Does Reading Words Differing in Arousal Load Influence Interference Control in Flanker Task?

Arousal involves a physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli. It could be treated also as an energetic property of stimulation. On the basis of previous findings concerning affective state modulation of spatial processing, I predict that arousal impact will follow the Yerkes-Dodson law. To test this hypothesis, 135 words were chosen and divided into three levels of arousal (low, medium and high), whilst controlling for valence, concreteness, frequency of appearance and length. Forty-nine individuals performed a flanker task while reading the words in order to provide a measure of interference control over spatial processing. The accuracy of answers, reaction times and interference effect index were analyzed. It appears that, at the medium arousal level of words, arousal was optimal for interference control, while both low and high arousal impaired the cognitive control of interference caused by competing flanker and target stimuli features.     

Performance of Faller and Nonfaller Older Adults on a Motor–Motor Interference Task

Typically, falls in older adults occur when 2 tasks are performed simultaneously, due to the increased motor demand required to maintain stability and attention to perform the other task. The authors' purpose was to investigate walking while grasping, transporting, and placing a dowel on a predetermined target while manipulating difficulty levels of the manual task. Faller and nonfaller older adults performed a walking block (manual tasks combined with gait) and a stationary block (upright stance combined with manual tasks). The manual task involved grasping, transporting, and placing the dowel over a target. The results showed that fallers underperformed when compared with nonfallers in the task of placing the dowel over the target. The main difference observed between the groups was found in the condition that required allocation of attention between tasks and greater accuracy in the final placement of the object. Fallers showed gait stability similar to the nonfallers, but fallers were less accurate than nonfallers in the object placement task, especially for the highest level of difficulty. Thus, fallers seem to use a stability-first strategy. Fallers had problems in executing the manual tasks, which suggests a more global change in motor behavior rather than specific changes to balance control.     

The Young and the Restless? The Liberalization of Young Evangelicals

This study examines popular and scholarly perceptions that young American evangelicals are becoming more liberal than older evangelicals. Young evangelicals are more likely to have more liberal attitudes on same‐sex marriage, premarital sex, cohabitating, and pornography, but not abortion. This analysis is situated within the theoretical context of emerging adulthood, and considers higher education, delayed marriage, and shifts in moral authority as potential mediating factors accounting for age differences. A new method for operationalizing evangelical as a religious identity is suggested and three different classification schemes are examined: religious tradition, self‐identified evangelicals, and theologically conservative Protestants. The data come from the 2006 Panel Study of American Religion and Ethnicity.     

Moderation of Stimulus Material on the Prediction of IQ with Infants' Performance in the Visual Expectation Paradigm: Do Greebles Make the Task More Challenging?

The objective of this study was to examine the role of the stimulus material for the prediction of later IQ by early learning measures in the Visual Expectation Paradigm (VExP). The VExP was assessed at 9 months using two types of stimuli, Greebles and human faces. Greebles were assumed to be associated with a higher load on working memory in comparison to human faces. IQ was assessed at 3 years and 4 months of age. Sixty‐four children participated at both assessments in this longitudinal study. The results show a moderation of the stimulus material on the prediction of IQ. With Greebles as stimulus material, a significant relationship between infants' learning and IQ was found. There was no relation when infants' learned in the VExP using human faces. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Influence of Heidegger’s Thought on the Development of Philosophy in Ex-Yugoslav Countries

The purpose of the article is to present the outlines of the reception and the influence of Heidegger’s philosophy on the territory of former Yugoslavia. This reception and influence were in their essence co-conditioned by specific political, social and cultural circumstances in the region, which were throughout accompanied by “the syndrome of dehumanization”. The confrontation with Heidegger’s philosophy is therefore co-defined by the profoundly experienced crisis of European humanity. During both world wars the attempt of an overcoming of this crisis of humanity by the means of phenomenological and existentialist philosophy was the main focus of attention. The period after the Second World War is denoted by the linking of Marxism with Heidegger’s attempt to surpass philosophy as metaphysics through the perspective of the history of being; in this context we specifically discuss the Praxis philosophical school and the original philosophical thought of Vanja Sutli?. During the disintegration of Yugoslavia and in the period thereafter, besides the intensive appropriation of Heidegger’s thought through translations and interpretations, which also led to the thorough study of Slavic philosophical terminologies, post-Heideggerian ways of thinking came to the fore, together with the possibility for a new humanization within the wider European and global social framework.     

The Influence of Social Regard on the Customer–Service Firm Relationship: The Moderating Role of Length of Relationship

Purpose  

The authors examine the influence of employees’ social regard toward the customers on customer satisfaction, trust, and word of mouth. In addition, we analyzed the moderating role of length of relationship between the service provider and the customer on the effects of social regard on the customer relationship outcomes.     

