Alteration of expected hemispheric asymmetries: valence and arousal effects in neuropsychological models of emotion

The relative advantage of the left (LH) over the right hemisphere (RH) in processing of verbal material for most individuals is well established. Nevertheless, several studies have reported the ability of positively and negatively valenced stimuli to enhance and reverse, respectively, the usual LH>RH asymmetry. These studies, however, have used baseline stimuli that differed from emotional stimuli on two dimensions (i.e., valence and verbal/nonverbal nature), creating interpretive difficulties as to whether differences across these conditions are due to differences in valence or the verbal/nonverbal nature of the primes used in the baseline condition. In addition, these studies, along with many others in the literature, have failed to control for potential confounding effects of arousal. Emotional stimuli vary on dimensions of valence as well as arousal and arousal may be asymmetrically presented in the brain therefore contributing to observed asymmetries. Taken together, these considerations underscore the importance of controlling for both valence as well as arousal in any investigation of the effects of emotional stimuli. The objectives of the present study were twofold: (1) to employ an appropriate baseline condition to render emotional stimuli vs. baseline stimuli comparisons meaningful and (2) to examine the extent to which emotional verbal stimuli, equated for arousal level, alter the expected LH>RH asymmetry in a consonant trigram task. Results demonstrated that when LH lateralized consonant trigram presentations were preceded by a positive prime, an enhancement of the expected LH>RH asymmetry was observed. In contrast, when trigram presentations lateralized to the RH were preceded by a negative prime, a complete reversal of the typical asymmetry was found with RH>LH performance. These results are analogous to the pattern of relative hemispheric activations observed for various mood states. Controlling for arousal in studies investigating asymmetries associated with emotional processing may allow more clear interpretation of data intended to test predictions of neuropsychological models of emotion. Moreover, equating stimuli on the dimension of arousal as well as valence may shed more light on conflicting findings with regard to perception vs. expression of emotion.     

Intersectional Identities and the Politics of Altruistic Care in a Low-Income, Urban Community

The literatures on the ways in which social identity and social position (e.g., gender, class, race) inform altruism have developed orthogonally. In this community-based qualitative study we use intersectionality theory to explore the complex ways in which social identity and social structures jointly influence altruism among African American adults (n?=?40) in an urban, economically distressed housing community in New York City. Content analysis of participants’ narratives reveals the ways in which gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, and urbanicity work in tandem to create differential patterns of vulnerability, differential needs, differential commitments to caring for particular subgroups, and informs how altruists are perceived by others. The implications of this work for future research on altruism are highlighted.     

The Effects of Incentives on Visual–Spatial Working Memory in Children with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Working memory is one of several putative core neurocognitive processes in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present work seeks to determine whether visual–spatial working memory is sensitive to motivational incentives, a laboratory analogue of behavioral treatment. Participants were 21 children (ages 7–10) with a diagnosis of ADHD-combined type. Participants completed a computerized spatial span task designed to assess storage of visual–spatial information (forward span) and manipulation of the stored information (backward span). The spatial span task was completed twice on the same day, once with a performance-based incentive (trial-wise feedback and points redeemable for prizes) and once without incentives. Participants performed significantly better on the backward span when rewarded for correct responses, compared to the no incentive condition. However, incentives had no effect on performance during the forward span. These findings may suggest the use of motivational incentives improved manipulation, but not storage, of visual–spatial information among children with ADHD. Possible explanations for the differential incentive effects are discussed, including the possibility that incentives prevented a vigilance decrement as task difficulty and time on task increased.     

Can an agent's false belief be corrected by an appropriate communication? Psychological reasoning in 18-month-old infants

Do 18-month-olds understand that an agent's false belief can be corrected by an appropriate, though not an inappropriate, communication? In Experiment 1, infants watched a series of events involving two agents, a ball, and two containers: a box and a cup. To start, agent1 played with the ball and then hid it in the box, while agent2 looked on. Next, in agent1's absence, agent2 moved the ball from the box to the cup. When agent1 returned, agent2 told her "The ball is in the cup!" (informative-intervention condition) or "I like the cup!" (uninformative-intervention condition). During test, agent1 reached for either the box (box event) or the cup (cup event). In the informative-intervention condition, infants who saw the box event looked reliably longer than those who saw the cup event; in the uninformative-intervention condition, the reverse pattern was found. These results suggest that infants expected agent1's false belief about the ball's location to be corrected when she was told "The ball is in the cup!", but not "I like the cup!". In Experiment 2, agent2 simply pointed to the ball's new location, and infants again expected agent1's false belief to be corrected. These and control results provide additional evidence that infants in the second year of life can attribute false beliefs to agents. In addition, the results suggest that by 18 months of age infants expect agents' false beliefs to be corrected by relevant communications involving words or gestures.     

