Prospective and retrospective time perception are related to mental time travel: Evidence from Alzheimer’s disease

Unlike prospective time perception paradigms, in which participants are aware that they have to estimate forthcoming time, little is known about retrospective time perception in normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Our paper addresses this shortcoming by comparing prospective and retrospective time estimation in younger adults, older adults, and AD patients. In four prospective tasks (lasting 30 s, 60 s, 90 s, or 120 s) participants were asked to read a series of numbers and to provide a verbal estimation of the reading time. In four other retrospective tasks, they were not informed about time judgment until they were asked to provide a verbal estimation of four elapsed time intervals (lasting 30 s, 60 s, 90 s, or 120 s). AD participants gave shorter verbal time estimations than older adults and younger participants did, suggesting that time is perceived to pass quickly in these patients. For all participants, the duration of the retrospective tasks was underestimated as compared to the prospective tasks and both estimations were shorter than the real time interval. Prospective time estimation was further correlated with mental time travel, as measured with the Remember/Know paradigm. Mental time travel was even higher correlated with retrospective time estimation. Our findings shed light on the relationship between time perception and the ability to mentally project oneself into time, two skills contributing to human memory functioning. Finally, time perception deficits, as observed in AD patients, can be interpreted in terms of dramatic changes occurring in frontal lobes and hippocampus.     

Mental rotation performance in primary school age children: Are there gender differences in chronometric tests?

In contrast to the well documented male advantage in psychometric mental rotation tests, gender differences in chronometric experimental designs are still under dispute. Therefore, a systematic investigation of gender differences in mental rotation performance in primary-school children is presented in this paper. A chronometric mental rotation task was used to test 449 second and fourth graders. The children were tested in three separate groups each with different stimulus material (animal drawings, letters, or cube figures). The results show that chronometric mental rotation tasks with cube figures – even rotated in picture plane only – were too difficult for children in both age groups. Further analyses with animal drawings and letters as stimuli revealed an overall gender difference in response time (RT) favoring males, an increasing RT with increasing angular disparity for all children, and faster RTs for fourth graders compared to second graders. This is the first study which has shown consistent gender differences in chronometric mental rotation with primary school aged children regarding reaction time and accuracy while considering appropriate stimuli.     

Causal Attribution: Analysis of Patterns and Influencing Factors Among Learners at a Higher Education Institution

The study explored the academic patterns and implications of academic attributions made by students who had been given test feedback at a higher learning institution in Zimbabwe. A random sample of 8 (female = 4; male= 4; mean age = 21.9, passed a test = 4; failed the test = 4) participants was purposefully selected from a class of second year students majoring in psychology and human resources management. Audio-taped semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data. Results indicate that culture and gender moderate academic causal attributions.     

From state church to faith community: an analysis of worldly and spiritual power in the Church of Sweden

The aim of this article is to discuss the current legislation, and power structures in and between different levels of the Church of Sweden in terms of church–state relations and secularisation, with the help of theories from sociology of religion and ecclesiology drawn from José Casanova, Grace Davie and Avery Dulles. With themes from Lutheran theology, including the two regiments and the common priesthood of all believers, we analyse the current legislation and power structures from the perspective of the so-called ‘dual line of responsibility’. The underlying hypothesis is that the structures of the former state church are still deciding the power structures in the Church of Sweden. This creates obscurity concerning the role of the church in public society and negatively affects the ecclesiastical development of the church now that it has lost its earlier status as a state church.     

Samoa and the Christian state ideal

This article explores the notion of a Christian state in the context of the South Pacific island nation of Samoa. Samoa is not a Christian state in the constitutional de jure sense. There is no formal entrenchment of establishment of Christianity as the official religion. But it is a de facto Christian state in that the substance of its laws reflects Christian beliefs. The article also considers whether it is a Christian nation. In many cultural and sociological senses it is. In terms of Christian practice however, an affirmative verdict is highly doubtful. Finally, the article suggests that asking the Christian nation question might be misplaced, for no nation can be a ‘chosen’, covenantal nation, à la Israel, in the New Testament era.     

Organizational Identification and Perceived Intra-School Conflict Among Secondary Special Education and General Education Teachers

The relationships between the organizational variables-teacher assignment (general education or special education) and primary organizational identification (teachers' individual schools or respective district-level departments) and perceived organizational conflict were investigated. Four-hundred and fifty-four high school teachers—382 general education and 72 special education—responded to a three-part questionnaire. Both general education and special education teachers identified with both the school and the district-level departments to a greater than neutral level; the general education teachers identified more with their local schools than their district-level departments and the special education teachers identified equally with both their local school and the district-level department. Significant correlations between teacher organizational identification and perceived conflict were found for both groups of teachers—as the identification increased, the perception of conflict decreased. No significant differences were found in comparisons of general education and special education teachers on the identification or perceived conflict variables. Conclusions, with alternative causative factors, and recommendations for enhancing relationships between general educators and special educators are provided.     

Roles of Leisure in Coping with Stress Among University Students: A Repeated-Assessment Field Study

This article reports findings of a study to examine the effects of leisure coping on various stress coping outcomes including: immediate outcomes (perceived coping effectiveness, perceived satisfaction with coping outcomes, and perceived stress reduction) and distal or long-term outcomes (physical and mental ill-health and psychological well-being), above and beyond the contributions of general coping - coping not directly associated with leisure. A repeated-assessment field design was used to examine ways in which university students cope with stressors in their daily lives. The study found that leisure coping beliefs (leisure-generated dispositional coping resources) significantly predicted lower levels of mental and physical ill-health and greater levels of psychological well-being above and beyond the effects of general coping. Also, the use of leisure coping strategies (situation-specific stress coping strategies through leisure) was significantly associated with higher levels of perceived coping effectiveness and stress reduction when the effects of general coping were taken into account. Significant contributions of specific leisure coping dimensions were found as well.     

The Use of Mental Health Services Among Victims of Partner Violence on College Campuses

The present study investigated the relationship between past victimization of different types of intimate partner violence (IPV; physical, psychological, and sexual) and the likelihood of using mental health services. Results indicate 86% of participants reported experiencing some form of IPV, but only 16% of those victims used mental health services to address emotional problems. The participants reported embarrassment, expense, ineffectiveness, and social stigma as the most prominent barriers to seeking help from a mental health professional. The study also found that participants who experienced physical and psychological IPV, but not sexual IPV, reported using mental health services. Sexual IPV may elicit different barriers in help-seeking behaviors. Implications for college IPV prevention programs and mental health services are discussed.