to detect those infants at risk for persistent psychopathology.     

Human Rights and the Defense of Liberal Democracy

In recent issues of the Journal of Religious Ethics (2006, 2007), David Little has defended the contemporary regime of international human rights against what he thinks of as the relativizing influences of the genealogical “just‐so” story told by Jeffrey Stout in his Democracy and Tradition (2004). I argue that Stout is correct about just‐so stories, and that Little does not go far enough in his reclamation of liberalism against Stout's “new traditionalists.” The main weaknesses of Little's approach are his insistence on the idea that human rights are to be thought of as natural rights, and that these in turn are to be thought of as self‐evident and self‐justifying. I argue that they are neither: they come to us via a Stoutian just‐so story, and that as part of a broader reclamation of liberalism, they can continue to serve as the basis for the kind of international liberal constitutionalism that Little advocates.     

Retail brand extension—perceived fit,risks and trust

• This study examines consumer fit perception, risks and trust in retail brand extension in financial services. Respondents (324) living in Sheffield were involved in the consumer survey, conducted on three major British supermarkets. Mean scores were compared between four groups of respondents. Discriminant analysis was used to determine the factor(s) distinguishing the retailers. Retailers A and B were perceived as trusted brands with respect to financial services. Retailer A was perceived as a trusted brand regardless of the product category. Retailer B was seen as a trusted brand when product performance and financial risks were low while Retailer C was perceived unfit and risky by non‐users and the non‐intend‐to‐buy groups. Age, gender and income influenced fit, risks and trust perception. When consumers knew the store or were store loyal, they tended to trust the store brand extension whereas when consumers did not know or were new to the store, fit and risks were perceived. Implications for corporate branding, brand extension decision‐making and implementations are sought.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of arousal on internal clock speed in real action and mental imagery.

The possible implication of an internal clock as a mechanism accounting for the temporal homology between actual and mental walking is studied. To observe this phenomenon, stressful sound stimuli were used to increase arousal, which is known to activate the internal clock. Seventeen participants performed three tasks: (1) a time production task, used as a reference task reflecting the internal clock speed; (2) an actual walking task; and (3) a mental walking task, all three in two sound conditions (no noise and noise). The results showed a significant effect of arousal on time in each task. The effect of noise, increasing the arousal level, was greater in time production and mental imagery tasks than in real action. In addition, the percentages of change between the two sound conditions for actual and mental walking time were not statistically different. These findings are further evidence of the existence of a timing process common to actual and mental walking. The data are consistent with the implication of an internal clock in both actual and mental walking.