Effects of prime task on affective priming by facial expressions of emotion

Priming of affective word evaluation by pictures of faces showing positive and negative emotional expressions was investigated in two experiments that used a double task procedure where participants were asked to respond to the prime or to the target on different trials. The experiments varied between-subjects the prime task assignment and the prime-target interval (SOA, stimulus onset asynchrony). Significant congruency effects (that is, faster word evaluation when prime and target had the same valence than when they were of opposite valence) were observed in both experiments. When the prime task oriented the subjects to an affectively irrelevant property of the faces (their gender), priming was observed at SOA 300 ms but not at SOA 1000 ms (Experiment 1). However, when the prime task assignment explicitly oriented the subjects to the valence of the face, priming was observed at both SOA durations (Experiment 2). These results show, first, that affective priming by pictures of facial emotion can be obtained even when the subject has an explicit goal to process a non-affective property of the prime. Second, sensitivity of the priming effect to SOA duration seems to depend on whether it is mediated by intentional or unintentional activation of the valence of the face prime.     

Spatial attention does improve temporal discrimination

It has recently been stated that exogenous attention impairs temporal-resolution tasks (Hein, Rolke, & Ulrich, 2006; Rolke, Dinkelbach, Hein, & Ulrich, 2008; Yeshurun, 2004; Yeshurun & Levy, 2003). In comparisons of performance on spatially cued trials versus neutral cued trials, the results have suggested that spatial attention decreases temporal resolution. However, when performance on cued and uncued trials has been compared in order to equate for cue salience, typically speed—accuracy trade-offs (SATs) have been observed, making the interpretation of the results difficult. In the present experiments, we aimed at studying the effect of spatial attention in temporal resolution while using a procedure to control for SATs. We controlled reaction times (RTs) by constraining the time to respond, so that response decisions would be made within comparable time windows. The results revealed that when RT was controlled, performance was impaired for cued trials as compared with neutral trials, replicating previous findings. However, when cued and uncued trials were compared, performance was actually improved for cued trials as compared with uncued trials. These results suggest that SAT effects may have played an important role in the previous studies, because when they were controlled and measured, the results reversed, revealing that exogenous attention does improve performance on temporal-resolution tasks.     

Symmetrical interaction of sex and expression in face classification tasks

Classification of faces as to their sex or their expression—with sex and expression varying orthogonally—was studied in three experiments. In Experiment 1, expression classification was influenced by sex, with angry male faces being classified faster than angry female faces. Complementarily, sex classification was faster for happy than for angry female faces. In Experiment 2, mutual interaction of sex and expression was also found when the participants were asked to classify top and bottom face segments. In Experiment 3, a face inversion effect was found for both sex and expression classification of whole faces. However, a symmetrical interaction between sex and expression was again found. The results are discussed in terms of configural versus feature processing in the perception of face sex and expression and of their relevance to face perception models that postulate independent processing of different facial features. 2009 The Psychonomic Society, Inc.     

The influence of theme identifiability

In the present study, we used the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm to analyze the relationship between theme identifiability of word lists and false memories in adults and children. We conducted two normative studies to determine the identifiability levels for critical unpresented words in 40 associative lists in adults and in 16 associative lists in children. Then, in three experiments, false memories for critical words that were either easy or hard to identify were analyzed in adults and in children 4–5 years old and 11–12 years old. Opposite results were found for adults and children. Lists with highly identifiable critical words produced fewer false memories for adults but more false memories for children. These results suggest that, if they can identify critical words, adults use an identify-to-reject strategy to edit out false memories, whereas, in children, theme identification does not lead to the use of such a monitoring strategy.     

