Sensorimotor simulation and emotion processing: Impairing facial action increases semantic retrieval demands

Sensorimotor models suggest that understanding the emotional content of a face recruits a simulation process in which a viewer partially reproduces the facial expression in their own sensorimotor system. An important prediction of these models is that disrupting simulation should make emotion recognition more difficult. Here we used electroencephalogram (EEG) and facial electromyogram (EMG) to investigate how interfering with sensorimotor signals from the face influences the real-time processing of emotional faces. EEG and EMG were recorded as healthy adults viewed emotional faces and rated their valence. During control blocks, participants held a conjoined pair of chopsticks loosely between their lips. During interference blocks, participants held the chopsticks horizontally between their teeth and lips to generate motor noise on the lower part of the face. This noise was confirmed by EMG at the zygomaticus. Analysis of EEG indicated that faces expressing happiness or disgust—lower face expressions—elicited larger amplitude N400 when they were presented during the interference than the control blocks, suggesting interference led to greater semantic retrieval demands. The selective impact of facial motor interference on the brain response to lower face expressions supports sensorimotor models of emotion understanding.     

The factor structure of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory

In the first study, we administered the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988) to 843 female and 843 male college students, most of whom were Euro-American, to comprehensively assess the NPI factor structure using confirmatory factor analysis. Initial exploratory common factor analyses (N = 724) revealed a 2-factor model (Leadership/Authority and Exhibitionism/Entitlement). Subsequently, we used confirmatory factor analysis in a separate sample (N = 724) to evaluate the Emmons (1987) 4-factor model, the Raskin and Terry (1988) 7-factor model, the Kubarych, Deary, and Austin (2004) 2- and 3-factor models, and our 2-factor model. Finally, we assessed construct validity by correlating the scale scores with the Five-factor model of personality in an independent sample (N = 238). The 2-factor models for the NPI we obtained in this study and by Kubarych et al. (2004) appeared to be the most parsimonious models, with both a good fit to the data and satisfactory internal consistency values; so they are recommended for use. However, additional NPI research is needed to rescale, modify, or omit several NPI items and develop gender-equivalent items.     

A Test of Coworkers' Influence on Organizational Cynicism,Badmouthing, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Basing hypotheses on social information processing theory, we tested for evidence of coworkers' social influence on employees' organizational cynicism, badmouthing, and supervisor assessments of employees' organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). A significant positive relationship was found between (a) close coworkers' badmouthing behavior and focal employee organizational cynicism; and (b) focal employee organizational cynicism and focal employee badmouthing behavior. A hypothesized negative relationship between organizational cynicism and OCB was not supported. Future research directions are also considered.     

The role of implicit motivation in hot and cold goal pursuit: Effects on goal progress, goal rumination, and emotional well-being

Two cross-sectional studies examined the role of implicit motivational needs in the association between personal goal pursuits and depressive symptoms and affect. Replicating and extending on findings reported by Brunstein et al. [Brunstein, J. C., Schultheiss, O. C., & Grässmann, R. (1998). Personal goals and emotional well-being: The moderating role of motive dispositions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(2), 494–508], both studies provided evidence that goal progress significantly accounted for variations in depressive symptoms and happiness only in individuals with high levels of implicit motivation, but not in individuals low in implicit motivation. Moreover, in the absence of a strong sense of goal commitment, high levels of implicit motivation were associated with high goal progress in both studies and low levels of goal rumination in Study 2. These findings are interpreted within a dual-systems framework of motivation that distinguishes an implicit, intuitive, and hedonically driven from an explicit, effortful-analytical, and non-hedonic mode of goal pursuit.     

Perceptual learning of noise vocoded words: effects of feedback and lexicality

Speech comprehension is resistant to acoustic distortion in the input, reflecting listeners' ability to adjust perceptual processes to match the speech input. This adjustment is reflected in improved comprehension of distorted speech with experience. For noise vocoding, a manipulation that removes spectral detail from speech, listeners' word report showed a significantly greater improvement over trials for listeners that heard clear speech presentations before rather than after hearing distorted speech (clear-then-distorted compared with distorted-then-clear feedback, in Experiment 1). This perceptual learning generalized to untrained words suggesting a sublexical locus for learning and was equivalent for word and nonword training stimuli (Experiment 2). These findings point to the crucial involvement of phonological short-term memory and top-down processes in the perceptual learning of noise-vocoded speech. Similar processes may facilitate comprehension of speech in an unfamiliar accent or following cochlear implantation.     

