Natural Disaster and Risk of Psychiatric Disorders in Puerto Rican Children

We examined the persistence of psychiatric disorders at approximately 18 and 30 months after a hurricane among a random sample of the child and adolescent population (4–17 years) of Puerto Rico. Data were obtained from caretaker-child dyads (N = 1,886) through in person interviews with primary caretakers (all children) and youth (11–17 years) using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children IV in Spanish. Logistic regressions, controlling for sociodemographic variables, were used to study the relation between disaster exposure and internalizing, externalizing, or any disorder. Children’s disaster-related distress manifested as internalizing disorders, rather than as externalizing disorders at 18 months post-disaster. At 30 months, there was no longer a significant difference in rates of disorder between hurricane-exposed and non-exposed youth. Results were similar across age ranges. Rates of specific internalizing disorders between exposed and unexposed children are provided. Research and clinical implications are discussed.     

Attentional disengagement in adults with Williams syndrome

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a distinctive behavioral and cognitive profile, including widespread problems with attention. However, the specific nature of their attentional difficulties, such as inappropriate attentional allocation and/or poor attentional disengagement abilities, has yet to be elucidated. Furthermore, it is unknown if there is an underlying difficulty with the temporal dynamics of attention in WS or if their attentional difficulties are task-dependent, because previous studies have examined attention in established areas of deficit and atypicality (specifically, visuospatial and face processing). In this study, we examined attentional processing in 14 adults with WS (20–59 years) and 17 typically developing controls (19–39 years) using an attentional blink (AB) paradigm. The AB is the decreased ability to detect a second target when it is presented in close proximity to an initial target. Overall, adults with WS had an AB that was prolonged in duration, but no different in magnitude, compared with typically developing control participants. AB performance was not explained by IQ, working memory, or processing speed in either group. Thus, results suggest that the attention problems in WS are primarily due to general attentional disengagement difficulties rather than inappropriate attentional allocation.     

The role of mask coherence in motion-induced blindness

Motion-induced blindness (MIB) is the perceived disappearance of a salient target when surrounded by a moving mask. Much research has focused on the role of target characteristics on perceived disappearance by a coherently moving mask. However, we asked a different question: mainly, are there certain characteristics about the mask that can impact disappearance? To address this, we behaviorally tested whether MIB is enhanced or reduced by the property of common fate. In experiments 1, 2, and 3, we systematically manipulated the motion coherence of the mask and measured the amount of target disappearance. Results showed that, as mask coherence increased, perceived target disappearance decreased. This pattern was unaffected by the lifetime of the moving dots, the dot density of the motion stimulus, or the target eccentricity. In experiment 4, we investigated whether the number of motion directions contained in an incoherent mask could account for our findings. Using masks containing 1, 3, and 5 motion directions, we found that disappearance did not increase proportionally to the number of motion directions. We discuss our findings in line with current proposed mechanisms of MIB.     

Examination of Gender-role Portrayals in Television Advertising across Seven Countries

This study examined the roles of cultural (Hofstede??s Masculinity value dimension??i.e., Gender of Nations), country-level (Gender-related Development Index), and execution-level (product type or gender of the typical user) factors in understanding gender-role portrayals in television advertising. Using content analysis methodology, we compared the gender and occupation of the prominent character and the gender of the voice-over across 2,608 television commercials in Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States. Results of regression analyses revealed that cultural and country factors predicted the gender of the voice-over only whereas product type consistently conformed with the gender of the prominent character. Overall, males were featured in prominent visual and auditory roles, while females were still portrayed in stereotypical ways.     

After the deal: Talk, trust building and the implementation of negotiated agreements

The success of a negotiated agreement depends on implementation and implications for future exchange between the parties. This paper examines structural, affective and contractual factors that influence implementation behavior. Predictions derived from contract theory and recent negotiation theories were tested in two laboratory studies involving the negotiation of an employment contract. In Experiment 1 trust formation facilitated by so-called “cheap” talk and the provision of a sufficient contingent contract promoted vigorous contract implementation. Positive affect induced in the employer prior to negotiation had no discernable effect on subsequent implementation. In Experiment 2 induced employee positive affect did motivate implementation behavior but the effect hinged on the form of the contract. Small talk before contracting increased employee’s willingness to be financially vulnerable in subsequent exchange with the employer. Implications for general negotiation theory are considered.     

Examining the Criterion‐Related Validity of the Employee Screening Questionnaire: A Three‐Sample Investigation

Across three samples (N=475, 358, and 112), the authors examined the criterion‐related validity of the Employee Screening Questionnaire (ESQ), a brief forced‐choice measure of integrity in the workplace. Results suggested that ESQ scores correlate highly with self‐ and other‐reports of counterproductive work behaviors (rs of .59, .50, and .47 on the consolidated scores), as well as self‐reports of job satisfaction (rs of ?.41 and ?.22 on the consolidated scores), and intention to leave the organization (rs of .30 and .21 on the consolidated scores). No predictive bias by gender was found for the ESQ scores. Based on these results, the authors encourage more research on the use of personality‐based (covert), forced‐choice integrity tests in selection contexts.     

Halt and recovery of illusory motion perception from peripherally viewed static images

We quantitatively investigated the halt and recovery of illusory motion perception in static images. With steady fixation, participants viewed images causing four different motion illusions. The results showed that the time courses of the Fraser-Wilcox illusion and the modified Fraser-Wilcox illusion (i.e., "Rotating Snakes") were very similar, while the Ouchi and Enigma illusions showed quite a different trend. When participants viewed images causing the Fraser-Wilcox illusion and the modified Fraser-Wilcox illusion, they typically experienced disappearance of the illusory motion within several seconds. After a variable interstimulus interval (ISI), the images were presented again in the same retinal position. The magnitude of the illusory motion from the second image presentation increased as the ISI became longer. This suggests that the same adaptation process either directly causes or attenuates both the Fraser-Wilcox illusion and the modified Fraser-Wilcox illusion.     

A retrospective analysis of the relation between resurgence and renewal of behavior targeted for reduction

Functional communication training (FCT) is an evidence-based treatment for behavior targeted for reduction that often combines extinction for target responses and arranges functionally equivalent reinforcement for alternative behavior. Long-term effectiveness of FCT can become compromised when transitioning from clinic to nonclinic contexts or thinning reinforcement schedules for appropriate behavior. Such increases in targeted behavior have been conceptualized as renewal and resurgence, respectively. The relation between resurgence and renewal has yet to be reported. Therefore, the present report retrospectively analyzed the relation between renewal and resurgence in data collected when implementing FCT with children diagnosed with developmental disabilities. We found no relation when evaluating all 34 individuals assessed for resurgence and renewal or a subset of individuals exhibiting both resurgence and renewal. These findings suggest that one form of relapse may not be predictive of another form of relapse.     

Manipulations of attention enhance self-regulation

Successful goal-directed behavior requires self-regulation to override competing impulses. Emerging evidence suggests that attention may mediate such acts, but little is known about the specific operations through which attention might influence self-regulation. Here we test this often-implicit assumption by manipulating attention mechanisms in two ways: one controlling the inhibition of inappropriate responses; the other controlling the breadth of attention. Participants significantly improved their performance on a self-regulation task after practice on a response inhibition task (Experiment 1) and after the induction of a broad focus of attention in a visual discrimination task (Experiment 2). We propose that such manipulations enhance self-regulation by engaging mechanisms that enhance the salience of goal-related representations and reduce the activation of competing goal-irrelevant neural representations. By more efficiently resolving conflict among the signals vying to drive behavior, pre-engaging attention may also help to conserve resources needed for continued self-regulation.