Race-contingent aftereffects suggest distinct perceptual norms for different race faces

Faces of one's own race and of other races are thought to be located in different regions of face space (Valentine, 1991 Valentine, T. 1991. A unified account of the effects of distinctiveness, inversion, and race in face recognition. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 43A: 161–204. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Here we investigated whether faces of different races (Caucasian and Chinese faces) have dissociable neural coding and distinct norms. We used adaptation techniques to alter perceptions of normality (aftereffects) for faces. Caucasian and Chinese participants adapted to distorted faces of one race (e.g., Chinese contracted faces—Experiment 1), or oppositely distorted faces of both races (e.g., Chinese contracted and Caucasian expanded faces—Experiment 2). We then tested for aftereffects in Chinese and Caucasian test faces. In Experiment 1 aftereffects were reduced when a change in race between the adapt faces and test faces occurred. In Experiment 2 aftereffects occurred in opposite directions for the two races. These results demonstrate that dissociable neural populations code faces of different races and suggest the existence of race-specific face norms.     

Target Article with Commentaries: Developmental niche construction

Niche construction is the modification of components of the environment through an organism's activities. Humans modify their environments mainly through ontogenetic and cultural processes, and it is this reliance on learning, plasticity and culture that lends human niche construction a special potency. In this paper we aim to facilitate discussion between researchers interested in niche construction and those interested in human cognitive development by highlighting some of the related processes. We discuss the transmission of culturally relevant information, how the human mind is a symbol‐generating and artefact‐devising system, and how these processes are bi‐directional, with infants and children both being directed, and directing, their own development. We reflect on these in the light of four approaches: natural pedagogy, activity theory, distributed cognition and situated learning. Throughout, we highlight pertinent examples in non‐humans that parallel or further explicate the processes discussed. Finally we offer three future directions; two involving the use of new techniques in the realms of neuroscience and modelling, and the third suggesting exploration of changes in the effects of niche construction across the lifespan.     

Self-generation amplifies the errorless learning effect in healthy older adults when transfer appropriate processing conditions are met

ABSTRACT

Older adults have considerable impairment in associative recognition despite minimal age differences in item recognition. The magnitude of this associative deficit varies by type of stimuli, strategy utilization, and other mediators and moderators (Old &; Naveh-Benjamin, 2008 Old, S. R., &; Naveh-Benjamin, M. (2008). Differential effects of age on item and associative measures of memory: A meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 23, 104–118. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.23.1.104[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Psychology and Aging, 23, 104–118). Name pair stimuli have not been used to test the associative deficit hypothesis (ADH), although tests using name–face stimuli support the ADH. Additionally, metacognitive awareness of the ADH has not been investigated. We tested the ADH with word and name pair stimuli, and predicted that age-related associative deficits would be larger for words than names because names, unlike most common nouns, lack certain semantic properties that could be used to bind pairs of names together. Results supported the ADH for words but not names: Younger and older adults recognized equivalently fewer names on the associative test relative to the item test. As predicted, self-efficacy was higher for younger than older adults. Surprisingly, self-efficacy for the associative test was higher than for the item test but post-test estimates of performance success (postdictions) were higher for the item test than for the associative test, suggesting sensitivity by participants to different task demands in the item and associative tests following recognition attempts. Metacognitive accuracy was better for words than names and for the item test than associative test, and equivalent between age groups. Overall, participants overestimated their name recognition abilities. Our findings extend support for the ADH to a conceptually important and ecologically valid domain (names) and provide new data on metacognitive aspects of the ADH.     

Greater priming for previously distracting information in young than older adults when suppression is ruled out

The use of previously distracting information on memory tests with indirect instructions is usually age-equivalent, while young adults typically show greater explicit memory for such information. This could reflect qualitatively distinct initial processing (encoding) of distracting information by younger and older adults, but could also be caused by greater suppression of such information by younger adults on tasks with indirect instructions. In Experiment 1, young and older adults read stories containing distracting words, which they ignored, before studying a list of words containing previously distracting items for a free recall task. Half the participants were informed of the presence of previously distracting items in the study list prior to recall (direct instruction), and half were not (indirect instruction). Recall of previously distracting words was age-equivalent in the indirect condition, but young adults recalled more distracting words in the direct condition. In Experiment 2, participants performed the continuous identification with recognition task, which captures a measure of perceptual priming and recognition on each trial, and is immune to suppression. Priming and recognition of previously distracting words was greater in younger than older adults, suggesting that the young engage in more successful suppression of previously distracting information on tasks in which its relevance is not overtly signaled.     

Young men’s minimisation of their body dissatisfaction

Abstract

Objective: To examine men’s body dissatisfaction qualitatively.

