Age difference in political decision making: Strategies for evaluating political candidates

To investigate age-related differences in strategies used to evaluate political candidates, an experimental study employed protocol tracing techniques with a computerized information matrix. Forty younger and forty older adults gathered information about and evaluated candidates in national and local elections. Older adults accessed less information but took longer to examine information and make choices. Differences in strategic processing suggest that young adults were more likely to organize their information searches by issues and to eliminate candidates based on issue stances. In contrast, older adults were more likely to organize their information searches by candidates and to engage in satisficing.     

Credibility of the Emotional Witness: A Study of Ratings by Court Judges

Previous studies have shown that the emotional behavior displayed during testimony may affect the perceived credibility of the witness. The present study compares credibility ratings by Norwegian court judges with those made by lay people. The participants viewed one of three video-recorded versions of a rape victim's statement, role played by a professional actress. The statement was given in a free-recall manner with one of three kinds of emotions displayed, termed congruent, neutral, and incongruent emotional expression. The results show that, in contrast to lay people, the credibility ratings of court judges and their votes for a guilty verdict were not influenced by the emotions displayed by the witness. Results are discussed in terms of professional expertise.     

Chemical profiling of heroin recovered from the North Korean merchant vessel Pong Su

Heroin samples, seized from the North Korean merchant vessel Pong Su in Australian waters, were analyzed to determine geographic origin. Duplicate samples were analyzed by the National Measurement Institute's Australian Forensic Drug Laboratory and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration's Special Testing and Research Laboratory. Alkaloid ratios were determined by both liquid chromatography-diode array detection (LC-DAD) and capillary electrophoresis-diode array detection (CE-DAD) techniques. Acid/neutral manufacturing by-products were determined by solvent extraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Solvents, trapped in the heroin particles during manufacture, were detected by both static headspace GC-MS and purge and trap GC-MS. The alkaloid ratios obtained were consistent with heroin of a Southeast Asian (SEA) origin and principal component analysis of the alkaloid results demonstrated the presence of at least four subgroupings within the seizure. The solvent analysis detected diethyl ether and ethyl acetate, solvents typically seen in SEA heroin. However, the acid/neutral analysis revealed compounds not normally seen in heroin of a SEA origin. Furthermore, sterol-like molecules, always detected in the acid/neutral analysis of SEA heroin, were absent from the Pong Su samples. The Pong Su heroin, although similar to SEA heroin, has sufficient differences to classify it as having an unknown origin at the time of this writing.