Aging preserves the ability to perceive 3D object shape from static but not deforming boundary contours

A single experiment investigated how younger (aged 18-32 years) and older (aged 62-82 years) observers perceive 3D object shape from deforming and static boundary contours. On any given trial, observers were shown two smoothly-curved objects, similar to water-smoothed granite rocks, and were required to judge whether they possessed the "same" or "different" shape. The objects presented during the "different" trials produced differently-shaped boundary contours. The objects presented during the "same" trials also produced different boundary contours, because one of the objects was always rotated in depth relative to the other by 5, 25, or 45 degrees. Each observer participated in 12 experimental conditions formed by the combination of 2 motion types (deforming vs. static boundary contours), 2 surface types (objects depicted as silhouettes or with texture and Lambertian shading), and 3 angular offsets (5, 25, and 45 degrees). When there was no motion (static silhouettes or stationary objects presented with shading and texture), the older observers performed as well as the younger observers. In the moving object conditions with shading and texture, the older observers' performance was facilitated by the motion, but the amount of this facilitation was reduced relative to that exhibited by the younger observers. In contrast, the older observers obtained no benefit in performance at all from the deforming (i.e., moving) silhouettes. The reduced ability of older observers to perceive 3D shape from motion is probably due to a low-level deterioration in the ability to detect and discriminate motion itself.     

Assessing Couple Therapy as a Treatment for Individual Distress: When is Referral to Couple Therapy Contraindicated?

In order to better understand the effects of initial level of psychological disturbance on treatment outcome, a retrospective case control study of 95 couples who received couple therapy was conducted by sorting couples into one of four groups based on the degree of distress reported by individuals at intake: Neither distressed; both distressed; male distressed, female not distressed; female distressed, male not distressed. When partners started treatment with similar levels of disturbance both responded well in couple therapy. However, if the female reported clinical levels of disturbance at intake but her partner did not, outcome for the female was especially poor in contrast to outcomes for females receiving individual therapy. Clinically disturbed males showed significant gains in treatment even when their partners were not disturbed. These suggestive results argue for the possible value of conducting controlled studies of treatment assignment decisions that maximize positive outcomes.     

Bias and Bias Remediation in Creative Problem-Solving: Managing Biases through Forecasting

Although scholars have identified many variables that contribute to creative problem-solving, less attention has been given to variables that might lead to failure in creative problem-solving. One set of variables that might lead to poor performance in creative problem-solving efforts may be found in various decision biases. In this study, the impact of simple and complex decision biases on the production of original, high-quality, and elegant solutions to a creative problem-solving task was examined in a sample of 227 undergraduates attending a large southwestern university. In addition, the value of forecasting instruction as a technique for reducing these decision biases was examined. It was found that both simple and complex decisions biases resulted in problem solutions of lower originality, quality, and elegance. Training in viable forecasting strategies resulted in the production of higher quality problem solutions. The implications of these findings for improving creative problem-solving performance are discussed.     

What Is a Nonresponder? A Qualitative Analysis of Nonresponse to a Behavioral Intervention

This study used qualitative methods to understand reasons for treatment nonresponse following a behavioral intervention for family caregivers of people with dementia. Caregivers and interventionists completed semistructured interviews about their experience of the treatment after completing a course of Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health in VA (REACH VA). Treatment response from the 22 caregivers who completed the 12-session treatment was assessed using pre- to posttreatment change scores on measures of depression and caregiver burden. Interviews from the 14 nonresponder caregiver/interventionist dyads (28 total) were analyzed qualitatively to identify caregiver factors that negatively impacted improvement in depression and caregiver burden, such as emotional processing difficulties, wanting more support than structure, and limited support/difficulty asking for help. Ways nonresponders benefited from REACH VA beyond improvement on self-report symptom measures were also identified and included learning to problem solve more effectively, feeling understood and supported by another, and taking a different perspective on caregiving. The benefits of using qualitative methods to assess the experience of treatment nonresponders and identify individuals who may benefit from additional treatment or a different approach are discussed.     

