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Previous psychophysical studies at durations greater than 1000 ms have confirmed the anecdotal reports of an increase in the perceived duration of both positively and negatively valenced emotive stimuli; however, the results of studies at durations less than 1000 ms have been inconsistent. This study further investigated the effect of valence on the perception of durations less than 1000 ms. We used both positively and negatively valenced stimuli in order to compare their effects on the distortion of duration, and we tested multiple data points within the sub-one-second range. We found an increase in the perceived duration of both positively and negatively valenced emotional stimuli at all data points. This is consistent with studies at durations longer than 1000 ms and also with models of temporal processing. We also confirmed that Weber fractions, within the range tested, followed the generalized form of Weber’s law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a retrospective study to reexamine the value of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in the evaluation of patients with neurotologic complaints, and to assess the intra- and inter-radiologist variability of SPECT readings. Our study population was made up of 63 patients--23 men and 40 women, aged 34 to 91 years (mean: 59)--who had presented to a tertiary care otolaryngology practice and university hospital for evaluation of head trauma, sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and/or vertigo. All patients had undergone brain scanning with SPECT during their evaluation, and almost all had also undergone magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and standard computed tomography (CT). We compared the findings of all three imaging modalities in terms of their ability to detect neurotologic abnormalities. We found that detection rates were very similar among the three modalities; abnormalities were found in 24% of SPECT scans, 26% of MRIs, and 23% of CTs. Nevertheless, we did find that among 60 patients who underwent all three types of imaging, 13 (22%) exhibited areas of cerebral hypoperfusion on SPECT while their MRIs and CTs were read as either normal or nonspecific. In all, 18 of these 60 patients (30%) exhibited normal or nonspecific findings on all three types of imaging. In addition, when SPECT scans were read by the same radiologist at different times, different results were reported for 17 of the 63 scans (27%). Likewise, when SPECT scans were read by different radiologists, different results were reported for 21 of 63 scans (33%). We conclude that SPECT may be a valuable complementary diagnostic modality for making a comprehensive neurotologic evaluation and that it may detect abnormalities in some patients whose other imaging is read as normal. However, we did not find that SPECT was the most sensitive of the three modalities in neurotologic evaluation, as we had previously found in a preliminary study that the senior author (R.T.S.) published in 1996. In addition, with respect to our radiologists, both their intra- and inter-reader reliability was low, and we recommend additional study on this matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well established that individuals are better at recognising faces of their own-race compared with other-races; however, there is ongoing debate regarding the perceptual mechanisms that may be involved and therefore sensitive to face-race. Here, we ask whether serial dependence of facial identity, a bias where the perception of a face's identity is biased towards a previously presented face, shows an other-race effect. Serial dependence is associated with face recognition ability and appears to operate on high-level, face-selective representations, like other candidate mechanisms (e.g., holistic processing). We therefore expected to find an other-race effect for serial dependence for our Caucasian and Asian participants. While participants showed robust effects of serial dependence for all faces, only Caucasian participants showed stronger serial dependence for own-race faces. Intriguingly, we found that individual variation in own-race, but not other-race, serial dependence was significantly associated with face recognition abilities. Preliminary evidence also suggested that other-race contact is associated with other-race serial dependence. In conclusion, though we did not find an overall difference in serial dependence for own- versus other-race faces in both participant groups, our results highlight that this bias may be functionally different for own- versus other-race faces and sensitive to racial experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Examine the effects of decision risk and automation transparency on the accuracy and timeliness of operator decisions, automation verification rates, and subjective workload. Background: Decision aids typically benefit performance, but can provide incorrect advice due to contextual factors, creating the potential for automation disuse or misuse. Decision aids can reduce an operator's manual problem evaluation, and it can also be strategic for operators to minimize verifying automated advice in order to manage workload. Method: Participants assigned the optimal unmanned vehicle to complete missions. A decision aid provided advice but was not always reliable. Two levels of decision aid transparency were manipulated between participants. The risk associated with each decision was manipulated using a financial incentive scheme. Participants could use a calculator to verify automated advice; however, this resulted in a financial penalty. Results: For high- compared with low-risk decisions, participants were more likely to reject incorrect automated advice and were more likely to verify automation and reported higher workload. Increased transparency did not lead to more accurate decisions and did not impact workload but decreased automation verification and eliminated the increased decision time associated with high decision risk. Conclusion: Increased automation transparency was beneficial in that it decreased automation verification and decreased decision time. The increased workload and automation verification for high-risk missions is not necessarily problematic given the improved automation correct rejection rate. Application: The findings have potential application to the design of interfaces to improve human–automation teaming, and for anticipating the impact of decision risk on operator behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the case of a 52-year-old man who complained of voice difficulties and diagnosed with presbylaryngis. Topics discussed include findings on strobovideolaryngoscopy, aging as the most common cause of vocal fold atrophy, and treatable causes that must be ruled out before attributing apparent atrophy to presbylaryngis. Also mentioned are the role of voice therapy in restoring adequate muscle function and surgical corrective options available.

