Virtual reality cue reactivity assessment in cigarette smokers.

Drug craving has purportedly been linked to relapse and to substance use. For over two decades, cue reactivity has been a viable method to assess craving and physiological reactions to drug stimuli. However, traditional cue reactivity has faced the following limitations: austere situations or stimuli, lack of complex cues, lack of standardization, and limited generalization outside of the lab setting. In order to improve cue methodologies, a virtual reality (VR) nicotine cue reactivity assessment system (VR-NCRAS) was developed and tested in a controlled experimental trial. Ten nicotine dependent smokers were exposed to VR smoking cues and VR neutral cues in a standardized, timed, computer controlled experiment. Subjective craving and physiological responses were recorded and compared across VR-NCRAS stimuli. Subjective cigarette craving increased significantly and corresponding physiological reactivity was observed in response to VR smoking cues. VR neutral cues did not result in subjective or physiological changes consistent with craving. Implications of these findings on substance abuse research and treatment are discussed.     

Cognitive and developmental influences in visual-motor integration skills in young children

Measures of visual-motor integration skills continue to be widely used in psychological assessments with children. However, the construct validity of many visual-motor integration measures remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the relative contributions of maturation and cognitive skills to the development of visual-motor integration skills in young children (N = 856). We used a block regression analysis to determine the contribution of maturation, as indicated by age, followed by broad cognitive factors (Study 1) and subsequently by individual subtests in verbal and nonverbal domains subsumed under each factor (Study 2) in explaining score variance of the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (2nd ed.; BG-II; Brannigan & Decker, 2003) Copy and Recall scores in children between the ages of 4 and 7 years. Results confirm that maturation accounted for a large proportion of variance in both BG-II Copy and Recall performance, above which Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (5th ed.; SB-5; Roid, 2003) Quantitative Reasoning and Fluid Reasoning factors significantly contributed to visual-motor integration performance for the Copy phase, and SB-5 Quantitative Reasoning and Visual-Spatial factors accounted for a significant amount of variance for the Recall phase. Additionally, nonverbal domains were more related to visual-motor performance than verbal domains. Results from this study are interpreted to suggest nonverbal reasoning and visual-spatial attention are important contributing factors to visual-motor integration, as measured by the BG-II. Developmental implications of visual-motor integration skills, nonverbal problem solving, and mathematical competence are discussed.     

Behavioral Momentum During a Continuous Reading Task: An Exploratory Study

Adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often fail to master literacy skills, in part because disruptive behaviors interfere with task engagement and persistence. The theory of behavioral momentum explains the persistence of behavior in the face of changing environmental conditions. The current exploratory study examined variables related to behavioral momentum in the context of a continuous reading task. Participants were three adolescents identified with EBD who were instructional on fifth-grade material. Results indicated that when participants read a third-grade paragraph immediately before a fifth-grade paragraph, they decreased the latency to initiate reading of the fifth-grade paragraph and increased words read correctly per minute on the first 10 words of the fifth-grade paragraph. Results are discussed in terms of the theory of behavioral momentum and the nature of interventions that may be developed to increase reading persistence.     

Social Negativity and Health: Conceptual and Measurement Issues

The goal of this review paper is to identify conceptual and measurement issues in the study of social negativity and health in order to foster development of research on this important topic. We begin by discussing how the negative side of social ties has been conceptualized and by identifying features of the underlying construct. Next, we review selected evidence on the effects of social negativity on physiology, self‐reported health, morbidity, and mortality. We end by highlighting unresolved questions and presenting recommendations for how the field should move forward.     

On the nature of identity fusion: insights into the construct and a new measure

Previous research has documented the consequences of feeling fused with a group; here we examine the nature of identity fusion. Specifically, we sought to determine what fusion is and the mediating mechanisms that lead fused individuals to make extraordinary sacrifices for their group. Guided by the assumption that fusion emphasizes the extent to which people develop relational ties to the group, we developed a measure designed to capture feelings of connectedness and reciprocal strength with the group. In 10 studies, the newly developed scale displayed predicted relationships with related measures, including an earlier (pictorial) measure of fusion and a measure of group identification. Also as expected, fusion scores were independent of several measures of personality and identity. Moreover, the scale predicted endorsement of extreme progroup behaviors with greater fidelity than did an earlier pictorial measure of identity fusion, which was, in turn, superior to a measure of group identification. Earlier evidence that the personal and social selves of fused persons are functionally equivalent was replicated, and it was shown that feelings of agency and invulnerability mediated the effects of fusion on extreme behavior. Finally, Spanish- and English-language versions of the verbal fusion scale showed similar factor structure as well as evidence of convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity in samples of Spaniards and Americans, as well as immigrants from 22 different countries. This work advances a new perspective on the interplay between social and personal identity.     

Individual differences in visual search: relationship to autistic traits, discrimination thresholds, and speed of processing

Enhanced visual search is widely reported in autism. Here we note a similar advantage for university students self-reporting higher levels of autism-like traits. Contrary to prevailing theories of autism, performance was not associated with perceptual-discrimination thresholds for the same stimuli, but was associated with inspection-time threshold--a measure of speed of perceptual processing. Enhanced visual search in autism may, therefore, at least partially be explained by faster speed of processing.     

Emotional experience improves with age: evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling

Recent evidence suggests that emotional well-being improves from early adulthood to old age. This study used experience-sampling to examine the developmental course of emotional experience in a representative sample of adults spanning early to very late adulthood. Participants (N = 184, Wave 1; N = 191, Wave 2; N = 178, Wave 3) reported their emotional states at five randomly selected times each day for a one week period. Using a measurement burst design, the one-week sampling procedure was repeated five and then ten years later. Cross-sectional and growth curve analyses indicate that aging is associated with more positive overall emotional well-being, with greater emotional stability and with more complexity (as evidenced by greater co-occurrence of positive and negative emotions). These findings remained robust after accounting for other variables that may be related to emotional experience (personality, verbal fluency, physical health, and demographic variables). Finally, emotional experience predicted mortality; controlling for age, sex, and ethnicity, individuals who experienced relatively more positive than negative emotions in everyday life were more likely to have survived over a 13 year period. Findings are discussed in the theoretical context of socioemotional selectivity theory.     

A Closer Look at Reactions to Realistic Recruitment Messages

Recently there has been a great deal of interest among consumer and behavioral judgment researchers on how immediate affective reactions influence overall evaluations. The current study seeks to determine whether immediate affective reactions to organizational attributes warrant the attention of recruitment researchers as well. Using a customized web‐based computer program that elicits immediate affective reactions to organizational previews, the study finds that overall evaluations of the organization are influenced more by the average intensity of immediate affective reactions experienced during the message than by the relative balance of positive and negative information contained in the message. Results suggest that practitioners using realistic information need to be more concerned about the average intensity of recipients' reactions than about the relative balance of positive or negative information.