A central circuit of the mind

The methodologies of cognitive architectures and functional magnetic resonance imaging can mutually inform each other. For example, four modules of the ACT-R (adaptive control of thought - rational) cognitive architecture have been associated with four brain regions that are active in complex tasks. Activity in a lateral inferior prefrontal region reflects retrieval of information in a declarative module; activity in a posterior parietal region reflects changes to problem representations in an imaginal module; activity in the anterior cingulate cortex reflects the updates of control information in a goal module; and activity in the caudate nucleus reflects execution of productions in a procedural module. Differential patterns of activation in such central regions can reveal the time course of different components of complex cognition.     

Relationship between quantity and frequency of alcohol use and indices of suicidal behavior in an elderly Australian sample

Relatively little research has been conducted on the relationship between alcohol misuse and suicidal behavior among the elderly. The current study's aim was to examine whether quantity and frequency of alcohol use and the interaction between these variables are related to current suicidal ideation, previous suicidal ideation/intent, and past suicide attempts in a community sample of 1,010 Australian adults over age 60. Results partially supported our hypotheses. The interaction between quantity and frequency of alcohol use was significant, suggesting that those who use alcohol less frequently but in greater quantities (i.e., binge drinking) are more likely to have a history of suicide attempts.     

Neuropsychological functioning in kleptomania

Kleptomania is characterized by the failure to resist impulses to steal objects not needed for personal use or their monetary value. The objective of this study was to examine cognitive and executive functioning in subjects with kleptomania. Fifteen women with a primary DSM-IV diagnosis of kleptomania underwent a detailed psychiatric examination, including measures of kleptomania severity, and a battery of neuropsychological tests that emphasized executive functions. Correlational analyses were computed between measures of kleptomania severity and tests of executive functioning. Kleptomania subjects reported a mean duration of illness of 17.9 years and shoplifting a mean of 1.7 times per week. All subjects reported an inability to resist urges to shoplift. Neuropsychological testing revealed group mean test scores within 0.5 standard deviations of normative standards for age. Five subjects (33.3%), however, had below-average performance on at least one measure of executive functioning, and 4 (26.7%) had below-average scores on two executive measures. Correlational analyses revealed a statistically significant correlation between kleptomania severity and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance (r=-0.693, p=0.004). As a group, subjects with kleptomania did not demonstrate deficits on neuropsychological testing. Greater kleptomania symptom severity, however, was correlated with impairment in executive functioning.     

Generalized expectancies for negative mood regulation predict change in anxiety and depression among college students

Negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies, or the beliefs held by individuals that, when faced with various manifestations of stress and negative affect, they can successfully cope with such mood states, have proven to be a most useful construct in the context of better understanding self-regulatory processes. In the present prospective study, we examined the predictive utility of NMR expectancies with respect to its ability to predict residual change in both depressive and anxiety symptoms over an 8-week timeframe in a sample of 322 college students. Initial correlational analyses revealed that, as anticipated, NMR expectancies were negatively correlated with depressive and anxiety symptomatology, as well as with maladaptive coping style. Conversely, NMR expectancies were positively associated with self-reported adaptive coping. A series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, even when controlling for age, sex, baseline levels of affective distress (depression or anxiety), and coping styles, NMR expectancies predicted change in both depressive and anxiety symptomatology. Implications of the findings pertinent to theory building and testing are discussed.     

Does social exclusion motivate interpersonal reconnection? Resolving the "porcupine problem"

Evidence from 6 experiments supports the social reconnection hypothesis, which posits that the experience of social exclusion increases the motivation to forge social bonds with new sources of potential affiliation. Threat of social exclusion led participants to express greater interest in making new friends, to increase their desire to work with others, to form more positive impressions of novel social targets, and to assign greater rewards to new interaction partners. Findings also suggest potential boundary conditions to the social reconnection hypothesis. Excluded individuals did not seem to seek reconnection with the specific perpetrators of exclusion or with novel partners with whom no face-to-face interaction was anticipated. Furthermore, fear of negative evaluation moderated responses to exclusion such that participants low in fear of negative evaluation responded to new interaction partners in an affiliative fashion, whereas participants high in fear of negative evaluation did not.     

