Assessing Multicultural Counseling Competence: A Review of Instrumentation

The authors review four new instruments designed to assess multicultural counseling competence in trainees and practicing professionals. The Cross-Cultural Counseling Inventory—Revised (CCCI-R), the Multicultural Counseling Awareness Scale—Form B (MCAS:B), the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (MCI), and the Multicultural Awareness-Knowledge-and Skills Survey (MAKSS) were each critically reviewed in terms of item development, psychometric properties, and pragmatic utility. Specific research suggestions for continued empirical validation on the instruments are posited, and strong cautions regarding their current use in training are leveled.     

Being in two minds: The divided mind in the Nyāyasūtras

In this paper I suggest that the division between manas and atman in Nyaya philosophy can be interpreted in the light of Western discussions about irrationality. In Western philosophy irrationality has been explained by postulating a divided mind. This helps to account for a generally rational mind that is nevertheless sometimes prone to irrationality. I argue that the division of the mind bears similarities to the division between manas and ātman. Looking at the arguments of the Naiyāyikas Gautama and Vātsyāyana for the existence of a permanent self, I do not find any of them convincing in the light of Buddhist criticism. However, by arguing for the division between manas and ātman, the Naiyāyikas have inadvertently provided their strongest argument for the existence of a self because they have managed to account for irrationality.     

Testing orofacial abilities of children who stutter: the Movement, Articulation, Mandibular and Sensory awareness (MAMS) assessment procedure

Objective

The purpose of this article is to introduce a new assessment designed to measure the orofacial abilities of children who stutter (CWS), the Movement, Articulation, Mandibular and Sensory Awareness (MAMS) Orofacial Assessment. The new instrument was developed and validated to measure orofacial abilities in a comprehensive manner.

Design

A group of 43 CWS (mean age 13.10 years, S.D. 2.10 years) and a control group of 32 fluent children (mean age 13.4 years, S.D. 2.6 years) were tested with the new tool. It was hypothesized, that (a) the MAMS is a reliable and valid instrument to measure orofacial abilities in CWS, (b) fluent children have better orofacial abilities than CWS and (c) that the therapy outcome of CWS depend on their orofacial abilities.

Results

The MAMS Orofacial Assessment proved to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess orofacial abilities. Compared with their fluent peers, CWS had significantly worse orofacial abilities. CWS with better orofacial abilities had a better prognosis for therapy outcome.

Conclusions

The new instrument is a reliable and valid tool to measure orofacial abilities and MAMS distinguishes CWS and controls. Orofacial abilities are one set of factors that influence therapy outcome for CWS.Educational objectives: The reader will get an overview over of the literature on orofacial abilities in people who stutter and will learn about and be able to (1) describe different characteristics of orofacial abilities, (2) use the MAMS Orofacial Assessment in the diagnostic process for CWS and for research purposes, and (3) interpret the results of the MAMS to use them for therapy planning.     

A New Stigmatized Identity? Comparisons of a “Food Addict” Label With Other Stigmatized Health Conditions

This research assessed public perceptions of a “food addict” label in comparison to stigmatized conditions including obesity, addiction, and disability. Study 1 found this label was perceived similarly to obesity, but more favorably than other addictions, and had an exacerbating effect on weight stigma. Study 2 experimentally replicated the latter effect but demonstrated no weight-related effects for the food addict label. This evidence suggests that food addiction may be less vulnerable to public stigma than other addictions but may increase the stigma associated with obesity. Food addiction as a stigmatized identity is discussed.     