Disruptive effects of vigilance on dominant group members' treatment of outgroup members: choking versus shining under pressure

Three studies examined the hypothesis that evaluative concerns exert a disruptive effect on intimacy-building behaviors exhibited by dominant group members in intergroup interaction. The authors predicted that although evaluative concerns would lead individuals with a negative baseline response to outgroup members to shine (i.e., to exhibit warmer, more friendly behavior), such concerns would have a contrary, choking, effect on individuals with a more positive baseline response. Results were generally consistent with these hypotheses across 3 different operationalizations of evaluative concerns and regardless of whether individuals' orientation toward outgroup members was assessed in terms of prejudiced racial attitudes or racial ingroup identification. Implications for lower status group members' experience of intergroup interaction and for the prejudice-reduction process are considered.     

Updating representations of learned scenes

Two experiments were designed to compare scene recognition reaction time (RT) and accuracy patterns following observer versus scene movement. In Experiment 1, participants memorized a scene from a single perspective. Then, either the scene was rotated or the participants moved (0°–360° in 36° increments) around the scene, and participants judged whether the objects’ positions had changed. Regardless of whether the scene was rotated or the observer moved, RT increased with greater angular distance between judged and encoded views. In Experiment 2, we varied the delay (0, 6, or 12 s) between scene encoding and locomotion. Regardless of the delay, however, accuracy decreased and RT increased with angular distance. Thus, our data show that observer movement does not necessarily update representations of spatial layouts and raise questions about the effects of duration limitations and encoding points of view on the automatic spatial updating of representations of scenes.     

Interfering with inferential, but not associative, processes underlying spontaneous trait inference

Three studies explore mental processes underlying spontaneous trait inferences about self-informants and the spontaneous trait transference characterizing third-party informants. Process differences are suggested in that instructions prompting a nontrait inference (truth or lie?) reduce self-informant trait-savings effects and lower self-informant trait judgments. For third-party informants, such instructions have no effect on these outcome variables. Results of a third study are inconsistent with cognitive load as an explanation for these effects. Taken together, these results indicate that inferences, and not merely associations, spontaneously form when processing information about self-informants. The results also show that the inferences and judgments that occur in spontaneous trait transference are not caused by the misidentification of third-party informants as self-informants.     

What influences visual search efficiency? Disentangling contributions of preattentive and postattentive processes

The present experiments introduce a new search technique for disentangling contributions of preattentive guidance and postattentive template matching to search efficiency. Participants performed searches (for negative or positive faces in Experiment 1; pop-out search in Experiment 2; conjunction search in Experiment 3) under either standard viewing conditions or a new restricted viewing condition in which items were occluded by black placeholders and revealed only when a participant moved the mouse pointer over the black square. Under full viewing conditions, search performance can be aided by both preattentive and postattentive mechanisms, whereas the mouse-contingent search relies solely on postattentive template-matching processes. Results demonstrate the utility of this new methodology for distinguishing contributions of preattentive guidance and postattentive template-matching processes in ambiguous search situations. Furthermore, application of the new restricting viewing method to search for emotionally expressive faces suggested that emotional information is processed preattentively and influences the allocation of focal attention.     

Post-training, but not post-reactivation, administration of amphetamine and anisomycin modulates Pavlovian conditioned approach

The psychostimulant, amphetamine (AMPH), and the protein synthesis inhibitor, anisomycin (ANI), have been shown to modulate the consolidation and reconsolidation of several types of learning. To determine whether Pavlovian conditioned approach (PCA) is modulated in a similar manner, we examined the effects of post-training and post-reactivation administration of both AMPH and ANI on memory for PCA. Male Long-Evans rats received PCA training sessions during which presentations of a CS+ were followed by sucrose delivery. AMPH (1 mg/kg, s.c.) injected immediately but not 6h after the first training session enhanced PCA behavior. ANI (150 mg/kg, s.c.) injected immediately but not 3h after the first training session impaired PCA behavior. This impairment was not due to the development of a conditioned taste aversion. To examine whether PCA can also be modulated by post-reactivation administration of AMPH and ANI, rats were given an injection of AMPH, ANI, or vehicle immediately after a memory reactivation session. Upon testing, the behavior of both the AMPH- and the ANI-treated rats was unaffected. This result remained consistent when the experiment was repeated with changes to various behavioral parameters (i.e., amount of training, length of memory reactivation). These findings indicate that AMPH and ANI act during the post-training but not the post-reactivation period to enhance and impair, respectively, the learning of PCA. This suggests that the consolidation of PCA can be modulated in a manner comparable to other types of learned associations, but once learned, the memory appears to be relatively robust and stable.