First and second language in the brain: Neuronal correlates of language processing and spelling strategies

This study explores oscillatory brain activity by means of event-related synchronization and desynchronization (%ERS/ERD) of EEG activity during the use of phonological and orthographic-morphological spelling strategies in L2 (English) and L1 (German) in native German speaking children. EEG was recorded while 33 children worked on a task requiring either phonological or orthographic-morphological spelling strategies. L2 processing elicited more theta %ERS than L1 processing (particularly at bilateral frontal and right posterior parietal sites) which might suggest a stronger involvement of semantic encoding and retrieval of the less familiar L2. The highest level of theta %ERS was revealed for the orthographic-morphological strategy in L2 which might indicate a more intense way of lexical retrieval compared to the phonological strategy in L2 and the orthographic-morphological strategy in L1. Analyses moreover revealed that phonological processing (both in L1 and L2) was associated with comparatively strong left-hemispheric %ERD in the upper alpha frequency band.     

Moral Foundations and Heterogeneity in Ideological Preferences

Scholars have documented numerous examples of how liberals and conservatives differ in considering public policy. Recent work in political psychology has sought to understand these differences by detailing the ways in which liberals and conservatives approach political and social issues. In their moral foundations theory, Haidt and Joseph contend the divisions between liberals and conservatives are rooted in different views of morality. They demonstrate that humans consistently rely on five moral foundations. Two of these foundations—harm and fairness—are often labeled the individualizing foundations, as they deal with the role of individuals within social groups; the remaining three foundations—authority, ingroup loyalty, and purity—are the binding foundations as they pertain to the formation and maintenance of group bonds. Graham, Haidt, and Nosek demonstrate that liberals tend to disproportionately value the individualizing foundations, whereas conservatives value all five foundations equally. We extend this line of inquiry by examining whether different types of liberals and conservatives value the moral foundations to varying degrees. Using survey data (n = 745), we rely on a mixed‐mode latent class analysis and identify six ideological classes that favor unique social and fiscal policy positions. While most of the respondents belonging to these classes self‐identify as conservative, they endorse the moral foundations in varying degrees. Since our findings demonstrate considerable heterogeneity with respect to ideology and moral preferences, we conclude by encouraging scholars to consider this heterogeneity in detailing the motivational and psychological foundations of ideological belief.     

Keyboard Gangsters: Analysis of Incidence and Correlates of Cyberbullying in a Large Urban Student Population

The prevalence and pervasive nature of technology has fundamentally changed how individuals interact. Social networking has significantly altered communication and interaction patterns and created a dynamic venue for perpetration and victimization of bullying. A large population of middle and high school students was surveyed on perceptions and engagement in drug and alcohol usage, school violence, social networking usage, and cyberbullying victimization and perpetration. Findings indicate that although cyberbullying has many similarities to traditional bullying, there are important differences. Participation in school violence and usage of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs predict both victimization and perpetration of cyberbullying.     

Managing Salesperson Motivation in a Territory Realignment

Although typically undertaken to improve aggregate sales force performance, the realignment of sales territories can be quite de-motivational to individual salespersons. Findings of two studies reported here demonstrate that salesperson motivation and performance can be positively influenced by the managerial actions taken during the implementation phase of a territory realignment. Actions based on expectancy theory were found to be more effective for salespeople whose territory realignment increased sales potential, and justice-based actions were more effective for salespersons experiencing a reduction in territory potential.     

Factors Leading to Sales Force Automation Use: A Longitudinal Analysis

Motivating the sales force to adopt and use sales force automation (SFA) technology remains an issue. If salespeople are not committed to the selling organization's technology strategies, customer alliances are hindered.

Survey data were collected from a national sales force before and after the introduction of an SFA application. The results of this study indicate that salesperson attitudes (Perceived Usefulness, Attitude Toward the New System, and Compatibility) have an impact on intention to use new SFA systems prior to implementation. However, Personal Innovativeness, Attitude Toward the New System, and Facilitating Conditions have more of an effect on infusion of new SFA systems.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: Advancing the Field of Selling and Sales Management

The authors served as Special Issue Guest Editors for this issue of JPSSM. In this introduction to the Special Issue, they discuss how the issue was conceived and produced, and express their gratitude to the many colleagues who worked to make the issue a success.     

Verbal learning and memory as measured by the Rey-Auditory Verbal Learning Test: ADHD with and without learning disabilities

The primary purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of attention deficits, learning disability, and the combined effects of both on the learning and memory processes, as measured by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). Thirty children (age range 12–17) diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 18 children (age range 11–17) diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD), and 64 children (age range 12–17) diagnosed with ADHD as well as with LD, and 28, 18, and 62 matched controls, respectively, participated in this study. It was found that the children diagnosed with ADHD did not differ in any of the verbal learning and memory measures derived from the Rey AVLT. The group with LD was impaired in the overall number of words recalled across the learning phase. Performance of the children diagnosed with ADHD +LD showed a similar impairment as the group with LD (i.e., overall amount of words learned) and, in addition, their retrieval efficiency was also impaired. In conclusion, this study indicates that verbal memory is preserved in children with ADHD if they have no LD and their intelligence is in the normal range or above. LD by itself leads to difficulties in acquisition, but the combination of ADHD+LD leads to additional impairment in retrieval processes.     

The World Wide Wait: Exploring Physiological and Behavioral Effects of Download Speed

ABSTRACT

When people use humorous media content, their behavior and assessments of the content may depend on the emotional expressions (e.g., laughter) of those around them. In a laboratory experiment in which 80 participants watched a movie clip with a confederate who either laughed or remained silent, we identified two parallel processes. The confederate’s laughter induced behavioral responses in our participants (laughing or smiling). Through those responses, a corresponding appraisal of the media content was generated: The content was rated funnier in comparison to situations in which the confederate did not laugh. This effect corresponds to emotional contagion processes and was especially pronounced in introverts. Additionally, participants who were low in conscientiousness directly elevated their funniness ratings (more than their own emotional expressions would suggest) when the confederate laughed. Those who were high in conscientiousness, however, lowered their ratings of the content’s funniness in the presence of a laughing confederate. This finding suggests the existence of an additional cognitive process that links confederate’s laughter and participant’s content ratings beyond automatic contagion. Participants with low conscientiousness use the confederate’s laughter as a heuristic cue for the content’s funniness, while highly conscientious participants discount the confederate’s laughter as a cue for content funniness.     

Reproducibility of functional network metrics and network structure: A comparison of task-related BOLD, resting ASL with BOLD contrast, and resting cerebral blood flow

Network analysis is an emerging approach to functional connectivity in which the brain is construed as a graph and its connectivity and information processing estimated by mathematical characterizations of graphs. There has been little to no work examining the reproducibility of network metrics derived from different types of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data (e.g., resting vs. task related, or pulse sequences other than standard blood oxygen level dependent [BOLD] data) or of measures of network structure at levels other than summary statistics. Here, we take up these questions, comparing the reproducibility of graphs derived from resting arterial spin-labeling perfusion fMRI with those derived from BOLD scans collected while the participant was performing a task. We also examine the reproducibility of the anatomical connectivity implied by the graph by investigating test–retest consistency of the graphs’ edges. We compare two measures of graph-edge consistency both within versus between subjects and across data types. We find a dissociation in the reproducibility of network metrics, with metrics from resting data most reproducible at lower frequencies and metrics from task-related data most reproducible at higher frequencies; that same dissociation is not recapitulated, however, in network structure, for which the task-related data are most consistent at all frequencies. Implications for the practice of network analysis are discussed.