Is object-based attention mandatory? Strategic control over mode of attention.

Is object-based attention mandatory or under strategic control? In an adapted spatial cuing paradigm, participants focused initially on a central arrow cue that was part of a perceptual group (Experiment 1) or a uniformly connected object (Experiment 2), encompassing one of the potential target locations. The cue always pointed to an opposite, different-object location. By varying cue validity, the strategic incentive to prevent the spread of attention to the entire cue object, and consequently to the same-object location, was manipulated: With invalid cuing and (consequently) equal probability of targets at same-object and different-object locations, a same-object target identification advantage was observed. With highly valid cuing and targets much more probable at the different-object location than at the same-object location, the same-object advantage disappeared. Object-based attention appears to be a default mode that may be ecologically adaptive but can be overridden by strategic control when there is a strong immediate benefit in doing so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gestational exposure to chlorpyrifos: apparent protection of the fetus?

Advances in endoscopic instrumentation and techniques offer new alternatives for safe and effective treatment of urethral strictures. Visual internal urethrotomy, the standard treatment modality, is associated with new scar formation with stricture recurrence. This experience has led to the investigation of alternative techniques which would avoid or ameliorate this result. This article reviews the current literature and discusses these newer approaches, including balloon dilatation, laser urethrotomy, endoscopic urethroplasty, "cut to the light" and "core through" procedures, and urethral wallstent implantation.     

Medicare reform: who pays and who benefits?

As Medicare's share of federal spending and gross domestic product (GDP) rises, the program may have increasingly important consequences not only for the health of Americans but also for their net income and financial well-being. We use incidence analysis to study payments and benefits in Medicare to various generations and income groups. We find that Medicare actually provides larger net dollar transfers to wealthier beneficiaries, although the "insurance value" of these dollars is greater for low-income households. We then evaluate a range of proposed Medicare reforms with regard to their impact on the distribution of both health care and disposable income.     

Dynamic aspects of voluntary turnover: An integrated approach to curvilinearity in the performance–turnover relationship.

Previous research pertaining to job performance and voluntary turnover has been guided by 2 distinct theoretical perspectives. First, the push–pull model proposes that there is a quadratic or curvilinear relationship existing between these 2 variables. Second, the unfolding model of turnover posits that turnover is a dynamic process and that a downward performance change may increase the likelihood of organizational separation. Drawing on decision theory, we propose and test an integrative framework. This approach incorporates both of these earlier models. Specifically, we argue that individuals are most likely to voluntarily exit when they are below-average performers who are also experiencing a downward performance change. Furthermore, the interaction between this downward change and performance partially accounts for the curvilinear relationship proposed by the push–pull model. Findings from a longitudinal field study supported this integrative theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual attention in the rat: A role for the prelimbic cortex and thalamic nuclei?

The behavioral effects of lesions of the prelimbic cortex (PL), mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus (MD), and anterior thalamic nuclei (ANT) were investigated in 2 attentional tasks in rats: the 5-choice serial reaction time task and a vigilance task. Although there was no lesion effect on accuracy in the 5-choice task, PL lesions enhanced perseverative responding during baseline performance and when stimulus duration was reduced. In contrast, MD lesions increased premature responding during baseline performance and when the intertrial interval was varied unpredictably, In the vigilance paradigm, PL lesions also impaired rats' ability to detect the light signal at baseline and at the reduced stimulus duration. ANT lesions did not substantially disrupt performance. The results suggest that different aspects of attention may be attributable to the PL and the MD and that the mechanisms underlying inhibitory control of behavior may be attributable to functionally different thalamocortical circuits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Current aspects of infectious diseases in industrialized countries: development or history?

Man's conception of nature is a historically dated phenomenon. Thus the recent development of infectious diseases in industrialized countries could either be a real phenomenon or simply an artifact related to our current conception of medical progress and research. Is the return of infectious disease a natural process or has modern civilization been less prudent than its predecessors? What are the characteristic features of modern pathogenesis? Are these "changes" the result of some natural dynamics or an evolution in our means of investigation? Modern civilization has not invented technological deviation or diseases of civilization, phenomena well know in the past, but what is new is the fact that science today, with an ever growing amount of information on molecular epidemiology, is still raising questions about infection, recognized new unsuspected forms of the living world which do not fit into our well-knitted outline of infectious agents. We have applied our simplistic and mechanistic schemas designed for the timespan of human life to the evolutionary processes. The effects of evolution and history are thus combined today in a novel way composing a new future for infectious diseases. This new way of looking at infectious diseases is not totally natural nor totally historical. It is perhaps an epistemological revolution going on within epidemiology. The return of infections disease would appear to have a direct effect on magnifying the knowledge and the delinquency of our culture.     

Who requests psychological services upon admission to prison?

