Response rates track the history of reinforcement times

When conditioning involves a consistent temporal relationship between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US), the expression of conditioned responses within a trial peaks at the usual time of the US relative to the CS. Here we examine the temporal profile of responses during conditioning with variable CS-US intervals. We conditioned stimuli with either uniformly distributed or exponentially distributed random CS-US intervals. In the former case, the frequency of each CS-US interval within a specified range is uniform but the momentary probability of the US (the hazard function) increases as time elapses during the trial; with the latter distribution, short CS-US intervals are more frequent than longer intervals, but the momentary probability of the US is constant across time within the trial. We report that, in a magazine approach paradigm, rats' response rates remained stable as time elapses during the CS when the CS-US intervals were uniformly distributed, whereas their response rates declined when the CS-US intervals were exponentially distributed. In other words, the profile of responding during the CS matched the frequency distribution of the US times, not the momentary probability of the US during the CS. These results are inconsistent with real-time associative models, which predict that associative strength tracks the momentary probability of the US, but may provide support for timing models of conditioning in which conditioned responding is tied to remembered times of reinforcement.     

Convergence and Non-convergence in the Quality of Adolescent Relationships and its Association with Adolescent Adjustment and Young Adult Relationship Quality

With the aim of identifying and examining both converging (matched relationship quality across one's set of relationships) and non-converging (mixed relationship quality across one's set of relationships), the present study used a pattern-centered approach to examine the different ways adolescent relationships pattern together among a large, national sample of U.S adolescents (aged 13-19). The study also examined how adolescent adjustment and young adult relationship quality varied across the different relationship patterns or constellations. The current study used latent class analysis and data from Add Health (n = 4,233), a national U.S. longitudinal study that spans adolescence and young adulthood, to uncover heterogeneity in adolescent relations with parents, friends, romantic partners, peers, and teachers. As predicted, patterns of both convergence and non-convergence were found, though patterns of non-convergence were more common than expected. Some patterns of non-convergence appear more stable (i.e., similar pattern found during both adolescence and young adulthood) than others. Also, no "high" converging pattern was found, indicating that few adolescents have "first-rate" relations in every relational domain.     

Cross-situational consistency in recognition memory response bias

Individuals taking an old–new recognition memory test differ widely in their bias to respond “old,” ranging from strongly conservative to strongly liberal, even without any manipulation intended to affect bias. Kantner and Lindsay (2012) found stability of bias across study–test cycles, suggesting that bias is a cognitive trait. That consistency, however, could have arisen because participants perceived the two tests as being part of the same experiment in the same context. In the present study, we tested for stability across two recognition study–test procedures embedded in markedly different experiments, held weeks apart, that participants did not know were connected. Bias showed substantial cross-situational stability. Moreover, bias weakly predicted identifications on an eyewitness memory task and accuracy on a go–no-go task. Although we found little in the way of relationships between bias and five personality measures, these findings suggest that response bias is a stable and broadly influential characteristic of recognizers.     

Profiles of Emotion Socialization Across Development and Longitudinal Associations with Youth Psychopathology

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Although there is relative consensus in the literature regarding associations between certain emotion socialization (ES) strategies and youth...     

Development and Initial Validation of the Perceived Power Imbalance Scale

Relationship power, which refers to the ability to influence one’s romantic partner, is an important organizing principle in the assessment and treatment of couples. Power imbalance is predictive of various dimensions of marital quality, which explains why it is often a central focus of couple therapy. Despite the importance of relationship power in couple therapy, assessing power in clinical settings has been hindered by the lack of a validated measure of power that has high clinical utility. Data from 640 married couples associated with the Flourishing Families Project were used to develop the Perceived Power Imbalance Scale by conducting exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, dyadic predictive validity analysis, and measurement equivalence analysis. Although power has been conceptualized as consisting of both outcome power and process power, results indicated that the final scale consisted of four items that only tapped aspects of process power. The scale demonstrated good reliability and was a significant predictor of marital quality, marital instability, and depression.

     

The Impact of Brief Interventions on Functioning Among those Demonstrating Anxiety,Depressive, and Adjustment Disorder Symptoms in Primary Care: The Effectiveness of the Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) Model

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - Limited scalability combined with limited opportunities for patients to receive evidence-based interventions in traditional behavioral health...     

Demands,Resources, Well-Being and Strain: Meta-Analyzing Moderator Effects of Workforce Racial Composition

Racial diversity in the U.S. workforce is increasing, and many organizations are more racially diverse than ever before. Racial minority employees experience the ecosystem of work demands and resources differently to white employees; including perceiving higher demands, lower control and support, greater stress and psychological strain, and less well-being. However, there remains little research on how relationships between these work characteristics and well-being and strain, and interrelationships differ across more racially diverse versus homogeneous (e.g., predominantly white) workplaces. This limits understanding of optimal job redesign practices as workplaces continue to become more racially diverse. Through the lens of the job demands, control, support (JDC[S]), and the job demands-resources (JD-R) frameworks, we build on previous meta-analyses by examining workplace racial composition as a moderator of demand-resource relationships with well-being and strain, and interrelationships, in 63 studies of U.S. workers (N_{(Individuals)} = 93,974). Our findings show several moderation effects. For example, as the proportion of racial minority employees increases, the positive control and well-being relationship increases, and the positive relationship between supervisor support and well-being decreases. Further, as the proportion of African-American employees (versus white and all other racial subgroups) increases, the positive control and supervisor support relationship decreases, as does the positive coworker support and well-being relationship. Our results offer new insights into the role of workplace racial composition on how work is experienced, and job design recommendations in a time of increasing workplace racial diversity.