Visual attention and manual response selection: Distinct mechanisms operating on the same codes

In four experiments, participants made a speeded manual response to a tone and concurrently selected a cued visual target from a masked display for later unspeeded report. In contrast toaprevious study of H.Pashler (1991), systematic interactions between the two tasks were obtained. First, accuracy in both tasks decreased with decreasing stimulus (tone-display)-onset asynchrony (SOA)— presumably due to a conflict between stimulus and response coding. Second, spatial correspondence between manual response and visual target produced better performance in the visual task and, with short SOAs, in the tone task, too— presumably due to the overlap of the spatial codes used by stimulus- and response-selection processes. Third, manual responding slowed down with increasing SOA — reflecting either a functional bottleneck or strategic queuing of target selection and response selection. Results suggest that visual stimulus selection and manual response selection are distinct mechanisms that operate on common representations.     

Conflict management and job characteristics of nurses in South African public hospitals

This study sought to determine whether job demands and job resources predicted conflict handling styles among nurses within South African public hospitals. A convenience sample of 205 nurses were included (males?=?10.7%; age range 46 to 60 years?=?38.5%, experience of 5 years and more?=?70.8%, African?=?92.2%). They completed Rahim's Organisational Conflict Inventory – II (ROCI–II: Rahim, 1986) and a job characteristics measure developed for this study. Data were analysed to assess which job demands and resources predicted which conflict handling styles. From the results, time demands, crisis management and colleague support predicted the use of an avoiding style, whereas workload, time demands, job security, feedback and colleague support predict the use of the integrating style. Time demands and payment predicted the use of the obliging style, while workload, crisis management and payment predicted the use of the dominating style. The compromising style was predicted by colleague support. It seems from the findings that conflict is frequently predicted by time demands.     

You Are What You See and Choose: Agreeableness and Situation Selection

Agreeableness positively predicts subjective well‐being, but why does it do so? Recent theorizing has highlighted possible substrates related to emotion regulation. Following suit, the present studies focus on the situation selection stage of the emotion regulation sequence. Undergraduate participants reported on their agreeableness levels and completed a picture‐viewing task (Studies 1 and 2) or a media choice task (Study 3). Studies 1 and 2 found that the tendency to view negative pictures for a longer period of time than positive pictures was evident at low levels of agreeableness and absent at high levels. The Study 3 paradigm asked individuals whether they typically choose to expose themselves to positive or negative stimuli across diverse media sources. Preferences for positive media were more pronounced at higher levels of agreeableness. The results have systematic implications for understanding the emotional lives of disagreeable versus agreeable people.     

Aspectual Shape: Presentational Approach

Aspectual shape is widely recognized property of intentionality. This means that subject’s access to reality is necessarily conditioned by applied concepts, perspective, modes of sensation, etc. I argue against representational and indirect-realist account of this phenomenon. My own proposition—presentational and direct realist—is based on the recognition of historical contexts, in which the phenomenon of aspectuality should be reconsidered; on the other hand—it is based on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s conception of aspectual perception. Moreover I apply some results from the area of logicophilosophical investigations called qua theory.     

Proactive Personality Heterophily and the Moderating Role of Proactive Personality on Network Centrality and Psychological Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study

Purpose

In a social network study, this research investigates proactive personality dissimilarity as a basis for friendship ties over time. It also examines the moderating role of proactive personality on the relationship between network centrality and satisfaction/stress.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Longitudinal network data (two periods) were collected from business students (T1, n = 197; T2, n = 212). We captured the early stages of network formation and observed the changes in network structure over time.

Findings

Findings demonstrate proactive individuals develop ties with less proactive individuals over time, providing evidence of personality heterophily. In addition, proactive personality positively moderates the relationship between network centrality and satisfaction/stress. Interestingly, people’s perceptions of their network position (out-degree ties) were more strongly associated with their personal outcomes than their number of ties as nominated by others.

Originality/Value

This research is among the first to provide evidence of personality heterophily over time (relationships form because of differences in personality). Moreover, proactive personality is important to both the benefits and costs associated with network participation, pointing to paradoxical effects of proactive personality.     

Love and Eschatology

Abstract : This article reflects on the connection between Christian hope for salvation and Christian praxis today. Following a discussion of Christian approaches to hope, salvation, and reconciliation, the eschatological potential of love is explored in conversation with significant theologies of love in Western Christianity. It is argued that love, properly understood, offers the most adequate and dynamic horizon for approaching God's coming reign and for being transformed in the process.     

Attentional Performance in Children and Adolescents with Tic Disorder and Co-Occurring Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: New Insights from a 2 × 2 Factorial Design Study

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of both tic disorder (TD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on attentional functions. N = 96 children and adolescents participated in the study, including n = 21 subjects with TD, n = 23 subjects with ADHD, n = 25 subjects with TD+ADHD, and n = 27 controls. Attentional performance was tested based on four computerized attention tasks (sustained attention, divided attention, go/nogo and set shifting). The effect of TD as well as ADHD on attentional performance was tested using a 2 × 2 factorial approach. A diagnosis of TD had no negative impact on attentional functions but was associated with improved performance in the set shifting task. By contrast, regardless of a diagnosis of TD, subjects with ADHD were found to perform worse in the sustained attention, divided attention and go/nogo task. No interaction effect between the factors TD and ADHD was revealed for any of the attention measures. Our results add to findings from other areas of research, showing that in subjects with TD and ADHD, ADHD psychopathology is often the main source of impairment, whereas a diagnosis of TD has little or no impact on neuropsychological performance in most cases and even seems to be associated with adaptive mechanisms.     

Differential dynamics of spatial and non-spatial stimulus-response compatibility effects: a dual task LRP study

Choice reaction times are shorter when stimulus and response features are compatible rather than incompatible. Recent studies revealed that spatial compatibility effects in Simon tasks are strongly attenuated when there is temporal overlap with a different high-priority task. In contrast, non-spatial variants of the Simon task appear to be unaffected by task overlap. The present study used the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) within a dual task design to elucidate the dynamics underlying these differential effects for a color and a spatial variant of the Simon task. In the color version there was no sign of early response priming by irrelevant stimulus features in the LRP. The color compatibility effect was independent of task overlap and reflected in the LRP onset latency. In contrast, in the spatial version, priming by irrelevant stimulus location showed up and was mirrored by early LRP activation. Response priming and the corresponding Simon effect, however, were present only in case of little temporal overlap with the primary task. The absence of spatial compatibility effects at strong temporal overlap suggests that response conflicts due to stimulus-related priming depend on the availability of processing resources.     

Do hostile attribution biases in children and parents predict relationally aggressive behavior?

Relatively little is understood about the role of hostile attributions in children's use of relational aggression with peers, or about the impact of family processes on children's attributions about ambiguous provocations. This cross-sectional study investigated associations among hostile attributions made by children, mothers, and fathers, and children's use of relational aggression with peers. The sample included 91 children in Grades 3-5 (43 girls), and their mothers (n = 90) and teachers (n = 88). Fathers also participated for a subsample of children (n = 53). Results showed that relational aggression is associated with a hostile attribution bias in children and parents, although findings varied as a function of gender of parent and child, provocation type, and informant of aggression. Overall, mothers' attributions were more closely related to daughters' attributions and aggressive behavior than to sons'. Implications of these findings for social information processing models and family-focused prevention of relational aggression are discussed.