Affective flexibility: evaluative processing goals shape amygdala activity

ABSTRACT— Although early research implicated the amygdala in automatic processing of negative information, more recent research suggests that it plays a more general role in processing the motivational relevance of various stimuli, suggesting that the relation between valence and amygdala activation may depend on contextual goals. This study provides experimental evidence that the relation between valence and amygdala activity is dynamically modulated by evaluative goals. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants evaluated the positive, negative, or overall (positive plus negative) aspects of famous people. When participants were providing overall evaluations, both positive and negative names were associated with amygdala activation. When they were evaluating positivity, positive names were associated with amygdala activity, and when they were evaluating negativity, negative names were associated with amygdala activity. Evidence for a negativity bias was found; modulation was more pronounced for positive than for negative information. These data suggest that the amygdala flexibly processes motivationally relevant evaluative information in accordance with current processing goals, but processes negative information less flexibly than positive information.     

Pi on Earth, or Mathematics in the Real World

We explore aspects of an experimental approach to mathematical proof, most notably number crunching, or the verification of subsequent particular cases of universal propositions. Since the rise of the computer age, this technique has indeed conquered practice, although it implies the abandonment of the ideal of absolute certainty. It seems that also in mathematical research, the qualitative criterion of effectiveness, i.e. to reach one’s goals, gets increasingly balanced against the quantitative one of efficiency, i.e. to minimize one’s means/ends ratio. Our story will lead to the consideration of some limit cases, opening up the possibility of proofs of infinite length being surveyed in a finite time. By means of example, this should show that mathematical practice in vital aspects depends upon what the actual world is like.

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De-Ontologizing the Debate on Social Explanations: A Pragmatic Approach Based on Epistemic Interests

In a recent paper on realism and pragmatism published in this journal, Osmo Kivinen and Tero Piiroinen have been pleading for more methodological work in the philosophy of the social sciences—refining the conceptual tools of social scientists—and less philosophically ontological theories. Following this de-ontologizing approach, we scrutinize the debates on social explanation and contribute to the development of a pragmatic social science methodology. Analyzing four classic debates concerning explanation in the social sciences, we propose to shift the debate away from (a) the ontologizing defenses of forms of social explanation, and (b) a winner-takes-all-approach. Instead, we advocate (c) a pragmatic approach towards social explanation, elaborating a rigorous framework for explanatory pluralism detached from the debates on social ontology.

Clarifying the role of impulsivity in dietary restraint: A structural equation modeling approach

This study was designed to clarify the relationship between the four dimensions of impulsivity in Whiteside and Lynam’s (2001) model and the two aspects of dietary restraint (Concern for Dieting and Weight Fluctuation) in a non-clinical sample. Data were collected from a volunteer community sample (N = 216) of women who responded to two self-report instruments related to impulsivity (UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale, Whiteside & Lynam, 2001) and dietary restraint (Restraint Scale, Polivy, Herman, & Warsh, 1978). A structural equation model was tested. The model provided a good fit to the data (χ²/df = 1.64, p < .0001, RMSEA = 0.054, 90% CI = 0.050–0.058, p-value for test of close fit (RMSEA > 0.05) = .035) and revealed that Concern for Dieting was positively related to Urgency (standardized β = 0.25, p < .01). Weight Fluctuation was related to lack of Perseverance (standardized β = 0.25, p < .01) and tended to relate to Sensation Seeking (standardized β = 0.17, p = .056). Urgency and lack of Perseverance were found to play a significant role in predicting Concern for Dieting and Weight Fluctuation.     

Personality and personal network type

The association between personality and personal relationships is mostly studied within dyadic relationships. We examined these variables within the context of personal network types. We used Latent Class Analysis to identify groups of students with similar role relationships with three focal figures. We performed Latent Class Logistic Regression to explore the relationships of the latent classes with the Big Five personality factors. Personality was assessed with the Five Factor Personality Inventory. We found three personal network types: a primarily family oriented network, a primarily peer oriented network, and a mixed family/peer oriented network. We found significant associations between personality and personal network type. Extraverted students were more likely to have a primarily peer oriented network relative to a primarily family oriented network. Autonomous students were more likely to have a primarily family oriented network relative to a primarily peer oriented network. Autonomous students were also more likely to have a mixed family/peer oriented network relative to a primarily peer oriented network. Conscientious students were more likely to have a primarily family oriented network relative to a mixed family/peer oriented network.     

