Analyzing the convergent and discriminant validity of states and traits: development and applications of multimethod latent state-trait models

The analysis of convergent and discriminant validity is an integral part of the construct validation process. Models for analyzing the convergent and discriminant validity have typically been developed for cross-sectional data. There exist, however, only a few approaches for longitudinal data that can be applied for analyzing the construct validity of fluctuating states. In this article, the authors show how models of latent state-trait theory can be combined with models of multitrait-multimethod analysis to develop a model that allows for analyzing convergent and discriminant validity in time: the multimethod latent state-trait model. The model allows for identifying different sources of variance (trait consistency, trait-method specificity, occasion-specific consistency, occasion-specific method specificity, and unreliability). It is applied to the repeated measurement of depression and anxiety in children, which was assessed by self and teacher reports (N = 375). The application shows that the proposed models fit the data well and allow a deeper understanding of method effects in clinical assessment.     

Increasing CREB in the auditory thalamus enhances memory and generalization of auditory conditioned fear

Although the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) is essential for conditioned auditory fear memory, an emerging theme is that plasticity in multiple brain regions contributes to fear memory formation. The LA receives direct projections from the auditory thalamus, specifically the medial division of the medial geniculate nucleus (MGm) and adjacent posterior intralaminar nucleus (PIN). While traditionally viewed as a simple relay structure, mounting evidence implicates the thalamus in diverse cognitive processes. We investigated the role of plasticity in the MGm/PIN in auditory fear memory. First we found that auditory fear conditioning (but not control manipulations) increased the levels of activated CREB in both the MGm and PIN. Next, using viral vectors, we showed that exogenously increasing CREB in this region specifically enhanced formation of an auditory conditioned fear memory without affecting expression of an auditory fear memory, formation of a contextual fear memory, or basic auditory processing. Interestingly, mice with increased CREB levels in the MGm/PIN also showed broad auditory fear generalization (in contrast to control mice, they exhibited fear responses to tones of other frequencies). Together, these results implicate CREB-mediated plasticity in the MGm/PIN in both the formation and generalization of conditioned auditory fear memory. Not only do these findings refine our knowledge of the circuitry underlying fear memory but they also provide novel insights into the neural substrates that govern the degree to which acquired fear of a tone generalizes to other tones.     

Affective mechanisms linking dysfunctional behavior to performance in work teams: a moderated mediation study

The present study examines the association between dysfunctional team behavior and team performance. Data included measures of teams' dysfunctional behavior and negative affective tone as well as supervisors' ratings of teams' (nonverbal) negative emotional expressivity and performance. Utilizing a field sample of 61 work teams, the authors tested the proposed relationships with robust data analytic techniques. Results were consistent with the hypothesized conceptual scheme, in that negative team affective tone mediated the relationship between dysfunctional team behavior and performance when teams' nonverbal negative expressivity was high but not when nonverbal expressivity was low. On the basis of the findings, the authors conclude that the connection between dysfunctional behavior and performance in team situations is more complex than was previously believed--thereby yielding a pattern of moderated mediation. In sum, the findings demonstrated that team members' collective emotions and emotional processing represent key mechanisms in determining how dysfunctional team behavior is associated with team performance.     

Using Recruiter Assessments of Applicants’ Resume Content to Predict Applicant Mental Ability and Big Five Personality Dimensions

Information provided on applicants’ resumes provides a convenient, cost–effective means for applicant screening. We sought to determine if recruiters’ assessments of the presence of certain types of information on job applicants’ resumes was related to applicants’ general mental ability and personality traits. Forty recruiters from 35 organizations assessed the extent to which specified items were present on the resumes of job applicants. Results indicated relationships between recruiters’ judgments regarding applicants’ resume information and applicants’ cognitive ability and Big Five personality characteristics. Implications for the use of resume information in the selection process are discussed.     

A Poetic Path from Melancholy to Mourning: Robert Lowell's Elegies as Case Study

This essay builds on a previous one in this journal (Cole, 2005) that details how reading elegiac poetry, the poetry of mourning, may be a pastoral resource for complicated grief or what is classically termed melancholia. A study of elegies by poet Robert Lowell (1917–1977), which depict a progression from melancholia to more “typical” mourning, demonstrates how thinking and writing in elegiac terms may offer a similar resource, whether for one's own melancholia or that of persons in one's care. Allan Hugh Cole, Jr. is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.     

Language Organization and Reorganization in Epilepsy

The vast majority of healthy individuals are left hemisphere dominant for language; however, individuals with left hemisphere epilepsy have a higher likelihood of atypical language organization. The cerebral organization of language in epilepsy has been studied with invasive procedures such as Wada testing and electrical cortical stimulation mapping (ESM), and more recently, with noninvasive neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Investigators have used these techniques to explore the influence of unique clinical features inherent in epilepsy that might contribute to the reorganization of language, such as location of seizure onset, age of seizure onset, and extent of interictal epileptiform activity. In this paper, we review the contribution of these and other clinical variables to the lateralization and localization of language in epilepsy, and how these patient-related variables affect the results from these three different, yet complementary methodologies. Unlike the abrupt language changes that occur following acute brain injury with disruption of established language circuits, converging evidence suggests that the chronic nature of epileptic activity can result in a developmental shift of language from the left to the right hemisphere or re-routing of language pathways from traditional to non-traditional areas within the dominant left hemisphere. Clinical variables have been shown to contribute to cerebral language reorganization in the setting of chronic seizure disorders, yet such factors have not been reliable predictors of altered language networks in individual patients, underscoring the need for language lateralization and localization procedures when definitive identification of language cortex is necessary for clinical care.     

Non-transient luminance changes do not capture attention

The processing of luminance change is a ubiquitous feature of the human visual system and provides the basis for the rapid orienting of attention to potentially important events (e.g., motion onset, object onset). However, despite its importance for attentional capture, it is not known whether a luminance change attracts attention solely because of its status as a sensory transient or can attract attention at a relatively high cognitive level. In a series of six experiments, we presented visual displays in which a single object underwent a luminance change that was either visible or obscured by a mask. A target then appeared either at the change location or elsewhere. The results showed that the luminance change attracted attention only in the visible condition. This was even observed with the largest change we could generate (> 75 cd/m(2)). These data suggest that the importance of a luminance change is only in its status as a low-level sensory transient.     

Antagonistic pleiotropy at the human IL6 promoter confers genetic resilience to the pro-inflammatory effects of adverse social conditions in adolescence

The authors tested the evolutionary genetic hypothesis that the functional form of an asymmetrically risky Gene × Environment interaction will differ as a function of age-related antagonistic pleiotropy (i.e., show opposite effects in young vs. old individuals). Previous studies have identified a polymorphism in the human IL6 promoter (rs1800795; IL6-74 G/C) that interacts with adverse socioenvironmental conditions to promote chronic inflammation in older adults (elevated C-reactive protein). This study identifies a protective effect of the same polymorphism in 17- to 19-year-old adolescents confronting socioeconomic adversity. Over 60% of the environmental risk contribution to the IL6 × Socioeconomic Status interaction could be accounted for by interpersonal stress and adult role burden. Thus, the IL6-174G allele does not represent an undifferentiated risk factor but instead sensitizes inflammatory biology to socioenvironmental conditions, conferring either genetic vulnerability or resilience depending on the developmental "somatic environment" that interacts with social conditions to influence gene expression.