An improved spatial span test of visuospatial memory

In the widely used Corsi Block Test and Wechsler Spatial Span Tests, participants must reproduce sequences of blocks in the order touched by the examiner until two trials are missed at the same sequence length. The examiner records either the maximum number of blocks correctly reported or the total number of correct lists. Here, we describe a computerized spatial span test (C-SST) that uses psychophysical procedures to quantify visuospatial mean span (MnS) with sub-digit precision. Results from 187 participants ranging in age from 18 to 82 years showed that accuracy declined gradually with list length around the MnS (by ～30% per item). Simulation studies revealed high variance and biases in CBT and Wechsler measures, and demonstrated that the C-SST provided the most accurate estimate of true span (i.e., the sequence length producing 50% correct). MnS declined more rapidly with age than mean digit span (MnDS) measured in the same participants. Response times correlated with both MnS and MnDS scores. Error analysis showed that omission and transposition errors predominated, with weaker primacy and recency effects in spatial span than digit span testing. The C-SST improves the precision of spatial span testing and reveals significant differences between visuospatial and verbal working memory.     

IRB and Research Regulatory Delays Within the Military Health System: Do They Really Matter? And If So,Why and for Whom?

Institutional review board (IRB) delays may hinder the successful completion of federally funded research in the U.S. military. When this happens, time-sensitive, mission-relevant questions go unanswered. Research participants face unnecessary burdens and risks if delays squeeze recruitment timelines, resulting in inadequate sample sizes for definitive analyses. More broadly, military members are exposed to untested or undertested interventions, implemented by well-intentioned leaders who bypass the research process altogether. To illustrate, we offer two case examples. We posit that IRB delays often appear in the service of managing institutional risk, rather than protecting research participants. Regulators may see more risk associated with moving quickly than risk related to delay, choosing to err on the side of bureaucracy. The authors of this article, all of whom are military-funded researchers, government stakeholders, and/or human subject protection experts, offer feasible recommendations to improve the IRB system and, ultimately, research within military, veteran, and civilian populations.     

Eyewitness testimony

The study of eyewitness testimony is thriving. Over the last three decades, psychologists have made important discoveries, and applied those discoveries to the legal system in myriad ways. Along the way, there were disagreements, which were typically healthy in nature. I discuss a few, for example, centering around the impact of misinformation on witnesses, the role of witness confidence and lineup procedures, and expert testimony. The “Memory Wars” were not so friendly, but hopefully the collective effort has helped to make the world a fairer place.     

A Systematic Review of Online Response Rates in Four Counseling Journals

This systematic review of articles published in 4 counseling journals found 207 articles that used online recruitment, of which 98 (47.3%) reported a response rate. These 98 studies collectively contained 22,466 individual participants. Results showed that nearly one third of all empirical articles used online recruitment, and the average response rate was 34.2% (SD = 22.6). Response rates are further described by journal, population, research methodology, and recruitment strategy. Researcher‐reported issues with online recruitment and data collection were also analyzed qualitatively, and recommendations for researchers are discussed.     

Decision-making in rectal and colorectal cancer: systematic review and qualitative analysis of surgeons’ preferences

Surgeons are experiencing difficulties implementing recommendations not only owing to incomplete, confusing or conflicting information but also to the increasing involvement of patients in decisions relating to their health. This study sought to establish which common factors including heuristic factors guide surgeons’ decision-making in colon and rectal cancers. We conducted a systematic literature review of surgeons’ decision-making factors related to colon and rectal cancer treatment. Eleven of 349 identified publications were eligible for data analyses. Using the IRaMuTeQ (Interface of R for the Multidimensional Analyses of Texts and Questionnaire), we carried out a qualitative analysis of the significant factors collected in the studies reviewed. Several validation procedures were applied to control the robustness of the findings. Five categories of factors (i.e. patient, surgeon, treatment, tumor and organizational cues) were found to influence surgeons’ decision-making. Specifically, all decision criteria including biomedical (e.g. tumor information) and heuristic (e.g. surgeons’ dispositional factors) criteria converged towards the factor ‘age of patient’ in the similarity analysis. In the light of the results, we propose an explanatory model showing the impact of heuristic criteria on medical issues (i.e. diagnosis, prognosis, treatment features, etc.) and thus on decision-making. Finally, the psychosocial complexity involved in decision-making is discussed and a medico-psycho-social grid for use in multidisciplinary meetings is proposed.     

任务价值研究的回顾与展望

文章阐述了以往研究者对任务价值及内部结构的界定,回顾了任务价值研究的历史,介绍了任务价值研究的现状,讨论了目前任务价值研究中存在的问题和未来的发展趋势。     

Scientific Peer Review: A Case Study From Local And Global Analyses.

The dialog between Staddon (2001, 2004) and Baum (2004) raises general questions about the nature of scientific peer review. Their dialog displays effects on peer review of differences of opinion about the relative merits of local and global analyses. Baum (1995, 1997, 2001, 2002) favors global analyses as a paradigm different, newer, and better than the local, dynamic, real‐time approach that plays a significant role in Staddon (2001). According to the Kuhnian perspective (Kuhn, 1996) Baum advocates, we can better understand his review of Staddon (2001) by considering the implications for it of his commitment to the idea that a global analysis is a superior scientific paradigm. This commentary examines some characteristics of local and global analyses, as well as some of their possible implications for peer review in the context of a reviewer's belief in the Kuhnian idea of incommensurability: According to this idea, a reviewer who either is, or who believes he is, from one paradigm is unlikely, for better or worse, to understand or perhaps even tolerate work from a different paradigm. It is recommended that a process be developed to encourage “truth in peer reviewing” to reduce possible conflicts of interest embedded in the current conception of scientific peer review.     

国内医务人员职业倦怠研究评述

通过文献分析法,介绍了职业倦怠概念以及国内医务人员职业倦怠常用测量工具,从人口学变量、人格、工作特征和社会支持四个方面阐述了当前医务人员职业倦怠的影响因素,最后在简要分析现有研究存在本土化程度较低及缺乏应用性研究等不足的基础上,展望了医务人员职业倦怠本土化及干预两方面研究的发展前景。