Processing of irrelevant location information under dual-task conditions

This study deals with the problem of whether the processing of irrelevant location information in Simon-like tasks is triggered exogenously or endogenously. In Experiment 1, the primary task required one to press, as fast as possible, a left-hand-side key or a right-hand-side key (R1) to the pitch of a tone that was presented binaurally (S1). The secondary task required identifying, without time constraints, a visual stimulus (S2) that appeared randomly to the left or right of screen center. Results showed that there was a correspondence (i.e., a cross-task Simon effect) between the location of R1 and the location of S2 when S2 was presented alone. The cross-task Simon effect became much smaller (and in-significant) when a noise stimulus was presented contralateral to S2. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1, except that S2 appeared unpredictably in only one-third of the trials. Results of Experiment 2 closely replicated those of Experiment 1: the cross-task Simon effect was much greater when S2 was presented alone. Experiment 3 differed from Experiment 1 because S2 had to be processed in only one-third of the trials, in which its identity was to be reported. In the remaining two-thirds of the trials, participants could ignore S2. Results confirmed that the cross-task Simon effect was much greater when S2 was presented alone. In contrast, it did not matter whether S2 had to be processed or not. In conclusion, the present study supports the hypothesis that the task-irrelevant spatial code of the stimulus is formed automatically, likely through an exogenously triggered selection. The role of endogenously initiated selection, if any, is much less important.     

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processes in Emotion Generation: Common and Distinct Neural Mechanisms

ABSTRACT— Emotions are generally thought to arise through the interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes. However, prior work has not delineated their relative contributions. In a sample of 20 females, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the neural correlates of negative emotions generated by the bottom-up perception of aversive images and by the top-down interpretation of neutral images as aversive. We found that (a) both types of responses activated the amygdala, although bottom-up responses did so more strongly; (b) bottom-up responses activated systems for attending to and encoding perceptual and affective stimulus properties, whereas top-down responses activated prefrontal regions that represent high-level cognitive interpretations; and (c) self-reported affect correlated with activity in the amygdala during bottom-up responding and with activity in the medial prefrontal cortex during top-down responding. These findings provide a neural foundation for emotion theories that posit multiple kinds of appraisal processes and help to clarify mechanisms underlying clinically relevant forms of emotion dysregulation.     

Priming trait inferences through pictures and moving pictures: the impact of open and closed mindsets

A newly developed paradigm for studying spontaneous trait inferences (STI) was applied in 3 experiments. The authors primed dyadic stimulus behaviors involving a subject (S) and an object (O) person through degraded pictures or movies. An encoding task called for the verification of either a graphical feature or a semantic interpretation, which either fit or did not fit the primed behavior. Next, participants had to identify a trait word that appeared gradually behind a mask and that either matched or did not match the primed behavior. STI effects, defined as shorter identification latencies for matching than nonmatching traits, were stronger for S than for O traits, after graphical rather than semantic encoding decisions and after encoding failures. These findings can be explained by assuming that trait inferences are facilitated by open versus closed mindsets supposed to result from distracting (graphical) encoding tasks or encoding failures (involving nonfitting interpretations).     

“How much do you like your name?” An implicit measure of global self-esteem

We introduce a single-item implicit measure of global self-esteem. The measure is based on the mere-ownership effect and asks participants to indicate how much they like their name. Six studies attested to the validity of this measure. In addition to showing high test-retest reliability (r = .85), the studies found that Name-Liking was (a) unrelated to impression management, (b) positively related to the Name-Letter-Task, the Self-Esteem IAT, explicit self-esteem measures, and self-reported subjective well-being, (c) more strongly related to explicit measures of global than domain-specific self-esteem, (d) more strongly related to self-esteem judgments made spontaneously as well as under cognitive load, and (e) predicted observer-reported anxiety during an anxiety-inducing interview whereas an explicit measure of self-esteem did not.     

Heilung als Gemeinschaftsleistung

The concept of healing as a collective achievement starts from the premise that developing mental disorders is an unwanted and unconscious collective endeavor and that healing mental disorders equally requires a (conscious and planned) collective endeavor again. In practice this concept underlies various conjoint therapy approaches. The methods, indications and potential to be combined with individual therapies are briefly introduced and the training of skills needed to conduct conjoint therapy sessions and the financing of conjoint therapy sessions are discussed.     

