Automatic stimulus presentation for the proboscis extension reflex in diptera

An apparatus is described that automates the elicitation of the proboscis extension reflex (PER) in dipterans. The PER has been used as a measure of both classical conditioning and central excitation. Most studies of PER have employed manual stimulation, which adds inter- and intraexperimenter differences in technique as another source of variance. The advantages of this apparatus are (1) elimination of individual differences in manual techniques of experimenters as a possible source of error variance and (2) capability of stimulating several flies individually during a single session. An experiment is reported comparing the manual and automated methods.     

Faces in Motion: Age‐Related Changes in Eyewitness Identification Performance in Simultaneous,Sequential, and Elimination Video Lineups

The identification performance of children (5 to 6 years, n = 180; 9 to 10 years, n = 180) and adults (n = 180) was examined using three types of video lineup procedures: simultaneous, sequential and elimination. Participants viewed a videotaped staged theft and then attempted to identify the culprit from a target‐present or target‐absent video lineup. Correct identifications in simultaneous and elimination video lineups did not differ as a function of age. The sequential video lineup was associated with a reduction in correct identifications for both child groups compared with adults. With respect to the target‐absent lineup condition, the video elimination lineup was associated with an increase in correct rejection rates for adult witnesses. Age was also significantly associated with accuracy. Differences in correct rejection rates were observed between adults and children and also between the two child groups. Implications and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building the Better Mental Training Mousetrap: Is Periodization a More Systematic Approach to Promoting Performance Excellence?

Over the past two decades, mental skills training (MST) has experienced a tremendous surge in popularity, yet MST is not without its critics, including some athletes and coaches. Additionally, a number of concerns have arisen about mental training effectiveness, and its ability to maximize athlete development, performance, and peaking. Periodization is a systematic program development and implementation strategy that holds promise for enhancing mental training effectiveness and combating some of the problems currently limiting MST interventions. Thus, the purpose of this conceptual paper was threefold. First, periodization concepts are introduced by demonstrating how they are utilized to systematically guide physical training. Second, strategies to adapt periodization concepts to enhance mental training programs are examined, along with techniques to integrate physical and mental training, including: mental training tool and skill periodization plans and mental training drill menus. Finally, a case study is presented to illustrate how an integrated approach to periodized training that targets both physical and mental skill development can enhance the effectiveness of MST while minimizing implementation problems.     

Childhood Sexual Assault,Quality of Life,and Psychiatric Comorbidity in Veterans With Military and Civilian Sexual Trauma

Veterans with military sexual trauma (MST) are at risk for a variety of psychiatric conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Survivors of MST are also likely to experience diminished quality of life (QoL). Individuals with higher lifetime incidence of sexual trauma may also be at increased risk for poorer outcomes in QoL and psychiatric symptomatology. The differences in psychological sequelae among those who have experienced sexual trauma as children, and those whose sexual trauma exposure is limited to adulthood are relatively understudied. The majority of sexual trauma literature has focused primarily on civilian trauma, and comparatively few studies have specifically examined psychosocial sequelae (e.g., QoL) in veterans with MST. This study examined how childhood sexual abuse (CSA) affects overall QoL as well as severity of PTSD and depressive symptoms. Veterans who reported CSA had significantly greater depression symptom severity than veterans who did not. No significant differences in PTSD symptom severity or QoL were found between veterans who did and did not report CSA. Results highlight the need for further examination of the relationship between CSA and depression in veterans with MST-related PTSD who also report CSA.     

Information dynamics and uniform substitution

The picture of information acquisition as the elimination of possibilities has proven fruitful in many domains, serving as a foundation for formal models in philosophy, linguistics, computer science, and economics. While the picture appears simple, its formalization in dynamic epistemic logic reveals subtleties: given a valid principle of information dynamics in the language of dynamic epistemic logic, substituting complex epistemic sentences for its atomic sentences may result in an invalid principle. In this article, we explore such failures of uniform substitution. First, we give epistemic examples inspired by Moore, Fitch, and Williamson. Second, we answer affirmatively a question posed by van Benthem: can we effectively decide when every substitution instance of a given dynamic epistemic principle is valid? In technical terms, we prove the decidability of this schematic validity problem for public announcement logic (PAL and PAL-RC) over models for finitely many fully introspective agents, as well as models for infinitely many arbitrary agents. The proof of this result illuminates the reasons for the failure of uniform substitution.     

The effect of a prior cognitive interview on children's acceptance of misinformation

This research examined whether a Cognitive interview facilitates correct recall in children aged 4 to 5 and 9 to 10 years, and whether a Cognitive interview given before post‐event misinformation reduces children's reporting of suggestions on subsequent memory tests. Children were presented with an event followed the next day by a Cognitive or a Memorandum interview. Children were then read a post‐event summary containing misleading suggestions. The next day all children were given both standard test and modified forced‐choice cued‐recall tests. The free recall phase of the Cognitive interview elicited the greatest number of correct details. Age differences were found such that 9‐ to 10‐year‐old children's reports were more accurate and more complete than those of the 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds. More correct person, action and object details were reported in a Cognitive interview. Misinformation effects were found in both age groups on the standard test whereas on the modified test such an effect was only found in the 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds. Children's reporting of suggestions was unaffected by prior interview. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heightened religiosity and epilepsy: evidence for religious-specific neuropsychological processes

It has been hypothesised that humans may have an innate neurologic tendency towards being religiously oriented, suggesting that we possess religious-specific neuropsychological processes. Persons with epilepsy provide a unique opportunity to study these relationships given the documented hyper-religious experiences observed with epilepsy. The current study evaluated 19 individuals with epilepsy to determine if epilepsy-related religious experiences (as measured by the Bear Fedio Inventory [BFI]) are reflective of a general increase in behaviours observed with epilepsy (e.g., philosophical thoughts, emotionality), or if they are reflective of a religious-specific orientation. Spearman correlations indicated that: (1) BFI religious-orientation scales are significantly related to philosophical concerns (i.e., nature of the universe), but not measures of emotionality and (2) BFI religious-orientation scales, but not philosophical or emotionality scales, are significantly associated with other commonly used measures of spirituality. These findings suggest that individuals may possess neuropsychological processes that are specific to religious orientations.     

Therapeutic response to Cognitive Processing Therapy in White and Black female veterans with military sexual trauma-related PTSD

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is an evidence-based treatment (EBT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which has been validated for female veterans with military-related PTSD. Existing trials have enrolled predominantly White veterans with some studies documenting higher rates of early termination from EBTs among Black females when compared to White females. Data from a previously published randomized clinical trial were used to evaluate the effectiveness of CPT for Black female veterans with military sexual trauma (MST)-related PTSD. Reductions in PTSD symptom severity, number of sessions attended, and early termination rates were compared between Black (n = 20) and White (n = 16) female veterans. A hierarchical linear modeling approach was used, with PTSD symptom severity over the course of treatment and follow-up entered as a level-1 variable and race (Black or White) entered as a level-2 predictor. Piecewise growth curves analyses revealed that both Black and White female veterans experienced significant reductions in PTSD symptom severity over the course of treatment and gains were maintained up to 6 months post-treatment. Race was not found to be a significant predictor of change in the slope of PTSD symptom severity over the course of CPT treatment. Additionally, number of sessions attended and rates of early termination did not significantly differ based on race. Results suggest that CPT was a well-tolerated and effective psychotherapeutic treatment for this sample regardless of racial self-identification.