Category-Specificity in Sexual Interest in Gay Men and Lesbians

The present study assessed the category-specificity of sexual interest of gay men and lesbians toward an understanding of the possible interaction of sex and sexual orientation that may exist in this phenomenon. Utilizing viewing time as a measure of sexual interest, we had participants (N = 99) rate the sexual appeal of sexually provocative pictures while the amount of time spent viewing each picture was inconspicuously measured. As hypothesized, same-sex oriented individuals demonstrated a category-specific pattern of sexual interest. That is, gay men and lesbians (1) viewed preferred sex pictures (i.e., of same sex) significantly longer than nonpreferred sex pictures (i.e., of opposite sex) and (2) rated preferred sex pictures as significantly more sexually appealing than nonpreferred sex pictures. Additionally, the difference in viewing times between preferred and nonpreferred sexual stimuli was not significantly different for gay men and lesbians, suggesting that lesbians are as category-specific as gay men. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Assessment of Pedophilic Sexual Interest with an Attentional Choice Reaction Time Task

Choice-reaction time (CRT) is an experimental information-processing paradigm. Based on an interference effect in visual attention, the CRT method has been shown to be suitable for measuring sexual orientation in men and women. The present study assessed the potential of the CRT to identify deviant (i.e., pedophilic) sexual interest. Participants were patients from forensic-psychiatric hospitals: 21 child molesters and 21 non-sex offenders. The dependent variable was reaction time in an ostensible seek-and-locate task (i.e., identifying the position of a dot superimposed on a picture of a person). There was an interaction effect between stimulus age category and participant group status: Child molesters took longer to respond to pictures of children relative to pictures of adults. Non-sex offenders showed an opposite pattern (i.e., longer reaction times with pictures of adults than with pictures of children). In addition, the data supported the notion of sexual content induced delay: Subjects took longer for the task with nude stimuli than with clothed ones. A subtractive preference index, derived from the reaction times for child and adult stimulus material, allowed distinguishing participants from both groups almost perfectly (ROC-AUC = .998). We conclude that a match of sexual interest with properties of visual stimuli led to a cognitive interference effect: Attentional resources were drawn from the ostensible task of locating the dot towards exploring the picture. This opens up the possibility of using this interference effect (i.e., the delay of response times) for diagnostic purposes.     

Getting Boozy in Books: Substance Use in Adolescent Literature

Media effects research provides evidence for a link between adolescent exposure to media portrayals of substance use and usage. Exposure to media content that glamorizes and normalizes substance use carries potential public health risks. Though substance use has been examined in other media, such as film, television, and magazines, no research to date examines usage portrayals in adolescent novels. Given that adolescents do read, and given the potential impact of content on adolescent attitudes and behavior, this study provides a detailed analysis of the frequency and nature of substance use in the understudied area of novels. Substance use was examined in 40 best-selling adolescent novels on the New York Times Best Sellers list (time span June–July 2008). Substance use varied widely. Of the various types of substances, alcohol portrayals were most common. Almost all substance use was portrayed as having no consequences. Alcohol use was portrayed in similar frequencies in books aimed at younger, middle, and older adolescents, though illegal drug use was more likely to be found in books aimed at older ages. Our results suggest that the manner in which substance use is generally portrayed may encourage use among adolescents. Researchers, parents, and adolescents are encouraged to examine books as one potentially overlooked area of influence.     

Getting boozy in books: substance use in adolescent literature

Media effects research provides evidence for a link between adolescent exposure to media portrayals of substance use and usage. Exposure to media content that glamorizes and normalizes substance use carries potential public health risks. Though substance use has been examined in other media, such as film, television, and magazines, no research to date examines usage portrayals in adolescent novels. Given that adolescents do read, and given the potential impact of content on adolescent attitudes and behavior, this study provides a detailed analysis of the frequency and nature of substance use in the understudied area of novels. Substance use was examined in 40 best-selling adolescent novels on the New York Times Best Sellers list (time span June-July 2008). Substance use varied widely. Of the various types of substances, alcohol portrayals were most common. Almost all substance use was portrayed as having no consequences. Alcohol use was portrayed in similar frequencies in books aimed at younger, middle, and older adolescents, though illegal drug use was more likely to be found in books aimed at older ages. Our results suggest that the manner in which substance use is generally portrayed may encourage use among adolescents. Researchers, parents, and adolescents are encouraged to examine books as one potentially overlooked area of influence.     

