Visual selective attention is equally functional for individuals with low and high working memory capacity: Evidence from accuracy and eye movements

Selective attention and working memory capacity (WMC) are related constructs, but debate about the manner in which they are related remains active. One elegant explanation of variance in WMC is that the efficiency of filtering irrelevant information is the crucial determining factor, rather than differences in capacity per se. We examined this hypothesis by relating WMC (as measured by complex span tasks) to accuracy and eye movements during visual change detection tasks with different degrees of attentional filtering and allocation requirements. Our results did not indicate strong filtering differences between high- and low-WMC groups, and where differences were observed, they were counter to those predicted by the strongest attentional filtering hypothesis. Bayes factors indicated evidence favoring positive or null relationships between WMC and correct responses to unemphasized information, as well as between WMC and the time spent looking at unemphasized information. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that individual differences in storage capacity, not only filtering efficiency, underlie individual differences in working memory.     

Speaking two languages at once: Unconscious native word form access in second language production

Bilingualism research has established language non-selective lexical access in comprehension. However, the evidence for such an effect in production remains sparse and its neural time-course has not yet been investigated. We demonstrate that German-English bilinguals performing a simple picture-naming task exclusively in English spontaneously access the phonological form of –unproduced– German words. Participants were asked to produce English adjective-noun sequences describing the colour and identity of familiar objects presented as line drawings. We associated adjective and picture names such that their onsets phonologically overlapped in English (e.g., green goat), in German through translation (e.g., blue flower – ‘blaue Blume’), or in neither language. As expected, phonological priming in English modulated event-related brain potentials over the frontocentral scalp region from around 440 ms after picture onset. Phonological priming in German was detectable even earlier, from 300 ms, even though German was never produced and in the absence of an interaction between language and phonological repetition priming at any point in time. Overall, these results establish the existence of non-selective access to phonological representations of the two languages in the domain of speech production.     

Number words and reference to numbers

A realist view of numbers often rests on the following thesis: statements like ‘The number of moons of Jupiter is four’ are identity statements in which the copula is flanked by singular terms whose semantic function consists in referring to a number (henceforth: Identity). On the basis of Identity the realists argue that the assertive use of such statements commits us to numbers. Recently, some anti-realists have disputed this argument. According to them, Identity is false, and, thus, we may deny that the relevant statements commit us to numbers. The present paper argues that the correct linguistic analysis of the relevant number statements supports the anti-realist view that Identity is false. However, as will further be shown, pace the anti-realist, this analysis does not establish that such statements do not commit us to numbers after all.     

Transforming Disorganized Attachment Through Mentalization-Based Treatment

A disorganized attachment pattern is found among several mental disorders, most notably among severe personality disorders (PD). It is characterized by profound mentalizing deficits, which makes relations to self and others highly problematic. There is no evidence of any preferred mode of psychotherapy to heal this condition. In this article we describe the successful treatment of a female (28) with schizotypal and avoidant PD with additional borderline features as well as substance use dependency. She participated in the mentalization-based treatment project of the Bergen Clinic Foundation, Norway. We discuss the therapeutic strategies and interventions that most probably mediated the change for this patient, highlighting the mentalizing stance, working in the transference, managing countertransference and repairing alliance ruptures.     

Sinnorientierte Interventionen in der Psychoonkologie

Patients with advanced cancer often suffer from existential distress. Although a variety of effective psychotherapeutic interventions for the treatment of psychological distress in cancer patients are available, concerns such as hope and meaning of life are only occasionally at the center of therapeutic attention. During recent years growing efforts have been made to develop and evaluate meaning-based interventions for cancer patients, particularly in the Anglo-American research literature. Meaning-based interventions are often realized as group therapy approaches to reduce emotional and spiritual distress and to promote hope, courage and control, to mobilize internal resources and to discuss future goals despite a noticeable limited life expectancy. Further aims include strengthening a patient??s self-esteem and sense of dignity, to appreciate strengths and past achievements, to reduce feelings of isolation, to strengthen the relationship with the partner and family members and to improve communication with the professional healthcare team.     

Psychosoziale Versorgung von Krebspatienten

Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine rates of psychooncological care for cancer inpatients and outpatients under routine conditions in a large University hospital. The percentage of patients who received care was analyzed and compared with self-rated and expert rated supportive care needs.

