Inconsistent handedness and saccade execution benefit face memory without affecting interhemispheric interaction

Individuals who consistently use their dominant hand for most tasks exhibit poorer memory than individuals whose handedness is relatively inconsistent, but consistent-handers' memory can be enhanced by making repetitive saccadic eye movements before attempting retrieval. One account of these effects is that inconsistent handedness and saccade execution are associated with increased interhemispheric interaction, which putatively facilitates retrieval. We tested this account by having participants classify faces as famous or novel. Faces were presented in the left and right visual fields simultaneously (bilaterally) or in one field only (unilaterally). As in prior studies, famous faces were classified more quickly and more accurately given bilateral presentation, but novel faces were not. These bilateral gain effects indicate that interhemispheric interaction specifically facilitates famous-face recognition, and therefore larger gains may reflect greater interhemispheric interaction. However, neither inconsistent handedness nor saccade execution increased the size of bilateral gain. Inconsistent handedness and saccade execution (the latter for consistent-handers only) did increase face-classification accuracy, but the increases were not specific to famous-face recognition, and, in fact, were somewhat stronger for novel-face identification. These results extend the beneficial mnemonic effects of inconsistent handedness and saccade execution to faces, but indicate that these benefits are not caused by increased interhemispheric interaction.     

Gender as a Moderator for the Relationship Between BAS-Drive and Disordered Eating Behaviors

Individuals with highly active behavioral activation (BAS) motivational systems are at increased risk for disordered eating behaviors (Bijttebier et al. 2009). The current study examined gender differences in the relationship between motivational tendencies and disordered eating behaviors by administering self-report measures to a sample of 352 college undergraduate students from a Midwestern university in the United States. The goal-driven facet of BAS (BAS-Drive) was a stronger predictor of muscle development behaviors for men than for women. In addition, higher levels of BAS-Drive were associated with greater dietary restraint among males, but not among females. Findings from the current study suggest that gender plays an important role in the relationship between BAS-Drive tendencies and eating disorder behaviors.     

High psychopathic trait females exhibit reduced startle potentiation and increased p3 amplitude

While there has been steady progress in identifying psychophysiological traits associated with psychopathy, most of the existing research has been carried out using incarcerated male participants, and data that include females are particularly rare. This study examined both affective startle blink modulation and P3 amplitude in a sample of female undergraduates grouped by scores on the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R). Those scoring high for psychopathic traits lacked startle blink potentiation and demonstrated larger P3 amplitudes during auditory and visual oddball tasks. These data support the generalizability of deficient startle potentiation to non-incarcerated females with psychopathic traits, and add to a growing body of literature suggesting that psychopathic traits are associated with distinctive information-processing characteristics as indexed by P3 amplitude.     

Eye movements of older and younger readers when reading disappearing text

Older and younger readers read sentences in which target words were masked 40 to 60 ms after fixation onset. Masking only the target word caused more disruption than did masking each word in the sentence, and this effect was stronger for the younger readers than for the older readers. Although older readers had longer eye fixations than did younger readers, the results indicated that the masking effect was comparable for the 2 groups. However, for both groups, how long the eyes remained in place was strongly influenced by the frequency of the fixated word (even though it had been rapidly replaced by the mask and was no longer there when the eyes did move). This is compelling evidence that for both older and younger readers, cognitive/lexical processing has a very strong influence on when the eyes move in reading.     

Eye movements and word skipping during reading: effects of word length and predictability

Eye movements were monitored as subjects read sentences containing high- or low-predictable target words. The extent to which target words were predictable from prior context was varied: Half of the target words were predictable, and the other half were unpredictable. In addition, the length of the target word varied: The target words were short (4-6 letters), medium (7-9 letters), or long (10-12 letters). Length and predictability both yielded strong effects on the probability of skipping the target words and on the amount of time readers fixated the target words (when they were not skipped). However, there was no interaction in any of the measures examined for either skipping or fixation time. The results demonstrate that word predictability (due to contextual constraint) and word length have strong and independent influences on word skipping and fixation durations. Furthermore, because the long words extended beyond the word identification span, the data indicate that skipping can occur on the basis of partial information in relation to word identity.     

