Affect, accessibility of material in memory, and behavior: A cognitive loop?

Conducted 2 studies to investigate the effect of good mood on cognitive processes. In Exp I, which was conducted in a shopping mall, a positive feeling state was induced by giving Ss a free gift; good mood, thus induced, was found to improve Ss' evaluations of the performance and service records of products they owned. In Exp II, with 47 undergraduates, affect was induced by having Ss win or lose a computer game in a laboratory setting; Ss who had won the game were better able to recall positive material in memory. Results are discussed in terms of the effect that feelings have accessibility of cognitions. In addition, the nature of affect and the relationship between good mood and behavior (such as helping) are discussed in terms of this proposed cognitive process. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies on a new method of preparation of zinc sulphide useful for luminescent phosphors

Hitherto the zinc sulphide material required for luminescent phosphors has usually been obtained by the reaction between a zinc salt and hydrogen sulphide. In this paper we report a new method of preparation of zinc sulphide by the reaction between thiourea and a zinc salt in an alkaline medium, at optimum conditions of pH. The zinc sulphide precipitate obtained under varying conditions of pH has been characterized by the methods of X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy and diffraction, optical microscopy, magnetic susceptibility, diffuse reflectance and density. A very important point which came out of these investigations is that with varying pH for the precipitating conditions, varying degrees of non-stoichiometry have been obtained. All these aspects have been discussed in terms of interstitial zinc atoms or Zn⁺ ions and electrons in anion vacancies.     

Knowing, liking, and judged problem severity in relation to referral and outcome measures in a school-based intervention program.

Teachers, as referral agents, and nonprofessional child aides, as interventionists, rated 709 kindergartners-6th graders seen in a school-based mental health program for how well they were known by teachers and child aides, how much they were liked by them, and how serious their problems were. All evaluation measures derived from 3 instruments--the AML (which measures Acting Out, Moodiness and Withdrawal, and Learning Problems), the Teacher Referral Form, and the Aide Status Evaluation Form. Several interconnected studies describe the ratings' properties and stability, how they differed across demographic groups, and how they related to indexes of referral status, termination status, and improvement. Better liked children and those seen initially as having less severe problems had healthier referral and termination profiles and were judged to have improved more in the program by both rater groups. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY OF AQUEOUS POLYMER GEL NETWORK MORPHOLOGY

Freeze-fracture TEM images of polymer network structure in aqueous hydroxypropyl guar (HPG) gels permit direct correlations between observed gel morphology and macroscopic chemical and mechanical properties. HPG in aqueous solution associates via hydrogen bonding, even without titanate crosslinker, to form an extended network, the structure of which depends on the electrolyte concentration. The titanate crosslinker acts only to weld together polymer molecules already associated by hydrogen bonding. Mechanical shear degrades the gel by breaking up the network inhomogeneously to form “fractured gel particles,” small domains of well-crosslinked gel separated by fluid domains.     

Physical attractiveness and counseling skills.

80 college students assumed the role of a client with social skill problems during 3 counseling sessions. Videotaped interchanges between a male client and a female counselor during an initial intake session were presented, and audiotapes with background slides of the counselor were presented during 2 subsequent therapy sessions. Physical attractiveness had an impact on perceived effectiveness independent of the counselor's skillfulness. In contrast, analyses of future expectancy data revealed that only in the good skills condition did attractiveness augment impressions about the desirability of the counselor in treating other social and behavioral problems. Correlational analyses suggested that clients in the good skills condition, who were most influenced by attractiveness in Session 1, judged the counselor most favorably following Session 3 in terms of her potential effectiveness in treating new problems. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A video database of moving faces and people

We describe a database of static images and video clips of human faces and people that is useful for testing algorithms for face and person recognition, head/eye tracking, and computer graphics modeling of natural human motions. For each person there are nine static "facial mug shots" and a series of video streams. The videos include a "moving facial mug shot," a facial speech clip, one or more dynamic facial expression clips, two gait videos, and a conversation video taken at a moderate distance from the camera. Complete data sets are available for 284 subjects and duplicate data sets, taken subsequent to the original set, are available for 229 subjects.     

Geophysical imaging of stimulated microbial biomineralization

Understanding how microorganisms influence the physical and chemical properties of the subsurface is hindered by our inability to observe microbial dynamics in real time and with high spatial resolution. Here, we investigate the use of noninvasive geophysical methods to monitor biomineralization at the laboratory scale during stimulated sulfate reduction under dynamic flow conditions. Alterations in sediment characteristics resulting from microbe-mediated sulfide mineral precipitation were concomitant with changes in complex resistivity and acoustic wave propagation signatures. The sequestration of zinc and iron in insoluble sulfides led to alterations in the ability of the pore fluid to conduct electrical charge and of the saturated sediments to dissipate acoustic energy. These changes resulted directly from the nucleation, growth, and development of nanoparticulate precipitates along grain surfaces and within the pore space. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) confirmed the sulfides to be associated with cell surfaces, with precipitates ranging from aggregates of individual 3-5 nm nanocrystals to larger assemblages of up to 10-20 microm in diameter. Anomalies in the geophysical data reflected the distribution of mineral precipitates and biomass over space and time, with temporal variations in the signals corresponding to changes in the aggregation state of the nanocrystalline sulfides. These results suggest the potential for using geophysical techniques to image certain subsurface biogeochemical processes, such as those accompanying the bioremediation of metal-contaminated aquifers.     

Repeated treatment with high doses of morphine produces comparable tolerance to low- and high-dose discriminative stimulus effects of morphine.

Morphine tolerance was studied in 9 pigeons (Columba livia, N?=?9) trained to discriminate among a low dose of morphine (1.8 mg/kg), a high dose of morphine (10 mg/kg), and saline. Doses of morphine required for low-dose or high-dose stimulus effects were determined before, during, and after a 4-week treatment period, during which training was suspended. Treatment with 56 mg/kg, but not 10 mg/kg, morphine, b.i.d., increased the doses required for either low-dose or high-dose stimulus effects by approximately 10-fold. Both treatments increased doses required for rate suppression. Sensitivity recovered after a week of saline treatment. Acute treatment with 56 mg/kg morphine did not change sensitivity. These results suggest that chronic morphine treatment can produce surmountable, reversible tolerance to morphine acting as a discriminative stimulus, without disrupting a discrimination between low-dose and high-dose stimulus effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vividness can undermine the persuasiveness of messages.

Research that presented messages on 2 social issues tested the idea that vividness effects are most likely when message recipients are not constrained to pay attention to the information. When a low level of attentional constraint was established by presenting a message to Ss in a seemingly incidental manner, vivid messages were less memorable and less persuasive than pallid messages. Process data suggested that the vivid elements in a message (i.e., colorful language, picturesque examples, and provacative metaphors) interfered with Ss' reception of its essential meaning and thereby reduced its memorability and persuasiveness. In contrast, when Ss' attention was constrained by instructing them to attend to a message, its vividness had no impact on their memory for its contents or on it persuasiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)