Dimensional Latent Structure of Callous-Unemotional Traits in German Adolescents: Results from Taxometric Analyses

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - A large amount of research has addressed the issue of the latent status of psychiatric disorders and related phenomena. We used a new taxometric...     

Relevance drives attention: Attentional bias for gain- and loss-related stimuli is driven by delayed disengagement

Attentional bias to gain- and loss-related stimuli was investigated in a dot-probe task. We used coloured stimuli that had acquired their valence during the experiment by signalling the chance to either win or lose points in a game task. Replicating previous findings with the additional singleton paradigm, we found attentional bias effects for both gain- and loss-related colours. The effects were due to delayed disengagement from valent stimuli, especially if they were positive, and could not be explained by nonattentional processes like behavioural freezing. Our findings suggest that stimuli signalling opportunities and dangers hold attention, supporting a general motivational relevance principle of the orienting of attention.     

A note on residual M-distances for identifying aberrant response patterns

Although a statistical model might fit well to a large proportion of the individuals of a random sample, some individuals might give ‘unusual’ responses that are not well explained by the hypothesized model. If individual responses are given as continuous response vectors, M-distances can be used to produce real valued indicators of how well an individual's response vector corresponds to a covariance structure implied by a psychometric model. In this note, we focus on the so-called one-factor model. Two M-distances, d_si and d_ri, which are sensitive to different aspects of the assumed factor model, have been proposed. While one of the M-distances, d_ri, has been derived based on Bartlett factor scores, in this note we show that the second M-distance, d_si, can be derived in an analogous fashion based on Thomson factor scores.     

Psychometric Properties of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale of Hewitt in a Dutch-Speaking Sample: Associations With the Big Five Personality Traits

We administered the Dutch Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale of Hewitt and Flett (1991, 2004) in a large student sample (N = 959) and performed a confirmatory factor analysis to test the factorial structure proposed by the original authors. The existence of a method factor referring to the negatively keyed items in the questionnaire was investigated by including it in the tested models. Next, we investigated how the 3 perfectionism dimensions are associated with the Five-factor model (FFM) of personality. The 3-factor structure originally observed by the authors was confirmed, at least when a method factor that refers to the negatively keyed items was included in the model. Self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism were both distinguished by low extraversion and low emotional stability. Self-oriented perfectionism's positive relationship with both conscientiousness and openness to experience differentiated the 2 perfectionism dimensions from each other. Other-oriented perfectionism was not well-characterized by the Big Five personality traits.     

Is overgeneral autobiographical memory an isolated memory phenomenon in major depression?

The present study explored the relation between overgeneral autobiographical memory (AM) and other aspects of memory functioning in depression. A total of 26 patients with major depressive disorder completed a set of memory tasks measuring AM specificity (AMT; Williams & Broadbent, 1986), working memory, semantic memory, verbal learning, delayed verbal recall, recognition memory, and source memory. Reduced specificity of AM was related to poor working memory (central executive functioning) and poor source memory. The former finding conforms to the idea that the voluntary retrieval of specific autobiographical memories (AMs) involves central executive processes (e.g., Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). The latter finding replicates and extends recent findings suggesting that overgeneral AM is part of a broader memory deficit in retrieving the specific details of the context in which information was acquired (Ramponi, Barnard, & Nimmo-Smith, 2004). Furthermore, in line with Ramponi et al. (2004), rumination was found to be related to both overgeneral AM and poor source memory.     

Fear generalization in humans: Impact of verbal instructions

Fear generalization lies at the heart of many anxiety problems, but little is known about the factors that can influence this phenomenon. The present study investigated whether verbal instructions about specific stimulus features can influence conditioned fear generalization. All participants were fear conditioned to a yellow triangle, using an electric shock. Participants had received pre-experimental instructions saying that the shapes (or colours) of the stimuli were informative for the occurrence of shock (group Shape and group Colour, respectively). Next, generalization was tested to presentations of a blue triangle (same shape) as well as a yellow square (same colour). Fear reactions were measured through skin conductance and online ratings of shock-expectancy. The results showed strongest generalization to the same shape stimulus in group Shape, versus the same colour stimulus in group Colour. Hence, the same learning experience can have opposite effects in terms of fear generalization, depending on verbally transmitted information about the relative importance of individual stimulus features.