Priming,not inhibition,of related concepts during future imagining

Remembering the past and imagining the future both involve the retrieval of details stored in episodic memory and rely on the same core network of brain regions. Given these parallels, one might expect similar component processes to be involved in remembering and imagining. While a strong case can be made for the role of inhibition in memory retrieval, few studies have examined whether inhibition is also necessary for future imagining and results to-date have been mixed. In the current study, we test whether related concepts are inhibited during future imagining using a modified priming approach. Participants first generated a list of familiar places and for each place, the people they most strongly associate with it. A week later, participants imagined future events involving recombinations of people and places, immediately followed by a speeded response task in which participants made familiarity decisions about people’s names. Across two experiments, our results suggest that related concepts are not inhibited during future imagining, but rather are automatically primed. These results fit with recent work showing that autobiographically significant concepts (e.g., friends’ names) are more episodic than semantic in nature, automatically activating related details in memory and potentially fuelling the flexible simulation of future events.     

The social utility of performance-approach goals in a selective educational environment

According to the recent research, the educational system fulfills both an educational function (i.e., teaching and training students) and a selection function (i.e., determining students’ future position in the social hierarchy), particularly in higher education. It has been argued that in the university system the selection function provides a social utility value to performance-approach goals (i.e., the goal to demonstrate one’s own competences relative to others), which in turn increases the extent to which students endorse these goals. Two experiments investigated the influence of the salience of the selection function on performance-approach goals’ social value and endorsement. The results showed that the salience of the selection function increased both performance-approach goal endorsement (experiment 1 and 2) and performance-approach goals’ social utility (experiment 2). These goals’ social utility contributes to explaining the effect of the salience of the selection function on performance-approach goal endorsement. Limitations of the present experiments and practical implications are discussed.     

Concurrency benefits in the attentional blink: Attentional flexibility and shifts of decision criteria

Fundamental limitations in performing multiple tasks concurrently are well illustrated by the attentional blink (AB) deficit, which refers to the difficulty in reporting a second target (T2) when it is presented shortly after a first target (T1). Surprisingly, recent studies have shown that the AB, which is often thought of as a manifestation of capacity limitations in central processing, can be reduced when the AB task is performed simultaneously with concurrent distracting activities. In the present study, we sought to investigate whether such concurrency benefits would also be observed when the AB task was performed concurrently with a central demanding timing task. The AB was reduced under concurrent-task conditions, as compared with single-AB-task conditions, even though T1 performance was unaffected by the concurrent task. Moreover, shifts in decision criteria were found to be associated with the concurrency benefit effect.     

Influences of head and torso movement before and during affordance perception

Previous research has shown that body sway (both standing and seated) is related to the accuracy of affordance judgments. The authors investigated the influence of seated head and torso movement on the perception of a novel affordance for wheelchair locomotion. Healthy adults without prior wheelchair experience judged the lowest lintel under which they could roll in the wheelchair. Prior to judgments, participants were given brief (≈ 2 min) practice at self-controlled wheelchair locomotion. During practice, the participant's head either was or was not restrained within the wheelchair. During the subsequent judgment session, the participant's head was or was not restrained. The accuracy of affordance judgments was influenced by restraint during the practice session and also by restraint during the judgment session. The authors collected data on head movement during the judgment session (when participants were not restrained). These data revealed that movement during judgment sessions was influenced by whether or not participants were restrained during the practice session. Overall, the results reveal that the availability of head movements (i.e., being unrestrained) and the nature of head movements (during unrestrained judgment sessions) were causally related to the accuracy of affordance judgments.     

Mood and positive testing in social interaction

Why, how and when does mood influence positive testing, that is, the selection of matching questions, when people actively search for information about others they meet? In four experiments, we demonstrated that happy mood increased positive testing compared to sad mood. Experiment 1 showed that happy participants were more strongly motivated to get along and smooth the interaction to come than sad ones. In addition, evidence was provided by a mediation analysis that happy mood increased the preference for positive testing because of such an improved motivation to get along. Furthermore, Experiment 2 showed that happy participants' preference for positive testing vanished when cognitive resources were limited. The preference for positive testing appeared under happy mood only when the context made salient the goal to get along (Experiments 3 and 4). Together, these results suggest that positive testing in a social‐hypothesis testing paradigm may have social values. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Judging the 'passability' of dynamic gaps in a virtual rugby environment

