Moving faces, looking places: Validation of the Amsterdam Dynamic Facial Expression Set (ADFES).

We report two studies validating a new standardized set of filmed emotion expressions, the Amsterdam Dynamic Facial Expression Set (ADFES). The ADFES is distinct from existing datasets in that it includes a face-forward version and two different head-turning versions (faces turning toward and away from viewers), North-European as well as Mediterranean models (male and female), and nine discrete emotions (joy, anger, fear, sadness, surprise, disgust, contempt, pride, and embarrassment). Study 1 showed that the ADFES received excellent recognition scores. Recognition was affected by social categorization of the model: displays of North-European models were better recognized by Dutch participants, suggesting an ingroup advantage. Head-turning did not affect recognition accuracy. Study 2 showed that participants more strongly perceived themselves to be the cause of the other's emotion when the model's face turned toward the respondents. The ADFES provides new avenues for research on emotion expression and is available for researchers upon request. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in episodic memory: The impact of verbal and visuospatial ability.

The impact of verbal and visuospatial ability on sex differences in episodic memory was investigated. One hundred men and 100 women, 20–40 years old, participated in a series of verbal and visuospatial tasks. Episodic memory was assessed in tasks that, to a greater or lesser extent, were verbal or visuospatial in nature. Results showed that women excelled in verbal production tasks and that men performed at a superior level on a mental rotation task. In addition, women tended to perform at a higher level than men on most episodic memory tasks. Taken together, the results demonstrated that (a) women perform at a higher level than men on most verbal episodic memory tasks and on some episodic memory tasks with a visuospatial component, and (b) women's higher performance on episodic memory tasks cannot fully be explained by their superior performance on verbal production tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social context effects on facial activity in a negative emotional setting.

Evidence for A. J. Fridlund's (e.g., 1994) "behavioral ecology view" of human facial expression comes primarily from studies of smiling in response to positive emotional stimuli. Smiling may be a special case because it clearly can, and often does serve merely communicative functions. The present study was designated (a) to assess the generalizability of social context effects to facial expressions in response to negative emotional stimuli and (b) to examine whether these effects are mediated by social motives, as suggested by the behavioral ecology view. Pairs of friends or strangers viewed film clips that elicited different degrees of sad affect, in either the same or a different room; a control group participated alone. Dependent variables included facial activity, subjective emotion, and social motives. Displays of sadness were influenced by stimulus intensity and were lower in all social conditions than in the alone condition. Unexpectedly, social context effects were also found for smiling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical and cognitive effects of methylphenidate on children with attention deficit disorder as a function of aggression/oppositionality and age.

Children (aged 5.6–11.9 yrs) diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD [n?=?44]), ADD plus aggression/oppositionality (ADD/O [n?=?34]), and as not meeting ADD criteria (NC [n?=?29]) received methylphenidate and placebo for 21 consecutive days each. Parents and teachers rated all groups improved under medication, but teachers reported less improvement for NC than for ADD/O children. Methylphenidate and chronological age had generally similar effects in a Sternberg task: greater accuracy and speed (especially for nontargets at low memory loads), larger P3b waves of event-related potentials, more pronounced slowing of P3b latency by memory load, and a greater trend of earlier peaks for targets than for nontargets. Both methylphenidate and maturation promoted more efficient strategies involving differentiated evaluation of targets and nontargets. These results were comparable among ADD groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Polydisperse composition of mixed monolayer-protected, spin-labeled Au nanoparticles

Using EPR spectroscopy and spin-labeled ligands, we have studied product distribution in the ligand exchange reactions of Au nanoparticles. When the incoming ligand was used in excess, the exchanged nanoparticles had uniform composition of the organic shell. Preparative GPC was employed to fractionate these materials according to the diameter of the Au core, as confirmed by TEM, UV, and EPR measurements. When the exchange reaction was carried out with less than a stoichiometric amount of the incoming ligand, nanoparticles with polydisperse composition of the organic shell were formed. This was established by the EPR analysis of the exchange reaction mixtures following their GPC fractionation. The GPC separation of these mixtures is controlled by both Au core size and shell composition.     

Creation of a stable and convex static meniscus,which is appropriate for the growth of a single crystal ribbon with specified half thickness

A stable and convex static meniscus is appropriate for the growth of a single crystal ribbon of given half thickness, if the upper half thickness of the meniscus is equal to the ribbon half thickness and the angle between the tangent line to the meniscus and the vertical is equal to the growth angle. In this paper the material parameters, the shaper half thickness, the gas pressure above the meniscus and the half thickness of the ribbon, which has to be grown, are considered prior given. The problem that is solved is the determination of the melt column height (between the horizontal crucible melt level and the shaper top level) such that the resulting meniscus is convex, is static stable and is appropriate for the growth of the desired ribbon. The determination is numerically illustrated for silicon sheet and the dependence of the melt column height on the shaper half thickness is discussed.     

Recovery in aluminium studied by an in situ technique in a high voltage electron microscope

Recovery in aluminium has been studied by in situ technique with the aid of a high voltage electron microscope. It is shown how the dislocation density continuously decreased as the recovery proceeded. The recovery process changed the distribution of dislocation link lengths in such a way that the number of shorter links sharply decreased while there was a slight increase of the number of longer links. The observed recovery of the dislocation structure can satisfactorily be described by the dislocation network growth theory. In the formation of subgrain boundaries, high-angle grain boundaries and twin boundaries played an important role. They were often found to act as nucleation sites for the subboundaries. At high temperatures subgrains rapidly grew and coalesced. The growth can satisfactorily be described by analogy with the growth of dislocation network.