Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Reality Testing”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,243 records · Page 69Linked to original sources

Perception of Indonesian vowels spoken in context.

The purpose of the present study is to test the perceptual reality of allophonic variation and harmony in Indonesian. Indonesian listeners with different regional backgrounds were asked to predict word identity (CVCV or CVCVC) based on the presence or absence of vowel allophony and harmony. The data show that listeners were sensitive to the spectrally different allophones, but were not in all cases able to use this information in predicting word identity, probably due to experimental artifact.

Humans↗

Analytical challenges: bridging the gap from regulation to enforcement.

An overview is presented of the analytical steps that may be needed to determine the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or for analysis of GMO-derived produce. The analytical aspects necessary for compliance with labeling regulations are discussed along with bottlenecks that may develop when a plant product or a food sample is analyzed for conformity with current European Union GMO legislation. In addition to sampling and testing, other topics deal with complications that arise from biological and agricultural realities that may influence testing capabilities. The issues presented are intended to serve as elements to examine the different challenges that enforcement laboratories might face.

Crops, Agricultural↗

Assessing caries risk--using the Cariogram model.

In trying to make a comprehensive caries risk profile for an individual, one faces a situation that several factors need to be considered and weighted together. Summarising these factors could be a complex process and to facilitate the practical application, a computer-based risk assessment model for caries, the Cariogram, was developed. The Cariogram program operates basically in such a way that information on a number of factors are collected about the patient, transferred to 'scores' and these scores then entered into the program. According to its built-in algorithm, the program evaluates the data and presents the summarised result expressed as one figure, a pie-diagram, illustrating the 'Chance of avoiding cavities' in the future. This thesis deals with the evaluation of the Cariogram model and, as a first step, it was important to investigate if the program was in line with how colleagues, dental students and dental hygienists would evaluate a set of cases. The first two studies (Paper I and II) confirmed that the 'opinion' on the risk profile of the risk assessment program was in line with the opinions of the majority of the responders in these groups. In the third study (Paper III), the Cariogram's assessments were tested against the "reality" for the first time. The model was used to assess risk for caries among children and to evaluate the program by comparing the caries risk assessments of the risk model with the actual caries increment of the children over a two-year period. The hypothesis was that the Cariogram should be able to sort the children into caries risk groups according to the actual caries increment and the results confirmed the theory. It was also demonstrated that the Cariogram assessed caries increment more accurately than any included single factor model. Following the evaluation of the program on the children, the aim of the fourth study (Paper IV) was to evaluate the model for risk assessment in a group of elderly individuals. Comparing the caries risk assessment of the program with the actual caries increment over a five-year period showed that the program was able to arrange this group of elderly individuals into risk groups that reflected the actual caries incidence. The aim of the fifth study was to compare the risk profiles of the children with the risk profiles of the elderly. The evaluation of caries risk among the children showed that 3% was considered having very high caries risk, while 50% appeared in the low risk group. The corresponding values for the group of elderly individuals were 26% and 2%. Overall, the risk for caries, as assessed by the Cariogram, was twice as high for the elderly as for the children (V). The present thesis also tries to explore the concept of risk, the terminology and definitions related to risk, risk management and risk assessment in dentistry.

Aged↗

[Perspectives of nursing science. Formation of a theory in a practice discipline].

In this article some problems about nursing theories are discussed. It is presumed that a science does not turn into a nursing science because it deals with nursing practice. Crucial is the way in which the practice is viewed, i.e. the question which theory is the starting point. Even normative nursing theories must be tested out in reality though this verification cannot be made exclusively with the methods of logical empiricism. The obligation for nursing theories to fit the metaparadigm as well as the concept of metaparadigm are discussed. It is also stated that nursing theories do not correspond to the diversity of everyday nursing. In order to create a complex everyday live, grounded theories are needed. For a better understanding, two grounded theories are described.