Take me away: The relationship between escape drinking and attentional bias for alcohol-related cues

Previous research has indicated that implicit attentional bias to alcohol-related cues may serve as a cognitive measure of susceptibility to alcohol dependence. The primary goal of the current study was to examine whether college students who drink to escape dysphoric emotions or moods (i.e., escape drinkers) have stronger attentional biases for alcohol-related cues than non-escape drinkers. Additionally, because previous research has shown that presentation time and content of smoking-related stimuli moderates differences between smokers' and nonsmokers' reaction times, this study sought to determine whether these effects generalized to alcohol-related stimuli. Participants who were identified as either escape (n = 74) or non-escape drinkers (n = 48) completed a dot-probe task in which alcohol-related pictures that contained humans interacting with the alcohol-related cues (active) or alcohol-related cues alone (inactive) were presented along with matched control pictures. These stimuli were presented for either 500 ms or 2000 ms to determine whether attentional biases occur as a function of initial or maintained attention to the alcohol-related cues. Escape drinkers displayed a significantly stronger attentional bias for alcohol-related inactive cues at longer presentation times (i.e., 2000 ms) compared to non-escape drinkers. This bias was independent of alcohol dependence and family history of alcoholism. These results suggest that in addition to dependence and family history, escape drinking is an important factor to consider when examining attentional biases to alcohol-related cues.     

Effect of orthographic and phonological similarity on false recognition of drug names

Health professionals and patients tend to confuse drugs with similar names, thereby threatening patient safety. One out of four medication errors voluntarily reported in the US involves this type of drug name confusion. Cognitive psychology offers insight into how and why these errors occur. The objective of this investigation was to examine the effect of orthographic (i.e., spelling) and phonological (i.e., sound) similarity on the probability of making recognition memory errors (i.e., false recognitions). Prospective, computer-based, recognition memory experiments on 30 pharmacists and 66 college students were conducted. Participants viewed a study list of drug names and then a test list. The test list was twice as long as the study list and contained distractor names at progressively increasing levels of similarity to the study words. The task was to identify which test names were on study list and which were new. The main outcome measure was probability of making a false recognition error (i.e., of saying a new name was on the study list). Among pharmacists and college students, there was a strong and significant effect of similarity on the probability of making a false recognition error. It was concluded that both orthographic (i.e., spelling) and phonological (i.e., sound) similarity increase the probability that experts and novices will make false recognition errors when trying to remember drug names. Similarity is easily and cheaply measured, and therefore, steps should be taken to monitor and reduce similarity as a means of reducing the likelihood of drug name confusions.     

Appetitive Responses to Sexual Stimuli Are Attenuated in Individuals with Low Levels of Sexual Desire

Despite the high prevalence of sexual desire disorders, little is known about their biological underpinnings in humans. Animal studies suggest that dopamine is involved in appetitive sexual behavior; thus, one aim of this study was to elucidate that relationship in humans. This study used measurement of the acoustic startle response (ASR) and prepulse inhibition of the startle response (PPI) as psychophysiological indicators of changes in motivational states to assess the potential relation between sexual desire and appetitive motivation in humans. Responses to sexually provocative stimuli consisting of single nude men and single nude women in a sample of 153 participants (77 men, 76 women) were assessed. The results indicated that ASR was attenuated after exposure to appetitive stimuli (i.e., sexually provocative pictures of attractive individuals) to a greater extent among participants with higher levels of sexual desire, as measured by the Sexual Desire Inventory-2 (Spector, I. P., Carey, M. P., & Steinberg, L. (1996).Journal of Sex&Marital Therapy,22,175–190). In addition, PPI was inversely associated with subjective ratings across stimuli such that greater subjective levels of desire were correlated with lower levels of PPI. In general, these results suggest that individuals with lower levels of sexual desire may have a diminished physiological response to appetitive sexual stimuli.     

