Metaphor explanation attenuates the right-hand preference for depictive co-speech gestures that imitate actions

Differential activation levels of the two hemispheres due to hemispheric specialization for various linguistic processes might determine hand choice for co-speech gestures. To test this hypothesis, we compared hand choices for gesturing in 20 healthy right-handed participants during explanation of metaphorical vs. non-metaphorical meanings, on the assumption that metaphor explanation enhances the right hemisphere contribution to speech production. Hand choices were analyzed separately for: depictive gestures that imitate action ("character viewpoint gestures," [McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind. What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.]), depictive gestures that express motion, relative locations, and shape ("observer viewpoint gestures"), and "abstract deictic gestures." It was found that the right-hand over left-hand preference was significantly weaker in the metaphor condition than in the non-metaphor conditions for depictive gestures that imitated action. Findings suggest that the activation of the right hemisphere in the metaphor condition reduces the likelihood of left hemisphere generation of gestures that imitate action, thus attenuating the right-hand preference.     

Religious and National Identity after the Belfast Good Friday Agreement

National and religious identification processes can be seen as the basis of the conflict in Northern Ireland, and over the course of the conflict preferred social and political identities became increasingly oppositional and entrenched. This paper reviews this evidence using population-level studies of self-categorized national and religious identity. In an attempt to explore the bases of these identities, two interrelated qualitative studies examining the constructions of national and religious identification are reported. The findings presented suggest the continuing predominance of national and religious identities that have generally been constructed as opposing. Evidence of complete overlap of the identities is evidenced in conflation of religion and nationality in adolescents' essays. Theoretical sampling of adults living on the border between Northern Ireland, the republic of Ireland, and those in mixed marriages highlight the strategic use of national and religious identities that may act to support divisions in post-Agreement Northern Ireland.     

青少年病理性互联网使用量表的编制与验证

参照国内外研究并结合我国青少年的实际情况,旨在编制出更适合我国情况的青少年病理性互联网使用量表（Adolescent Pathological Internet Use Scale,APIUS）。探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析的结果表明APIUS由6个维度构成,即突显性、耐受性、强迫性上网/戒断症状、心境改变、社交抚慰、消极后果。APIUS显示了良好的信、效度指标,可以作为我国青少年病理性互联网使用的测量工具     

网络使用线索对不同动机使用者上网欲望的诱发作用

以67名信息获取性动机者和54名人际情感性动机者为被试,以基于实景照片的网络信息获取线索、网络情感满足线索和负性情绪线索为刺激材料,采用线索暴露范式探讨了网络使用线索对网络使用者上网欲望的相对影响。实验结果表明,网络信息获取线索仅对信息获取性动机者的上网欲望具有显著的诱发作用,而情感满足线索和负性情绪线索仅对人际情感性动机者的上网欲望具有显著的诱发作用。该研究为解释人际情感性动机者的病理性互联网使用行为特征提供了实验证据。     

The Relationship Between Perceptions of Neighborhood Characteristics and Substance Use Among Urban African American Adolescents

Although the neighborhood microsystem is recognized as an important domain for adolescent development, relative to the family and peer contexts, neighborhood factors have been understudied in relation to adolescent substance abuse. In addition, recent research suggests that risk factors for adolescent substance use may differ for African Americans when compared to Caucasian youth. This study investigated the association between perceived neighborhood disorganization and later substance use, as well as possible mediators of that association, among a community sample of urban African American adolescents. Perceptions of neighborhood disorganization (i.e., violence/safety and drug activity) in grade 7 were associated with increased tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use in grade 9. For females, this association was mediated by attitudes about drug use and perceptions of drug harmfulness. Findings highlight the importance of neighborhood contextual variables for African American substance use. Implications and directions for future research are presented.     

Placebo and the helsinki declaration — What to do?