Design: Forty-two British men aged 18–45 years took part in a two-session group intervention across 12 groups. The intervention was designed to improve body dissatisfaction by engaging them in a critique of the appearance ideal through written and behavioural exercises.

Main outcome measures/results: Analysis of the topics discussed during the intervention generated two core themes. Theme 1 showed that, in general, men minimised the existence of their own body dissatisfaction while (somewhat surprisingly) outlining the ubiquity and potency of the appearance ideal for men in general. Theme 2 involved men reporting the problematic impact of body dissatisfaction in their lives (despite earlier minimisation), such as social avoidance, strict eating and supplement regimes, or difficulty in situations where the body was exposed.

Conclusion: The results stress the need to acknowledge that men experience a range of impacts of body dissatisfaction beyond clinical presentations (such as disordered eating) that influence their everyday lives, while also recognising that they tend to minimise this dissatisfaction in conversation. These findings have important implications for advocacy and interventions to improve men’s body dissatisfaction.     

A Longitudinal Comparison of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression Among Military Service Components

The purpose of this study was to longitudinally investigate PTSD and depression between Reserve, National Guard, and active duty continuously and dichotomously. The study consisted of Millennium Cohort Study participants and used self-reported symptoms. Repeated measures modeling assessed PTSD and depression continuously and dichotomously over time. A subanalysis among only recently deployed personnel was conducted. Of the 52,653 participants for the PTSD analysis, the adjusted PCL-C means were 34.6 for Reservists, 34.4 for National Guardsmen, and 34.7 for active duty members, respectively. Of the 53,073 participants for depression analysis, the adjusted PHQ-9 means were 6.8, 6.7, and 7.2, respectively. In dichotomous models, Reservists and National Guardsmen did not have a higher risk of PTSD or depression compared with active duty members. Among deployers, Reservists and National Guardsmen had higher odds (odds ratio = 1.16, 95% confidence limit [CL] [1.01, 1.34] and OR = 1.19, 95% CL [1.04, 1.36], respectively) of screening positive for PTSD, but not depression. Although Reserve and National Guard deployers had modestly increased odds of PTSD compared with active duty members, overall there were minimal differences in the risk and symptom scores of PTSD and depression between service components.     

Structure and Validity of Affect Knowledge Test (AKT) in a Sample of Italian Preschoolers

The authors’ main goals were to examine whether the Affect Knowledge Test's (AKT) factor structure would be represented by a two-factor model (i.e., emotion recognition and situation knowledge) or by a one-factor model in Italian preschoolers (N = 164; M = 4.24 years, SD = 1.09 years). The concurrent validity of the AKT was further examined using measures of social competence. The findings replicated a model of emotion knowledge, with emotion recognition and situation knowledge as distinct but interrelated factors. Gender and age differences showed that older children and girls displayed higher scores in situation knowledge than younger children and boys. Additionally, our validity model of the AKT demonstrated that emotion recognition preceded situation knowledge, which in turn was positively related to children's sensitive or cooperative behaviors and negatively associated with anxious or withdrawn behaviors. Our results suggest that the use of the AKT may help the teachers to evaluate children's level on emotional knowledge that in turn might impact on children's positive social relationships within classroom in Italy.     

“We Must Be the Change We Want to See in the World”: Integrating Norms and Identities through Social Interaction

In this article, we propose a social psychological mechanism for the formation of new social change movements. Here, we argue that social change follows the emergence of shared injunctive social norms that define new collective identities, and we systematically spell out the nature of the processes through which this comes about. We propose that these norms and identities are created and negotiated through validating communication about a normative conflict; resulting in an identity‐norm nexus (INN), whereby people become the change they want to see in the world. We suggest that injunctive norms are routinely negotiated, validated, and integrated with shared identity in order to create the potential to effect change in the world. Norms and identities need not be integrated or connected in this way, but the power of social actors to form new social movements to bring about sociopolitical change will tend to be severely limited unless they can bring about the integration of identity and action.     

Gun Violence Restraining Orders: Alternative or Adjunct to Mental Health-Based Restrictions on Firearms?

The gun violence restraining order (GVRO) is a new tool for preventing gun violence. Unlike traditional approaches to prohibiting gun purchase and possession, which rely on a high threshold (adjudication by criminal justice or mental health systems) before intervening, the GVRO allows family members and intimate partners who observe a relative's dangerous behavior and believe it may be a precursor to violence to request a GVRO through the civil justice system. Once issued by the court, a GVRO authorizes law enforcement to remove any guns in the respondent's possession and prohibits the respondent from purchasing new guns. In September 2014, California's governor signed AB1014 into law, making California the first U.S. state to enact a GVRO law. This article describes the GVRO and the rationale behind the concept, considers case examples to assess the potential impact of the GVRO as a strategy for preventing gun violence, and reviews the content of the California law. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.