An investigation of synesthesia.

This study was designed to investigate relations between synesthesia (the occurrence of imagery in one sense modality in response to sensations in another) and intellectual and personality functioning. Female (n?=?204) and male (n?=?170) subjects completed a visual-auditory synesthesia battery, paper-and-pencil synesthesia tests, the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), and a brief intelligence test. The findings indicate generalized and continuously distributed individual differences in the tendency to represent sounds as colors in accordance with empirically derived norms. However, this ability is not related to individual differences in the reported vividness of the associated imagery or to intelligence. A moderate relation was found between vividness measures, particularly vividness of visual images associated with sound, and a tendency to enjoy and become involved in imaginative experiences as measured by the Absorption scale of the MPQ. Contrary to existing beliefs, vividness of synesthetic imagery was not found to be associated with personality dysfunction or with intelligence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental perspective on personality in emerging adulthood: Childhood antecedents and concurrent adaptation.

Personality and competence were examined in a community sample of 205 children ages 8-12 yrs old who were followed up 10 yrs later in emerging adulthood (ages 17-23 yrs old). Adult Positive Emotionality (PEM), Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON) were presaged by childhood personality. PEM was associated with current success in social and romantic relationships. Low CON was associated with childhood and current antisocial conduct. NEM was broadly linked to childhood and current maladaptation, consistent with the possibility that failure in major developmental tasks increases NEM. Findings highlight the pervasive linkage of NEM to maladaptation and suggest that adult personality may develop from processes embedded in childhood adaptation as well as childhood personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The new uniform T scores for the MMPI—2: Rationale, derivation, and appraisal.

Although normative distributions of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2 (MMPI—2) clinical and content scales tend to be positively skewed, individual scales differ in degree of skewness. The linear T scores in use with the original MMPI preserve these skewness differences. For the MMPI—2, a Uniform T (UT score) transformation has been adopted. Its target distribution is the positively skewed composite (or prototypical) linear T score distribution of MMPI—2 clinical scales. UT scores are percentile comparable, yet, unlike normalized T scores, depart minimally from the familiar linear T scores. The authors describe the UT score derivation, report degree of percentile comparability achieved, and argue that the positive skewness of the UT-score distributions, besides minimizing discontinuity, is conceptually meaningful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of EPDM with Alkylphenol Polysulfide for Use in Tire Sidewalls, 2 – Mechanistic and Morphological Characterizations

It has been shown that the mechanical properties of NR/BR/EPDM blends can be improved by using APPS as a modifier. In this paper, it is demonstrated that modification of EPDM with APPS takes place and saturation occurs when the APPS amount reaches 5 wt.‐%. It is shown that the rubber/carbon black affinity improves by using APPS‐grafted EPDM in the blend. TEM and STEM images clearly show that the NR/BR/APPS‐EPDM blend contains a significantly higher content of homogeneous rubber phase than the unmodified NR/BR/EPDM blend. The much better distribution of the carbon black in the APPS‐EPDM phase is considered the main reason for the improvement in properties of the blend.

     

Online Optimization of Swimming and Crawling in an Amphibious Snake Robot

An important problem in the control of locomotion of robots with multiple degrees of freedom (e.g., biomimetic robots) is to adapt the locomotor patterns to the properties of the environment. This article addresses this problem for the locomotion of an amphibious snake robot, and aims at identifying fast swimming and crawling gaits for a variety of environments. Our approach uses a locomotion controller based on the biological concept of central pattern generators (CPGs) together with a gradient-free optimization method, Powell's method. A key aspect of our approach is that the gaits are optimized online, i.e., while moving, rather than as an off-line optimization process. We present various experiments with the real robot and in simulation: swimming, crawling on horizontal ground, and crawling on slopes. For each of these different situations, the optimized gaits are compared with the results of systematic explorations of the parameter space. The main outcomes of the experiments are: 1) optimal gaits are significantly different from one medium to the other; 2) the optimums are usually peaked, i.e., speed rapidly becomes suboptimal when the parameters are moved away from the optimal values; 3) our approach finds optimal gaits in much fewer iterations than the systematic search; and 4) the CPG has no problem dealing with the abrupt parameter changes during the optimization process. The relevance for robotic locomotion control is discussed.     

Direction of measurement: A source of misinterpretation.

Interpretation of psychological measures is sometimes based on relationships between test characteristics (factor loadings, proportion of items keyed True, etc.). The direction of measurement adopted for a scale often determines how test characteristics are recorded. Failure to regulate direction of measurement, called here direction error, produces misleading results by affecting the distribution and intercorrelations of test characteristics. Examples are drawn from criterion analysis, the study of acquiescence, social desirability, and communality. A method for regulating direction of measurement is discussed. Its rationale is based on a distinction between directional and differential measurement. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Common methodological problems in MMPI research.

Indicates that research with the MMPI continues at a high rate and suggests that too many articles submitted and even accepted for publication are methodologically weak. This article discusses some common methodological problems involving the use of the MMPI that were encountered in the course of reviewing articles submitted for publication. These problems involve the use of the MMPI as an all-purpose measure sensitive to "normal range" personality attributes, scale proliferation, limited-validity short forms, errors in assessing profile change, and erroneous interpretations of group data. Some suggestions for improving research designs are made. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)