Tachistoscopic software for the Hercules display controller

The functions necessary for a high-quality microcomputer emulation of a tachistoscope are summarized. A software package containing an extensive set of tachistoscope-emulation functions for IBM PC-type computers is described. This software gives computers equipped with the Hercules monochrome/graphics display controller the ability to produce fast tachistoscopic presentations of text material.     

Children's Moral Emotion Attribution in the Happy Victimizer Task: The Role of Response Format

Previous research in the happy victimizer tradition indicated that preschool and early elementary school children attribute positive emotions to the violator of a moral norm, whereas older children attribute negative (moral) emotions. Cognitive and motivational processes have been suggested to underlie this developmental shift. The current research investigated whether making the happy victimizer task less cognitively demanding by providing children with alternative response formats would increase their attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation. In Study 1, 93 British children aged 4–7 years old responded to the happy victimizer questions either in a normal condition (where they spontaneously pointed with a finger), a wait condition (where they had to wait before giving their answers), or an arrow condition (where they had to point with a paper arrow). In Study 2, 40 Spanish children aged 4 years old responded to the happy victimizer task either in a normal or a wait condition. In both studies, participants' attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation was significantly higher in the conditions with alternative response formats (wait, arrow) than in the normal condition. The role of cognitive abilities for emotion attribution in the happy victimizer task is discussed.     

Fading Affect Bias in the Philippines: Confirmation of the FAB in Positive and Negative Memories but Not for Death Memories

Emotions associated with memories for the loss of a loved one and for negative events in general decrease in intensity more than memories associated with positive events, a phenomenon known as the fading affect bias (FAB). We tested whether FAB was cross‐culturally evident by collecting positive, negative, and memories for the deaths of loved ones from Filipinos. Memories were coded as violent/nonviolent and resolved/unresolved, and we predicted that resolved memories should show greater fading and that affective details should be lower in those memory accounts. FAB analyses revealed that negative affective intensity faded while positive affect remained constant, supporting FAB for positive and negative memories. However, there was no evidence of FAB in Filipinos' death memories. Filipinos' positive memories were distributed from the period of the reminiscence bump and focused on themes of childbirth and marriage, while negative and death memories did not cluster at any period of life.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social Support in Seventh-Day Adventists and Their Neighbors

Certain structural and functional aspects of social networks and support were compared among 157 middle-aged male Seventh-day Adventists and male neighbors of the same age range. The Adventist men were 11.2% more likely to be married (p<0.05), had 15% more trusted friends (p<0.10) and 31% more trusted relatives (p<0.005) than their neighbors. Of the Adventists and neighbors, 74% and 52% respectively reported feeling frequently cared for by others (p<0.001). At least weekly church attendance was practiced by 84% of the Adventists and 30% of the neighbors (p<0.001). It is speculated that some of the favorable mortality experience of Adventists may be causally related to these increased levels of social support.     

FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING OF SEMANTIC MEMORY PROCESSES IN THE FRONTAL LOBES

Abstract— Frontal-lobe activation during semantic memory performance was examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a noninvasive technique for localizing neural activity associated with cognitive function. Left inferior prefrontal cortex was more activated for semantic than for perceptual encoding of words, and for initial than for repeated semantic encoding of words. Decreased activation for semantic encoding of repeated words reflects repetition priming, that is, implicit retrieval of memory gained in the initial semantic encoding of a word. The left inferior prefrontal region may sub-serve semantic working memory processes that participate in semantic encoding and that have decreased demands when such encoding can be facilitated by recent semantic experience. These results demonstrate that fMRI can visualize changes in an individual's brain function associated with the encoding and retrieval of new memories.     

Predicting environmental learning from spatial abilities: An indirect route

Relationships among spatial abilities, as assessed by a battery of psychometric tests and experimental tasks, and environmental learning, as assessed by a series of macrospatial tasks, were examined in two studies using confirmatory factor analysis with directional paths. The initial study indicated the utility of a five-factor model, one (general spatial ability) derived from psychometric tests, two (spatial-sequential memory and spatial perspective-taking latency) from experimental tasks, and two (topological knowledge and Euclidean direction knowledge) from measures of environmental learning. The best fitting path model further indicated that the spatial-sequential memory factor mediated the relationship between general spatial ability and topological knowledge, and that perspective-taking latency mediated the relationship between general spatial ability and Euclidean direction knowledge. The second study confirmed the five-factor path model using a different participant sample and environmental setting. The only failure to replicate involved the path between perspective-taking latency in the lab and Euclidean direction knowledge in the environment. Results indicate that the relationship between basic spatial abilities and environmental learning is significantly mediated by cognitive processes that can be assessed using laboratory tasks.     

Meta-monitoring: Case illustrations of a potential “Slump-Buster” for self-regulatory problems

Meta-monitoring has been defined as a secondary feedback system in which people monitor their rates of progress in attaining their primary self-regulatory goals. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of adding an explicit version of meta-monitoring to a long-term cognitive-behavioral treatment program for obesity. It was expected that meta-monitoring in this therapeutic context might increase positive affect and, thereby, improve self-regulated cognitive and behavioral changes. Four obese women who were in treatment for 1 to 2 years prior to the study served as subjects. They meta-monitored by rating their self-monitoring, affect, and eating and thinking patterns for each of 34 weeks. Weight changes and measures of self-monitoring, affect, and eating/thinking patterns suggested some initially positive effects (during the first 2 weeks, especially). While the duration of the impact of meta-monitoring in this clinical trial seemed modest, the approach may have promise as a means of reenergizing self-regulatory efforts during lapses or slumps. Experiments on various methods of operationalizing meta-monitoring, examining its effects on different problems, and testing its hypothesized mechanisms seem warranted.