Gender differences in online and offline self‐disclosure in pre‐adolescence and adolescence

Although there is developmental research on the prevalence of offline self‐disclosure in pre‐adolescence and adolescence, it is still unknown (a) how boys’ and girls’online self‐disclosure develops in this period and (b) how online and offline self‐disclosure interact with each other. We formulated three hypotheses to explain the possible interaction between online and offline self‐disclosure: the displacement, the rich‐get‐richer, and the rehearsal hypothesis. We surveyed 690 pre‐adolescents and adolescents (10–17 years) at three time points with half‐year intervals in between. We found significant gender differences in the developmental trajectories of self‐disclosure. For girls, both online and offline self‐disclosure increased sharply during pre‐ (10–11 years) and early adolescence (12–13 years), and then stabilized in middle and late adolescence. For boys, the same trajectory was found although the increase in self‐disclosure started 2 years later. We found most support for the rehearsal hypothesis: Both boys and girls seemed to use online self‐disclosure to rehearse offline self‐disclosure skills. This particularly held for boys in early adolescence who typically have difficulty disclosing themselves offline.     

Affective and health-related outcome expectancies for physical activity in older adults

This study tests the effects of affective and health-related outcome expectancies on physical exercise, assuming stronger direct and indirect (via intention) effects from affective outcome expectancy to physical exercise than from health-related outcome expectancy to exercise. Physical exercise and social cognitive variables were assessed at baseline, and 6- and 12-month follow-up in 335 older adults (60-95 years of age). Applying structural equation modelling, there was a direct effect from affective, but not from health-related outcome expectancy on intentions and behaviour. Also, the indirect effect from self-efficacy on physical exercise via affective outcome expectancy was significant, whereas the mediation via health-related outcome expectancy was not. These findings emphasise the relative importance of affective versus health-related outcome expectancies in predicting intentions and physical exercise in older adults and highlight the importance to separate these facets at a conceptual level to enhance both theory development and health promotion.     

Defensive self-esteem impacts attention, attitude strength, and self-affirmation processes

Individuals with defensive self-esteem score low on implicit measures of self-esteem (ISE) and high on explicit measures of self-esteem (ESE). Although there is some evidence about the consequences of defensive self-esteem, much of it is indirect and open to alternative explanations. Here, we offer direct and novel evidence regarding the implications of defensive self-esteem. Using a standard visual attention paradigm, Study 1 revealed that defensive self-esteem is associated with enhanced attention to defensiveness-related words. Building upon these results, Study 2 found that defensive self-esteem individuals reported particularly strong attitudes, across different operationalizations of attitude strength as well as different attitude objects. Study 3 examined the sensitivity of defensive self-esteem individuals to self-affirmation effects. The results revealed that self-affirmation was particularly effective for defensive self-esteem individuals in reducing actual-ideal self-discrepancies. Overall, the results provide novel and firm evidence that the combination of simultaneously low ISE and high ESE elicits defensiveness.     

Limitations of distal effect anticipation when using tools

Modern technologies progressively create workplaces in which the execution of movements and the observation of their consequences are spatially separated. Challenging workplaces in which users act via technical equipment in a distant space include aviation, applied medical engineering and virtual reality. When using a tool, proprioceptive/tactile feedback from the moving hand (proximal action effect) and visual feedback from the moving effect point of the tool, such as the moving cursor on a display (the distal action effect) often do not correspond or are even in conflict. If proximal and distal feedback were equally important for controlling actions with tools, this discrepancy would be a constant source of interference. The human information processing system solves this problem by favoring the intended distal action effects while attenuating or ignoring proximal action effects. The study presents an overview of experiments aiming at the underlying motor and cognitive processes and the limitations of visual predominance in tool actions. The main findings are, that when transformations are in effect the awareness of one's own actions is quite low. This seems to be advantageous when using tools, as it allows for wide range of flexible sensorimotor adaptations and – may be more important – it evokes the feeling of being in control. Thus, the attenuation of perceiving one's own proximal action effects is an important precondition for using tools successfully. However, the ability to integrate discordant perception-action feedback has limits, especially, but not only, with complex transformations. When feature overlap between vision and proprioception is low, and when the existence of a transformation is obvious proximal action effects come to the fore and dominate action control in tool actions. In conclusion action–effect control plays an important role in understanding the constraints of the acquisition and application of tool transformations.