Comparative analysis of movement characteristics during dead-reckoning-based navigation in humans and rats

Human and rat movement organization was investigated as they searched for randomly located rewards without access to visual information. Under dark conditions, rats foraged for randomly located food pellets (Experiment 1). Blindfolded humans were instructed to search for an ostensible hidden coin using a metal detector (Experiment 2). After locating the food pellet, rats carried it back to the refuge, and after a designated searching time, humans were instructed to return to the start location. Although both species exhibited a high degree of similarity in searching path movement organization and ability to return to the start location, disruption of human searching path organization was associated with impairments in returning to the start location. These results support the vestibular "gain" account of movement organization during dead-reckoning-based navigation.     

The Urdu translation of the Sahin–Francis Scale of Attitude toward Islam: A case of using only positive valence items in Pakistan

The present aim was to develop an Urdu translation of the Sahin–Francis Scale of Attitude toward Islam as a first step toward establishing a coherent research programme examining the mental health correlates of religiosity within an Islamic cultural setting, that of Pakistan. Matters raised during the translation process into Urdu are described, resulting in the development of a measure that was culturally appropriate for use in Pakistan that contained only positive valence items. To assess the cross language validity and internal reliability of the measure, 174 Pakistani university students were administered both the Urdu and the adapted English version of the measure. After two weeks, to assess the temporal stability of the measure, a subsample of 20 university students completed the Urdu version of the measure. A satisfactory level of internal reliability, temporal stability, and construct validity was found for the measure. Suggestions for further research with the Urdu translation of the Sahin–Francis Scale of Attitude toward Islam were provided.