Race and gender of faces can be ignored

Past research indicates that faces can be more difficult to ignore than other types of stimuli. Given the important social and biological relevance of race and gender, the present study examined whether the processing of these facial characteristics is mandatory. Both unfamiliar and famous faces were assessed. Participants made speeded judgments about either the race (Experiment 1) or gender (Experiments 2–4) of a target name under varying levels of perceptual load, while ignoring a flanking distractor face that was either congruent or incongruent with the race/gender of the target name. In general, distractor–target congruency effects emerged when the perceptual load of the relevant task was low but not when the load was high, regardless of whether the distractor face was unfamiliar or famous. These findings suggest that face processing is not necessarily mandatory, and some aspects of faces can be ignored.     

An Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Affective Control Scale in an Undergraduate Sample

A considerable amount of clinical research interest has recently developed regarding emotion dysregulation and psychopathology. Many have suggested that distinct affective management deficits may characterize anxiety and mood pathology. Despite increased research attention, efforts to validate and sufficiently investigate the psychometric properties of many self-report measures of affect regulation have been lacking. The current study examined the response behavior of 1566 undergraduate participants who completed the Affective Control Scale (ACS). The ACS assesses fear of intense emotion, and it is frequently used in empirical research. The present investigation examined the structural qualities of the measure using exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic techniques. Findings suggest the original four rationally-derived subscales do not adequately fit the observed response patterns. Rather, results indicated that a five-factor solution that included a subscale measuring emotion mismanagement better represented response behavior. Additional normative data and bivariate correlations with other measures of emotion regulation and affect are presented.     

Stop and start control: A distinction within self‐control

A theoretical distinction within self‐control, between stop control and start control, was investigated in two studies. Study 1 consisted of a pilot study in which expert ratings of existing self‐control items were used to distinguish between stop and start control items and a confirmatory factor analyses of these items using a student sample (N = 474). Also, stop and start control were related to overall affect and behavioural outcomes. Stop control was negatively related to negative affect, whereas start control was positively related to positive affect. Study 2 (N = 226) replicated some of these findings; stop control was the best predictor (?) of smoking and alcohol consumption whereas start control was the best predictor (+) of exercising and studying. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Elevated suicide rates at high altitude: sociodemographic and health issues may be to blame

Suicide rates are higher at high altitudes; some hypothesize that hypoxia is the cause. We examined 8,871 suicides recorded in 2006 in 15 states by the National Violent Death Reporting System, with the victim's home county altitude determined from the National Elevation Dataset through FIPS code matching. We grouped cases by altitude (low<1000m; middle=1000-1999m; high≥2000m). Of reported suicides, 5% were at high and 83% at low altitude, but unadjusted suicide rates per 100,000 population were higher at high (17.7) than at low (5.7) altitude. High and low altitude victims differed with respect to race, ethnicity, rural residence, intoxication, depressed mood preceding the suicide, firearm use and recent financial, job, legal, or interpersonal problems. Even after multivariate adjustment, there were significant differences in personal, mental health, and suicide characteristics among altitude groups. Compared to low altitude victims, high altitude victims had higher odds of having family or friends report of a depressed mood preceding the suicide (OR 1.78; 95%CI:1.46-2.17) and having a crisis within 2weeks before death (OR 2.00; 95%CI:1.63-1.46). Suicide victims at high and low altitudes differ significantly by multiple demographic, psychiatric, and suicide characteristics; these factors, rather than hypoxia or altitude itself, may explain increased suicide rates at high altitude.     

Internetbasierte Vorbereitung auf eine station?re psychosomatisch-psychotherapeutische Behandlung

Background

Encouraged by promising results of online aftercare programs, this study adapted the concept of internet-based minimal interventions in order to use the time between referral and actual admission to inpatient treatment. The online intervention includes information about the hospital and the treatment and sections which aim to enhance motivation, provide support and allow contact.

Methods

A comprehensive cohort study was conducted with 379 participants in the randomized subcohort. Primary endpoint was the speed of change of the physical, mental and social impairment and of the psychological well-being in the first 2 weeks of inpatient treatment as well as the rates of reliable change 2 weeks after admission.

Results

Both the control and intervention group of the randomized subcohort showed statistically significant improvements in health status. No significant difference in the rate of change was found. The degree of achieved improvement in the physical impairment was equal to the expected intervention effect. A difference in the rates of change was found for the psychological well-being: the intervention group showed 19% more reliable improvements.

