Resolving visual interference during covert spatial orienting: online attentional control through static records of prior visual experience

Models of attentional control usually describe online shifts in control settings that accommodate changing task demands. The current studies suggest that online control over distractor exclusion--a core component of visual selection--can be accomplished without online shifts in top-down settings. Measurements of target discrimination accuracy suggested that the degree of distractor exclusion was guided by retinotopic maps of the prior probability of distractor interference at the attended locations. These probability maps can be retrieved via object-based cues, and they interact with shifts of attention to elicit increased levels of distractor exclusion when it is most needed. Thus, static probability maps can provide an internal template that guides the resolution of visual interference as spatial attention traverses the visual field.     

Between and within: Alternative sequential treatments of continuers and assessments

Conclusion Once assessments and continuers are focussed on as distinguishable phenomena it becomes clear that they differ from each other not just in the details of their sequential placement within an extended turn, but in other significant ways as well.First, though assessments can take the form of talk with clear lexical content (for example `Oh wow' and assessment adjectives such as beautiful), they can also be done with sounds such as Ah::: whose main function seems to be the carrying of an appropriate intonation contour, as well as gesturally (cf. M. Goodwin, 1980). In this they resemble continuers, which can be performed both with talk whose lexical status is not always granted, and with appropriate gestures such as nods. In view of the way in which both continuers and brief assessments are characteristically situated within a rather specialized environment, the ongoing talk of another, it is not surprising that they share these characteristics. Indeed in so far as these features provide minimal lexical and auditory interference with the other talk already in progress, they are precisely some of the adaptations that would be expected of action able to function in such an environment. Given such structural similarity in action that is also quite brief, the clarity with which assessments can be distinguished from continuers becomes interesting. If in fact these objects are doing different work in the same environment, the salience of their distinctness from each other becomes an important feature of the structure of each. In view of the economy and clarity that brief assessments require, it is all the more remarkable that many of them, through the details of the way in which they are pronounced and their intonation contour, are able to convey quite detailed, even intricate, information about their speaker's involvement in both the assessment and the talk of the moment.Second, while uh huh seems to be restricted to placement in the midst of extended talk by another, assessments can occur at the completion of such extended turns as well. Indeed assessments are one of the prototypical ways of bringing an extended turn such as a story to completion. Such differential placement is quite compatible with what has already been noted about the organization of these phenomena. For example, insofar as a continuer treats the talk just heard as preliminary to further talk it would be quite inappropriate as a technique for marking completion of an extended turn. On the other hand by virtue of the way in which they appreciate the details of what has just been said without marking that talk as a prelude to something else, assessments are apt structures for doing terminal work on an extended sequence.Third, uh huh seems to be an exclusively recipient action — indeed its work as a continuer is accomplished precisely through placement relative to more extended talk by another speaker. Assessments, however, can be done by speaker as well as recipient.Fourth, though analysis in the present paper has focussed on brief assessments (the type of assessment most similar in form to continuers), assessments unlike continuers can in fact take many shapes, some of them quite elaborate with, for example, extended sentences and even sequences of turns being devoted exclusively to the activity of doing an assessment.In sum, alternative types of action are available to recipients for constructing responses in the midst of another's extended talk. Though the responses themselves are typically brief, the presence of alternatives that can be placed in a variety of sequential positions provides recipients with resources that enable them to participate in speaker's emerging talk in a differentiated fashion, something which has consequences for speaker's actions as well.     

Assessment of depression and diagnosis of depressive disorder among psychiatrically disturbed children

This study examined the relations between performance on alternative measures of childhood depression and diagnosis of depressive disorder. Hospitalized inpatient children (N=770, ages 7–13) with a diagnosis of depressive disorder (Research Diagnostic Criteria) were compared with a matched sample of patients whose diagnoses excluded depression. Children and parents completed four standardized depression scales plus measures designed to assess associated features including hopelessness, selfesteem, and internalizing symptoms. The results indicated that (1) alternative depression measures, whether completed by children or parents, yielded scores that were significantly higher for children with a diagnosis of depression; (2) parent ratings of severity of depression were consistently higher among the measures than the child ratings; (3) optimal cutoff scores derived for each measure correctly classified approximately 60% of depressed and nondepressed cases; (4) different cutoff scores were required for the same measure, depending on whether children or parents were the raters; and (5) using a battery of measures and combining these in a stepwise discriminant function yielded over 80% classification accuracy. The implications of the results for selection of cases for clinical research are discussed.Completion of this research was supported by a Research Scientist Development Award (MH00353) and by a Clinical Research Center Grant for the Study of Affective Disorders (MH30915) from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors are grateful to members of the clinical research team of the Child Psychiatric Treatment Service, who greatly facilitated this research.     

