The role of utility value in achievement behavior: the importance of culture

Two studies tested how participants' responses to utility value interventions and subsequent interest in a math technique vary by culture (Westerners vs. East Asians) and levels of initial math interest. Participants in Study 1 were provided with information about the utility value of the technique or not. The manipulation was particularly effective for East Asian learners with initially lower math interest, who showed more interest in the technique relative to low-interest Westerners. Study 2 compared the effects of two types of utility value (proximal or distal) and examined the effects on interest, effort, performance, and process variables. Whereas East Asian participants reaped the most motivational benefits from a distal value manipulation, Westerners benefited the most from a proximal value manipulation. These findings have implications for how to promote motivation for learners with different cultural backgrounds and interests.     

Wishing for Change in Japan and Canada

Japanese and Canadian university students were compared on the changes they wanted in their lives. Contrary to their characterization as self-effacingly relational and group-minded, Japanese were no more likely than Canadians to wish for social or collective goods. Rather, Japanese were more likely than Canadians to wish for money or material goods, and less likely than Canadians to wish for better family relations, increased self-understanding, and improved academic performance. Whether these findings reflect dissimilar cultural priorities, unequal opportunities and constraints, or both, is discussed.     

Dynamic modulation of an orientation preference map by GABA responsible for age-related cognitive performance

Accumulating evidence suggests that cognitive declines in old (healthy) animals could arise from depression of intracortical inhibition, for which a decreased ability to produce GABA during senescence might be responsible. By simulating a neural network model of a primary visual cortical (V1) area, we investigated whether and how a lack of GABA affects cognitive performance of the network: detection of the orientation of a visual bar-stimulus. The network was composed of pyramidal (P) cells and GABAergic interneurons such as small (S) and large (L) basket cells. Intrasynaptic GABA-release from presynaptic S or L cells contributed to reducing ongoing-spontaneous (background) neuronal activity in a different manner. Namely, the former exerted feedback (S-to-P) inhibition and reduced the frequency (firing rate) of action potentials evoked in P cells. The latter reduced the number of saliently firing P cells through lateral (L-to-P) inhibition. Non-vesicular GABA-release, presumably from glia and/or neurons, into the extracellular space reduced the both, activating extrasynaptic GABAa receptors and providing P cells with tonic inhibitory currents. By this combinatorial, spatiotemporal inhibitory mechanism, the background activity as noise was significantly reduced, compared to the stimulus-evoked activity as signal, thereby improving signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. Interestingly, GABA-spillover from the intrasynaptic cleft into the extracellular space was effective for improving orientation selectivity (orientation bias), especially when distractors interfered with detecting the bar-stimulus. These simulation results may provide some insight into how the depression of intracortical inhibition due to a reduction in GABA content in the brain leads to age-related cognitive decline.     

Varieties of Resilience in MIDUS

Population‐based studies of health typically focus on psychosocial contributors to illness and disease. We examine findings from a national longitudinal study of American adults, known as MIDUS (Midlife in the U.S.) to examine the role of psychosocial factors in promoting resilience, defined as the maintenance, recovery, or improvement in health following challenge. Classic studies of resilience are briefly noted, followed by a look at three categories of resilience in MIDUS. The first pertains to having good health and well‐being in the face of low socioeconomic standing. The second pertains to maintaining good health and well‐being despite the challenges that accompany aging. The third pertains to resilience in the face of targeted life challenges such as abuse in childhood, loss of spouse in adulthood, or having cancer. Across each area, we summarize evidence of positive health, and where possible, highlight protective influences that account for such salubrious outcomes. We conclude with opportunities for future research in MIDUS such as examining cultural and genetic influences on resilience as well as utilizing laboratory challenge data to illuminate underlying mechanisms.     

