Anxiety, movement kinematics, and visual attention in elite-level performers

We tested the predictions of Attentional Control Theory (ACT) by examining the effect of anxiety on attention control and the subsequent influence on both performance effectiveness and performance efficiency within a perceptual-motor context. A sample (N = 16) of elite shotgun shooters was tested under counterbalanced low (practice) and high (competition) anxiety conditions. A head-mounted, corneal reflection system allowed point of gaze to be calculated in relation to the scene, while motion of the gun was evaluated using markers placed on the barrel which were captured by two stationary cameras and analyzed using optical tracking software. The quiet eye (QE) duration and onset were analyzed along with gun barrel displacement and variability; performance outcome scores (successful vs. unsuccessful) were also recorded. QE (Vickers, 1996) is defined as the final fixation or tracking gaze that is located on a specific location/object in the visual display for a minimum of 100 ms. Longer QE durations have been linked to successful performance in previous research involving aiming tasks. Participants demonstrated shorter quiet eye durations, and less efficient gun motion, along with a decreased performance outcome (fewer successful trials) under high compared with low anxiety conditions. The data support the predictions of ACT with anxiety disrupting control processes such that goal-directed attention was compromised, leading to a significant impairment in performance effectiveness.     

The role of phonology in a letter detection task

In two experiments, we investigated whether onsets and rimes have a role in the processing of written English. In both experiments, participants detected letter targets (e.g., t) in nonwords like vult faster than in nonwords like vust. This finding is consistent with Selkirk's (1982) view that sonorants (e.g., the /l/ of vult) cohere with preceding short vowels and are part of the vowel nucleus. In contrast, the /t/ of vust is part of the syllable's coda st and so is harder to isolate. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the time required for one to detect single-member codas following vowel digraphs (e.g., the t in veet) was similar to the time to detect the same target letter following a postvocalic sonorant (e.g., the t in vult). No evidence was found for onsets. The results provide support for a phonological organization among letters of printed rimes.     

Power and perspectives not taken

Four experiments and a correlational study explored the relationship between power and perspective taking. In Experiment 1, participants primed with high power were more likely than those primed with low power to draw an E on their forehead in a self-oriented direction, demonstrating less of an inclination to spontaneously adopt another person's visual perspective. In Experiments 2a and 2b, high-power participants were less likely than low-power participants to take into account that other people did not possess their privileged knowledge, a result suggesting that power leads individuals to anchor too heavily on their own vantage point, insufficiently adjusting to others' perspectives. In Experiment 3, high-power participants were less accurate than control participants in determining other people's emotion expressions; these results suggest a power-induced impediment to experiencing empathy. An additional study found a negative relationship between individual difference measures of power and perspective taking. Across these studies, power was associated with a reduced tendency to comprehend how other people see, think, and feel.     

Development and validation of a Client Problem Profile and Index for drug treatment

The development of the Client Problem Profile and Index are described, and initial concurrent and predictive validity data are presented for a sample of 547 patients in outpatient methadone treatment. Derived from the TCU Brief Intake for drug treatment admissions, the profile covers 14 problem areas related to drug use (particularly cocaine, heroin/opiate, marijuana, other illegal drugs, and multiple drug use), HIV risks, psychosocial-functioning, health, employment, and criminality. Analyses of predictive validity show the profile and its index (number of problem areas) were significantly related to therapeutic engagement, during-treatment performance, and posttreatment follow-up outcomes. Low moderate to high moderate effect sizes were observed in analyses of the index's discrimination.     

Sleep disturbances associated with age and HIV

Sleep disturbances are common in normal people of several age groups and those with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disease. In a secondary analysis of data, 50 HIV-positive and 50 HIV-negative adults between 30 and 65 years old responded to 5 items about sleep. No statistically significant differences by HIV status or age group were found.     

Lasting increases in basolateral amygdala activity after emotional arousal: implications for facilitated consolidation of emotional memories

Manipulations that reduce or enhance the activity of basolateral amygdala (BLA) neurons in the minutes to hours after training have been shown to respectively impair or facilitate retention on the inhibitory avoidance task. Although this suggests that BLA activity is altered after emotional arousal, such changes have not been directly demonstrated. To test this, we devised a feline analog of the inhibitory avoidance task and recorded BLA unit activity before and after a single inescapable footshock. Single-unit recordings revealed that the firing rate of many BLA neurons gradually increased after the footshock, peaking 30-50 min post-shock and then subsiding to baseline levels 2 h later. During this period of increased activity, the discharges of simultaneously recorded BLA cells were more synchronized than before the shock. Although it was known that pairing innocuous (conditioned stimulus, CS) and noxious stimuli modifies the responsiveness of BLA neurons to the CS, our results constitute the first demonstration that emotional arousal produces lasting increases in the spontaneous firing rates of BLA neurons. We propose that these changes in BLA activity may promote Hebbian interactions between coincident but spatially distributed activity patterns in BLA targets, facilitating the consolidation of emotional memories.