Goal orientation profiles and task performance growth trajectories

Goal orientation theories were used to generate predictions regarding the moderating effect of goal orientation profiles on task performance growth trajectories. Participants were given multiple trials of practice on an air traffic control task. Analyses were conducted using growth curve modeling. As expected, individuals with high performance-approach orientation improved their task performance scores faster than their counterparts. The interaction between mastery and performance-avoid orientations moderated the performance growth curve such that individuals with high mastery and low performance-avoid orientation improved their performance at the fastest rate. The interaction between performance-approach and performance-avoid orientations also moderated the performance growth curve. Individuals with low performance-approach and high performance-avoid orientation improved their performance at the slowest rate. These findings contribute to theory and practice by elucidating how various combinations of goal orientations influence the rate of skill acquisition.

Automatic vigilance for negative words in lexical decision and naming: comment on Larsen, Mercer, and Balota (2006)

An automatic vigilance hypothesis states that humans preferentially attend to negative stimuli, and this attention to negative valence disrupts the processing of other stimulus properties. Thus, negative words typically elicit slower color naming, word naming, and lexical decisions than neutral or positive words. Larsen, Mercer, and Balota analyzed the stimuli from 32 published studies, and they found that word valence was confounded with several lexical factors known to affect word recognition. Indeed, with these lexical factors covaried out, Larsen et al. found no evidence of automatic vigilance. The authors report a more sensitive analysis of 1011 words. Results revealed a small but reliable valence effect, such that negative words (e.g., "shark") elicit slower lexical decisions and naming than positive words (e.g., "beach"). Moreover, the relation between valence and recognition was categorical rather than linear; the extremity of a word's valence did not affect its recognition. This valence effect was not attributable to word length, frequency, orthographic neighborhood size, contextual diversity, first phoneme, or arousal. Thus, the present analysis provides the most powerful demonstration of automatic vigilance to date.     

Sequence learning at optimal stimulus-response mapping: evidence from a serial reaction time task

We propose a new version of the serial reaction time (SRT) task in which participants merely looked at the target instead of responding manually. As response locations were identical to target locations, stimulus-response compatibility was maximal in this task. We demonstrated that saccadic response times decreased during training and increased again when a new sequence was presented. It is unlikely that this effect was caused by stimulus-response (S-R) learning because bonds between (visual) stimuli and (oculomotor) responses were already well established before the experiment started. Thus, the finding shows that the building of S-R bonds is not essential for learning in the SRT task.     

American and British college students' epistemological beliefs about research on psychological and biological development

Epistemological beliefs about the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge are often assumed to be similar across different domains of knowledge. This assumption was tested by comparing beliefs about scientific research on psychological and biological development. Undergraduates from the United States and the United Kingdom responded to a set of epistemologically relevant statements about each field and then compared the two fields directly in terms of their confidence in the conclusions and advice of experts. On all measures, more negative beliefs were expressed about research on psychological development. Although U.S. students were more skeptical about both fields, U.S. and U.K. students displayed similar response patterns. To justify their skepticism toward scientific research as a valid source of knowledge about psychological development, students in both countries gave similar reasons (e.g., the difficulty in accurately measuring psychological variables). These results demonstrate that epistemological beliefs can differ substantially between two closely related fields. They also highlight issues that must be addressed to make education about the validity of research in developmental psychology more effective.     

Peer Victimization,Self-Concept,and Grades: The Mediating Role of Self-Concept

This study examined the relations between specific forms of peer victimization, math self-concept, and math grades of 740 students. Results showed that, in boys, all forms of victimization did not affect grades, while in girls, a highly perceived social exclusion impacted grades. In boys, a highly perceived humiliation negatively affected self-concept, whereas a highly perceived social exclusion positively affected self-concept. Boys’ self-concept mediated the relations between social exclusion and grades as well as between humiliation and grades. In girls, a highly perceived happy slapping positively affected self-concept, and self-concept mediated the relation between a highly perceived happy slapping and grades.     

An emotional processing writing intervention and heart rate variability: the role of emotional approach

Expressing and understanding one's own emotional responses to negative events, particularly those that challenge the attainment of important life goals, is thought to confer physiological benefit. Individual preferences and/or abilities in approaching emotions might condition the efficacy of interventions designed to encourage written emotional processing (EP). This study examines the physiological impact (as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV)) of an emotional processing writing (EPW) task as well as the moderating influence of a dispositional preference for coping through emotional approach (EP and emotional expression (EE)), in response to a laboratory stress task designed to challenge an important life goal. Participants (n?=?98) were randomly assigned to either EPW or fact control writing (FCW) following the stress task. Regression analyses revealed a significant dispositional EP by condition interaction, such that high EP participants in the EPW condition demonstrated higher HRV after writing compared to low EP participants. No significant main effects of condition or EE coping were observed. These findings suggest that EPW interventions may be best suited for those with preference or ability to process emotions related to a stressor or might require adaptation for those who less often cope through emotional approach.     

Splenium development and early spoken language in human infants

The association between developmental trajectories of language‐related white matter fiber pathways from 6 to 24 months of age and individual differences in language production at 24 months of age was investigated. The splenium of the corpus callosum, a fiber pathway projecting through the posterior hub of the default mode network to occipital visual areas, was examined as well as pathways implicated in language function in the mature brain, including the arcuate fasciculi, uncinate fasciculi, and inferior longitudinal fasciculi. The hypothesis that the development of neural circuitry supporting domain‐general orienting skills would relate to later language performance was tested in a large sample of typically developing infants. The present study included 77 infants with diffusion weighted MRI scans at 6, 12 and 24 months and language assessment at 24 months. The rate of change in splenium development varied significantly as a function of language production, such that children with greater change in fractional anisotropy (FA) from 6 to 24 months produced more words at 24 months. Contrary to findings from older children and adults, significant associations between language production and FA in the arcuate, uncinate, or left inferior longitudinal fasciculi were not observed. The current study highlights the importance of tracing brain development trajectories from infancy to fully elucidate emerging brain–behavior associations while also emphasizing the role of the splenium as a key node in the structural network that supports the acquisition of spoken language.     

Parasympathetic cardio-regulation during social interactions in individuals with obesity—The influence of negative body image

Individuals with obesity in Western societies often face weight-related stigmatization and social exclusion. Recurrent exposure to prejudice and negative social feedback alters one’s behavior in future social interactions. In this study, we aimed to investigate autonomic nervous system and affective responses to social interactions in individuals with obesity. Women and men with (n = 56) and without (n = 56) obesity participated in episodes of social inclusion and social exclusion using a virtual ball-tossing game. During the experiment, heart rate was measured and parasympathetic activity (overall high-frequency power and event-related cardiac slowing) was analyzed. Our results show that in novel social interactions, women with obesity, relative to the other groups, exhibited the strongest increase in parasympathetic activity. Furthermore, parasympathetic activity was related to a more negative body image in individuals with obesity, but not in lean individuals. Additionally, women with obesity reported a stronger decrease in mood after social exclusion than did the other participants. Our results demonstrate influences of objective and subjective bodily characteristics on parasympathetic cardio-regulation during social interactions. In particular, they show behavioral and physiological alterations during social interactions in women with obesity.