Probing the Time Course of Nonlinear Discriminations during Human Electrodermal Conditioning

Animal-based theories of Pavlovian conditioning propose that patterning discriminations are solved using unique cues or immediate configuring. Recent studies with humans, however, provided evidence that in positive and negative patterning two different rules are utilized. The present experiment was designed to provide further support for this proposal by tracking the time course of the allocation of cognitive resources. One group was trained in a positive patterning schedule (A−, B−, AB+) and a second in a negative patterning schedule (A+, B+, AB−). Electrodermal responses and secondary task probe reaction time were measured. In negative patterning, reaction times were slower during reinforced stimuli than during nonreinforced stimuli at both probe positions while there were no differences in positive patterning. These results support the assumption that negative patterning is solved using a rule that is more complex and requires more resources than does the rule employed to solve positive patterning.     

Simple arithmetic processing: the question of automaticity

In adult simple arithmetic performance, it is commonly held that retrieval of solutions occurs automatically from a network of stored facts in memory. However, such an account of performance necessarily predicts a uniform reaction time for solution retrieval and is therefore not consistent with the robust finding that reaction time increases with problem size and difficulty. Additionally, past research into arithmetic performance has relied on tasks that may have actually induced and measured attentional processing, thereby possibly confounding previous results and conclusions pertaining to automaticity. The present study therefore, attempted to more reliably assess the influence of automatic processing in arithmetic performance by utilizing a variant of the well-established semantic word-priming procedure with a target-naming task. The overall results revealed significant facilitation in naming times at SOAs of 240 and 1000 ms for congruent targets i.e., targets that represented the correct solutions to problems presented as primes (e.g., 6+8 and 14). Significant inhibition in comparison to a neutral condition (0+0 and 17) was also observed at 120 and 240 ms SOAs in naming incongruent targets (e.g., 6+8 and 17). Furthermore, response times were found to vary as a function of both arithmetic fluency and problem size. Differences in performance to addition and multiplication operations and implications for cognitive research and education are considered.     

On the relation between maternal state of mind and sensitivity in the prediction of infant attachment security

Attachment theorists assume that maternal mental representations influence responsivity, which influences infant attachment security. However, primary studies do not support this mediation model. The authors tested mediation using 2 mother-infant samples and found no evidence of mediation. Therefore, the authors explored sensitivity as a moderator, studying the (a) interaction of mental representation and sensitivity as it predicts infant attachment security and (b) level of sensitivity in mothers whose infants' attachment security is either concordant or discordant with their own. The interactional analyses were not significant. But the match-mismatch data showed that when mother-infant attachment strategies were discordant, maternal sensitivity was more consistent with infant than maternal attachment strategy. These findings are congruent with an interpretation of sensitivity as a moderator that can block transmission of attachment strategy.     

Social exclusion impairs self-regulation

Six experiments showed that being excluded or rejected caused decrements in self-regulation. In Experiment 1, participants who were led to anticipate a lonely future life were less able to make themselves consume a healthy but bad-tasting beverage. In Experiment 2, some participants were told that no one else in their group wanted to work with them, and these participants later ate more cookies than other participants. In Experiment 3, excluded participants quit sooner on a frustrating task. In Experiments 4-6, exclusion led to impairment of attention regulation as measured with a dichotic listening task. Experiments 5 and 6 further showed that decrements in self-regulation can be eliminated by offering a cash incentive or increasing self-awareness. Thus, rejected people are capable of self-regulation but are normally disinclined to make the effort.     

Sex- and age-related differences in mathematics

This study examined sex differences and age-related changes in mathematics based on Eccles's 1985 expectancy-value model of "achievement-related choices" and Dweck's 1986 motivation-process model. We have assessed motivational variables and performance in mathematics for youth in Grades 5, 7, and 9 in a German comprehensive secondary school. Significant sex differences in Grades 7 and 9 were observed even when school marks were controlled for. Furthermore, the results indicated differences between Grade 7 and Grade 9 on most of the motivational variables. Older students show a less favorable motivational pattern. Our results give evidence of the importance of motivational encouragement in mathematics classes, especially for girls and low achieving learners.     

Personality traits in dumpling squid (Euprymna tasmanica): context-specific traits and their correlation with biological characteristics

Personality traits are a major class of behavioral variation often observed within populations of animals. However, little is known of the integration between personality and an individual's underlying biology. To address this, the authors measured personality traits in squid (Euprymna tasmanica) in 2 contexts while also describing trait correlates with biological parameters. Four traits (shy avoidance- bold aggression, activity, bury persistence, and reactivity) were reliably measured; however, trait expression between contexts was not correlated and thus was context-specific. Trait variation was not a function of gender or of somatic or reproductive condition but was explained partially by a squid's sexual maturity and its size. Results are discussed in terms of the interplay between personality variation and resulting life history strategies in animals.     

Metabolic and endocrine disturbances in psychiatric disorders: a multidisciplinary approach to appropriate atypical antipsychotic utilization

Patients with psychiatric disorders have an increased rate of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality compared with the general population. Metabolic issues such as weight gain, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, diabetic ketoacidosis,and pancreatitis have been reported with the use of antipsychotic agents. Although atypical antipsychotics have not been linked directly to the development of metabolic syndrome, these medications have been shown to increase risk factors that can lead to metabolic and endocrine disturbances. Therefore, clinicians should provide ongoing monitoring for patients who are being treated for psychiatric disorders with these agents. According to the 2004 Consensus Report on Antipsychotics, screening measures should include baseline and follow-up monitoring of personal/family histories, weight (body mass index), waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and fasting lipid profile.     

Attitude formation through exploration: valence asymmetries

The formation of attitudes toward novel objects was examined as a function of exploratory behavior. An initial experiment, in which participants played a computer game that required them to learn which stimuli, when sampled, produced favorable or unfavorable outcomes, demonstrated learning, attitude formation, and generalization to novel objects. The findings also revealed 2 interesting valence asymmetries: a learning asymmetry involving better learning for negatively valenced than positively valenced objects and a generalization asymmetry involving stronger generalization as a function of negative than of positive attitudes. Findings from 4 experiments led to an explanation of the learning asymmetry in terms of information gain being contingent on approach behavior and related the generalization asymmetry to a negativity bias that weighs resemblance to a known negative more heavily than resemblance to a positive.     

Representing others' actions: just like one's own?

Previous research has shown that observing others' actions can affect individual performance of the same actions. In the present study, we developed a new paradigm to investigate whether and how complementary actions at the disposal of another agent are represented and influence one's own actions. A spatial compatibility task was distributed among two people so that each participant took care of one of two responses. The identical task was performed alone and alongside another participant. There was a spatial compatibility effect in the group setting only. It was similar to the effect obtained when one person took care of both responses. This result suggests that one's own actions and others' actions are represented in a functionally equivalent way.     

Evidence for preserved emotional memory in normal older persons

Emotion has been shown to have a modulatory effect on declarative memory. Normal aging is associated with a decline in declarative memory, but whether aging might affect the influence of emotion on memory has not been established. To investigate this, we administered a task that provides a detailed assessment of emotional memory to 80 neurologically normal adults ranging in age from 35 to 85 years. Across ages, memory performance was found to be modulated by the emotional significance of stimuli in a comparable manner (improved memory for gist, compromised memory for visual detail), despite an overall decline in memory performance with increasing age. The results raise the interesting possibility that aging has a differential effect on hippocampal versus amygdala function.