Modification of the startle reflex in a community sample: do one or two dimensions of psychopathy underlie emotional processing?

Recent research on psychopathy has begun to explore two dimensions that possibly underlie psychopathy–one related more to emotional and interpersonal traits, and another related more to antisocial behaviors. A community sample of adults was assessed for psychopathy using Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Eyeblinks elicited by startle probes were recorded while participants viewed pictures of emotionally-laden stimuli. Consistent with previous research, participants scoring high on PCL-R Factor 2 (“antisocial”) showed no affective modification of startle if they also scored high on PCL-R Factor 1 (“emotional detachment”). When the factor scores were analyzed together as continuous variables in a regression analysis, however, affective modification of startle was negatively related to Factor 1 but positively related to Factor 2. The results thus provide further support for a two-factor model of psychopathy.     

Visual short-term memory for two sequential arrays: One integrated representation or two separate representations?

Two dot arrays, each containing a different set of six randomly selected locations from a 5 × 5 matrix, were presented briefly and were separated by an interstimulus interval (ISI) of 0, 200, 500, or 1,500 msec. Subjects were asked to remember these locations and to report whether a probe dot matched the locations in memory. To find out whether the subjects had formed an integrated representation of the two arrays, the probe dot was accompanied by matrix elements from the first array, from the second array, or from both arrays. Memory for Array 1 was significantly impaired when the retrieval context was drawn from Array 2, and vice versa, suggesting that the two arrays were represented separately. This effect was observed only at an ISI of 500 msec or longer. We propose that as Array 1 is better consolidated, its representation becomes more separated from that of Array 2.     

Three approaches to the psychology of culture: Where do they come from? Where can they go?

Cultural psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and indigenous psychology are three approaches to the psychology of culture. The author begins by comparing the three approaches – conceptually, methodologically; and historically. She concludes that each approach has contributed knowledge of the "deep structure" of culture to the field of psychology. This "deep structure" consists of the framework of individualism and collectivism; particular cultures are therefore surface forms of one or the other of these basic cultural frameworks. Rather than being universal, classical social and developmental psychology are seen as reflecting a particular indigenous psychology. For the future, a truly universal psychology must offer a theoretical framework that encompasses alternative indigenous psychologies.     

The processing of non-target words: Semantic or not?

It is known that people reacting to visual words may be affected by the meaning of accompanying non-target words. On the approach to perception developed by Treisman (e.g. 1986), this is surprising, because meaning might be thought to require analysis of conjunctions of physical features and so should remain uncomputed for non-target words. Treisman's approach does, however, assert that analysis of the target may unleash further processes that would prime the system for detection of related words. If this were so, then presentation of the target earlier than the distractors would increase the effect of the latter; whereas if analysis of non-targets were independent of priming, they might be expected to have a smaller effect when delayed. Further, if the sets of words involved are small and familiar, then individual features of primed non-targets, rather than conjunctions of features, might trigger interference. They might especially do so when spatial separation of target and non-target is small.

Five experiments using a paradigm developed by Shaffer and LaBerge confirm that the meaning of non-target words affects response to targets; but (1) this is more true for early than for late arrival of the target; (2) it is affected by target/non-target separation in space; (3) it is true for familiar sets of repeated words but not, in these data, for words used once only in the experiment. It is therefore concluded that the results are more consistent with a Treisman type of explanation than with a theory of universal and automatic full analysis.     

When deaf signers read English: do written words activate their sign translations?

Deaf bilinguals for whom American Sign Language (ASL) is the first language and English is the second language judged the semantic relatedness of word pairs in English. Critically, a subset of both the semantically related and unrelated word pairs were selected such that the translations of the two English words also had related forms in ASL. Word pairs that were semantically related were judged more quickly when the form of the ASL translation was also similar whereas word pairs that were semantically unrelated were judged more slowly when the form of the ASL translation was similar. A control group of hearing bilinguals without any knowledge of ASL produced an entirely different pattern of results. Taken together, these results constitute the first demonstration that deaf readers activate the ASL translations of written words under conditions in which the translation is neither present perceptually nor required to perform the task.     

