Gaze Perception Triggers Reflexive Visuospatial Orienting

This paper seeks to bring together two previously separate research traditions: research on spatial orienting within the visual cueing paradigm and research into social cognition, addressing our tendency to attend in the direction that another person looks. Cueing methodologies from mainstream attention research were adapted to test the automaticity of orienting in the direction of seen gaze. Three studies manipulated the direction of gaze in a computerized face, which appeared centrally in a frontal view during a peripheral letter-discrimination task. Experiments 1 and 2 found faster discrimination of peripheral target letters on the side the computerized face gazed towards, even though the seen gaze did not predict target side, and despite participants being asked to ignore the face. This suggests reflexive covert and/or overt orienting in the direction of seen gaze, arising even when the observer has no motivation to orient in this way. Experiment 3 found faster letter discrimination on the side the computerized face gazed towards even when participants knew that target letters were four times as likely on the opposite side. This suggests that orienting can arise in the direction of seen gaze even when counter to intentions. The experiments illustrate that methods from mainstream attention research can be usefully applied to social cognition, and that studies of spatial attention may profit from considering its social function.     

Reversal of object-based benefits in visual attention

In divided-attention tasks, observers must make speeded (or near threshold accuracy) judgements concerning two target features in a display. Typically, when the two features belong to the same object they are more rapidly judged than when they belong to separate objects, a pattern of findings referred to here as a “same-object benefit”. However, we note here that many of these studies share common features, in particular the use of pre-exposed, outline, and/or overlapping objects, and their findings may not generalize to other types of display. Building substantially on previous work by Davis, Welch, Holmes, and Shepherd (2001), we show in four new studies that once these features are not present in a divided-attention task, no same-object benefits are reported. Rather we now find “same-object costs”, where features belonging to a single object are less rapidly judged than features belonging to separate objects.     

Error-related psychophysiology and negative affect

The error-related negativity (ERN/Ne) and error positivity (Pe) have been associated with error detection and response monitoring. More recently, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) have also been shown to be sensitive to the internal detection of errors. An enhanced ERN has consistently been observed in anxious subjects and there is some suggestion that the ERN is related to general negative affective experience (NA). The ERN has been source localized to the anterior cingulate cortex-a structure implicated in the regulation of affective, response selection, and autonomic resources. Thus, the findings that autonomic measures and affective distress are related to response monitoring are consistent with anterior cingulate cortex function. In the present experiment, we sought to evaluate more comprehensively the relationship between self-reported negative affect and error-related physiology in a between-groups design. Results indicate that high NA was associated with significantly greater ERN and error-related SCR, and smaller Pe. These results are discussed in terms of anterior cingulate cortex function, psychopathology, and response monitoring.     

Unresolved states of mind, disorganized attachment relationships, and disrupted interactions of adolescent mothers and their infants

The links between unresolved maternal attachment status, disrupted maternal interaction in play situations, and disorganized attachment relationships were examined in a study of 82 adolescent mother-infant dyads. Maternal interactive behavior was measured using the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification coding system. Additional rating scales were developed to correspond to the 5 dimensions of disrupted maternal behavior outlined by E. Bronfman, E. Parsons, and K. Lyons-Ruth (1999). A robust association was observed between disrupted maternal behavior and disorganized attachment. Ratings of disrupted maternal behavior revealed that disorganized attachment relationships were strongly related to ratings of fearful/disoriented behavior. Moreover, mothers who were unresolved were more likely than not-unresolved mothers to show disrupted patterns of interaction with their infants. Regression analyses suggested that disrupted behavior statistically mediated the association between unresolved status and disorganized attachment relationships.     

A profile of adolescent alcohol offenders in two rural Midwestern counties

Screening tools specifically developed for use with adolescents may be more sensitive predictors of relapse or recidivism than self-report inventories typically used to screen adults. 70 adolescents in a program for drunk drivers in two counties in southeastern Nebraska were given both the CRAFFT and the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test questionnaires during routine alcohol-dependency evaluations. The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test was also given to 28 subjects selected at random. 11 boys and 6 girls did not successfully complete the program. Significant correlations obtained for AUDIT scores for both the CRAFFT (r69=.65, p<.01) and failure to complete diversion (r69=.23, p<.05). Subjects were grouped by age (18 and younger and over 18 years) and by sex. A 2 x 2 analysis of variance for scores on the AUDIT indicated significant main effects for both age (F1,66=4.86, p<.05) and sex (F1.66=5.96, p<.01). MAST and CRAFFT scores showed no age or sex differences. The AUDIT might be included in drug and alcohol assessments with similar samples of adolescents.     

Organization of visuo-spatial serial memory: interaction of temporal order with spatial and temporal grouping

This study investigates whether memory for sequences of spatial locations can be represented hierarchically, that is, as successive groups containing the order of constituent locations. Two grouping manipulations are used: Temporal grouping, based on the verbal serial memory literature, and spatial grouping, based on recent empirical work on visuo-spatial serial memory. In Experiment 1, we examine the relationship between spatial grouping and temporal order and showed that recall performance increases when both temporal and spatial organization correlate, but decreases when they clash. Experiments 2 and 3 show that the latter result is confounded by differences in path length (length of spatial path defined by the locations) between conditions, and that no effect of the spatial organization is observed when path length is controlled for. In Experiment 4, an alternative method to spatial grouping, temporal grouping, is used to induce hierarchical organization. A recall advantage is found in the temporal grouping condition. The results suggest that hierarchical representations can be imposed on order information for visuo-spatial sequences, either when participants have pre-existing knowledge about the form of the path formed by the sequence or when temporal boundaries delimit chunks; that increased path length is the cause of the performance decrement observed when dots from separate spatial groups are presented successively; and that path length and more generally sequence characteristics should be taken into account in designing future research on visuo-spatial serial memory.     

Hairpulling and Skin Picking in Relation to Affective Distress and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

The current study examined the frequency and associated distress of both hairpulling and skin picking behaviors in 1,324 college students using the Massachusetts General Hospital Hairpulling Scale (MGHHS) and Skin Picking Scale (SPS). In this sample, many participants reported significant distress secondary to both hairpulling and skin picking. Participants who endorsed relatively frequent hairpulling or skin picking (N = 72) were scheduled for a follow-up testing session to further assess the relationship between these behaviors and measures of affective distress. Compared to a control sample, the follow-up sample endorsed significantly more symptoms of anxiety and stress reactivity, and had higher scores on a measure of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

The effects of categorical relatedness on judgements of learning (JOLs)

On-line monitoring during study can be influenced by the relatedness shared between the cue and target of a paired associate. We examined the effects on people's judgements of learning (JOLs) of a different kind of relatedness, which occurs in a list organised into sets of categorically related words and unrelated words. In two experiments, participants studied a list of words organised into a series of sets of four categorically related words or four unrelated words. In Experiment 1, JOLs were made immediately after each word had been studied, and JOL magnitude was greater for related than unrelated words. In Experiment 2, JOLs were delayed after study and, as expected, they were substantially greater for related sets of words. Serial position effects (an increase in JOL magnitude across the words of a related set) were evident with immediate JOLs but not with delayed JOLs. The relatedness effect was not present early in the list for immediate JOLs but was present throughout the list for delayed JOLs. We conclude by discussing some preliminary explanations for these new phenomena.