HOME ACCESS MODIFICATIONS: EFFECTS ON COMMUNITY VISITS BY PEOPLE WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES

We examined the effects of access modifications to home entrances of people with physical disabilities on their reported community outings. An interrupted time-series design was used, in which the introduction of ramps was staggered across the homes of 6 people with moderate to severe mobility impairments. Four participants reported increases in weekly outings following installation of ramps at their entrances, and 2 reported a small decrease. These findings suggest that reducing the response requirements of access to and from the residence of people with mobility impairments may increase community visits, but may be insufficient given other environmental barriers in the community.     

The integration of individual and family therapy

It is time to put an end to the separation in training programs between individual and family therapy. Competent therapists should be able to think at an intrapsychic and circular level concurrently. Training programs should maintain their current major focus and develop their minor area of expertise sufficiently so that their graduates can practice both individual and family therapy and choose whichever modality is more appropriate to the case at the time. Bridge concepts, essential differences, and some integrative approaches in individual and marriage and family therapy are discussed.     

Cardiac-somatic integration: An index of visual attention

Eighteen 15-week-old, normal full-term infants were presented with photographic slides of a human facial expression. The infant's heart rate, body movement, and visual attention were recorded simultaneously. The results showed that heart rate and body movement were significantly correlated during visual attention but not during inattention. Both heart rate and body movement decelerated significantly when the infants visually attended to the target stimulus. The results are discussed with reference to cardiac-somatic integration in early infancy and its implication as a possible index of attention.     

BENEFITS AND COSTS OF SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ILLINOIS SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT PROJECT

This investigation presents a cost-benefit analysis completed for one of 27 states implementing supported employment as a result of federal funding. Based upon the benefits and costs detailed, society realized a $0.75 return for every $1.00 invested in supported employment in Illinois. Supported employees realized a 37% increase in their earnings over a comparable period. The results of this study are discussed and recommendations are made for similar analyses across states.     

序列语义的类别一致性关系能否进行无意识整合？

阈下语义之间能否进行整合,最近的研究给出了不同的结果。当多个阈下语义词语同时呈现时显示出无意识语义整合效应,但是当序列呈现时没有观察到无意识整合效应。本研究在保留同时呈现方法优点（不同空间呈现位置）的情况下研究了序列呈现的不同汉字词语之间能否产生无意识语义类别关系整合。在实验1中,两个相同或不同类别的词语作为阈下启动刺激先后在两侧呈现,且第一个词语消失后第二词语马上出现,结果显示出无意识语义类别整合效应。实验2延长了两个阈下启动词语之间的时间间隔,结果未发现无意识语义类别整合效应。另外,实验3进一步排除了实验1中第一个启动词语的视觉残留,结果也未观察到显著的无意识语义类别整合效应,说明实验1中观察到的无意识整合效应是视觉残留所致。综合三个实验结果表明,两个阈下词语之间的语义类别一致性关系只有在同时呈现这种特殊条件下才能进行无意识整合加工,说明了短时间维度对于无意识语义关系整合的重要性。     

语言线索对空间关系表征的影响及其机制

语言的获得会对空间认知产生深刻的影响。关于语言与空间认知,近些年来,不仅有大量的相关研究发现语言能力跟空间认知能力之间存在着密切的关联,还出现了实验研究,来试图直接揭示语言对空间关系表征的影响。研究发现,在一系列涉及不同空间关系的任务中,相较于非语言线索,语言线索提示的效果明显更好。在此基础上,从语言编码的特点和加工过程等方面进一步分析语言的作用机制,发现在空间表征中语言主要起到了选择和整合的作用,语言的作用过程是即时性的。建议未来研究在空间任务和语言表述形式上有更多的变式,从而更全面地来揭示语言的作用。     

“It's ok if it's hidden”: The discursive construction of everyday racism for refugees and asylum seekers in Wales

Wales has a long history of migration; however, the introduction of dispersed asylum seekers in 2001 has led to Wales becoming a more superdiverse nation. Wales has often been positioned as a more “tolerant nation” than England; however, the increasingly superdiverse nature of Wales in a postdevolution era may now be calling this tolerance thesis into question. Models of refugee and asylum seeker integration suggest that the absence of racism plays a key role in integration. This paper reports the findings of research that centres on refugee and asylum seeker integration in Wales. Nineteen interviews were conducted with refugees and asylum seekers who had been living in Wales for between 1 month and 12 years. Each interview was analysed using a discursive psychology approach. In this paper, I show that the interviewees appeared to negotiate a dilemma when talking about experiencing potentially racist incidents within the interviews, constructing them as trivial so as not to appear critical of the protection they have received in Wales. The findings also highlight the more everyday and banal forms of racism that are regularly experienced by refugees and asylum seekers living in Wales.     

Does solving distant analogies facilitate relational integration?

Relational processing underpins many forms of human thinking. This research addressed whether relational integration in the n-term task (linear syllogisms with three and four premises) can be facilitated. We hypothesised that solving distant analogies (e.g. furnace : coal :: stomach : ______) but not near analogies (e.g. furnace : coal :: woodstove :______) would facilitate n-term performance of undergraduates (N?=?120). Participants generated solutions to near analogies (near condition), to distant analogies (distant condition) while participants in the control condition completed a word rating task. Participants then completed the n-term task with items at two levels of complexity (ternary, quaternary), and a fluid intelligence test. Solving distant analogies facilitated relational integration on the more complex quaternary-relational items. It eliminated the complexity effect in the n-term task and the association between quaternary-relational reasoning and fluid intelligence.     

Accuracy and performance of the state-based Φ and liveliness measures of information integration

A number of people have suggested that there is a link between information integration and consciousness, and a number of algorithms for calculating information integration have been put forward. The most recent of these is Balduzzi and Tononi’s state-based Φ algorithm, which has factorial dependencies that severely limit the number of neurons that can be analyzed. To address this issue an alternative state-based measure known as liveliness has been developed, which uses the causal relationships between neurons to identify the areas of maximum information integration. This paper outlines the state-based Φ and liveliness algorithms and sets out a number of test networks that were used to compare their accuracy and performance. The results show that liveliness is a reasonable approximation to state-based Φ for some network topologies, and it has a much more scalable performance than state-based Φ.     

积极心理学视野下的工作压力

工作压力是职业健康心理学研究的重要领域。随着经济发展,工作压力问题日益突出,它降低了生产率,使员工的健康受损,增加了成本消耗。但是以往的研究主要关注压力的消极面,干预方法也是以预防和治疗为主。然而积极心理学运动的兴起改变了传统的工作压力研究方法,提出积极压力的概念,倡导以健康、整合的方式建立一个完整的工作压力模型。并提出在预防和治疗消极压力的同时,也要重视激发积极压力。