Interpreting subtle inconsistency: a developmental-clinical perspective

The meaning attributed to subtle inconsistent messages by outpatient clinical and nonclinical adolescents was studied. The verbal and nonverbal cues used to attribute this meaning were also studied. Both groups attributed meaning to consistent messages accurately and without hesitation and attributed meaning to subtle inconsistent messages with much less consensus and clarity. The clinical group used a verbal focus at times and a nonverbal one at other times to interpret consistent and inconsistent messages that were indicative of a developmentally transitional phase. Nonclinical adolescents always used a nonverbal focus to interpret consistent and inconsistent messages in a developmentally age-appropriate manner.     

Specifying emotional information: Regulation of emotional intensity via executive processes

The degree of specificity at which emotional information is activated might determine evoked emotional intensity. However, the nature of this effect remains unclear. Four studies tested (a) whether people hold the na?ve theory that activating specific details of emotional information arouses acute feelings; (b) whether an emotionally distressed population (social phobics) also holds that theory; and (c) whether voluntarily focusing on specific aspects of a distressing situation reduces its emotional impact. Results indicate that control as well as emotionally distressed people hold a na?ve theory that specifying emotion increases its intensity. However, Studies 3 and 4 showed that voluntarily elaborating specific aspects of a distressing situation reduces distress. Results are discussed in terms of voluntary versus automatic processing of emotional information.     

Psychological adjustment in breast cancer: processes of emotional distress.

The process of psychological adjustment to breast cancer was examined at diagnosis and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups in a sample of 80 women with Stage I-Stage IV breast cancer. At diagnosis, symptoms of anxiety/depression were predicted by low dispositional optimism, and this path was partially mediated by use of emotion-focused disengagement coping. Younger age also was predictive of anxiety/depression symptoms at time of diagnosis, and this relationship was fully mediated by magnitude of intrusive thoughts. At 3 months, changes in anxiety/depression symptoms were predicted only by intrusive thoughts. At 6 months, low dispositional optimism reemerged as a significant predictor of changes in anxiety/depression and again was partially mediated by the use of emotion-focused disengagement coping. Independent effects for problem-focused engagement and disengagement and emotion-focused engagement coping were also found at 6 months. Implications of these data for psychosocial interventions with breast cancer patients are highlighted.     

Cognitive and emotional processes during dreaming: a neuroimaging view

Dream is a state of consciousness characterized by internally-generated sensory, cognitive and emotional experiences occurring during sleep. Dream reports tend to be particularly abundant, with complex, emotional, and perceptually vivid experiences after awakenings from rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This is why our current knowledge of the cerebral correlates of dreaming, mainly derives from studies of REM sleep. Neuroimaging results show that REM sleep is characterized by a specific pattern of regional brain activity. We demonstrate that this heterogeneous distribution of brain activity during sleep explains many typical features in dreams. Reciprocally, specific dream characteristics suggest the activation of selective brain regions during sleep. Such an integration of neuroimaging data of human sleep, mental imagery, and the content of dreams is critical for current models of dreaming; it also provides neurobiological support for an implication of sleep and dreaming in some important functions such as emotional regulation.     

Electrophysiological correlates of encoding and retrieving emotional events

This study examined the impact of emotional content on encoding and retrieval processes. Event-related potentials were recorded in a source recognition memory task. During encoding, a posterior positivity for positive and negative pictures (250-450 ms) that presumably reflects attentional capturing of emotionally valenced stimuli was found. Additionally, positive events, which were also rated as less arousing than negative events, gave rise to anterior and posterior slow wave activity as compared with neutral and negative events and also showed enhanced recognition memory. It is assumed that positive low-arousing events enter controlled and elaborated encoding processes that are beneficial for recognition memory performance. The high arousal of negative events may interfere with controlled encoding mechanisms and attenuate item recognition and the quality of remembering. Moreover, topographically distinct late posterior negativities were obtained for the retrieval of the context features location and time that support the view that this component reflects processes in service of reconstructing the study episode by binding together contextual details with an item and that varies with the kind of episodic detail to be retrieved.     

