THE IOWA GAMBLING TASK: REAL VERSUS FACSIMILE REWARDS AND PSYCHOPATHY

The Iowa Gambling Task (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994) has been the foundation of much of the recent research on adaptive decision making in humans. This task was first described by Bechara et al. in their research on patients with ventromedial (VM) lesions. These investigators have found impairments in the decision making processes of those with VM lesions. The Iowa Gambling Task was developed in an attempt to quantify those adaptive decision making deficits and has since been used to study adaptive decision making in those with antisocial and aggressive personalities(Blair, 2004; Blair, Colledge, & Mitchell, 200); substance abusers (Bolla et al., 2002);children and age differences (Garon & Moore, 2004; Kerr & Zelazo, 2004); as well as instrumental and reactive aggression (Berkowitz, 1993, Raine et al., 1998). However,much remains to be understood about this experimental decision making task,specifically, the type of reinforcement provided. Bowman and Turnbull (2003) recently demonstrated that groups receiving real contingencies did not differ from a group that received imagined contingencies. However, we know that antisocial and psychopathic traits are related to both Iowa Gambling Task performance and the perception of positive and negative contingencies. This study examined the differences between real and facsimile reinforcers, while taking the personality of the individual into account. Similar results were found in comparison to Bowman and Turnbull's study in that participants learned the task over trials, however no significant difference was found between real versus facsimile reinforcers. Furthermore, scores on the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale and the M5 domains of Neuroticism, Extroversion, Agreeableness,and Conscientiousness did not result in significant improvement of selections between the facsimile condition and the cash condition

Mortal Morality: How Threat and Partisanship Influence Moral Judgment

According to Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), ideologues’ moral judgments fundamentally diverge. Liberals resonate more with individual appeals (to issues of harm or fairness), while conservatives are more responsive to plights of the in-group. Extant literature, however, has produced mixed evidence for the role emotion plays in skewing partisan morality. Terror management theorists, for example, find that threatened ideologues entrench themselves in their own worldviews, while motivated social cognition theorists argue that, when threatened, ideologues’ policy preferences shift right. In the present research, I attempt to unite each approach with a laboratory-controlled experiment (N=142). Using answers to moral relevance items as a key dependent variable, I find no statistical differences between how threatened liberals and conservatives evaluate group appeals. Their threatened preferences, however, diverge along individual dimensions, suggesting that liberal and conservative differences may relate more to emotion (and threat) than moral differences

The Motherhood Penalty

Employer discrimination can lead to a wage penalty between mothers and non-mothers in the workplace. Discrimination can also lead to job changes when mothers return from maternity leave. This study examines if mothers' jobs change within one year of returning from maternity leave. Preliminary findings from a pilot study by the researcher indicated that few jobs changed and that jobs that have contracts, such as teachers or nurses, can offer the most job security for mothers. In this additional study, fifty women were surveyed—approximately 30% of their jobs changed, some positively, when returning from maternity leave. The findings of this study coincide with the pilot study by suggesting that returning to work from maternity leave may not result in negative changes in amother's job

Electron gyroscale fluctuation measurements in National Spherical Torus Experiment H-mode plasmas

A collective scattering system has measured electron gyroscale fluctuations in National Spherical Torus Experiment [M. Ono et al., Nucl. Fusion 40, 557 (2000)] H-mode plasmas to investigate electron temperature gradient (ETG) turbulence. Observations and results pertaining to fluctuation measurements in ETG-stable regimes, the toroidal field scaling of fluctuation amplitudes, the relation between fluctuation amplitudes and transport quantities, and fluctuation magnitudes and k-spectra are presented. Collectively, the measurements provide insight and guidance for understanding ETG turbulence and anomalous electron thermal transport. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3262530]X116sciescopu

A plain watch : a study of Henry Vaughan's use of time in Silex scintellans

Henry Vaughan: The Man in His Time Wanting to find out more about himself and the world he finds himself in, Man has searched differently in each age. Some generations have looked for an explanation in science, some in religion; but the seventeenth century was able to make a synthesis of mind and matter and in the process develop a new type of thought described as metaphysical. The men who followed this way of looking at the world combined reason and intellect with emotion and passion, and wrote of a world that few men had seen before, a world of both heart and head

Short-scale turbulent fluctuations driven by the electron-temperature gradient in the national spherical torus experiment

Measurements with coherent scattering of electromagnetic waves in plasmas of the National Spherical Torus Experiment indicate the existence of turbulent fluctuations in the range of wave numbers k(perpendicular to)rho(e)=0.1-0.4, corresponding to a turbulence scale length nearly equal to the collisionless skin depth. Experimental observations and agreement with numerical results from a linear gyrokinetic stability code support the conjecture that the observed turbulence is driven by the electron-temperature gradient.X1155sciescopu

