The sources of developmental differences in children's incidental processing during discrimination trials

Crane and Ross reported that second graders learned more than sixth graders about attributes made relevant after solution of a discrimination task. Here two experiments are reported that enlighten the sources of this developmental difference. Both make use of an experimental technique whereby children verbalize their hypotheses during solution of a discrimination problem. The results indicate that ten-year-olds do not learn about incidental attributes that they tested while irrelevant in the pre-solution period, but that five-year-olds and seven-year-olds do. Children of all three ages process incidental information about attributes that they did not sample pre-solution. With some qualification, the incidentally processed information is retained throughout a five-minute delay interval. The results bear on developmental trends in the distribution of attention and on theoretical accounts of incidental learning in discrimination tasks.     

Are Resource Fluctuations Anticipated in Resource Allocation Tasks?

Resource-allocation behavior has recently received increasing attention in the decision-theory literature partially because individuals and societies are facing hard decisions about the allocation of constrained resources. We observed in two previous studies that resource allocators do not plan for probable losses in loss situations, but instead react to losses after they occur. In this paper, we determine if a similar failure to anticipate changes in resources occurs in a gain situation. The data suggest that subjects do not allocate their resources in anticipation of probable gains or losses, thus considerably increasing the generality of our previous findings.     

Special perspective: An immodest proposal: should treating mental health professionals be barred from testifying about their patients?

Notwithstanding ethical rules that address therapeutic and forensic role conflicts for psychologists and psychiatrists, overzealous patient advocacy by therapists, tightened reimbursement for therapy, and a growth market for forensic psychology and psychiatry, have led many therapists to appear willingly as forensic experts on behalf of their patients. Existing ethical rules, as well as other proposed approaches to address this problem, assume that it can be resolved by modest changes in existing practice that permit therapists to testify as long as their testimony avoids psycholegal opinions. This essay questions whether these modest changes can adequately address this problem and advances consideration of a more radical proposal to address this problem, prohibiting therapists from testifying about their patients. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When kinesthetic information is neglected in learning a Novel bimanual rhythmic coordination

Many studies have shown that rhythmic interlimb coordination involves perception of the coupled limb movements, and different sensory modalities can be used. Using visual displays to inform the coupled bimanual movement, novel bimanual coordination patterns can be learned with practice. A recent study showed that similar learning occurred without vision when a coach provided manual guidance during practice. The information provided via the two different modalities may be same (amodal) or different (modality specific). If it is different, then learning with both is a dual task, and one source of information might be used in preference to the other in performing the task when both are available. In the current study, participants learned a novel 90° bimanual coordination pattern without or with visual information in addition to kinesthesis. In posttest, all participants were tested without and with visual information in addition to kinesthesis. When tested with visual information, all participants exhibited performance that was significantly improved by practice. When tested without visual information, participants who practiced using only kinesthetic information showed improvement, but those who practiced with visual information in addition showed remarkably less improvement. The results indicate that (1) the information is not amodal, (2) use of a single type of information was preferred, and (3) the preferred information was visual. We also hypothesized that older participants might be more likely to acquire dual task performance given their greater experience of the two sensory modes in combination, but results were replicated with both 20- and 50-year-olds.     

Compensation for pain,suffering, and other psychological injuries: The of Daubert on employment discrimination claims

The Daubert standard for admitting expert testimony places increased emphasis on the scientific basis for professional opinions. This article identifies factors mental health professionals should consider to meet that standard and Federal Rule of Evidence 702 when evaluating claims of psychological injuries as authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, in cases of sexual harassment, retaliation, and other forms of employment discrimination. First, the contribution experts can make by presenting a framework to assess and understand the nature, duration, intensity and severity of emotional injuries is outlined. Specialized knowledge helpful in assessing these claims is reviewed in light of the scientific literature on stressors, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and ways in which related symptoms manifest regarding events in the workplace or following loss of employment. Second, the role of qualified experts to facilitate determinations of causation is discussed, highlighting factors that bear on preexisting harm, intervening injurious events, the exclusion of alternate sources of mental distress, emotional harm and humiliation, and mitigation of damages.