Memory for emotional words: The role of semantic relatedness,encoding task and affective valence

Emotional stimuli have been repeatedly demonstrated to be better remembered than neutral ones. The aim of the present study was to test whether this advantage in memory is mainly produced by the affective content of the stimuli or it can be rather accounted for by factors such as semantic relatedness or type of encoding task. The valence of the stimuli (positive, negative and neutral words that could be either semantically related or unrelated) as well as the type of encoding task (focused on either familiarity or emotionality) was manipulated. The results revealed an advantage in memory for emotional words (either positive or negative) regardless of semantic relatedness. Importantly, this advantage was modulated by the encoding task, as it was reliable only in the task which focused on emotionality. These findings suggest that congruity with the dimension attended at encoding might contribute to the superiority in memory for emotional words, thus offering us a more complex picture of the underlying mechanisms behind the advantage for emotional information in memory.     

An analysis of letter expertise in a levels-of-categorization framework

While there has been increasing effort in dissociating the neural substrates recruited by perception of different objects, the theoretical and behavioural work needed to understand such dissociation lags behind. In an attempt to compare expertise in letter and face perception, we outline a theoretical framework that characterizes different types of object expertise based on the task demand (level of abstraction) required in object categorization. Face perception requires categorization at a subordinate level, whereas letter perception involves mainly basic-level categorization. Accordingly face and letter perception should represent two different types of expertise and display different neural and behavioural markers. Results from three behavioural experiments supported the predictions of the framework in that letter expertise is characterized by an enhancement of the basic-level advantage, instead of its attenuation as typically found for face perception. We compare this framework with Farah's taxonomy of visual abilities based on cooccurrence of deficits in visual agnosias.     

Extrafoveal capture of attention by emotional scenes: affective valence versus visual saliency

ABSTRACT

Pairs of emotional (pleasant or unpleasant) and neutral scenes were presented peripherally (≥5° away from fixation) during a central letter-discrimination task. Selective attentional capture was assessed by means of eye movement orienting, i.e., probability of first fixating a scene and the time until first fixation. Static and dynamic visual saliency values of the scenes were computationally modelled. Results revealed selective orienting to both pleasant and unpleasant relative to neutral scenes. Importantly, such effects remained in the absence of visual saliency differences, even though saliency influenced eye movements. This suggests that selective attention to emotional scenes is genuinely driven by the processing of affective significance in extrafoveal vision.     

The Necessary Limits to Temptation: The Turnkey Project

In case of special engineering projects of important relevance it is interesting to pay attention to several possible risks; some of them are in the field of morality or ethics. Due to the social importance of these risks, additional considerations or even additional warranties are justified.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

Wilson, D.G. & Rosenfeld, R. (1990). Managing organizations: text, readings and cases. London: McGraw Hill Book Company. Pp. 494. ISBN 0-07-707232-4. £16.95 (paperback).

Argyle, M. (1991). Cooperation: The basis of sociability. London: Routledge. Pp. 234. ISBN 0-41503-546-5. £10.99 (paperback).

Rasmussen, J., Brehmer, B., & LePlat, J. (Eds.). (1991). Distributed decision making: Cognitive models for cooperative work. Chichester: Wiley & Sons. Pp. 416. ISBN 0-471-92828-3. £49.95.     

The state version of the recovery experience questionnaire: A multilevel confirmatory factor analysis

Although many studies in the field of recovery from work utilize a quantitative diary design, little is known about the validity of the daily measures used in such studies. The present study analyses the factor structure of the state version of the Recovery Experience Questionnaire (REQ) on the between-person (trait) and within-person (state) levels. A total of 127 employees participated in the study. Most of them filled out the questionnaire on three consecutive workdays (N = 375 observations). Results of multilevel confirmatory factor analyses (MCFA) showed that a four-factor model fit the data better than alternative models at both levels of analysis (between and within). In addition, some factor loadings of the four recovery experience dimensions (particularly for relaxation and control) were lower on the day level as compared to the general level. Nevertheless, we conclude that both state and trait versions of the REQ show good psychometric properties. Implications for future research on recovery are discussed.     

“Toxin handling” and well-being: The case of the human resources manager

This study uses the job demands–resources model and multiple role theory to gain an understanding of the “toxin handling–well-being” relationship. “Toxin handlers” are empathetic managers willing to try to address pain and suffering in organizations (Frost, 2007). We use data from semistructured, in-depth interviews with HR managers to investigate the impact of the toxin handling role on well-being. The interviews indicate that toxin handling does not necessarily lead to the toxin handler’s ill health, because factors such as organizational and personal resources can influence that relationship. Further, toxin handlers can face very different toxin handling demands. These differences in the toxin handler’s resources and demands can lead to the full spectrum of possible health consequences of toxin handling (from decreased to enhanced health) for different toxin handlers.     

A set of high quality colour images with Spanish norms for seven relevant psycholinguistic variables: The Nombela naming test

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a new corpus of 140 high quality colour images belonging to 14 subcategories and covering a range of naming difficulty. One hundred and six Spanish speakers named the items and provided data for several psycholinguistic variables: age of acquisition, familiarity, manipulability, name agreement, typicality and visual complexity. Furthermore, we also present lexical frequency data derived internet search hits. Apart from the large number of variables evaluated, these stimuli present an important advantage with respect to other comparable image corpora in so far as naming performance in healthy individuals is less prone to ceiling effect problems. Reliability and validity indexes showed that our items display similar psycholinguistic characteristics to those of other corpora. In sum, this set of ecologically valid stimuli provides a useful tool for scientists engaged in cognitive and neuroscience-based research.     

Influence of Training in Artistic Skills on Mental Imaging Capacity

ABSTRACT

Artistic creation often involves the use of mental images. This investigation examined the influence of training in artistic skills on mental imaging capacity in a sample of 126 subjects aged between 18 and 23 years. First- and 5th-year fine arts students were compared with regard to their performance in 2 imaging capacity tests (the Visual Elaboration Scale and the Vividness of Visual Imagery Test) and 3 tests of drawing involving spatial representation, transformation of spatial relations, and memory. The students who had undergone a longer period of artistic training performed significantly better on all 5 tests, and all drawing tasks scores correlated with each other. These results indicate that artistic training may enhance imaging capacity.