Children's response to community violence: What do we know?

This article presents a framework for understanding the developmental significance of violence-related trauma in the lives of young children. It emphasizes the importance of the distinction between acute and chronic trauma. Acute trauma is more readily dealt with through “psychological first aid” and a “therapy of reassurance.” Chronic trauma requires a more systematic reconstruction of the child's “social map” of the world. The socioeconomic and demographic correlates of violent trauma predict an accumulation of risk factors in the child's life that compounds the problem of developmental disability. The problem community violence poses for the child must be understood in the larger context of greater risk for family disruption (including less than secure attachment) as well as domestic violence, poverty, and minority group status. The increasing incidence and prevalence of community violence poses a major challenge to the mental health of children.     

Do as I say - or as I do?! How 18- and 24-month-olds integrate words and actions to infer intentions in situations of match or mismatch

Infants use behavioral and verbal cues to infer another person’s action intention. However, it is still unclear how infants integrate these often co-occurring cues depending on the cues’ coherence (i.e., the degree to which the cues provide coherent information about another’s intention). This study investigated how 18- and 24-month-olds’ (N = 88 per age group) action selection was influenced by varying the coherence of a model’s verbal and behavioral cues. Using a between-subjects design, infants received six trials with different stimulus objects. In the conditions Congruent, Incongruent, and Failed-attempt, the model uttered a telic verb particle that was followed by a matching or contradicting goal-directed action demonstration, or by a non goal-directed slipping motion, respectively. In the condition Pseudo-word, a nonsense word was combined with a goal-directed action demonstration. Infants’ action selection indicated an adherence to the verbal cue in Congruent, Incongruent, and Failed-attempt, and this was stronger in 24- than 18-month-olds. Additionally, in Incongruent and Failed-attempt, patterns of cue integration across the six trials varied in the two age groups. Regarding the behavioral cue, infants in Congruent and Pseudo-word preferentially followed this cue in both age groups, which also suggested a rather unspecific effect of the verbal cue in Congruent. Relatively longer first action-latencies in Incongruent and Failed-attempt implied that these types of coherence elicited higher cognitive demands than in Congruent and Pseudo-word. Results are discussed in light of infants’ flexibility in using social cues, depending on the cue’s coherence and on age-related social-cognitive differences.     

Lexical processing of ambiguous words: dominance or associative strength?

Four experiments examined the role of meaning frequency (dominance) and associative strength (measured by associative norms) in the processing of ambiguous words in isolation. Participants made lexical decisions to targets words that were associates of the more frequent (dominant) or less frequent (subordinate) meaning of a homograph prime. The first two experiments investigated the role of associative strength at long SOAs (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony) (750 ms.), showing that meaning is facilitated by the targets' associative strength and not by their dominance. The last two experiments traced the role associative strength at short SOAs (250 ms), showing that the manipulation of the associative strength has no effect in the semantic priming. The conclusions are: on the one hand, semantic priming for homographs is due to associative strength manipulations at long SOAs. On the other hand, the manipulation of the associative strength has no effect when automatic processes (short SOAs) are engaged for homographs.     

The mental representation of numerical fractions: real or integer?

Numerical fractions are commonly used to express ratios and proportions (i.e., real numbers), but little is known about how they are mentally represented and processed by skilled adults. Four experiments employed comparison tasks to investigate the distance effect and the effect of the spatial numerical association of response codes (SNARC) for fractions. Results showed that fractions were processed componentially and that the real numerical value of the fraction was not accessed, indicating that processing the fraction's magnitude is not automatic. In contrast, responses were influenced by the numerical magnitude of the components and reflected the simple comparison between numerators, denominators, and reference, depending on the strategy adopted. Strategies were used even by highly skilled participants and were flexibly adapted to the specific experimental context. In line with results on the whole number bias in children, these findings suggest that the understanding of fractions is rooted in the ability to represent discrete numerosities (i.e., integers) rather than real numbers and that the well-known difficulties of children in mastering fractions are circumvented by skilled adults through a flexible use of strategies based on the integer components.     

