Movement substructures change as a function of practice in children and adults

An experiment is reported in which participants at 6 (n = 20), 9 (n = 20), and 24 years (n = 20) of age either received or did not receive practice on a rapid aiming task using the arm and hand. The purpose of the experiment was to document the changes in movement substructures (in addition to movement time) as a function of practice. After receiving 10 baseline trials, subjects in the practice groups received 30 practice trials followed by 10 retention trials on each of 5 days, while subjects in the no-practice group had only baseline and retention trials. Retention-only trials were divided into primary (reflecting the ballistic controlled part of the movement) and secondary (reflecting corrective movement adjustments) submovements. In addition, jerk (the 3rd derivative of movement displacement) was calculated as an estimate of the smoothness of the movement. Participants increased the primary submovement as a function of practice; however, the increases were substantially larger in the children (25-30%) than in the adults (10%). Participants also decreased jerk as a function of practice and the decreases were greater in children than in adults. The results suggest that with practice the primary submovement is lengthened so that it ends nearer the target, especially in children. Associated with the primary submovement covering a larger percentage of the movement length and time, movements became smoother.     

Effects of antecedent order and semantic context on Chinese pronoun resolution

Three reading time experiments were conducted in order to examine the relative contributions of order of antecedents and semantic context to the resolution of temporarily ambiguous Chinese pronouns. These pronouns were ambiguous because each of them was preceded by two antecedents, both of which were likely candidates for coreference. The identity of the pronoun was revealed by subsequent disambiguating information that constrained the pronoun to one particular interpretation. Experiment 1 showed that reading of the disambiguating phrase was slower when the phrase confined the pronoun to the second rather than to the first antecedent. Experiment 2 produced the same effect of antecedent order (first vs. second antecedent) regardless of whether the target antecedent was an action-performing or an action-receiving entity. In Experiment 3, the order effect was eliminated by a biasing modifier inserted immediately before the pronoun. These results indicate that in a semantically neutral environment, the first-appearing antecedent is the preferred candidate for coreferencing the ambiguous Chinese pronoun. The interaction between order of antecedents and semantic context (in the form of preposed biasing modifiers) suggests that the initial comprehension of Chinese pronouns depends as much on contextual as on structural factors.     

Measurement properties of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale in a homeless population

The measurement properties of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies--Depression Scale (CES-D; L. S. Radloff, 1977) were evaluated in a probability sample of homeless adults residing in a large and demographically diverse community. The findings from this investigation suggest that the CES-D is a reliable measure of depressive symptoms among homeless adults and that the factor structure of the scale replicates the factor structure found in the general population. Change in the CES-D scores was associated with change in residential status, with participants who had made a transition from homelessness to regular domicile, reporting significantly lower levels of depressive symptomatology. This result indicates the scale's sensitivity to current depressive mood, as affected by significant life events encountered by homeless persons.     

Between-individual comparisons in performance evaluation: a perspective from prospect theory

This article examines how between-individual comparisons influence performance evaluations in rating tasks. The authors demonstrated a systematic change in the perceived difference across ratees as a result of changing the way performance information is expressed. Study 1 found that perceived performance difference between 2 individuals was greater when their objective performance levels were presented with small numbers (e.g., absence rates of 2% vs. 5%) than when they were presented with large numbers (e.g., attendance rates of 98% vs. 95%). Extending this finding to situations involving trade-offs between multiple performance attributes across ratees, Study 2 showed that the relative preference for 1 ratee over another actually reversed when the presentation format of the performance information changed. The authors draw upon prospect theory to offer a theoretical framework describing the between-individual comparison aspect of performance evaluation.     

Constraints on view combination: effects of self-occlusion and differences among familiar and novel views

The use of multiple familiar views of objects to facilitate recognition of novel views has been addressed in a number of behavioral studies, but the results have not been conclusive. The present study was a comprehensive examination of view combination for different types of novel views (internal or external to the studied views) and different objects (amoeboid objects and objects composed of geons; objects with and without self-occlusion across rotation). The authors found that the advantage gained from the study of 2 views was more than the generalization from each of the studied views presented alone. This facilitation occurred only for internal views but not external views. In addition, the benefits from the study of 2 views diminished when (a) the studied views did not share the same visible features and when (b) the studied views were separated by a small angular difference.     

