Affect intensity and processing fluency of deterrents

The theory of emotional intensity (Brehm, 1999) suggests that the intensity of affective states depends on the magnitude of their current deterrents. Our study investigated the role that fluency—the subjective experience of ease of information processing—plays in the emotional intensity modulations as reactions to deterrents. Following an induction phase of good mood, we manipulated both the magnitude of deterrents (using sets of photographs with pre-tested potential to instigate an emotion incompatible with the pre-existent affective state—pity) and their processing fluency (normal vs. enhanced through subliminal priming). Current affective state and perception of deterrents were then measured. In the normal processing conditions, the results revealed the cubic effect predicted by the emotional intensity theory, with the initial affective state being replaced by the one appropriate to the deterrent only in participants exposed to the high magnitude deterrence. In the enhanced fluency conditions the emotional intensity pattern was drastically altered; also, the replacement of the initial affective state occurred at a lower level of deterrence magnitude (moderate instead of high), suggesting the strengthening of deterrence emotional impact by enhanced fluency.     

Objective age of acquisition norms for a set of 286 words in Russian: Relationships with other psycholinguistic variables

Normative data on the objective age of acquisition (AoA) for 286 Russian words are presented in this article. In addition, correlations between the objective AoA and subjective ratings, name agreement, picture name agreement, imageability, familiarity, word frequency, and word length are provided, as are correlations between the objective AoA and two measures of exemplar dominance (exemplar generation frequency and the number of times an exemplar was named first). The correlations between the aforementioned variables are generally consistent with the correlations reported in other normative studies. The objective AoA data are highly correlated with the subjective AoA ratings, whereas the correlations between the objective AoA and other psycholinguistic variables are moderate. The correlations between the objective AoA of Russian words and similar data for other languages are moderately high. The complete word norms may be downloaded from supplementary material.     

The Incremental Validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

A criticism leveled against the conceptualization of emotional intelligence (EI) as a personality trait is that it overlaps considerably with the higher order personality dimensions and, therefore, has weak utility. To investigate this criticism, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to synthesize the literature examining the incremental validity of the 2 adult self-report forms of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue). Twenty-four articles reporting 114 incremental validity analyses of the TEIQue were reviewed according to the studies' methodological features. Additionally, data from 18 studies (providing 105 effect sizes) were pooled in a meta-analysis. Results suggest that the TEIQue consistently explains incremental variance in criteria pertaining to different areas of functioning, beyond higher order personality dimensions and other emotion-related variables. The pooled effect size was relatively small, but statistically and practically significant (ΔR² = .06, SE = .0116; 95% CI [.03, .08]). The number of covariates controlled for, the form of the TEIQue, and the focus on higher order personality dimensions versus other individual-difference constructs as baseline predictors did not affect the effect size. Analyses conducted at the factor level indicated that the incremental contribution is mainly due to the well-being and self-control factors of trait EI. Methodological issues and directions for future research are discussed.     

Preserved re-experience of discrete emotions: Amnesia and executive function

Amnesic patients can re-experience emotions elicited by forgotten events, suggesting that brain systems for episodic and emotional memory are independent. However, the range of such emotional memories remains under-investigated (most studies employing just positive–negative emotion dyads), and executive function may also play a role in the re-experience of emotions. This is the first investigation of the intensity of the emotional re-experience of a range of discrete emotions (anger, fear, sadness, and happiness) for a group of amnesic patients. Twenty Korsakoff syndrome (KS) patients and 20 neurologically normal controls listened to four novel emotional vignettes selectively eliciting the four basic emotions. Emotional experience was measured using pen-and-paper Visual Analogue Mood Scales and episodic memory using verbal recollections. After 30 min, the recollection of stories was severely impaired for the patient group, but the emotional re-experience was no different from that of controls. Notably, there was no relationship between episodic recall and the intensity of the four emotions, such that even profoundly amnesic patients reported moderate levels of the target emotion. Exploratory analyses revealed negative correlations between the intensity of basic emotions and executive functions (e.g., cognitive flexibility and response inhibition) for controls but not patients. The results suggest that discrete emotions can be re-experienced independently of episodic memory, and that the re-experience of certain discrete emotions appears to be dampened by executive control. KS patients with absent or mild cognitive symptoms should benefit from emotion-regulation interventions aimed at reducing the recognized affective burden associated with their episodic memory deficit.     

Simultaneous motion perception along multiple attributes: A new class of stimuli

This paper describes a novel class of visual stimuli that have been created to study stroboscopic motion perception along multiple attributes. The stimuli are composed of discrete elements, each of which can be characterized by an arbitrary number of attributes (color, luminance, spatial frequency, binocular disparity, etc.). There are two choices for the spatiotemporal arrangement of each attribute: to elicit either unambiguous (unidirectional) motion perception or ambiguous (bidirectional) motion perception. This affords the unique ability to elicit simultaneous motion perception in opposing directions from identical stimuli. The prevailing direction depends on the relative strength of the attributes’ contribution to the motion mechanisms (for short frame duration), or on the particular attribute being attended to (for long frame duration). Thus, this class of stimuli opens up the possibility of isolating specific motion mechanisms in the visual system.     

The absence of a shape bias in children's word learning

There is debate about whether preschool-age children interpret words as referring to kinds or to classes defined by shape similarity. The authors argue that the shape bias reported in previous studies is a task-induced artifact rather than a genuine word-learning strategy. In particular, children were forced to extend an object's novel label to one of several stand-alone, simple-shaped items, including a same-shape option from a different category and a different-shape option from the same superordinate category. Across 6 experiments, the authors found that the shape bias was eliminated (a) when the objects were more complex, (b) when they were presented in context, or (c) when children were no longer forced to choose. Moreover, children preferred the different-shape category alternatives when these were part of the same basic-level category as the target. The present experiments suggest that children seek out objects of the same kind when presented with a novel label, even if they are sometimes unable to identify the relevant kinds on their own.