A method for quantifying focused versus overview behavior in AOI sequences

We present a new measure for evaluating focused versus overview eye movement behavior in a stimulus divided by areas of interest. The measure can be used for overall data, as well as data over time. Using data from an ongoing project with mathematical problem solving, we describe how to calculate the measure and how to carry out a statistical evaluation of the results.     

Proneness for psychological flow in everyday life: Associations with personality and intelligence

Flow is an experience of enjoyment, concentration, and low self-awareness that occurs during active task performance. We investigated associations between the tendency to experience flow (flow proneness), Big Five personality traits and intelligence in two samples. We hypothesized a negative relation between flow proneness and neuroticism, since negative affect could interfere with the affective component of flow. Secondly, since sustained attention is a component of flow, we tested whether flow proneness is positively related to intelligence. Sample 1 included 137 individuals who completed tests for flow proneness, intelligence, and Big Five personality. In Sample 2 (all twins; n = 2539), flow proneness and intelligence, but not personality, were measured. As hypothesized, we found a negative correlation between flow proneness and neuroticism in Sample 1. Additional exploratory analyses revealed a positive association between flow proneness and conscientiousness. There was no correlation between flow proneness and intelligence. Although significant for some comparisons, associations between intelligence and flow proneness were also very weak in Sample 2. We conclude that flow proneness is associated with personality rather than intelligence, and discuss that flow may be a state of effortless attention that relies on different mechanisms from those involved in attention during mental effort.     

The testing effect as a function of explicit testing instructions and judgments of learning

During study, people monitor their learning; the output of this monitoring is captured in so-called judgments of learning (JOLs). JOLs predict later recall better if they are made after a slight delay, instead of immediately after study (the delayed JOL effect). According to the self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) hypothesis delayed JOLs are based on covert retrieval attempts from long-term memory, and successful retrieval attempts in themselves enhance learning (the testing effect). We compared memory for 40 Swahili-Swedish paired associates after a week as a function of three different learning conditions, namely study plus (i) explicitly instructed self-testing, (ii) delayed JOLs, or (iii) less self-testing. We showed that repeated delayed JOLs lead to a memory improvement that does not differ significantly from a comparable condition where the participants are explicitly testing memory, and both the latter groups performed reliably better than a group that self-tested less. The results suggest that delayed JOLs improve long-term retention as efficiently as explicit memory testing and lend support to the SFP hypothesis.     

When Power Changes Hands: The Political Psychology of Leadership Succession in Democracies

Leadership succession in democratic governments and political parties is an ubiquitous but relatively understudied phenomen, where the political becomes intensely personal and vice versa. This article outlines the puzzles that leadership succession poses to political analysts, reviews the literature, and offers a conceptual framework deconstructing the process in terms of a flow from succession contexts and triggers via the role choices of key participants (incumbents and aspiring successors) through to the eventual succession outcomes. It concludes by presenting a series of testable hypotheses to describe and explain leadership successions.     

Individual differences in processing styles: validity of the Rational-Experiential Inventory

In Study 1 (N= 203) the factor structure of a Swedish translation of Pacini and Epstein's Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI-40) was investigated using confirmatory factor analysis. The hypothesized model with rationality and experientiality as orthogonal factors had satisfactory fit to the data, significantly better than alternative models (with two correlated factors or a single factor). Inclusion of "ability" and "favorability" subscales for rationality and experientiality increased fit further. It was concluded that the structural validity of the REI is adequate. In Study 2 (N= 72) the REI-factors were shown to have theoretically meaningful correlations to other personality traits, indicating convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, scores on the rationality scale were negatively related to risky choice framing effects in Kahneman and Tversky's Asian disease task, indicating concurrent validity. On the basis of these findings it was concluded that the test has satisfactory psychometric properties.     

