Spatial working memory maintenance: Does attention play a role? A visual search study

Recent studies have proposed that a common mechanism may underlie spatial attention and spatial working memory. One proposal is that spatial working memory is maintained by attention-based rehearsal [Awh, E., Jonides, J., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (1998). Rehearsal in spatial working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24(3), 780-790], and so a spatial attention shift during the retention interval of a spatial location should impair its memory performance. In the present study, participants engaged in single-item, parallel or serial search tasks while remembering a spatial location. Although memory tended to bias all searches, the need for an attentional shift during the retention interval impaired memory performance only in single-item search, but not in other searches. These findings suggest that previous evidence for the attention-based rehearsal account does not generalize to visual search. Results are discussed with regard to the relationship between spatial attention and spatial working memory.     

Self‐esteem as a source of evaluative conditioning

This study was designed to examine whether self‐esteem can be used as a source of evaluative conditioning, and whether implicit or explicit self‐esteem was more predictive of the evaluative conditioning effect. Moreover, the role of contingency awareness in the acquisition of the evaluative conditioning effect was also examined. Words related to the self and a general other were served as unconditioned stimuli (USs) in the evaluative conditioning process in order to see whether the evaluation could be transferred to neutral, abstract paintings after 10 times of pairing. An evaluative conditioning effect was demonstrated in that the evaluation of the paintings became more positive after repeatedly paired with words about the self but not words about general others. Implicit self‐esteem predicted the magnitude of the evaluative conditioning effect, while the association between explicit self‐esteem and the evaluative conditioning effect was nonsignificant, both with and without the effect of contingency awareness being controlled for. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neural correlates of Traditional Chinese Medicine induced advantageous risk-taking decision making

This fMRI study examined the neural correlates of the observed improvement in advantageous risk-taking behavior, as measured by the number of adjusted pumps in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), following a 60-day course of a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recipe, specifically designed to regulate impulsiveness in order to modulate risk-taking behavior. The 14 participants recruited for this study were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups and the TCM recipe (Panax, 520 mg; Astragalus membranaceous Bunge, 520 mg; Masnetitum, 840 mg; Ostrea gigas Thumb, 470 mg; Thinleaf Milkwort Root Radix Polygalae, 450 mg; and Os Draconis, 470 mg) was administered, as a diet supplement, to the seven participants in the experimental group. The neural activity of the two groups was monitored by a 3T MRI scanner, before and after the 60-day treatment. Associated with the improved advantageous risk-taking behavior seen in the experimental group, significantly stronger blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) responses were observed in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), left putamen, left thalamus, right insula, and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), regions which have previously been reported as being involved in risk-taking decision making. The effect of the TCM in improving advantageous risk-taking decision making appears to have been related to the enhanced efficiency of the cognitive affective system, the PFC–ACC–insula–striatum network, which functions to inhibit impulsiveness, to sensitize reward-related information, and to allow the opportunity, during risk estimation, to evaluate potential gains and losses. The findings of this study suggest that interventions acting on factors modulating risk-taking decision making could have a beneficial effect in terms of optimizing risk-taking behavior.     

The Professional Identity of Contributors to the Journal of Counseling & Development: Does It Matter?

R. K. Goodyear (2000) criticized the methodology and results of a study which demonstrated that during the editorial terms of Goodyear (1984–1990) and Claiborn (1990–1993) there was a trend toward publishing articles written by psychologists as opposed to counselors in the Journal of Counseling & Development (JCD). The issue of journal content goes to the heart of professional identity. The authors assert that professional affiliation of contributors matters less than the content of the articles published in JCD (i.e., articles must “speak” the language of counselors and not the language of some other mental health professional).     

Dimensionality and correlates of problem solving: the use of the Problem Solving Inventory in the Chinese context.

The dimensional structure of the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI) was investigated using data collected from a sample of 499 Chinese university students in teacher training. While the original three-factor model provided poor fit to the data, the revised two-factor model provided more adequate fit but failed to consider a PSI construct tapped in the original PSI formulation. The newly constructed PSI scales based on the present data provided viable alternative scales reflecting constructs of self-efficacy, rational coping and dysfunctional coping. These newly developed problem-solving scales were predictive of indices of psychological adjustment in terms of depression, burnout, and perceived self-efficacy toward helping others. The use of the PSI in the Chinese context is discussed.     

Cognitive Misfit of Problem-Solving Style at Work: A Facet of Person-Organization Fit

Based on Kirton's Adaption-Innovation Theory (1976, 1977) of problem-solving style at work, the construct of cognitive misfit was developed and proposed as one viable facet of Person-Organization fit. Cognitive misfit refers to the degree of mismatch between an individual's cognitive style of problem solving and the style demands of the work context. Relationships among cognitive misfit, job performance, and actual individual turnover after 3 years were examined in a sample of 253 engineers in either a Staff engineering function or a Research and Development (R&D) engineering function. The Staff function and the R&D function corresponded to a work context predominant in adaptive-style demands and a work context predominant in innovative-style demands, respectively. Results from logistic regression analyses showed that cognitive misfit was uncorrelated with job performance, but provided significant and substantial incremental validity in predicting actual turnover over the predictability provided by performance. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research were discussed in terms of levels of analysis issues and the current focus on Person-Organization fit in selection and organizational behavior research.     

The Perception of Ideal Best Friends by Chinese Adolescents

This study examines the characteristics of ideal best friends endorsed by Chinese adolescents. A comprehensive measure of person perception was used in order to assess those dimensions of personality where gender, similarity, and complementarity might be related to the rating of ideal best friends. Results indicated that ideal female best friends were rated higher on the communal dimension of Helpfulness; ideal male best friends were rated higher on the agentic dimensions of Extroversion, Assertiveness, and Application. Similarity effects were found for Openness to Experience, Extroversion, and Emotional Stability; complementarity effects for Assertiveness. These results were explained in terms of Chinese gender stereotypes and the requirements for harmonious dyadic interaction.