Slow change deafness.

In four experiments, we demonstrated a new phenomenon called "slow-change deafness." In Experiment 1 we presented listeners with continuous speech that changed three semitones in pitch over time, and we found that nearly 50 % failed to notice the change. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated the finding, demonstrated that the changes in the stimuli were well above threshold, and showed that when listeners were alerted to the possibility of a change, detection rates improved dramatically. Experiment 4 showed that increasing the magnitude of the change that occurred in the stimulus decreased the rate of change deafness. Our results are consistent with previous work that had shown that cueing listeners to potential auditory changes can significantly reduce change deafness. These findings support an account of change deafness that is dependent on both the magnitude of a stimulus change and listener expectations.

The effect of thin and muscular images on women's body satisfaction.

A substantial body of research documents that exposure to images depicting a "thin ideal" body figure effects women's state-oriented body satisfaction. However, there is evidence that the societal ideal body figure of females is evolving to be not just thin, but also muscular or toned. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to test the effect of exposure to ideal body figures that are both thin and muscular on female state body satisfaction. Researchers recruited female participants (N=366) from an online community (Amazon's Mechanical Turk) and randomly assigned them to view images in one of four conditions: thin, thin and muscular, thin and hypermuscular, and control (images of cars). Results indicated that state-oriented body satisfaction decreased in the thin condition and thin and muscular condition, but not the hypermuscular or control conditions. These findings have implications for clinical initiatives as well as future research.

Probably benign lesions at breast magnetic resonance imaging: preliminary experience in high-risk women.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the current study was to determine the frequency of 'probably benign' interpretations at breast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging screening of high-risk women and the frequency of subsequent malignancy in these women. METHODS: The authors performed a retrospective review of the records of 367 asymptomatic women with normal mammograms who had a high risk of developing breast cancer and whose first breast MR imaging screening examinations occurred during a 2-year period. The number of "probably benign" interpretations was determined, and follow-up data were obtained. RESULTS: A "probably benign" interpretation was given to 89 (24%) of 367 women. Follow-up MR imaging was performed for 70 (79%) of 89 women, with a median follow-up time of 11 months (range, 1-24 months). Twenty women subsequently underwent biopsy at a median of 9 months (range, 1-18 months) after MR imaging, due to progression on follow-up MR imaging (n=14) or for other reasons (n=6). Malignancies were found in 9 women, constituting 45% of the 20 women who underwent biopsy and 10% of the 89 women with probably benign lesions. In 6 of the 9 women who developed malignant disease (7% of the 89 women in the study), the malignancy was detected by follow-up MR imaging of an area that previously was interpreted as probably benign. Tumor histology was ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in five patients and infiltrating ductal carcinoma in four. CONCLUSIONS: A "probably benign" interpretation was given to 24% of high-risk women at their first breast MR imaging screening examination. In 7-10% of women with "probably benign" interpretations, malignant disease subsequently developed in an area initially judged to be probably benign; of these malignancies, more than half were DCIS, and more than half were detected by MR imaging only.