The present study examined attentional biases to female body images in young adult (aged 17-30 years) Caucasian females with high versus low levels of shape/weight-based self-worth. Using an inhibition of return (IOR) task, we measured how readily participants were able to disengage attention from nonthin and thin-ideal body images. In response to nonthin body images, the Low group (i.e., participants with low levels of shape/ weight-based self-worth) displayed increased IOR toward the body images relative to the High group (i.e., participants with elevated shape/weight-based self-worth). Our results suggest that women with low levels of shape/weight-based self-worth possess a potential protective mechanism that allows them to more readily disengage attention from nonthin images compared to women who base their self-worth on shape/weight. These findings provide a new focus for investigating attentional processes in individuals at risk of eating disorders, as they relate to the ongoing processing of body-related imagery beyond initial attentional capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that body size judgements are frequently biased, or inaccurate. Critically, judgement biases are further exaggerated for individuals with eating disorders, a finding that has been attributed to difficulties integrating body features into a perceptual whole. However, current understanding of which body features are integrated when judging body size is lacking. In this study, we examine whether individuals integrate three-dimensional (3D) cues to body volume when making body size judgements. Computer-generated body stimuli were presented in a 3D Virtual Reality environment. Participants (N = 412) were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions: in one condition, the to-be-judged body was displayed binocularly (containing 3D cues to body volume); in the other, bodies were presented monocularly (two-dimensional [2D] cues only). Across 150 trials, participants were required to make a body size judgement of a target female body from a third-person point of view using an unmarked visual analogue scale (VAS). It was found that 3D cues significantly influenced body size judgements. Namely, thin 3D bodies were judged smaller, and overweight 3D bodies were judged larger, than their 2D counterpart. Furthermore, to reconcile these effects, we present evidence that the two perceptual biases, regression to the mean and serial dependence, were reduced by the additional 3D feature information. Our findings increase our understanding of how body size is perceptually encoded and creates testable predictions for clinical populations exhibiting integration difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to integrate local orientation information into a global form percept was investigated in long-term ecstasy users. Evidence suggests that ecstasy disrupts the serotonin system, with the visual areas of the brain being particularly susceptible. Previous research has found altered orientation processing in the primary visual area (V1) of users, thought to be due to disrupted serotonin-mediated lateral inhibition. The current study aimed to investigate whether orientation deficits extend to higher visual areas involved in global form processing. Forty-five participants completed a psychophysical (Glass pattern) study allowing an investigation into the mechanisms underlying global form processing and sensitivity to changes in the offset of the stimuli (jitter). A subgroup of polydrug-ecstasy users (n=6) with high ecstasy use had significantly higher thresholds for the detection of Glass patterns than controls (n=21, p=0.039) after Bonferroni correction. There was also a significant interaction between jitter level and drug-group, with polydrug-ecstasy users showing reduced sensitivity to alterations in jitter level (p=0.003). These results extend previous research, suggesting disrupted global form processing and reduced sensitivity to orientation jitter with ecstasy use. Further research is needed to investigate this finding in a larger sample of heavy ecstasy users and to differentiate the effects of other drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]