Feeling bad about screwing up: emotion regulation and action monitoring in the anterior cingulate cortex

This study examined neural features of emotional responses to errors. We specifically examined whether directed emotion regulation of negative emotion associated with error modulates action-monitoring functions of anterior cingulate cortex, including conflict monitoring, error processing, and error prevention. Seventeen healthy adults performed a continuous performance task during assessment by fMRI. In each block, participants were asked either to increase or decrease their negative emotional responses or to react naturally after error commission. Emotion regulation instructions were associated with modulation of rostral and dorsal anterior activity and of their effective connectivity following errors and conflict. Cingulate activity and connectivity predicted subsequent errors. These data may suggest that responses to errors are affected by emotion and that aspects of emotion and cognition are inextricably linked, even during a nominally cognitive task.     

Response repetition as an error‐correction procedure for sight‐word reading: A replication and extension

We evaluated the effects of response repetition (RR) as an error‐correction procedure for increasing sight‐word reading for four individuals using a multiple baseline design. The results for each participant showed that correct responding increased following the introduction of the RR procedure. In addition, responding for three of four participants showed evidence of stimulus generalization, response generalization, or both. Likewise, we found that comparable behavior changes were produced when a participant's paraprofessional implemented RR in a typical classroom. These findings are briefly discussed in terms of procedures that promote behavior acquisition and generalization via negative reinforcement. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Poor performance on cognitive tasks in depression: Doing too much or not enough?

Depressed people perform poorly on cognitive tasks. It is unclear whether these deficits are due to decreased devotion of task-related resources or to increased attention to non-task-related information. In the present study, we examined the degree to which depressed and healthy adults displayed pupillary motility that varied at the frequency of presented stimuli on a cognitive task, which we interpreted as task-related processing, and at other frequencies, which we interpreted as reflecting intrinsic processing. Depressed participants made more consecutive errors than did controls. More pupillary motility at other frequencies was associated with poorer performance, whereas more pupillary motility at the frequency of presented stimuli was associated with better performance. Depressed participants had more pupillary motility at other frequencies, which partially mediated observed deficits in cognitive performance. These findings support the hypothesis that allocating cognitive resources to intrinsic processing contributes to observed cognitive deficits in depression.     

Mental-state attribution drives rapid, reflexive gaze following

When presented with a face stimulus whose gaze is diverted, observers’ attention shifts to locations fixated by the face. Such “gaze following” has been characterized by some previous studies as a consequence of sophisticated theory of mind processes, but by others (particularly those employing the “gaze-cuing” paradigm) as an involuntary response that is triggered directly and reflexively by the physical features of a face. To address this apparent contradiction, we modified the gaze-cuing paradigm using a deception procedure to convince observers that prerecorded videos of an experimenter making head turns and wearing mirrored goggles were a “live” video link to an adjacent room. In two experiments, reflexive gaze following was found when observers believed that the model was wearing transparent goggles and could see, but it was significantly reduced when they believed that the experimenter wore opaque goggles and could not see. These results indicate that the attribution of the mental state “seeing” to a face plays a role in controlling even reflexive gaze following.     

Intentionalism and Change Blindness

According to reductive intentionalism, the phenomenal character of a conscious experience is constituted by the experience's intentional (or representational) content. In this article I attempt to show that a phenomenon in visual perception called change blindness poses a problem for this doctrine. Specifically, I argue that phenomenal character is not sensitive, as it should be if reductive intentionalism is correct, to fine-grained variations in content. The standard anti-intentionalist strategy is to adduce putative cases in which phenomenal character varies despite sameness of content. This paper explores an alternative antiintentionalist tack, arguing, by way of a specific example involving change blindness, that content can vary despite sameness of phenomenal character.

Training clinical psychologists for rural and northern practice: Transforming challenge into opportunity

Abstract: The Rural and Northern Program (R&NP) of the University of Manitoba's Department of Clinical Health Psychology (DCHP) is a unique training and service delivery platform that was developed in response to the scarcity of psychological services in rural and northern areas of the province of Manitoba, Canada. Since 1996 rural and northern‐based psychologists, in conjunction with the faculty based in Winnipeg (Manitoba's largest city) have offered training to two interns and one postdoctoral resident (resident) yearly. The current article discusses the nature of the program, the regions of Manitoba that the program services, and recruitment and retention data. The authors conclude by offering suggestions for creating sustainable rural/northern psychological practice.     

Exploring the handshake in employment interviews

The authors examined how an applicant's handshake influences hiring recommendations formed during the employment interview. A sample of 98 undergraduate students provided personality measures and participated in mock interviews during which the students received ratings of employment suitability. Five trained raters independently evaluated the quality of the handshake for each participant. Quality of handshake was related to interviewer hiring recommendations. Path analysis supported the handshake as mediating the effect of applicant extraversion on interviewer hiring recommendations, even after controlling for differences in candidate physical appearance and dress. Although women received lower ratings for the handshake, they did not on average receive lower assessments of employment suitability. Exploratory analysis suggested that the relationship between a firm handshake and interview ratings may be stronger for women than for men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Exaggeration in memory: Systematic distortion of self-evaluative information under reduced accessibility

The tendency to exaggerate specific information about oneself can stem from reconstructive memory processes that are distinct from motivated self-enhancement or self-presentation. While exaggerations sometimes reflect these motives, they also result from attempts to reconstruct one’s past. Three studies examined test scores as they became less accessible in memory. Study 1 provided a real-world illustration, demonstrating reduced accessibility and increased exaggeration of SAT scores over time. Two experiments utilized test scores randomly assigned in a controlled laboratory setting. Increased exaggeration was observed following distraction (Study 2), and after a one-week delay (Study 3). Distortions in scores reported were consistent with beliefs about the self, rather than uniformly self-serving. Under reduced accessibility, exaggeration was predicted by beliefs about achievement (Study 1) and subjective perceptions of test performance (Study 2). Study 3 manipulated perceived performance. Positive performance feedback caused greater exaggeration under reduced accessibility, whereas negative feedback reduced the tendency to exaggerate.