Behavior-based versus trait-oriented performance ratings: An empirical study.

23 US Navy officer raters evaluated the performance of subordinate officers using (a) behaviorally anchored scales, (b) scales containing the same dimensions and definitions but without behavioral anchors, and (c) a series of scales involving trait-oriented dimensions, also without anchors. Comparisons of the formats' psychometric properties indicated that the behaviorally anchored scale format was somewhat superior to the other 2 on 3 of 4 dependent variables (involving estimates of leniency, halo, interrater agreement, and degree of differentiation among ratees). However, the magnitudes of the differences due to formats were small, in no case exceeding more than 5% of the variance on the dependent variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some dubious premises in research and theory on racial differences: Scientific, social, and ethical issues.

The scientific premises for looking for statistical differences between groups designated as races (on somewhat arbitrary grounds) are questionable. The explanation of such differences in strictly biological-evolutionary terms is even more dubious. Studies of temperament, basic personality traits, disorders (such as antisocial personality), and specific genetic markers show that there is much more variation within groups designated as races than between such groups. Investigators and theoreticians interpreting such differences on the basis of limited sampling within the 3 broad racial groups should be careful to avoid selectivity and misrepresentation of data that serve racist ideology, and should be cautious about presenting their theories to the public through inappropriate media forums. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similarities and differences in four views of David.

In this article, each author gives a brief comment on similarities he or she sees throughout the case formulations captured in the articles by Watson (2010a), Silberschatz (2010), Goldfried (2010), and Caspar (2010). A systematic comparison is added. Overall, the impression is confirmed and maintained that if authors are ready to renounce the use of the jargon of their specific approach, many similarities can be found. There are nevertheless differences that would lead us to expect a different course of therapy and different effects beyond the main effect of recovery in the case of David, pursuing the conceptualization and interventions proposed by Watson (2010b). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit, long-term spatial contextual memory.

Learning and memory of novel spatial configurations aids behaviors such as visual search through an implicit process called contextual cuing (M. M. Chun & Y. Jiang, 1998). The present study provides rigorous tests of the implicit nature of contextual cuing. Experiment 1 used a recognition test that closely matched the learning task, confirming that memory traces of predictive spatial context were not accessible to conscious retrieval. Experiment 2 gave explicit instructions to encode visual context during learning, but learning was not improved and conscious memory remained undetectable. Experiment 3 illustrates that memory traces for spatial context may persist for at least 1 week, suggesting a long-term component of contextual cuing. These experiments indicate that the learning and memory of spatial context in the contextual cuing task are indeed implicit. The results have implications for understanding the neural substrate of spatial contextual learning, which may depend on an intact medial temporal lobe system that includes the hippocampus (M. M. Chun & E. A. Phelps, 1999). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning to ignore the mask in texture segmentation tasks.

Although traditionally texture segmentation has been regarded as an automatic, preattentive process, participants confronted with texture segmentation in experimental settings (i.e., with brief presentation time and subsequent masking) are initially unable to perform the task. According to perceptual learning concepts, participants must learn to fine-tune their sensory channels before perception improves under restricted viewing conditions. The present article proposes an alternative perspective that emphasizes the role of the mask. Four experiments showed that the amount of observed learning depends on the structural and temporal homogeneity or heterogeneity of the mask. The authors suggest that learning consists of separating the task-relevant signal stemming from the texture from the task-irrelevant signal of the mask and of ignoring the mask. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of pneumolysin and autolysin in the pathology of pneumonia and septicemia in mice infected with a type 2 pneumococcus

Mice were infected intranasally with a serotype 2 pneumococcus, a pneumolysin-negative derivative (PLN-A), or an autolysin-negative derivative (AL-2). Numbers of wild type pneumococci were seen in the lung from approximately 12 h after infection and were first detected in the blood around this time. Immunofluorescent staining of lung sections showed that pneumolysin was produced in vivo. Pneumococcal infection resulted in alteration of the composition of the blood but not the bone marrow. Some of the hematologic changes did not occur after PLN-A. PLN-A had a slower growth rate in the lung and bacteremia was delayed. AL-2 was rapidly cleared from the lungs and was not detected in the blood. These events paralleled the pattern of histology in the lung, with the severity of inflammation reduced with PLN-A and no inflammation or hematologic changes with AL-2.     

Fryns syndrome: two further cases without lateral diaphragmatic defects

We report on two unrelated infants with Fryns syndrome but without lateral diaphragmatic defects. In case 1, a female stillborn, pertinent findings included a coarse facies, cleft palate, short neck with a broad pterygium, heart defect, lung hypoplasia, omphalocele, urogenital malformations, anal atresia, and distal digital hypoplasia. Case 2 showed a coarse facies with cleft lip and palate, para-oesophageal hernia with herniation of the stomach into the thoracic cavity, malrotation of the intestine, hydronephrosis, and anal atresia. At age 14 months she was developmentally severely retarded. These observations represent the 11th and 12th reports of probable Fryns syndrome without lateral diaphragmatic defect.     

Ethnicity, Expressed Emotion, Attributions, and Course of Schizophrenia: Family Warmth Matters.

The authors examined the role of family factors and the course of schizophrenia by carrying out additional assessments and analyses in 2 previously published studies of Mexican American and Anglo American patients and families. The authors found partial support for an attributional model of relapse for families who are low in emotional overinvolvement. Attributions of control, criticism, and warmth together marginally predicted relapse. The data also indicated that for Mexican Americans, family warmth is a significant protective factor, whereas for Anglo Americans, family criticism is a significant risk factor. These findings suggest that the sociocultural context shapes the pathways by which family processes are related to the course of illness. Moreover, the warmth findings suggest that families may contribute to preventing relapse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The grammar of action and reversal errors in children's printing.

36 left-handed and 36 right-handed kindergarten children were asked to print after seeing a series of reversible letters and numbers presented individually on slides or flash cards. Regardless of handedness, both groups of Ss found the left–right orientation cues of the same letters and numbers difficult to recall. This challenges a proposal expressed in the "grammar of action" that claims that certain reversal errors in children's printing result from the inappropriate application of the horizontal motor rule, because although left- and right-handed children use this rule, they do so in different ways and therefore should have produced different errors. Another sample of 86 right-handed children from nursery school through Grade 1 was given the same printing task. Findings from this 2nd sample provide an additional challenge to the grammar of action by showing that reversals of the letter N, which are also thought to result from a misapplication of motor rules, decrease in frequency along with reversals of other letters and numbers, instead of increasing as predicted, during the developmental period when the motor rules that are said to be responsible for reversals of this particular letter become more strongly established. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)