Familiar Person Research Articles

Adherence to HIV Treatment among Children and Adolescents in Selected Nigerian States: Gaps and Lessons

By the tenderness of their ages, the responsibility for adhering to HIV-treatment among children and adolescents falls squarely on the shoulders of parents and/or caregivers. Some of the young people that largely follow treatment regimen do so by persuasion and not the strength of their conviction about the essence of the therapy. This study was an appraisal of HIV-treatment adherence among children and adolescents in Anambra, Oyo, Rivers and Taraba states. Data were collected through in-depth and key informant interviews involving critical stakeholders. Findings show that poverty is a major factor in lack of adherence including in the inability to pick up drug due to cost of transportation to facilities; some who experienced viral suppression assumed they had become non-reactive and stopped taking drugs only to relapse; attitude of patients that sometimes suggests that skipping of drugs may not be harmful; lack of food and refusal of patients to take their drugs; adherence fatigue and getting to facilities from distant places including rural areas requiring payment for transportation in the context of poverty; forgetfulness and non-use of alarm clocks for reminders, stigma that prompts some to leave facilities on sighting a familiar person among others. There is need for more vigorous sensitization of communities and caregiver on the essence of strict adherence to treatment as the surest way of attaining viral suppression among young people living with HIV/AIDS.

A descriptive study on misidentifications of a person as a familiar person in an everyday situation

The purpose of this study is to show the characteristics of person misidentifications, that is, experiences in which persons are misidentified as known persons. A total of 121 participants were asked how many times they misidentified persons in the last year and details of a recent person misidentification were recorded through a traditional questionnaire. Additionally, they answered questions in a diary method questionnaire, about the details of person misidentification each time they experienced it, during the two-week survey period. The questionnaires revealed that the participants misidentified both known and unknown persons as familiar persons approximately six (traditional questionnaire) or 19 (diary method) times a year on average, regardless of whether they expected the persons to be there. They were more likely to misidentify a person as a familiar than as a less familiar person. It was also shown that the similarity of the faces of the person actually seen and the person they were mistaken for was not as high as the similarities of build and clothing. This study is expected to provide suggestions for models of person identification and enhance the research on errors.

What drives horse success at following human-given cues? An investigation of handler familiarity and living conditions

Cues such as the human pointing gesture, gaze or proximity to an object are widely used in behavioural studies to evaluate animals’ abilities to follow human-given cues. Many domestic mammals, such as horses, can follow human cues; however, factors influencing their responses are still unclear. We assessed the performance of 57 horses at a two-way choice task testing their ability to follow cues of either a familiar (N = 28) or an unfamiliar informant (N = 29). We investigated the effects of the length of the relationship between the horse and a familiar person (main caregiver), their social environment (living alone, in dyads, or in groups) and their physical environment (living in stalls/paddocks, alternating between paddocks and pastures, or living full time in pastures). We also controlled for the effects of horses’ age and sex. Our results showed that horses’ success rate at the task was not affected by the familiarity of the informant and did not improve with the relationship length with the familiar informant but did increase with the age of the horses. Horses living in groups had better success than the ones kept either in dyads or alone. Finally, horses housed in small paddocks had lower success than those living on pasture. These results indicate that with age, horses get better at following human-given indications regardless of who the human informant is and that an appropriate living and social environment could contribute to the development of socio-cognitive skills towards humans. Therefore, such aspects should be considered in studies evaluating animal behaviour.

Pet dogs (Canis familiaris) re-engage humans after joint activity

Joint intentionality, the mutual understanding of shared goals or actions to partake in a common task, is considered an essential building block of theory of mind in humans. Domesticated dogs are unusually adept at comprehending human social cues and cooperating with humans, making it possible that they possess behavioral signatures of joint intentionality in interactions with humans. Horschler and colleagues (Anim Behav 183: 159–168, 2022) examined joint intentionality in a service dog population, finding that upon interruption of a joint experience, dogs preferentially re-engaged their former partner over a passive bystander, a behavior argued to be a signature of joint intentionality in human children. In the current study, we aimed to replicate and extend these results in pet dogs. One familiar person played with the dog and then abruptly stopped. We examined if dogs would preferentially re-engage the player instead of a familiar bystander who was also present. Consistent with the findings of Horschler and colleagues (Anim Behav 183: 159–168, 2022), pet dogs preferentially gazed toward and offered the toy to the player significantly more than the familiar bystander. However, no difference was observed in physical contact. These findings provide preliminary evidence for behavioral signatures of joint intentionality in pet dogs, but future work is needed to understand whether this phenomenon extends to other contexts.

