The ministry of silly walks’ report: representational momentum sensitive to awkwardness following action,not single posture

ABSTRACT

Completing a representational momentum (RM) task, participants viewed animations of a human cartoon or a robot figure with three levels of awkwardness in the walk and indicated if the final posture was identical to the final frame of the animation. Animations were shown forward and backward, and the level of awkwardness influenced the extent of RM (Experiment 1: N?=?30). Positive distortions decreased with increased awkwardness for forward actions. Negative distortions for the backward animations meant either participants were falling behind the depicted action, or that continuing familiar actions forward is a stronger bias than continuing presented (backward) actions. Following a single posture (Experiment 2: N?=?19), positive distortions were observed, but no pattern regarding awkwardness. A single posture is sufficient to elicit forward distortions, but the awkwardness effect requires viewing the action.     

Families and therapists achieve clinical outcomes,systems of care mediate the process

Conclusion The values articulated in the system of care philosophy (Stroul & Friedman, 1994) have been necessary elements of local, state, and national efforts to reform mental health care for children. The importance of the values of family collaboration, cultural competence, interagency coordination, individualized care, and use of the least restrictive treatment setting articulated by the system of care philosophy has been affirmed by practitioners, policy makers, and mental health services researchers. Such values, however, are likely not sufficient to achieve clinical outcome. Clinical outcomes are more likely to be achieved by family members and therapists when clinical practices are changed to reflect the demanding and comprehensive work of changing child and family social ecologies.     

The relationship between mental rotation and representational momentum

Two experiments explored a possible relationship between mental rotation and representational momentum, a task in which participants were asked to remember an object's position following a sequence of images implying motion. Typically, participants misremember the position as distorted forward along the implied trajectory. If representational momentum relies on mental imagery, the magnitude of memory distortion in a representational momentum task should be positively correlated with the rate of mental rotation. As predicted, faster mental rotation rates and larger memory distortions for object position were observed for rotational axes aligned with the viewers' coordinate system. In addition, participants with slower mental rotation rates produced smaller memory distortions in the implied-event task.     

Representational momentum in scenes: Learning spatial layout

In four experiments, we examined whether watching a scene from the perspective of a camera rotating across it allowed participants to recognize or identify the scene's spatial layout. Completing a representational momentum (RM) task, participants viewed a smoothly animated display and then indicated whether test probes were in the same position as they were in the final view of the animation. We found RM anticipations for the camera's movement across the scene, with larger distortions resulting from camera rotations that brought objects into the viewing frame compared with camera rotations that took objects out of the viewing frame. However, the RM task alone did not lead to successful recognition of the scene's map or identification of spatial relations between objects. Watching a scene from a rotating camera's perspective and making position judgments is not sufficient for learning spatial layout.     

THE MEASUREMENT OF SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCES PRESUMABLY RELATED TO HYPNOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY

Å s , A., O'H ara , J. W. & M unger , M. P. The measurement of subjective experiences presumably related to hypnotic susceptibility. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 47–64.—An instrument to register a variety of subjective experiences presumably related to hypnotizability was constructed on the basis of certain theoretical notions of hypnosis. A comparison of the responses of 471 college students with the findings of another investigator shows a high degree of response consistency. Some sex differences are discussed. A cluster analysis and a factor analysis of a representative selection of Experience Inventory items and item groups indicate that existing theoretical notions of hypnosis have much in common and may be reduced to a set of very few variables.     

Are boundary extension and representational momentum related?

Boundary extension (BE) is misremembering more of a particular scene than actually presented. Representational momentum (RM) is misremembering the final position of a moving object as further along its implied trajectory. There is a sense in which both BE and RM are predictions, and the current experiments explore the possibility that these are related phenomena. We showed participants single photographs to measure baseline BE, and then approach sequences and measured BE and RM. We found significant BE and RM, and a significant interaction between baseline BE and BE following an approach sequence, but no interaction with RM. The initial evidence suggests that BE and RM are separate processes, and that BE (the establishing of spatial layout) occurs before RM (the continuation of movement) within a scene.     

Social Change: Toward an Informed and Critical Understanding of Social Justice and the Capabilities Approach in Community Psychology

Community psychology has long been concerned with social justice. However, deployments of this term are often vague and undertheorized. To address this weakness in the field's knowledge body we explored John Rawls's theory of social justice and Amartya Sen's economic theory of the capabilities approach and evaluated each for its applicability to community psychology theory, research, and action. Our unpacking of the philosophical and political underpinnings of Rawlsian theory of social justice resulted in identifying characteristics that limit the theory's utility in community psychology, particularly in its implications for action. Our analysis of the capability approach proposed by Amartya Sen revealed a framework that operationalizes social justice in both research and action, and we elaborate on this point. Going beyond benefits to community psychology in adopting the capabilities approach, we posit a bi‐directional relationship and discuss how community psychology might also contribute to the capabilities approach. We conclude by suggesting that community psychology could benefit from a manifesto or proclamation that provides a historical background of social justice and critiques the focus on the economic, sociological, and philosophical theories that inform present‐day conceptualizations (and lack thereof) of social justice for community psychology.     

Hmong Mental Health Needs Assessment: A Community-Based Partnership in a Small Mid-Western Community

The overall goal of this assessment was to verify the mental health needs of Hmong living in a mid-west community in order clarify the format, content, and feasibility of providing mental health services for Hmong in the future. Using a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) model, we held four focus groups with 36 men, women, adolescents and professionals, all of Hmong descent, as well as interviewed 28 individual medical, mental health, education, and social service providers in the Eau Claire community. Our Hmong sample was frequently unclear about what “mental” health meant, indicating a low level of mental health literacy. Results confirmed that there are significant mental health needs in this refugee and immigrant population. Participants described problems consistent with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, and severe social stress and acculturation difficulties in every generation. Elder people and male adolescents were described as the most disaffected and in need of immediate services. It will be critical to address mental health literacy before designing future interventions. Treatment suggestions were provided with the intention of removing barriers and incorporating culturally sensitive methodologies, while continuing to work closely with our local mental health providers and Hmong leadership.