Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and Neuropsychological Functioning

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is marked by impairments across social, emotional, and academic functioning, but few studies have examined the...     

Reaction time measurement of temporal integration and organization of form

Temporal integration of patterned stimuli was investigated by introducing an interstimulus interval (ISI) between brief exposures of two matrices of illuminated squares. These matrices were identical except for their spatial displacement, arranged such that they could be superimposed to yield either horizontal or vertical stripes. Choice reaction times to the composite stripe orientation were a progressively increasing function of ISI, suggesting some integration over an ISI range in excess of 224 msec. Similar functions were obtained with both regular and irregular order of ISI presentation. The results from an additional experiment employing an extraneous warning signal discounted the possibility that preparatory factors developing over the ISI were responsible for the obtained reaction time functions.     

Selective attention and serial processing in briefly presented visual displays

Displays of eight capital letters were presented in a circular arrangement around a central fixation point at tachistoscopic durations. Under different experimental conditions, one or two indicators, presented either 250 msec before, simultaneously with, or after the display, designated the letters that S was to report. The arrangement of conditions permitted inferences as to the order in     

Visual search under conditions of very rapid sequential Input rates

The purposes of the present experiment were to provide information on rate of information processing in visual perception and to determine the degree to which the “sequential blanking” effect found by Mayzner. Tresselt, and Cohen (1966) constituted a limitation on rapid sequential input rates. A 10-channel tachisto scope was employed that permitted controlled durations of each of the 10 channels and the 9 inter channel intervals. The S’s task was one of visual search or detection in which he searched for a target letter among noise letters. A temporal interval forced-choice procedure was used. In addition to varying the rate at which letters were sequentially presented, various irregular temporal spatial orders of presentation of the letter sequences were employed and the direction and orientation of the display in the visual field was varied as was also the spacing between adjacent stimuli. No evidence of “sequential blanking” was found either in terms of the detection criterion or in the Ss’ phenomenal reports. Detection performance was as good at a rate of 2 1/2 msec per letter as it was at a rate of 30 msec per letter.     

Between- and within-person level motivational precursors associated with career exploration

Career exploration is a critical process for child and adolescent development leading people toward suitable work and developing a vocational identity. The present study examined the role of motivational precursors, namely work valences and personal agency beliefs, in explaining in-breadth and in-depth career exploration. Given the dynamic nature of motivation, we teased apart the between-person differences and within-person variabilities in motivational precursors to examine how they are independently associated with career exploration. Two hundred one high school students comprised the sample and were surveyed three consecutive years. Results revealed that work valences and agency beliefs were associated with career exploration at both the between- and within-person level. Further, when individuals exhibited greater level of agency beliefs and positive valences, they were more likely to exhibit more in-depth exploration one year later. Implications for career guidance are discussed.     

Cumulative Advantage: Conductors and Insulators of Heavy‐Tailed Productivity Distributions and Productivity Stars

We use the metatheoretical principle of cumulative advantage as a framework to understand the presence of heavy‐tailed productivity distributions and productivity stars. We relied on 229 datasets including 633,876 productivity observations collected from approximately 625,000 individuals in occupations including research, entertainment, politics, sports, sales, and manufacturing, among others. We implemented a novel methodological approach developed in the field of physics to assess the precise shape of the productivity distribution rather than relying on a normal versus nonnormal artificial dichotomy. Results indicate that higher levels of multiplicity of productivity, monopolistic productivity, job autonomy, and job complexity (i.e., conductors of cumulative advantage) are associated with a higher probability of an underlying power law distribution, whereas lower productivity ceilings (i.e., insulator of cumulative advantage) are associated with a lower probability. In addition, higher levels of multiplicity of productivity, monopolistic productivity, and job autonomy were associated with a greater proportion of productivity stars (i.e., productivity distributions with heavier tails), whereas lower productivity ceilings were associated with a smaller proportion of productivity stars (i.e., productivity distributions with lighter tails). Results serve as a building block for future theory development and testing efforts aimed at understanding why, when, and how the distribution of individual productivity may follow a nonnormal curve—and to what extent. We also discuss implications for organizations and management in terms of the design and implementation of human resource systems (e.g., selection, training, compensation), as well as for individuals interested in becoming productivity stars themselves.     

Route learning in Korsakoff's syndrome: Residual acquisition of spatial memory despite profound amnesia

Korsakoff's syndrome (KS) is characterized by explicit amnesia, but relatively spared implicit memory. The aim of this study was to assess to what extent KS patients can acquire spatial information while performing a spatial navigation task. Furthermore, we examined whether residual spatial acquisition in KS was based on automatic or effortful coding processes. Therefore, 20 KS patients and 20 matched healthy controls performed six tasks on spatial navigation after they navigated through a residential area. Ten participants per group were instructed to pay close attention (intentional condition), while 10 received mock instructions (incidental condition). KS patients showed hampered performance on a majority of tasks, yet their performance was superior to chance level on a route time and distance estimation tasks, a map drawing task and a route walking task. Performance was relatively spared on the route distance estimation task, but there were large variations between participants. Acquisition in KS was automatic rather than effortful, since no significant differences were obtained between the intentional and incidental condition on any task, whereas for the healthy controls, the intention to learn was beneficial for the map drawing task and the route walking task. The results of this study suggest that KS patients are still able to acquire spatial information during navigation on multiple domains despite the presence of the explicit amnesia. Residual acquisition is most likely based on automatic coding processes.     

Negative mood disrupts self- and reward-biases in perceptual matching

There are established effects of self- and reward-biases even on simple perceptual matching tasks [Sui, J., He, X., &; Humphreys, G. W. (2012). Perceptual effects of social salience: Evidence from self-prioritization effects on perceptual matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology, Human Perception and Performance, 38, 1105–1117]; however we know little about whether these biases can be modulated by particular interventions, and whether the biases then change in the same way. Here we assessed how the biases alter under conditions designed to induce negative mood. We had participants read a list of self-related negative or neutral mood statements [Velten, E. (1968). A laboratory task for induction of mood states. Behavior Research and Therapy, 6, 473–482] and also listen for 10?min to a passage of negative or neutral music, prior to carrying out perceptual matching with shapes associated to personal labels (self or stranger) or reward (£12 or £1). Responses to the self- and high-reward-associated shapes were selectively slower and less sensitive (d′) following the negative mood induction procedures, and the decrease in mood correlated with decreases in the reaction time bias across “high saliency” (self and high-reward) stimuli. We suggest that negative mood may decrease self- and reward-biases through reducing attention to salient external stimuli.