Grasp preparation improves change detection for congruent objects

A series of experiments provided converging support for the hypothesis that action preparation biases selective attention to action-congruent object features. When visual transients are masked in so-called change-blindness scenes, viewers are blind to substantial changes between 2 otherwise identical pictures that flick back and forth. The authors report data in which participants planned a grasp prior to the onset of a change-blindness scene in which 1 of 12 objects changed identity. Change blindness was substantially reduced for grasp-congruent objects (e.g., planning a whole-hand grasp reduced change blindness to a changing apple). A series of follow-up experiments ruled out an alternative explanation that this reduction had resulted from a labeling or strategizing of responses and provided converging support that the effect genuinely arose from grasp planning.     

Health-risk behaviors and suicidal ideation: a preliminary study of cognitive and developmental factors

Various theorists have suggested that unhealthy behaviors such as cigarette smoking and problem drinking may be subtle forms of suicidality. Consistent with this view, prior research has shown an association between health risk behaviors and suicidal ideation. In the present study we examined relationships among suicidal ideation, health-related attitudes and behaviors, and adverse childhood events. We hypothesized that unhealthy attitudes, perhaps shaped by adverse childhood events, would help explain the association between suicidal phenomena and unhealthy behaviors. Three-hundred eighteen college students completed surveys covering health risk behaviors, depression, suicidal ideation, and health-related attitudes. Results supported the hypothesized associations among these variables. However, contrary to our hypotheses, the association between suicidal ideation and health-compromising behaviors was limited largely to substance-related behaviors. Moreover, the association between suicidal ideation and health-related attitudes was mediated by depression. Adverse childhood events were associated with health-related attitudes, but this relationship was mediated by depression. These results are less suggestive of the notion of unhealthy behaviors as subtle suicidality than a model in which suicidality associates specifically with psychopathological states such as depression and substance abuse. Implications for treatment and prevention programs are discussed.     

Relationships of criminality and psychopathy with eight other apparent behavioral manifestations of sub-optimal arousal

The application of arousal theory to the study of criminality and psychopathy leads one to hypothesize that any behavior reflecting sub-optimal arousal should be more common among criminals and psychopaths than among their counterparts. In the present literature review, consistent support was found for this hypothesis by indicating the existence of substantial associations between criminality/psychopathy and the following eight behavior patterns: (1) resistance to punishment, (2) poor academic performance,or performance below intellectual potential, (3) impulsiveness, or minimal persistence at task assigned and coordinated by others, (4) childhood hyperactivity, (5) risk taking and sensation seeking, (6) recreation drug use, (7) preference for active social interactions, and (8) preference for broad-ranging sexual experiences and unstable pair bonding tendencies. Also consistent with arousal theory were numerous studies indicating that these eight behavior patterns were intercorrelated with one another. The conclusion suggested by this review was that criminality and psychopathy exists as part of a multi-variable cluster of behavior patterns which is a manifestation of sub-optimal arousal.