Recognition of novel faces after single exposure is enhanced during pregnancy

Protective mechanisms in pregnancy include Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy (NVP) (Fessler, 2002; Flaxman and Sherman, 2000), increased sensitivity to health cues (Jones et al., 2005), and increased vigilance to out-group members (Navarette, Fessler, and Eng, 2007). While common perception suggests that pregnancy results in decreased cognitive function, an adaptationist perspective might predict that some aspects of cognition would be enhanced during pregnancy if they help to protect the reproductive investment. We propose that a reallocation of cognitive resources from nonessential to critical areas engenders the cognitive decline observed in some studies. Here, we used a recognition task disguised as a health rating to determine whether pregnancy facilitates face recognition. We found that pregnant women were significantly better at recognizing faces and that this effect was particularly pronounced for own-race male faces. In human evolutionary history, and today, males present a significant threat to females. Thus, enhanced recognition of faces, and especially male faces, during pregnancy may serve a protective function.     

Exploiting human sensitivity to gaze for tracking the eyes

Given the prevalence, quality, and low cost of web cameras, along with the remarkable human sensitivity to gaze, we examined the accuracy of eye tracking using only a web camera. Participants were shown webcamera recordings of a person’s eyes moving 1°, 2°, or 3° of visual angle in one of eight radial directions (north, northeast, east, southeast, etc.), or no eye movement occurred at all. Observers judged whether an eye movement was made and, if so, its direction. Our findings demonstrate that for all saccades of any size or direction, observers can detect and discriminate eye movements significantly better than chance. Critically, the larger the saccade, the better the judgments, so that for eye movements of 3°, people can tell whether an eye movement occurred, and where it was going, at about 90% or better. This simple methodology of using a web camera and looking for eye movements offers researchers a simple, reliable, and cost-effective research tool that can be applied effectively both in studies where it is important that participants maintain central fixation (e.g., covert attention investigations) and in those where they are free or required to move their eyes (e.g., visual search).     

Predicting consideration of cosmetic surgery in a college population: a continuum of body image disturbance and the importance of coping strategies

Elective cosmetic surgeries are increasing in the American population with reasons linked to body image disturbance and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Little research exists documenting the continuum of body image disturbance and its relationship to seeking surgery. The present research examined data from 544 participants, 55 of whom were diagnosable with BDD. Using assessments for body image disturbance, problematic coping strategies, and BDD symptomatology, results provided evidence for a continuum of body image distress. Logistic regression analysis supported the hypothesis that increased levels of body image disturbance and one type of problematic coping strategy (Appearance Fixing) predicted consideration of cosmetic surgery. Of participants diagnosable with BDD, those who considered cosmetic surgery showed more severe body image disturbance and problematic coping than those who did not consider surgery. These results have implications for pre-surgical assessment as well as psychological interventions rather than invasive medical interventions.     

Reverse-reward learning in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus): retesting after 5 years, and assessment on qualitative transfer

Seven squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) previously trained on reverse-reward tasks were presented with the original "1-versus-4" task after a 5-year interval without reverse-reward experience (Experiment 1). None of them reliably selected the smaller food array; however, at around chance level, their performance was superior to when they were first exposed to the task almost 6 years previously, suggesting some long-term memory retention. One naive monkey consistently selected the larger array, as expected. In Experiment 2, trials consisting of 1 versus 1 piece of two qualitatively different types of food were interspersed among familiar 1-versus-4 trials. None of five monkeys tested reliably selected the less-preferred food to get the more preferred food as the reward, and one monkey scored below chance. However, when one piece of low-preference food was paired with four pieces of high-preference food (Experiment 3), all four monkeys tested avoided reaching for the latter and thereby obtained it as the reward; two monkeys obtained perfect scores on these trials. These two monkeys were trained on a specific qualitative reverse-reward pairing and then again tested on new pairings (Experiment 4), but transfer was incomplete. Compound trials that pit quantity against quality in novel ways appear taxing for squirrel monkeys, despite competence in reverse-reward on both dimensions separately.     

