76 research outputs found

    Keeping an eye on the truth: Pupil size, recognition memory and malingering

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    Background: Estimates of the incidence of malingering in patient populations vary from 1 to 12%, rising to ∌25% in patients seeking financial compensation. Malingering is particularly difficult to detect when patients feign poor performance on neuropsychological tests (see Hutchinson, 2001). One strategy to detect malingering has been to identify psychophysiological markers associated with deception. Tardif, Barry, Fox and Johnstone (2000) used electroencephalogram (EEG) recording to measure event related potentials (ERPs) during a standard recognition memory test. Previous research has documented an ERP “old/new effect” – late positive parietal ERPs are larger when participants view old, learned words compared to new words during recognition. Tardif et al. reasoned that if this effect is not under conscious control, then it should be equally detectable in people feigning amnesia as in participants performing to their best ability. As predicted, they found no difference in the magnitude and topography of the old/new ERP effect between participants who were asked to feign amnesia whilst performing the test and those asked to perform to their best ability. Whilst this approach shows some promise, EEG is comparatively time consuming and expensive. Previous research has shown that during recognition memory tests, participants' pupils dilate more when they view old items compared to new items (Otero, Weeks, and Hutton, 2006; Vo et al., 2008). This pupil “old/new effect” may present a simpler means by which to establish whether participants are feigning amnesia. Method: We used video-based oculography to compare changes in pupil size during a recognition memory test when participants were given standard recognition memory instructions, instructions to feign amnesia and instructions to report all items as new. Due to constant fluctuation in pupil size over time, and variation between individuals, a pupil dilation ratio (PDR) was calculated that represented the maximum pupil size during the trial as a proportion of the maximum during baseline. Results: Participants' pupils dilated more to old items compared to new items under all three instruction conditions (F(1.25) = 47.02, MSE < 0.001, p < .001, ηp2 = .65). There were no significant differences between baseline pupil size (F(1.63,40.76) = 1.90, p = .17, ns). Conclusions: The finding that under standard recognition memory instructions, participants' relative increase in pupil size is greater when they view old items compared to new items replicates previous research documenting the pupil old/new effect. That the effect persists, even when participants give erroneous responses during recognition, suggests that the “pupil old/new effect” is not under conscious control and may therefore have potential use in clinical settings as a simple means with which to detect whether patients are feigning amnesia

    Atypical knemidokoptosis in two Dunnocks (Prunella modularis) in southern England

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    Avian knemidokoptosis, caused by knemidokoptid mites (Knemidokoptinae: Epidermoptidae), has been reported in wild and domestic birds globally. We report two cases of severe knemidokoptosis in Dunnocks (Prunella modularis) from separate sites in Great Britain, where the disease has previously been reported predominantly in finches and, less frequently, in corvids

    Detection of Usutu virus infection in wild birds in the United Kingdom, 2020

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    In August 2020, as part of a long-term disease surveillance programme, Usutu virus was detected in five Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula) and one house sparrow (Passer domesticus) from Greater London, England. This was initially detected by reverse transcription-PCR and was confirmed by virus isolation and by immunohistochemical detection of flavivirus in tissues. Phylogenetic analysis identified Usutu virus African 3.2 lineage, which is prevalent in the Netherlands and Belgium, suggesting a potential incursion from mainland Europe

    The Eyes Have It: Sex and Sexual Orientation Differences in Pupil Dilation Patterns

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    Recent research suggests profound sex and sexual orientation differences in sexual response. These results, however, are based on measures of genital arousal, which have potential limitations such as volunteer bias and differential measures for the sexes. The present study introduces a measure less affected by these limitations. We assessed the pupil dilation of 325 men and women of various sexual orientations to male and female erotic stimuli. Results supported hypotheses. In general, self-reported sexual orientation corresponded with pupil dilation to men and women. Among men, substantial dilation to both sexes was most common in bisexual-identified men. In contrast, among women, substantial dilation to both sexes was most common in heterosexual-identified women. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed. Because the measure of pupil dilation is less invasive than previous measures of sexual response, it allows for studying diverse age and cultural populations, usually not included in sexuality research

    Foundational stigma: place‐based stigma in the age before advanced marginality.

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    This paper joins the debate on the formation of territorial stigma by uncovering the existence of a form of “foundational stigma” that preceded place-based stigma of the era of advanced marginality. I show that not only were the traces of stigma present prior to the era of advanced marginality but that these early traces facilitate later forms of stigma by providing the necessary foundations upon which adhesive and detrimental stigma was operationalized. Following a critical discourse analysis approach, this paper examines coverage in the British press of Toxteth, Liverpool between 1900 and 1981 as a paradigmatic case study to show that this primitive stigma existed in three key ways: relating to inter-community strife, to crime, and to substandard housing conditions. These traces of stigma laid the foundations for later forms of stigma based on the presence of the poor, violent, deviant other that would be operationalized by dominant voices during the era of advanced marginality

    Pupil Dilation to Explicit and Non-Explicit Sexual Stimuli

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    Pupil dilation to explicit sexual stimuli (footage of naked and aroused men or women) can elicit sex and sexual orientation differences in sexual response. If similar patterns were replicated with non-explicit sexual stimuli (footage of dressed men and women), then pupil dilation could be indicative of automatic sexual response in fully noninvasive designs. We examined this in 325 men and women with varied sexual orientations to determine whether dilation patterns to non-explicit sexual stimuli resembled those to explicit sexual stimuli depicting the same sex or other sex. Sexual orientation differences in pupil dilation to non-explicit sexual stimuli mirrored those to explicit sexual stimuli. However, the relationship of dilation to non-explicit sexual stimuli with dilation to corresponding explicit sexual stimuli was modest, and effect magnitudes were smaller with non-explicit sexual stimuli than explicit sexual stimuli. The prediction that sexual orientation differences in pupil dilation are larger in men than in women was confirmed with explicit sexual stimuli but not with non-explicit sexual stimuli

    Moving into work Bridging housing costs

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