Methods

The percentage of inpatients who received psychooncological care was calculated by comparing the number of cancer patients treated at the hospital as documented by the local tumor registry (n=1,979) with the number of patients treated by a psychooncologist in that hospital as documented by the hospital??s psychooncological consultation liaison service. The percentage of outpatients who received psychooncological care was calculated by comparing the number of incident cancer cases as documented by the local tumor registry (n=5,886) with the number of patients who received at least one consultation at the local tumor counseling centre. Supportive care needs were estimated by analyzing data of a prospective patient survey in the same hospital (n=1,803) using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and single items to determine social burden and the wish for emotional support.

Results

The results showed that 11% of inpatients and outpatients (n=234 and n=638, respectively) received psychooncological care. Social care needs were prevalent in 37% and psychological care needs in 52% of the patients during the stay in hospital and in 42% (social and psychological) 6 months later. Of the patients 41% expressed the need to see a social worker and 29% to see a psychologist. Large differences were found between patients with different tumor entities.

Conclusion

Psychooncological care delivered to cancer patients under routine conditions was below the actual rate required as estimated by screening instruments and as expressed by the patients.     

Social Identity and Intergroup Conflict

This paper explores why people identify with social groups and what this identification signifies for their sense of self, status in society and intergroup conflict. We describe various theories of social identity to elucidate ways in which individuals can negotiate their different social identities, and what this means for intergroup relations. We consider the implications for both majority and minority group members, and those from high and low status groups. We show that social identification is an essential part of an individual’s social existence, and that such identification is inextricably related to intergroup conflict. While overarching common identities have been hailed as a possible panacea for conflict, we demonstrate that such identities have differential effects for minority and majority group members. There is a serious tension between the assimilationist preference that the majority wishes for minority members to adopt, and the integrationist position that the minority group themselves prefer. We conclude with a call to focus research efforts on how to balance the needs of the many and the few in pluralist and unequal societies.     

Career transitions and career success in the ‘new’ career era

The ‘new’ career, most notably the boundaryless career, is associated with high career mobility, which is in turn associated with employability and career success of individuals. The current study examined how frequency, form (organisational, horizontal or vertical) and impact (objective career success) of career transitions have changed across two cohorts of Austrian business graduates (1970 and 1990) throughout the first 15 years of their careers (n = 291). Data for the study were collected by way of standardised questionnaires; participants' career transitions (n = 807) were plotted based on curriculum-vitae type lists of their successive jobs. This research examined two assumptions: (1) that careers have become more turbulent and complex and (2) that this is generally a positive evolution for individuals. Results indicate that overly dramatic claims about the ‘death’ of the traditional-organisational career need to be reconsidered.     

At the mercy of prior entry: Prior entry induced by invisible primes is not susceptible to current intentions

If one of two events is attended to, it will be perceived earlier than a simultaneously occurring unattended event. Since 150 years, this effect has been ascribed to the facilitating influence of attention, also known as prior entry. Yet, the attentional origin of prior-entry effects(1) has been repeatedly doubted. One criticism is that prior-entry effects might be due to biased decision processes that would mimic a temporal advantage for attended stimuli. Although most obvious biases have already been excluded experimentally (e.g. judgment criteria, response compatibility) and prior-entry effects have shown to persist (Shore, Spence, & Klein, 2001), many other biases are conceivable, which makes it difficult to put the debate to an end. Thus, we approach this problem the other way around by asking whether prior-entry effects can be biased voluntarily. Observers were informed about prior entry and instructed to reduce it as far as possible. For this aim they received continuous feedback about the correctness of their temporal judgments. If elicited by invisible primes the effect could not be reduced at all and only by 12 ms if elicited by visible cues. This challenges decision biases as primary source of prior-entry effects - at least if attention is oriented exogenously.     

Perception of relative depth interval: systematic biases in perceived depth

Given an estimate of the binocular disparity between a pair of points and an estimate of the viewing distance, or knowledge of eye position, it should be possible to obtain an estimate of their depth separation. Here we show that, when points are arranged in different vertical geometric configurations across two intervals, many observers find this task difficult. Those who can do the task tend to perceive the depth interval in one configuration as very different from depth in the other configuration. We explore two plausible explanations for this effect. The first is the tilt of the empirical vertical horopter: Points perceived along an apparently vertical line correspond to a physical line of points tilted backwards in space. Second, the eyes can rotate in response to a particular stimulus. Without compensation for this rotation, biases in depth perception would result. We measured cyclovergence indirectly, using a standard psychophysical task, while observers viewed our depth configuration. Biases predicted from error due either to cyclovergence or to the tilted vertical horopter were not consistent with the depth configuration results. Our data suggest that, even for the simplest scenes, we do not have ready access to metric depth from binocular disparity.