Evaluation of an integrated lighting-warning system on motorists’ yielding at unsignalized crosswalks during nighttime

Drivers’ yielding behavior to pedestrians during nighttime was assessed in seven different conditions of crosswalk lighting: (a) baseline condition with standard road lighting; (b) enhanced LED lighting that increased lighting level from 70 to 120 lx; (c) flashing orange beacons on top of the backlit pedestrian crossing sign; (d) in-curb LED strips on the curbsides of the zebra crossing with steady light emission; (e) in-curb LED strips with flashing light emission; (d) all previous devices activated with in-curb LED strips in steady mode; (e) all previous devices activated with in-curb LED strips in flashing mode. For every condition 100 trials were recorded with a staged pedestrian that initiated a standardized crossing when a vehicle was approaching. The frequency of drivers’ yielding was computed for each condition. A significant increase for yielding compliance was recorded from standard road lighting to enhanced dedicated lighting (19–38.21%), and from enhanced dedicated lighting to the seventh condition with the flashing beacons and the flashing in-curb LED strips activated (38.21–63.56%). The results showed that the integrated lighting-warning system for pedestrian crossings was effective in increasing motorists’ yielding to pedestrians during nighttime.     

An approach to preventing coparenting conflict and divorce in low-income families: strengthening couple relationships and fostering fathers' involvement

In the context of current concern about levels of marital distress, family violence, and divorce, the SFI study is evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention to facilitate the positive involvement of low-income Mexican American and European American fathers with their children, in part by strengthening the men's relationships with their children's mothers. The study design involves a randomized clinical trial that includes assignment to a 16-week couples group, a 16-week fathers group, or a single-session control group. Couples in both group interventions and the control condition include partners who are married, cohabiting, and living separately but raising a young child together. This article presents the rationale, design, and intervention approach to father involvement for families whose relationships are at risk because of the hardships of their lives, many of whom are manifesting some degree of individual or relationship distress. We present preliminary impressions and qualitative findings based on our experience with 257 families who completed the pretest, and the first 160 who completed one postintervention assessment 9 months after entering the study. Discussion centers on what we have learned and questions that remain to be answered in mounting a multisite preventive intervention to strengthen relationships in low-income families.     

The human sense of the head's polarity is influenced by changes in the magnitude of gravity

The present investigation concerns the integrity of a primary mental function, the egocentric frame of reference and the sense of polarity of one's own head. The visually perceived eye level (VPEL) and the subjective antero-posterior axis of the head were measured by means of a visual indicator in darkness during two stimulus conditions: static pitch (sagittal-plane) tilting in the 1-g environment and gondola centrifugation (2G). It is demonstrated that an increase in the magnitude of the gravitoinertial (G) force, acting in the direction of the head and body long (z) axis, causes a substantial change not only in the VPEL but also in the perceived direction of the antero-posterior axis of the head.     

我是谁?——人际间多感觉刺激下的识脸错觉

识脸错觉是在人际间同步多感觉刺激下将他人面孔感知为自我面孔的一种主观体验。继Tsakiris报告了识脸错觉现象之后,研究者通过选取不同的刺激呈现方式、不同的被试,重点对被试的主观体验、行为反应两个方面进行了考察,并得到了大量新的研究成果;发现年龄、性别及内部敏感性是影响识脸错觉强度的重要因素,右侧颞顶联合区、顶内沟和枕下回的神经活动与被试主观报告的错觉体验强度相关。未来识脸错觉研究应侧重于研究策略的多样化并为生物特征识别中新模态的选择提供理论支持。此外,同步多感觉刺激技术的开发与应用将会对自我新面孔认同训练具有重要意义。     

If We Build It,They Will Come: Exploring Policy and Practice Implications of Public Support for Couple and Relationship Education for Lower Income and Relationally Distressed Couples

Over the past decade, public funding for Couple and Relationship Education programs has expanded. As program administrators have been able to extend their reach to low‐income individuals and couples using this support, it has become apparent that greater numbers of relationally distressed couples are attending classes than previously anticipated. Because psychoeducational programs for couples have traditionally served less distressed couples, this dynamic highlights the need to examine the policy and practice implications of more distressed couples accessing these services. This paper reviews some of the most immediate issues, including screening for domestic violence and couple needs, pedagogical considerations, and the potential integration of therapy and education services. We also make suggestions for future research that can inform policy and practice efforts.     

Exploration of Mechanisms behind Changes after Participation in a Parenting Intervention: A Qualitative Study in a Low‐Resource Setting

Parenting interventions are effective for preventing psychological difficulties in children. However, their active ingredients have not been comprehensively explored. How do they work? What are the mechanisms operating behind changes? In 2012, a randomized controlled trial of a parenting intervention was conducted in low‐resource communities of Panama. Effects on child behavioral difficulties, parental stress, and parenting practices were large in the short and long term. This was an ideal opportunity to explore potential mechanisms operating behind effects found in this low‐resource setting. Twenty‐five parents were interviewed. Data were analyzed through an inductive semantic thematic analysis. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) psychological mechanisms behind changes, (b) behavioral changes in parent, and (c) changes in the children. Parents described that the intervention triggered changes in emotion regulation, self‐efficacy, and problem solving. Parents also reported behavioral changes such as praising their children more often, who in turn seemed more responsible and better at following instructions. The study offers participant‐driven insight into potential pathways of change after participation in this parenting intervention, pathways that are often overlooked in quantitative studies. Future studies should further explore these pathways, through mediator and moderator analyses, and determine how much is shared across interventions and across different cultural settings.     

Modules in spatial vision: intrinsic reasons of their functional attributes

Visual modules can be viewed as expressions of a marked analytic attitude in the study of vision. In vision psychology, this attitude is accompanied by hypotheses that characterize how visual modules are thought to operate in perceptual processes. Our thesis here is that there are what we call “intrinsic reasons” for the presence of such hypotheses in a vision theory, that is, reasons of a deductive kind, which are imposed by the partiality of the basic terms (input and output) in the definition of a module, and by peculiar characteristics of those terms. Specifically, we discuss three hypotheses of functional attributes: successive stages in the action of modules, residual indeterminacy of their effects, and the role of prior constraints. For each of the three, we indicate its occurrence in perceptual psychology, explain corresponding intrinsic reasons, and illustrate such reasons with examples.