The Effects of Limiting Instructions about Emotional Evidence Depend on Need for Cognition.

Although limiting instructions are provided for specific evidence that may have a negative impact on jurors' decision-making, there may be individual differences in the effectiveness of the instructions. The individual predisposition towards the enjoyment of cognitive activity is called need for cognition (NFC), and individuals high in NFC tend to seek out and engage in cognitive activity spontaneously. The present study examined the influence of NFC and limiting instructions about emotional evidence on mock jurors' legal decision-making. The results showed that mock jurors who were lower in NFC were more likely to render a guilty decision than those higher in NFC, and that the tendency was more salient when the limiting instructions were presented compared with when they were not presented. Similar results were found in regard to sentencing decisions and arousal of anger. A partial mediation effect of anger was found between NFC and verdict decisions. The influence of NFC on the limiting instructions and legal decision-making as well as the effect of anger on the decision is discussed in relation to these results.

Effectiveness of the Self-Administered Interview and Drawing Pictures for Eliciting Eyewitness Memories.

The Self-Administered Interview (SAI) is a tool that is used to obtain eyewitness memories. Adopting the techniques of the cognitive interview (CI), the SAI was developed in the form of a booklet consisting of several parts. The unique aspect of the SAI is a sketch section that asks eyewitnesses to describe the context of an incident by drawing pictures. This study investigates the effectiveness of the SAI by focusing on the effect of the sketch on memory recall. Participants (n = 180) watched a crime video and recalled events in a 3 (recall method: SAI, CI, free recall [FR]) × 2 (delay: immediate, one week) between-subjects design. The results showed no significant difference among recall methods when the information from the sketch was excluded. When the sketch information was included, the SAI gained better results than the CI and FR in terms of memory recall. In addition, memory performance was better for the immediate SAI compared with the delayed CI. The practical implications of the SAI are discussed.

Health assessment of rice cultivated and harvested from plasma-irradiated seeds.

This study provides the health effects assessment of rice cultivated from plasma-irradiated seeds. The rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivated from seeds with plasma irradiation showed a growth improvement (slope-ratios of with plasma to without plasma were 1.066, 1.042, and 1.255 for tiller, and earing, and ripening periods, respectively) and an 4% increase in yield. The cultivated rice was used for repeated oral administrations to mice for 4-week period. Distilled water and rice cultivated from seeds without plasma irradiation were also used as control. The weights of the lung, kidney, liver, and spleen, with corresponding average values of 0.22 g, 0.72 g, 2.1 g, and 0.17 g for w/ plasma group and 0.22 g, 0.68 g, 2.16 g, and 0.14 g for w/o plasma group, respectively, showing no effect due to the administration of rice cultivated from plasma-irradiated seeds. Nutritional status, liver function, kidney function, and lipid, neutral fat profiles, and glucose metabolism have no significant difference between with and without plasma groups. These results show no obvious subacute effects were observed on rice grains cultivated and harvested from the mother plant that experienced growth improvement by plasma irradiation. This study provides a new finding that there is no apparent adverse health effect on the grains harvested from the plasma-irradiated seeds.