Hemispheric differences in strong versus weak semantic priming: evidence from event-related brain potentials

GOALS: Research with lateralized word presentation has suggested that strong ("close") and weak ("remote") semantic associates are processed differently in the left and right cerebral hemispheres [e.g., Beeman, M. j., & Chiarello, C. (1998). Complementary right- and left-hemisphere language comprehension. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7(1), 2-8]. Recently, this hypothesis has been challenged [Coney, J. (2002). The effect of associative strength on priming in the cerebral hemispheres. Brain and Cognition, 50(2), 234-241]. We predicted that foveal presentation of strong and weak associates would elicit different patterns of hemispheric activity, as indexed by high-density event-related brain potentials (ERPs), and that source localization of the scalp potentials would help clarify the nature of hemispheric contributions to semantic organization. METHODS: 128-channel ERPs were recorded in two experiments as subjects performed a lexical decision task. Word trials were equally divided into strongly related, weakly related, and unrelated word pairs. All words were foveally presented. SOA was 800 ms in Experiment 1, and 200 ms in Experiment 2. RESULTS: Topographic analyses revealed medial frontal (MFN) and parietal (N400/LPC) effects for both strong and weak associates. Between approximately 450 and 550 ms, the magnitude of the N400/LPC effect indicated priming for both strong and weak associates over left parietal sites, while priming over right parietal sites was restricted to strongly related word pairs. During this interval, spatiotemporal source modeling showed that these scalp effects were best accounted for by ipsilateral sources in the medial temporal lobe. The observed pattern of asymmetries for strong versus weak associates is not consistent with certain proposals regarding the complementarity of right- and left-hemisphere contributions to semantics. It is, however, consistent with findings from visual half-field studies (Hasbrooke and Chiarello, 1998). We discuss the relevance of these results for theories of hemispheric asymmetry and meta-control in lexical semantic access.     

Right hemisphere metaphor processing? Characterizing the lateralization of semantic processes

Previous laterality studies have implicated the right hemisphere in the processing of metaphors, however it is not clear if this result is due to metaphoricity per se or another aspect of semantic processing. Three divided visual field experiments varied metaphorical and literal sentence familiarity. We found a right hemisphere advantage for unfamiliar sentences containing distant semantic relationships, and a left hemisphere advantage for familiar sentences containing close semantic relationships, regardless of whether sentences were metaphorical or literal. This pattern of results is consistent with theories postulating predominantly left hemisphere processing of close semantic relationships and predominantly right hemisphere processing of distant semantic relationships.     

Incidental learning of abstract rules for non-dominant word orders

One way in which adult second language learners may acquire a word order that differs from their native language word order is through exposure-based incidental learning, but little is known about that process and what constrains it. The current studies examine whether a non-dominant word order can be learned incidentally, and if so, whether the rule can be generalized to new words not previously seen in the non-dominant order. Two studies examined the incidental learning of rules underlying the order of nouns and verbs in three-word strings. The self-timed reading speeds of native English speakers decreased as a result of practice with a non-dominant rule (words ordered either as “verb noun noun” or “noun noun verb”). The same pattern of results was also found for new words ordered according to the previously encountered rule, suggesting learning generalized beyond the specific instances encountered. A second experiment showed such rule learning could also occur when the nouns were replaced with pronounceable pseudowords. Learning was therefore possible in the absence of any pre-existing relationships between the items. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed. Gwen Schmidt is now with the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania. Tom Carr has returned to the Department of Psychology, Michigan State University. Ben Clegg’s contribution to this research was supported in part by Army Research Office Grant W9112NF-05-1-0153.     

The developmental trajectories of attention focusing, attentional and behavioral persistence, and externalizing problems during school-age years

The developmental trajectories of attention focusing (by parents' and teachers' reports) and attentional and behavioral persistence (observed during a laboratory task)--2 indexes of effortful control--and externalizing problems from ages 5 to 10 years were examined for 356 children combined from a pair of 3-wave (2 years apart) longitudinal studies. The authors identified clusters of children with distinct trajectories for these variables and examined the links between the effortful control trajectories and the externalizing problem trajectories. Although attention focusing remained relatively stable, attentional and behavioral persistence continued to show mean-level changes (especially among the children with lower levels of persistence). Children with high and stable trajectories of effortful control tended to exhibit low and stable trajectories of externalizing problems, whereas those with lower and/or less stable trajectories of effortful control showed more elevated and/or fluctuating trajectories of externalizing problems.     

