A computational account of altered error processing in older age: Dopamine and the error-related negativity

When participants commit errors or receive feedback signaling that they have made an error, a negative brain potential is elicited. According to Holroyd and Coles’s (in press) neurocomputational model of error processing, this error-related negativity (ERN) is elicited when the brain first detects that the consequences of an action are worse than expected. To study age-related changes in error processing, we obtained performance and ERN measures of younger and high-functioning older adults. Experiment 1 demonstrated reduced ERN amplitudes in older adults in the context of otherwise intact brain potentials. This result could not be attributed to uncertainty about the required response in older adults. Experiment 2 revealed impaired performance and reduced response- and feedback-related ERNs of older adults in a probabilistic learning task. These age changes could be simulated by manipulation of a single parameter of the neurocomputational model, this manipulation corresponding to weakened phasic activity of the mesencephalic dopamine system.     

The categorical perception of colors and facial expressions: The effect of verbal interference

A series of five experiments examined the categorical perception previously found for color and facial expressions. Using a two-alternative forced-choice recognition memory paradigm, it was found that verbal interference selectively removed the defining feature of categorical perception. Under verbal interference, there was no longer the greater accuracy normally observed for cross-category judgments relative to within-category judgments. The advantage for cross-category comparisons in memory appeared to derive from verbal coding both at encoding and at storage. It thus appears that while both visual and verbal codes may be employed in the recognition memory for colors and facial expressions, subjects only made use of verbal coding when demonstrating categorical perception.     

The development of color categories in two languages: a longitudinal study

This study unites investigations into the linguistic relativity of color categories with research on children's category acquisition. Naming, comprehension, and memory for colors were tracked in 2 populations over a 3-year period. Children from a seminomadic equatorial African culture, whose language contains 5 color terms, were compared with a group of English children. Despite differences in visual environment, language, and education, they showed similar patterns of term acquisition. Both groups acquired color vocabulary slowly and with great individual variation. Those knowing no color terms made recognition errors based on perceptual distance, and the influence of naming on memory increased with age. An initial perceptually driven color continuum appears to be progressively organized into sets appropriate to each culture and language.     

Speech style and occupational status affect assessments of eyewitness testimony

This study examined how speech style and occupational status affect mock jurors' assessments of eyewitness testimony. Mock jurors (n = 120) watched a video of a man testifying about witnessing an attempted robbery. The eyewitness exhibited either a powerless or powerful speech style and reported either a high or low (or no) status occupation during his testimony. Results indicated that high occupation status and powerful speech style led to more favorable evaluations of the eyewitness's testimony and of the case against the defendant than powerless speech style and low/no occupation status. Implications of these results on considerations of eyewitness testimony and future research are discussed.     

Projective Techniques and Resistance to Change in Psychotherapy as Viewed Through a Communications Model

The intercorrelation matrix between the scales of the California Psychological Inventory, given in the manual, was factor analyzed. Three factors were extracted and rotated by varimax. The matrix was rescaled, first normalizing the rows, then standardizing the columns to a mean sum of squares of one. Unity was used as a cut-off point for determination of salient loadings. The first two factors were similar to the results reported in a previous Study by Nichols and Schnell. The third factor was interpreted as an independence-dependence dimension.     

A Further Study of the Validity of Human Form Drawings In Personality Evaluation

Three studies describe the development, psychometric properties, and potential utility of a new self-report measure, the Circumplex Scales of Interpersonal Values (CSIV). The CSIV was designed to complement other interpersonal circumplex measures that assess interpersonal behavior by efficiently assessing a comprehensive set of agentic and communal values. The eight 8-item scales of the CSIV were shown to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability and a circumplex structure. The CSIV showed convergent and discriminant validity with measures of interpersonal traits (the Bem Sex Role Inventory; Bem, 1974), interpersonal problems (the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex; Horowitz, 2000), implicit interpersonal motives (the Thematic Apperception Test; see Atkinson, 1958), and interpersonal goals (the Interpersonal Goals Inventory; Dryer &; Horowitz, 1997). Finally, the locations of the MCMI-III (Millon, 1994) personality disorder scales on the CSIV circumplex generally mirrored the locations of personality disorders on other interpersonal circumplex measures.     

High temporal discounters overvalue immediate rewards rather than undervalue future rewards: An event-related brain potential study

Impulsivity is characterized in part by heightened sensitivity to immediate relative to future rewards. Although previous research has suggested that “high discounters” in intertemporal choice tasks tend to prefer immediate over future rewards because they devalue the latter, it remains possible that they instead overvalue immediate rewards. To investigate this question, we recorded the reward positivity, a component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) associated with reward processing, with participants engaged in a task in which they received both immediate and future rewards and nonrewards. The participants also completed a temporal discounting task without ERP recording. We found that immediate but not future rewards elicited the reward positivity. High discounters also produced larger reward positivities to immediate rewards than did low discounters, indicating that high discounters relatively overvalued immediate rewards. These findings suggest that high discounters may be more motivated than low discounters to work for monetary rewards, irrespective of the time of arrival of the incentives.     

The Mental Representations of Faces and Houses: Issues Concerning Parts and Wholes

We explore the integration of facial features and house parts to form holistic representations of complete objects. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, we test for evidence of the holistic representation of houses and faces. We do so by testing for a complete over part probe advantage (CPA) in 2AFC recognition and matching tasks. We present evidence consistent with holistic features being represented for both types of stimuli. In Experiments 4 and 5, we examine further theeffect with faces. Experiment 4 shows thatfacial features used in the matching task contribute differentially to CPAs across varying probe delays but with a similar pattern to that found in the recognition task (Experiment 1). Experiment5 shows thatCPAs are mandatory and cannot be removed by precueing with the probe type or the name of the feature to be probed.     

Content Analysis of Counselor and Teacher Responses

The findings of this report were based on content analysis of written responses made by experienced and inexperienced counselors, and experienced and inexperienced teachers. Responses of the 4 groups were elicited with an instrument containing 4 open-end questions, administered after viewing a film. The written responses were coded in 8 categories. An estimate of reliability was determined for the coding in 5 of the categories and found to be uniformly high. Ratios were computed for the written responses of each respondent in the eight categories. The data were treated to determine the significance of differences between the four groups. Counselors were found to use a style that is ambiguous and characterized by more sophisticated vocabulary.     

The Use of Humor When Counseling African American College Students

According to the literature, humor is a critical tool to enhance the counseling process because it can reduce stress, build rapport, and aid in the increase of the client's self‐efficacy. In recent years, the critical nature of using humor appropriately from a cultural perspective has been explored. In this article, the authors further explore the cultural foundations, purpose, effectiveness, and implications of using humor when counseling African American college students.