Adult visual choice-reaction time, age, sex and preparedness: A test of Welford's problem in a large population sample

The relationship between age, sex and visual three-choice reaction time was investigated with a representative sample of adult subjects who participated in a large health survey in Finland (the Mini-Finland Survey). Subjects' age varied from 30 to 79 years. Reaction time increased reliably with increasing age. Men were faster than women across all age levels. The shortest of the irregularly presented inter-stimulus intervals (ISI) slowed down the performance of elderly subjects in particular. This suggests that they had more difficulty than younger subjects in getting prepared for an uncertain event. They also committed most errors at the longest ISI. This was interpreted as a result of their relative inability to maintain the optimum level of preparation. On the whole, men displayed a higher error rate than women, which suggests that the observed male superiority is at least in part due to response strategies. The importance for aging research of sampling the subjects and task types is briefly discussed.     

Cultural and ethnic influences on love and attachment

Recently, theorists have begun to speculate about the nature of passionate and companionate love. Evolutionary psychologists have tended to emphasize the pan-cultural nature of passionate love. Historians have stressed the fact that, in different historical eras, people's attitudes toward love, sex, and intimacy have varied widely. Cross-cultural researchers contend that, even today, societies differ greatly in their attitudes toward love. In this study, 124 men and 184 women from four ethnic backgrounds were asked if they were currently in love and how passionately and companionately in love they were. The four groups differed, as predicted, in their general orientations toward life. European-Americans were the most individualistic, Japanese-Americans and Pacific Islanders were intermediate in individualism/collectivism, and Chinese-Americans were the most collectivist. Nonetheless, in the specific area of love, the various American ethnic groups did not differ significantly in the likelihood of being in love, nor in the intensity of the passionate love (PL) or companionate love (CL) they felt. In all ethnic groups, men's and women's adult attachment styles predicted romantic feelings and experiences. The anxious were the most likely to be in a love relationship, and they scored the highest on the PL scale; avoidants scored lowest. The secure scored the highest on the CL scale; avoidants scored the lowest.     

Noise and visual choice-reaction time: A large-scale population survey

The impact of a 80 dB(A) intermittent broadband noise on a three-choice visual reaction time (RT) task was investigated. There were 2661 subjects who represented the healthy Finnish population from the age of 30 to 79 years. Noise slowed down the response speed highly significantly but the main effect was negligible in the psychological sense (513 vs. 506 msec). The performance of the elderly was more affected than that of the young. Slow responders did not show any detrimental effect of noise irrespective of whether or not they committed errors. The results are discussed in terms of person-induced ways to perform and cope under a mild stress.     

Several types of learning increase open field activity in mice

Experimental and control groups of mice were initially matched on the basis of their open field activity. Experimental groups were trained in one of six types of learning tasks: (1) active avoidance conditioning with light and sound signals as conditioned stimuli and electric shocks as uncoditioned stimulus, (2) learning of a linear 5-point maze, (3) learning of a T-maze, (4) passive avoidance conditioning, (5) learning of non-aggressive behavior, and (6) learning of aggressive behavior. In all cases, learning was associated with a significant increase of the open field activity over that of the untrained but otherwise similarly treated control mice. This effect was most marked during the learning phase and disappeared when the acquired behavior had become firmly established. It is suggested that several types of learning are associated with an increase of arousal level, possibly mediated by the activation of central catecholamine neurons.     

Improving Research Training in Doctoral Counseling Programs

The authors surveyed the research training practices of doctoral-level, APA-approved counseling psychology programs, non-APA-approved counseling psychology programs, and counselor education programs to identify ways to improve such training. Some differences were found according to program type. No differences were found in percentage of students' publishing or presenting research during 1983–84. Suggestions for improving future research training were assessed; highest ratings were given to required participation in research teams; 1st-year, “hands-on” research experience; and greater emphasis on design rather than statistics training. Programs characterized by high and low student research productivity differed in the areas of required research training, research emphases and research climate, required presentation or submission of research for publication, and material support for student research. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Development of sense of coherence during two group interventions

Kähönen, K., Näätänen, P., Tolvanen, A. & Salmela‐Aro, K. (2012). Development of sense of coherence during two group interventions. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 523–527. Burnout is a serious occupational hazard. This study investigated the possibility to develop an effective salutogenic group intervention among employees suffering from severe burnout symptoms. Participants consisted of employees aged 31 to 59 years working in different public service occupations, such as police officers, tax officers, (and other public service officers), and assigned to three different groups: analytic (N = 25), psychodramatic (N = 24) and controls (N = 28). The intervention comprised 16 separate days over a nine‐month period. Changes in sense of coherence (SOC) were measured four times with the 13‐item Orientation to Life Questionnaire during the intervention and at six‐month follow‐up, and analyzed by general linear model (GLM) and using Cohen’s d to estimate effect sizes. Change in SOC between the three groups was statistically significant (F(4,148) = 2.65, p = 0.036). The psychodrama group showed a higher increase in SOC than the analytic group during the intervention, while the improvement in the analytic group was significant during the six‐month follow‐up. Total effect size from baseline to follow‐up was in the analytic group 0.71, in the psychodrama group 0.47, and in the control group from baseline to end of intervention 0.09. The results show that it is possible to improve SOC by group intervention in the occupational healthcare context. The dialogue‐based analytic method and action‐based psychodramatic method differ in their specific effects.     

Nascent body ego: Metapsychological and neurophysiological aspects

For Freud, body ego was the organizing basis of the structural theory. He defi ned it as a psychic projection of the body surface. Isakower's and Lewin's classical fi ndings suggest that the body surface experiences of nursing provide the infant with sensory-affective stimulation that initiates a projection of sensory processes towards the psychic realm. During nursing, somato-sensory, gustatory and olfactory modalities merge with a primitive somatic affect of satiation, whereas auditory modality is involved more indirectly and visual contact more gradually. Repeated regularly, such nascent experiences are likely to play a part in the organization of the primitive protosymbolic mental experience. In support of this hypothesis, the authors review fi ndings from a neurophysiological study of infants before, during and after nursing. Nursing is associated with a signifi cant amplitude change in the newborn electroencephalogram (EEG), which wanes before the age of 3 months, and is transformed at the age of 6 months into rhythmic 3-5 Hz hedonic θ-activity. Sucking requires active physiological work, which is shown in a regular rise in heart rate. The hypothesis of a sensory-affective organization of the nascent body ego, enhanced by nursing and active sucking, seems concordant with neurophysiological phenomena related to nursing.     

Cognitive style among rural Norwegian children

Vigeland, Kari. Cognitive style among rural Norwegian children. Scand. J. Psychol., 1973, 14, 305–309.-Two hundred 10- or 13-year-olds from two communities with different cultural values were given a Rod and Frame, Block Design, Embedded Figures, Draw a Person, and Vocabulary test. The first three, combined for an index on cognitive style, intercorrelated about 0.5 at both age levels. Older children generally scored higher than the younger, as expected, but boys were not superior to girls-with one exception: among the 13-year-olds in one community, the girls scored lower than the boys. It is suggested that cultural factors may inhibit the ordinary development toward a more articulated cognitive style.