VSearch: Macintosh software for experiments in visual search

In this paper, we describe software that turns a Macintosh computer into an off-the-shelf tool for experiments on visual search. Our design goals included portability (between members of the Macintosh computer family and between various research settings), user-friendliness (equivalent to Macintosh programming standards), flexibility (to allow replication and extension of important experiments on visual search), and adaptability (very short design-to-data and data-to-analysis turnaround times). We describe how the software meets these goals in three major phases of an experiment: stimulus construction, experimental control, and statistical analysis. We then list several landmark studies of visual search that can be easily designed and extended with the software. Finally, we outline plans for expanding the experimental variations that will be supported in future versions of the software.     

The effects of exposure to different sources of sexual information on sexual behavior: Comparing a “sex-expert system” to other educational material

Sexpert, an expert computer program designed to counsel couples on their sexual relationships, was evaluated. Eighty-one heterosexual couples were assigned to one of three experimental manipulations (Sexpert, video, and self-help book) or a control condition. Daily sexual behavior monitoring forms and structured retrospective reports served as measures of baseline and post-manipulation behavior. Daily monitoring of sexual behavior failed to show significant changes occurring after the manipulations. However, retrospective data concerning the postmanipulation period show that compared with the control, the Sexpert, video, and book manipulations had a significant positive impact on couples’ sexual behavior, communication, and learning about sexuality. Sexpert, video, and book were similarly evaluated, except that Sexpert was evaluated as more engaging. In addition, subjects retrospectively reported positive changes in communication, relationship satisfaction, and sexual behavior during the baseline period. This suggests that daily behavioral monitoring is intrusive and may confound the variables measured by it.     

Explicit contamination in “implicit” memory for new associations

In one view of implicit memory, priming arises from modification of preexisting representations; however, the role of such representations is currently in doubt following findings of implicit memory for newly formed associations. Closer consideration of studies reporting this effect, and of others that have failed to obtain it, suggests that such priming might result from the employment of explicit memory strategies. With measures designed to permit exclusion of such strategies, three experiments using lexical decision and stem-completion tasks found no evidence of truly implicit memory for unrelated pairs. Instead, priming was found only in those subjects (50% of the total in one experiment) who reported using explicit memory in stem completion. Contrary to previous conclusions, the results indicate a role for established representations in explaining implicit memory.     

Illicit drug use and risky sexual behavior among African American and Puerto Rican urban adolescents: the longitudinal links

The authors assessed whether (a) early illicit drug use predicted later risky sexual activity, (b) early risky sex predicted later illicit drug use, and (c) common factors affected both risky sexual behavior and illicit drug use. African American and Puerto Rican youth completed questionnaires in their classrooms at Time 1 (T1) and face-to-face interviews with the authors in their homes 5 years later at Time 2 (T2). Logistic regression analyses showed the association between T1 illicit drug use and T2 risky sexual activity and between T1 risky sexual behavior and T2 illicit drug use. With few exceptions, T1 illicit drug use was associated with all of the T2 risky sexual behaviors. After controlling for demographic factors, the authors found that multiple sex partners at T1 was not related to illicit drug use at T2. Condom use at T1 was related to illicit drug use at T2, whereas sexually transmitted diseases and adolescent pregnancy were not related to this drug use. The findings indicated that assessments of and treatments for substance use should focus on the risky sexual behaviors that seem to accompany illicit drug use.     

Correlates of aggression in African American and Puerto Rican children

The authors examined a cross-sectional interrelationship of psychosocial domains as they relate to aggression in a group of African American and English-speaking Puerto Rican children living in New York City. The population included 80 biological children of African American and Puerto Rican young adults who had been participating in the authors' ongoing longitudinal study, and 77 mothers or mother substitutes (rearing mothers) of those children. The authors performed hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results indicated that (a) the child's personality and maternal attributes were significantly related to the child's aggression, despite control on all of the other domains and (b) the ethnic identification and discrimination domain was no longer related to the child's aggression with control on the mother-child relationship domain or on the child's personality domain. The findings have implications for clinical practice and public policy.     

Smiling virtual agent in social context

A smile may communicate different communicative intentions depending on subtle characteristics of the facial expression. In this article, we propose an algorithm to determine the morphological and dynamic characteristics of virtual agent's smiles of amusement, politeness, and embarrassment. The algorithm has been defined based on a virtual agent's smiles corpus constructed by users and analyzed with a decision tree classification technique. An evaluation, in different contexts, of the resulting smiles has enabled us to validate the proposed algorithm.     

Domain‐specific development of face memory but not face perception

How does the remarkable human ability for face recognition arise over development? Competing theories have proposed either late maturity (beyond 10 years) or early maturity (before 5 years), but have not distinguished between perceptual and memory aspects of face recognition. Here, we demonstrate a perception–memory dissociation. We compare rate of development for (adult, human) faces versus other social stimuli (bodies), other discrete objects (cars), and other categories processed in discrete brain regions (scenes, bodies), from 5 years to adulthood. For perceptual discrimination, performance improved with age at the same rate for faces and all other categories, indicating no domain‐specific development. In contrast, face memory increased more strongly than non‐face memory, indicating domain‐specific development. The results imply that each theory is partly true: the late maturity theory holds for face memory, and the early maturity theory for face perception.     

Smoking involvement during adolescence among African Americans and Puerto Ricans: risks to psychological and physical well-being in young adulthood

The major aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal association between adolescent smoking involvement and self-reported psychological and physical outcomes in young adulthood. Participants included 333 African Americans and 329 Puerto Ricans who were surveyed in 1990 in their New York City schools and interviewed in 1995 and 2000-2001, primarily in their homes. The psychological outcomes included ego integration, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and interpersonal difficulty. The physical health measures included a general health rating, number of illnesses, and symptoms of ill health. Also, three scales measured problems due to alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drug use. Smoking involvement varied by age, sex, and ethnicity but not by socioeconomic status nor by late adolescent parental status. Analysis showed that the relationships between adolescent smoking involvement and psychological and physical health problems in young adulthood remained significant even with control on demographic factors, earlier levels of the outcome variables, and marijuana use. The relationships between smoking behavior and problems with alcohol, marijuana and other illicit drug use were particularly strong. Thus, adolescent smoking seems to have a wide range of clinical implications for young adulthood.     

Family of origin: An experiential workshop

Abstract

A rationale is presented and a one day, content-free family of origin experiential workshop is described in detail. The workshop is designed for clients in ongoing family therapy. Its purposes are 1) motivating family members to engage in family of origin investigations; 2) supplying information in a supportive experiential learning paradigm for use in ongoing peer and multiple family therapy groups; 3) minimally teaching procedures for conducting a Bowen-like search; 4) contributing to an agency-wide atmosphere of intrigue and support for intergenerational therapeutic work. Sculpture, role-play and dramaturgical techniques are interwoven into a fabric deliberately left unfinished in order to provide maximal material for the ongoing family therapy.