Perceptual processing of natural scenes at rapid rates: Effects of complexity, content, and emotional arousal

During rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), the perceptual system is confronted with a rapidly changing array of sensory information demanding resolution. At rapid rates of presentation, previous studies have found an early (e.g., 150–280 ms) negativity over occipital sensors that is enhanced when emotional, as compared with neutral, pictures are viewed, suggesting facilitated perception. In the present study, we explored how picture composition and the presence of people in the image affect perceptual processing of pictures of natural scenes. Using RSVP, pictures that differed in perceptual composition (figure–ground or scenes), content (presence of people or not), and emotional content (emotionally arousing or neutral) were presented in a continuous stream for 330 ms each with no intertrial interval. In both subject and picture analyses, all three variables affected the amplitude of occipital negativity, with the greatest enhancement for figure–ground compositions (as compared with scenes), irrespective of content and emotional arousal, supporting an interpretation that ease of perceptual processing is associated with enhanced occipital negativity. Viewing emotional pictures prompted enhanced negativity only for pictures that depicted people, suggesting that specific features of emotionally arousing images are associated with facilitated perceptual processing, rather than all emotional content.     

The Relationships Among Grief Experience,Problem-Solving Appraisal,and Depression: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Research has consistently shown a relationship between problem-solving appraisal and depressive symptoms. This study expands that research by including grief symptomatology as a variable. A college student sample completed the Problem-Solving inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Revised Grief Experience Inventory. Consistent with hypotheses, those individuals who had experienced the death of a close loved one within the previous 5 years reported significantly higher levels of grief and depression than those who had not experienced such a loss. However, the group that had experienced the death of a close loved one did not report significantly worse problem-solving scores than the group that did not. This study also examined the relationships among problem-solving appraisal, depressive symptoms, and grief symptoms within the subsample that had experienced the loss of a close loved one within the previous 5 years. Consistent with predictions, grief symptoms were associated with depressive symptoms and self-appraised ineffective problem solving. The results of this study extend the research on grief and mourning. Also, the results expand our understanding of the grief process by providing preliminary evidence for the role of problem solving in this process     

The Role of Virtue in Xunzi’s 荀子 Political Philosophy

Although there has been a resurgence of interest in virtue ethics, there has been little work done on how this translates into the political sphere. This essay demonstrates that the Confucian thinker Xunzi offers a model of virtue politics that is both interesting in its own right and potentially useful for scholars attempting to develop virtue ethics into virtue politics more generally. I present Xunzi’s version of virtue politics and discuss challenges to this version of virtue politics that are raised by the Legalist thinker Han Fei. I show that not only is Xunzi’s virtue politics capable of surviving the challenges raised by his contemporary, he offers an account that is in many ways both attractive and plausible, one that may usefully be brought into conversation with contemporary visions of virtue politics.     

Mutual Funds Efficiency Measurement under Financial and Social Responsibility Criteria

Socially responsible investors pursue financial as well as nonfinancial goals. Whereas the role of financial criteria in investment decisions is well understood, much less is known on the influence of social responsibility considerations. This work seeks to integrate both dimensions within a data envelopment analysis framework consistent with second‐order stochastic dominance efficiency. We compare the performance of conventional versus socially responsible mutual funds on an empirical data set. Our data do not support the conjecture that conventional mutual funds exhibit superior overall performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Greensboro Child Response Initiative: A Trauma-Informed,Mental Health–Law Enforcement Model for Children Exposed to Violence

This article evaluates a trauma-informed, mental health–law enforcement intervention model called the Greensboro Child Response Initiative (CRI). CRI is a community-coordinated response to mitigate the development of traumatic stress symptoms in children exposed to violence, with the goals of decreasing mental health symptoms and other negative outcomes. Results from a quasi-experimental study indicated that caregivers appreciate the quick follow-up and support by CRI advocates and police reported seeing CRI as a critical component of their responses to calls for service related to families and children. Police line-ups and training provided by CRI increased levels of empathy and awareness of child trauma. Monthly stakeholder meetings promoted an informed victim response and increased communication and networking opportunities among community providers and law enforcement. Results suggest that CRI is a promising community-based early intervention, and implications and suggestions are provided for replicability.     

The Effects of Intermittent Illumination on a Visual Inspection Task

Two experiments are described in which eye movements were monitored as subjects performed a simple target-spotting task under conditions of intermittent illumination produced by varying the display-screen frame rate on a computer VDU. In Experiment 1, subjects executed a saccade from a fixation point to a target which appeared randomly at a fixed eccentricity of 14 character positions to the left or right. Saccade latency did not differ reliably as a function of screen refresh rate, but average saccade extent at 70 Hz and 110 Hz was reliably shorter than at 90 Hz and 100 Hz. Experiment 2 examined the same task using a range of target eccentricities (7, 14, and 28 character positions to the left and right) and across a wider range of screen refresh rates. The results confirmed the curvilinear relationship obtained in Experiment 1, with average saccade extent reliably shorter at refresh rates of 50 Hz and 125 Hz than at 75 Hz and 100 Hz. While the effect was greater for remote targets, analyses of the proportional target error failed to show a reliable interaction between target eccentricity and display refresh rate. In contrast to Experiment 1, there was a pronounced effect of refresh rate on saccade latency (corrected for time to write the screen frame), with shorter latencies at higher refresh rates. It may be concluded that pulsation at frequencies above fusion disrupts saccade control. However, the curvilinear functional relationship between screen refresh rate and saccade extent obtained in these studies differs from previously reported effects of intermittent illumination on the average size of 'entry saccades' (the first saccade to enter a given word) in a task involving word identification (Kennedy & Murray, 1993a, 1996). This conflict of data may arise in part because withinword adjustments in viewing position, which are typical of normal reading, influence measures of average saccade extent.     

Identification with community‐based HIV agencies as a correlate of turnover intentions and general self‐efficacy

Research (e.g. French, Power, & Mitchell, 2000 ; Harris, 2006 ; Harris & Alderson, 2006 , 2007 ; Roy & Cain, 2001 ) has highlighted important benefits for people living with HIV/AIDS to become connected with HIV community‐based (CB) agencies (e.g. reduction of isolation, educational opportunities, empowerment). However, CB HIV organizations sometimes experience challenges in recruiting and retaining people living with HIV/AIDS. In a sample of 68 respondents associated with a Canadian HIV/AIDS CB agency, facets of agency identification were examined as correlates of (a) turnover intentions with the agency and (b) aspects of psychological adjustment (hope and general self‐efficacy). Results indicated one dimension of social identification, in‐group affect, as a significant correlate of turnover intentions (such that members with more positive agency‐derived feelings were more likely to say they would stay at the agency), and another emotionally‐relevant aspect of identification, in‐group ties, as a significant correlate of general self‐efficacy. Hope was unrelated to social identification. Several implications for HIV CB agencies are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of Language of Instruction on Response Accuracy and Challenging Behavior in a Child with Autism

Discrete trial training was delivered using English and Spanish languages to a student with autism from a Spanish-speaking family. An alternating treatments design was used to examine the effects of language of instruction on the child’s response accuracy and challenging behavior. More correct responses and fewer challenging behaviors occurred when instruction was delivered in Spanish compared to English. Results suggest that the language of instruction may be an important variable even when a student initially presents with very little spoken language and comparable scores on English and Spanish standardized language assessments.