On spatial response code activation in a Simon task

The Simon effect refers to the performance advantage for trials where the task-irrelevant location of a target spatially corresponds with the location of the response. It is thought that the irrelevant spatial code of the target facilitates responding by automatically pre-activating the spatially corresponding response code. This spatial code is thought to passively decay shortly after its activation. In this investigation, the response was selected according to the identity of a central cue. The selected response was executed or withheld depending the identity (Experiment 1) or the presence (Experiment 2) of the target. Varying the stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA), between the central response cue and the peripheral target, allowed for a time-course analysis of the Simon effect. The results of two experiments provided no indication that the activation level of the irrelevant spatial code decayed while the relevant response was prepared. Although reaction times increased as the SOA decreased, the Simon effect was additive with SOA, suggesting that the automatic activation of the task-irrelevant spatial code was delayed until the task-relevant response code was mostly prepared, perhaps due to the capacity limitations of response selection.     

Integrating biological and social processes in relation to early-onset persistent aggression in boys and girls

This study examined the relationship between biological and social risk factors and aggressive behavior patterns in an Australian high-risk sample of 370 adolescents. Perinatal, temperamental, familial, sociodemographic, and behavioral data were collected during interviews completed during pregnancy. immediately postpartum, and when the children were 6 months old and 5, 14, and 15 years old. Youths were given tests of verbal and neuropsychological functioning at the age 5 and age 15 follow-ups. Youths were divided into early-onset persistent aggression, adolescent-onset aggression, and nonaggressive behavior groups. Results revealed that the interaction of biological and social risk factors was significantly related to early-onset persistent aggression. Gender and developmental phase of measurement moderated the relationship between biosocial risks and the outcomes of early-onset persistent aggression and adolescent-onset aggression.     

Conscientiousness, autonomy fit, and development: a longitudinal study

The authors examined employee development and its relationship with Conscientiousness and person-environment fit (in terms of needs and supplies of autonomy). They hypothesized that Conscientiousness would be positively associated with development but only when employees felt that the autonomy supplied by the organization did not fit their needs. In other words, whereas Conscientiousness could supply the dispositional resources for development, misfit was needed to create the need for development. The results supported the authors' predictions. Conscientiousness was positively related to development but only when employees were misfits with respect to autonomy. Employee involvement in development activities was then linked to subsequent fit.     

Developmental prosopagnosia: a study of three patients

We studied perception in three patients with prosopagnosia of childhood onset. All had trouble with other 'within-category' judgments. All were deficient on face matching tests and severely impaired on tests of perception of the spatial relations of facial features and abstract designs, indicating a deficit in the encoding of coordinate relationships, similar to adult-onset prosopagnosia with lesions of the fusiform face area. Two had difficulty perceiving feature colour, which correlated with reduced luminance sensitivity. In contrast to adult-onset patients, saturation discrimination was spared in two and spatial resolution impaired in two. Curvature discrimination was relatively spared. Contrast sensitivity showed variable reductions at different spatial frequencies. We conclude that developmental prosopagnosia is similar to the adult-onset form in encoding deficits for the spatial arrangement of facial elements. Deficits in luminance perception and spatial resolution are more associated with defective encoding for basic object-level recognition, as shown on tests of object and spatial perception.     

Trunk- and head-centred spatial coordinates do not affect free-viewing perceptual asymmetries

Turning the trunk or head to the left can reduce the severity of leftward neglect. This study sought to determine whether turning the trunk or head to the right would reduce pseudoneglect: A phenomenon where normal participants underestimate the rightward features of a stimulus. Participants made luminance judgements of two mirror-reversed greyscales stimuli. A preference for selecting the stimulus dark on the left was found. The effect of trunk-centred coordinates was examined in Expt. 1 by facing the head toward the display and turning the trunk to the left, right or toward the display. Head-centred coordinates were examined in Expt. 2 by directing the eyes toward the display and then turning the head and trunk. No effect of rotation was observed. It was concluded that the leftward bias for the greyscales task could be based on an object-centred attentional bias or left-to-right eye scanning habits.     

The perception of a face is no more than the sum of its parts

When you see a person's face, how do you go about combining his or her facial features to make a decision about who that person is? Most current theories of face perception assert that the ability to recognize a human face is not simply the result of an independent analysis of individual features, but instead involves a holistic coding of the relationships among features. This coding is thought to enhance people's ability to recognize a face beyond what would be expected if each feature were shown in isolation. In the study reported here, we explicitly tested this idea by comparing human performance on facial-feature integration with that of an optimal Bayesian integrator. Contrary to the predictions of most current notions of face perception, our findings showed that human observers integrate facial features in a manner that is no better than would be predicted by their ability to use each individual feature when shown in isolation. That is, a face is perceived no better than the sum of its individual parts.     

Positive affect, meaning in life, and future time perspective: an application of socioemotional selectivity theory

Four studies tested the prediction that positive affect (PA) would relate more strongly to meaning in life (MIL) as a function of perceived time limitations. In Study 1 (N = 360), adults completed measures of PA and MIL. As predicted, PA related more strongly to MIL for older, compared to younger, participants. In Studies 2 and 3, adults (N = 514) indicated their current position in their life span, and rated their MIL. PA, whether naturally occurring (Study 2) or induced (Study 3), was a stronger predictor of MIL for individuals who perceived themselves as having a limited amount of time left to live. Finally, in Study 4 (N = 98) students completed a measure of PA, MIL, and future time perspective (FTP). Results showed that PA was more strongly linked to MIL for those who believed they had fewer opportunities left to pursue their goals. Overall, these findings suggest that the experience of PA becomes increasingly associated with the experience of MIL as the perception of future time becomes limited. The contribution of age related processes to judgments of well-being are discussed.     

The effects of prior knowledge on the encoding of episodic contextual details

A positive relationship between prior knowledge and item memory is a consistent finding in the literature. In the present study, we sought to determine whether this relationship extends to episodic details that are present at the time of encoding, namely source memory. Using a novel experimental design, we were able to show both between- and within-subjects effects of prior knowledge on source memory. Specifically, the results revealed that the degree of prior knowledge positively predicted memory for source specifying contextual details. In addition, by including two conditions in which attention was divided either at encoding or retrieval, we were able to show that prior knowledge influences memory by affecting encoding processes. Overall, the data suggest that a priori knowledge within a specific domain allows attentional resources to be allocated toward the encoding of contextual details.