Diffusion of Innovation↗

At-risk for cancer: genetic discrimination in the workplace.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To discuss the complexity of issues related to genetic discrimination in the workplace against individuals identified as at risk for cancer. DATA SOURCES: Professional literature; local and national laws. DATA SYNTHESIS: A brief historical perspective on genetic discrimination is provided. Employment discrimination, insurance, job retention, and hiring issues facing cancer survivors and individuals genetically identified as at risk for cancer are discussed. State and federal initiatives that deal with these issues are examined, and strategies are proposed to prevent issues relating to genetic discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic discrimination, in all of its forms, is likely to emerge as a major challenge in the next century. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Oncology nurses must recognize new opportunities, assume new roles, and ready themselves for the challenges associated with this new kind of oncology nursing practice and the reality of genetic testing and disclosure.

Civil Rights↗

Effects of discrete emotions on young children's ability to discern fantasy and reality.

This study examined 3- to 5-year-olds' (N = 128; 54% girls) ability to discriminate emotional fantasy and reality. Children viewed images depicting fantastic or real events that elicited several emotions, reported whether each event could occur, and rated their emotional reaction to the image. Children were also administered the Play Behavior Questionnaire and Pretend Action Tasks to assess play behaviors. Findings revealed age-related improvements in performance and biases in judgment based on the emotion depicted. Children reported that happy fantastic events could occur significantly more often than frightening and angry fantastic events and that happy real events could occur significantly more often than frightening and angry real events. Children's emotional reactions to the images but not play behaviors were significantly related to their fantasy-reality distinctions. Implications for the relation between emotions and children's fantasy-reality distinctions are discussed.

Age Factors↗

Modification of virtual reality combined with a mental task stimulates cortisol in volunteers.

Immersive, stereoscopic virtual reality (VR) systems provide a powerful multimedia tool for a laboratory simulation of distinct scenarios including stressful situations close to reality. Thus far, cortisol secretion as a neuroendocrine parameter of stress has not been evaluated within a VR paradigm. Ninety-four healthy subjects were subjected to a VR paradigm and a cognitive stress task. It was tested (a) if the modification of reality induced by dynamic VR as opposed to static VR can be regarded as a stressor and (b) if it can modify an additional cognitive stress response. In addition, the impact of gender on cortisol responses was assessed. A significant cortisol increase was observed only after the combined application of both conditions, but not after the dynamic VR or the cognitive stress alone. Cortisol reactivity was greater for men than for women. We conclude that dynamic VR does not affect cortisol secretion per se, but increases cortisol responses in a dual task paradigm. This provides the basis for the application of VR in neuroscientific research, which includes the assessment of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis regulation.

Adolescent↗

BRCA patients and clinical collectives: new configurations of action in cancer genetics practices.

Since the late 1980s, in France and in a number of other countries, cancer genetics testing has become a clinical reality, particularly for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. BRCA tests allowing for the assessment of an increased cancer risk among patients and their healthy relatives are now being routinely performed as part of clinical practice. Based on fieldwork on French clinical cancer genetics and on the French Cancer Genetics Collaborative Network, this paper examines the configuration of entities, actors and activities mobilized by the performance of BRAC testing, and argues that the development of clinical molecular genetic practices is predicated upon the development of new forms of collaborative work that lead to a transformation of the content and organization of medical activities and judgements. The paper analyses three major collective configurations - local multidisciplinary collectives, data collectives and new clinical collectives - and argues that they not only provide the material conditions needed to carry out the relevant activities, but also articulate a series of distinctive bio-clinical interventions. These interventions provide an interface with research activities, produce the epidemiological measurements and tools that are a sine qua non for clinical work in this field, and, most importantly, establish the conventions that underlie practices, which define the criteria that turn tools and novel entities into operational components of clinical settings. It thus appears that in the field of clinical cancer genetics, bioclinical collectives, as a locus of expertise, have replaced the individual judgement of the practicing clinician.

Breast Neoplasms↗

Clinical applications of genetic testing: implications for the family physician.

Genetic testing may be applied in a variety of clinical situations, including preconception counseling, prenatal diagnosis and postnatal determination of genetic predisposition to disease. The family physician needs to become familiar with the full range of genetic testing possibilities in all phases of the human life cycle. Cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease and cancer are three diseases for which genetic testing has become a reality, and they serve to illustrate the clinical and ethical dilemmas that arise with this type of testing.

Ethics, Medical↗

Reality monitoring and visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease.