The Perspective of Psychosomatic Medicine on the Effect of Religion on the Mind–Body Relationship in Japan

Shintoism, Buddhism, and Qi, which advocate the unity of mind and body, have contributed to the Japanese philosophy of life. The practice of psychosomatic medicine emphasizes the connection between mind and body and combines the psychotherapies (directed at the mind) and relaxation techniques (directed at the body), to achieve stress management. Participation in religious activities such as preaching, praying, meditating, and practicing Zen can also elicit relaxation responses. Thus, it is time for traditional religions to play an active role in helping those seeking psychological stability after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the ongoing crisis related to the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, to maintain a healthy mind–body relationship.     

Sad Mood and Music Choice: Does the Self-Relevance of the Mood-Eliciting Stimulus Moderate Song Preference?

Recent findings regarding the influence of sad mood on music preference have been inconsistent, with some research suggesting that sadness promotes selective exposure to happy music and other work suggesting the very opposite. In three experiments, we investigated whether this discrepancy may have resulted from differences in the extent to which sadness was elicited by having participants think about personally relevant versus personally irrelevant negative events. To this end, we manipulated sad mood via a guided visualization technique in which participants were led to imagine experiencing a loss that was relevant either to their own or to an unfamiliar individual's concerns. Results revealed that irrespective of the self-relevance of the mood induction, individuals in sad, relative to happy, or neutral moods preferred to avoid expressively happy music. This aversion was partially mediated by beliefs that choosing happy music while sad would be inappropriate and thereby ineffectual in mood repair. Together, these findings contribute to resolving discrepancies in the literature and help advance understanding of the influence of mood on music choice.     

The Effects of Sad Mood on Reports of Parents’ Caregiving Behaviors

Two studies examined the hypothesis that recollections of parents’ child-rearing behaviors on the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI: Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979) are influenced by current mood. Study 1 investigated the effects of sad versus neutral mood induction on PBI scores in 50 college students. Participants rated their parents as less caring following the sad mood induction than following the neutral induction. Study 2 investigated the effects of naturally occurring changes in depressive symptoms on PBI scores over a two month period. Changes in depressive symptoms correlated with changes in father care scores and tended to correlate with changes in mother care scores. Findings from both studies suggest that retrospective reports of parenting are susceptible to mood bias and highlight the limits of using cross sectional designs to explore the relationship between parenting and depression.     

Influence of stimulus–response assignment on the joint-action correspondence effect

Sebanz et al. (Cognition 88:B11–B21, 2003) have shown that spatial correspondence effects are observed even when the two-choice reaction time task is distributed between two people, such that each person is assigned only one of two possible stimulus–response (S–R) pairings. The effect is similar to when one person is assigned and responds to both S–R pairings. These results have been taken to suggest that two people performing a complementary task co-represent each other’s response alternatives. In our experiment, we examined performance when paired participants responded to the same S–R alternative. We reasoned that co-representation would be of little advantage as the task alternatives would be the same for both participants. Correspondence effects were absent when paired participants responded to the same S–R alternative but emerged when they responded to different alternatives.     

Influence of Cd and Ge on the kinetics of Guinier–Preston zone formation in Cu–Be alloys

The influence of Cd and Ge on the kinetics of Guinier–Preston zone formation has been studied for Cu–2?wt%?Be–0.3?wt%?Cd and Cu–2?wt% Be–0.3wt%?Ge solid solutions. The relative volume fractions of these Guinier–Preston (GP) zones are determined for different times of ageing at 473?K by a method based on microhardness measurements. Cd atoms in Cu–Be–Cd accelerate GP zone formation. This is due to the supersaturation of Cd atoms in Cu and their strong binding energy with vacancies. In contrast, the Ge atoms do not influence GP zone formation in Cu–Be–Ge. The binding energies between the two solute atoms and a vacancy, and the concentration of the quenched-in vacancies bound to the solute atoms, are calculated using the Hasiguti formula and the Kimura equation.     

The Effects of a Teacher–Child Play Intervention on Classroom Compliance in Young Children in Child Care Settings

The current study evaluated the effects of a teacher-conducted play intervention on preschool-aged children’s compliance in child care settings. Study participants included 8 children ranging in age from 3 to 5 years and 5 early childhood education teachers within 5 classrooms across 5 child care centers. A combination ABAB and multiple baseline design was used to demonstrate the effects of the play intervention. Pretreatment observations revealed varying degrees of child compliance difficulties. The play intervention was associated with improved rates of compliance for each participant child. The intervention is discussed with regard to its potential as a proactive, nonintrusive strategy for improving young children’s classroom compliance.     

“My Religion Picked My Birth Control”: The Influence of Religion on Contraceptive Use

This research investigates the influence of religious preference and practice on the use of contraception. Much of earlier research examines the level of religiosity on sexual activity. This research extends this reasoning by suggesting that peer group effects create a willingness to mask the level of sexuality through the use of contraception. While it is understood that certain religions, that is, Catholicism does not condone the use of contraceptives, this research finds that Catholics are more likely to use certain methods of contraception than other religious groups. With data on contraceptive use from the Center for Disease Control’s Family Growth Survey, a likelihood probability model is employed to investigate the impact religious affiliation on contraception use. Findings suggest a preference for methods that ensure non-pregnancy while preventing feelings of shame and condemnation in their religious communities.     