Structuring a system of psychological services for offenders and releasees requires an understanding of the offenders who voluntarily seek psychological services upon admission. To begin to develop such an understanding, a sample set of responses to the Psychological Services Inmate Questionnaire (PSIQ) from 2,674 newly committed male and female federal offenders were examined. About one-tenth of the sample made a request for psychological services upon admission to prison without a mandate or referral, and confirm that a combination of prior mental health treatment and current symptoms are among the factors associated with making the request. Logistic regression analysis indicated male gender, receipt of mental health treatment prior to current incarceration, history of a head injury, current symptoms of depression, hopelessness, nervousness, sleeping problems, and racing thoughts, were independent and significant predictors of service request. Implications for future corrections research, clinical training and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who were the healers in medieval Trondheim?

When Trondheim celebrated its millenium in 1997, this also marked a 1000 year-old medical tradition. In medieval times, sick and disabled people made their pilgrimage to the Nidaros cathedral and the grave of Saint Olav (995-1030). Working from the assumption that every organized society develops rituals and rules to deal with disease and death, we have looked for evidence of what kind of healers one would expect there were in medieval Trondheim up to the reformation in 1537. Sources include reports from archaeological excavations, written material of both medieval and more recent origin, buildings and objects, and living traditions. Three kinds of healer traditions can be identified: The popular and "wise" folk healers were based on traditional pre-Christian mythology and belief in natural forces. The charitable clerics emerged with Christianity. The "professional" wound healers evolved from the needs of the military, later to merge with the early barber surgeons. Traces of scientific traditions, the Salerno school and early European university medicine can be found in local texts, but there is no evidence of any university educated doctor practising in Trondheim before the 17th century.     

Is it better to be moral than smart? The effects of morality and competence norms on the decision to work at group status improvement.

Three studies examined strategies of status improvement in experimentally created (Study 1 and 2) and preexisting (Study 3) low-status groups. Theory and prior research suggested that an in-group norm that established a particular strategy of status improvement as moral (rather than competent) would have a greater effect on individuals' decision to work at this strategy. Both Study 1 and Study 2 found that morality norms had a greater impact than competence norms on individuals' decision to work at group (rather than individual) status improvement. In both studies participants also needed less time to decide on a strategy of status improvement when it is was encouraged by a morality norm rather than a competence norm. Study 3 used a preexisting low-status group (i.e., Southern Italians) to further confirm that morality norms have a greater effect on the decision to work at group status improvement than do competence norms. Results are discussed in terms of social influence and identity management strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Listed Lithium Companies Released Last Year's Performance–Who Enjoyed the Bonus of the Era?

<正>The year 2016 is the year of change for China’s new energy vehicles industry,and also the key year in which the industry walks into the growth period from a lead-in period.The opportunities were obvious,and challenges extremely difficult to meet.On one hand,many lithium battery enterprises suffered from a long account period,slowly returned money or even     

What is moral about guilt? Acting “prosocially” at the disadvantage of others.

For centuries economists and psychologists have argued that the morality of moral emotions lies in the fact that they stimulate prosocial behavior and benefit others in a person's social environment. Many studies have shown that guilt, arguably the most exemplary moral emotion, indeed motivates prosocial behavior in dyadic social dilemma situations. When multiple persons are involved, however, the moral and prosocial nature of this emotion can be questioned. The present article shows how guilt can have beneficial effects for the victim of one's actions but also disadvantageous effects for other people in the social environment. A series of experiments, with various emotion inductions and dependent measures, all reveal that guilt motivates prosocial behavior toward the victim at the expense of others around—but not at the expense of oneself. These findings illustrate that a thorough understanding of the functioning of emotions is necessary to understand their moral nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear of contagion: a response to stress?

Alterations of neutrophil functions by tobacco products may play a central role in the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases and several smoking-related systemic diseases. In the present study, we examined the in vitro effects of cigarette smoke on neutrophils at times and concentrations that may be encountered during smoke exposure. We measured the level of smoke exposure in the in vitro system by measuring the levels of nicotine and comparing these to levels in the oral cavity in smokers before and after smoking. We examined both the unstimulated and stimulated release of 2 oxidative burst products: superoxide (O-2) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Salivary washings were collected from 7 smokers (> 1 pack/day) before smoking a cigarette. Immediately after they smoked a cigarette, a second set of washings was collected. In vitro exposure to smoke involved incubating aliquots of neutrophils in phosphate-buffered saline for 1 to 5 minutes. Nicotine and cotinine levels were quantitated using gas chromatography, with detection by electron impact mass spectrometry. Peripheral neutrophils were isolated from medically healthy non-smoking volunteers via a double-density gradient technique and incubated in vitro with whole cigarette smoke for 0 to 5 minutes. Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA; 10(-7) M) was used to stimulate half of the cell aliquots. Superoxide generation was assessed through the superoxide dismutase (SOD) inhibitable reduction of ferricytochrome c. H2O2 production was assessed through the H2O2-dependent breakdown of dichlorofluorescin diacetate to its fluorophore and measured by flow cytometry. There was a marked elevation in salivary nicotine concentration from before smoking (mean: 80.8 ng) to after smoking (mean 1,685 ng/mL). In the in vitro smoke box system, there was a time-related elevation in nicotine from 1 to 5 minutes (50-->136 ng/mL). In PMA-stimulated cells exposed to smoke, there was a time-related inhibition of both superoxide and H2O2 production. However, in unstimulated cells exposed to smoke, there was a time-related increase in the release of superoxide and H2O2. A novel finding in unstimulated cells exposed to smoke was that there appeared to be 2 distinct populations of cells--one of "high" H2O2 producers and one of "low" H2O2 producers. The proportion of high H2O2 producers increased relative to smoke exposure. The relative production of H2O2 in the unstimulated high producers was comparable to PMA-stimulated cells at 5 minutes. This release of superoxide and H2O2 in unstimulated cells exposed to smoke may alter the pathogenic processes both in periodontal diseases and other systemic diseases.     

