The way the ball bounces: visual and auditory perception of elasticity and control of the bounce pass

Human observers may perceive not only spatial and temporal dimensions of the environment, but also dynamic physical properties that are useful for the control of behavior. A study is presented in which visual and auditory perception of elasticity in bouncing objects, which was specified by kinematic (spatiotemporal) patterns of object motion, were examined. In experiment 1, observers could perceive the elasticity of a bouncing ball and were able to regulate the impulse applied to the ball in a bounce pass. In experiments 2 and 3, it was demonstrated that visual perception of elasticity was based on relative height information, when it was available, and on the duration of a single period under other conditions. Observers did not make effective use of velocity information. In experiment 4, visual and auditory period information were compared and equivalent performance in both modalities was found. The results are interpreted as support for the view that dynamic properties of environmental events are perceived by means of kinematic information.     

“I Wouldn’t Classify Myself as a Patient”: The Importance of a “Well-being” Environment for Individuals Receiving Counseling about Familial Cancer Risk

Many individuals receiving genetic counseling are healthy with no need for clinical cancer services. We have recently relocated our cancer genetic clinic to a small house on the outskirts of a hospital site which incorporates many elements proven to be important in creating a “well-being” environment. This study explored participants’ perceptions of such an environment. Eleven semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with women who had attended the new cancer genetic clinic. All were at high risk of familial cancer, five were gene carriers and three had a personal diagnosis of cancer. The new clinic was perceived to be less medical and more relaxing than other clinics, encouraged other family members to attend in support of the attendee and did not appear to impede information comprehension. The importance of not being made to feel like an ill patient was apparent. A desire for a quiet area allowing time for reflection whilst waiting for, and following, counseling was identified. A poorly designed counseling area could reduce the quality of the interaction between patient and counselor. Consideration of specific environmental design features may promote individuals’ well-being and make those attending genetic counseling feel less like “patients.” Larger studies should seek to explore further the potential associations between factors such as environmental design, psychological well-being and comprehension of risk information.     

Is the medial amygdala part of the neural circuit modulating conditioned defeat in Syrian hamsters?

Conditioned defeat is a model wherein hamsters that have previously experienced a single social defeat subsequently exhibit heightened levels of avoidance and submission in response to a smaller, non-aggressive intruder. While we have previously demonstrated the critical involvement of the basolateral and central nuclei of the amygdala in the acquisition and expression of conditioned defeat, the role of the medial amygdala has yet to be investigated. In Experiment 1, muscimol, a GABA(A) receptor agonist, was infused bilaterally into the MeA prior to initial defeat training. Experiment 2 examined the effects of muscimol injections given prior to subsequent testing with a non-aggressive intruder. Finally, in Experiment 3, anisomycin was used to block protein synthesis in the medial and basolateral amygdala to examine the involvement of these nuclei in memory consolidation related to conditioned defeat. Submissive behavior was significantly reduced in animals that received muscimol prior to initial defeat training as well as in animals injected prior to testing with the non-aggressive intruder, indicating that the MeA is necessary for the acquisition and expression of conditioned defeat. In Experiment 3, however, anisomycin reduced conditioned defeat only when administered into the BLA, and not when injected into the MeA. The results of the present series of experiments suggest that, while the MeA may serve an important gateway for sensory information that is crucial for conditioned defeat, it does not appear to play a role in the plasticity including this behavioral response to social defeat.     

Increasing therapeutic exercise participation by individuals with acquired brain injury using self‐recording and reinforcement

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of self‐recording and contingent reinforcement on exercise participation by four adults with acquired brain injury. The results indicate that self‐recording and contingent reinforcement increased participation in stretching, aerobic, and weight‐lifting activities for each participant. The results also indicate that each participant was able to accurately self‐record his or her exercise participation. Possible operant conceptualizations for the observed behavior change, as well as limitations to the results, are briefly discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Subjective well-being in urban adolescents of color

Relationships among predictors and criteria of subjective well-being were examined in a sample of 151 urban adolescents of color, ages 12-15. The relative strengths of family, peer, and school-related support and esteem in predicting three measures of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) were explored. Results suggested that sense of worth in one's family explained a significant amount of variance in subjective well-being variables, above and beyond the contributions of individual, school, and peer-related variables. Implications for prevention and mental health promotion with urban adolescents of color are discussed based on these findings.     

