The eACS: Attentional control in the presence of emotion

We present a questionnaire – The Emotional Attentional Control Scale (eACS) – An adaptation of the original Attentional Control Scale (ACS) that assesses the voluntary control of attention. A low score on the ACS has been associated with high levels of anxiety and depression. As the ACS items are affectively neutral, some people scoring high on the ACS may still show low levels of attentional control (AC) in more emotionally-demanding situations. We propose that the eACS, which focuses on the emotional modulation of AC, may explain additional variance in AC deficits associated with psychopathology.     

Associations between components of rumination and autobiographical memory specificity as measured by a Minimal Instructions Autobiographical Memory Test

Clinical studies have shown that rumination functions as a mediator between overgeneral memory—the tendency to retrieve autobiographical memories in a non-specific format—and depression. Recently, rumination has been dismantled into two distinct subcomponents: reflection, which is more adaptive, and brooding, which is more maladaptive. In the present study we examined the differential relationships of these two rumination subcomponents with autobiographical memory specificity and their mediational role for the relationship between reduced memory specificity and depression in a non-clinical sample. In addition, we investigated the usefulness of a “minimal instructions” version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) to measure memory specificity in non-clinical populations. Results indicated that the use of minimal instructions can increase the AMT's sensitivity to detect reduced autobiographical memory specificity in non-clinical individuals. Further it was found that brooding, and not reflection, is significantly associated with reduced autobiographical memory specificity and functions as a mediator between reduced memory specificity and depression.     

Assessing visual search performance differences between Transportation Security Administration Officers and nonprofessional visual searchers

Some visual searches depend upon accuracy (e.g., radiology, airport security screening), and it is important for both theoretical and applied reasons to understand what factors best predict performance. The current study administered a visual search task to both professional (Transportation Security Administration Officers) and nonprofessional (members of Duke University) searchers to examine group differences in which factors predict accuracy. Search speed—time taken to terminate search—was the primary predictor for nonprofessional searchers (accounting for 59% of their accuracy variability) and for the least experienced professional searchers (37% of variability). In contrast, consistency—how similarly (in terms of search speed) an individual spent searching from trial to trial—was the primary predictor for the most experienced professional visual searchers (39% of variability). These results inform cognitive theory by illuminating factors that differentially affect search performance between participants, and real-world issues by identifying search behaviours (consistency in particular) important to experienced professional searchers.     

Aging Extends the Time Required to Switch Cognitive Set

ABSTRACT

The Attentional Blink (AB) refers to a decrease in the chance of detecting a second target in a rapid sequence of items if it occurs within approximately 500 ms of a first target. In this study the efficiency of establishing and switching cognitive set for older adults (mean age 71.62 years) relative to young adults (mean age 21.33 years) was investigated. Three increasingly complex conditions of the AB paradigm were employed, each of which required participants to identify a coloured square (T1) and a letter (T2) within a stream of distracters. Accuracy of identification of T2 decreased for both young and older adults as complexity increased. In Condition 1, selection criteria for both targets were fully specified, while T1 acted as a direct cue to the selection criteria for T2 in Condition 2. Older participants took longer to establish cognitive set in this condition. Condition 3 contained an added requirement to activate a pre-determined rule for T2 selection. The basic requirement to establish cognitive set ‘online’, however, seemed to disguise any additional potential problems associated with the additional load required for Condition 3 for older adults. Younger adults were cognitively slowed in Condition 3 relative to Condition 2, suggesting that it is the need to use an internally generated cue to switch cognitive set that requires extra time for them. The significantly larger AB demonstrated by the older participants indicated an impaired ability to rapidly establish cognitive set. The findings are discussed in light of the current literature on cognitive aging, the AB and task switching.     

Unlawful Entry: Male Fears of Psychic Penetration

In this paper, it is argued that males as well as females have an early experience in relation to the nursing mother of being receptive to bodily and psychic penetration. Males tend to lose access to this experience and may come to fear penetration as a threat such that a masculine sense of self is felt to be dependent on an impermeable psychic boundary that is not to be penetrated. Instead, phallicism as a fortress of emotional self-sufficiency—which the author labels the citadel complex—becomes the matrix of a subjective sense of masculinity. The multiple and combined forces of bodily development, the establishment of gender identity, and the process of separation-individuation are examined for their role in this process.

A critique of the Lacanian concept of paternal law suggests that the “law of the father” can be interpreted as a law regulating penetration. Paternal law can be viewed as a code for the establishment of an impenetrable masculinity whereby entry into an adult male psyche becomes unthinkable, “unlawful.” An impermeable bodily and psychic boundary—the ability to penetrate without the ability to be penetrated—collapses a necessary dialectical tension that may affect men's experience of sex and of love and that may shape and limit their desire.     

Teacher–child relationships and academic achievement: A multilevel propensity score model approach

A robust body of research finds positive cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between teacher–child relationships and children's academic achievement in elementary school. Estimating the causal effect of teacher–child relationships on children's academic achievement, however, is challenged by selection bias at the individual and school level. To address these issues, we used two multilevel propensity score matching approaches to estimate the effect of high-quality teacher–child relationships in kindergarten on math and reading achievement during children's transition to first grade. Multi-informant data were collected on 324 low-income, Black and Hispanic students, and 112 kindergarten and first-grade teachers. Results revealed significant effects of high-quality teacher–child relationships in kindergarten on math achievement in first grade. No significant effects of teacher–child relationships were detected for reading achievement. Implications for intervention development and public policy are discussed.     

Using Storytelling to Heal Trauma and Bridge the Cultural Divide Between Veterans and Civilians

There is a growing disconnect between the Veteran and civilian communities related to their understanding of war-related trauma, postdeployment reintegration difficulty, and the experience of Memorial Day. A therapeutic way to bridge this divide is through community storytelling. This paper describes a program development project at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center that was created to increase the connection between these communities. Using storytelling, six Veterans shared their personal experiences with a civilian audience in honor of Memorial Day. Qualitative data on the impact of the program is reported, and suggestions for future application and research are discussed.     

Students’ self-regulation and achievement in basic reading and math skills: the role of student–teacher relationships in middle childhood

In this study, we explored both direct and indirect contributions of students’ perceptions of the student–teacher relationship quality (i.e., closeness and conflict) to domains of self-regulation (i.e., task-orientation and metacognition) and basic reading and math skills (i.e., timed word reading and math performance) in middle childhood. Participants were 370 third-to-fifth graders from different regular elementary classrooms across the Netherlands. Using structural equation modelling, evidence was found for positive direct associations between student-perceived closeness and both domains of self-regulation, and a negative direct association between student-perceived conflict and task-orientation. However, indirect associations of closeness and conflict with students’ achievement in basic math and reading skills, through task-orientation and metacognition, could not be established. These results suggest that students’ perceptions of the relationship quality, and closeness in particular, may be especially important for their ability to regulate motivational and cognitive aspects of their own learning.