Cognition and Citizen Participation in Social Action1

Citizen participation in social action may depend, in part, on certain beliefs about the world and one's power to initiate change. Existing tests of internality and belief in a just world were modified, creating independent measures of belief in personal power and belief in possible injustices in society. The paper reports data on the reliability and the convergent and discriminant validity of the new Personal Power and Injustice scales. In Studies 1 and 2 the scales predicted outcomes in theoretically relevant experiments. In Study 3 they discriminated among community groups who did, or did not, engage in social action.     

Correlates of attitudes toward sexual harassment among early adolescents

A survey of 458 early adolescents (87% White; 278 females and 280 males; Mage = 13) examined the interacting relationship between family environment and involvement with pop music, and attitudes toward sexual harassment, while also controlling for sex. Attitudes toward sexual harassment were assessed by an eight-item Likert-type scale constructed from common behavioral definitions of sexual harassment (reliability alpha = .89). Results indicated females held less accepting attitudes toward sexual harassment than males. Involvement with pop music was associated with acceptance of sexual harassment, especially for females. The combination of a high level of exposure to pop music videos, and being from an unsatisfactory or nonintact family, was strongly associated with acceptance of sexual harassment for females and less so for males. The findings of this study could have implications for the etiology of acceptance of other coercive behaviors among adults.

     

Deficits in set-shifting ability in nonclinical compulsive checkers

Recent studies suggest deficits in set-shifting ability in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as measured by tasks such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST; Berg, 1948). The present study examined the extent to which these deficits were demonstrated by nonclinical subjects selected on the basis of their checking scores on the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory. A multivariate analysis revealed that frequent checkers performed significantly worse on the WCST than noncheckers, making more total errors and more perseverative errors and requiring more time to complete the test. A follow-up analysis on a subset of the original sample found similar performance deficits in checkers. While the poorer performance of checkers could be statistically accounted for by anxiety during the first administration of the WCST, anxiety could not explain the relationship between checking status and WCST performance at follow-up. Therefore, there does appear to be some relationship between checking status and WCST performance beyond what can be explained by affective variables.     

Sex differences among partner preferences: Are the sexes really very similar?

The question as to what type of individual we prefer in a “romantic” partner has stimulated a long history of research, with much of the present debate centering around the issue of the sex differences in partner preferences. In the studies described in this paper, two groups of participants completed a variety of different questionnaire schedules indicating their preferences for a partner. In study 1, 216 single students demonstrated a prevailing desire for a kind, considerate, and honest partner who displayed a keen sense of humor. Consistent with the hypothesis, there were no clear sex differences evident in these results. In study 2, 76 dating agency members completed a similar schedule examining partner preferences. Here again, preferences were similar across the sexes, although men preferred the submissive and introverted partner and stressed the importance of physical appearance in a mate. The general discussion considers the implications of these findings in the light of previous research on partner preferences.     

Mood-induction research—its implications for clinical depression

Mood-induction procedures (MIPs) are increasingly being used as laboratory analogues of clinical depression. Four methods of mood induction are described: reading depressing self-referent statements: remembering past unpleasant events; listening to a taped depressing story: and failure on a task. The effects of these MIPs on affect, behaviour and related variables and parallels between these effects and clinical deficits are reviewed. The implications of MIP research for clinical depression are discussed in the light of self-awareness theory, mood effects on memory, and the inter-relationship between cognitive and somatic variables in depression.     

Ethnic Identity and Discrimination: An Exploration of the Rejection-Identification Model in Arab American Adolescents

Research examining the rejection-identification model of ethnic identity in Arab American adolescents is scarce. This exploratory study investigates various factors in relation to a sample of 60 Arab American adolescents’ (aged 12–18 years) ethnic identity including discrimination and academic and global self-concepts. Ethnic identity was measured using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, which is composed of two factors including Affirmation/Belonging and Ethnic Search. The Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents was used to measure academic and global self-concepts. In addition, the lead author developed a questionnaire asking participants to self-report whether either they or another Arab student they knew had been treated badly or differently because of their ethnicity. Discrimination experience and Affirmation/Belonging were significant predictors of scholastic competence, while Affirmation/Belonging was the sole significant predictor in Global Self-Worth. High levels of ethnic identity in the area of Affirmation/Belonging seemed to play a protective role in global self-concept in the face of discrimination. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.