Being forward not backward: lexical limits to masked priming

This study investigated whether masked priming is mediated by existing memory representations by determining whether nonwords targets would show repetition priming. To avoid the potential confound that nonword repetition priming would be obscured by a familiarity response bias, the standard lexical decision and naming tasks were modified to make targets unfamiliar. Participants were required to read a target string from right to left (i.e., "ECAF" should be read as "FACE") and then make a response. To examine if priming was based on lexical representations, repetition primes consisted of words when read forwards or backwards (e.g., "face", "ecaf") and nonwords (e.g., "pame", "emap"). Forward and backward primes were used to test if task instruction affected prime encoding. The lexical decision and naming tasks showed the same pattern of results: priming only occurred for forward primes with word targets (e.g., "face-ECAF"). Additional experiments to test if response priming affected the LDT indicated that the lexical status of the prime per se did not affect target responses. These results showed that the encoding of masked primes was unaffected by the novel task instruction and support the view that masked priming is due to the automatic triggering of pre-established computational processes based on stored information.     

Behavioral risks during the transition from high school to college

The transition from high school to college is an important developmental milestone that holds the potential for personal growth and behavioral change. A cohort of 2,245 students was recruited during the summer before they matriculated into college and completed Internet-based surveys about their participation in a variety of behavioral risks during the last 3 months of high school and throughout the 1st year of college. Alcohol use, marijuana use, and sex with multiple partners increased during the transition from high school to college, whereas driving after drinking, aggression, and property crimes decreased. Those from rural high schools and those who elected to live in private dormitories in college were at highest risk for heavy drinking and driving after drinking.     

A stage-matched intervention for exercise behavior change based on the transtheoretical model

The effectiveness of a stage-matched intervention for enhancing exercise behavior was investigated with related Transtheoretical Model constructs among young Korean adults. 265 university students (147 men, 118 women; M age=24.1 yr., SD=3.5) enrolled in Seoul National University of Technology voluntarily participated in an 8-wk. intervention study. In order to measure exercise behavior and its related psychological constructs, the Stages of Readiness for Exercise Behavior Scale, Decision Balance Scale for Exercise, Exercise Self-efficacy Scale, Processes of Change Scale, and Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire were used. Results indicated that the participants' exercise readiness was significantly changed in a positive way after the 8-wk. intervention. There was a significant main effect of testing time and an interaction between testing time and exercise readiness stage at baseline. There were significant interactions between testing times and groups for all Transtheoretical Model measures, implying that the stage-matched intervention can be an effective tool for increasing exercise readiness and related psychological variables. The present study provides a starting point for stage-matched interventions aimed at increasing exercise levels, and a baseline level from which to evaluate interventions.     

17,000 years of depicting the junction of two smooth shapes

Competent realistic drawings preserve viewpoint-invariant shape characteristics of simple parts, such that a contour in the object that is straight or curved, for example, is depicted that way in the drawing. A more subtle invariant--a V-shaped singularity of the occluding boundary, containing a T-junction and a contour termination--is produced at the junction between articulated smooth surfaces, as with the leg joining the body of a horse. 45% of the drawings made in 2007 by individuals with only minimal art education correctly depicted such junctions, a proportion that is not reliably different from the incidence (42%) of correct depictions in a large sample of cave art made 17000 years ago. Whether a person did or did not include the invariant in their drawing, all agreed that it made for a better depiction.     

Presentation procedures in lineups and mug books: a direct comparison

The purpose of this research was to replicate and to extend past findings that the best procedure for presenting lineup pictures is not the best procedure for presenting mug book pictures. Participants witnessed a videotape of a simulated crime that was followed by a lineup task for half the participants or a mug book task for the other half. The task factor was crossed with two other factors: (a) a presentation procedure factor—pictures presented one‐at‐a‐time or grouped 12 per page and (b) a presence of the perpetrator factor—perpetrator present or absent in the viewed pictures. For perpetrator‐absent conditions, the one‐at‐a time lineup procedure produced more correct rejections than the grouped lineup procedure replicating past results; however, for the mug book task the two presentation procedures did not differ. For perpetrator‐present conditions, the grouped presentation procedure produced more correct identifications than the one‐at‐a time procedure in both lineups and mug books. The different pattern of results for lineups and mug books was explained in terms of differences in response criterion. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.