Flight distance at pasture and stress response during shearing in alpacas

Potential influence of management and handling procedures on alpacas’ behavioral and physiological responses has received little research attention so far and these are the first combined observations of alpacas' behavior with physiological stress assessment in Poland. Human influence on a farm animal can be measured by direct contact in neutral conditions and by an animal’s reactions during husbandry procedures. Quantifying the strength of the flight response toward approaching persons can help assess an individual’s suitability for use in various human–animal contact activities. Shearing is one of the potentially stressful husbandry procedures that can affect alpacas’ behavior and welfare. This study aimed to assess flight distance on the pasture and behavioral and physiological reactions during shearing in 34 alpacas. Two related questions have been raised: (1) do reactions to humans affect reactions to the shearing procedure? and (2) is shearing a stressful practice to alpacas based on both salivary cortisol and stress-related behavior? The flight distance toward humans (familiar and unfamiliar person) was measured. The stress reaction during shearing was assessed by behavioral observation and saliva sampling (to determine cortisol level). The animals that had a short flight distance to a familiar person also had a shorter flight distance to an unfamiliar one (P < 0.001). This study did not show that shorter flight distance to humans was connected with less intensive stress response during shearing. There was a difference (P < 0.001) between salivary cortisol levels before and after shearing, indicating that shearing is stressful for alpacas. It was observed that the later in order the animal was shorn, the fewer attempts to break free through abrupt movements were shown (P < 0.05). It was also noticed that the number of agonistic behaviors reduced as the shearing time increased (P < 0.05). Alpacas can adapt to stressful situations, and the animals most sensitive to stress should be shorn last.

Shoulder Season

Shoulder Season

Rattling Call of Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus

We describe, for the first time, the rattling call of the Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus. This was previously considered to be a unique vocalization of European Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus; however, we detected this series of rapidly repeated notes given by an adult female, a second-year, a juvenile and a nestling Crested Honey Buzzard. The rattling calls appeared to be given at times of great excitement, such as to an approaching intruder, mate or parent at the nest, or to a familiar person who usually gave food in the case of captive individuals. The rattling call of an adult female Crested Honey Buzzard at the nest was at a frequency of 2.12 (s.d.±0.07) kHz, and lasted 141 (s.d.±18) ms, which was higher and longer than in European Honey Buzzard.

The Effect of Online English-Medium Instruction on Performance of English Face Threatening Speech Acts

This paper examined the effects of online English-medium instruction (EMI) on high school students’ performing English face threatening speech acts, by assessing indirect expressions and token agreement (agreement plus but). Participants completed an English placement test and English pretest and posttest through a Google survey. English proficiency, required for study participation was measured using the English placement test. An English pretest and posttest measured English pragmatic performance. The students were given approximately four weeks to complete eight online lectures. The experimental group completed eight online lectures which taught five face threatening speech acts, based on formal situations in the United States. The control group completed eight online lectures about worldwide cultures. The experimental group showed a significant improvement in the English posttest compared with the control group, based on improvements observed in the use of indirect expressions and token agreement. A difference between groups using indirect expressions was observed in an unfamiliar person scenario but not in a familiar person scenario.

Gallstones: The thing in itself.

Content available: Audio Recording.