Whole-word phonological representations of disyllabic words in the Chinese lexicon: data from acquired dyslexia

This study addresses the issue of the existence of whole-word phonological representations of disyllabic and multisyllabic words in the Chinese mental lexicon. A Cantonese brain-injured dyslexic individual with semantic deficits, YKM, was assessed on his abilities to read aloud and to comprehend disyllabic words containing homographic heterophonous characters, the pronunciation of which can only be disambiguated in word context. Superior performance on reading to comprehension was found. YKM could produce the target phonological forms without understanding the words. The dissociation is taken as evidence for whole-word representations for these words at the phonological level. The claim is consistent with previous account for discrepancy of the frequencies of tonal errors between reading aloud and object naming in Cantonese reported of another case study of similar deficits. Theoretical arguments for whole-word form representations for all multisyllabic Chinese words are also discussed.     

The collaborative assessment and management of suicidality versus treatment as usual: a retrospective study with suicidal outpatients

The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) is a novel clinical approach used to identify, assess, and manage suicidal outpatients (Jobes & Drozd, 2004). The results of a retrospective study evaluating the impact of CAMS versus treatment as usual (TAU) on suicidal outpatients are presented. Patients in the CAMS treatment group (n = 25) resolved their suicidality significantly more quickly than TAU patients (n = 30). CAMS was also significantly associated with decreased medical health care utilization in the 6 months after the start of suicide-related mental health treatment. These results provide promising preliminary support for the effectiveness of CAMS and a foundation for prospective research.     

Age and regulatory focus determine preferences for health-related role models

The authors hypothesized that the effectiveness of role models varies across the adult life span because of differences in health-related regulatory orientations. Because young adults have strong health-related promotion orientations, they should be motivated by positive models who illustrate the benefits of good health. Because older adults have more balanced health-related promotion and prevention orientations, they should be motivated not only by positive models but also by negative models who illustrate the costs of poor health. Results indicated that both young and older adults perceived positive models to be motivating, but older adults found negative models to be more motivating than did young adults. Age differences in responses to negative models were partially mediated by differences in health-related prevention orientation.     

鬼谷子的测谎心理思想研究

鬼谷子的测谎心理思想其目的在于帮助统治者考察权变、征召远近人才、谋划国家事物、献说陈情、决安危、定亲疏、察同异、辨真伪。其基本依据的是阴阳观。他认为阴阳是宇宙变化的一贯之道,把握了阴阳之道,就获得了开启人内心隐秘的基本原理。其所遵循的原则是：知己知人原则,隐秘性原则,把握时机原则。其具体技术有捭阖术,即根据阴阳变化原理提出的开启和闭藏的技术;钩言术,即通过语言表达的动静状态窥探他人内心情报的方法;飞箝术,是以激励、褒扬的言语诱导对方获得实情而抓住对方心理的一种测谎技术。揣摩术,又分揣术和摩术。揣术是根据情感的两极变化和惯常行为表现推测对方心理真实情报的方法。摩术是指将内在情感与外在符验相结合进行推测、切磋、体会获得对方真实情报的方法。     

Regulatory and ethical principles in research involving children and individuals with developmental disabilities

Children and individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) compared to typical participants are disadvantaged not only by virtue of being vulnerable to risks inherent in research participation but also by the higher likelihood of exclusion from research altogether. Current regulatory and ethical guidelines although necessary for their protection do not sufficiently ensure fair distributive justice. Yet, in view of disproportionately higher burdens of co-occurring physical and mental disorders in individuals with DD, they are better positioned to benefit from research by equitable participation. Greater elucidation of this ethical dilemma is called for by researchers, institutional review boards, and funding agencies to urgently redress the imbalance. This article discusses many of the regulatory principles to ensure better research participation of children and individuals with DD: human rights, validity, distributive justice, beneficence/nonmaleficence, and autonomy.