Shame as a prospective predictor of self-inflicted injury in borderline personality disorder: A multi-modal analysis

The primary aim of this study was to examine the prospective association of shame with self-inflicted injury (SII), including suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury, among women with borderline personality disorder (BPD) who were enrolled in a clinical trial (N = 77). A multi-method approach was used to assess self-reported shame, nonverbal shame behaviors, and assessor ratings of shame during an interview regarding antecedents for a recent episode of SII. Higher levels of nonverbal shame behaviors predicted a higher likelihood of subsequent SII, and shorter time to SII, after controlling for past SII as well as other emotions associated with SII. Self-reported state shame and assessor ratings of shame were associated with prospective SII, but not after controlling for other emotions. These findings underscore the important role of shame in SII, particularly shame in the presence of contextual prompts for events that surround episodes of SII.     

Reducing the threat value of chronic pain: A preliminary replicated single-case study of interoceptive exposure versus distraction in six individuals with chronic back pain

This paper describes a preliminary experimental evaluation of a technique intended to help people suffering from chronic back pain and low pain acceptance to alter the aversiveness or threat value of their persisting pain. Using a multiple baseline cross-over design six individuals with chronic back pain were taught to use a form of interoceptive exposure as well as a relaxation/distraction breathing-based technique in the presence of their pain. Half the participants used one method for three weeks, and then crossed over to the other method for a further three weeks. The other half did the reverse. Assessments were conducted at pre/post treatment and at a three month follow-up. Daily monitoring of pain-related distress was also completed. The results indicated moderately high improvements in pain acceptance across most participants and corresponding declines in pain-related distress. No clear differences occurred between conditions, but the changes on disability and catastrophising scales for most cases were consistent with those reported after more substantial interventions. The study raises some important clinical and methodological issues that could inform future research in this area.     

Monitoring Online Training Behaviors: Awareness of Electronic Surveillance Hinders E‐Learners1

Web‐based training programs commonly capture data reflecting e‐learners' activities, yet little is known about the effects of this practice. Social facilitation theory suggests that it may adversely affect people by heightening distraction and arousal. This experiment examined the issue by asking volunteers to complete a Web‐based training program designed to teach online search skills. Half of participants were told their training activities would be tracked; the others received no information about monitoring. Results supported the hypothesized effects on satisfaction, performance, and mental workload (measured via heart rate variability). Explicit awareness of monitoring appeared to tax e‐learners mentally during training, thereby hindering performance on a later skills test. Additionally, e‐learners reported less satisfaction with the training when monitoring was made salient.     

No reliable effects of emotional facial expression, adult attachment orientation, or anxiety on the allocation of visual attention in the spatial cueing paradigm

The primary goal of the current study was to examine the allocation of attention to emotional facial stimuli as a function of adult attachment orientation. Using a modified version of the spatial cueing paradigm we examined these effects in three experiments. In each experiment predictable cue validity effects were observed and these effects were always modulated by the expression of the facial cue. Furthermore, the magnitude of these cue validity effects was also influenced by individual differences in both adult attachment orientation and anxiety. The direction of these effects, however, was not consistent across experiments and did not replicate previous findings. We conclude that this paradigm may not usefully elucidate the processes underlying the allocation of attention to emotional stimuli.     

When the best appears to be saved for last: Serial position effects on choice

Decision‐makers often evaluate options sequentially due to constraints on attention, timing, or physical location of the options. Choosing the best option will therefore often depend on people's memories of the options. Because imperfect recall introduces uncertainty in earlier options, judgments of those options should regress toward the category mean as memory decays over time. Relatively desirable options will therefore tend to seem less desirable with time, and relatively undesirable options will tend to seem less undesirable with time. We therefore predicted that people will tend to select the first option in a set when choosing between generally undesirable options, and will tend to select the last when choosing between generally desirable options. We demonstrate these serial position effects in choices among paintings, American Idol audition clips, jellybeans, and female faces, provide evidence of its underlying mechanism, and explain how these findings build on existing accounts. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relations between uniform connectedness, luminance, and shape similarity as perceptual organizational cues in infancy

Although several studies have examined infants' sensitivity to perceptual organizational cues, few have examined the functional relations among these cues. We examined how uniform connectedness (UC) functions in relation to shape and luminance similarity. UC has been characterized as the entry-level mechanism of perceptual organization and would therefore be predicted to be more salient than the other two cues. We found that UC was more salient than shape similarity organization was, to the point that 6- to 7-month-old infants failed to even organize on the basis of shape in the presence of UC. Luminance similarity, however, was more salient than UC, even though UC was detected by infants in the presence of luminance cues. We conclude that UC is not necessarily the most salient mechanism of perceptual organization in infancy. Moreover, the luminance-UC-shape salience hierarchy exhibited by 6- to 7-month-olds in the present study is consistent with the order of development of sensitivity to these organizational cues.     