Multiplicity in the experience of voice-hearing: A phenomenological inquiry

Although it is recognized that voice-hearers often report a large number and variety of voices there have been few investigations of this multiplicity. Understanding the phenomenology of voice-hearing can provide a firm foundation for theorizing about its causes. In this international online survey of voice-hearers, details were elicited of the content of up to five utterances associated with up to five voices from each respondent. The contents were independently rated and associated with characteristics of each voice such as its perceived age, whether it had changed over time, and whether it was of a familiar person. We investigated predictors (e.g., diagnoses, voice gender, age first heard) of utterance negativity, length, and whether voices referred to themselves. The average number of voices reported was approximately four. The majority were perceived as male and had negative content. Child-aged voices were significantly less negative than all other voices except those perceived as being elderly. Multi-level analyses indicated that there was significant variability at the level of different utterances within voices but variability was more prominent at the level of different voices within an individual. The data were inconsistent with general cognitive models for hearing voices such as the misattribution of inner speech and were more congruent with a dissociation model of voice-hearing. Our findings support approaches based on subtype or dimensional methods of classifying voices, and additionally indicate that research and clinical assessment may benefit from more systematic assessment of multiplicity.

Sex education, awareness and perception among adolescents: a cross sectional study from Central Kerala

Background: Teenagers exhibit little awareness of, or interest in, the normal processes of puberty, sexual health, pregnancy, or reproduction. They also have limited knowledge of sexual and reproductive fitness. Because sexual education is a lifelong process, it should be a fundamental component of development and understanding beginning in adolescence and continuing into adulthood.Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken among Central Kerala school students in the adolescent age group (13-18 years) with both genders. The students were provided with a pre-tested questionnaire on their knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of sex education as well as a proforma on the socio demographic details.Results: The majority of research participants 30.1% were 17 years old, although the average age was 16 (±1.43 years). 67.9% of the participants were girls, and 32.1% were boys. Sex of the participant has association with knowledge, attitude and perception on sex education. Socio demographic factors tend to affect the knowledge. In the present study, attitude towards sex education has association with the sex of the participant and the syllabus they are studying.Conclusions: Just over half of the pupils have adequate understanding about sexual education. This demonstrates the importance of delivering sex education classes for adolescent kids on a regular basis. School based educational classes can be promoted wherein, a more familiar and comfortable person like the teachers, who are trained by medical professionals, can impart the adequate knowledge to the students.

Detecting a familiar person behind the surgical mask: recognition without identification among masked versus sunglasses-covered faces

Previous research has shown that even when famous people’s identities cannot be discerned from faces that have been filtered with monochromatic noise, these unidentifiable famous faces still tend to receive higher familiarity ratings than similarly filtered non-famous faces. Experiment 1 investigated whether a similar face recognition without identification effect would occur among faces whose identification was hindered through the wearing of a surgical mask. Among a mixture of famous and non-famous faces wearing surgical masks and hoods, participants rated how familiar each person seemed then attempted to identify the person. Though surgical masks significantly impaired identification of the famous faces, unidentified masked famous faces received higher familiarity ratings on average than the non-famous masked faces, suggesting that a sense of familiarity could still occur even when identification was impaired by the mask. Experiment 2 compared faces covered by surgical masks with faces covered by sunglasses. Though sunglasses impaired face identification more than surgical masks, the magnitude of the face recognition without identification effect was the same in both cases. This pattern suggests that holistic face processing is not a requirement for the sense of familiarity with a face, and that different facial feature types can contribute.

Implicit learning of regularities followed by realistic body movements in virtual reality.

The existence of implicit (unconscious) learning has been demonstrated in several laboratory paradigms. Researchers have also suggested that it plays a role in complex real-life human activities. For instance, in social situations, we may follow unconscious behaviour scripts or intuitively anticipate the reaction of familiar persons based on nonconscious cues. Still, it is difficult to make inferences about the involvement of implicit learning in realistic contexts, given that this phenomenon has been demonstrated, almost exclusively, using simple artificial stimuli (e.g., learning structured patterns of letters). In addition, recent analyses show that the amount of unconscious knowledge learned in these tasks has been overestimated by random measurement error. To overcome these limitations, we adapted the artificial grammar learning (AGL) task, and exposed participants (N = 93), in virtual reality, to a realistic agent that executed combinations of boxing punches. Unknown to participants, the combinations were structured by a complex artificial grammar. In a subsequent test phase, participants accurately discriminated novel grammatical from nongrammatical combinations, showing they had acquired the grammar. For measuring awareness, we used trial-by-trial subjective scales, and an analytical method that accounts for the possible overestimation of unconscious knowledge due to regression to the mean. These methods conjointly showed strong evidence for implicit and for explicit learning. The present study is the first to show that humans can implicitly learn, in VR, knowledge regarding realistic body movements, and, further, that implicit knowledge extracted in AGL is robust when accounting for its possible inflation by random measurement error.

