Search results for "ORIENTATION"
showing 10 items of 1041 documents
Illusory contours from pictorially three-dimensional inducing elements: counterevidence for Parks and Rock's example.
1993
In 1990 Parks and Rock claimed that, in pictorially three-dimensional (3-D) inducing patterns, an illusory figure does not emerge if a clear occlusion event is not present. A new pictorially 3-D pattern is presented which contradicts this claim. Two experiments were carried out. The first was aimed at ascertaining the presence of an illusory figure in the new 3-D pattern; the second was aimed at offering evidence that in Parks and Rock's pattern the disappearance of the illusory figure could be due to local interferences caused by the line elements in contact with the inducing borders. The results tend to contradict Parks and Rock's conclusions.
Resources to cope with stigma related to HIV status, gender identity, and sexual orientation in gay men and transgender women
2017
The stigma related to HIV status, gender identity, and sexual orientation has negative implications for the quality of life of individuals. A qualitative study was conducted to explore the resources that these stigmatized groups recognize as tools to cope with stigma and maintain their psychological well-being. Four focus groups were conducted with gay men and transgender women divided by HIV status. A thematic analysis revealed that individual, interpersonal, and institutional resources are commonly recognized as coping resources. This article discusses the importance of enhancing self-acceptance, social support, and a legal framework that legitimizes these groups as right holders.
Habituation and recovery of a slow negative wave of the event-related brain potential.
2002
This study is concerned with the question of whether the late, slow negative wave 2 (SNW2) component of the event-related brain potential is a component of the orienting response (OR). As habituation of the SNW2 would be an argument for such a link with the OR, it was investigated using a variant of the classical repetition/change paradigm. Results supported major claims to be made for a component of the OR: the amplitude of the vertex SNW2 exhibited roughly the typical exponential decline with repeated stimulations (six numeric verbal stimuli presented seriatim in an ascending order) and responded incrementally to a change, at least in a narrow time slot, i.e. it exhibited partial recovery…
Effects of achievement goals on perceptions of competence in conditions of unfavourable social comparisons: The mastery goal advantage effect
2017
Background Previous prospective studies have documented that mastery-approach goals are adaptive because they facilitate less negative psychological responses to unfavourable social comparisons than performance-approach goals. Aims This study aimed to confirm this so-called ‘mastery goal advantage’ effect experimentally. Methods A 2 × 3 design was adopted where achievement goals (mastery vs. performance) and normative information (favourable vs. no-normative information vs. unfavourable) were manipulated as between participant factors. Sample Participants were 201 undergraduates, 57 males and 144 females, ranging in age from 17 to 55 years (Mage = 22.53, SD = 6.51). Results Regression analy…
Item Response Theory Analysis of the Life Orientation Test-Revised: Age and Gender Differential Item Functioning Analyses
2015
This study is aimed at testing the measurement properties of the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) for the assessment of dispositional optimism by employing item response theory (IRT) analyses. The LOT-R was administered to a large sample of 2,862 Italian adults. First, confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the theoretical conceptualization of the construct measured by the LOT-R as a single bipolar dimension. Subsequently, IRT analyses for polytomous, ordered response category data were applied to investigate the items’ properties. The equivalence of the items across gender and age was assessed by analyzing differential item functioning. Discrimination and severity parameters indic…
A custom image-based analysis tool for quantifying elastin and collagen micro-architecture in the wall of the human aorta from multi-photon microscopy
2014
The aorta possesses a micro-architecture that imparts and supports a high degree of compliance and mechanical strength. Alteration of the quantity and/or arrangement of the main load-bearing components of this micro-architecture - the elastin and collagen fibers - leads to mechanical, and hence functional, changes associated with aortic disease and aging. Therefore, in the future, the ability to rigorously characterize the wall fiber micro-architecture could provide insight into the complicated mechanisms of aortic wall remodeling in aging and disease. Elastin and collagen fibers can be observed using state-of-the-art multi-photon microscopy. Image-analysis algorithms have been effective at…
Preference for attractiveness and thinness in a partner: Influence of internalization of the thin ideal and shape/weight dissatisfaction in heterosex…
2009
This study assesses whether characteristics of one's own body image influences preferences of attractiveness in a partner. The role of gender and sexual orientation is also considered. Heterosexual women (n=67), lesbian women (n=73), heterosexual men (n=61) and gay men (n=82) participated in an internet survey assessing attitudes towards the body and preferences of attractiveness in a partner. Men in particular were found to prefer attractive partners, regardless of sexual orientation. Weight/shape dissatisfaction was found to be a negative predictor for heterosexual men and women. For gay men, preferences were better explained by internalization and weight/shape dissatisfaction. No such as…
Attentional capture by emotional scenes across episodes in bipolar disorder: Evidence from a free-viewing task
2015
We examined whether the initial orienting, subsequent engagement, and overall allocation of attention are determined exogenously (i.e. by the affective valence of the stimulus) or endogenously (i.e. by the participant's mood) in the manic, depressive and euthymic episodes of bipolar disorder (BD). Participants were asked to compare the affective valence of two pictures (happy/threatening/neutral [emotional] vs. neutral [control]) while their eye movements were recorded in a free-viewing task. Results revealed that the initial orienting was exogenously captured by emotional images relative to control images. Importantly, engagement and overall allocation were endogenously captured by threate…
Inhibitory Control for Emotional and Neutral Scenes in Competition: An Eye-Tracking Study in Bipolar Disorder
2017
This study examined the inhibitory control of attention to social scenes in manic, depressive, and euthymic episodes of bipolar disorder (BD). Two scenes were simultaneously presented (happy/threatening/neutral [target] versus control). Participants were asked either to look at the emotional pictures (i.e., attend-to-emotional block) or to avoid looking at the emotional pictures (i.e., attend-to-neutral block) while their eye movements were recorded. The initial orienting (latency and percentage of first fixation) and subsequent attentional engagement (gaze duration) were computed. Manic patients showed a higher percentage of initial fixations on happy scenes than on the other scenes, regar…
How University Students With Reading Difficulties Are Supported in Achieving Their Goals
2015
We examine (a) what social ties university students with a history of reading difficulty (RD) report assisting them to achieve their goals, (b) outlets available for developing social ties, (c) resources mobilized within these relationships, and (d) the impact of social ties’ status on academic achievement. Participants were 107 university students with RD who were currently completing or had recently completed a university degree. Results showed that university students with RD named friends, parents, and significant others (e.g., boy/girlfriend, spouse) as social ties most often. Personal social ties were developed through social media networking sites and within close relationships, and…