Affordances have recently been proposed as a guiding principle in perception–action research in sport (Fajen, Riley, & Turvey, 2009). In the present study, perception of the ’passability’ affordance of a gap between two approaching defenders in rugby is explored. A simplified rugby gap closure scenario was created using immersive, interactive virtual reality technology where 14 novice participants (attacker) judged the passability of the gap between two virtual defenders via a perceptual judgment (button press) task. The scenario was modeled according to tau theory (Lee, 1976) and a psychophysical function was fitted to the response data. Results revealed that a tau-based informational quantity could account for 82% of the variance in the data. Findings suggest that the passability affordance in this case, is defined by this variable and participants were able to use it in order to inform prospective judgments as to passability. These findings contribute to our understanding of affordances and how they may be defined in this particular sporting scenario; however, some limitations regarding methodology, such as decoupling perception and action are also acknowledged.     

A Functional Analysis of 2004 Ukrainian Presidential Debates

Political leaders’ debates are an important and highly visible instances of public argumentation. As such, they merit scholarly attention. This essay applies the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to analyze televised presidential debates from the Ukraine in 2004. Overall, this analysis revealed that acclaims were the most common function, followed by attacks and then defenses. Policy was addressed more often than character in these debates, as expected. The incumbent candidate acclaimed significantly more and attacked less than the challenger. The incumbents used past deeds significantly more often to acclaim – and less to attack – than the challengers. Finally, general goals and ideals were used more as the basis for acclaims than attacks in these debates. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Serum beta-amyloid correlates with neuropsychological impairment

AIMS: Evidence suggests a relationship between peripheral Abeta and AD. We hypothesized that higher levels of serum Abeta(1-42) would be associated with memory impairment, thought to occur early in the disease, and rises in serum Abeta(1-40), which occur later, would be associated with impairment in non-memory measures. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional design, we examined the relationship of serum Abeta(1-40), Abeta(1-42), and the ratio of Abeta(1-42/1-40) to neuropsychological measures in 40 cognitively normal controls, 13 MCI subjects, and 25 AD patients. RESULTS: Serum Abeta(1-42) and the ratio of Abeta(1-42/1-40) were significantly higher in the MCI group compared to the controls. A significant relationship in the hypothesized direction (poorer scores associated with higher Abeta(1-40) serum levels) was found between Abeta(1-40) and measures of executive functions across the entire cohort of individuals tested and with measures of language and processing speed in the AD group. Regression analysis found that neuropsychological measures accounted for 26% of the variance in serum Abeta(1-40,) in the MCI/AD but not the controls. Furthermore that language and executive measures were significant predictors. CONCLUSIONS: Results provide preliminary data to partially support our hypotheses and suggest that changes in serum Abeta levels may be attributed to pathological changes within the brain.     

Maternal attachment disturbances in failure to thrive

Psychological characteristics pertaining to attachment relationships were measured in mothers of 25 hospitalized failure-to-thrive (FTT) infants and mothers of 25 hospitalized, normally growing infants. The groups were matched for race, socioeconomic status, maternal education, and infant's age and sex. Results showed that 96% of mothers of FTT infants were classified as insecure with respect to attachment, as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985), compared to 60% of control group mothers. Lack of resolution of mourning over the loss of a loved one was found in 52% of the mothers in the FTT group and in 32% of mothers in the control group. Mothers of FTT infants reported receiving less support from their families and rated their current relationship with their partner as less satisfying. These findings provide empirical support for the widely held clinical notion that FTT in infants is often a relationship disorder between infant and caregiver.     

Presidential Debate Watching,Issue Knowledge,Character Evaluation,and Vote Choice

This study employs NES (National Election Survey) data from several presidential elections to investigate the effects of presidential debate watching on voters' issue knowledge, character evaluation, and vote choice. Debates can instill issue knowledge; however, voters are less likely to learn about incumbent presidents seeking re‐election after a four‐year term in office than about other candidates. Debates are also capable of changing voters' impressions of the candidates' character. Finally, at times debates help viewers make a vote choice; they are more likely to strengthen existing preferences (increasing confidence in their vote choice) than alter vote preferences.