Ethical and practical considerations in managing incidental findings in functional magnetic resonance imaging

Functional magnetic resonance imaging has emerged as a powerful tool for mapping the neurologic underpinnings of sensory, motor and cognitive function. Much of this evolution carries assumptions about the subject population under study and, in particular, the neurologic status of subjects entered into studies either as healthy controls or as belonging to a specific disease group. Recent reports of incidental MRI abnormalities in normal volunteers for fMRI studies have brought to attention a variety of practical challenges and ethical dilemmas for researchers, many of whom are not physicians and most of whom have no formal radiological training. We propose a minimum standard for consenting subjects in fMRI protocols, and consider strategies over the longer term that call for expert physician participation, archiving of incidental findings including false positives, and the adoption of guidelines for handling variation in neural activations or performance that appear outside expected norms.     

An investigation of Taiwanese early adolescents' views about the nature of science

This study developed a Pupils' Nature of Science Scale, including the subscales of the invented and changing nature of science, the role of social negotiation on science, and cultural context on science, to assess early adolescents' views about the nature of science. More than 6,000 fifth and sixth graders in Taiwan responded to the Scale. The study revealed that the adolescents had quite different perspectives toward different subscales of the nature of science. Moreover, male adolescents tended to express more constructivist-oriented views toward the nature of science than did their female counterparts. The adolescents of different grades and races also displayed varying views toward the nature of science.     

Transforming mental health care for children and their families

In April 2002, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was created by executive order to study the mental health care delivery system in our nation and to make recommendations for improvements so that individuals with serious mental disorders can live, work, learn, and fully participate in their homes and communities. In its report, "Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America," the commission provided strategies to address critical infrastructure, practice, and research issues. This article focuses on the work of the commission's Subcommittee on Children and Families, describing its vision for mental health service delivery for children and providing suggestions for strengthening community-based care for youths with or at risk of behavioral health disorders. Training, research, practice, and policy implications for psychologists are discussed.     

Attention capacity and task difficulty in visual search

When a visual search task is very difficult (as when a small feature difference defines the target), even detection of a unique element may be substantially slowed by increases in display set size. This has been attributed to the influence of attentional capacity limits. We examined the influence of attentional capacity limits on three kinds of search task: difficult feature search (with a subtle featural difference), difficult conjunction search, and spatial-configuration search. In all 3 tasks, each trial contained sixteen items, divided into two eight-item sets. The two sets were presented either successively or simultaneously. Comparison of accuracy in successive versus simultaneous presentations revealed that attentional capacity limitations are present only in the case of spatial-configuration search. While the other two types of task were inefficient (as reflected in steep search slopes), no capacity limitations were evident. We conclude that the difficulty of a visual search task affects search efficiency but does not necessarily introduce attentional capacity limits.     

Antecedents of Taiwanese adolescents' purchase intention toward the merchandise of a celebrity: the moderating effect of celebrity adoration

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relative importance of adolescents' attitude toward an act (the degree to which the person had a favorable or unfavorable evaluation or appraisal of the act's behavior in question), perceived norm, and perceived behavioral control in predicting Taiwanese adolescents' intention to purchase the merchandise of a celebrity when they had different levels of celebrity adoration. The present results showed that the relative strengths of attitude toward the act and the perception of behavioral control in predicting purchase intention toward the merchandise of a celebrity were stronger for adolescents in the celebrity adoration group than for adolescents in the celebrity nonadoration group. On the other hand, the relative importance of the perceived norm in predicting the attitude toward the act and the purchase intention was stronger for adolescents in the celebrity nonadoration group than for adolescents in the celebrity adoration group.     

Expectation and repetition effects in searching for featural singletons in very brief displays

We studied the effects of expectation and repetition on searching for singletons in very brief displays. In Experiment 1, we found that when a given feature defined the singleton for a whole block--so that in every trial the subject could expect a particular target feature--search accuracy was significantly higher than when the feature setting was randomly redetermined from trial to trial. However, an unexpected repetition triggered almost no advantage. In Experiment 2, we found no advantage for expected alternation. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrated that there is little or no advantage for perception in conditions allowing only for target-feature facilitation or distractor-feature inhibition. We propose that in singleton search a division of feature space facilitates detection, and that this division works best under conditions of expected repetition. Experiment 5 replicated Experiment 1, but in Experiment 5 we examined response times and long display exposures. Results suggested that previous findings of singleton priming reflect mainly postperceptual factors.     

青少年性发展的差异及其对人格发展的影响

研究青少年性发育现状及其对性心理与人格发展的影响。方法：采用统一编制的《中学生性现状调查问卷》及16PF人格问卷,采用分层抽样方法,对江西4所中学的1000名学生进行问卷调查。结果：(1)青少年手淫行为发生率、与异性交往愿望及性冲动等方面均存在性别差异和年级差异;(2)性成熟的青少年的多种人格特征与未成熟的存在显著性差异。结论：青少年性生理发育正常,但在性心理方面很不成熟,对手淫、性冲动和异性交往等方面问题较多,性发展影响青少年人格发展。     

达米特论意义和真

达米特的反实在论意义理论在当代语言哲学中占据重要地位.本文主要分析了他对"意义"和"真"这两个概念的解释,指出他的意义理论完全是一种形式说明,或者说,是对意义理论本身的形式构造.同时,达米特反对用真值条件来解释意义,主要是根据他对"真"这个概念有着不同的理解:他把"真"看作我们在具体场合说出的句子的属性.达米特的思想受到了各方面的批评,他也在这种批评和反批评过程中不断完善自己的思想.     

A multinomial logit analysis of methods used by persons who completed suicide

This paper presents a multinomial logit analysis of the methods used by Taiwanese individuals who completed suicide between 1991 and 1993. We investigated the influence of age, gender, urban or rural residence, seasons, and occupations on the six "choices" of suicide methods. The findings suggest that a systematic pattern exists between the choice of method and demographic characteristics of persons who have completed suicide. Most of the different patterns of suicide by sex, age, occupation, or residence can be understood by the different availability and accessibility to the means of suicide faced by the individuals. Our findings support Becker's (1962, 1974, 1993) contention that all kinds of human behavior or choices are shaped by the constraints imposed on the individuals. The findings also have important policy implications for suicide prevention in that they support Lester's advocacy to prevent or reduce suicide incidents by limiting availability, blocking accessibility, or "inconveniencing" the suicidal individuals.