Suicide survivors' mental health and grief reactions: a systematic review of controlled studies

There has been a debate over several decades whether suicide survivors experience more severe mental health consequences and grief reactions than those who have been bereaved through other causes of death. This is the first systematic review of suicide survivors' reactions compared with survivors after other modes of death. Studies were identified by searching the PsychINFO and MEDLINE databases. Forty-one studies met the eligibility criteria. A qualitative data analysis was performed. There were no significant differences between survivors of suicide and other bereaved groups regarding general mental health, depression, PTSD symptoms, anxiety, and suicidal behavior. The results regarding the overall level of grief are less clear, depending on whether general grief instruments or suicide-specific instruments are used. Considering specific grief variables, suicide survivors report higher levels of rejection, shame, stigma, need for concealing the cause of death, and blaming than all other survivor groups.     

Restricting factiveness

In discussions of Fitch’s paradox, it is usually assumed without further argument that knowledge is factive, that if a subject knows that p, then p is true. It is argued that this common assumption is not as well-founded as it should be, and that there in fact are certain reasons to be suspicious of the unrestricted version of the factiveness claim. There are two kinds of reason for this suspicion. One is that unrestricted factiveness leads to paradoxes and unexpected results, the other is that the usual arguments for factiveness are not as compelling as is commonly thought. There may in fact be some kinds of contexts, where factiveness doesn’t hold for knowledge—the usual arguments for factiveness don’t suffice to support the claim that knowledge is unrestrictedly factive. Perhaps all that can be shown is that knowledge is at times factive, or that it is default factive, as it were: this doesn’t show that there can’t be counterexamples, however. Certain aspects of knowledge without unrestricted factiveness are examined briefly.     

Creative Artistic Achievement Is Related to Lower Levels of Alexithymia

Alexithymia is characterized by deficits in the ability to identify, differentiate, and describe emotions—abilities that are of importance for social interactions, well-being, and, consequently, also for health. The aim of this study was to investigate whether achievements in cultural activities are associated with alexithymia. Participants from the Swedish Twin Registry were 2,279 men and 3,152 women in the ages 27 to 54. Cultural achievement was measured with the Creative Achievement Questionnaire (CAQ) in which participants estimate their achievement in the domains writing, music, visual arts, theater, and dance on a 7-point scale. Alexithymia was measured with the Toronto Alexithymia Score (TAS 20). In sex separated, age, and education-adjusted multivariate analyses, nonpractitioners, amateurs, and professionals in the 5 different CAQ domains were compared with regard to alexithymia scores. For both men and women, achievement in writing and music contributed statistically and independently of one another to a low alexithymia score. In addition, achievement in visual arts contributed independently to low alexithymia score in men and achievement in theatre to low alexithymia score in women. Total creative achievement was calculated as a sum score across domains, and the distribution divided into tertile groups. These groups were compared with regard to alexithymia scores. Large tertile differences were found in both sexes. The results show differences between modalities and cumulative effects of multiple creative achievements.     

Preventing clinical deterioration in the course of schizophrenia: the potential for neuroprotection

Schizophrenia, which has both genetic and environmental causes, is associated with persistent symptoms and severe functional disability. The illness lies dormant during the premorbid phase and begins to express itself during adolescence or early adulthood. Clinical progression and deterioration reaches a plateau in which the patient is said to be in the chronic phase of illness and at which point restoration of prior functioning is unlikely. The severe deficits associated with schizophrenia are often the result of progression of illness due to lack of appropriate treatment. However, recent advances in neuropsychiatry have led to very early identification of individuals at risk for psychosis, even during the prodromal stage when psychosis has not yet manifested clinically. While research has demonstrated that the efficacy of antipsychotics is limited when used during the chronic phase of illness, these medications can effectively control symptoms and prevent progression of illness when used during the early stages of illness. The evidence of neural degeneration in the pathophysiology of schizophrenic illness suggests that there may be treatment opportunities through neural protection. Neuroprotection, which refers to treatment that helps maintain central nervous system functionality in response to neurobiologic stress, may be responsible for prevention of disease progression and deterioration. In this monograph, Jeffrey L. Lieberman, MD, introduces the phases of schizophrenic illness in relation to the concepts of progression and deterioration. Next, Dolores Malaspina, MD, reviews the neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative components of schizophrenia. Finally, L. Fredrik Jarskog, MD, focuses on the neuroprotective aspects of therapeutic interventions in schizophrenia.