Everyday Specific

My thesis is an investigation of sculptures made from everyday things. This body of work was created by combining elements from a variety of functional objects and materials in order to create work that has a residue of and references to the commonplace. In this written thesis I discuss my working process, my references and influences. The work will be on display at the Anne and Benjamin Cone Building from May 4 until June 1, 2008

Sensation of being : new realism

To be free and yet not to lose touch with reality, that is the drama of that epic figure who is variously called inventor, artist or poet. Days and nights, dark or brightly lit . . . renewed visions of forms and objects bathed in artificial light. Trees cease to be trees, a shadow cuts across the hand placed on the counter, an eye deformed by the light, the changing silhouettes of the passers-by ... He fills himself with all this, drinks in the who of this vital instantiety which cuts through him in every direction. He is a sponge: sensation of being a sponge, transparency, acuteness, new realism. FERNAND LEGE

The effects of two training programs on the ability of preservice physical education majors to observe the developmental steps in the overarm throw for force

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of two training programs on the ability of physcial education majors to observe and identify the developmental steps in the overarm throw for force. Twenty nine physical education majors participated in one of two training groups: a verbal-only group or a verbal-visual group. Two videotapes were constructed: a training videotape and a test videotape. A pretest-posttest design was utilized with a retention test being administered three weeks after the posttest. Two scores were determined: a motor development observation score and a confidence score. Two nonparametric tests were used to analyse the data: within-group differences were analysed with the Friedman test and between-group differences were analysed with the Mann-Whitney U test. Results indicated that: (a) both groups significantly Improved their motor development observation scores from the pretest to the posttest, (b) there were no significant differences between the groups on the posttest, (c) the verbal-visual group scored significantly higher than the verbal-only group on the retention test, (d) there were no significant differences between the posttest and the retention test within the two groups, (e) the feet and the trunk were the easiest components for which to identify the steps of development, and (f) subjects remained very confident in their ability to identify the steps of development in the OTFF throughout this study

The relationships between mindfulness, diabetes-related distress, selected demographic variables, and self-management in adults with Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a disease of worldwide scope and epidemic proportion. Two hundred and eighty-five million individuals have been diagnosed worldwide--a number expected to rise to 330 million by 2025 (Unwin, Whiting, & Roglic, 2010) and to 366 million by 2030 (Adriaanse et al., 2008). It is estimated that 18.8 million diagnosed and 7.0 million undiagnosed Americans have type 2 diabetes, numbers expected to rise to a total of 48.3 million by 2050 (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2011; Geiss & Cowie, 2011; Narayan, Williams, Gregg, & Cowie 2011). A recent American Diabetes Association (ADA) report estimated that the total costs of diabetes related health care rose from $174 billion in 2007 to$245 billion in 2012--figures that underscore the significant social costs associated with the disease (ADA, 2013). The considerable personal, social, and financial tolls of type 2 diabetes make effective self-management imperative. Diabetes-related distress (DRD) and mindfulness are two variables that are believed to significantly impact effective diabetes self-management yet more research is needed to better understand and empirically confirm these relationships. DRD is characterized by the negative emotional reactions to the diabetes diagnosis, threat of complications, self-management demands, and unsupportive interpersonal relationships (Polonsky et al., 1995, 2005; Gonzalez, Fisher, & Polonsky, 2011). Recent studies indicate the relevance of mindfulness, the mindfulness components of awareness and acceptance, and the use of mindfulness-based interventions to enhance the self-management behaviors of individuals with type 2 diabetes (Gregg, Callaghan, Hayes, & Glenn-Lawson, 2007; Hernandez, Bradish, Rodger, & Rybansky, 1999; Ingadottir & Halldorsdottir, 2008). However, to date the literature is incomplete in drawing an explicit connection between mindfulness, diabetes-related distress, and diabetes self-management. This study was designed to address this gap in the literature. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes, its related debilitating conditions (e.g., cardiovascular disease, vascular dementia, kidney disease, and diabetic retinopathy), and mental health implications, make the exploration of self-management pathways imperative so that counselors and counselor educators may develop a greater understanding of the type 2 diabetes condition and appropriate counseling approaches. Greater understanding of the mechanisms to better diabetes self-management, with mindfulness as the theoretical foundation, may pave the way for improved prevention and intervention efforts among health care and mental health professionals. The results of the current study indicated that mindfulness is a statistically significant predictor of self-management. Further, the results indicated social support as a significant predictor of self-management. The results suggest the potential value of the clinical application of mindfulness-based interventions with the type 2 diabetes population and continued development of resources that provide positive social support for the millions of people who are affected by this disease