The role of stimulus type in list length effects in recognition memory

While many studies have investigated the list length effect in recognition memory, few have done so with stimuli other than words. This article presents the results of four list length experiments that involved word pairs, faces, fractals, and photographs of scenes as the stimuli. A significant list length effect was identified when faces and fractals were the stimuli, but the effect was nonsignificant when the stimuli were word pairs or photographs of scenes. These findings suggest that the intrastimulus similarity is what dictates whether list length has a significant effect on recognition performance. As is the case with words, word pairs and photographs of scenes are not sufficiently similar to generate detectable item interference.     

Age-related neural differences in affiliation and isolation

While previous aging studies have focused on particular components of social perception (e.g., theory of mind, self-referencing), little is known about age-related differences specifically for the neural basis of perception of affiliation and isolation. This study investigates age-related similarities and differences in the neural basis of affiliation and isolation. Participants viewed images of affiliation (groups engaged in social interaction) and isolation (lone individuals), as well as nonsocial stimuli (e.g., landscapes), while making pleasantness judgments and undergoing functional neuroimaging (BOLD fMRI). Results indicated age-related similarities in response to affiliation and isolation in recruitment of regions involved in theory of mind and self-referencing (e.g., temporal pole, medial prefrontal cortex). Yet age-related differences also emerged in response to affiliation and isolation in regions implicated in the theory of mind, as well as self-referencing. Specifically, in response to isolation versus affiliation images, older adults showed greater recruitment than did younger adults of the temporal pole, a region that is important for retrieval of personally relevant memories utilized to understand others' mental states. Furthermore, in response to images of affiliation versus isolation, older adults showed greater recruitment than did younger adults of the precuneus, a region implicated in self-referencing. We suggest that age-related divergence in neural activation patterns underlying judgments of scenes depicting isolation versus affiliation may indicate that older adults' theory of mind processes are driven by retrieval of isolation-relevant information. Moreover, older adults' greater recruitment of the precuneus for affiliation versus isolation suggests that the positivity bias for emotional information may extend to social information involving affiliation.     

The relationship of fear of falling and balance confidence with balance and dual tasking performance

According to traditional conceptualizations of the relationship between fear of falling and falls in older adults, fear of falling is considered to be predictive of falls because it leads to activity avoidance which, in turn, leads to de-conditioning that increases fall risk. The recent literature has begun to challenge such conceptualizations. Specifically, it has been argued that fear of falling and anxiety, in and of themselves, have a direct negative effect on balance. In this study we manipulated anxiety level by asking older research participants to walk either on the floor (low anxiety condition) or an elevated platform (high anxiety condition). Half the time participants carried a tray (dual tasking) and half the time they did not. Manipulation checks (involving heart rate, galvanic skin response, and self-reported anxiety measurement) confirmed that the experimental manipulation was successful in affecting anxiety level. The results demonstrate that the experimental manipulation (platform vs. floor) affected balance parameters and dual tasking performance with the platform condition resulting in a less stable gait. In addition, increased task demand (i.e., dual tasking) also had a negative effect on balance performance. Finally, the results demonstrate that the paper and pencil measures of fear can also predict balance performance (although the variance accounted for is small) even after controlling for medical risk factors for falling. Implications for models of fear of falling are discussed.     

Cultural differences in the development of cognitive shifting: East-West comparison

Prior research has documented that Japanese children's performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) task can be influenced by their observation of another person completing the task, which is referred to as social transmission of disinhibition. The current study explored whether Canadian children would also show a social transmission of disinhibition and whether their performance would be comparable to that of Japanese children. In this study, 3- and 4-year-olds in Canada and Japan were given both the standard version and social version of the DCCS. Results indicated that Canadian children displayed the social transmission of disinhibition, but their effects were significantly weaker than those with Japanese children. On the other hand, performance on the standard DCCS was comparable between children in the two countries. We discuss the results in terms of cultural differences in the relationship between self and other.