Family sessions as part of child psychological assessment: goals, techniques, clinical utility, and therapeutic value

Including a family session in a child assessment can significantly advance the assessor's and parents' understanding of the child's problems and enhance the likelihood that parents will follow through on recommendations after the assessment. A family session allows the assessor to observe the child in the family context, test systemic hypotheses, better understand the meaning of individual test results, and try out possible interventions. A family session may also help parents see systemic aspects of their child's problems, help the child feel less blamed, foster positive experiences among family members, and offer the family a glimpse of family therapy. We describe methods and techniques for structuring family sessions and offer guidance on preparing for and conducting such sessions depending on one's case conceptualization. Detailed case examples illustrate each technique and demonstrate the immediate and subsequent impact of family sessions as well as their therapeutic value. We also address common clinical and pragmatic issues.     

Misery is not miserly: sad and self-focused individuals spend more

Misery is not miserly: Sadness increases the amount of money that decision makers give up to acquire a commodity. The present research investigated when and why the misery-is-not-miserly effect occurs. Drawing on William James's concept of the material self, we tested a model specifying relationships among sadness, self-focus, and the amount of money that decision makers spend. Consistent with our Jamesian hypothesis, results demonstrated that the misery-is-not-miserly effect occurs only when self-focus is high. That is, self-focus moderates the effect of sadness on spending. Moreover, mediational analyses revealed that, at sufficiently high levels, self-focus mediates (explains) the relationship between sadness and spending. Because the study used real commodities and real money, the results hold implications for everyday decisions, as well as implications for the development of theory. For example, economic theories of spending may benefit from incorporating psychological theories -- specifically, theories of emotion and the self -- into their models.     

Differences in perceptions on sexual and reproductive health between service providers and people living with HIV: a qualitative elicitation study

The sexual and reproductive health (SRH)-related needs of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) have not been sufficiently recognised in research and clinical care. Fifteen study sites in 13 European countries participated in this qualitative study to assess differences in perceptions between service providers (SP) and PLHA on SRH-related problems and needs of PLHA. Factors influencing SRH were determined to collect evidence on how to improve service provision. Qualitative data were obtained using an interpretative ethnographical approach. Data were analysed inductively on country level; a cross country data matrix was developed to facilitate the contextual analysis. Thirty-seven FGD discussions were organised with a total of 254 participants. A short survey was distributed to assess demographic characteristics. Results revealed insufficient information and lack of behavioural skills regarding SRH issues among PLHA. Intra- and interpersonal, provider-related, and social factors were found to influence the SRH behaviours of PLHA. Although from patients' perception SRH is a prioritized issue, it rarely comes up during routine HIV clinical care. SP need adequate counseling training to tackle SRH-related issues. A better integration between HIV care programs and SRH care settings is needed to improve effective service provision.     

Implicit orientation toward family and school among bilingual Latino college students

The authors examined the associations that underlie the orientations of bilingual Latino college students toward family and school. Participants completed, in English or Spanish, 3 implicit association tests assessing their attitude toward family vs. school, identifications with these concepts, and self-esteem. Results revealed a more positive attitude toward, and stronger identification with, family than school. Identification with family was stronger among participants who completed the study in English, suggesting self-definition in terms of distinctions from the context. Last, the more participants valued family over school and identified with family rather than school, the higher was their self-esteem. These findings shed light on the subtle, yet crucial, mechanisms by which cultural knowledge is incorporated in the self-concept of bilingual Latino college students.     

Processing variant forms in spoken word recognition: the role of variant frequency

Recognition of a spoken word phonological variant--schwa vowel deletion (e.g., corporate --> corp'rate)--was investigated in vowel detection (absent/present) and syllable number judgment (two or three syllables) tasks. Variant frequency corpus analyses (Patterson, LoCasto, & Connine, 2003) were used to select words with either high or low schwa vowel deletion rates. Speech continua were created for each word in which schwa vowel length was manipulated (unambiguous schwa-present and schwa-absent endpoints, along with intermediate ambiguous tokens). Matched control nonwords were created with identical schwa vowel continua and surrounding segments. The low-deletion-rate words showed more three-syllable judgments than did the high-deletion-rate words. Matched control nonwords did not differ as a function of deletion rate. Experiments 2 and 3 showed a lexical decision reaction time advantage for more frequent surface forms, as compared with infrequent ones, for schwa-deleted (Experiment 2) and schwa-present (Experiment 3) stimuli. The results are discussed in terms of representations of variant forms of words based on variant frequency.