An ecological examination of rapport using a dyadic puzzle task

Previous studies have indicated that situational context impacts the rapport experience (e.g., F. J. Bernieri, J. S. Gillis, J. M. Davis, & J. E. Grahe, 1996; N. M. Puccinelli, L. Tickle-Degnen, & R. Rosenthal, 2003). The authors designed the present study to further document the behavioral and experiential predictors of dyadic rapport and to evaluate dyadic rapport experiences when contributions were required from both interactants. Participants (N = 60) were paired into dyads and instructed to complete children's puzzles. However, the dyadic members were restricted in how they could accomplish this task: Only one interactant was allowed to work on the puzzle and had to do so blindfolded, while the second interactant gave instructions. Results suggested that less attribution of responsibility to the worker and the instructor's experience of enjoyment and frustration were indicative of higher rapport. Other characteristics of dyads reporting higher dyadic rapport included difficulty completing the task and more communicative behavior. The results provide important information for the understanding of the dyadic experience of rapport.     

Anxiety: Proximate Processes and Ultimate Functions

Anxiety is a universal feature of human existence. Anxiety is associated with a range of cognitive processes such as attention to threat, appraisals of uncertainty and lack of control, pessimistic judgments, and risk-avoidant decision making. The current paper presents a framework for understanding these processes as a set of domain-specific mechanisms designed to face specific challenges encountered by humans throughout evolutionary history (e.g., avoiding forms of physical harm and contagious disease, maintaining social acceptance and close romantic relationships, and navigating status hierarchies). Anxiety involves a functionally organized constellation of adaptive processes designed to help people face recurrent psychological, social, and physical threats. The integration of psychological and evolutionary perspectives provides a basis for understanding anxiety's proximate processes, as well as its underlying adaptive functions.     

Adaptation to sensory-motor temporal misalignment: instrumental or perceptual learning?

Sensory-motor delays vary over the course of development and under different environmental conditions. Previous research has shown that humans can compensate for the resulting temporal misalignment while performing sensory-motor tasks (e.g., Cunningham, Billock, & Tsou, 2001a), but remains silent on the question of whether perceptual learning-similar to that involved in adaptation to spatial misalignment (e.g., Redding & Wallace, 1993) and in adaptation to purely intersensory misalignment (e.g., Fujisaki, Shimojo, Kashino, & Nishida, 2004)-is also involved in this adaptive response. Following an attempted replication of Cunningham et al.'s (2001a) study in a preliminary experiment, we present in this paper two experiments that demonstrate that after-effects of adaptation to temporal misalignment do not spontaneously decay. The literature on adaptation to spatial misalignment suggests that, while instrumental learning spontaneously decays in the absence of reinforcement, perceptual learning persists. Therefore our results are consistent with adaptation being effected through perceptual learning.     

Transient convergence and relational sensibility: Beyond the modern constitution of nature

The paper builds on the critique of what Latour (1993) terms the ‘modern constitution’ and its configuration of nature as an independent and external entity to human culture and politics. The paper suggests that, firstly, moving beyond the modern constitution to a world of amodern or postnature (Braun, 2004, Hayles, 1999) marks a shift from ontological stability to ontological instability, where ‘nature’ is now constituted by merging and emerging ontologies. In this unstable new world order, the paper argues that postnature should be understood as a transient convergence in a context of flow, union, and divergence. This perspective emphasises the role that emotions play in this relationship, arguing that they are both part and product of the transient convergence of postnature. ‘Humans’ are now constituted in and with the temporary coincidences that form ‘nature’, and the relational sensibility that is produced through this convergence is vital to fully understand the post-natural world. The paper concludes by suggesting that this postnature can provide new premises for protecting the world of which we are a part.