Electrophysiological evidence for temporal overlap among contingent mental processes.

A series of studies assessed perceptual-motor transmission of stimulus information by measuring lateralization of movement-related brain potentials in a choice reaction task with no-go trials. When stimuli varied in shape and size, lateralized potentials on no-go trials suggested that easily recognized shape information was used to initiate motor preparation and that this preparation was aborted when size analysis signified that the response should be withheld. This indicates that movement preparation can begin once partial perceptual information about a stimulus becomes available, contrary to an assumption of fully discrete models of information processing. By contrast, when stimuli varied only in size, no evidence for preliminary response preparation was obtained, contrary to an assumption of fully continuous models but consistent with asynchronous discrete coding models (Miller, 1982, 1988).     

Electrophysiological correlates of emotional crossmodal processing in binge drinking

Emotional crossmodal integration (i.e., multisensorial decoding of emotions) is a crucial process that ensures adaptive social behaviors and responses to the environment. Recent evidence suggests that in binge drinking—an excessive alcohol consumption pattern associated with psychological and cerebral deficits—crossmodal integration is preserved at the behavioral level. Although some studies have suggested brain modifications during affective processing in binge drinking, nothing is known about the cerebral correlates of crossmodal integration. In the current study, we asked 53 university students (17 binge drinkers, 17 moderate drinkers, 19 nondrinkers) to perform an emotional crossmodal task while their behavioral and neurophysiological responses were recorded. Participants had to identify happiness and anger in three conditions (unimodal, crossmodal congruent, crossmodal incongruent) and two modalities (face and/or voice). Binge drinkers did not significantly differ from moderate drinkers and nondrinkers at the behavioral level. However, widespread cerebral modifications were found at perceptual (N100) and mainly at decisional (P3b) stages in binge drinkers, indexed by slower brain processing and stronger activity. These cerebral modifications were mostly related to anger processing and crossmodal integration. This study highlights higher electrophysiological activity in the absence of behavioral deficits, which could index a potential compensation process in binge drinkers. In line with results found in severe alcohol-use disorders, these electrophysiological findings show modified anger processing, which might have a deleterious impact on social functioning. Moreover, this study suggests impaired crossmodal integration at early stages of alcohol-related disorders.     

社会网络视角的团队情绪智力

据估计, 60%的团队都没有达到它们的目标, 这给学术界提出了重要且具有挑战性的研究课题。情绪智力(emotional intelligence)是在人际关系基础上发展起来的重要概念。研究发现, 基于微观个体或宏观整体的团队情绪智力在团队成功达到目标过程中起到重要作用。然而, 当前尚无研究探讨基于团队局部成员间情绪智力行为交换而产生的团队情绪智力对团队的影响。为此, 本课题从配对层次(一对一关系中两个人, 即actor-target)这一新角度探讨团队情绪智力, 通过把它看做团队过程中一种产生的状态(emergent state), 在整合团队成员交换理论和社会网络方法基础上对它进行研究。具体围绕团队内配对单元存在的交换关系(指目标者感受到行动者对其实施的情绪智力行为)在团队中形成的网络所代表的团队情绪智力开展实证研究, 以期从理论上揭示团队内情绪智力行为交换的特征, 情绪智力自下而上(bottom-up)由个体发展到团队的过程, 以及配对基础的团队情绪智力的影响效应, 从而为团队管理实践提供具体的改善建议。     

Helping processes in a mutual aid organization for persons with emotional disturbance.

