Association between objects and body parts mediated by function

Recent accounts of conceptual knowledge suggest that the specific gestures/actions that should be performed in order to use an object for its intended function are an integral part of its mental representation. If this is true, then the information regarding which body part needs activating to interact with the object should also be part of such representation. Starting from the assumption that not only artefacts (i.e., tools), but also natural objects (i.e., fruits and vegetables) have a function, the present study investigates the existence of a link between a specific object and the effector involved in its use. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) paradigm was adopted to test for an association between natural objects and mouth, and between artefacts and hand (Experiment 1) or foot (Experiment 2). Results showed selective links between objects and effectors, based on which body part is needed to carry out the object's function.     

Psychological ownership: The implicit association between self and already-owned versus newly-owned objects

Evidence from explicit measures (e.g. favourability ratings, valuations) has led to the prevalent hypothesis that owned objects become cognitively associated with self-concept. Using a novel version of the Implicit Association Test (self-object IAT), wherein participants categorized objects by colour, we evaluated implicit cognitive associations involving self with already-owned and newly-owned objects. We observed faster responses when self-related words required the same response key as the colour that incidentally corresponded to self-owned objects, irrespective of length of ownership. These findings suggest that participants efficiently form cognitive associations between self and self-owned objects within mere minutes of ownership induction and inspire questions about the extent to which length of ownership drives the strength of this association.     

The effect of expertise on the relation between implicit and explicit attitude measures: An information availability/accessibility perspective

Three experiments investigate expertise as a moderator of the relationship between implicit and explicit attitude measures. Prior research suggests that greater expertise leads to stronger implicit–explicit relations; however, a cognitive view of expertise can also predict a weaker implicit–explicit relation. Our framework helps to resolve that seeming contradiction on the basis of the availability/accessibility of attributes versus attitudes in explicit attitude measures. We show that object specificity and contextual factors (e.g., instructions and prior evaluations in a survey) differentially affect the availability/accessibility of global attitudes and attribute information for novices versus experts, thus determining how expertise moderates the implicit–explicit relation.     

Coordinated affect with mothers and strangers: A longitudinal analysis of joint engagement between 5 and 9 months of age

The coordination of affect in joint attention was assessed in a longitudinal study of 5- to 9-month-old infants as they interacted with mothers and strangers. Results showed that the coordination of affect with joint attention looks increased reliably with age. In addition, context effects were found such that joint attention looks increased while interacting with strangers but not with mothers. The study demonstrates the emergence of joint engagement before the end of the first year, and suggests that affect may play a key role in aspects of joint attention that may be unique to humans.     

The relationship between differential stimulus relatedness and implicit measure effect sizes

Implicit measures have been hypothesized to allow researchers to ascertain the existence and strength of relations between stimuli, often in the context of research on attitudes. However, little controlled behavioral research has focused on whether stimulus relations, and the degree of relatedness within such relations, are indexed by implicit measures. The current study examined this issue using a behavior‐analytic implicit‐style stimulus relation indexing procedure known as the Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST). Using a matching‐to‐sample (MTS) procedure to train stimulus equivalence relations between nonsense syllables, the number of iterations of the procedure was varied across groups of participants, hence controlling stimulus relatedness in the resulting equivalence relations. Following final exposure to the MTS procedure, participants completed a FAST. Another group of participants was exposed to a FAST procedure with word pairs of known relatedness. Results showed that increasing relatedness resulted in a linear increase in FAST effect size. These results provide the first direct empirical support for a key process‐level assumption of the implicit literature, and offer a behavior‐analytic paradigm within which to understand these effects. These results also suggest that the FAST may be a viable procedure for the quantification of emergent stimulus relations in stimulus equivalence training.     

Understanding the relation between explicitly and implicitly measured political orientation: The moderating role of political sophistication

Researchers have argued that to understand more fully political orientation, non-reactive measures similar to those used in the broader implicit attitudes literature should be explored. Recently, the nature of the relation between explicitly and implicitly measured attitudes has been a topic of considerable discussion, with researchers stressing the importance of when explicit and implicit measures are related and when they are not. In the present research, the relation between explicit and implicit political orientation, and the potential moderating role of political sophistication was investigated. Participants (N = 116) completed an explicit measure of political orientation, a liberal–conservative Implicit Association Test (IAT), and a test of political knowledge. Results showed that explicit and implicit political orientation scores were moderately correlated (r = .48) with each other. Moreover, results from regression analyses showed that the association between explicit and implicit political orientation was moderated by political knowledge scores, such that the positive association was stronger among participants with a greater knowledge of politics.     

System‐perpetuating asymmetries between explicit and implicit intergroup attitudes among indigenous and non‐indigenous Chileans

The present research demonstrates a dissociation between explicit and implicit intergroup evaluation in the reciprocal attitudes between indigenous (Mapuche) and non‐indigenous Chileans. In both social groups, the explicit measures of attitudes towards the respective in‐group and out‐group were compared with the Implicit Association Test scores. The results indicate that the members of the low‐status minority might explicitly express a moderate evaluative preference for their in‐group but might implicitly devalue it. Conversely, the members of the high‐status majority might implicitly devalue their out‐group but might explicitly express no bias. These results are theoretically framed in terms of system justification, conventional stereotypes and motivated correction processes.     

