Conceptual and perceptual processes in prospective remembering: differential influence of attentional resources

Does prospective remembering rely on strategic, attentionally demanding processes? We report three experiments suggesting that the extent to which attentional processes are required varies according to the character of ongoing task processing. Study-test changes in the semantic context of targets had a negative effect on prospective memory performance when participants were engaged in a conceptually focused (sentence verification) task (Experiment 1). Similarly, prospective remembering was lower following study-test changes in perceptual format (font) in the context of a perceptually focused (readability rating) ongoing task (Experiment 2). However, although dividing attention at retrieval had a negative effect during the performance of an ongoing conceptual task (Experiments 1 and 3), it had no effect during an ongoing perceptual task (Experiments 2 and 3). Thus, both perceptual and conceptual process are implicated in prospective remembering, but the processing focus of the task in which remembering should occur may mediate the requirement for strategic processes. These findings suggest that more than one retrieval route is available for prospective remembering and that selection of the route depends on the nature of the task and the processing that occurs at encoding and retrieval.     

The representation of delayed intentions: a prospective subject-performed task?

To-be-enacted material is more accessible in tests of recognition and lexical decision than material not intended for action (T. Goschke & J. Kuhl, 1993; R. L. Marsh, J. L. Hicks, & M. L. Bink, 1998). This finding has been attributed to the superior status of intention-related information. The current article explores an alternative (action-superiority) account that draws parallels between the intended enactment effect (IEE) and the subject performed task effect. Using 2 paradigms, the authors observed faster recognition latencies for both enacted and to-be-enacted material. It is crucial to note that there was no evidence of an IEE for items that had already been executed during encoding. The IEE was also eliminated when motor processing was prevented after verbal encoding. These findings suggest an overlap between overt and intended enactment and indicate that motor information may be activated for verbal material in preparation for subsequent execution.     

Stay calm! Regulating emotional responses by implementation intentions: Assessing the impact on physiological and subjective arousal

Implementation intention (IMP) has recently been highlighted as an effective emotion regulatory strategy. Most studies examining the effectiveness of IMPs to regulate emotion have relied on self-report measures of emotional change. In two studies we employed electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate (HR) in addition to arousal ratings (AR) to assess the impact of an IMP on emotional responses. In Study 1, 60 participants viewed neutral and two types of negative pictures (weapon vs. non-weapon) under the IMP “If I see a weapon, then I will stay calm and relaxed!” or no self-regulatory instructions (Control). In Study 2, additionally to the Control and IMP conditions, participants completed the picture rating task either under goal intention (GI) to stay calm and relaxed or warning instructions highlighting that some pictures contain weapons. In both studies, participants showed lower EDA, reduced HR deceleration and lower AR to the weapon pictures compared to the non-weapon pictures. In Study 2, the IMP was associated with lower EDA compared to the GI condition for the weapon pictures, but not compared to the weapon pictures in the Warning condition. ARs were lower for IMP compared to GI and Warning conditions for the weapon pictures.     

Laterality, hand preference, and human spatial ability.

6 left-handed females scored significantly below 60 right-handed females on a test of spatial visualization (p less than .005). 13 left-handed males showed a higher mean score than 33 right-handed males on the spatial test, although this difference was not statistically significant. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the left cerebral hemisphere is of greater relative importance to spatial functioning in females than males.     

EVOLUTION AND SPECIAL CREATION

Abstract. The logical relationships between the ideas of evolution and of special creation are explored here in the context of a recent paper by Alvin Plantinga claiming that from the perspective of biblical religion it is more likely than not that God acted in a "special" way at certain crucial moments in the long process whereby life developed on earth. I argue against this thesis, asking first under what circumstances the Bible might be thought relevant to an issue of broadly scientific concern. I go on to outline some of the arguments supporting the thesis of common ancestry, and argue finally that from the theistic perspective, special creation ought to be regarded as, if anything, less rather than more likely than its evolutionary alternative.     

The Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test: Implications for the diagnosis and prediction of reading achievement

The Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (BG) is a commonly used measure of visual-motor performance and is often used as part of the predictive or diagnostic reading battery. This article reviews 32 published research studies in three areas: the utility of the BG as a predictor of reading; the relationship between the BG and reading achievement measured concurrently; the ability of the BG to differentiate between good and poor readers. The research reviewed suggests that the continued use of the BG (scored using discrete error systems) as part of the predictive or diagnostic reading battery is not warranted.     

Vulnerability to depression is associated with a failure to acquire implicit social appraisals

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with disrupted relationships with partners, family, and peers. These problems can precipitate the onset of clinical illness, influence severity and the prospects for recovery. Here, we investigated whether individuals who have recovered from depression use interpersonal signals to form favourable appraisals of others as social partners. Twenty recovered-depressed adults (with >1 adult episode of MDD but euthymic and medication-free for six months) and 23 healthy, never-depressed adults completed a task in which the gaze direction of some faces reliably cued the location a target (valid faces), whereas other faces cued the opposite location (invalid faces). No participants reported awareness of this contingency, and both groups were significantly faster to categorise targets following valid compared with invalid gaze cueing faces. Following this task, participants judged the trustworthiness of the faces. Whereas the healthy never-depressed participants judged the valid faces to be significantly more trustworthy than the invalid faces; this implicit social appraisal was absent in the recovered-depressed participants. Individuals who have recovered from MDD are able to respond appropriately to joint attention with other people but appear to not use joint attention to form implicit trust appraisals of others as potential social partners.     

The characteristics of non-criminals with high psychopathy traits: Are they similar to criminal psychopaths?

This study compared the findings from a sample of non-criminals with high and low psychopathy levels to published findings with criminal psychopaths and non-psychopaths. Congruent to findings with criminal psychopaths, participants with high psychopathy traits (High-P) compared to those with low psychopathy traits (Low-P) performed significantly worse on the Iowa Gambling Task, a task sensitive to orbital frontal cortex dysfunction. Moreover, the High-P group also evidenced a lack of empathy, a hallmark feature of psychopathy. These findings could not be explained by differences in estimated IQ or performance on a task sensitive to an executive functioning deficit. The discussion focuses on possible differences between non-criminal and criminal psychopaths, concluding criminal psychopaths manifest more extreme degrees of the interpersonal-affective and antisocial features of psychopathy.     

Sense of Coherence and Posttraumatic Growth: The Moderating Role of Value Orientation in Chinese and Swiss Bereaved Parents

Sense of Coherence–Revised (SOC-R) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) can be understood as two metaheuristics that are closely linked to resilience and adaption to adversity. This study investigated the association between SOC-R and PTG, as well as the moderating role of value orientations, in a sample of 67 Chinese and Swiss parents who lost their child. Results showed that, cross-culturally, the value of conservation was negatively associated with PTG, and self-transcendence showed a significant moderation effect to enhance the positive relationship between SOC-R and PTG. Implications for clinical practice to facilitate growth by focusing on SOC-R and value orientations were discussed.