Fractal Response Time Distributions using the MS-50: A Replication and Extension

Personality tests aim to identify key traits that differentiate personality based on answers to questionnaires. Furthermore, it is possible that the intensity of identification with personality traits may be related to response times to the individual questions on the personality test. This current study looks to replicate the research conducted by Pincus et al. (2019) in Fractal Self-Structure and Psychological Resilience. Pincus investigates the hypothesis that the self is fractal and that its fractal structure can be captured within the distribution of response times to the MMPI-2. The current study attempts to replicate the methodology used in Pincus et al. (2019) using the Big Five personality traits as identified in a shorter, fifty item questionnaire (i.e., the M5-50). The same analytic technique will be used, examining the shape of the exponential distribution of response times to the 50 individual items for each participant. This study looks at the individual questions as measured by response time as predictive of fractal personality structure and tests whether the shape of the distribution (relatively steep or shallow) predicts levels of psychopathology (e.g., anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms). The significance of this study is to test if this methodology, specifically analysis of the reaction time distributions, can be applied to the M5-50 in a manner that measures fractal self structure and focuses on general personality traits

Personality Rigidity and Psychopathology Pre and Post COVID19 Pandemic

Personality structure of an individual can fall on a spectrum from rigid to flexible. Rigid people tend to be very simple in personality structure, and only have a few defining traits that encompass who they are. Flexible people have a range of personality traits and are versatile in many different scenarios. Furthermore, it is possible that the intensity of identification with personality traits may be related to response times to the individual questions on the personality test. Expanding on the results of Pincus et al 2019 and McDaniel 2020, the current study tests the hypothesis that personality rigidity is adaptive in a low stress environment. However, when stress is higher, a more flexible personality structure may be more adaptive. Personality rigidity will be measured using the shape of inverse power law distributions of response times to items on the M5-50 (Big 5 Personality) for each participant. The correlations between this measure of rigidity and psychopathology will be compared to a sample of pre pandemic and post pandemic college students. Existing data will be used to compare a sample of college students at different times: one during the semester previous to the Coronavirus pandemic and one during the pandemic. The pre and during pandemic samples will act as pre-stress and stress conditions. The significance of this study is to see if stress has a defining impact on those with simpler personality structures, and in turn if those personality structures combined with stress can lead to psychopathology

Stem cells and aberrant signaling of molecular systems in skin aging

The skin is the body's largest organ and it is able to self-repair throughout an individual's life. With advanced age, skin is prone to degenerate in response to damage. Although cosmetic surgery has been widely adopted to rejuvinate skin, we are far from a clear understanding of the mechanisms responsible for skin aging. Recently, adult skin-resident stem/progenitor cells, growth arrest, senescence or apoptotic death and dysfunction caused by alterations in key signaling genes, such as Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK, PI3K/Akt-kinases, Wnt, p21 and p53, have been shown to play a vital role in skin regeneration. Simultaneously, enhanced telomere attrition, hormone exhaustion, oxidative stress, genetic events and ultraviolet radiation exposure that result in severe DNA damage, genomic instability and epigenetic mutations also contribute to skin aging. Therefore, cell replacement and targeting of the molecular systems found in skin hold great promise for controlling or even curing skin aging. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved