Continuous Measurement of Breaks in Presence: Psychophysiology and Orienting Responses

Assessing presence using questionnaires can yield interesting insights into the user experience in virtual environments, but is also limited both in terms of reliability and validity. Breaks in presence (BIPs) are an interesting alternative, given that the researcher can assess them correctly. Prior studies on the psychophysiology of BIPs followed an exploratory approach by not providing a cognitive mechanism for BIPs and lacking in external validity. We argue that BIPs can be considered a special form of orienting responses involving both the real and the virtual world. In the first of the presented studies, we investigated which types of BIPs can be differentiated and to what degree they affect the user experience. In the second study, we modified a commercial video game by introducing the previously identified BIPs and recorded psychophysiological measurements. The results are in line with findings on orienting responses and should provide fertile ground for future research.     

Have you been to Paris?

Two experiments examined how people answer questions of the form ‘Have you been to X?’ where X is a city or a country abroad. In the natural experiment subjects were not given any material to memorize, and were timed as they indicated whether they themselves had been to the place in question. In the artificial experiment subjects were given places to memorize and were asked to imagine they had been to them. The test was similar to that of the natural experiment. The natural experiment supports a hierarchical search proceeding first on the level of countries and then on that of cities. The results of the artificial experiment reflect the structure of the memorized information. The comparison between the two experiments is made from a general methodological perspective.     

How to tell the time in Hebrew

A corpus of expressions specifying time, length, and price in modern Hebrew was collected. The corpus reveals systematic morphological patterns that are at the same time complex and consistent both within and across informants. Further check revealed that informants are totally unaware of the rules governing these patterns. Indeed, these rules are not specified in the literature (grammar books, instruction texts, or language manuals) either. The systematic patterns of verbal behavior coupled with informants' total ignorance of the rules governing them are taken as an empirical demonstration of the contrast between knowing how and knowing that. The contrast is significant in that it pertains not to abstract formal rules (like the syntactic rules with which the contrast is standardly associated) but rather to concrete rules of morphology.     

Testing causal models of the relationship between childhood gender atypical behaviour and parent–child relationship

An association between childhood gender atypical behaviour (GAB) and a negative parent–child relationship has been demonstrated in several studies, yet the causal relationship of this association is not fully understood. In the present study, different models of causation between childhood GAB and parent–child relationships were tested. Direction of causation modelling was applied to twin data from a population‐based sample (n= 2,565) of Finnish 33‐ to 43‐year‐old twins. Participants completed retrospective self‐report questionnaires. Five different models of causation were then fitted to the data: GAB → parent–child relationship, parent–child relationship → GAB, reciprocal causation, a bivariate genetic model, and a model assuming no correlation. It was found that a model in which GAB and quality of mother–child, and father–child relationship reciprocally affect each other best fitted the data. The findings are discussed in light of how we should understand, including causality, the association between GAB and parent–child relationship.     

The corrective effects of warning on false memories in the DRM paradigm are limited to full attention conditions

Effects of attention control and forewarning on the activation and monitoring of experimentally induced false memories in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm were investigated in a young adult sample (N=77). We found that reducing the degree of attention during encoding led to a decrease in veridical recall and an increase in non-presented critical lure intrusions. This effect could not be counteracted by a forewarning instruction. However, these findings did not emerge in a (retrieval supportive) recognition task. It seems that divided attention increases false recall when attention control and forewarning have to compete for limited cognitive resources in a generative free recall as opposed to a retrieval supportive recognition task. Forewarning instructions do not always protect young adults against experimentally induced false memories.     

Psychometric validation of an Organisational Performance Questionnaire (OPQ) based on the Burke-Litwin model

This study reports the findings on the development and validation of an Organisational Performance Questionnaire (OPQ) based on the Burke-Litwin model. Respondents were 398 employees from various public and private sector organisations in South Africa, consisting of different genders (male = 60.8%, female = 39.2%), different functional groupings (mostly operations, finance, human relations = 37.25%) and mostly middle or senior level managers (62.4%). Data were analysed utilising exploratory factor analysis with promax rotation. Results indicated the OPQ to measure all twelve of the Burke-Litwin elements contained in their model: external environment, mission and strategy, leadership, culture, structure, management practices, systems, work group climate, skills/job match, individual needs and values, motivation, and organisational and individual performance. An OPQ based on the Burke-Litwin model appears valid for assessing organisational performance in the South African setting.     

Insecure attachment and career indecision: Mediating effects of anxiety and pessimism

The purpose of this study was to examine a theoretically-based model in which insecure attachment is related to career indecision through the mediation of negative emotions. Two hundred college students completed questionnaires measuring anxious and avoidant dimensions of insecure attachment, negative emotions (trait and career-choice anxiety, trait and career-choice pessimism), and career indecision. Path analysis indicated that anxious attachment was indirectly related to career indecision through a full mediation of career-choice anxiety and career-choice pessimism (but not through the trait emotions). Avoidant attachment was neither related to the negative emotions nor to career indecision. These findings contribute to the understanding of the linkage between internalized relationships with significant others and career planning and development, and highlight the important role that career-choice-related emotions play in the process of career decision making. In light of the findings, implications and recommendations regarding career development, career counseling interventions, and preventive measures aimed at reducing career indecision are presented.