EEG responses to visual erotic stimuli in men with normal and paraphilic interests

Contingent negative variation and evoked potentials to visual erotic stimuli were recorded from 8 brain sites in a sample of 62 right-handed men aged 20–50, half of whom declared paraphilic interests and half claimed normal heterosexual interests. To quantify erotic preferences, a variance quotient (VQ) was calculated from scores on the Wilson Sex Fantasy Questionnaire using the formula VQ = Impersonal + Sadomasochistic fantasies/Intimate + Exploratory fantasies. Stimuli consisted of 57 paraphilic slides (depicting fetishistic and sadomasochistic themes), 57 heterosexual erotic slides (explicit pictures of nude women, coitus, and oral sex), and 57 neutral slides (landscapes and street scenes). The P600 response appeared to be the best indicator of erotic preferences, but the locus of maximum arousal was different for paraphilic and heterosexual stimuli. The primary brain site for heterosexual arousal was P4 (right parietal), where there was a –.34 (p < .01) correlation between VQ and P600 (i.e., nonvariant males showed greater responses to normal erotic stimuli at this location). For paraphilic stimuli, there was a correlation of .26 (p < .05) between the VQ and P600 response at the F3 (left frontal) site (i.e., paraphilic men showed greater responses to paraphilic stimuli than normal men at this brain location). Dividing the sample into groups of 23 paraphilics and 23 heterosexual controls on the basis of their VQs showed that normals differentiated between stimulus types more at the P4 than paraphilics. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Development of amino acid composition database for Korean foods

To provide true and correct information on diet and health for consumers, a 5-year project for nutrient database was started in 2001. Food list representing usual diet of Koreans was developed using the result of the 2001 National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHNS) and 2002 Seasonal Nutrition Survey. Based on the food intake data obtained from 1-day 24-h recall interviews, a food list of 150 representative food items for chemical analysis was formulated considering the amount and frequency of consumption, dietary pattern differences by sex and age class, and probable high content of protein. Foods were purchased in triplicates considering the area of production or the best-selling brands for processed foods. Then foods were analyzed for amino acids using HPLC. As a result, amino acid composition of 150 food items for 18 kinds was constructed into a database. This database is expected to contribute toward achieving health goals stated in the ‘Health Plan 2010’ by allowing informed-consumers decide and choose foods based on the recent, updated and correct nutrient composition of foods to accommodate their own needs.     

Qualitative study of influences on food store choice

Previous research indicates food store choice influences dietary intake and may contribute to health disparities. However, there is limited knowledge about the reasons which prompt the choice of a primary food store, particularly among populations vulnerable to obesity and chronic diseases (e.g., individuals living in rural locations and African-Americans). Purposive sampling was used to select rural and urban communities (three African-American and two Caucasian focus groups; n=48) in Arkansas from June to November 2010, allowing examination of potential racial or rurality differences. Primary household food shoppers (n=48) (96% female, 63% African-American, mean age=48.1±13.9years old, mean BMI=30.5±7.8) discussed reasons for choosing their primary store. Qualitative analysis techniques-content analysis and constant comparison-were used to identify themes. Four themes emerged: proximity to home or work, financial considerations and strategies, availability/quality of fruits, vegetables, and meat, and store characteristics (e.g., safety, cleanliness/smell, customer service, non-food merchandise availability, and brand availability). While there were persistent rurality differences, the relevant factors were similar between African-American and Caucasian participants. These findings have important implications for future policies and programs promoting environmental changes related to dietary intake and obesity, particularly in rural areas that appear to have significant challenges in food store choice.