Speech and language functions that require a functioning Broca's area

A number of previous studies have indicated that Broca's area has an important role in understanding and producing syntactically complex sentences and other language functions. If Broca's area is critical for these functions, then either infarction of Broca's area or temporary hypoperfusion within this region should cause impairment of these functions, at least while the neural tissue is dysfunctional. The opportunity to identify the language functions that depend on Broca's area in a particular individual was provided by a patient with hyperacute stroke who showed selective hypoperfusion, with minimal infarct, in Broca's area, and acutely impaired production of grammatical sentences, comprehension of semantically reversible (but not non-reversible) sentences, spelling, and motor planning of speech articulation. When blood flow was restored to Broca's area, as demonstrated by repeat perfusion weighted imaging, he showed immediate recovery of these language functions. The identification of language functions that were impaired when Broca's area was dysfunctional (due to low blood flow) and recovered when Broca's area was functional again, provides evidence for the critical role of Broca's area in these language functions, at least in this individual.     

Culpable control and counterfactual reasoning in the psychology of blame

Many counterfactual reasoning studies assess how people ascribe blame for harmful actions. By itself, the knowledge that a harmful outcome could easily have been avoided does not predict blame. In three studies, the authors showed that an outcome's mutability influences blame and related judgments when it is coupled with a basis for negative evaluations. Study 1 showed that mutability influenced blame and compensation judgments when a physician was negligent but not when the physician took reasonable precautions to prevent harm. Study 2 showed that this finding was attenuated when the victim contributed to his own demise. In Study 3, whether an actor just missed arriving on time to see his dying mother or had no chance to see her influenced his blameworthiness when his reason for being late provided a basis for negative evaluations but made no difference when there was a positive reason for the delay. These findings clarify the conditions under which an outcome's mutability is likely to influence blame and related attributions.     

Spirituality: Implications for Professional School Counselors' Ethical Practice

The separation between church and state (e.g., public education) is contentious. Furthermore, schools and many professional school counselors (PSCs) may choose to disregard and/or discount spirituality. This article (a) presents the importance of spirituality in counseling, (b) explores legal statutes and ethical standards relating to spirituality as a component of multiculturalism and professional school counseling, and (c) offers steps and strategies to support the ethical practice of PSCs. A case example and implications are discussed.     

Cultural considerations in adolescent suicide prevention and psychosocial treatment

Ethnic groups differ in rates of suicidal behaviors among youths, the context within which suicidal behavior occurs (e.g., different precipitants, vulnerability and protective factors, and reactions to suicidal behaviors), and patterns of help-seeking. In this article, the authors discuss the cultural context of suicidal behavior among African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Latino adolescents, and the implications of these contexts for suicide prevention and treatment. Several cross-cutting issues are discussed, including acculturative stress and protective factors within cultures; the roles of religion and spirituality and the family in culturally sensitive interventions; different manifestations and interpretations of distress in different cultures; and the impact of stigma and cultural distrust on help-seeking. The needs for culturally sensitive and community- based interventions are discussed, along with future opportunities for research in intervention development and evaluation.     

Counseling Biracial Students: A Review of Issues and Interventions

Racial identity and self‐concept development in biracial students are examined. Because of biracial students' high incidence of academic and behavioral problems, this article includes a compilation of strategies for school counselors as well as schoolwide programs designed to reduce prejudice toward and increase acceptance of these students. A case study is used to illustrate strategies. Se examinaron la identidad racial y el desarrollo del autoconcepto en estudiantes birraciales. Debido a la alta incidencia de problemas académicos y de comportamiento por parte de estudiantes birraciales, este artículo incluye una recopilación de estrategias para consejeros escolares, además de programas escolares integrales designados para reducir los prejuicios contra estos alumnos e incrementar su aceptación. Se emplea un estudio de caso para ilustrar las estrategias.