Response mode differences in perspective taking: Differences in representation or differences in retrieval?

Three experiments explored whether response mode differences in perspective taking result from different spatial representations or different retrieval processes. Participants learned object locations and then, while blindfolded, pointed to or verbally described object locations from perspectives aligned or misaligned with their facing direction and aligned or misaligned with the learning perspective. Pointing was facilitated from the perspective aligned with the body during testing. Similar facilitation occurred when verbally labeling, but only when conducted in the context of pointing (e.g., after pointing). Without this pointing context, or after third-person strategy instructions, the effect of body alignment was eliminated for verbal responses. Pointing was less responsive to context and strategy. Across all conditions, performance was facilitated for the learning perspective. Taken together, these experiments indicate that response mode differences are due to differences in the retrieval process, which varies with strategy, rather than differences in the organization of the underlying spatial memory.     

Evidence for long-term spatial memory in a parid

Many animals use spatial memory. Although much work has examined the accuracy of spatial memory, few studies have explicitly focused on its longevity. The importance of long-term spatial memory for foraging has been demonstrated in several cases. However, the importance of such long-term memory for all animals is unclear. In this study, we present the first evidence that a parid species (the black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapillus) can remember the location of a single food item for at least 6 months under an associative-learning spatial memory paradigm with multiple reinforcements. We did not detect a significant difference in memory longevity between two populations of chickadees shown previously to differ in short-term spatial memory and hippocampal morphology, an area of the brain involved in spatial memory. Our study showed that small birds such as parids can maintain spatial memories for long periods, a feat shown previously only in corvids. Moreover, we were able to demonstrate this longevity within the context of only 16 repeated trials. We speculate that this ability may potentially be useful in relocating caches if reinforced by repeated visits. Future studies are necessary to test whether our results were specifically due to multiple reinforcements of the food-containing location and whether parids may have similar memory longevity during food-caching experiences in the wild.     

Laughter exaggerates happy and sad faces depending on visual context

Laughter is an auditory stimulus that powerfully conveys positive emotion. We investigated how laughter influenced the visual perception of facial expressions. We presented a sound clip of laughter simultaneously with a happy, a neutral, or a sad schematic face. The emotional face was briefly presented either alone or among a crowd of neutral faces. We used a matching method to determine how laughter influenced the perceived intensity of the happy, neutral, and sad expressions. For a single face, laughter increased the perceived intensity of a happy expression. Surprisingly, for a crowd of faces, laughter produced an opposite effect, increasing the perceived intensity of a sad expression in a crowd. A follow-up experiment revealed that this contrast effect may have occurred because laughter made the neutral distractor faces appear slightly happy, thereby making the deviant sad expression stand out in contrast. A control experiment ruled out semantic mediation of the laughter effects. Our demonstration of the strong context dependence of laughter effects on facial expression perception encourages a reexamination of the previously demonstrated effects of prosody, speech content, and mood on face perception, as they may be similarly context dependent.     

Primary Care Medical Provider Attitudes Regarding Mental Health and Behavioral Medicine in Integrated and Non-integrated Primary Care Practice Settings

Primary care medical providers (PCPs) have become de facto providers of services for the management of both mental and chronic illnesses. Although some reports suggest that PCPs favor having Behavioral Health colleagues provide behavioral health services in primary care, others demonstrate this view is necessarily not universal. We examined attitudes regarding behavioral health services among PCPs in practices that offer such services via onsite behavioral health providers (n = 31) and those that do not (n = 62). We compared referral rates and perceived need for and helpfulness of behavioral health colleagues in treating mental health/behavioral medicine issues. In both samples, perceived need was variable (5?C100%), as were PCPs?? views of their own competence in mental health/behavioral medicine diagnosis and treatment. Interestingly, neither sample rated perceived access to behavioral health providers exceptionally high. Referral rates and views about the helpfulness of behavioral health services, except in relation to depression and anxiety, were lower than expected. These results suggest a need for increased collaboration with and education of PCPs about the roles and skills of behavioral health professionals.     

Executive function in CHARGE syndrome.

This study addressed the presence of executive dysfunction in children with CHARGE syndrome, a genetic disorder with multiple physical anomalies and severe challenging behaviors. Ninety-eight children were included in the study. More than half received clinically significant scores on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF; Gioia et al., 2000) scales of Shift, Monitor, and the Behavioral Regulation Index, with additional high scores on Inhibit and the Global Executive Composite. Associations were found with the age the child first walked, scores on the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC; Krug et al., 1993), and being classified as deafblind. Difficulties with making transitions and flexible problem solving, monitoring their work and their effect on others, and acting on impulse, may be related to the behavioral difficulties exhibited by children with CHARGE. Interventions targeting improved self-regulation may help to manage this challenging behavior.     

Integrity and Demandingness

I discuss Bernard Williams’ ‘integrity objection’ – his version of the demandingness objection to unreasonably demanding ‘extremist’ moral theories such as consequentialism – and argue that it is best understood as presupposing the internal reasons thesis. However, since the internal reasons thesis is questionable, so is Williams’ integrity objection. I propose an alternative way of bringing out the unreasonableness of extremism, based on the notion of the agent’s autonomy, and show how an objection to this proposal can be outflanked by a strategy that also outflanks the ‘paradox of deontology.’

Perirhinal cortex resolves feature ambiguity in configural object recognition and perceptual oddity tasks

The perirhinal cortex (PRh) has a well-established role in object recognition memory. More recent studies suggest that PRh is also important for two-choice visual discrimination tasks. Specifically, it has been suggested that PRh contains conjunctive representations that help resolve feature ambiguity, which occurs when a task cannot easily be solved on the basis of features alone. However, no study has examined whether the ability of PRh to resolve configural feature ambiguity is related to its role in object recognition. Therefore, we examined whether bilateral excitotoxic lesions of PRh or PPRh (perirhinal plus post-rhinal cortices) in the rat would cause deficits in a configural spontaneous object recognition task, and a configural simultaneous oddity discrimination task, in which the task could not be solved on the basis of features, but could only be solved using conjunctive representations. As predicted by simulations using a computational model, rats with PPRh lesions were impaired during a minimal-delay configural object recognition task. These same rats were impaired during a zero-delay configural object recognition task. Furthermore, rats with localized PRh lesions were impaired in a configural simultaneous oddity discrimination task. These findings support the idea that PRh contains conjunctive representations for the resolution of feature ambiguity and that these representations underlie a dual role for PRh in memory and perception.     

Expanding the aperture of psychological assessment: introduction to the special section on innovative clinical assessment technologies and methods

Contemporary psychological assessment is dominated by tried-and-true methods like clinical interviewing, self-report questionnaires, intellectual assessment, and behavioral observation. These approaches have served as the mainstays of psychological assessment for decades. To be sure, these methods have survived over the years because clinicians have found the information gleaned from these improves our understanding of the client, helps formulate a treatment plan, or aids in assessing outcome. However, are there any recent technological or methodological developments that might improve the clinical assessment enterprise? Some believe so. The purpose of this special section is to provide a snapshot of relatively newer clinical assessment technologies and methods that have been underutilized. Each article in this special section presents one or more assessment methods or techniques that are currently available and are showing some promise in clinical assessment.