The buffering effects of job embeddedness on negative shocks

Unpleasant events are a fact of organizational life. The way in which people respond to such events, however, varies. In the present study, we hypothesized and found that some individuals choose to respond to negative events in ways that helped the organization. Instead of withdrawing in an attempt to “get even” by reducing work outputs, these individuals improved their in-role and extra-role performance. The study examined the role that job embeddedness plays in creating this work enhancement reaction. Specifically, we discovered that on-the-job embeddedness helps reduce the impact of negative shocks on organizational citizenship and overall job performance. The findings of this study have important implications for both theory and practice.     

Amodal completion in bonobos

We trained two bonobos to discriminate among occluded, complete, and incomplete stimuli. The occluded stimulus comprised a pair of colored shapes, one of which appeared to occlude the other. The complete and incomplete stimuli involved the single shape that appeared to have been partially covered in the occluded stimulus; the complete stimulus showed the full shape, whereas the incomplete stimulus showed the same portion of the shape that was visible in the occluded stimulus. The correct response was to select the two-part occluded stimulus. Consistent with amodal completion, the bonobos committed a higher percentage of errors to the complete stimuli than to the incomplete stimuli. As well, the percentage of errors to the complete stimuli rose after repeated training with several different shapes. Extensive experience with two-dimensional images enhances amodal completion of partially occluded stimuli in bonobos.     

Episodic effects on picture identification: implications for theories of concept learning and theories of memory

The effects of differences in study processing on free recall of picture names and on generalization in picture identification were investigated. Experience with degraded pictures produced poorer subsequent free recall of picture names than did naming intact pictures. For the test of picture identification, pictures that were identical to a studied picture, pictures that shared a name with a studied picture (same name), and new test pictures were presented, and the amount of clarification required to identify a picture was measured. Experience with degraded pictures produced better subsequent identification of identical test pictures but poorer later identification of same-name test pictures than did naming intact pictures. The importance of these episodic effects for theories of concept learning and theories of memory is discussed. It is argued that distinctions between memory systems (e.g., episodic-semantic) must be couched in terms of a theory of concept learning and that the data are inconsistent with a simple distinction.     

Same/different discrimination learning with trial-unique stimuli

A long-standing issue in same/different discrimination learning concerns the possible role of individual stimulus memory through repeated presentation. The aim of eliminating any effect of repetition prompted us to devise a new method for generating trial-unique stimuli. These stimuli were arrays of 16 mosaics, each containing 16 cells, which could be filled with 16 possible luminance levels. In Experiment 1, we successfully trained 4 pigeons with these trial-unique stimuli in a two-alternative forced choice same/different discrimination task to 80% correct-choice performance. We later conducted two tests that explored the nature of this discrimination and suggested that pigeons compared the mosaics in the arrays on the basis of their spatial configurations, not on the basis of lower level perceptual properties. In Experiment 2, college students responded similarly to the same sequence of training and testing. Our results suggest that pigeons and people may use similar mechanisms in relational discrimination learning.     

Enhancing precision in the prediction of voluntary turnover and retirement

The present research examines the differential validity of the facets of organizational commitment and job embeddedness to predict who will reenlist or retire from a branch of the armed services. We tested hypotheses with survey data from 1839 enlisted personnel in the U.S. Air Force. For personnel facing the decision to reenlist or separate, continuance commitment and organizational job embeddedness predicted reenlistment. For those eligible to retire, affective and normative commitment as well as organizational job embeddedness predicted who would reenlist rather than retire. However, unlike previous studies, for both criteria (reenlistment and retirement), people who were more embedded in their communities were more likely to voluntarily leave. This finding identifies an important boundary condition for job embeddedness theory.     

神经成像数据的元分析

随着高空间分辨率神经成像技术如fMRI和PET的普及, 神经成像研究报告的数量增长迅猛。文献的积累为研究者提供了大量的数据, 研究者可以通过对文献的分析来验证研究结论以及提出新的假设。由于神经成像研究的主要目的之一在于寻求认知过程与脑区的空间位置对应关系, 基于坐标的元分析方法满足了这种需求, 成为神经成像数据元分析中主导的方法。其中, 激活可能性估计法(Activation Likelihood Estimation, ALE)由于方法上的合理性和使用上的便利, 成为当前使用最广泛的基于坐标的元分析方法。本文首先介绍了ALE方法的基本原理, 并在此基础上讨论了神经成像数据元分析的两种主要思路：寻找多个研究的一致性以及寻找脑区激活的调节变量。此外, 文章还介绍了新近流行的脑连通性元分析模型(MACM), 即使用元分析方法进行功能连通性分析。最后, 文章讨论了当前神经成像数据元分析的发展趋势。     

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.