Patterns in the Philosophy of Mathematics

Books reviewed in this article:
Michael D. Resnik, Mathematics as a Science of Patterns
Penelope Maddy, Naturalism in Mathematics
Jerrold J. Katz, Realistic Rationalism
Jaakko Hintikka, The Principles of Mathematics Revisited     

Inhibition in motor imagery: a novel action mode switching paradigm

Motor imagery requires that actual movements are prevented (i.e., inhibited) from execution. To investigate at what level inhibition takes place in motor imagery, we developed a novel action mode switching paradigm. Participants imagined (indicating only start and end) and executed movements from start buttons to target buttons, and we analyzed trial sequence effects. Trial sequences depended on current action mode (imagination or execution), previous action mode (pure blocks/same mode, mixed blocks/same mode, or mixed blocks/other mode), and movement sequence (action repetition, hand repetition, or hand alternation). Results provided evidence for global inhibition (indicated by switch benefits in execution-imagination (E-I)-sequences in comparison to I-I-sequences), effector-specific inhibition (indicated by hand repetition costs after an imagination trial), and target inhibition (indicated by target repetition benefits in I-I-sequences). No evidence for subthreshold motor activation or action-specific inhibition (inhibition of the movement of an effector to a specific target) was obtained. Two (global inhibition and effector-specific inhibition) of the three observed mechanisms are active inhibition mechanisms. In conclusion, motor imagery is not simply a weaker form of execution, which often is implied in views focusing on similarities between imagination and execution.     

What is behind the priority heuristic? A mathematical analysis and comment on Brandstätter, Gigerenzer, and Hertwig (2006)

Comments on the article by E. Brandst?tter, G. Gigerenzer, and R. Hertwig. The authors discuss the priority heuristic, a recent model for decisions under risk. They reanalyze the experimental validity of this approach and discuss how these results compare with cumulative prospect theory, the currently most established model in behavioral economics. They also discuss how general models for decisions under risk based on a heuristic approach can be understood mathematically to gain some insight in their limitations. They finally consider whether the priority heuristic model can lead to some understanding of the decision process of individuals or whether it is better seen as an as-if model.     

Target-related coupling in bimanual reaching movements

While bimanual interference effects can be observed when symbolic cues indicate the parameter values of simultaneous reaching movements, these effects disappear under conditions in which the target locations of two movements are cued directly. The present study investigates the generalizability of these target-location cuing benefits to conditions in which symbolic cues are used to indicate target locations (i.e., the end points of bimanual movements). Participants were asked to move to two of four possible target locations, being located either at the same and different distances (Experiment 1), or in the same and different directions (Experiment 2). Circles and crosses served as symbolic target-location cues and were arranged in a symmetric or non-symmetric fashion over the four target locations. Each trial was preceded by a variable precuing interval. Results revealed faster initiation times for equivalent as compared to non-equivalent target locations (same vs. different cues). Moreover, the time course of prepartion suggests that this effect is in fact due to target-equivalence and not to cue-similarity. Bimanual interference relative to movement parameter values was not observed. These findings suggest that cuing target locations can dominate potential intermanual interference effects during the concurrent programming of different movement parameter values.     

The effects of dialogue-based task allocation on system performance in a computer-aided air traffic control task

The present study investigated dialogue-based human-computer task allocation. Five levels of allocation mode, four command strategies and a control condition, were examined in a high-task-load situation using a Latin square design. Five male participants acted as controllers in a simplified representation of an air traffic control system, sharing their task with a computer controller. Performance measures were metered on-line, and subjective ratings were recorded between trials. There were significant differences among the groups in the percentage of planes landed by the human-computer system, the total number of commands executed, and the number of allocation commands used. Other variables suggested for further study include comparisons of input mode, dialogue-initiation style, and degraded performance levels of the computer controller.     

Instrument specificity in experienced musicians

Previous studies have shown that experienced pianists have acquired integrated action-effect (A-E) associations. In the present study, we were interested in how specific these associations are for the own instrument by investigating pianists and guitarists. A-E associations were examined by testing whether the perception of a “potential” action-effect has an influence on actions. Participants played chords on their instrument in response to visual stimuli, while they were presented task-irrelevant auditory distractors (congruent or incongruent) in varying instrument timbre. In Experiment 1, pianists exhibited an interference effect with timbres of their own instrument category (keyboard instruments: piano and organ). In Experiment 2 guitarists showed an interference effect only with guitar timbre. Thus, integrated A-E associations primarily seem to consist of a specific component on a sensory-motor level involving the own instrument. Additionally, categorical knowledge about how an instrument is played seems to be involved.