Conclusions

The study design and the contents of the intervention were accepted by the patients. The internet-based intervention can help to prepare for treatment and to shorten the settling-in period.     

A behavior-based circuit model of how outcome expectations organize learned behavior in larval Drosophila

Drosophila larvae combine a numerically simple brain, a correspondingly moderate behavioral complexity, and the availability of a rich toolbox for transgenic manipulation. This makes them attractive as a study case when trying to achieve a circuit-level understanding of behavior organization. From a series of behavioral experiments, we suggest a circuitry of chemosensory processing, odor-tastant memory trace formation, and the "decision" process to behaviorally express these memory traces--or not. The model incorporates statements about the neuronal organization of innate vs. conditioned chemosensory behavior, and the types of interaction between olfactory and gustatory pathways during the establishment as well as the behavioral expression of odor-tastant memory traces. It in particular suggests that innate olfactory behavior is responsive in nature, whereas conditioned olfactory behavior is captured better when seen as an action in pursuit of its outcome. It incorporates the available neuroanatomical and behavioral data and thus should be useful as scaffold for the ongoing investigations of the chemo-behavioral system in larval Drosophila.     

Examining the sex- and circadian dependency of a learning phenotype in mice with glycine transporter 1 deletion in two Pavlovian conditioning paradigms

Behavioural characterisation of transgenic mice has been instrumental in search of therapeutic targets for the modulation of cognitive function. However, little effort has been devoted to phenotypic characterisation across environmental conditions and genomic differences such as sex and strain, which is essential to translational research. The present study is an effort in this direction. It scrutinised the stability and robustness of the phenotype of enhanced Pavlovian conditioning reported in mice with forebrain neuronal deletion of glycine transporter 1 by evaluating the possible presence of sex and circadian dependency, and its consistency across aversive and appetitive conditioning paradigms. The Pavlovian phenotype was essentially unaffected by the time of testing between the two circadian phases, but it was modified by sex in both conditioning paradigms. We observed that the effect size of the phenotype was strongest in female mice tested during the dark phase in the aversive paradigm. Critically, the presence of the phenotype in female mutants was accompanied by an increase in resistance to extinction. Similarly, enhanced conditioned responding once again emerged solely in female mutants in the appetitive conditioning experiment, which was again associated with an increased resistance to extinction across days, but male mutants exhibited an opposite trend towards facilitation of extinction. The present study has thus added hitherto unknown qualifications and specifications of a previously reported memory enhancing phenotype in this mouse line by identifying the determinants of the magnitude and direction of the expressed phenotype. This in-depth comparative approach is of value to the interpretation of behavioural findings in general.     

Marriage Education in the Army: Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial

Although earlier studies have demonstrated promising effects of relationship education for military couples, these studies have lacked random assignment. The current study evaluated the short-term effects of relationship education for Army couples in a randomized clinical trial at two sites (476 couples at Site 1 and 184 couples at Site 2). At both sites, participant satisfaction with the program was high. Intervention and control couples were compared on relative amounts of pre-intervention to post-intervention change. At Site 1, not all variables showed the predicted intervention effects, although we found significant and positive intervention effects for communication skills, confidence that the marriage can survive over the long haul, positive bonding between the partners, and satisfaction with sacrificing for the marriage or the partner. However, at Site 2, we found significant and positive intervention effects for communication skills only. Possible site differences as moderators of intervention effects are discussed.     

Embodied Attitude Change: A Self‐Validation Perspective

Our behavior can change what we like and dislike. Although it seems clear that we might like something more when we smile (versus frown), or when we nod our heads (versus shake), it is important to understand the processes responsible for these changes in evaluation. It might be that agreement behaviors such as smiling and nodding work as cue, make us think about everything in a positive light, or it might be that they encourage us not to think much about the information we receive. This review describes the basic processes underlying embodied change, highlighting the role of a recently discovered meta‐cognitive process (called self‐validation) by which bodily responses can validate or invalidate (instead of changing) our thoughts. This new mechanism can account for some already established outcomes in embodied persuasion (e.g., more persuasion with smiling than frowning), but by a different process than postulated previously (smiling increases confidence in thoughts), as well as for some new findings (e.g., more persuasion for low than high powerful postures; more self‐confidence when performing doubtful postures).