Audio-visual integration of emotional cues in song

We examined whether facial expressions of performers influence the emotional connotations of sung materials, and whether attention is implicated in audio-visual integration of affective cues. In Experiment 1, participants judged the emotional valence of audio-visual presentations of sung intervals. Performances were edited such that auditory and visual information conveyed congruent or incongruent affective connotations. In the single-task condition, participants judged the emotional connotation of sung intervals. In the dual-task condition, participants judged the emotional connotation of intervals while performing a secondary task. Judgements were influenced by melodic cues and facial expressions and the effects were undiminished by the secondary task. Experiment 2 involved identical conditions but participants were instructed to base judgements on auditory information alone. Again, facial expressions influenced judgements and the effect was undiminished by the secondary task. The results suggest that visual aspects of music performance are automatically and preattentively registered and integrated with auditory cues.     

Treating PTSD in active duty service members using cognitive processing therapy or prolonged exposure therapy: Examining everyday practice at a military outpatient clinic

The Institute of Medicine has stressed the need for evaluations of evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among active duty service members (AD) using a variety of evaluation approaches (Institute of Medicine, 2012). The current study examined the clinical files of 134 service members who completed treatment for PTSD using either prolonged exposure (PE) or cognitive processing therapy at an outpatient clinic. At the completion of each session, therapists made a clinical rating as to whether or not the session was protocol adherent. The total number of treatment sessions and the proportion of sessions rated as being protocol adherent were calculated. Multi-level models estimated the change in patient PTSD and other psychological symptoms over time as a function of clinician-rated protocol adherence and total number of sessions. Approximately 65% of clinic encounters were rated by therapists as being protocol adherent. Significant reductions in PTSD and psychological symptoms were associated with protocol adherence, and this was particularly true for patients who began treatment above clinical thresholds for both PTSD and other psychological symptoms. However, as the number of sessions increased, the impact of protocol adherence was attenuated. Patient characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, and co-morbidity for other psychiatric disorders were not related to symptom change trajectories over time. These findings suggest that protocol adherence and efficiency in delivery of EBTs for the treatment of PTSD with AD is critical.     

More Than a Sex Machine: Accomplishing Masculinity Among Chinese Male Sex Workers in the Hong Kong Sex Industry

Situated in the masculinity and deviance literature, this article examines a “deviant” masculinity, that of the male sex worker, and presents the ways men who engage in sex work cope with the job. Based on in-depth interviews of Chinese male sex workers (n = 18) in the Hong Kong sex industry, I argue that the stigma management techniques these men employ are simultaneously gender strategies they use to accomplish masculinity. It is through this process that they negotiate a masculine identity within the hierarchy of masculinities in order to become “respectable” and “responsible” Chinese men.     

high-resolution electron microscopy at a (113) symmetric Thermally activated step motion observed by tilt grain-boundary in aluminium

Grain-boundary migration is demonstrated to proceed by lateral propagation of a small step in a (113), [110] symmetric Al tilt grain-boundary. In-situ high-resolution (transmission) electron microscopy (HREM) at 523K allowed the study of atomic-scale detail at video rates during the migration process. The grain-boundary translational states on both sides of the step are identical, which leads to a step dislocation. This defect can move laterally by a combination of climb and glide. Dynamic HREM images indicate considerable atomic agitation within the dislocation core. A detailed temporal analysis of the step movements shows small random displacements of the dislocation core.     

Reliability and Validity of a Treatment Fidelity Assessment for Motivational Interviewing Targeting Sexual Risk Behaviors in People Living with HIV/AIDS

This study psychometrically evaluates the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Code (MITI) to assess fidelity to motivational interviewing to reduce sexual risk behaviors in people living with HIV/AIDS. 74 sessions from a pilot randomized controlled trial of motivational interviewing to reduce sexual risk behaviors in people living with HIV were coded with the MITI. Participants reported sexual behavior at baseline, 3-month, and 6-months. Regarding reliability, excellent inter-rater reliability was achieved for measures of behavior frequency across the 12 sessions coded by both coders; global scales demonstrated poor intraclass correlations, but adequate percent agreement. Regarding validity, principle components analyses indicated that a two-factor model accounted for an adequate amount of variance in the data. These factors were associated with decreases in sexual risk behaviors after treatment. The MITI is a reliable and valid measurement of treatment fidelity for motivational interviewing targeting sexual risk behaviors in people living with HIV/AIDS.     

Beyond the Grand Illusion: What Change Blindness Really Teaches Us About Vision

Experiments on scene perception and change blindness suggest that the visual system does not construct detailed internal models of a scene. These experiments therefore call into doubt the traditional view that vision is a process in which detailed representations of the environment must be constructed. The non-existence of such detailed representations, however, does not entail that we do not perceive the detailed environment. The “grand illusion hypothesis” that our visual world is an illusion rests on (1) a problematic “reconstructionist” conception of vision, and (2) a misconception about the character of perceptual experience.