A cognitive tool to diagnose predominantly inattentive ADHD behavior

Poor performance on tests of reading comprehension could be the result of weak word-recognition skills, inconsistent attention (ADD), or a combination of the two. Identifying the source of the reading disability (RD) reliably has been difficult because inconsistent attention interferes with reading and weak word recognition skill makes attention wander. The situation is further complicated by the fact that there are no objective diagnostic tests for ADD (Breggin, 1998; Diller, 1998). We proposed a new model of differential diagnosis of ADHD-I/RD and field-tested its utility in two studies. The new diagnostic procedure utilizes intra-individual differences seen in the performance of at-risk learners on tasks related to reading that vary in the degree of sustained attention required for successful performance. The hypothesis is that children whose attention is inconsistent would perform more poorly on tests such as listening comprehension, which require sustained attention, than on tests such as reading comprehension, which are more tolerant of inattention. Such differences will not be seen in the test scores of children who have only a reading disability because their performance on reading tests is determined more by the difficulty level of the tests than by the sensitivity of the tests to attention. The validity of this new model was evaluated by determining the relationship between differences seen in the scores of tests that differ in their attention requirement and the degree of inconsistency in sustained attention as measured by Conners' CPT. The results of the two studies indicate this to be a viable approach. The results of the second study are presented in this report.     

A multiple-goal, multilevel model of feedback effects on the regulation of individual and team performance

When working as a member of a team, individuals must make decisions concerning the allocation of resources (e.g., effort) toward individual goals and team goals. As a result, individual and team goals, and feedback related to progress toward these goals, should be potent levers for affecting resource allocation decisions. This research develops a multilevel, multiple-goal model of individual and team regulatory processes that affect the allocation of resources across individual and team goals resulting in individual and team performance. On the basis of this model, predictions concerning the impact of individual and team performance feedback are examined empirically to evaluate the model and to understand the influence of feedback on regulatory processes and resource allocation. Two hundred thirty-seven participants were randomly formed into 79 teams of 3 that performed a simulated radar task that required teamwork. Results support the model and the predicted role of feedback in affecting the allocation of resources when individuals strive to accomplish both individual and team goals.     

Temporal coding in conditioned inhibition: analysis of associative structure of inhibition

Two experiments with rats as subjects were conducted to investigate the associative structure of temporal control of conditioned inhibition through posttraining manipulation of the training excitor-unconditioned stimulus (US) temporal relationship. Experiment 1 found that following simultaneous Pavlovian inhibition training (i.e., A --> US/XA-no US) in which a conditioned stimulus (CS A) was established as a delay excitor, maximal inhibition was observed on a summation test when CS X was compounded with a delay transfer CS. Furthermore, posttraining shifts in the A-US temporal relationship from delay to trace resulted in maximal inhibition of a trace transfer CS. Experiment 2 found complementary results to Experiment 1 with an A-US posttraining shift from serial to simultaneous. These results suggest that temporal control of inhibition is mediated by the training excitor-US temporal relationship.     

Testing different interpretations for the mistaken belief that rays exit the eyes during vision

Research has shown that children and adults believe that emissions from the eye occur during the act of vision. Such beliefs are similar to ancient extramission theories of perception. In Study 1, the authors tested the idea that extramission beliefs might stem from people's thinking about what might occur during vision as opposed to what is necessary for seeing. Training participants to think about what is necessary for vision, however, had no effect on extramission responses. The results of Study 2 indicated that emphasizing the idea of visual input led to a decline in extramission responses and supported the hypothesis that extramission notions stem from the outer-oriented phenomenology of vision.     

System justification and the defense of committed relationship ideology

A consequential ideology in Western society is the uncontested belief that a committed relationship is the most important adult relationship and that almost all people want to marry or seriously couple (DePaulo & Morris, 2005). In the present article, we investigated the extent to which the system justification motive may contribute to the adoption of this ideology. In Studies 1 and 2, we examined whether a heightened motive to maintain the status quo would increase defense of committed relationship values. In Study 3, we examined the reverse association, that is, whether a threat to committed relationship ideology would also affect sociopolitical system endorsement. As past research has found that the justification of political systems depends upon how much these systems are perceived as controlling, in Study 4 we tested whether the defense of the system of committed relationships would also increase when framed as controlling. Results from Studies 1-4 were consistent with our hypotheses, but only for men. In Study 5, using cross-cultural data, we sought to replicate these findings correlationally and probe for a cause of the gender effect. Results from more than 33,000 respondents indicated a relationship (for men) between defense of the sociopolitical system and defense of marriage in countries where the traditional advantages of men over women were most threatened. In Studies 6 and 7, we investigated when this gender difference disappears. Results revealed that when we measured (Study 6) or manipulated (Study 7) personal relationship identity rather than relationship ideology, effects also emerge for women.     