Children's Creative Intentions: Where do the Ideas for their Drawings Come from?

The process of drawing is a creative endeavor, often beginning with ideas of what to draw. This exploratory study aimed to explore these creative intentions of pupils from mainstream schools (tending to focus on observational, imaginative, and expressive drawing), and from Steiner schools (tending to focus on imagination and expression). Fifty-seven children (age 6–16 years) drew a single drawing at the request of the researcher. Before and after drawing, children completed a semi-structured interview about the content of their drawing. This interview was first analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis to describe where children got the ideas for their drawings from. Four key themes were identified: (a) content from immediate surroundings, (b) content from memory, (c) representational content with element of imagination added, and (d) intention to express a mood or message. Content analysis was then used to quantify the interview responses and compare them between the school types. This indicated no difference in the frequency that mainstream and Steiner pupils referred to ideas based on real-world referents or imagination. However, Steiner pupils talked more about expressive ideas. The results suggest that children use a wide range of sources when generating ideas of what to draw, including their educational experiences.     

Toward an understanding of students’ allocation of study time: Why do they decide to mass or space their practice?

Two recent studies have led to discrepant findings regarding students’ decisions to mass or space practice of to-be-learned items: Son (2004) reported that participants chose to mass practice of difficult items more than that of easy items, whereas Benjamin and Bird (2006) reported the opposite. To resolve this apparent discrepancy, we had participants study items during an initial trial and then decide whether the next study trial would be massed or spaced. Across three experiments, we systematically varied factors that differed across these studies. In general, the participants more often chose to space than to mass practice, but they did favor massed practice when items were very difficult to learn. Moreover, although previous hypotheses implicated metamemory causes for these effects, the present results indicate that nonmetamemory causes are also responsible, such as using spaced practice as a default and deciding to mass practice for items that had not been fully perceived during an initial study trial.     

Serial,parallel, or holistic identification of single words in the two visual fields?

Subjects made timed manual responses in judging whether laterally presented four-letter words were identical to targets. In Experiment 1, nontargets differed by a single letter from targets. A right-field superiority occurred only for targets (which were detected fastest of all) and for nontargets where a letter changed at Position 2 or Position 3. Changes at initial and final positions were detected faster than the two middle positions, and there were no significant field differences. In Experiment 2, ascenders and descenders were controlled and changes were made in nontargets at all four letter positions, at Positions 1 and 4, at Positions 2 and 3, or at 2 alone. Response times for nontargets varied inversely with the number of differing letters, regardless of position. Significant field differences again only appeared for changes in the two middle positions. Letters at the beginning and end of a word seem to be processed faster than and differently from those within, where field differences are strongest. Vowel-consonant differences probably do not account for these effects, which are more compatible with some form of parallel, rather than either serial or holistic, processing.     

Adolescents least able to cope: How do they respond to their stresses?

This paper reports the coping strategies characterising self-professed weak copers. In order to do so it examines strategies reported by a subset of a sample of 976 adolescents, as measured by the Adolescent Coping Scale. What is of interest in this investigation are the coping strategies of the most vulnerable adolescent group. Such information would be of great value to those in the helping professions working with adolescents. The results indicate that the least able copers used, at least sometimes, non-productive strategies such as tension reduction, self-blame, ignore, keep to self and, most noticeably, worry and wishful thinking. However, a range of productive strategies was also used at least sometimes, including problem-solving, working hard and focusing on the positive. The implications of these findings for turning poor copers into good copers is discussed.     

Spatial representation by young infants: Categorization of spatial relations or sensitivity to a crossing primitive?

