Distinguishing between the precision of attentional localization and attentional resolution

Attentional resolution is a construct that refers to the minimal separation that allows one stimulus to be attended separately from nearby stimuli. The attentional walk task, which requires a series of covert shifts of attention within variably dense arrays of stimuli, was introduced as a method of measuring attentional resolution. Using a cuing task, we show that individual items within arrays that are too dense to support an attentional walk can nonetheless be attended. We note that the precision with which attention can be localized is, in principle, a limitation separate from attentional resolution and conclude that performance in the attentional walk task is better suited for measuring this limitation than for measuring attentional resolution per se.     

The Generality Constraint and Categorial Restrictions

We should not admit categorial restrictions on the significance of syntactically well formed strings. Syntactically well formed but semantically absurd strings, such as 'Life's but a walking shadow' and 'Caesar is a prime number', can express thoughts; and competent thinkers both are able to grasp these and ought to be able to. Gareth Evans' generality constraint, though Evans himself restricted it, should be viewed as a fully general constraint on concept possession and propositional thought. For (a) even well formed but semantically cross-categorial strings often do possess substantive inferential roles; (b) hearers exploit these inferential roles in interpreting such strings metaphorically; (c) there is no good reason to deny truth-conditions to strings with inferential roles.     

Gender Role Self-Concept and Gender-Typed Communication Behavior in Mixed-Sex and Same-Sex Dyads

The focus of this study was the relation between both gender role self-concept and gender role attitudes with gender-related behavior of interacting partners. We observed gender-typed communication behaviors of mixed-sex and same-sex dyads and measured gender role self-concept and gender role attitudes. Thirty mixed-sex dyads, 19 women dyads, and 15 men dyads participated in a behavior observation study. The results revealed that the activation of gender role self-concept varies depending on the gender of the interacting people. Furthermore, we found that context and gender of the interacting persons moderated the relation between self-concept and behavior. Participants' gender role attitudes did not correlate with their own behaviors but did with their partners' behaviors.     

Creative ways to well-being: Reappraisal inventiveness in the context of anger-evoking situations

Neuroscientific studies in the field of creativity mainly focused on tasks drawing on basic verbal divergent thinking demands. This study took a step further by investigating brain mechanisms in response to other types of creative behavior, involving more “real-life” creativity demands in the context of emotion regulation and well-being. Specifically, functional patterns of EEG alpha activity were investigated while participants were required to generate as many and as different ways as possible to reappraise presented anger-eliciting situations in a manner that reduces their anger. Cognitive reappraisal involves some of the same cognitive processes as in conventional verbal creativity tasks, inasmuch as it requires an individual to inhibit or disengage from an emotional event, to shift attention between different perspectives, and to flexibly adopt new solutions. To examine whether alpha oscillations during cognitive reappraisal are different from those during conventional creative ideation, the EEG was also assessed during performance of the Alternative Uses task, requiring individuals to generate as many and as original uses of an object as possible. While cognitive reappraisal was associated with a similar pattern of alpha power as observed in conventional verbal creative ideation, the former yielded significantly stronger alpha power increases at prefrontal sites, along with lower alpha increases at more posterior cortical sites, indicating higher cognitive control and less spontaneous imaginative thought processes in the generation of effective strategies to regulate an ongoing negative emotional state.     

Perceived reality of visually mediated hazards and beliefs about risk

The aim of the present paper was to explore whether beliefs about risk are affected by media content authenticity as perceived by the viewers. A total of 69 participants were shown either a fictional or a reality‐based film on nuclear power. They rated risk perception prior to and after the film as well as ten days later, reactions to the film experience, and items of the scale for Need for Cognition. Results showed that individuals high in need for cognition were more accurate in their judgment of the authenticity of films, but were as influenced in their risk perception as their counterparts. Nuclear risk ratings showed a significant and large increase immediately upon the film session, but had resumed pre‐film level when measured ten days later. The potential influence of perceived content authenticity on risk perception is discussed in light of increasingly transformed patterns of media consumption. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Metamemory knowledge and beliefs in patients with schizophrenia and how these relate to objective cognitive abilities

