Illustrations as adjuncts to prose: A text-appropriate processing approach.

Examined the possibility that effects of illustrations on memory for text will vary as a function of the nature of the text (narrative vs expository) and as a function of the type of information depicted in the illustrations (details conveyed in a particular proposition vs information conveyed by the interrelationship of several propositions). In Exp 1, 72 college subjects read a fairy tale or an expository text accompanied by no pictures (control condition), by pictures illustrating details from the text, or by pictures illustrating relations among propositions in the text. Pictures effectively increased recall only when they depicted the type of information for which the text type presumably invited processing (i.e., details for the expository passage, relations for the fairy tale). In Exp 2, 72 college subjects were instructed to attend to the type of information not normally encoded from each text type. With the addition of these special processing instructions, illustrations enhanced memory for not normally encoded information in the fairy tale; a tendency toward the same trend occurred in the expository passage. Recall of information for which the text type encouraged processing continued to be enhanced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variational generation of prismatic boundary‐layer meshes for biomedical computing

Boundary‐layer meshes are important for numerical simulations in computational fluid dynamics, including computational biofluid dynamics of air flow in lungs and blood flow in hearts. Generating boundary‐layer meshes is challenging for complex biological geometries. In this paper, we propose a novel technique for generating prismatic boundary‐layer meshes for such complex geometries. Our method computes a feature size of the geometry, adapts the surface mesh based on the feature size, and then generates the prismatic layers by propagating the triangulated surface using the face‐offsetting method. We derive a new variational method to optimize the prismatic layers to improve the triangle shapes and edge orthogonality of the prismatic elements and also introduce simple and effective measures to guarantee the validity of the mesh. Coupled with a high‐quality tetrahedral mesh generator for the interior of the domain, our method generates high‐quality hybrid meshes for accurate and efficient numerical simulations. We present comparative study to demonstrate the robustness and quality of our method for complex biomedical geometries. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shame, guilt, ego development, and the five-factor model of personality

Shame, guilt, and ego development are conceptually interrelated constructs, yet their empirical relations have not yet been examined. Further, these constructs have not yet been mapped onto the widely used Five-Factor Model. In Study 1, relations were examined between these three domains within a sample of Australian university students. Two types of guilt were distinguished, Empathic Guilt (associated with Agreeableness) and Anxious Guilt (associated with Neuroticism). The relationship between Shame and Ego Level was found to be curvilinear, with Shame greatest for persons at intermediate stages of ego development. In Study 2, relations between ego development and the Five-Factor Model were further examined. Across both studies, Ego Level was best predicted from Conscientiousness among men and from Openness among women. Relations between Ego Level, proneness to shame and guilt, and the five factors were typically modest, suggesting that these represent complementary approaches to the study of personality.     

Aging and Maintaining Intentions Over Delays: Do It or Lose It.

When execution of retrieved intentions must be briefly delayed, older adults display deficits in performing those intentions (G. O. Einstein, M. A. McDaniel, M. Mauri, B. Cochran, & M. Baker, 2000). This initial finding was extended by showing age-related deficits with 5-sec unfilled delays, with instructions to rehearse during the delay, and with divided attention during initial retrieval of the intention. Performance increased with a break at the end of the delay period, such that when combined with full attention (during retrieval), older adults' performance approached that of younger adults. These results suggest that age compromises maintenance of information in awareness. Consequently, when forced to delay execution of retrieved intentions, older adults may rely more on plan reformulation and subsequent retrieval of the intention from long-term memory at the end of the delay. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cue-Focused and Reflexive-Associative Processes in Prospective Memory Retrieval.

Several theories of event-based prospective memory were evaluated in 3 experiments. The results depended on the association between the target event and the intended action. For associated target-action pairs (a) preexposure of nontargets did not reduce prospective memory, (b) divided attention did not reduce prospective memory, (c) prospective memory was better than when the target event and intended action were not associated, and (d) prospective memory was characterized by retrieval of the precise intended action. These results converge on the view that retrieval is mediated by a reflexive-associative process. In contrast, for unassociated pairs (a) preexposure of nontargets reduced prospective memory, and (b) divided attention reduced prospective memory. These results implicate cue-focused retrieval processes and are most consistent with a discrepancy-plus-search model. The entire pattern implicates both cue-focused and reflexive-associative processes and more generally supports a multiprocess framework of prospective memory (M. A. McDaniel & G. O. Einstein, 2000). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)