Examining the effects of memory specificity and perceptual load on susceptibility to misleading information

Our study aimed to examine the role of perceptual load in eyewitness memory and susceptibility to misinformation and establish whether trait-based memory specificity protects against misinformation. Participants (n = 264) viewed a video depicting a crime and completed a memory questionnaire immediately afterwards and 1 week later. Memory specificity was measured using the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). Higher AMT scores were associated with better memory accuracy. Performance was worse in the high load compared to the low load condition at immediate recall. However, this effect was not seen for every question and load did not influence eyewitness identifications. To test the possibility that load effects were not fully captured by the questionnaire in experiment 1, we conducted a second experiment (n = 120) where we systematically manipulated misinformation about central and peripheral details. We found no effects. Our findings suggest that high perceptual load enhances eyewitness suggestibility, while specific autobiographical memory protects against misinformation.     

High perceptual load causes inattentional blindness and deafness in drivers

ABSTRACT

Perceptual load theory of attention predicts that the level of perceptual load in a primary task affects the processing of additional stimuli. Given the lack of ecologically valid evidence for the model, the current study assessed the effect of perceptual load on driver awareness during simulated driving tasks. The results showed that perceptual load dramatically affected driver awareness for visual and auditory stimuli, even those that were driving relevant and safety critical (e.g. pedestrians or the sound of a car horn). The results support load theory and suggest that perceptual load may be an important factor in driver safety.     

Protean career attitudes during unemployment and reemployment: A longitudinal perspective

This 3-wave, 12-month longitudinal study investigated how protean career orientation (PCO) influences unemployed people's self-esteem, job search activity, employment perceived job improvement and perceived career growth over time. Panel data analysis with a sample of 186 people revealed that PCO was significantly associated with increased self-esteem, job search activity and reemployment. The effect of self-esteem on job search activity was mediated by PCO. PCO was significantly associated with job improvement and career growth once reemployed and the relationship between PCO and career growth was mediated by job improvement. PCO declined once participants become reemployed. Implications for how career counselors can develop career transitions programs that facilitate a PCO are presented.     

Distinct parietal sites mediate the influences of mood,arousal, and their interaction on human recognition memory

The two dimensions of emotion, mood valence and arousal, have independent effects on recognition memory. At present, however, it is not clear how those effects are reflected in the human brain. Previous research in this area has generally dealt with memory for emotionally valenced or arousing stimuli, but the manner in which interacting mood and arousal states modulate responses in memory substrates remains poorly understood. We investigated memory for emotionally neutral items while independently manipulating mood valence and arousal state by means of music exposure. Four emotional conditions were created: positive mood/high arousal, positive mood/low arousal, negative mood/high arousal, and negative mood/low arousal. We observed distinct effects of mood valence and arousal in parietal substrates of recognition memory. Positive mood increased activity in ventral posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and orbitofrontal cortex, whereas arousal condition modulated activity in dorsal PPC and the posterior cingulate. An interaction between valence and arousal was observed in left ventral PPC, notably in a parietal area distinct from the those identified for the main effects, with a stronger effect of mood on recognition memory responses here under conditions of relative high versus low arousal. We interpreted the PPC activations in terms of the attention-to-memory hypothesis: Increased arousal may lead to increased top-down control of memory, and hence dorsal PPC activation, whereas positive mood valence may result in increased activity in ventral PPC regions associated with bottom-up attention to memory. These findings indicate that distinct parietal sites mediate the influences of mood, arousal, and their interplay during recognition memory.     

Effects of mothers' racial socialization and relationship quality on African American youth's school engagement: a profile approach

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between profiles of adolescents' reports of their mothers' racial socialization (e.g., racial pride and racial barrier messages) and feelings toward their mothers' parenting (e.g., providing a warm, positive climate; using child-centered strategies) and youth engagement. This research addresses the paucity of literature that examines the impact of mothers' parenting as a buffer to declines in school engagement for African American youth. Given that parenting is embedded in a specific cultural niche, this study examines the synergy between racial socialization and mother-child relationship quality. Engagement outcomes consisted of a participant's ability to persist on task in the face of obstacles (task persistence) and their interest and active participation in class (academic engagement). Latent profile analysis on the sample of 94 self-identified African American youth (ages 11-14) revealed three profiles of racial socialization and affective relationship quality. The profiles and their associations with adolescent engagement are discussed. The findings support the importance of examining racial messages in tandem with broad parenting.     

