Authentic leadership and its relationships with work engagement and organizational citizenship behaviors in military units: The role of identification as a mediating variable

The objective of the study is to explore the relationship of authentic leadership with work engagement and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) in military units, measuring the mediating effect of personal identification with the leader and social identification with the military unit. We used the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique to analyze data from a sample of 225 Spanish military troops. The results showed that social identification with the military unit influenced the relationship of authentic leadership with the outcome variables.     

Cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM): Implications for trait and cultural psychology

The cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM; Wood & Roberts, 2006) was tested in the United States, Mexico, Malaysia, China, and Japan. Participants rated their general and role identities, as defined by the PRISM, using Big Five trait adjectives, then rated their personality states (i.e., role experiences) in various roles in multiple daily interactions for 14 days. Structural predictions based on the PRISM were supported in all five cultures. Cultural differences were limited and did not reflect cultural differences in individualism–collectivism, dialecticism, or cultural tightness. The results supported the cross-cultural generalizability of the PRISM and the merits of contextualized trait measures in the prediction of role experiences. Implications for trait and cultural psychology are discussed.     

Larger plantar flexion torque variability implies less stable balance in the young: An association affected by knee position

The present study examined the association between plantar flexion torque variability during isolated isometric contractions and during quiet bipedal standing. For plantar flexion torque measurements in quiet stance (QS), subjects stood still over a force plate. The mean plantar flexion torque level exerted by each subject in QS (divided by 2 to give the torque due to a single leg) served as the target torque level for right leg force-matching tasks in extended knee (KE) and flexed knee (KF) conditions. Muscle activation levels (EMG amplitudes) of the triceps surae and mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation of plantar flexion torque were computed from signals acquired during periods with and without visual feedback. No significant correlations were found between EMG amplitudes and torque variability, regardless of the condition and muscle being analyzed. A significant correlation was found between torque variability in QS and KE, whereas no significant correlation was found between torque variability in QS and KF, regardless of vision availability. Therefore, torque variability measured in a controlled extended knee plantar flexion contraction is a predictor of torque variability in the anterior-posterior direction when the subjects are in quiet standing. In other words, larger plantar flexion torque variability in KE (but not in KF) implies less stable balance. The mechanisms underlying the findings above are probably associated with the similar proprioceptive feedback from the triceps surae in QS and KE and poorer proprioceptive feedback from the triceps surae in KF due to the slackening of the gastrocnemii. An additional putative mechanism includes the different torque contributions of each component of the triceps surae in the two knee angles. From a clinical and research standpoint, it would be advantageous to be able to estimate changes in balance ability by means of simple measurements of torque variability in a force matching task.     

Syndromes or symptoms in the assessment of aphasic patients?

The procedure generally used to diagnose aphasic patients consists of classifying them in one of the classic syndromes on the basis of the analysis of their symptoms. However, this taxonomy has several important problems, the main one being that it does not take into account the variability of aphasic patients, as there are many more disorder profiles than those included in the syndromes. In order to test the homogeneity of a sample of patients diagnosed with the classic taxonomy, 15 aphasic patients (5 Broca, 5 Wernicke and 5 Conduction) and 5 healthy controls were tested with nine comprehension and production tasks. Participants were aged 38 to 81 years old. The results indicate the existence of great variability in patients labeled with the same diagnosis, as revealed by the differences in within-group scores in each task, and a limited adjustment to the expected profile, with some patients showing symptoms allegedly corresponding to other syndromes. Our results call attention to the need to study each patient individually and interpret their disorders regardless of the syndromes.     

Emotion and recognition memory: the discrimination of negative information as an adaptive process

We studied the effect of emotion generated by IAPS (International Affective Picture System) pictures on incidental recognition of these pictures for short retention periods (15 min). Memorization distraction tasks and reaction time tasks were used together with short exposure times (2 seconds per picture) in order to prevent a high recognition rate that would impede testing for the effect of emotion on discrimination parameters (A′) and response bias (B′′D) (ceiling effect). We used 80 pictures representing the medium and high levels of two-dimensional emotional space. The results showed greater discrimination and a more conservative response style to unpleasant and medium arousal level pictures. These pictures produced higher confidence and lower response times in the recognition phase. The results can be explained by the negative content of the pictures and activation level effects on attentional processing and memory, and can be interpreted as a phenomenon that is evolutionarily adaptive.     

Staffing Services Quality and Innovativeness in Pharmaceutical Companies

This paper examines whether the main dimensions of staffing services quality have any effect on innovativeness. A resource‐based view of human resource management is used as theoretical approach. A questionnaire was sent to the CEOs of an international sample of pharmaceutical companies. A regression analysis was used to test hypotheses about the influence of the staffing services quality dimensions on innovativeness. The main findings are that all but one of the staffing services quality dimensions considered have significant, positive effects on innovativeness. Candidate quality is the dimension that affects innovativeness most, while timeliness has no significant effect.     

Polyaminergic agents modulate contextual fear extinction in rats

Polyamines, such as spermidine and spermine, have been reported to improve memory retention through the activation of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDAr). However whether polyamine agonists and antagonists alter extinction remains unclear. In the current study, we investigated whether spermidine and polyamine antagonists that selectively block the NR2B subunit at the NMDAr alter the extinction of contextual conditioned fear in male Wistar rats. The bilateral intra-hippocampal administration of exogenous spermidine (2 nmol/site) immediately after, but not 6 h after extinction training, facilitated the extinction of fear conditioning. The injection of the NMDAr antagonists arcaine (0.2 nmol/site), ifenprodil (20 nmol/site) and traxoprodil (0.2 nmol/site), disrupted fear extinction and, at doses that had no effect per se, reversed the facilitatory effect of spermidine on fear extinction. These results suggest that exogenous and endogenous polyamines facilitate the extinction of contextual conditioned fear through activation of NR2B subunit-containing NMDAr in the hippocampus. Since extinction-based exposure therapy is widely used as treatment for a number of anxiety-related disorders, including phobias and post-traumatic stress, the currently reported facilitation of extinction by polyaminergic agents suggest these compounds as putative candidates for drug development.