The Helsinki Declaration is the ‘gold standard’ — a directive, not a law, on how to conduct controlled studies in humans in conformity with ethical principles. In spite of many discussions about their unsuitability some articles have remained unchanged in the most recent (sixth) revision of the Declaration. The demand to use “the best treatment” excludes use of placebo in the control group and presents an obstacle to the scientific evaluation of a number of drugs and treatments in general. The use of placebo is justified whenever its use does not cause irreversible damage or considerable suffering to the well informed patient. It must be, is, and will be used in the controlled clinical trials of treatments of a great number of diseases especially those which have a tendency to spontaneous improvement, even healing, or have a pronounced psychological component An earlier version of this paper was presented at an international conference, “Placebo: Its Action and Place in Health Research Today,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 12–13 April, 2003.     

Tufted capuchins (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cebus apella</Emphasis>) attribute value to foods and tools during voluntary exchanges with humans

This research examined exchange and value attribution in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). We presented subjects with opportunities to obtain various foods and a tool from an experimenter in exchange for the foods or tool in the subjects' possession. The times elapsed before the first chow biscuits were expelled and/or an exchange took place were recorded as the dependent measures. Laboratory chow biscuits, grapes, apples, and a metal bolt (a tool used to probe for syrup) were used as experimental stimuli. The subjects demonstrated the ability to recognize that exchanges could occur when an experimenter was present with a desirable food. Results indicate that subjects exhibited significant variation in their willingness to barter based upon the types of foods that were both in their possession and presented by the experimenter. Subjects more readily traded chow biscuits for fruit, and more readily traded apples for grapes than grapes for apples. During the exchange of tools and food, the subjects preferred the following in descending order when the probing apparatus was baited with sweet syrup: grapes, metal bolts, and chow biscuits. However when the apparatus was not baited, the values changed to the following in descending order: grapes, chow, and metal bolts. These results indicate that tufted capuchins recognize opportunities to exchange and engage in a simple barter system whereby low-valued foods are readily traded for more highly valued food. Furthermore, these capuchins demonstrate that their value for a tool changes depending upon its utility.     

Anxiety sensitivity interacts with marijuana use in the prediction of anxiety symptoms and panic-related catastrophic thinking among daily tobacco users

The present investigation evaluated whether anxiety sensitivity interacted with marijuana use in relation to the prediction of panic-relevant variables among young adult tobacco smokers (n=265). Approximately 73% of the sample was composed of current marijuana smokers, with 78.5% of this sub-sample using marijuana more than once per week. As expected, after covarying cigarettes per day, alcohol use, and negative affectivity, the interaction between marijuana use and anxiety sensitivity predicted anxiety symptoms and agoraphobic cognitions. Partially consistent with prediction, the interaction between frequency of marijuana use and anxiety sensitivity predicted only anxiety symptoms. These results are discussed in relation to better understanding the potential role of regular marijuana use and anxiety sensitivity for panic-relevant emotional vulnerability among regular tobacco smokers.     

Dissociations between implicit and explicit memory in children: the role of strategic processing and the knowledge base

A review of the literature shows that explicit memory develops substantially from three years of age to adulthood, while implicit memory remains stable across this age range. Previously, this developmental dissociation has been attributed to different memory systems, or to confounds with perceptual vs. conceptual processing. Prompted by an alternative developmental framework, the experiments reported here provide evidence against both interpretations. Instead, it will be argued that (a) the implicit-explicit developmental dissociation reflects differences in strategic processing (strategy use and metamemory) across childhood and (b) that implicit memory can show development if a child's knowledge base in the tested domain is developing with age.     

Affect and peer context interactively impact adolescent substance use

Risk factors, such as emotional distress and peer substance involvement, are often tested as competing influences on adolescent substance use. However, the current study examined how affect (both positive and negative) and peers (both in terms of relationship quality and substance involvement) are interactive influences on adolescent substance use. A sample of 398 high school juniors and seniors completed surveys assessing each of these domains. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed strong associations between an adolescent's and his or her best friend's substance use. Complex interactions supported the study hypothesis in that relations between affect and adolescent substance use were context dependent, with some peer contexts enhancing risk for substance use and others dampening this risk. Implications of these findings for interventions and preventions concerning adolescent substance use are discussed.