Human-directed attachment behavior in wolves suggests standing ancestral variation for human-dog attachment bonds.

Domesticated animals are generally assumed to display increased sociability toward humans compared to their wild ancestors. Dogs (Canis familiaris) have a remarkable ability to form social relationships with humans, including lasting attachment, a bond based on emotional dependency. Since it has been specifically suggested that the ability to form attachment with humans evolved post‐domestication in dogs, attempts to quantify attachment behavior in wolves (Canis lupus) have subsequently been performed. However, while these rare wolf studies do highlight the potential for wolves to express human‐directed attachment, the varied methods used and the contrasting results emphasize the need for further, standardized testing of wolves. Here, we used the standardized Strange Situation Test to investigate attachment behavior expressed in wolves and dogs hand‐raised and socialized under standardized and identical conditions up until the age of testing. We found that 23‐week‐old wolves and dogs equally discriminated between a stranger and a familiar person, and expressed similar attachment behaviors toward a familiar person. Additionally, wolves, but not dogs, expressed significantly elevated stress‐related behavior during the test, but this stress response was buffered by the presence of a familiar person. Together, our results suggest that wolves can show attachment behaviors toward humans comparable to those of dogs. Importantly, our findings demonstrate that the ability to form attachment with humans exists in relatives of the wild ancestor of dogs, thereby refuting claims that this phenotype evolved after dog domestication was initiated.

Emotional Well-Being of Children and Youth with Severe Motor and Communication Impairment: A Conceptual Understanding

ABSTRACT Background Children and youth with severe motor and communication impairment (SMCI) have difficulty providing self-expression through typical speech, writing with a paper and pencil, or using a standard keyboard. Their emotional expressions can be missed by peers and novel caregivers. Purpose To describe the indicators and components of emotional experiences for children/youth with SMCI. Methods Primary guardians of nine children/youth with SMCI were involved in photo/video data collection and follow-up qualitative interviews. Twenty-one familiar people (e.g., friends, family members, and/or care team) participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews. Results A conceptual understanding of emotional well-being specific to the population has been developed consisting of nine themes, encompassed by four domains i) Core Attributes, ii) Personal Experiences, iii) Surroundings, iv) Expression and Reception. Conclusions Emotional experiences of children/youth with SMCI are diversely expressed. Primary guardian and familiar person insight can be amplified to positively impact care and participation.

Assessing Higher-Order Visual Processing in Cerebral Visual Impairment Using Naturalistic Virtual-Reality-Based Visual Search Tasks.

Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is a brain-based disorder associated with the maldevelopment of central visual pathways. Individuals with CVI often report difficulties with daily visual search tasks such as finding a favorite toy or familiar person in cluttered and crowded scenes. We developed two novel virtual reality (VR)-based visual search tasks combined with eye tracking to objectively assess higher order processing abilities in CVI. The first (virtual toybox) simulates a static object search, while the second (virtual hallway) represents a dynamic human search task. Participants were instructed to search for a preselected target while task demand was manipulated with respect to the presence of surrounding distractors. We found that CVI participants (when compared to age-matched controls) showed an overall impairment with visual search on both tasks and with respect to all gaze metrics. Furthermore, CVI participants showed a trend of worsening performance with increasing task demand. Finally, search performance was also impaired in CVI participants with normal/near normal visual acuity, suggesting that reduced stimulus visibility alone does not account for these observations. This novel approach may have important clinical utility in helping to assess environmental factors related to functional visual processing difficulties observed in CVI.