A multiplicative model of the utility of survival duration and health quality

Survival duration and health quality are fundamentally important aspects of health. A utility model for survival duration and health quality is a model of the subjective value of these attributes. We investigate the hypothesis that the utility (subjective value) of survival duration and health quality is determined by a multiplicative model. According to this model, there are separate subjective scales for the utility of survival duration and health quality. If F(Y) equals the utility of surviving Y years, and G(Q) equals the utility of living in health state Q, then the multiplicative model proposes that F(Y)G(Q) equals the utility of surviving Y years in health state Q. This model provides a simple explanation for several intuitively compelling relationships. First, the distinction between better-than-death and worse-than-death health states corresponds to the assignment of positive or negative utilities to different health states. Second, a zero duration of survival removes any reason to prefer one health state over any other, just as multiplying the utility of health quality by zero eliminates differences between the utilities of different health states. Third, the subjective difference between Y years in pain and Y years free from pain increases as Y increases as if the difference in utility between pain and no pain were being multiplied by the utility of surviving Y years. A critical prediction of the multiplicative model is the hypothesis that preferences between gambles for health outcomes satisfy a property called utility independence. Individual analyses revealed that most subjects satisfy utility independence, thereby supporting the multiplicative utility model. Some subjects appear to violate a fundamental assumption of utility theory: They appear to violate the assumption that a single utility scale represents both the ordinal preference relations between certain outcomes and the subjective averaging that underlies the utility of gambles. The violation is inferred from an inconsistency between preferences for multiattribute outcomes when they are viewed as certain outcomes and when they are viewed as the outcomes of gambles.     

Psychometric properties of the state-trait anxiety inventory for Asian/Pacific-islander adolescents

Anxiety disorders are said to be universal across all cultures and recent reviews have found relatively high prevalence rates across different countries. However, the experience and interpretation of anxiety are strongly influenced by cultural factors. Demonstrating cross-cultural equivalence of measures of anxiety is essential to assure that comparisons between cultures will result in meaningful interpretations. Despite the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory being the most researched of anxiety measures from a cross-cultural basis, there is a lack of empirical studies on the psychometric properties of the STAI with adolescent Asian/Pacific Islanders. The present study examined the STAI using a large sample of ethnically diverse high school students in Hawaii. In general, a four-factor model (State-Anxiety Absent, State-Anxiety Present, Trait-Anxiety Absent, and Trait-Anxiety Present) provided the best fit based on a series of confirmatory factor analyses. Indicators of internal consistency supported the reliability of the factors and subscales, and the inter-factor correlations reflected positively on the concurrent validity of the different STAI factor and subscale measures. This study suggested cautious use and interpretation of one particular item (Trait Item 14 = I try to avoid facing a crisis or difficulty ), and cautious application of the STAI to Filipino adolescents (particularly Filipino males). Domains for further research are discussed.     

人际责任归因与助人意愿的关系

人际责任归因研究是归因研究与责任推断相结合的一个新领域,它将归因理论应用于对他人失败行为的责任分析之中,为行为责任的推断提供了一个崭新的视角。本研究结合助人行为探讨人际责任归因与助人意愿之间的内在联系,204名教育硕士生和大学生被试参与了此项研究,并通过EQS建立了有关归因的控制性、情感反应、责任推断以及助人行为之间关系的结构方程模型。研究结果支持Weiner的人际责任归因理论假设,并且表明在归因与助人意愿关系模型中责任推断与情感反应是双向的而非单向的关系。     

Psychosocial mediation of religious coping styles: a study of short-term psychological distress following cardiac surgery

Although religiousness and religious coping styles are well-documented predictors of well-being, research on the mechanisms through which religious coping styles operate is sparse. This prospective study examined religious coping styles, hope, and social support as pathways of the influence of general religiousness (religious importance and involvement) on the reduced postoperative psychological distress of 309 cardiac patients. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that controlling for preoperative distress, gender, and education, religiousness contributed to positive religious coping, which in turn was associated with less distress via a path fully mediated by the secular factors of social support and hope. Furthermore, negative religious coping styles, although correlated at the bivariate level with preoperative distress but not with religiousness, were associated both directly and indirectly with greater post-operative distress via the same mediators.     

Illusory recouplings of onsets and terminations of glide tone components

We present a new auditory illusion, the gap transfer illusion, supported by phenomenological and psychophysical data. In a typical situation, an ascending frequency glide of 2,500 msec with a temporal gap of 100 msec in the middle and a continuously descending frequency glide of 500 msec cross each other at their central positions. These glides move at the same constant speed in logarithmic frequency in opposite directions. The temporal gap in the long glide is perceived as if it were in the short glide. The same kind of subjective transfer of a temporal gap can take place also when the stimulus pattern is reversed in time. This phenomenon suggests that onsets and terminations of glide components behave as if they were independent perceptual elements. We also find that when two long frequency glides are presented successively with a short temporal overlap, a long glide tone covering the whole duration of the pattern and a short tone around the temporal middle can be perceived. To account for these results, we propose an event construction model, in which perceptual onsets and terminations are coupled to construct auditory events and the proximity principle connects these elements.