Recognition of affective and noncanonical linguistic facial expressions in hearing and deaf subjects

This study explores the use of two types of facial expressions, linguistic and affective, in a lateralized recognition accuracy test with hearing and deaf subjects. The linguistic expressions represent unfamiliar facial expression for the hearing subjects whereas they serve as meaningful linguistic emblems for deaf signers. Hearing subjects showed left visual field advantages for both types of signals while deaf subjects' visual field asymmetries were greatly influenced by the order of presentation. The results suggest that for hearing persons, the right hemisphere may predominate in the recognition of all forms of facial expression. For deaf signers, hemispheric specialization for the processing of facial signals may be influenced by the differences these signals serve in this population. The use of noncanonical facial signals in laterality paradigms is encouraged as it provides an additional avenue of exploration into the underlying determinants of hemispheric specialization for recognition of facial expression.     

Autobiographical remembering regulates emotions: a functional perspective

Emotional deviation has been considered an essential factor in emotion regulation, in that, attempts to compensate for the deviation is reflected on cognitive processes. In the present study, we focused on autobiographical remembering and tested the functional role of memory on emotion regulation. We specifically examined the congruence effect in individuals’ subsequent memory reports after recalling emotional events. Individuals were randomly assigned to three groups to report either sadness or anger evoking events or emotionally unspecified events that they experienced in the last five years. Results supported mood-incongruence, but only for the emotional memory groups. Despite highly negative memories reported in the initial recall, individuals in anger- and sad-memory groups revealed an up-regulation trend in subsequent recall. Furthermore, sadness and anger induction affected phenomenological features of the subsequently reported memory. Overall, our findings supported for the emotion regulation function of remembering that serves counter-regulation of the negative emotion. We discuss potential mechanisms in the light of explanations by a functional approach to autobiographical memory.     

A Longitudinal Twin Study on the Association Between Inattentive and Hyperactive-Impulsive ADHD Symptoms

DSM-IV distinguishes two symptom domains of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): inattentiveness and hyperactivity-impulsivity. The present study examines the aetiologies and developmental relations underlying the associations between inattentiveness and hyperactivity-impulsivity over time, based on a representative population sample from the United Kingdom of approximately 7,000 twin pairs. ADHD symptoms were assessed as continuous dimensions using the DSM-IV items from the Conners’ Parent Rating Scale at two ages: middle childhood (age 1) and early adolescence (age 2). Quantitative genetic cross-lagged analyses showed that the association of the ADHD dimensions over time is influenced by stable as well as newly developing genetic factors. Moreover the longitudinal relationship between the ADHD dimensions appears to be unidirectional, with hyperactivity-impulsivity in middle childhood predicting the presence of inattentiveness in early adolescence, but not vice versa. Thus, hyperactivity-impulsivity may serve to exacerbate inattentiveness over time. Findings are discussed in the context of developmental changes in ADHD symptoms.     

Personalistic concepts in action: The case of Adolf Hitler

Grounded in his personalistic worldview, William Stern regarded persons as inherently valuable beings who use values to conduct their lives. One might wonder if such a value-laden and idealistic approach can be applied to the case of Adolf Hitler, who clearly was a very destructive and disharmonious figure. In order to deal with this challenging question we will refer to three personalistic principles, namely convergence, introception, and unitas multiplex. As our analysis shows, all three principles can be exemplified in the case of Hitler if a neutralized version of each principle is used. By the demonstration of “iron will” he strived for coherence and unity, and was tremendously successful in managing that his followers introcepted the Nazi ideals. The convergence principle also applies to Hitler since there was unique conjunction of his traits with influences of his era.     

Personal epistemology across cultures: exploring Norwegian and Spanish university students’ epistemic beliefs about climate change

The primary aim was to explore and compare the dimensionality of personal epistemology with respect to climate change across the contexts of Norwegian and Spanish students. A second aim was to examine relationships between topic-specific epistemic beliefs and the variables of gender, topic knowledge, and topic interest in the two contexts. Participants were 225 Norwegian and 217 Spanish undergraduates enrolled in psychology or education courses, and the dimensionality of topic-specific personal epistemology was explored through factor analyses of the scores on a 49-item questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to predict scores on the epistemic belief dimensions emerging from the factor analyses with gender, topic knowledge, and topic interest, respectively. Even though considerable cross-cultural generalizability in dimensionality was demonstrated, this research also draws attention to the cultural embeddedness of topic-specific epistemic beliefs. Moreover, differences in the predictability of topic knowledge and topic interest in Norway and Spain, suggest that factors constraining or enhancing adaptive epistemic beliefs concerning particular topics may vary across cultures.