Shared Affect and Dyadic Synchrony Among Secure and Insecure Parent–Toddler Dyads

The present investigation explored the role of shared affect in parent–child dyadic synchrony during toddlerhood and examined if patterns of dyadic synchrony and shared affect differ for secure and insecure parent–child dyads. Data were collected from 128 families with toddler age children (67 girls and 61 boys) during a laboratory assessment. Mother–toddler and father–toddler interactions were coded for shared positive and negative affect, as well as dyadic synchrony. Attachment status was assessed using the Strange Situation. Data revealed that securely attached parent–toddler dyads spent more time in synchronous interaction, and less time in asynchronous interaction, than insecurely attached parent–toddler dyads. Parent–toddler synchronous interaction among both securely and insecurely attached dyads was characterized by shared positive affect. Among insecure dyads, shared negative affect was more predominate in asynchronous than in synchronous interaction. The role of individual differences in the manifestation of synchronous interaction among securely and insecurely attached parent–toddler dyads is discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Response patterns and cardiovascular effects during response sequence acquisition by humans.

The effects of temporal delays imposed between successive responses and of vitamin C administration were examined on the acquisition of response sequences and on cardiovascular reactivity during sequence acquisition. Thirteen adult subjects (6 female, 7 male), in good health, gave written consent prior to participating in 12 weekly 45-min sessions. Points, exchanged for money after each session, were presented when subjects completed 15-response sequences on a touch-sensitive three-response keypad. A position counter increased from 0 to 14 as subjects emitted correct responses in the sequence. Four novel 15-response sequences were presented each session. No delays were imposed between successive responses during the acquisition of one sequence; delays were imposed immediately following each response during the acquisition of a second sequence, thereby delaying response feedback; delays were imposed following feedback during acquisition of a third sequence, resulting in the removal of the stimulus correlated with sequence position; and, as a control condition, delays were imposed following feedback, but stimuli correlated with sequence position were reinstated prior to the next response during acquisition of a fourth sequence. Subjects were exposed to one of two delay durations (0.2 and 0.5 or 0.5 and 1.0 s) each session, and delay durations alternated every session. During Weeks 5 to 8, subjects received 3 grams of vitamin C per day, whereas during Weeks 1 to 4 and 9 to 12, subjects received placebo under single-blind conditions. All subjects acquired the sequences, as evidenced by decreasing percentages of incorrect responses across trials. When temporal delays were imposed between successive responses during sequence acquisition, acquisition efficiency was enhanced. Examination of response latencies suggested that the status of preceding responses (i.e., correct or incorrect) rather than the status of the position counter influenced subsequent responding. Cardiovascular effects were inversely related to the length of the temporal delay. Neither cardiovascular reactivity or sequence acquisition were related to vitamin C administration.     

Developmental changes in the semantic processing of pictures and words

Second- and fifth-graders' semantic decision times for pictures and words were analyzed relative to the predictions derived from unitary- and dual-memory models. At both grade levels, word-word response latencies were greater than picture-word latencies which, in turn, were greater than picture-picture latencies. An interaction between Grade and Condition indicated that verbal access times decreased more than pictorial access times. The data fit the predictions of a memory model postulating category storage in a single memory system as opposed to simultaneous representation in verbal and nonverbal memory systems. It was concluded that with increasing experience verbal access to this single semantic system is more rapid.     

Effects of imposed delay of response and item complexity on auditory comprehension by aphasics

Ten aphasic and five control subjects were administered an auditory comprehension task similar to Levels I-IV of the Revised Token Test under conditions of 0, 5, 10, and 20 sec of imposed response delay. Responses were evaluated in terms of performance accuracy and response time. Aphasic subjects' response accuracy was significantly effected by an interaction between the length of delay imposed and the complexity of the stimulus. The aphasic group also demonstrated a significant main effect for item complexity. Control subjects' accuracy was not influenced by the treatment conditions. Latency measures indicated the aphasic subjects were slower to respond across all treatment conditions. Both groups' latency scores were significantly effected by item complexity. A comparison of mean latencies by condition did, however, suggest different patterns of response for the two groups. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and clinical implications for the auditory comprehension deficits of aphasia.     

Effects of age of acquisition and priming on picture naming

Four experiments examined the interaction of age of acquisition (AoA) and priming on picture naming. Experiment 1 found that initial-letter priming and AoA significantly affected picture-naming latencies, but there was no interaction between them. Experiment 2 found that initial-phoneme priming and AoA significantly affected picture-naming latencies, but again there was no interaction. Experiment 3 repeated Barry, Hirsh, Johnston, and Williams's (2001) priming study using a very short interval between prime and target. Experiment 3 replicated previous findings of a significant interaction between priming and AoA. Experiment 4 repeated this investigation with a procedure that did not require participants to articulate the prime. Once again, there were significant effects of priming, AoA, and the interaction between them. The implications of these findings in relation to accounts of AoA and its locus of effect are discussed.     

