Reports from women experiencing postpartum depression often reflect concerns about babycare, the motherhood role and the self-concept and yet very little prospective research has examined women's prior expectations of childbirth and motherhood- related events in relation to the subsequent outcome of events and the development of postpartum depression. The present work was designed to explore this. It was also designed to investigate whether women differed in their antenatal preferences and experiential reports concerning labour, childbirth, the new-born baby and early motherhood in line with Raphael-Leff's (1983) facilitator/regulator theory of mothering orientations. A sociodemographically representative sample of 205 primiparous women were interviewed once in the third trimester of pregnancy. Data were collected concerning sociodemography, pregnancy context, recent life events, psychiatric history, perceived quality of intimate bonds with key others, antenatal psychiatric symptomatology and cognitive style. Women's preferences and expectations of labour, childbirth, the new-born baby and early motherhood were also assessed at this time. Objective obstetric outcome information was collected from medical records. Women completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (Cox et al., 1987) at six weeks postpartum and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ; Goldberg, 1978) at three months postpartum. Women's subjective experiences of labour, birth, their baby and early motherhood and the corresponding level of outcome satisfaction were also assessed. High scorers and a random sample of low scorers on the GHQ measure received a Present State Examination (PSE-10; Wing et al, 1990). Women displayed fundamental differences in their individual expectations of and preferences regarding childbirth, the newborn baby and early motherhood. These preferences and women's subsequent experiences followed predictions derived from the facilitator/regulator theory. Greater disparity between women's antenatal preferences or expectations of events and their subsequent experiences was significantly predictive of multiple indices of reduced postpartum psychological wellbeing over and above variables previously implicated in the postpartum depression literature. Different facets of expectation-outcome disparity were important for different women depending on their mothering philosophy. The nature of the external stressors and internal vulnerability factors found to be significant predictors of poor outcome also differed as a function of mothering orientation.

In 10 experiments spatial learning in computer-simulated environments was investigated. Part 1 of the thesis examined whether navigational learning in real and computer-simulated environments is comparable. Two methods were used to fulfil this aim. First, learning in equivalent real and computer-simulated environments was directly compared. Second, the properties of mental representations from learning in a simulated environment were investigated in an attempt to examine whether they are similar to the properties of mental representations from comparable learning experiences in the real world. The results of both methods indicated that the cognitive processes involved in learning in real and computer-simulated environments are similar. Part 2 of the thesis was concerned with the effect of landmarks on learning in large-scale and small-scale computer-simulated environments. With respect to learning in large-scale environments, the results showed that landmarks can aid route-learning. A positive effect of landmarks on route-learning was found to be dependent on a successsful suppression of alternative learning strategies. With respect to learning in small-scale environments, landmarks were shown to aid people's memory for spatial locations. It is concluded that computer simulations have a great potential for research into spatial learning. Using such simulations it is possible to address research questions which otherwise may be difficult or impossible to examine.

Literature Review: Psychiatric comorbidities are not uncommon in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The current literature review addresses the prevalence of Anxiety Disorders (AD) in Autism Spectrum Disorder without Learning Disability. The findings from the examination of fifteen papers were unequivocal. The risk of AD in the ASD population is elevated and at levels similar to those of clinically anxious individuals. Service Evaluation: The service evaluation followed two sets of enquiries about the referral patterns and referrals processes in the Learning Disability Service. Data was collated from the electronic data system and focus groups. Following the evaluation, a new referral form was designed and implemented across the *** Service. Research Report: Despite the advancements in early detection of ASD, the number of adults seeking this diagnosis remains relatively high. These individuals’ presentation often fits with the behavioural phenotype of Asperger Syndrome (AS). This research sought to provide a better understanding of the experience of a late diagnosis of AS. Seven adults with AS were interviewed. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed to analyse data. Subsequently, four super-ordinate themes were generated: the struggles of being a misfit, revelation, realisation: making meaning of the self and AS and the value and importance of support. The research findings showed that AS diagnosis served as an explanation of a long lasting difficulties and a catalyst for change. The experience of receiving the AS diagnosis was not limited to a single event; it appeared to be a complex process characterised by different emotional and cognitive shifts. Critical Appraisal: The Critical Appraisal focuses on the research process from the perspective of the researcher. It illustrates the challenges entrenched in the duality of roles of a clinician and a researcher, methodological limitations of the study as well as recommendations for future research.