To date, the notion of helpfulness of group processes has been equivocal in research on self-help groups. This article argues that findings drawn from the participants' subjective appraisals of helpfulness carry meanings different from those drawn from the correlational approach. In a mutual aid organization serving adults with mental health problems, the study found that, whereas universality, self-disclosure, and instillation of hope were the most valued processes, support and catharsis were the strongest correlates of benefits of participation. The authors propose a two-level hierarchy that distinguishes sustaining and beneficial factors. Different sets of factors should constitute the focus of facilitation at different stages of group development.     

Chunking processes in the learning of event sequences: Electrophysiological indicators

The present study investigated whether effects of implicit learning (IL) are due to well-learned and explicitly represented parts of the stimulus material ("chunks"). To this purpose, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded during an oddball-version of a serial reaction time (RT) task: At unpredictable positions within a 16-item letter sequence, single deviant items replaced an item of the repeatedly presented standard sequence. After acquisition, the "process dissociation procedure" (Jacoby, 1991) was adopted to identify explicitly learned sequence parts for each participant. Acquisition of sequence knowledge was reflected in faster RTs for standard items than for deviant items and in enhanced N2b and P3b components for deviant items. While the ERP effects were obtained for explicitly represented sequence parts only, RT effects were independent of subsequent reproduction performance. These results indicated that (1) ERPs are a valid measure of explicit knowledge, (2) implicit and explicit knowledge coexist in serial RT tasks, and (3) chunking processes play a major role in the acquisition of explicit knowledge about event sequences.     

Electrophysiological correlates of processes supporting memory for faces

The retrieval processes supporting recognition memory for faces were investigated using event-related potentials (ERPs). The focus for analyses was ERP old/new effects, which are the differences between neural activities associated with correct judgments to old (studied) and new (unstudied) test stimuli. In two experiments it was possible to identify three old/new effects that behaved as neural indices of the process of recollection. In both experiments there was one old/new effect that behaved as an index of the process of familiarity. These outcomes are relevant to the ongoing debate about the functional significance of ERP old/new effects and the implications that scalp-recorded electrophysiological data have for theories of the processes supporting long-term memory judgments.     

Electrophysiological correlates of encoding processes in a full-report visual working memory paradigm

Why are some visual stimuli remembered, whereas others are forgotten? A limitation of recognition paradigms is that they measure aggregate behavioral performance and/or neural responses to all stimuli presented in a visual working memory (VWM) array. To address this limitation, we paired an electroencephalography (EEG) frequency-tagging technique with two full-report VWM paradigms. This permitted the tracking of individual stimuli as well as the aggregate response. We recorded high-density EEG (256 channel) while participants viewed four shape stimuli, each flickering at a different frequency. At retrieval, participants either recalled the location of all stimuli in any order (simultaneous full report) or were cued to report the item in a particular location over multiple screen displays (sequential full report). The individual frequency tag amplitudes evoked for correctly recalled items were significantly larger than the amplitudes of subsequently forgotten stimuli, regardless of retrieval task. An induced-power analysis examined the aggregate neural correlates of VWM encoding as a function of items correctly recalled. We found increased induced power across a large number of electrodes in the theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands when more items were successfully recalled. This effect was more robust for sequential full report, suggesting that retrieval demands can influence encoding processes. These data are consistent with a model in which encoding-related resources are directed to a subset of items, rather than a model in which resources are allocated evenly across the array. These data extend previous work using recognition paradigms and stress the importance of encoding in determining later VWM retrieval success.     

Managing team interpersonal processes through technology: a task-technology fit perspective

This article addresses the broad question, How can virtual teams that manage a majority of their interactions through information and communication technologies (ICTs) be made more effective? Focusing specifically on interpersonal interactions, the task-technology fit paradigm is used as the foundation for a theoretical model that seeks to identify how such teams can match available communication technologies to the different types of interpersonal interactions in which they engage. The authors draw on media synchronicity theory to identify the functionalities of the wide range of ICTs available today, and map these functionalities onto the salient communication needs of 3 key interpersonal processes: (a) conflict management, (b) motivation and confidence building, and (c) affect management. The model also incorporates a temporal dimension examining how the communication needs, and hence, the need for ICT functionality, varies depending on the virtual team's developmental stage. Opportunities for future research arising from the theoretical model are discussed.     