Endogenous orienting modulates the Simon effect: critical factors in experimental design

Responses are faster when the side of stimulus and response correspond than when they do not correspond, even if stimulus location is irrelevant to the task at hand: the correspondence, spatial compatibility effect, or Simon effect. Generally, it is assumed that an automatically generated spatial code is responsible for this effect, but the precise mechanism underlying the formation of this code is still under dispute. Two major alternatives have been proposed: the referential-coding account, which can be subdivided into a static version and an attention-centered version, and the attention-shift account. These accounts hold clear-cut predictions for attentional cuing experiments. The former would assume a Simon effect irrespective of attentional cuing in its static version, whereas the attention-centered version of the referential-coding account and the attention-shift account would predict a decreased Simon effect on validly as opposed to invalid cued trials. However, results from previous studies are equivocal to the effects of attentional cuing on the Simon effect. We argue here that attentional cueing reliably modulates the Simon effect if some crucial experimental conditions, mostly relevant for optimizing attentional allocation, are met. Furthermore, we propose that the Simon effect may be better understood within the perspective of supra-modal spatial attention, thereby providing an explanation for observed discrepancies in the literature.     

Perceptual processing affects conceptual processing

According to the Perceptual Symbols Theory of cognition ( Barsalou, 1999 ), modality-specific simulations underlie the representation of concepts. A strong prediction of this view is that perceptual processing affects conceptual processing. In this study, participants performed a perceptual detection task and a conceptual property-verification task in alternation. Responses on the property-verification task were slower for those trials that were preceded by a perceptual trial in a different modality than for those that were preceded by a perceptual trial in the same modality. This finding of a modality-switch effect across perceptual processing and conceptual processing supports the hypothesis that perceptual and conceptual representations are partially based on the same systems.     

Assessing young adolescents' personality with the five-factor personality inventory

The Five-Factor Personality Inventory (FFPI) assesses a person's position on the (Dutch) psycholexically based Big Five factors: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Autonomy. FFPI factor scores are reliable and valid if ratings are made by adults. The present study yields preliminary evidence of whether young adolescents provide reliable and valid self-ratings on this instrument or whether this depends on their cognitive ability level. The sample consisted of a large and representative cohort of youngsters with a mean age of 13 years. The adult structure of the FFPI was generally well replicated, across all ability levels represented in the study. The findings further suggest that young adolescents' factor scores are construct-valid and sufficiently reliable to be used in (group) research settings. However, for reports on individual profiles and decision making, an adolescent's cognitive ability level would need to be rather high. Even then, measuring Autonomy seems challenging.     

Leadership, followership, and evolution: some lessons from the past

This article analyzes the topic of leadership from an evolutionary perspective and proposes three conclusions that are not part of mainstream theory. First, leading and following are strategies that evolved for solving social coordination problems in ancestral environments, including in particular the problems of group movement, intragroup peacekeeping, and intergroup competition. Second, the relationship between leaders and followers is inherently ambivalent because of the potential for exploitation of followers by leaders. Third, modern organizational structures are sometimes inconsistent with aspects of our evolved leadership psychology, which might explain the alienation and frustration of many citizens and employees. The authors draw several implications of this evolutionary analysis for leadership theory, research, and practice.     

Conditioned craving cues elicit an automatic approach tendency

In two experiments, we used a Pavlovian differential conditioning procedure to induce craving for chocolate. As a result of repeated pairing with chocolate intake, initially neutral cues came to elicit an automatic approach tendency in a speeded stimulus-response compatibility reaction time task. This automatic approach tendency, moreover, seemed to be sensitive to manipulations of extinction and renewal in the Pavlovian conditioning procedure. These findings corroborate and extend previous reports of automatic approach tendencies elicited by substance-relevant cues in addiction, while controlling for alternative accounts for such observations. Moreover, our data lend support to and extend learning models of cue-induced craving and addiction. Finally, we argue that the procedure we present here provides an ecologically valid behavioural tool that allows studying processes involved in cue-induced craving, addiction and relapse without relying on verbal report.