Solidification of Metallic Alloys: Does the Structure of the Liquid Matter?

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - In 1952, Frank (Proc R Soc Lond Ser-Math Phys Sci 215:43–46, 1952) already postulated that Icosahedral Short Range Order (ISRO) of atoms in the...     

Unlocking the door: Is parents' reading to children the key to early literacy development?

Parents are encouraged to read to their children, and they frequently engage in shared book reading on the belief that the experience will foster their children's literacy development. In this article, the authors draw on a body of published studies to argue that shared book reading often does not lead to the benefits expected of it. The studies show that during parent-child shared reading, the adults typically do not draw the children's attention to features of the print and the children most often will attend to the illustrations and not to the print. As a consequence, shared book reading often does not advance children's early literacy development. However, the authors point to research showing that when shared book reading is enriched with explicit attention to the development of children's reading skills and strategies, then shared book reading is an effective vehicle for promoting the early literacy ability even of disadvantaged children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Membership status and subjective group dynamics: Who triggers the black sheep effect?

In 3 experiments, participants (Ns = 50, 95, and 75, respectively) judged 2 ingroup or outgroup members who occupied 1 of 3 statuses—new members, full members, or marginal members. In each case, 1 of these members adopted a normative position and another supported a deviant position regarding a relevant issue. Participants upgraded normative ingroup full members and derogated deviant ingroup full members compared with all other members. In addition, derogation of deviant ingroup members was associated with a socializing and a punishing intention toward new members and full members, respectively. These results are discussed in terms of the group socialization model (e.g., Levine & Moreland, 1994) and the subjective group dynamics model (e.g., Marques, Paez, & Abrams, 1998). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is the shelf life of a test? The effect of time on the psychometrics of a cognitive ability test battery.

The psychometric stability of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery was studied with data collected at 5 points over a 16-year period using item response theory (IRT) methods. Although 25 of the 200 items changed significantly over the years across 3 different gender-ethnic groups (i.e., White men, White women, and Black men), the overall characteristics of the tests were not severely affected by item-level changes. Items from tests that were more semantically laden were found to be more susceptible to the effects of time compared with those that focused on skills and principles. The findings are discussed in the context of the effects of time on the effectiveness of psychological measures. A call is made to test developers and test users to pay attention to the shelf life of their tests. The use of IRT methods for studying the effects of time on psychometrics is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why does a red snake in the grass capture your attention?

It has been suggested that affective stimuli automatically capture attention; this preferential processing is thought to be related to the evolutionary significance of affective stimuli. However, recent evidence suggests that perceptual salience alone might explain why some affective stimuli are more likely to influence attentional processes in certain contexts. In this study, we manipulated affective and perceptual salience to better understand how affective information is processed and how it impacts attentional processes in different contexts. We used stimuli that are both affectively and perceptually salient, while varying the task requirement to encourage the processing of perceptually salient (Experiment 1) or affectively salient (Experiment 2) information. This design made it possible to observe independent and interdependent relationships between perceptual and affective salience. The results showed that when the task encouraged the processing of perceptually salient information, affective salience did not influence task performance. In contrast, when the task encouraged the processing of affectively salient information, affectively salient information impaired task performance. The findings suggest that the affective nature of the stimuli does not always influence attentional processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of the school social context across the transition to middle school: Heightened sensitivity among Latino students?

The current study was designed to examine the ways in which perceived behavioral norms among grade mates and school social climate vary across the transition to middle school. The main goals of the study were to test whether Latino students may be more sensitive to the school social climate than White students and whether perceived behavioral norms might help explain this association. Cross-sectional analyses comparing Latino and White students (N = 383) revealed that perceptions of school social climate and behavioral norms became more negative across the middle school transition. Multiple regression analysis showed that school climate perceptions predicted self-reported academic compliance and rule breaking only for Latino students. Mediational analysis revealed that the association between perceived climate and self-reported rule breaking was partially accounted for by perceptions of behavioral norms for rule breaking only among Latino students. Taken together, the results suggest that compared with White students, Latino students are more sensitive to school social climate as it relates to their school conduct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)