Memory search and visual spatial attention: An event-related brain potential analysis

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from subjects as they attended to one diagonal of a visual display. The task was to respond only to memory set items (targets) at the attended diagonal and to ignore stimuli at the other diagonal. The probability that the display contained either an attended or an unattended target was 0.30. The spatial separation between attended and unattended stimuli was 1.6°. The ERP elicited by stimuli at the unattended diagonal contained a sequence of phasic components. The early N₁₇₀ and P₂₅₀ components were elicited by the onset of the display and the later components N₄₈₀ and P₅₅₀ by the offset of the display. The presence of masks delayed N₁₇₀ and P₂₅₀. The ERPs elicited by attended non-targets, in addition, contained an increased N₃₅₀ (C_z, F_z) and P₄₁₀ (P_3a, P_z, C_z). The ERPs elicited by attended and unattended non-targets started to differ after 200 msec. This finding suggested that selection is relatively late if selection must be based on a conjunction of features (location and orientation) and if the spatial separation between attended and unattended stimuli is small. Memory-set size affected the ERPs after 250 msec. The ERPs elicited by attended stimuli contained a broadly distributed (F_z, C_z, P_z) negative endogeneous component. The amplitude of this component was related to memory-set size. Finally, the ERPs elicited by attended targets contained a large P_3b (P_z, O_z) with a peak latency around 600 msec. The ERP results suggested the existence of three processing stages: (1) orienting to the attended stimuli; (2) controlled search, and (3) target decision.     

Predicting Compliance in Group CBT Using the Group Therapy Questionnaire

This study examined the clinical applicability of the Group Therapy Questionnaire (GTQ) for identifying individuals at risk of poor attendance in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) groups for depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Participants (n = 80) completed the GTQ prior to their involvement in one of five types of CBT groups. Participants’ attendance was recorded by the group therapists. Findings revealed that patients’ expectations of group were associated with attendance. Level of interpersonal difficulty, health issues, and drug and alcohol use—as assessed by the GTQ—were not associated with attendance. A shorter version of the GTQ with questions tapping expectations of group participation would provide a valuable screening tool to aid clinicians in identifying clients at risk for low attendance.     

Naturalistic Decision-Making Task Processes in Multiprofessional Assessment of Disability

Evaluation of preschool children with complex disabilities is regarded as a group decision-making process. This process was studied in two tertiary-level multiprofessional groups in London, UK: one based in a neurodisability center and one organized by a school psychological service. The assessment discussions about two preschool children at each site were audio recorded. Each assessment was carried out over half a day by all the professionals simultaneously with the family. Postassessment interviews were held with each professional and family. Verbal protocol analysis captured the structure of each assessment through six TASK decision-making processes applied at three levels of reasoning and decision making. Sequential application of processes was found to be influenced by the occurrence of a series of three cycles of decision making within each assessment and the decomposition of the assessment task into distinct subproblems.     

Work Stress and Comfort in University Faculty: Do Gender and Academic Field Matter?

University faculty face stressors, including multiple roles, institutional pressures, and varying student demands, which may differ by gender and across fields. Using the questionnaire variant of a convergent mixed-methods design, we examined whether self-reported work stress and comfort differed by gender and academic field gender stereotype in participants from two universities. Results showed that female faculty reported more quantitative role overload, qualitative role overload, and career development stress than male faculty regardless of field. Qualitative themes centered on institutional barriers and unique pressures for women, although these experiences varied by field. Implications, limitations, and future research for employment counselors are explored.     

Ethical Leadership and Unethical Pro-Organisational Behaviour: The Mediating Mechanism of Reflective Moral Attentiveness

This study examines the mediating effects of reflective moral attentiveness on the relationship between ethical leadership and subordinates’ unethical pro-organisational behaviour (UPB). Based on two-wave survey data obtained from 233 employees in 60 teams from Chinese government agencies, we found that ethical leadership was positively related to reflective moral attentiveness. In addition, we found that reflective moral attentiveness mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and UPB, such that ethical leadership negatively influenced subordinates’ unethical pro-organisational behaviour through enhancing reflective moral attentiveness.     

Approximated adjusted fractional Bayes factors: A general method for testing informative hypotheses

Informative hypotheses are increasingly being used in psychological sciences because they adequately capture researchers’ theories and expectations. In the Bayesian framework, the evaluation of informative hypotheses often makes use of default Bayes factors such as the fractional Bayes factor. This paper approximates and adjusts the fractional Bayes factor such that it can be used to evaluate informative hypotheses in general statistical models. In the fractional Bayes factor a fraction parameter must be specified which controls the amount of information in the data used for specifying an implicit prior. The remaining fraction is used for testing the informative hypotheses. We discuss different choices of this parameter and present a scheme for setting it. Furthermore, a software package is described which computes the approximated adjusted fractional Bayes factor. Using this software package, psychological researchers can evaluate informative hypotheses by means of Bayes factors in an easy manner. Two empirical examples are used to illustrate the procedure.     

Payoffs for layoffs? An examination of CEO relative pay and firm performance surrounding layoff announcements

In this study, we theorize that chief executive officers’ (CEOs’) peer pay comparisons influence their decisions to engage in layoffs, and we consider the conditions under which layoffs deliver “payoffs” in the form of increases in subsequent CEO relative pay. Our results indicate that CEOs receiving compensation below their peers are significantly more likely to announce layoffs in the subsequent year, relative to those receiving compensation above their peers. Further, we find that the relationship between layoffs and subsequent changes in CEO relative pay depends on postlayoff changes in firm performance, with CEOs in firms with the largest performance gains receiving the largest increases in relative pay. We also show that our results are robust to an alternative operationalization of CEO relative pay. We provide evidence that external social comparisons may have predictable consequences for both CEOs’ propensities to engage in particular strategic actions and future changes in CEOs’ relative pay.