Between 8 and 40% of Parkinson disease (PD) patients will have visual hallucinations (VHs) during the course of their illness. Although cognitive impairment has been identified as a risk factor for hallucinations, more specific neuropsychological deficits underlying such phenomena have not been established. Research in psychopathology has converged to suggest that hallucinations are associated with confusion between internal representations of events and real events (i.e. impaired-source monitoring). We evaluated three groups: 17 Parkinson's patients with visual hallucinations, 20 Parkinson's patients without hallucinations and 20 age-matched controls, using tests of visual imagery, visual perception and memory, including tests of source monitoring and recollective experience. The study revealed that Parkinson's patients with hallucinations appear to have intact visual imagery processes and spatial perception. However, there were impairments in object perception and recognition memory, and poor recollection of the encoding episode in comparison to both non-hallucinating Parkinson's patients and healthy controls. Errors were especially likely to occur when encoding and retrieval cues were in different modalities. The findings raise the possibility that visual hallucinations in Parkinson's patients could stem from a combination of faulty perceptual processing of environmental stimuli, and less detailed recollection of experience combined with intact image generation.

Aged↗

Wishful reality distortions in confabulation: a case report.

Several theories have been proposed to account for the complex cognitive mechanisms underlying the various forms and manifestations of confabulation. As regards the content of confabulations, deficit accounts explain what is lacking in the confabulations, but accounts of the positive features of the content may also be required to explain what remains. There is reason to believe that the content of confabulations is not motivationally neutral; in particular, they appear to "improve" the world experienced by the patient, making it more pleasant than the reality of the situation demands. The present study investigated the content of the confabulations of a neurological patient, ES: a 56-year-old man, who developed a striking confabulatory syndrome following removal of a meningioma in the pituitary and suprasellar region. ES's cognitive abilities were severely compromised, and he confabulated continuously and bizarrely. Raters presented with transcriptions of ES's confabulations found them to represent significantly more pleasant experiences than their corresponding, misrepresented realities. This finding suggests that confabulations include motivated (or "wishful") content. The influence of this motivational feature of confabulation must be considered in parallel with the memory and executive deficits which contribute to the mechanism of confabulation.

Affect↗

[Personality markers, defense behavior and illness concept in patients with primary fibromyalgia].

Recent studies indicate the relevance of psychological factors in the pathogenesis of primary fibromyalgia, although the results sometimes differ. Most of the studies investigated personality features and depression. Beyond these our study investigates defense mechanisms and illness behavior in primary fibromyalgia comparing them with those of psychogenic pain patients and with controls. All patients (fibromyalgia n = 47, psychogenic pain n = 63, controls n = 84) completed German adaptations of the Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI) and the Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) and the "Questionnaire of Psychosomatic Disease-Patterns" (FAPK). The two chronic pain groups show a high conformity: Reduced relation to reality, emotional vacancy in relationships, aggression restraint are the predominant personality features. Immature defense mechanisms and abnormal illness behavior are predominant. Somatic pain and its hypochondrical pursuit substitute the tackling of seemingly unsolvable life problems. Conclusions for the management of fibromyalgia patients are outlined.

Aggression↗

Shared test taking.

Collaboration in health care is imperative for nurses of the future. Our curriculums must change to meet the needs of the nation. Shared test taking is a step towards meeting demands of future realities in the workplace. Shared test taking is a teaching methodology which can stimulate and enhance critical thinking skills, promote collaboration, and increase communication skills.

Cooperative Behavior↗

Are autistic children "behaviorists"? An examination of their mental-physical and appearance-reality distinctions.

This paper continues our earlier investigation of autistic children's deficit in attributing beliefs to others--in their "theory of mind." Three experiments are reported. The first tests the prediction that autistic children will fail to distinguish mental and physical entities. The second tests the prediction that they will also be unaware of the mental function of the brain. The third tests the prediction that they will be unable to take into account their own mental states. This latter prediction was tested using Appearance-Reality (A-R) tasks. All three predictions were supported. Deficits in these areas were not found among mentally handicapped or normal children of the same or lower mental and chronological age, suggesting that they may be autism-specific and independent of general developmental delay. It is argued that autistic children's failure to make A-R distinctions is consistent with Leslie's (1987) metarepresentation theory of autism.

Adolescent↗

A simulated reality scenario compared with the computerized Wisconsin card sorting test: an analysis of preliminary results.

