Induction of Ecstatic Lucid Dreams

In recent years there has been a growing interest in lucid dreams of a "transcendent" or "mystical" nature, with corresponding efforts to develop language for their description (LaBerge, 1985; Tart, 1984). Without attempting to solve the terminology problem, as my main focus is on experience, I would like describe some of my lucid dreams, which I will simply refer to as "ecstatic" -in the sense of joyous intensification of consciousness, their main feature -and discuss elements which I have found relevant to their induction

The Unwed Father as Perceived by Himself

This study was designed to reveal the self perception of unwed fathers . Ten men participated in the project; nine of them were 25 years of age or younger. To measure self perception an instrument was constructed in the form of a questionnaire . Each um18d father was then interviewed to discover his perceptions, particularly as they relate to their common plight of unwed fatherhood. The men perceived themselves as normal young Americans, and felt their conduct and intentions were in compliance, nth peer expectations. Some of the subjects responded to the interview, with descriptive and detailed accounts while others were either unconcerned or hesitant and replied in few words. None of the men (with two exceptions) were looking for new sexual partners. Only two of the unwed fathers had employed some form of conception control while having sexual relations with the mothers involved and these two did not do so regularly. The men were not contributing to the support of their child on a consistent basis, indicating their lack of involvement in a situation in which they share equal responsibility with the child\u27s mother. The emergence of a clearer picture of the unwed father, through the attempt to reveal his interests, problems, and concerns , may assist in the development of strategies and programs to prevent illegitimacy and to effectively aid those involved in it . Perhaps this study of the self perception of unwed fathers will be helpful in this regard

Assessing process dissociation procedure and implicit memory estimates of automatic retrieval for a retention interval manipulation

Results from standard implicit memory tests suggest that automatic retrieval decreases or remains relatively stable over time, whereas results from the process dissociation procedure (PDP) suggest that automatic retrieval may actually increase over time. Advocates of the PDP view, have suggested that this incongruity results from contamination of the implicit tests by intentional retrieval, whereas the PDP provides a valid index of automatic retrieval. In contrast, new results from a speeded implicit memory test suggest that the standard implicit memory tests provide reasonable estimates of automatic retrieval, but that the PDP underestimates automatic retrieval at a short retention interval when recollection is relatively high. The pattern of underestimation of automatic retrieval found for the PDP condition supports the conclusion that automatic retrieval and recollection are not independent, but rather are positively correlated

By Any Means Necessary: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Texas\u27 DNA Testing Law in the Adjudication of Free-Standing Claims of Actual Innocence

Abstract forthcoming

Asymmetrical access to color and location in visual working memory

Models of visual working memory (VWM) have benefitted greatly from the use of the delayed-matching paradigm. However, in this task, the ability to recall a probed feature is confounded with the ability to maintain the proper binding between the feature that is to be reported and the feature (typically location) that is used to cue a particular item for report. Given that location is typically used as a cue-feature, we used the delayed-estimation paradigm to compare memory for location to memory for color, rotating which feature was used as a cue and which was reported. Our results revealed several novel findings: 1) the likelihood of reporting a probed object’s feature was superior when reporting location with a color cue than when reporting color with a location cue; 2) location report errors were composed entirely of swap errors, with little to no random location reports; and 3) both colour and location reports greatly benefitted from the presence of nonprobed items at test. This last finding suggests that it is uncertainty over the bindings between locations and colors at memory retrieval that drive swap errors, not at encoding. We interpret our findings as consistent with a representational architecture that nests remembered object features within remembered locations

Ecological Model for Classifying and Monitoring of Green Needlegrass/Western Wheatgrass/Blue Gramma/Buffalograss Ecological Type

A multivariate statistical model was developed to classify plant seral stages and to monitor succession of the green needlegrass (Nassella viridula (Trin.) Barkworth), western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii (Rydb.) Á Löve), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth) Lag. ex Griffiths), buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) J.T. Columbus) ecological type on grasslands of North and South Dakota, eastern Montana and Wyoming. Seral stages are objectively derived groupings of vegetation composition based on the range of natural variability within the current grassland ecological type. The model developed in this paper can be used by range and wildlife managers to evaluate management objectives by monitoring changes in plant species cover and composition within and among seral stages and community phases.  Four ecological seral stages representing early to late succession were quantitatively identified with an estimated 98 percent accuracy. Three common perennial grasses provide the information to assign seral stages and monitor trends based on index values (canopy cover (%) x frequency of occurrence (%)) for western wheatgrass, buffalo grass and green needlegrass.  Estimates of canopy cover and frequency of occurrence of these three plant species are all that is required for the model. The four defined seral stages provide resource managers with options to quantitatively evaluate management alternatives and objectives associated with state and transition community phases. The developed model for this ecological type is simple to use, reliable, repeatable, accurate and cost effective to meet management objectives and monitoring plans