Subjective reports and theories about memory may have an influence on other beliefs and behaviours. Patients with schizophrenia suffer a wide range of deficits affecting their awareness of daily life, including memory. With the Metamemory Inventory in Adulthood (MIA) we ascertained patients’ memory knowledge and thoughts about their own cognitive capacities and about several aspects of cognitive functioning: personal capacities, knowledge of processes, use of strategies, perceived change with ageing, anxiety, motivation and mastery. The participants’ ratings were correlated with their intellectual, cognitive and psychiatric data. Patients felt they had a lower capacity and marginally lower mastery over their memory than comparison subjects. They reported less recourse to strategies, and higher levels of memory-related anxiety. However, their knowledge of basic memory processes, motivation to succeed, and perception of ageing effects were similar. So patients with schizophrenia do not suffer a general and non specific impairment of their metacognitive knowledge.     

Early morphological decomposition during visual word recognition: Evidence from masked transposed-letter priming

The present experiments were designed to explore the theory of early morpho-orthographic segmentation (Rastle, Davis, & New, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 11,1090–1098, 2004), which postulates that written words with a true morphologically complex structure (cleaner) and those with a morphological pseudostructure (corner) are both decomposed into affix and stem morphemes. We used masked complex transposed-letter (TL) nonword primes in a lexical decision task. Experiment 1 replicated the well-known masked TL-priming effect using monomorphemic nonword primes (e.g., wran–WARN). Experiment 2 used the same nonword TL stems as in Experiment 1, but combined them with real suffixes (e.g., ish as in wranish–WARN). Priming was compared with that from nonsuffixed primes in which the real suffixes were replaced with nonmorphemic endings (e.g., el as in wranel–WARN). Significant priming was found in the suffixed but not in the nonsuffixed condition, suggesting that affix-stripping occurs at prelexical stages in visual word recognition and operates over early letter-position encoding mechanisms.     

The neural cell adhesion molecule-derived peptide FGL facilitates long-term plasticity in the dentate gyrus in vivo

The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) is known to play a role in developmental and structural processes but also in synaptic plasticity and memory of the adult animal. Recently, FGL, a NCAM mimetic peptide that binds to the Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 1 (FGFR-1), has been shown to have a beneficial impact on normal memory functioning, as well as to rescue some pathological cognitive impairments. Whether its facilitating impact may be mediated through promoting neuronal plasticity is not known. The present study was therefore designed to test whether FGL modulates the induction and maintenance of synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus (DG) in vivo. For this, we first assessed the effect of the FGL peptide on synaptic functions at perforant path-dentate gyrus synapses in the anesthetized rat. FGL, or its control inactive peptide, was injected locally 60 min before applying high-frequency stimulation (HFS) to the medial perforant path. The results suggest that although FGL did not alter basal synaptic transmission, it facilitated both the induction and maintenance of LTP. Interestingly, FGL also modified the heterosynaptic plasticity observed at the neighboring lateral perforant path synapses. The second series of experiments, using FGL intracerebroventricular infusion in the awake animal, confirmed its facilitating effect on LTP for up to 24 h. Our data also suggest that FGL could alter neurogenesis associated with LTP. In sum, these results show for the first time that enhancing NCAM functions by mimicking its heterophilic interaction with FGFR facilitates hippocampal synaptic plasticity in the awake, freely moving animal.     

Relationship between patient characteristics and treatment allocation for patients with personality disorders

Within a large multi-center study in patients with personality disorders, we investigated the relationship between patient characteristics and treatment allocation. Personality pathology, symptom distress, treatment history, motivational factors, and sociodemographics were measured at intake in 923 patients, who subsequently enrolled in short-term or long-term outpatient, day hospital, or inpatient psychotherapy for personality pathology. Logistic regressions were used to examine the predictors of allocation decisions. We found a moderate relationship (R(2) = 0.36) between patient characteristics and treatment setting, and a weak relationship (R(2) = 0.18) between patient characteristics and treatment duration. The most prominent predictors for setting were: symptom distress, cluster C personality pathology, level of identity integration, treatment history, motivation, and parental responsibility. For duration the most prominent predictor was age. We conclude from this study that, in addition to pathology and motivation factors, sociodemographics and treatment history are related to treatment allocation in clinical practice.