Response to "Psychology in the Public Forum" on socially sensitive research.

Comments on articles by S. Scarr (see record 1988-15683-001) and J. E. Sieber and B. Stanley (see record 1988-15684-001) regarding socially sensitive research. It is suggested that the domain of socially sensitive research should be expanded to include culture as well as issues such as race and gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discussing smart pills versus endorsing smart pills: Reply to Swanson, Wigal, and Volkow (2011) and Elliott and Elliott (2011).

We find much of interest, and little to disagree with, in the commentaries on our article. We take issue only with the suggestion that our article was provocative and submit that the attempt to understand the use of stimulants as smart pills does not imply an endorsement of the practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A computational analysis of mental image generation: Evidence from functional dissociations in split-brain patients.

Recent efforts to build computer simulation models of mental imagery have suggested that imagery is not a unitary phenomenon. Rather, such efforts have led to a modular analysis of the image-generation process, with separate modules that can activate visual memories, inspect parts of imaged patterns, and arrange separate parts into a composite image. This idea was supported by the finding of functional dissociations between the kinds of imagery tasks that could be performed in the left and right cerebral hemispheres of 2 patients (a 19-yr-old male and a 32-yr-old female) who had previously undergone surgical transection of their corpus callosa. The left hemisphere in both Ss could inspect imaged patterns and could generate single and multipart images. In contrast, although the right hemisphere could inspect imaged patterns and could generate images of overall shape, it had difficulty in generating multipart images. Results suggest a deficit in the module that arranges parts into a composite. The observed pattern of deficits and abilities implied that this module is not used in language, visual perception, or drawing. Findings also suggest that the basis for this deficit is not a difficulty in simply remembering visual details or engaging in sequential processing. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is "special" about face perception?

There is growing evidence that face recognition is "special" but less certainty concerning the way in which it is special. The authors review and compare previous proposals and their own more recent hypothesis, that faces are recognized "holistically" (i.e., using relatively less part decomposition than other types of objects). This hypothesis, which can account for a variety of data from experiments on face memory, was tested with 4 new experiments on face perception. A selective attention paradigm and a masking paradigm were used to compare the perception of faces with the perception of inverted faces, words, and houses. Evidence was found of relatively less part-based shape representation for faces. The literatures on machine vision and single unit recording in monkey temporal cortex are also reviewed for converging evidence on face representation. The neuropsychological literature is reviewed for-evidence on the question of whether face representation differs in degree or kind from the representation of other types of objects.     

Laser in situ keratomileusis: literature review of a developing technique

We reviewed papers published in peer-reviewed journals describing techniques and results of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and summarized the instruments used, nomograms, preoperative and postoperative refractions, predictability, outcome, safety, and complications. We performed a similar review of abstracts published in the abstract books of the 1996 meeting of the International Society of Refractive Surgery, the 1997 meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and the 1997 meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. The number of LASIK and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) patients described in the abstracts were sorted by city. Mean weighted latitudes were calculated and compared for each procedure. The mean preoperative refraction in the papers was -12.59 diopters (D), which was statistically higher than that in the abstracts, -8.71 D (P < .001), and the mean postoperative refraction, -1.10 and + 0.93 D, respectively. The mean percentage of cases within +/- 1.00 D was 67.0% in the papers and 82.5% in the abstracts. Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) of 20/40 or better was achieved in 49.2% of eyes in the papers and 83.2% of those in the abstracts; a UCVA of 20/20 or better was achieved in 22.0 and 56.6%, respectively. The portion of eyes that lost two or more lines of best corrected visual was 8.0% in the papers and 0.9% in the abstracts. Complications in the papers included irregular flap (4.0%), incomplete cut (2.5%), free cap (4.9%), perforated lenticule (2.6%), short flap (3.0%), sliding flap (1.4%), interface debris (6.8%), central island (5.3%), decentration (4.7%), epithelial ingrowth (4.3%), induced astigmatism (5.1%), wrinkles (5.9%), haze (8.7%), night vision problems (14.0%), and reoperation (8.2%), Mean latitude for LASIK cases (27.00 degrees +/- 13.73 [SD] was significantly lower than that for PRK cases (42.85 +/- 11.7 degrees). Visual outcomes of LASIK surgery show significant improvements when recent abstracts are compared with published papers. This may reflect continued improvement in the surgical techniques, surgeons' skills, and visual outcomes.