ON THE IMMORALITY OF THREATENING

A plausible explanation of the wrongfulness of threatening, advanced most explicitly by Mitchell Berman, is that the wrongfulness of threatening derives from the wrongfulness of the act threatened. This essay argues that this explanation is inadequate. We can learn something important about the wrongfulness of threatening (with implications for thinking about coercion) by comparing credible threats to some other claims of impending harm. A credible bluff threat to do harm is likely to be more and differently wrongful than making intentionally false warnings about other sources of harm. This essay surveys some examples to secure this point, shows that Berman's moralized account of their wrongfulness is wanting, and offers the outline of an approach better suited to explain the wrongfulness of threatening. 1     

Therapist Use-of-Self Orientations Questionnaire: A Reliability and Validity Study

This article describes the development of the Therapist Use-of-Self Orientation Questionnaire (TUSO-Q), an instrument designed to measure therapists’ use-of-self orientations while working with clients. A total of 373 therapists participated in this study. Exploratory factor analysis in the structural equation modeling context revealed three different therapist use-of-self orientations: Transpersonal, Contextual, and Instrumental. The final model provided an excellent fit to the data. TUSO-Q scores exhibited satisfactory evidence of internal consistency reliability and construct validity. Implications for the scale’s use in clinical research and training are discussed.     

On the existence of semantic working memory: evidence for direct semantic maintenance

Despite widespread acknowledgment of the importance of online semantic maintenance, there has been astonishingly little work that clearly establishes this construct. We review the extant work relevant to short-term retention of meaning and show that, although consistent with semantic working memory, most data can be accommodated in other ways. Using a new concurrent probe paradigm, we then report experiments that implicate a semantic maintenance capacity that is independent of phonological or visual maintenance that may build on a mechanism of direct semantic maintenance. Experiments 1 through 5 established that while subjects maintain the meaning of a word, a novel delay-period marker of semantic retention, the semantic relatedness effect, is observed on a concurrent lexical decision task. The semantic relatedness effect refers to slowed response times when subjects make a lexical decision to a probe that is associatively related to the idea they are maintaining, compared to when the probe is unrelated. The semantic relatedness effect occurred for semantic but not for phonological or visual word-form maintenance, dissipated quickly after maintenance ends, and survived concurrent articulatory suppression. The effect disappeared when subjects performed our immediate memory task with a long-term memory strategy rather than with active maintenance. Experiment 6 demonstrated a parallel phonological relatedness effect that occurs for phonological but not semantic maintenance, establishing a full double dissociation between the effects of semantic and phonological maintenance. These findings support a distinct semantic maintenance capacity and provide a behavioral marker through which semantic working memory can be studied.     

Bottom-up effects modulate saccadic latencies in well-known eye movement paradigm

A well-known eye movement paradigm combines saccades (fast eye movements) with a perceptual discrimination task. At a variable time after the onset of a central arrow cue indicating the target direction [the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA)], discrimination symbols appear briefly at saccade target and non-target locations. A previous study revealed an unexpected effect of SOA on saccadic latencies: latencies were longer in trials with longer SOAs. It was suggested that this effect reflects a top-down process as observers may wait for the discrimination symbol to appear before executing saccades. However, symbol onsets may also modulate saccade latencies from the bottom-up. To clarify the origin of the SOA effect on latencies in this paradigm, we used a simplified version of the original task plus two new symbol onset conditions for comparison. The results indicate that the modulation of saccadic latencies was not due to a top-down strategy, but to a combination of two opposing bottom-up effects: the symbol onsets at the target location shortened saccade latencies, while symbol onsets at non-target locations lengthened saccade latencies.     

High psychopathic trait females exhibit reduced startle potentiation and increased p3 amplitude

While there has been steady progress in identifying psychophysiological traits associated with psychopathy, most of the existing research has been carried out using incarcerated male participants, and data that include females are particularly rare. This study examined both affective startle blink modulation and P3 amplitude in a sample of female undergraduates grouped by scores on the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R). Those scoring high for psychopathic traits lacked startle blink potentiation and demonstrated larger P3 amplitudes during auditory and visual oddball tasks. These data support the generalizability of deficient startle potentiation to non-incarcerated females with psychopathic traits, and add to a growing body of literature suggesting that psychopathic traits are associated with distinctive information-processing characteristics as indexed by P3 amplitude.