This thesis is concerned with the "field-dependence-independence" dimension which is held by Herman Witkin and his associates (1954, 1962) to underlie certain relationships between personality and perception. Specifically, I take issue with Witkin's claim that the "field-dependence" dimension is unitary, and with his attempt to explain individual differences in "field-dependence" in terms of "socialisation" practices and experiences; and hold that the extension of his theory into a cross-cultural setting has provided data which the theory, in its present form, is unable to handle. A review of the literature had suggested that such factors as visual experience, intelligence, and education would cut across the "field-dependence" dimension, and might provide a better account of individual and cultural differences in performance on Witkin's tests than would the hypothesised factor of "socialisation". To test these ideas empirically, therefore, I carried out a cross-cultural investigation in Hong Kong, selected as being the most suitable place to 'balance* the two points of view against each other. Two groups of Ss, one of 9-year-old children, the other of University students, were given a test battery which included Witkin's Rod-and- Frame and Embedded Figures Tests, measures of intelligence, and questionnaires concerning socialisation experiences (which were sent to the parents in the case of the 9-year-olds); and Indices of ability in the Chinese language were obtained. It was predicted that the "field-dependence" dimension would fragment, in that Witkin's tests would be unrelated to each other; that Embedded Figures Test scores would be more closely related to ability in Chinese and to intelligence; and that no evidence would be found for the effects of "socialisation". Results with the 9-year-olds were more supportive of Witkin's position. The Rod-and-Frame and Embedded Figures Tests were significantly correlated with each other, while the latter showed little relationship with ability in Chinese; on the other hand, no effect of "socialisation" was in evidence, and the role of some intellectual factor seemed everywhere apparent. With the students, however, my own position received greater support: again, "socialisation" seemed to have little effect on "field-dependenca", and the Embedded Figures Test was much more closely correlated with an intelligence measure than with the Rod-and-Frame Test. My general conclusion is that these principal results constitute a cogent criticism of Witkin's theoretical position, and suggestions are made about the type of modifications which are necessary if "field-dependence" theory is to continue to be of value in the cross-cultural context.

Eyewitness testimony is widely held to be the most powerful and pervasive type of evidence routinely introduced into courts of law and the most important source of evidence leading to conviction. The aim of the current research was to address the issue of eyewitness testimony in the British legal system. Specifically, the research was designed to examine contemporary understanding of the potential limitations of eyewitness memory and to compare the Cognitive Interview with the 'standard' British police interview. The survey of opinion about the limitations of eyewitness memory included all those groups involved in the legal process; police investigators, solicitors, barristers and members of the public (potential eyewitnesses and jurors). The major findings from this survey were that there was considerable lack of awareness of the actual implications of adjudicative facts that bear on the reliability of eyewitness testimony, and that solicitors and barristers were more in tune with findings of empirical research than were police officers. Investigation of the Cognitive Interview and its constituent parts failed to replicate the extremely positive results reported in the body of previous research by the interview authors, Fisher and Geiselman: significant and consistent enhancement effects were not typically found. The practical and theoretical explanations of these findings are discussed with particular reference to the importance of the method of training and the recent developments of the Cognitive Interview.

Coping strategies employed by unqualified direct-care staff working in both hospital and community units for clients with challenging behaviours were investigated in relation to experienced stress. A 40-item Coping Questionnaire (developed and previously used in a psychiatric setting), adapted from the work of Lazarus and his co-workers, which claims to delineate problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies, was used to examine the coping strategies employed. The GHQ-12 was used to measure reported stress levels. As there was no reported assessment of the psychometric properties of the 40-item Coping Questionnaire the construct validity, and both the internal and external reliability were analysed. The findings demonstrated adequate validity and reliability. The 105 respondents were found to use both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies when dealing with the demands of the workplace. A significant association was found between use of predominantly problem-focused coping strategies and lower levels of stress and incidence of stress caseness. Also, a significant association was found between use of predominantly emotion-focused coping strategies and higher levels of stress and incidence of stress caseness. This finding is discussed with particular reference to recent research that did not demonstrate an association between a scale based on problem-focused coping and distress. The potential differentiating factors of: work setting (i.e. hospital or community unit), level of contact with clients and the number of colleagues on duty were shown to differentiate between persons reporting higher or lower levels of stress. Respondents who were based in the community, those who spent higher proportions of their working day with challenging behaviour clients and those who worked with fewer colleagues reported significantly higher levels of stress. The overall findings are discussed in relation to broader issues of service provision with particular reference to staff turnover and quality of care. A model of stress and coping is provided and is compared with a model developed from research based on informal carers.

