The social supports of suicide attempters: The different roles of family and friends

The social support patterns of a sample of 101 suicide attempters were compared with the patterns of a control sample on the basis of structured interview data. Network characteristics and the extent of support in different functional categories were examined as to their absolute and relative power to discriminate between the suicide attempters and the controls. A clear separation of the functions of kin and of friends/acquaintances emerged. The crucial difference between the attempters and the controls lay in the number of friends with whom the subjects had agreeable everyday interactions and in the number of kin that provided crisis support, both psychological and instrumental. Other support differences between the two groups were of secondary importance. While there was no overall difference in the frequency of social interactions between the two groups, the size of the social network differed greatly. Consequences for the conceptualization and measurement of social support as well as for the prevention of suicidal behavior are discussed.     

Psychological management and body image issues in facial transplantation

Facial transplantation, although controversial, is proposed as a major advance in facial reconstructive surgery, with the first partial transplant having taken place in France in November 2005. Although the psychological impact of facial transplantation will not be understood until several procedures have been carried out, this article examines the psychological issues likely to arise with particular reference to body image. A detailed framework for anticipation and management of psychological change is proposed. Pre-operative preparation must include thorough psychological preparation for the patient and their family. The immediate post-operative period is likely to be challenging, and a detailed management plan is proposed emphasising early return to function; subsequent psychological issues including altered body image, anxiety, shame, depression, communication and behavioural avoidance are discussed and a management strategy based on cognitive behavioural principles is proposed for the first post-operative year. Previous discussion frames psychological outcome in terms of complication and risk, tending to downplay the potential advantages of a successful procedure; the focus of this paper is on ensuring psychological adjustment as an inevitable consequence of change.     

Visual identity and uncertainty in repetition blindness

Repetition blindness (RB) was investigated in 6 experiments. In the first 3 experiments participants detected vowel targets in 11-letter sequences. When all letters were uppercase, detection was poorer for same (e.g., AA) than for different (e.g., AO) targets. However, when one target was uppercase and the other lowercase, RB was found only for targets visually identical except for size (e.g., Oo), not for visually different pairs (e.g., Aa). Experiment 4 found RB for visually identical versus different consonant-vowel-consonant words. Experiments 5 and 6 replicated Kanwisher's (1987) experiment in which RB was insensitive to word case but revealed these effects to be artifacts of poor recognition of 5-letter words coupled with a biased guessing strategy. Overall, these experiments found RB only at a low level of visual information processing.     

Pi ka pu: The perception of speech sounds by prelinguistic infants

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - Experimentation with 14–18-week-old infants indicates that they are capable of grouping together syllables of English depending on whether the...     

Vibrotactile localization on the abdomen: effects of place and space

In this study, we explore the conditions for accurate localization of vibrotactile stimuli presented to the abdomen. Tactile orientation systems intended to provide mobility information for people who are blind depend on accurate identification of location of stimuli on the skin, as do systems designed to indicate target positions in space or the status of remotely operated devices to pilots or engineers. The spatial acuity of the skin has been examined for simple touch, but not for the types of vibrating signals used in such devices. The ability to localize vibratory stimuli was examined at sites around the abdomen and found to be a function of separation among loci and, most significantly, of place on the trunk. Neither the structures underlying the skin nor the types of tactor tested appeared to affect localization. Evidence was found for anatomically defined anchor points that provide localization referents that enhance performance even with wide target spacing.     

Continuous Measurement of Breaks in Presence: Psychophysiology and Orienting Responses

Assessing presence using questionnaires can yield interesting insights into the user experience in virtual environments, but is also limited both in terms of reliability and validity. Breaks in presence (BIPs) are an interesting alternative, given that the researcher can assess them correctly. Prior studies on the psychophysiology of BIPs followed an exploratory approach by not providing a cognitive mechanism for BIPs and lacking in external validity. We argue that BIPs can be considered a special form of orienting responses involving both the real and the virtual world. In the first of the presented studies, we investigated which types of BIPs can be differentiated and to what degree they affect the user experience. In the second study, we modified a commercial video game by introducing the previously identified BIPs and recorded psychophysiological measurements. The results are in line with findings on orienting responses and should provide fertile ground for future research.     

Sick and Healthy: Benatar on the Logic of Value

Abstract

David Benatar, in Better Never to Have Been, sets out two arguments in support of the view that coming into existence is always a net harm. Remarkably, the first argument seems to imply that coming into existence would be a net harm even if the only bad we experienced in our lives were a ‘single pin-prick’. This argument hinges on a purported asymmetry: that whereas the absence of pains in non-existence is good, the absence of pleasures in non-existence is not bad (rather than bad). It also hinges on the non-badness at issue here being relative (no worse than the presence of pleasures in existence) rather than intrinsic (value neutral). To establish the crucial claim that the non-badness of absent pleasures in non-existence is relative rather than intrinsic, Benatar constructs an analogy involving two people, Sick and Healthy. In this paper, I show the inaptness of the analogy and also provide positive reason to doubt the soundness of the argument as it stands. What emerges from this critical analysis of the analogy is a plausible theory of value at odds with Benatar’s argument as a whole.