Neuropsychologists and other clinicians often comment on the minimal relationship that frequently exists between formal assessments of executive functions, analysis of findings, recommendations, and the person's real-life functioning. The authors' believe that current assessments of executive functions do not transfer easily to real-world behavior. There are limitations in the current examinations and in the settings in which they are given. The tests are artificial and the test settings lack the usual stresses, distractions, and multiple demands common to real life. The interactions are unlike what they experience in everyday life. The examiner often, but unintentionally orients the participant to relevant information that in turn can help the person compensate for the difficulties with executive control processes and bias the findings. We believe that virtual reality (VR) more closely approximates real life settings, the distractions, and the common interchanges (VR) provides a "life-like," three-dimensional (3-D) highly interactive environment, and safety from potential dangers that could arise in actual situations. VR can increase motivation because of its gaming, interactive, and immersive qualities and features are easily modified and allow for multiple applications. Our goal is to develop VR assessments that can be administered under controlled and safe conditions, but which are more sensitive to difficulties with executive control processes critical to safe, independent living. This initial study compares several functions assessed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) with our three-dimensional, stereographic scenario, Look for a Match (LFAM) Study participants completed questionnaires, alternately began with either the WCST or LFAM, and then took the second test. All participants completed motion sickness and follow-up questionnaires. The results demonstrated that the study participants found LFAM to be more enjoyable and interesting, but found the WCST to be easier. While there is an effect of order with participants doing relatively better on the assessment tool administered second, overall the LFAM performance was inferior to that on the WCST. However, even considering the order effect, LFAM seemed to be more difficult than the WCST.

Adolescent↗

Children's understanding of representational change and its relation to the understanding of false belief and the appearance-reality distinction.

This research concerns the development of children's understanding of representational change and its relation to other cognitive developments. Children were shown deceptive objects, and the true nature of the objects was then revealed. Children were then asked what they thought the object was when they first saw it, testing their understanding of representational change; what another child would think the object was, testing their understanding of false belief; and what the object looked like and really was, testing their understanding of the appearance-reality distinction. Most 3-year-olds answered the representational change question incorrectly. Most 5-year-olds did not make this error. Children's performance on the representational change question was poorer than their performance on the false-belief question. There were correlations between performance on all 3 tasks. Apparently children begin to be able to consider alternative representations of the same object at about age 4.

Child Development↗

On having complex representations of things: preschoolers use multiple words for objects and people.

Applying several names to an entity (polynomy) reflects the ability to categorize entities in different ways. Two experiments demonstrate preschoolers' abilities to apply multiple labels to representational objects and to people. In Experiment 1, 3- and 4-year-olds labeled representational objects and verified labels for story characters. In both tasks children reliably produced or accepted several words per entity and accepted a high percentage of both class-inclusive and overlapping word pairs. These results were replicated in Experiment 2; 3- to 5-year-olds also completed appearance-reality and receptive vocabulary tests. The mean number of words produced in the labeling task was significantly related to receptive vocabulary, but not to appearance-reality performance. The results indicate that preschoolers represent an entity as belonging to multiple categories (e.g., dinosaur and crayon). Implications for cognitive and language development, particularly the appearance-reality distinction and the mutual exclusivity bias, are discussed.

Child Behavior↗

Anxiety and presence during VR immersion: a comparative study of the reactions of phobic and non-phobic participants in therapeutic virtual environments derived from computer games.

Virtual reality can be used to provide phobic clients with therapeutic exposure to phobogenic stimuli. However, purpose-built therapeutic VR hardware and software can be expensive and difficult to adapt to individual client needs. In this study, inexpensive and readily adaptable PC computer games were used to provide exposure therapy to 13 phobic participants and 13 non-phobic control participants. It was found that anxiety could be induced in phobic participants by exposing them to phobogenic stimuli in therapeutic virtual environments derived from computer games (TVEDG). Assessments were made of the impact of simulator sickness and of sense of presence on the phobogenic effectiveness of TVEDGs. Participants reported low levels of simulator sickness, and the results indicate that simulator sickness had no significant impact on either anxiety or sense of presence. Group differences, correlations, and regression analyses indicate a synergistic relationship between presence and anxiety. These results do not support Slater's contention that presence and emotion are orthogonal.

Adolescent↗