Addressing power in couples therapy: Integrating socio-emotional relationship therapy and emotionally focused therapy

Romantic relationships are more satisfying and fulfilling when power is balanced relatively equally between partners (Leonhardt et al., Journal of Family Psychology, 34, 2020, and 1). Yet, few couples therapy models explicitly outline how to confront relational power issues (Knudson-Martin & Huenergardt, 2015, Socio-emotional relationship therapy: Bridging emotion, societal context, and couple interaction, Springer). Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT; Johnson, 2020, The practice of emotionally focused couple therapy, Routledge) is a well-established, evidence-based therapy modality that many therapists use with couple clients, yet despite its effectiveness, it does not provide direction for explicitly addressing and treating power differentials in couple relationships. In this paper, we explore the integration of EFT with Socio-emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT), a model overlay that acknowledges the impact of social discourse on enactments of power in intimate couple relationships. We first address the importance of understanding power in couple relationships, addressing power in couples therapy, and provide a brief overview of SERT and EFT. We then introduce an integration of the models intended to help therapists balance power, increase connection, and secure attachment bonds between romantic partners.     

The Meaning of Brand Names to Children: A Developmental Investigation

We explored the way that children use brand names in making consumer judgments. Brand names can serve as a simple perceptual cue that identifies a product as one people are familiar with or one they associate with certain perceptual features. Brands can also be associated with symbolic or conceptual meanings, conveying status, prestige, or trendiness. We proposed that young children relate to brands on a perceptual level, whereas older children relate to brands on a conceptual basis as well. We examined this proposition in an experiment conducted with children 8,12, and 16 years of age. Participants were asked to evaluate an advertised product (e.g., athletic shoes) with a familiar brand name that was either popular (e.g., Nike^®) or less popular (e.g., Kmart^®). The advertised product was physically identical in both cases, allowing us to explore whether the brand name had meaning for children apart from its name familiarity or perceptual features. The use of conceptual brand meanings was assessed by asking participants to make several types of brand‐related judgments including evaluations of the advertised product, impressions of the owners of the advertised product, and evaluations of possible extensions of the popular brand name advertised. Results indicate that by the time children reach 12 years of age, they use brand names as an important conceptual cue in consumer judgments.     

Prediction of Children's Academic Competence From Their Effortful Control, Relationships, and Classroom Participation

The authors examined the relations among children's effortful control, school relationships, classroom participation, and academic competence with a sample of 7- to 12-year-old children (N = 264). Parents and children reported on children's effortful control, and teachers and children reported on children's school relationships and classroom participation. Children's grade point averages (GPAs) and absences were obtained from school-issued report cards. Significant positive correlations existed between effortful control, school relationships, classroom participation, and academic competence. Consistent with expectations, the teacher-child relationship, social competence, and classroom participation partially mediated the relation between effortful control and change in GPA from the beginning to the end of the school year. The teacher-child relationship and classroom participation also partially mediated the relation between effortful control and change in school absences across the year.     

Gender Differences in Patterns of Association Between Prosocial Behavior, Personality, and Externalizing Problems

This study examines whether prosocial behavior and personality have independent or overlapping associations with adolescent externalizing problems. A total of 128 female and 103 male early adolescents (M = 13.6 years old) completed personality inventories. Prosocial behavior was assessed by peer nominations (N = 663). Composite aggression and delinquency scores were derived from maternal and self-reports. Path analyses indicated gender differences in patterns of association. For girls, links between prosocial behavior and both aggression and delinquency were fully mediated by agreeableness and partially mediated by conscientiousness. For boys, prosocial behavior, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were independently and negatively associated with aggression and delinquency. The findings suggest that personality and prosocial behavior are uniquely related to boys' behavior problems but cannot be readily disentangled when it comes to girls' behavior problems.     

The Value of Achievements

This article gives an account of what makes achievements valuable. Although the natural thought is that achievements are valuable because of the product, such as a cure for cancer or a work of art, I argue that the value of the product of an achievement is not sufficient to account for its overall value. Rather, I argue that achievements are valuable in virtue of their difficulty. I propose a new perfectionist theory of value that acknowledges the will as a characteristic human capacity, and thus holds that the exercise of the will, and therefore difficulty, is intrinsically valuable.     

The necessary impossibility: Dynamics of identity among young people of different backgrounds in Vienna

Identity, the key term during the last two decades in social sciences, is employed for different, even opposite purposes. On the one hand, there are liberal aims claiming social recognition, which usually are summarized under the term politics of identity. On the other hand, there are social movements and conceptions, the objectives of which are diametrically opposed to emancipatory ideas, and which encompass nationalisms, ethnopluralism, cultural fundamentalism, differential racism, and xenophobia. In this field of tensions this contribution is focusing on narratives and strategies of identity among young people in group discussions. Encounters among youth from different cultural, ethnic, and social contexts and with different expectations produce diasporic public spheres, which are neither predominantly emancipatory nor fully controlled, but rather emerging and therefore contested. In our theoretical reflections we challenge common dichotomies and main models of identity; in our empirical approaches we examine the topography and the dynamics of identity as well as “situated hierarchies” of different sources of identity.