No description available.

Various hypotheses derived from Gibson's psychophysical theory of perception are experimentally tested. Results show that judgments of the relative physical sizes and relative physical distances of objects, made over variously textured surfaces, are strongly influenced by the texture density gradients of stimulation, derived from the surfaces. Results, however, also indicate that, in isolation, the monocular stimulation gradient of texture density cannot supply observers with sufficient "stimulus information" to enable their phenomenal judgments of the spatial ordering of the environment to accord exactly with the actual physical dimensions of the environment. Despite the presence of well defined texture density gradients of stimulation, Ss' judgments of both the relative physical sizes and the relative physical distances of objects are influenced by, theoretically incidental, extraneous stimuli. Ss' judgments also show variations under conditions of monocular or binocular vision. Ss' judgments of the relative physical distances of certain objects are shown to be significantly related to their judgments of the relative physical sizes of these objects, in accordance with predictions derived from the "Size-Distance Invariance Hypothesis." Despite the presence of a well defined texture density gradient of stimulation, relative differences in the retinal image sizes of various objects are seen to influence judgments of the relative distances of the objects, both when the objects are dissimilar in shape and, even when Ss are not manipulatively familiar with the objects. Results are discussed in relation to Gibson's theory (considered as a "cue theory" of perception). Several directives for future research projects are suggested. In particular, results of a preliminary investigation indicate that following a period of "texture deprivation", during which translucent goggles are worn, Ss become more responsive to textural factors in the environment. It is suggested that specific forms of sensory deprivation may create specific types of "stimulus hunger.".

Measuring human performance in terms of variables relating directly to the task under evaluation does not always provide indications of changes in the operator's response. In consequence techniques have been developed which attempt to assess the load imposed by the task in question on the subject in terms of his response on an additional, secondary, task. The literature on the use of secondary tasks is examined and the techniques' successes and shortcomings are assessed. A series of experiments are described in which a secondary task was used to obtain information about the use of a purely numerical display, instead of one embodying a scale and pointer indication, as part of a psycho-motor task. Secondary task measures were able to indicate that parity of performance on the two displays appeared to have been achieved only at the expense of increased effort on the part of the subjects when using the purely numerical display. It was found that the presence of the secondary task impaired performance on the primary task. This deterioration took place in spite of instructions to the subjects regarding which task was to be considered the primary task. Further experiments were undertaken in an attempt to discover if the source of the interference between the two tasks could be located. It was found that the greatest interference occurred during those phases of the primary task in which decision making and an ensuing action were required. Presenting the secondary task via the same and different sensory pathways to that used for the primary task had no influence upon the patterns of interference obtained. This result was interpreted as indicating that the source of the interference was at a central level in the operator rather than at a peripheral sensory level. This finding is attributed to the limitations in the central information handling processes of the human operator. Physiological measures recorded during two of the experiments showed that the addition of a secondary task raised the level of the subject's responses. Patterns of response variation, particularly in terms of heart rate, could be closely related to the decision making and action components of the primary task.

A review of the literature on visual field asymmetries indicated that although the constructs of strategy, processing, and attention had been invoked to account for results there was little objective evidence to support these views. The Posner letter classification tasks provide a methodology which enables such constructs to be tested empirically, and accordingly were employed in this research. Sequential double letter classifications were used because they provide a stable visual match advantage (Kroll, 1975), permitting an evaluation of retention interval effects without the complications of code change. Despite such stability on cognitive dependent variables, visual field effects differed between 9 sec (Experiment I) and those of less than one second (Experiment III). A change in coding bias was induced by the use of irregular time structure (Experiments IV, V, VII) although overall visual field differences were comparable to those obtained when coding was stable (Experiments III and VI). Four of the relevant studies indicated a right field advantage for cross-case (name) matches, and non asymmetric identity or visual match judgements. Single letter stimuli showed a left field advantage for identity matches, and a right field effect for cross-case classifications. The overall pattern of results indicated that visual field differences arose from the time of test stimulus presentation onwards. These findings were incompatible with models of visual field differences which have been advanced hitherto. An integration of strategy, attention and processing hypotheses was advanced and suggestions made for further research.