EFFECTS OF SECOND LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY OF SPEAKERS AND LISTENERS ON PERSON PERCEPTION AND BEHAVIOURAL INTENTION: A STUDY OF CHINESE BILINGUALS

Do people at different levels of second language proficiency perceive and interact with other speakers differently? Conceptual analyses suggested three possibilities. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the hypotheses derived from the conceptual analyses. Forty Chinese undergraduates (half of whom were high and half of whom were low in English language proficiency) listened to English speeches by either high or low proficiency speakers, and rated the speakers on ten personality traits and ten behavioural intention items. High and low proficiency listeners did not differ in their impressions of the speakers or the behavioural intention towards them. However, speaker proficiency strongly affected the listeners' person perception and behavioural intention. Results from a hierarchical multiple regression supported the hypothesis that speaker proficiency influenced person perception, which in turn influenced behavioural intention.     

Recognition failure of categorized words

Previous research has demonstrated that the phenomenon of recognition failure of recallable words does not hold for categorized word pairs (e.g.,flower-ROSE). We tested the hypothesis that such an exceptional finding is attributable to the use of homogeneous lists that create a situation in which the functional recall cues do not contain any information not already contained in the recognition cues. In three experiments in which categorized word pairs were used, but whose design ruled out the invariant informational overlap between recognition and recall cues, recognition failure was found to the extent expected by Tulving and Wiseman’s (1975) function. These results add to the evidence that the relation between recognition and cued recall in recognition-failure experiments is largely invariant over many otherwise relevant variables that affect recognition and recall.     

Finger pressure during tracking of curved contours: Implications for a visual dominance phenomenon

Several temporal and spatial factors affect gender recognition of a walker when portrayed, without familiarity cues, as a dynamic point-light display. We demonstrate that, among temporal parameters, the duration of the dynamic stimulus must be longer than 1.6 sec, but that 2.7 sec is fully adequate. Given the speed of our walkers, the recognition threshold appears to be roughly two step cycles. In addition, presentation rate of the stimulus must be near to normal, perhaps because nonnormal rates alter apparent gravity and obscure the normal relationship between output and conservation of energy. We demonstrate that, among spatial factors, the discreteness of the joint information must be maintained for accurate recognition. We go on to argue that it is the information about the shoulder and the hip of a walker that is of primary importance. Finally, inversion of the stimulus display produces the unexpected effect of reversing the apparent sex of most walkers. That is, when presented upside down, male walkers appear female and female walkers appear male.     

Individual differences in dopamine efflux in nucleus accumbens shell and core during instrumental learning

Combined activation of dopamine D1- and NMDA-glutamate receptors in the nucleus accumbens has been strongly implicated in instrumental learning, the process in which an individual learns that a specific action has a wanted outcome. To assess dopaminergic activity, we presented rats with two sessions (30 trials each) of a one-lever appetitive instrumental task and simultaneously measured dopamine efflux in the shell and core accumbens subareas using in vivo microdialysis. Dopamine efflux was increased during each session in all areas. The behavioral performance of the rats in the second session led us to divide them into a learning group (>90% correct trials) and a non-learning group. In the first session, the rats of the learning group showed significantly higher increases. The difference was most pronounced in the shell. In the second session, the dopamine increase was similar in both groups, although the learning groups now pressed the lever about three times more often and consequently obtained more rewards. We conclude that task-related activation of dopamine efflux is different between learning and non-learning rats only during the learning phase. These results support the pharmacological evidence that dopamine is of particular importance during the instrumental learning process.     

Altered auditory feedback and the treatment of stuttering: a review

Several authors have suggested that devices delivering altered auditory feedback (AAF) may be a viable treatment for adults and children who stutter. This paper reviews published, peer reviewed journal papers from the past 10 years that investigate the effect of AAF during different speaking conditions, tasks and situations. A review of that literature indicates that considerable experimental evidence and limited Phase 1 treatment outcome evidence has been accumulated about the effect of AAF on the speech of people who stutter. However, critical knowledge about the effect of AAF during conversational speech and in everyday speaking situations is missing. Knowledge about how to determine the correct levels of AAF for individuals, and the characteristics of those likely to benefit from AAF, also needs to be established. At present there is no reason to accept a recent suggestion that AAF devices would be a defensible clinical option for children. In general device development and availability has occurred at a faster pace than clinical trials research. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: After reading this paper readers should be able to: (1) describe what altered auditory feedback is and common ways the speech signal is altered in stuttering; (2) describe the effects of AAF on the speech of adults who stutter; (3) provide a critical analysis of the literature in the area of AAF and stuttering.     

Age effects on social cognition: faces tell a different story

The authors administered social cognition tasks to younger and older adults to investigate age-related differences in social and emotional processing. Although slower, older adults were as accurate as younger adults in identifying the emotional valence (i.e., positive, negative, or neutral) of facial expressions. However, the age difference in reaction time was largest for negative faces. Older adults were significantly less accurate at identifying specific facial expressions of fear and sadness. No age differences specific to social function were found on tasks of self-reference, identifying emotional words, or theory of mind. Performance on the social tasks in older adults was independent of performance on general cognitive tasks (e.g., working memory) but was related to personality traits and emotional awareness. Older adults also showed more intercorrelations among the social tasks than did the younger adults. These findings suggest that age differences in social cognition are limited to the processing of facial emotion. Nevertheless, with age there appears to be increasing reliance on a common resource to perform social tasks, but one that is not shared with other cognitive domains.     

Mechanisms of mindfulness: emotion regulation following a focused breathing induction

The current study investigated whether a 15 min recorded focused breathing induction in a normal, primarily undergraduate population would decrease the intensity and negativity of emotional responses to affectively valenced picture slides and increase willingness to remain in contact with aversive picture slides. The effects of the focused breathing induction were compared with the effects of 15 min recorded inductions of unfocused attention and worrying. The focused breathing group maintained consistent, moderately positive responses to the neutral slides before and after the induction, whereas the unfocused attention and worry groups responded significantly more negatively to the neutral slides after the induction than before it. The focusing breathing group also reported lower negative affect and overall emotional volatility in response to the post-induction slides than the worry group, and greater willingness to view highly negative slides than the unfocused attention group. The lower-reported negative and overall affect in response to the final slide blocks, and greater willingness to view optional negative slides by the focused breathing group may be viewed as more adaptive responding to negative stimuli. The results are discussed as being consistent with emotional regulatory properties of mindfulness.     

Videoconferencing-based cognitive-behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a prevalent, chronic and disabling anxiety disorder. Despite the efficacy and strength of pharmacologic interventions for OCD, medications are not always well accepted or effective, making an efficacious psychosocial alternative especially attractive. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been established as an effective treatment for adult OCD, yet access to such treatment is limited, especially in rural areas. Technological advances allow for therapy to be provided in a real-time format over a videoconferencing network. This method allows therapists to provide state-of-the-art treatment to patients who would not otherwise have access to it. This paper presents three cases of OCD successfully treated via videoconferencing CBT. The presence of OCD was established via structured clinical interview and clinician-rated outcome measures were completed by evaluators blinded to the method of treatment. A multiple baseline across individuals design was used to support the internal validity of the CBT outcome data. Patient ratings of therapeutic alliance were high across all three cases. Information gathered from qualitative interviews post-treatment confirmed quantitative measures finding high levels of patient satisfaction. This pilot study suggests that videoconferencing-based CBT is a promising method to bring appropriate treatment to thousands who live far distances from well-trained therapists.