Quality of Well-Being Scale and Chronic Low Back Pain

Outcome measures that assess quality of life for use in health policy decisions need to be investigated in chronic pain patients. In the present study, the validity of the Quality of Well-Being Scale (QWB) was evaluated on 67 adult chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients who were enrolled in a 12-week multidisciplinary pain treatment program. Participants completed the QWB, a battery of pain measures, a behavioral observation task, and a medical exam. The findings indicated that CLBP patients have a low level of functioning or quality of life (M = .567, SD = .08) compared with persons with life-threatening diseases. The QWB score was significantly correlated with observational measures of pain behavior and pain-related coping strategies. Multivariate analysis indicated that interference in daily activities, distorted ambulation, affective distress, pain duration, and guarding were the most significant predictors of quality of well-being (multiple R = .84, p < .0001). Patients with medically incongruent physical signs had significantly lower QWB scores than patients with congruent signs. Overall, the data supported the validity of the QWB in a sample of CLBP patients.     

Education for the Heart and Mind: Feminist Pedagogy and the Religion and Science Curriculum

Feminist educators and theorists are stretching the boundaries of what it means to do religion and science. They are also expanding the theoretical and practical frameworks through which we might present curricula in thosefields. In this paper, I reflect on the implications of feminist pedagogies for the interdisciplinary field of religion and science. I begin with a brief discussion of feminist approaches to education and the nature of the feminist classroom as a setting for action. Next, I present some theoretical and practical issues to consider when developing a feminist praxis and an antisexist curriculum. This leads into a discussion of the role of language and critical reflection in the religion and science classroom, the risks associated with reflective discourse, and considerations in the use of 'feminist' teaching tools such as small group work, journals, and portfolio assessment. Iconclude with a reflection on how feminist pedagogy promotes an epistemology that speaks to the hearts and minds of participants in the dialogue of religion and science.     

虚拟现实技术在心理学领域的应用与展望

虚拟现实(VR)技术因其能够提高实验研究的生态效度、条件控制水平、可重复性以及避免实地操作带来的危险,被众多研究者引入心理学领域。VR技术除了被用于改良实验程序外,也广泛应用于注意、记忆和执行能力等神经心理测验评估,在恐惧症、焦虑症、创伤后应激障碍和精神分裂症等精神障碍的临床治疗中亦取得丰硕成果。未来研究可致力于改进VR技术本身存在的问题、扩大样本量并扩展研究方法和范围,为VR应用提供更可靠的信效度证据。     

Implicit learning of semantic preferences of English words by Chinese learners

The aim of the present study was to explore whether Chinese learners could implicitly learn the semantic preferences of novel English words. In training, participants learned four novel verbs and were exposed to a set of verb-noun phrases that included these new words. What the participants were not told was that the use of the verbs depended on the concreteness of the nouns (i.e., the semantic preference rule). In testing, participants were required to choose between two possible verbs (one of which violated the semantic preference rule) for nouns that never occurred in training. The results showed that participants acquired unconscious knowledge of semantic preferences under incidental learning conditions, as measured by verbal reports and structural knowledge attributions. Our results provide further evidence for implicit learning of semantic preferences, suggesting that implicit learning is an important mechanism in the acquisition of L2 collocations.     

French adaptation of the Mini-IPIP: A short measure of the Big Five

IntroductionThe Big Five, or the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality, is the dominant model in trait psychology. Instruments to assess personality traits are usually long and not available in French. The Mini-International Personality Item Pool (Mini-IPIP) is a brief measure evaluating personality traits according to the Big Five model with promising psychometric properties.ObjectiveThe main purposes of this study were to develop and validate a French adaptation of the Mini-International Personality Item Pool.MethodIn Study 1, adaptation procedures that led to the translation of the French version as well as steps to maximize equivalence are described, in addition to internal consistency, temporal stability, and factor structure within a sample of 139 participants. In study 2, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out with a sample of 1308 participants, and convergent validity was explored with several pertinent constructs.ResultsInternal consistency and test-retest correlations over a four-week period suggest adequate reliability, with coefficients respectively ranging from .64 to .81 and .74 to .89. Exploratory factor analysis suggested a sharply delineated structure. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analyzes revealed a five-factor solution consistent with the Big Five model, and convergent validity with several constructs was detailed.ConclusionOverall, results pointed to a satisfactory equivalence between the original and the adapted instrument. The satisfactory indices of reliability and validity of the Mini-IPIP warrant the use of the French adaptation of the Mini-IPIP.     

Within-day time-varying associations between motivation and movement-related behaviors in older adults

ObjectivesEmerging evidence suggests both motivation and movement-related behaviors vary within and across days. Yet common data analytic approaches assume static or consistent relationships between motivation and behavior across time. Just as motivation and behavior change across time, so too might associations between motivation and behavior. This study will apply time-varying effect modeling to Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data to examine time of day differences in how motivational constructs predict older adults’ subsequent movement-related behavior over the next 2 h.DesignOlder adults (n = 104) completed a 10-day EMA protocol.MethodParticipants answered up to 6 EMA prompts/day to assess momentary intentions and self-efficacy to stand or move as well as intentions and self-efficacy to limit sedentary time over the next 2 h. Participants wore an activPAL accelerometer continuously to measure time spent being upright (i.e., standing or moving) and time spent sitting.ResultsOn weekdays, intentions and self-efficacy were generally predictive of subsequent behavior in the expected direction over the majority of the day whereas these constructs predicted subsequent behavior in the expected directions over a smaller range of times on weekend days.ConclusionsThis study adds to emerging evidence that associations between motivational constructs and subsequent behavior change over the course of the day, but these time-varying associations may be different depending on the day of week. This work has implications for intervention design and the timing of intervention content delivery in approaches like just-in-time adaptive interventions.     

非平衡中-英双语者言语产生中非目标语言的语音激活

采用改造的图片命名启动范式考察非平衡中-英双语者在言语产生中非目标语言的语音激活范围。实验1探讨在准备用汉语命名图片后,英语词汇的语音激活。结果发现,英语语音一致词的命名反应快于语音相关词和语音无关词,且语音相关词的命名反应快于语音无关词,说明在一语的产生过程中,二语对等词和相关词的语音都得到了激活。实验2探讨在准备用英语命名图片后,汉语词汇的语音激活。结果发现,汉语语音一致词的命名反应快于语音相关词和语音无关词,而语音相关词与语音无关词之间的命名反应没有显著差异,说明在二语的产生过程中,只有一语对等词的语音得到了激活。总结果表明,非平衡中-英双语者使用目标语言时,非目标语言的语音也可以得到激活,并且激活范围可能受非目标语言熟练水平的影响。