Thinking about false belief: It’s not just what children say,but how long it takes them to say it

We examined 240 children’s (3.5-, 4.5-, and 5.5-year-olds) latency to respond to questions on a battery of false-belief tasks. Response latencies exhibited a significant cross-over interaction as a function of age and response type (correct vs. incorrect). 3.5-year-olds’ incorrect latencies were faster than their correct latencies, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for 4.5- and 5.5-year-olds. Although these results are most consistent with conceptual change theories of false-belief reasoning, no extant theory fully accounts for our data pattern. We argue that response latency data provide new information about underlying cognitive processes in theory of mind reasoning, and can shed light on concept acquisition more broadly.     

无关负性信息对复发性抑郁缓解者工作记忆内容更新的影响

摘 要 采用改编后的Sternberg 任务考查无关负性信息对复发性抑郁缓解个体工作记忆内容更新的影响。与正常组相比,缓解期个体在无关负性条件下对探测图片的反应时要长于有关负性条件下的反应时,而正常个体在无关正性探测图片的反应时明显长于有关正性条件下的反应时。同时缓解期个体在无关负性条件下对探测图片的反应时明显长于新图条件下的反应时,出现明显的干扰效应。结果表明反复发作的抑郁缓解者在摒弃工作记忆中无关负性内容时存在障碍。     

Testosterone increases analgesia,anxiolysis, and cognitive performance of male rats

Preliminary evidence suggests that testosterone (T) may have anxiety-reducing and cognitive-enhancing properties in animals and people. Performance in a number of affective and cognitive behavioral tasks was examined in intact, T-depleted, and T-depleted and T-replaced male rats. Rats that were gonadally intact (n = 33), gonadectomized (GDX; n = 30), or GDX with silastic capsules of T implanted (n = 28) were tested through a battery of affective tasks (horizontal crossing, open field, elevated plus-maze, emergence, holeboard, social interaction, tailflick, pawlick, and defensive burying) and in the inhibitory avoidance task for cognitive performance. An additional 6 rats per group had plasma androgen concentrations measured and were determined to be physiological for intact rats, supraphysiological for T-implanted rats, and near the nadir for GDX rats. Testosterone implants produced analgesia as shown by the increased tailflick latencies of the GDX rats with silastic capsules of T implanted, relative to intact or GDX rats. Testosterone also produced anxiolysis. Intact rats spent more time interacting with a conspecific and less time burying an electrified prod than did the GDX or T-implanted rats. Intact rats or GDX rats with T implants also spent more time on the open arms of the elevated plus-maze than did GDX rats. Testosterone also enhanced cognitive performance in the inhibitory avoidance task. Intact rats had longer crossover latencies in the inhibitory avoidance task relative to GDX rats; GDX rats with T implants had longer crossover latencies relative to GDX or intact rats. Together, these data demonstrate that endogenous T or administration of T produced analgesia and enhanced affect and cognitive performance of adult male rats.     

A human sound transducer/reproducer: Temporal capabilities of a profoundly echolalic child

Stimulus-echo latencies of a blind, severely echolalic child were measured to assess the capabilities of spontaneous transduction/reproduction of a verbal signal. Mean offset-to-onset latencies of 270 msec and onset-to-onset latencies of 792 msec are comparable to laboratory reaction times for syllable imitation. Results are considered within the theoretical context of physiological speech, i.e., externalized exposure of a psittacine level of verbal processing divorced from semantic, syntactic, lexical and, quite probably, phonological interference.     

Benefiting from social capital in online support groups: an empirical study of cancer patients.

With measures specific to the online cancer environment and data from an online survey of cancer patients, the current study finds support for the following model: asynchronous online communication --> social interaction --> social support --> positive health outcomes in terms of stress, depression, and coping. The findings suggest that the Internet can be a positive cyber venue for cancer patients as they confront illness, undergo treatment, and seek out support.     

ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL COMPETENCE IN AN EVALUATION-INTERACTION ANALOGUE1

Forty men were selected from a larger pool of 235 college students who had completed three questionnaires designed to measure social competence. Twenty high socially competent and 20 low socially competent college men were given either positive or negative feedback by a woman confederate in a five-minute dyadic interaction. The confederate made either four all-positive or all-negative statements on the impression she was forming about the men during the interaction. Measures were taken of the amount of time the men spoke, the latency of their response to the confederate's statements, and the number of topics and topic changes used during the interaction. Judgements were also made on the men's physical attractiveness and social skill. Finally, the men's verbal reactions to the confederate statements were content analyzed for direction (self, confederate, or other) and valence (positive, negative, or neutral). A 2-by-2-by-4 (competence by feedback by statements) ANOVA indicated that subjects differed over trials (statements) in their reaction latencies as a function of their competence level and feedback: low competent men took considerably longer to react to the confederate's negative feedback than did men in other conditions. There were no differences among groups on the amount of conversation time or number of topics and topic changes. High competent men were judged to be more attractive and more socially skilled than low competent men. Content analysis revealed that high competent and low competent men did not differ in their verbal responses when receiving positive feedback. During negative feedback, however, high competent men employed a wider range of responses than low competent men. These findings suggest that high and low socially competent men may differ in their responses to evaluative feedback such that high competent men are both quicker to respond and have a broader repertoire of response than do low competent men.     

Individual differences in disengagement of fixation and temperament: Longitudinal research on toddlers

It has been suggested that a shift occurs in the brain's control system from the orienting network in infancy to the executive network by the age of 3–4 years; however, there has been little empirical evidence of this shift during toddlerhood. Therefore, the present study examined how the orienting system in infancy is related to an effortful control system at a later age. Children were assessed longitudinally at 12, 18, 24, and 36 months of age, using a gap-overlap task in which dynamic geometrical-shape stimuli were presented. Parents completed temperament questionnaires about the children at each age. A delayed-gratification task was also given to 36-month-olds. Overall, saccadic latencies in the gap-overlap task were significantly faster at 36 months. At all ages, responses were slower during overlap trials than during gap or no-overlap trials. Longer latencies in the overlap condition were associated with low temperamental orienting/regulation scores at 12 months but with high effortful control scores at 18 and 24 months. The associations at 18 and 24 months are thought to represent a genuine positive association between effortful control and sustained and focused attention.     

Interactive coordination of currently depressed inpatient mothers and their infants during the postpartum period

In healthy mother–infant dyads, interactions are characterized by a pattern of matching and mismatching interactive states with quick reparation of mismatches into matches. In contrast, dyads in which mothers have postpartum depression show impaired mother–infant interaction patterns over the first few months of the infant's life. The majority of studies that have examined such interaction patterns have drawn on community samples rather than on depressed inpatient samples of mothers who were in a state of current depression at the time of assessment. To date, no study has investigated specific microanalytic patterns of interactive coordination between depressed German mothers and their infants using the Face‐to‐Face Still‐Face paradigm (FFSF). The primary goal of this study was to evaluate specific patterns of dyadic coordination and the capacity for repairing states of miscoordination in an inpatient sample of postpartum currently depressed mothers and their infants as compared with a healthy control group. A sample of 28 depressed inpatient German mothers and their infants (age range = 1–8 months, M age = 4.06 months) and 34 healthy dyads (range = 1–8 months, M age = 3.89 months) were videotaped while engaging in the FFSF. A focus was placed on the play and reunion episodes. Compared with healthy dyads, dyads with depressed mothers showed less coordination of positive matched states and longer latencies when repairing interactive mismatching states into positive matched states. Clinical implications are discussed.     

The ring measure of social values: A computerized procedure for assessing individual differences in information processing and social value orientation

Personality can be defined from a social standpoint as a more or less consistent system of orientations that influences an individual's decisions and behaviors regarding the allocation of resources to self and others. One of the more robust models for the measurement of an individual's interpersonal utilities is McClintock's social value approach (McClintock, 1972). In the present study, we evaluate the construct of social value by testing the hypothesis that the cognitive processing time of subjects should vary systematically as a function of the type of social value being expressed. Towards this end, the Ring Measure of Social Values (Liebrand, 1984) was administered to 61 male and 124 female subjects. As predicted, cooperators and competitors were observed to have longer response latencies than altruists and individualists. In addition, a Social Value by Outcome Structure interaction was observed, and explained by assuming that cooperators are more hesitant in making decisions involving negative outcomes for others, whereas competitors are more reluctant to assign positive outcomes to others. These research findings add further evidence regarding the validity to the construct of social value.     

Applying imagined contact to improve physiological responses in anticipation of intergroup interactions and the perceived quality of these interactions

This experiment (N = 49) is the first to show that imagined contact can buffer anticipatory physiological responses to future interactions, and improve the quality of these interactions. Participants imagined a positive interaction with a person with schizophrenia, or in a control condition, a person who did not have schizophrenia. They then interacted with a confederate whom they believed had schizophrenia. Participants in the imagined contact condition reported more positive attitudes and less avoidance of people with schizophrenia, displayed smaller anticipatory physiological responses, specifically smaller changes in interbeat interval and skin conductance responses, and had a more positive interaction according to the confederate. These findings support applying imagined contact to improve interactions with people with severe mental illnesses.     