Measuring and Reducing Religious Bias in Post‐Conflict Zones: Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire

This article explores how religious bias, once it has been cultivated through politicization and violence, can be reduced. Using foundations from social identity theory and superordinate goal theory, I develop post‐conflict bias reduction strategies that include competing types of superordinate messages, economic and theological, as well as different sources of those messages. To test these strategies, I use video‐based information treatments coupled with Implicit Association Tests in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire. The experimental findings point to three conclusions. First, implicit Muslim‐Christian bias in the study area remains high. Second, Christians in the study tend to be more biased against Muslims than Muslims are against Christians. Third, the effectiveness of treatments depends on the subjects who receive those treatments: theological messages are most effective in reducing bias among Muslims, regardless of their source, and strategies that rely on political leaders to deliver messages perform best among Christians, regardless of the content.     

Cognitive modifiability as a function of mother–child mediated learning strategies,mothers' acceptance–rejection,and children's personality

This study investigated (a) the effects of mediated learning experience (MLE) in mother–child interactions on cognitive modifiability as measured by dynamic assessment, (b) the effects of mothers' acceptance–rejection towards their children and the children's personality on the mothers' MLE strategies, (c) the combined effects of the mothers' acceptance–rejection, children's personality, and MLE strategies on children's cognitive modifiability, and (d) the prediction of cognitive modifiability by MLE interactions in two distinct conditions: free-play and structured. Fifty-four mother–child dyads (26 boys and 28 girls) in grade 2 were videotaped interacting in two situations: free-play and structured. The interactions were analysed with observation of mediation instrument using five criteria: intentionality and reciprocity, transcendence, meaning, feelings of competence, and regulation of behaviour. The children were administered the parent acceptance–rejection questionnaire, the personality assessment questionnaire, and the children's inferential thinking modifiability test. A distal–proximal factors of cognitive modifiability model was used to explain causal paths among mothers' acceptance–rejection and children's personality (distal) on MLE (proximal), and of both on children's cognitive modifiability. A structural equation model analysis revealed that (a) all MLE criteria were predicted by the distal factors of mothers' acceptance–rejection and children's personality, (b) none of the mothers' attitudes or children's personality factors explained the children's cognitive factors, (c) MLE criteria of transcendence and regulation of behaviour explained the children's CITM-post-teaching score but not the CITM-pre-teaching score. The results are discussed in relation to Feuerstein's MLE theory and Tzuriel's previous results with preschool children. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parents' depressive symptoms and children's adjustment over time are mediated by parenting,but differentially for fathers and mothers

Parenting has been found to act as a mediator of the relation between parents' depressive symptoms and children's adjustment. The present study replicated this result, and also found specific effects of gender for both parents and children. A total of 319 parents provided reports of their depressive symptoms (BDI) and two parenting styles (APQ; inconsistent discipline and positive parenting) as well as of their elementary schoolchildren's adjustment (VBV-EL; oppositional-defiant behaviour, hyperactivity, internalizing, social-emotional competence). The first and second measurement occasions were six months apart. Bivariate correlations showed the expected pattern of positive associations between parental depression, child maladjustment and problematic parenting. However, the results differed for mothers and fathers, and the mediation was moderated by the children's gender. Inconsistent discipline was a mediator for both fathers and mothers. The path from fathers' depression was additionally negatively mediated by positive parenting. Boys were more vulnerable than girls.     

The relationship between executive function and verbal memory in Parkinson's disease

A growing body of evidence suggests that the various cognitive symptoms found in Parkinson's disease (PD) are secondary to executive dysfunction. Studies addressing this possibility for memory impairment specifically have not included measures of working memory nor have they ruled-out potential mediating variables such as overall level of cognitive impairment or depression. The purpose of this study was to include measures of these variables in determining the relationship between multiple aspects of executive function and delayed verbal recall in 32 idiopathic PD patients. Results were consistent with the original hypothesis and further suggest that working memory is a key factor in recall memory and may mediate the relationship between other executive measures and recall in PD.     

Association between serotonin Cumulative Genetic Score and the Behavioral Approach System (BAS): Moderation by early life environment

The present study investigates if genetic variation in the serotonergic system interacts with early adversity to predict changes in the Behavioral Approach System (BAS), a system that taps into reward processing. In a sample of community adults (N = 236) the influence of single serotonergic candidate polymorphisms on BAS was analyzed, we also examined the aggregate contribution of these genetic variants by creating a Cumulative Genetic Score (CGS). A CGS quantifies an individual’s cumulative risk by aggregating the number of risk alleles across the candidate polymorphisms. After individual gene analysis, three candidate genes rs7305115 (TPH2), rs6311 (HTR2A), and rs6295 (HTR1A) were combined into the CGS. There were no significant interactions between individual candidate polymorphisms and childhood adversity, but the CGS interacted with childhood adversity to explain a significant amount of variance (11.6%) in the BAS. Findings suggest that genetic variations in the serotonergic system in combination with childhood adversity contribute to individual differences in reward sensitivity.