The spatial representation abilities of 3- to 4-month-old infants were examined in four experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that infants familiarized with a diamond appearing in distinct locations to the left or right of a vertical bar subsequently preferred a stimulus depicting the diamond on the opposite side of the bar over a stimulus depicting the diamond in a novel location on the same side of the bar. Experiment 3 was a replication of Experiment 1, except that the bar was oriented at 45 degrees. In this instance, infants divided their attention between the stimulus depicting the diamond on the opposite side of the bar and the stimulus depicting the diamond in a novel location on the same side of the bar. Experiment 4 demonstrated that the results of Experiment 3 were not a consequence of a failure to process the diagonal bar. When considered with previous reports that infants can represent the categories of above and below (Quinn, 1994), the present results suggest that (1) infants can also represent the categories of left and right, and (2) performance cannot be interpreted as a response to an arbitrary crossing of one object relative to another. Although recent discussions of the relation between language and cognition have pointed to the ways in which spatial language influences spatial cognition (Bowerman & Levinson, 2001), the present findings are consistent with an influence in the opposite direction: Spatial cognition may in some instances shape spatial language.     

Metalinguistic awareness and theory of mind: Just two words for the same thing?

Three- to 5-year-old children were tested on a traditional False Belief task, in which children have to predict where a protagonist will look for an unexpectedly moved object, and a new metalinguistic task. In this task children named an item (e.g., “rabbit”) and they had to monitor that another person used a synonym for naming the same item (e.g., “bunny”). Both tasks were mastered about the age of 4 years with a strong correlation between the two tasks that remained above .70 even after partialling out control measures and verbal intelligence. Moreover, younger children's difficulties with the metalinguistic task did not extend to a control task of equivalent logical structure and complexity. A simplified version of the task in which children had to produce synonyms themselves yielded very similar results. The findings confirm that metalinguistic awareness can be demonstrated around 4 years and they support the theory that the ability to understand belief relates to the development of understanding representations.     

To warn and to control: two distinct legal obligations or variations of a single duty to protect?

Prior to the Tarasoff decisions, jurisprudence pertaining to the duty to warn, or inform, to prevent violence to third persons, was separate from that pertaining to the duty to control to prevent such violence. The Tarasoff Principle consolidated preventive obligations in the face of foreseeable violence under a single "duty to protect." Even as courts adopted divergent rules for establishing foreseeability, many held to a single duty to protect with warnings as one possibility for fulfilling this option. Particularly over the past decade, courts have again disengaged the duty to warn and the duty to control, each requiring different legal predicates to occur. In recent years, courts have upheld or rejected a duty to warn, upheld or rejected a duty to control; and several courts have, within a single opinion, articulated fundamental distinctions between these two separate protective duties.     

Animal models of drug addiction: Where do we go from here?

Compulsion and impulsivity are both primary features of drug addiction. Based on decades of animal research, we have a detailed understanding of the factors (both environmental and physiological) that influence compulsive drug use, but still know relatively little about the impulsive aspects of drug addiction. This review outlines our current knowledge of the relationship between impulsivity and drug addiction, focusing on cognitive and motor impulsivity, which are particularly relevant to this disorder. Topics to be discussed include the influence of chronic drug administration on impulsivity, the mechanisms that may explain drug-induced impulsivity, and the role of individual differences in the development of impulsive drug use. In addition, the manner in which contemporary theories of drug addiction conceptualize the relationship between impulsivity and compulsion is examined. Most importantly, this review emphasizes a critical role for animal research in understanding the role of impulsivity in the development and maintenance of drug addiction.     

Belief-desire reasoning in the explanation of behavior: do actions speak louder than words?

The mechanisms underwriting our commonsense psychology, or 'theory of mind', have been extensively investigated via reasoning tasks that require participants to predict the action of agents based on information about beliefs and desires. However, relatively few studies have investigated the processes contributing to a central component of 'theory of mind' - our ability to explain the action of agents in terms of underlying beliefs and desires. In two studies, we demonstrate a novel phenomenon in adult belief-desire reasoning, capturing the folk notion that 'actions speak louder than words'. When story characters were described as searching in the wrong place for a target object, adult subjects often endorsed mental state explanations referencing a distracter object, but only when that object was approached. We discuss how this phenomenon, alongside other reasoning "errors" (e.g., hindsight bias; the curse of knowledge) can be used to illuminate the architecture of domain specific belief-desire reasoning processes.