Additional-delay schedules: A continuum of temporal contingencies by varying food delay

Pigeons performed on discrete-trial, temporally defined schedules in which the food delay (D) was adjusted according to the latency of the key peck (X) and two schedule parameters (t and A). The schedule function was D = A(t − X), where D is the experienced delay between a response and a reinforcer. The schedule parameter t is the maximum value below which the present contingencies occur. A is the additional delay to reinforcement for each second the response latency is shorter than the t value. When A = 0 s, the schedule is a continuous reinforcement schedule with immediate reinforcement. When A = 1 s, the schedule is a conjunctive fixed-ratio 1 fixed-time t-s schedule. When A approaches infinity, the schedule becomes a differential reinforcement of long latency schedule. The latencies for subjects with t = 10 s and t = 30 s were observed with the present schedules having seven values for A between 0 s and 11 s. In addition, the latencies for subjects for which t = 30 s were observed at an A value of 31 s to 41 s. As the A value increased, the latencies approached the t value for subjects for which t = 10 s. The latencies for 30-s-t subjects did not approach t, even when the A value was 41 s. The latencies for 10-s-t subjects at 11-s A value were longer than those under yoked conditions having exactly the same delays/interreinforcement intervals. These results demonstrated a continuum of latency related to the schedule continuum (value of A) at a small t value.     

MATERNAL SENSITIVITY AND LATENCY TO POSITIVE EMOTION FOLLOWING CHALLENGE: PATHWAYS THROUGH EFFORTFUL CONTROL

The ability to self‐generate positive emotions is an important component of emotion regulation. In this study, we focus on children's latency to express positive emotions following challenging situations and assess whether this ability operates through early maternal sensitivity and children's effortful control. Longitudinal relations between maternal sensitivity, infant negative affect, effortful control, and latency to positive emotion following challenge were examined in 156 children who were 33 months of age. Structural equation models supported the hypothesis that maternal sensitivity during infancy predicted better effortful control and, in turn, shorter latencies to positive emotions following challenge at 33 months. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Relative frequency of attribute relevance and response times in visual search

Two experiments, one using a between-Ss and one a within-Ss design, showed that response latencies to single attribute probe stimuli were longer when the target stimulus embodied two attributes (form and color) rather than a single attribute. The magnitude of this "mixed attribute effect" was influenced by the probability of attribute relevance, but the "probability effect" was mostly due to a "repetition effect," such that latencies on trials involving repetitions of the same attribute were shorter than when the relevant attribute was shifted. Implications of these results are drawn for the issues of holistic vs attributized representation of the target stimulus and serial vs parallel search of a set of attributes. Although no class of models can be ruled out on the basis of these experiments, constraints can be imposed on the versions of each that are compatible with the data presented.     

Classical conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response under fixed and mixed CS-US intervals

The rabbit's nictitating membrane response was classically conditioned to a tone CS, followed by an electric shock US, at two randomly alternating CS-US interstimulus intervals (ISIs). Different groups were exposed to different proportions of 200- and 700-msec ISIs. The study revealed: (a) CR percentage was a direct function of the proportion of 200-msec ISIs; (b) trials to the first test-trial CR were an inverse function of the proportion of 200-msec ISIs; (c) CR onset latencies decreased over training; (d) CR peak latencies coincided with the temporal loci of the US; and (e) groups exposed to both ISIs acquired double-peaked CRs. Moreover, the amplitudes of nictitating membrane responses in the present experiment paralleled certain quantitative aspects of the free operant key peck response rates of pigeons trained under two mixed inter-reinforcement intervals. The results were discussed with respect to the micromolar response shaping and macromolecular CS-trace accounts of classical conditioning.     

Auditory generalization gradients for response latency in the monkey

Two monkeys were trained to press and hold a response key in the presence of a light and to release it at the onset of a pure tone. Initially, all responses with latencies shorter than 1 sec were reinforced without regard to the frequency of the pure tone, and the intensity of the pure tone that resulted in equal latencies at each frequency was determined. The second stage of the experiment consisted of discrimination training, during which releases to one pure-tone frequency (positive stimulus) were reinforced and releases to a second frequency (negative stimulus) were extinguished. Median latencies to the negative stimulus slowly increased as did the variability of the latency distribution for the negative stimulus. There was no evidence of a concurrent decrease in latencies to the positive stimulus indicative of behavioral contrast. The third part of the experiment consisted of determining maintained generalization gradients by increasing the number of nonreinforcement stimuli. The gradients that eventually resulted showed approximately equal latencies to all frequencies of the negative stimulus and shorter latencies to the positive stimulus frequency.