The Pathoplastic Relationship Between Interpersonal Problems and Fear of Failure

ABSTRACT This study advances the understanding of fear of failure (FF), a dispositional avoidance-oriented achievement motive, by employing interpersonal classification techniques to groups of individuals who fear failure in order to examine the pathoplastic relations between FF and interpersonal problems. Shame-based FF is thought to be related to the self-regulation strategies of appeasement and aggression, and these strategies are hypothesized to be associated with the interpersonal problems of Nonassertiveness and Vindictiveness, respectively. Using 2 independent samples ( n s=60 and 38) reporting high FF, interpersonal profiles were examined for the groups in their entirety and for cluster solutions within the larger samples. Results demonstrated that individuals high in FF exhibited 1 of 2 prototypical interpersonal profiles associated with Domineering/Vindictive or Nonassertive/Exploitable problems that correspond with the hypothesized aggression and appeasement regulation strategies. Consistent with the concept of pathoplasticity, these differences were not better accounted for by demographic, affective, motivational, personality, or attachment style characteristics of the samples.     

The effects of proactive interference (PI) and release from PI on judgments of learning

In three experiments, we investigated metacognitive monitoring in a variant of an A–B A–C learning paradigm in which the repetition of cues, but not targets, led to increasing proactive interference (PI) across trials. Judgments of learning (JOLs) correctly predicted decreases across trials in this paradigm but incorrectly continued to predict decreases on a final release trial in which new cues were introduced and performance consequently increased. Experience with the paradigm did not ameliorate this metacognitive failure (Experiment 3). In addition, JOLs decreased equally for pairs with repeated and with novel cue terms, even though recall of the latter group of items did not decrease across trials (Experiment 2). These results suggest that metacognizers’ naïve theories of remembering and forgetting include a role for global, but not cue-specific, interference.     

The functions of nonsuicidal self-injury: support for cognitive-affective regulation and opponent processes from a novel psychophysiological paradigm

Although research on the reasons for engaging in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) has increased dramatically in the last few years, there are still many aspects of this pernicious behavior that are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to address these gaps in the literature, with a particular focus on investigating whether NSSI (a) regulates affective valence in addition to affective arousal and (b) serves a cognitive regulation function in addition to an affect regulation function. To elucidate these issues, the present study utilized a sample of 112 participants (33 controls, 39 no pain controls, 16 NSSI individuals, and 24 controls matching the affect dysregulation levels of the NSSI group), employed psychophysiological measures of affective valence (startle-alone reactivity) and quality of information processing (prepulse inhibition), and used experimental methods involving an NSSI-proxy to model the NSSI process. Results largely were consistent with predictions, supporting the hypotheses that NSSI serves to regulate cognitive processing and affective valence. On this latter point, however, the control groups also showed a decrease in negative affective valence after the NSSI-proxy. This unexpected finding is consistent with the hypothesis that opponent processes may contribute to the development of self-injurious behaviors (Joiner, 2005). Overall, the present study represents an important extension of previous laboratory NSSI studies and provides a fertile foundation for future studies aimed at understanding why people engage in NSSI.     

Traumatic stress, dissociation, and limbic irritability in patients with unipolar depression being treated with SSRIs

Recent evidence suggests that stressful experiences may be related to deficits in inhibitory functions and temporo-limbic epileptic-like activity. The latter may produce psychosensory seizure-like symptoms that may also appear in nonepileptic conditions. This study assesses whether the increased presence of the seizure-like symptoms in 113 unipolar depressive patients treated with SSRIs is associated with significantly more severe symptoms of depression, traumatic stress, and dissociation in comparison with 86 healthy controls. Results indicate that seizure-like symptoms in depressive patients have significant association with depression, symptoms of dissociation, and traumatic stress. This association suggests that processess generating seizure-like symptoms may be related to symptoms of depression, traumatic stress, and dissociation.