Emotional intelligence and psychological resilience to negative life events

This study investigated the relative importance of six emotional intelligence (EI) dimensions in the prediction of psychological resilience to multiple negative life events. The strength of relations between life events and distress varied markedly across three latent classes of participants, reflecting vulnerable, average and resilient profiles. Discriminant function analysis indicated that class membership varied as a function of four EI dimensions, with higher scores predicting membership to the resilient class. Across the 414 participants, Emotional Self-Awareness, Emotional Expression, Emotional Self-Control and particularly Emotional Self-Management appeared central to psychological resilience in the aftermath of multiple negative life events.     

Making Sense of the Barriers Women Face in the Information Technology Work Force: Standpoint Theory, Self-disclosure, and Causal Maps

Two theoretical perspectives (i.e., standpoint theory and the communication boundary management theory) were used to investigate the comments that 39 female information technology (IT) employees made during focus groups as they discussed issues related to workplace barriers and voluntary turnover. The revealed causal mapping method was used to analyze the women’s responses. Voluntary turnover decisions were influenced by work schedule flexibility, family responsibilities, work stress, job qualities, and lack of consistency in workplace policies. Perceived barriers to promotion were linked to lack of respect, ageism, stress, and work schedule flexibility. Differences emerged between explicitly stated and implicitly embedded responses. Women explicitly discussed issues consistent with previous IT research; however their implicit statements often addressed barriers not commonly linked with IT advancement and turnover concerns.     

Life Satisfaction and Violent Behaviors among Middle School Students

We explored relationships between violent behaviors and perceived life satisfaction among 2,138 middle school students in a southern state using the CDC Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey (MSYRBS) and the Brief Multidimensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS). Logistic regression analyses and multivariate models constructed separately revealed significant race by gender results. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for the variables of interest. Having ever carried a gun, ever carried a knife/club, physical fighting and physical fighting with need for medical treatment were associated (p ≤ .05) with reduced life satisfaction for specific race/gender groups, while controlling for SES and grade. Results suggest implications for school-community based violence prevention programs. Future research should consider measures of life satisfaction as a component of comprehensive assessments of middle school student violence and aggressive behaviors in fieldwork, intervention research and program evaluation.     

Predictive value of neuropsychological assessment; with regards to life expectancy among cardiac bypass surgery patients

This follow-up study to Keith et al. (2002) sought to explore relations between the cognitive, neuropsychological, and psychosocial sequelae of cardiopulmonary bypass surgery (CPB) and survival. A neuropsychological test battery including the state portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (S-STAI), reaction time, visual attention (VFA), rotor pursuit, visual spatial memory, verbal memory and paired associations (PA) was administered. PA (P < .05), VFA and S-STAI scores were related with 5–7 year survival. After the Benjamini-Hochberg method was employed to control for multiple comparisons only S-STAI scores remained significant. Results of logistic regression indicate that pre-CPB surgery scores on the S-STAI accurately predicted 5–7 year survival and mortality in 66% and 83% of cases respectively.     

DNA methylation of NR3c1 in infancy: Associations between maternal caregiving and infant sex

Caregivers play a critical role in scaffolding infant stress reactivity and regulation, but the mechanisms by which this scaffolding occurs is unclear. Animal models strongly suggest that epigenetic processes, such as DNA methylation, are sensitive to caregiving behaviors and, in turn, offspring stress reactivity. We examined the direct effects of caregiving behaviors on DNA methylation in infants and infant stress reactivity. Infants and mothers (N = 128) were assessed during a free play when infants were 5 months old. Maternal responsiveness and appropriate touch were coded. and infant buccal epithelial cells were sampled to assess for DNA methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene, NR3c1 exon 1F. Infant cortisol reactivity was assessed in response to the still-face paradigm. Greater levels of maternal responsiveness and appropriate touch were related to less DNA methylation of specific regions in NR3c1 exon 1F, but only for females. There was no association with maternal responsiveness and appropriate touch or DNA methylation of NR3c1 exon 1F on prestress cortisol or cortisol reactivity. Our results are discussed in relation to programming models that implicate maternal care as an important factor in programing infant stress reactivity.