[Development and psychometric evaluation of a Japanese version of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II].

We conducted two studies to develop a Japanese version of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II (PGIS-II), and examined its reliability and validity. PGIS-II was developed as a multidimensional measure of the multiple processes of the Personal Growth Initiative (PGI). The PGI describes an active, intentional engagement in the process of personal growth for self-improvement of life experiences. Study 1 (N = 204) reports the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the Japanese version of the PGIS-II. The CFA confirmed that 4-factor model showed acceptable fit indices, with reliability coefficients ranging from .67 to .84. Concurrent validity of the PGIS-II was indicated by the correlation with happiness, the positive score for automatic thoughts. Study 2 (N = 101) reports the concurrent validity of the PGIS-II using scales for locus of control, self-esteem and coping. Results suggested significant correlations between scores on the PGIS-II and locus of control, self-esteem and some coping subscales. The overall results suggest that the Japanese version of the PGIS-II has satisfactory statistical reliability and validity.

Do happy faces capture attention? The happiness superiority effect in attentional blink.

This study investigated the influence of positive affect on attentional blink (AB) with schematic faces. Results of Experiment 1 showed that the AB effect was smaller for both upright and inverted positive face icons than other face icons (neutral and angry faces) of corresponding orientations, confirming and extending the results of the earlier study by Mack, Pappas, Silverman, and Gay (2002). Results of Experiment 2 demonstrated that this attenuation of AB was unlikely to be attributable to attentional capture by the happy face. Perceptual saliency is suggested as a likely cause of the effect.

Visual function of a patient with advanced adrenoleukodystrophy: comparison of luminance and color contrast sensitivities.

We assessed achromatic luminance and isoluminant chromatic contrast sensitivity functions of a 20-year-old male. He showed severe motor and intellectual disabilities after advanced adrenoleukodystrophy, which started at the age of 7. Optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) to drifting gratings was used to assess his contrast sensitivities. Although the achromatic luminance contrast sensitivities were lower over the entire range of spatial frequencies tested than those of the healthy adults, they were preserved to the level comparable to healthy 7-year-old children, except for the frequency of 1 and 4 cycles/degree. In contrast, both of the red-green and blue chromatic contrast sensitivities were remarkably lower in all frequency range compare to healthy children and adults. These results indicate that it is possible for even an advanced case of ALD to show residual visual capacity that was preserved to a remarkable extent.

[Validity of attentional-style subscales for the Japanese version of the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS)].

The six attentional-style subscales of the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS, Nideffer, 1976) have been used mainly in the sport psychology area to investigate the relationship between attentional abilities and performance. This study assessed the validity of the Japanese version of the TAIS attentional-style subscales with 157 male and 163 female students. A confirmatory factor analysis failed to validate Nideffer's attentional dimension of bandwidth (narrow to broad attention) and direction (internal to external). The findings replicate previous studies which showed that the structure of the TAIS attention-related subscales is not reasonable and its factorial validity does not meet the needs of psychometrics.

Contrast sensitivity of patients with severe motor and intellectual disabilities and cerebral visual impairment.

We attempt to evaluate the residual visual capacities of nine patients (seven males and two females; age range 4 to 35 years, mean 13.8 +/- 9.98) with cerebral visual impairment coupled with severe motor and intellectual disabilities by their contrast sensitivities to sine-wave gratings. Two methods were used for detecting the occurrence of ocular responses to stimuli: (1) detection of optokinetic nystagmus to drifting sinusoidal gratings by naked-eye observation and electronystagmography and (2) detection of ocular pursuit for a drifting Gabor patch by naked-eye observation. We succeeded in measuring the sensitivities of eight cases. For the remaining one case, only the Gabor method could be applied. Most cases showed low contrast sensitivity in both higher (2 and 4 cycles/degree) and lower (0.125 and 0.25 cycles/degree) spatial frequencies and relatively high contrast sensitivity in the middle (0.5 and 1 cycle/degree) range of spatial frequencies. We conclude that the residual visual capacities of patients with severe motor and intellectual disabilities and cerebral visual impairment can be measured fairly accurately by these behavioral methods.