Native-Language Phonological Interference in Early Hakka–Mandarin Bilinguals’ Visual Recognition of Chinese Two-Character Compounds: Evidence from the Semantic-Relatedness Decision Task

Previous research has indicated that, in viewing a visual word, the activated phonological representation in turn activates its homophone, causing semantic interference. Using this mechanism of phonological mediation, this study investigated native-language phonological interference in visual recognition of Chinese two-character compounds by early Hakka–Mandarin bilinguals. A visual semantic-relatedness decision task in Chinese was given to native Mandarin speakers and early Hakka–Mandarin bilinguals. Both participant groups made more false positive errors and responded more slowly to the pair of two-character compounds containing a homophone; but only Hakka–Mandarin bilinguals made more false positive errors and responded more slowly to the pair containing a near-homophone. We concluded that phonology is needed in both native and nonnative speakers’ meaning access of Chinese two-character compounds and that native-language phonological interference is universal in L2 visual word recognition, not language type dependent; phonological and orthographic information are “interactive-compensatory” in helping Hakka readers’ resolve the interference.     

Supporting Creativity Or Conformity? Influence of Home Environment and Parental Factors on the Value of Children's Creativity Characteristics

Although creativity is a desirable skill, parenting for creativity may be quite a challenge and may be less favored than parenting for conformity. The present study aims to investigate parent-related factors that may support creativity versus conformity at home. To this end, this study examined how parents’ attitudes and values toward creativity, creative home environment, and mindful parenting style are related to parents’ perceptions of creative versus socially acceptable characteristics. Analyses of the data collected from 1324 parents (predominantly mothers) indicated that parents were more supportive of creativity traits than socially acceptable characteristics. Most importantly, parents’ attitudes and values toward creativity and creative home environment were significantly and positively related to support for creativity characteristics, whereas mindful parenting was significantly and negatively related to support for socially acceptable characteristics in children. Those findings show that parents who value creativity and set up a creative environment are more likely to support children's creativity. Mindful parenting style seems to indirectly support creativity because it is associated with lower respect for socially acceptable characteristics, some of which are at odds with creativity. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications for training programs that enhance awareness of creativity.     

Intergenerational transmission of qualities of the parent–child relationship in the population-based Young Finns Study

We examined the intergenerational transmission of parent–child relationship qualities in a population-based Finnish sample of 1418 participants (G2) and their mothers (G1). At baseline, G1 (Mage = 38) reported qualities of the parent–child relationship in terms of emotional warmth and acceptance towards G2 (age range 3–18). After 28 years, G2 (Mage = 39) rated the qualities of the parent–child relationship regarding their own children using the same questionnaire. Emotional warmth and acceptance were transmitted across generations even after controlling for demographic and family characteristics in both generations. The transmission was stronger for emotional warmth than acceptance. For emotional warmth, intergenerational transmission was stronger for men than women. The findings provide evidence for the long-term transmission of parenting quality across generations.     

Influence of Perspective of Action Observation Training on Residual Limb Control in Naïve Prosthesis Usage

Prior work in amputees and partial limb immobilization have shown improved neural and behavioral outcomes in using their residual limb with prosthesis when undergoing observation-based training with a prosthesis-using actor compared to an intact limb. It was posited that these improvements are due to an alignment of user with the actor. It may be affected by visual angles that allow emphasis of critical joint actions which may promote behavioral changes. The purpose of this study was to examine how viewing perspective of observation-based training effects prosthesis adaptation in naïve device users. Twenty nonamputated prosthesis users learned how to use an upper extremity prosthetic device while viewing a training video from either a sagittal or coronal perspective. These views were chosen as they place visual emphasis on different aspects of task performance to the device. The authors found that perspective of actions has a significant role in adaptation of the residual limb while using upper limb prostheses. Perspectives that demonstrate elbow adaptations to prosthesis usage may enhance the functional motor outcomes of action observation therapy. This work has potential implications on how prosthetic device operation is conveyed to persons adapting to prostheses through action observation based therapy.     

A Test and Refinement of the Demand–Control–Support Model in the Construction Industry

This study aims at a test and further refinement of the Demand–Control–Support (DCS) model among construction workers (N = 210). On the basis of theory and empirical evidence, we hypothesized that mental or physical job demands, low job control, and lack of social support at work have direct and synergistic effects on burnout. The model was expanded by hypothesizing that burnout mediates the relationships between these potentially demanding working conditions on the one hand, and health complaints on the other. Results of a series of structural equation analyses partly supported these hypotheses. The proposed model fitted adequately to the data, although some variables in the DCS model did not make a unique contribution to explaining variance in burnout and (indirectly) health complaints. Interestingly, lack of social support was the most important determinant of burnout and health complaints among construction workers. In addition, a significant three-way interaction effect partly confirmed the synergism hypothesis: Physical demands were only related to burnout if participants had poor job control and reported high social support. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.