Horse (Equus caballus) whinnies: a source of social information

Many animal species that rely mainly on calls to communicate produce individual acoustic structures, but we wondered whether individuals of species better known as visual communicants, with small vocal repertoires, would also exhibit individual distinctiveness in calls. Moreover, theoretical advances concerning the evolution of social intelligence are usually based on primate species data, but relatively little is known about the social cognitive capacities of non-primate mammals. However, some non-primate species demonstrate auditory recognition of social categories and possess mental representation of their social network. Horses (Equus caballus) form stable social networks and although they display a large range of visual signals, they also use long-distance whinny calls to maintain contact. Here, we investigated the potential existence of individual acoustic signatures in whinny calls and the ability of horses to discriminate by ear individuals varying in their degree of familiarity. Our analysis of the acoustic structure of whinnies of 30 adult domestic horses (ten stallions, ten geldings, ten mares) revealed that some of the frequency and temporal parameters carried reliable information about the caller’s sex, body size and identity. However, no correlations with age were found. Playback experiments evaluated the behavioural significance of this variability. Twelve horses heard either control white noise or whinnies emitted by group members, familiar neighbours or unfamiliar horses. While control sounds did not induce any particular response, horses discriminated the social category of the callers and reacted with a sound-specific behaviour (vigilance and attraction varied with familiarity). Our results support the existence of social knowledge in horses and suggest a process of vocal coding/decoding of information.     

Is reading a feminine domain? The role of gender identity and stereotypes in reading motivation in Chile

Social Psychology of Education - In Chile, as in other countries, there are large gender gaps in reading achievement. One factor that may explain some of these results is male and female...     

Symptom patterns in late luteal-phase dysphoric disorder

The symptom patterns of 180 women with prospectively confirmed late luteal-phase dysphoric disorder (LLPDD) were examined using a careful application of factor and cluster analytic techniques. Factor analysis of premenstrual change scores on 33 common premenstrual syndrome symptoms yielded four orthogonal factors that were consistent across two sets of menstrual cycle data. These were a negative affect dimension with concomitant behavioral changes, physical symptoms, agitation, and positive arousal. Cluster analysis of factor scores grouped patients into one of five symptom patterns, the most common of which is a general distress cluster, characterized by symptoms across all dimensions. The LLPDD symptom groups identified are remarkably consistent with those of earlier studies using both normative and clinic samples, and consideration of symptom pattern differences in future research may greatly increase our understanding of this disorder.     

Family,peer, and neighborhood influences on academic achievement among African-American adolescents: One-year prospective effects

Using a 1-year prospective design, this study examined the influence of family status variables (family income, parental education, family structure), parenting variables (maternal support and restrictive control), peer support, and neighborhood risk on the school performance of 120 African American junior high school students. In addition to main effects of these variables, neighborhood risk was examined as a moderator of the effects of parenting and peer support. Family status variables were not predictive of adolescent school performance as indexed by self-reported grade point average. Maternal support at Time 1 was prospectively related to adolescent grades at Time 2. Neighborhood risk was related to lower grades, while peer support predicted better grades in the prospective analyses. Neighborhood risk also moderated the effects of maternal restrictive control and peer support on adolescent grades in prospective analyses. These findings highlight the importance of an ecological approach to the problem of academic underachievement within the African American community.     

The Analytic Truth and Falsity of Disjunctions

Disjunctive inferences are difficult. According to the theory of mental models, it is because of the alternative possibilities to which disjunctions refer. Three experiments corroborated further predictions of the mental model theory. Participants judged that disjunctions, such as Either this year is a leap year or it is a common year are true. Given a disjunction such as Either A or B, they tended to evaluate the four cases in its ‘partition’: A and B, A and not‐B, not‐A and B, not‐A and not‐B, as ‘possible’ or ‘impossible’ in ways that bore out the difference between inclusive disjunctions (‘or both’) and exclusive disjunctions (‘but not both’). Knowledge usually concerns what is true, and so when participants judge that a disjunction is false, or contingent, and evaluate the cases in its partition, they depend on inferences that yield predictable errors. They tended to judge that disjunctions, such as follows: Either the food is cold or else it is tepid, but not both, are true, though in fact they could be false. They tended to infer ‘mirror‐image’ evaluations that yield the same possibilities for false disjunctions as those for true disjunctions. The article considers the implications of these results for alternative theories based on classical logic or on the probability calculus.