A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF ATTRIBUTION OF RESPONSIBILITY1

Etude interculturelle de la notion de responsabilité. — Le but de cette recherche est de comparer quel est le degré de responsabilité attribué à une personne par des enfants de trois nationalités différentes : Cuba, Porto Rico, USA. Dans chaque pays, quatre échantillons ont été constitués selon l'âge : 7–8, 9–10, 11–13 et 16–18 ans. Les enfants répondent à un questionnaire composé de 40 courtes histoires dans lesquelles on a fait varier : 1) la part prise par la personne dans la causalité des événements (5 degrés : simple association, implication directe, prévision, intention, justification); 2) la nature, bonne ou mauvaise, des conséquences; 3) l'importance, grande ou faible, des conséquences. Les résultats montrent que les degrés de causalité, la nature et l'importance des conséquences affectent grandement le niveau de responsabilité attribué, à tous les âges et dans les trois pays; on observe également des interactions significatives entre ces variables. Conformément à l'hypothèse, le degré de responsabilité attribué croît avec l'intentionalité et décroît avec la justification; il est généralement plus élevé lorsque les conséquences sont plus importantes et, de même, lorsque les conséquences sont néfastes. Cependant, les interactions significatives qu'on peut observer indiquent que Peffet de chacune des variables est, à quelque degré, influencé par les deux autres. La nationalité entraîne un effet global significatif pour un seul âge; mais elle est en interaction avec les variables liées à la causalité et aux conséquences dans tous les groupes. En général, les sujets latins (Cubains et Portoricains) font des distinctions plus fines que les Américains entre les degrés de causalité lorsque les conséquences sont bénéfiques; ceci est particulierement apparent pour les sujets les plus jeunes. II est difficile d'interpréter les différences entre nationalités : la meilleure explication reléve sans doute des différences dans les relations familiales et dans la maniere d'élever les enfants.     

Gender matters, too: the influences of school racial discrimination and racial identity on academic engagement outcomes among African American adolescents

The authors examined relationships among racial identity, school-based racial discrimination experiences, and academic engagement outcomes for adolescent boys and girls in Grades 8 and 11 (n = 204 boys and n = 206 girls). The authors found gender differences in peer and classroom discrimination and in the impact of earlier and later discrimination experiences on academic outcomes. Racial centrality related positively to school performance and school importance attitudes for boys. Also, centrality moderated the relationship between discrimination and academic outcomes in ways that differed across gender. For boys, higher racial centrality related to diminished risk for lower school importance attitudes and grades from experiencing classroom discrimination relative to boys lower in centrality, and girls with higher centrality were protected against the negative impact of peer discrimination on school importance and academic self-concept. However, among lower race-central girls, peer discrimination related positively to academic self-concept. Finally, socioeconomic background moderated the relationship of discrimination with academic outcomes differently for girls and boys. The authors discuss the need to consider interactions of individual- and contextual-level factors in better understanding African American youths' academic and social development.     

Concurrent processing of words and their replacements during speech

Two picture naming experiments, in which an initial picture was occasionally replaced with another (target) picture, were conducted to study the temporal coordination of abandoning one word and resuming with another word in speech production. In Experiment 1, participants abandoned saying the initial name, and resumed with the name of the target picture. This triggered both interrupted (e.g., Mush- …scooter) and completed (mushroom …scooter) productions of the initial name. We found that the time from beginning naming the initial picture to ending it was longer when the target picture was visually degraded than when it was intact. In Experiment 2, participants abandoned saying the initial name, but without resuming. There was no visual degradation effect, and thus the effect did not seem to be driven by detection of the stopping cue. These findings demonstrate that planning a new word can begin before the initial word is abandoned, so that both words can be processed concurrently.