Electrophysiological and behavioral evidence reveals the effects of trait anxiety on contingent attentional capture

Few studies have investigated the effects of anxiety on contingent attentional capture. The present study examined contingent attentional capture in trait anxiety by applying a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm during electroencephalographic recording. Overall, the behavioral and electrophysiological results showed a larger capture effect when a distractor was the same color as the target compared to when the distractor was not of the target color. Moreover, high-anxiety individuals showed a larger N2pc in the target colored distractor condition and nontarget colored distractor condition compared to the distractor-absent condition. In addition, the reaction time was slower when distractors were presented in the left visual field compared to when they were in the right visual field. This pattern was not seen in low-anxiety individuals. The findings may indicate that high-anxiety individuals allocate attention to the target less efficiently and have reduced suppression of distractors compared to low-anxiety individuals who could suppress attention to the distractors more efficiently. Future work could valuably investigate the consequences of such differences in terms of benefits and disruption associated with attentional capture differences in a range of anxious populations in different risk monitoring situations.     

Depletion manipulations decrease openness to dissent via increased anger

We investigated a potential outcome of ego depletion manipulations and an important factor behind cooperative failure: a lack of openness to others’ dissenting opinions. Across five studies in a variety of task settings, we examined the effect of depletion manipulations on openness to dissent and investigated two negative emotions as potential mediators of this process: fatigue and anger. The results demonstrated a negative effect of depletion manipulations on openness to dissent through increased anger rather than fatigue (Studies 1–5). In Studies 3 and 4, we also eliminated perceived trust towards a task counterpart as a significant mediator of the relationship between depletion manipulations and openness to dissent. These findings help clarify the nature of ego depletion manipulations and shed light on why individuals may fail to consider others’ dissenting opinions and, thus, fall short of achieving cooperation.     

The emotional integration of childhood experience: physiological, facial expressive, and self-reported emotional response during the adult attachment interview

Attachment researchers claim that individual differences in how adults talk about their early memories reflect qualitatively distinct organizations of emotion regarding childhood experiences with caregivers. Testing this assumption, the present study examined the relationship between attachment dimensions and physiological, facial expressive, as well as self-reported emotional responses during the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Consistent with theoretical predictions, more prototypically secure adults behaviorally expressed and reported experiencing emotion consistent with the valence of the childhood events they described. Insecure adults also showed distinctive and theoretically anticipated forms of emotional response: Dismissing participants evidenced increased electrodermal activity during the interview, a sign of emotional suppression, whereas preoccupied adults showed reliable discrepancies between the valence of their inferred childhood experiences and their facial expressive as well as reported emotion during the AAI. Results substantiate a case that the AAI reflects individual differences in emotion regulation that conceptually parallel observations of attachment relationships in infancy.     

Relationships among burnout, job involvement, and organizational citizenship behavior

R. Cropanzano, D. E. Rupp, and Z. S. Byrne (2003) found that emotional exhaustion (i.e., 1 dimension of burnout) negatively affects organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The authors extended this research by investigating relationships among 3 dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment) and OCB. They also affirmed the mediating effect of job involvement on these relationships. Data were collected from 296 paired samples of service employees and their supervisors from 12 hotels and restaurants in Taiwan. Findings demonstrated that emotional exhaustion and diminished personal accomplishment were related negatively to OCB, whereas depersonalization had no independent effect on OCB. Job involvement mediated the relationships among emotional exhaustion, diminished personal accomplishment, and OCB.     

SGK protein kinase facilitates the expression of long-term potentiation in hippocampal neurons

Previous studies showed that the serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase (sgk) gene plays an important role in long-term memory formation. The present study further examined the role of SGK in long-term potentiation (LTP). The dominant-negative mutant of sgk, SGKS422A, was used to inactivate SGK. Results revealed a time-dependent increase in SGK phosphorylation after tetanization with a significant effect observed 3 h and 5 h later. Transfection of SGKS422A impaired the expression, but not the induction, of LTP. Furthermore, the constitutively active sgk, SGKS422D, up-regulated postsynaptic density-95 expression in the hippocampus. These results together support the role of SGK in neuronal plasticity.     

Processing of disyllabic compound words in Chinese aphasia: evidence for the processing limitations account

The current study addresses the debate between so-called 'structural' and 'processing limitation' accounts of aphasia, i.e., whether language impairments reflect the 'loss' of linguistic knowledge or its representations, or instead reflect a limitation in processing resources. Confrontation-naming task and category-judgment tasks were used to examine and compare the performance of non-fluent and fluent aphasics on different compound types of nouns and verbs. We demonstrate that aphasic patients' performance is modulated by the canonicity of the particular compound type, a result that holds true even for the category in which patients show a 'selective category deficit.' These findings weigh against the 'loss' of linguistic representations as the underlying cause of noun-verb deficits, instead supporting a 'processing limitations' approach.     

Mechanisms linking employee affective delivery and customer behavioral intentions

Past empirical evidence has indicated that employee affective delivery can influence customer reactions (e.g., customer satisfaction, service quality evaluation). This study extends previous research by empirically examining mediating processes underlying the relationship between employee affective delivery and customer behavioral intentions. Data were collected from 352 employee-customer pairs in 169 retail shoe stores in Taiwan. Results showed that the influence of employee affective delivery on customers' willingness to return to the store and pass positive comments to friends was indirect through the mediating processes of customer in-store positive moods and perceived friendliness. The study also indicated that employee affective delivery influences customers' time spent in store, which, in turn, influences customer behavioral intentions.     

Finding the person in personal relationships

The search for dispositional factors that influence the course and conduct of close relationships has long and popular roots. No cogent theory of interpersonal processes would deny that dispositional factors matter, and, furthermore, both scholarly and lay analyses often emphasize them. Although existing research has made progress in understanding how dispositions affect behavior in ongoing relationships, when all is said and done, this progress has been modest. In this paper, we discuss several interlocking theoretical and methodological principles that may facilitate movement to the next (and more sophisticated) generation of theory and research. We draw particularly on interdependence theory to discuss the concepts of relationship and persons-in-relationship. Central to our analysis is the principle that interaction in relationships is an inherently dynamic, temporal, and thoroughly interdependent process that cannot be properly understood from examination of the static, global dispositions of one of its members. To provide grounding for our analysis, we also discuss several specific implications of these concepts for the conduct of research seeking to understand personality in relationships.