Adolescent Personality: Associations With Basal,Awakening, and Stress‐Induced Cortisol Responses

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the associations between personality facets and hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis functioning. Previous studies have mainly focussed on stress‐induced HPA‐axis activation. We hypothesized that other characteristics of HPA‐axis functioning would have a stronger association with personality based on the neuroendocrine literature. Data (n = 343) were used from the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a large prospective cohort study of Dutch adolescents. We studied the association between facets of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness and basal cortisol, the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and four measures of stress‐induced HPA‐axis activity. Basal cortisol levels were related to facets of all three personality traits. The CAR and stress‐induced cortisol were not related to personality. Possibly due to its more trait‐like nature, basal cortisol seems more informative than stress‐induced cortisol when investigating trait‐like characteristics such as personality facets.     

GROUPING BY PROXIMITY AND MULTISTABILITY IN DOT LATTICES:

Abstract— Gestalt phenomena have long resisted quantification. In the spirit of Gestalt field theory, we propose a theory that predicts the probability of grouping by proximity in the six kinds of dot lattices (hexagonal, rhombic, square, rectangular, centered rectangular, and oblique). We claim that the unstable perceptual organization of dot lattices is caused by competing forces that attract each dot to other dots in its neighborhood. We model the decline of these forces as a function of distance with an exponential decay function. This attraction function has one parameter, the attraction constant Simple assumptions allow us to predict the entropy of the perceptual organization of different dot lattices. We showed dot lattices tachistoscopically to 7 subjects, and from the probabilities of the perceived organisations, we calculated the entropy of each lattice for each subject. The model fit the data exceedingly well. The attraction constant did not vary much over subjects     

Uncommitted men match their risk taking to female preferences,while committed men do the opposite

Previous research shows that men are more risk prone than women; single men take more risks than men involved in a romantic relationship; and men increase their level of risk taking in the presence of observers. We extend the existing literature with two studies. Our first study demonstrates that romantically involved men take less risk in the presence of women to the extent that they are more committed to their current partner. No such effect occurs in the presence of males. Our second study is an experiment revealing that men's beliefs about women's attitudes about risk taking causally influence men's level of risk taking. We developed a new measure of risk-taking—the Marble Risk Task, reminiscent of the computerized Balloon Analogue Risk Task (Lejuez et al., 2002), but designed to measure risk-taking outside of the laboratory and with real financial stakes—to show that single men adjust their level of risk taking to match what they believe women find attractive. Men involved in a relationship did the opposite: they adjust their behavior to not match what they believe women consider attractive—possibly with the goal of relationship maintenance.     

Goal relevance moderates evaluative conditioning effects

An important process by which preferences emerge is evaluative conditioning, defined as a change in the evaluation of a stimulus by pairing it repeatedly and consistently with an affective stimulus. The current research focuses on the role of motivation in this learning process. Specifically, it was investigated whether a conditioning procedure that is relevant to an individual's current goals is more effective than an irrelevant procedure. To this end, beverages were conditioned with either disgusted faces (relevant) or fearful faces (irrelevant). The results showed that thirsty(rather than non-thirsty) participants’ choice and evaluation of beverages were influenced by pairing beverages with disgust but not with fear. As similar results were obtained under optimal and suboptimal presentation of the conditioned stimuli, it is suggested that goals can affect automatic, associative learning, adding to the emerging body of research demonstrating that goals unconsciously affect evaluative processes.     

Evolved cognitive biases and the epistemic status of scientific beliefs

Our ability for scientific reasoning is a byproduct of cognitive faculties that evolved in response to problems related to survival and reproduction. Does this observation increase the epistemic standing of science, or should we treat scientific knowledge with suspicion? The conclusions one draws from applying evolutionary theory to scientific beliefs depend to an important extent on the validity of evolutionary arguments (EAs) or evolutionary debunking arguments (EDAs). In this paper we show through an analytical model that cultural transmission of scientific knowledge can lead toward representations that are more truth-approximating or more efficient at solving science-related problems under a broad range of circumstances, even under conditions where human cognitive faculties would be further off the mark than they actually are.     

Sahlqvist Correspondence for Modal mu-calculus

We define analogues of modal Sahlqvist formulas for the modal mu-calculus, and prove a correspondence theorem for them.     

Incidental regulation of attraction: the neural basis of the derogation of attractive alternatives in romantic relationships

Although a great deal of research addresses the neural basis of deliberate and intentional emotion-regulation strategies, less attention has been paid to the neural mechanisms involved in implicit forms of emotion regulation. Behavioural research suggests that romantically involved participants implicitly derogate the attractiveness of alternative partners, and the present study sought to examine the neural basis of this effect. Romantically committed participants in the present study were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while indicating whether they would consider each of a series of attractive (or unattractive) opposite-sex others as a hypothetical dating partner both while under cognitive load and no cognitive load. Successful derogation of attractive others during the no cognitive load compared to the cognitive load trials corresponded with increased activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and posterior dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (pDMPFC), and decreased activation in the ventral striatum, a pattern similar to those reported in deliberate emotion-regulation studies. Activation in the VLPFC and pDMPFC was not significant in the cognitive load condition, indicating that while the derogation effect may be implicit, it nonetheless requires cognitive resources. Additionally, activation in the right VLPFC correlated with participants' level of relationship investment. These findings suggest that the RVLPFC may play a particularly important role in implicitly regulating the emotions that threaten the stability of a romantic relationship.     

Maternal and paternal infant representations: A comparison between parents of term and preterm infants

Objective

Research on parental attachment representations after preterm birth is limited and inconclusive. The present study is the first in which maternal and paternal attachment representations after term, moderately and very preterm birth are compared. In addition, special attention was directed toward disrupted attachment representations.

Method

Mothers and fathers of term infants (≥37 weeks of gestational age, n = 71), moderately preterm infants (≥32–37 weeks of gestational age, n = 62) and very preterm infants (<32 weeks of gestational age, n = 56) participated in the present study. Attachment representations (balanced, disengaged, distorted) about their infants were evaluated with the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI). To asses disrupted representations the coding of the WMCI was extended with the disrupted scale (WMCI-D).

Results

The three main classifications of attachment representations were not affected by preterm birth. In addition, there were no gender differences in the rate of balanced representations. In case of non-balanced representations however, maternal representations were more often distorted, whereas fathers showed more often disengaged representations. Results further revealed that maternal disrupted attachment representations were marked by role/boundary confusion or disorientation, whereas paternal disrupted attachment representations were characterized by withdrawal.

Conclusion

Given the gender differences it is essential to tailor interventions according to the attachment representations of the parent, in order to be able to alter their non-balanced and/or disrupted attachment representations.