Projective test of a treason psychological construct

Treason and betrayal as psychosocial phenomena do not exist independently of a person. Many religions consider them to be a violation of a moral taboo. These deeds, marked since ancient times, are based on unchecked egoistic attitudes of a subject which dominate over the declared social norms, while traditional moral imperatives were always considered values of the society. The triggers of deviation from the accepted norms may be humiliation, envy and many other concomitant determinants which fringe upon a persons self-esteem.&#x0D; Treason is a psychological construct which cannot be directly quantitatively measured. By definition, treason is a process of a subjects secret unilateral abuse of the trusting principles of community members coexistence. The most reliable markers of treason are the subjects behavioral acts, most often performed subconsciously. They are akin to patterns conservative schemes of behavior which crystallize as a product of additive algorithm as early as in the pre-school childhood. They are not manifested daily, but most often in crisis situations. The frequency of markers manifestations may indicate the established complexes; configuration of the latter as a result of an inflicted psychological trauma distorts the deeds normative for the society and serves as a predictor of treason.&#x0D; The author proposes the following conception: the composition of a treason act ripens from the psychological complexes of a subject, which serve as predictors of the deed; the complexes are represented by complementary dyads: power fear, offense revenge, avidity devaluation of values.&#x0D; The objective of the theoretical and empirical research is to construct a diagnostic tool based on the protective mechanism of a subjects projective identification while the subject attests the deeds of a thoroughly familiar person.&#x0D; The test was validated with the help of volunteers with higher education and academic degrees. The diagnostic scales were normalized with a sigma method on a sample consisting of 242 people. At = 8.4 и = 2.2, a quintile scale of the subjects moral attitudes was calculated. The test reliability by Spearman-Brown formula was +0.76 and validity by criterion was +0.72. The test discriminatory power by Ferguson formula was determined as 0.857 0.86.&#x0D; The test checks on representative sample confirmed its compliance with all psychometric characteristics. Applicability limits were outlined, ulterior prognostic possibilities of the constructed diagnostic tool were revealed.

Simulation-based learning influences real-life attitudes

Humans can vividly simulate hypothetical experiences. This ability draws on our memories (e.g., of familiar people and locations) to construct imaginings that resemble real-life events (e.g., of meeting a person at a location). Here, we examine the hypothesis that we also learn from such simulated episodes much like from actual experiences. Specifically, we show that the mere simulation of meeting a familiar person (unconditioned stimulus; US) at a known location (conditioned stimulus; CS) changes how people value the location. We provide key evidence that this simulation-based learning strengthens pre-existing CS-US associations and that it leads to a transfer of valence from the US to the CS. The data thus highlight a mechanism by which we learn from simulated experiences.

Fregoli syndrome in schizophrenia: about a case report

A Fregoli syndrome, just like Capgras Syndrome, Double Subjective Syndrome, and Inter metamorphosis Syndrome, belongs to the group of delusion misidentification syndromes. It is a rare neuropsychiatric pathology that could affect the brain with repercussions on behavior. It is the belief that a familiar person is disguised as a strange person by taking a different physical appearance but remains the same person psychologically. This entity has heterogonous etiologies, occurring mainly in the setting of organic diseases, affective disorders, or schizophrenia. In this article, we proposed to expose a case of a schizophrenic patient who developed Fregoli syndrome.

Younger and Older Adult Reports of Affect in Familiar and Unfamiliar Persons

Abstract. Little is known about how people perceive the affective well-being of older and younger adults. In four studies, we compare other- and self-reported trait affect from participants who varied in adult age and familiarity. Our prediction that older adults would be rated by other persons as having poorer well-being than their self-report was not supported. Rather, we found that younger persons were thought by familiar older adults to have better well-being than the young persons reported about themselves; this was not the case for younger familiar raters. Unfamiliar younger adults were rated by younger and older participants as having greater arousal affect than unfamiliar older adults. Misperceptions of well-being may interfere with cross-generation communication and social interactions.