Explaining the protective effect of trait emotional intelligence regarding occupational stress: Exploration of emotional labour processes

This paper aims at understanding the processes explaining the protective effect of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) regarding occupational stress. The present study focuses on a widespread occupational stressor: emotional labour (EL). EL refers to the act of managing emotions and emotional expressions in order to be consistent with organizational ‘display rules’, defined as the organizationally required emotions during interpersonal service transactions. As these display rules interact with employees spontaneous feelings, they regularly induce a clash between inner/real and required feelings. Different strategies exist to cope with this dissonance, with either beneficial or deleterious outcomes regarding psychological and physical health. The hypothesis underlying this study was that individuals varying in the level of trait EI would use different EL strategies, with different outcomes in terms of burnout and somatic complaints. Globally, the results showed that, when confronted with emotional labour, high trait EI individuals experience lower levels of burnout and somatic complaints, and this effect was found to be mediated by the choice of emotional labour strategies. Implications of these results for research, theory and practice are discussed.     

权变视角下的情绪劳动:调节变量及其作用机制

调节变量是近年来情绪劳动研究关注的重点问题之一。实证研究显示,反映员工个体特征、工作情境特征的多组变量以及文化情境对情绪劳动效应具有显著的调节作用。权变视角下的情绪劳动研究发现:(1)展现规则在组织、行业、文化三个不同水平影响个体在工作场所的情绪表达;(2)表层扮演潜在的消极效应可以借助个体内在的保护机制或通过组织管理干预被削弱、消除,甚至是转化为积极的力量;(3)深层扮演的积极效应具有较高的跨人群、跨情境稳定性;(4)文化情境对情绪劳动作用过程具有重要的约束作用。在一定条件下,情绪劳动要求、情绪劳动行为都可以成为有益于员工的组织生活要素。     

Response bias in "remembering" emotional stimuli: a new perspective on age differences

Older adults sometimes show a recall advantage for emotionally positive, rather than neutral or negative, stimuli (S. T. Charles, M. Mather, & L. L. Carstensen, 2003). In contrast, younger adults respond "old" and "remember" more often to negative materials in recognition tests. For younger adults, both effects are due to response bias changes rather than to enhanced memory accuracy (S. Dougal & C. M. Rotello, 2007). We presented older and younger adults with emotional and neutral stimuli in a remember-know paradigm. Signal-detection and model-based analyses showed that memory accuracy did not differ for the neutral, negative, and positive stimuli, and that "remember" responses did not reflect the use of recollection. However, both age groups showed large and significant response bias effects of emotion: Younger adults tended to say "old" and "remember" more often in response to negative words than to positive and neutral words, whereas older adults responded "old" and "remember" more often to both positive and negative words than to neutral stimuli.     

情绪词加工过程及其情绪效应特点：ERP的证据

语言是传递情绪信息的重要媒介, 探讨情绪语言的加工过程一直是情绪研究的重点。文章聚焦于情绪词加工的ERP研究, 介绍了情绪词加工中的ERP成分、效价与唤醒度的作用关系, 以及情绪词情绪效应的特点。情绪词加工的ERP成分包括非常早期的P1-N1成分, 早期的EPN成分和晚期的LPP成分; 效价和唤醒度均在情绪词加工中具有重要作用, 但两者的关系还未得到一致结论。相比情绪图片, 情绪词加工所引发的情绪效应更弱, 并且存在积极效价偏向。今后的研究还需进一步探讨影响情绪词情绪效应产生的相关因素; 进一步区分情绪标注词和情绪负载词, 探讨两类情绪词加工的异同。此外, 结合眼动追踪技术探讨自然语境中的情绪词加工机制也是未来研究的一个重要方向。