Spatial and visuospatial working memory tests predict performance in classic multiple-object tracking in young adults, but nonspatial measures of the executive do not

An individual-differences approach was used to investigate the roles of visuospatial working memory and the executive in multiple-object tracking. The Corsi Blocks and Visual Patterns Tests were used to assess visuospatial working memory. Two relatively nonspatial measures of the executive were used: operation span (OSPAN) and reading span (RSPAN). For purposes of comparison, the digit span test was also included (a measure not expected to correlate with tracking). The tests predicted substantial amounts of variance (R (2) = .33), and the visuospatial measures accounted for the majority (R (2) = .30), with each making a significant contribution. Although the executive measures correlated with each other, the RSPAN did not correlate with tracking. The correlation between OSPAN and tracking was similar in magnitude to that between digit span and tracking (p < .05 for both), and when regression was used to partial out shared variance between the two tests, the remaining variance predicted by the OSPAN was minimal (sr ( 2 ) = .029). When measures of spatial memory were included in the regression, the unique variance predicted by the OSPAN became negligible (sr ( 2 ) = .000004). This suggests that the executive, as measured by tests such as the OSPAN, plays little role in explaining individual differences in multiple-object tracking.     

Mediators of Posttraumatic Mental Health in Sexual Assault Survivors

The development of posttraumatic growth (PTG) and the relationship between PTG and distress outcomes in sexual assault is an important area of investigation. Recent research suggests that some forms of cognitive processing might be critical in the development, maintenance, and resolution of posttraumatic mental health among sexual assault survivors. The objective of this study was to examine factors associated with posttraumatic mental health among sexual assault survivors. Seventy-three participants who experienced sexual assault completed measures of trauma symptoms, PTG, changes in outlook, cognitive processing, and support and coping. Results revealed that significant levels of posttraumatic symptomatology and low levels of PTG were reported 3 years following sexual assault. A weak relationship was found between symptoms of distress and growth. Contrary to predictions, only ratings of hope and brooding rumination were mediators of the relationship between posttraumatic symptoms and PTG. Reflective rumination was not related to the development of PTG.     

Sympathetic magic and perceptions of randomness: The hot hand versus the gambler's fallacy

The gambler's fallacy and hot hand were studied in predictions about outcomes of coin tosses. A critical trial occurred when participants made predictions after a “run” of four heads or tails. Participants' attention was manipulated to focus on the person flipping the coin, the coin, or neither (control group) as a possible cause of the run. We also manipulated whether or not there was a change in who tossed the coin. In the control condition the standard reversal was observed (gambler's fallacy); however, when participants focused on the person, and it was that same person who conducted the run and critical coin toss, more people chose in the direction of continuation (hot hand). Directing attention to the person tossing the run seemed to prompt participants to behave as if that individual was “hot” in terms of getting a specific outcome (e.g., heads), as if by sympathetic magic, thus eliminating the gambler's fallacy.     

Verbal short-term memory as an articulatory system: Evidence from an alternative paradigm

In a series of seven experiments, the role of articulatory rehearsal in verbal short-term memory was examined via a shadowing-plus-recall paradigm. In this paradigm, subjects shadowed a word target presented closely after an auditory memory list before they recalled the list. The phonological relationship between the shadowing target and the final item on the memory list was manipulated. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that targets sounding similar to the list-final memory item generally took longer to shadow than unrelated targets. This inhibitory effect of phonological relatedness was more pronounced with tense- than lax-vowel pseudoword recall lists. The interaction between vowel tenseness and phonological relatedness was replicated in Experiment 3 using shorter lists of real words. In Experiment 4, concurrent articulation was applied during list learning to block rehearsal; consequently, neither the phonological relatedness effect nor its interaction with vowel tenseness emerged. Experiments 5 and 6 manipulated the occurrence frequencies and lexicality of the recall items, respectively, instead of vowel tenseness. Unlike vowel tenseness, these non-articulatory memory factors failed to interact with the phonological relatedness effect. Experiment 7 orthogonally manipulated the vowel tenseness and frequencies of the recall items; slowing in shadowing times due to phonological relatedness was modulated by vowel tenseness but not frequency. Taken together, these results suggest that under the present paradigm, the modifying effect of vowel tenseness on the magnitude of slowing in shadowing due to phonological relatedness is indicative of a prominent articulatory component in verbal short-term retention. The shadowing-plus-recall approach avoids confounding overt recall into internal memory processing, which is an inherent problem of the traditional immediate serial recall and span tasks.     

More than superstition: differential effects of featural heterogeneity and change on subitizing and counting

This study investigates the effects of item heterogeneity (differences in color and shape) and moment-to-moment feature change as it relates to the issue of whether subitizing and counting involve different processes. Participants enumerated displays of up to eight items that were either homogeneous or heterogeneous. In situations where the heterogeneous displays always had approximately half of the items of one type and half of the other, heterogeneity significantly sped enumeration in the counting range (6-8 items) and significantly slowed enumeration in the subitizing range (1-3 items), a dissociation that suggests that subitizing and counting involve different operations. Moment-to-moment feature change had no effect on subitizing. However, feature change slowed counting, but only when participants were enumerating heterogeneous items that were half of one type and half of the other, as might be expected if participants were using differences in features to select items by type.     

Motor maps, seizures, and behaviour

Atypically organised motor maps have been described in some people with epilepsy and we have modelled this in rats. Our goal is to more fully understand the mechanisms responsible for seizure-induced functional brain reorganisation and to reverse their effects. Here we present an overview of the relationship between neocortical motor maps, seizures, and interictal behaviour. To begin we summarise the observations of atypical motor maps with epilepsy and in animal models following experimentally induced seizures. Our novel experiments have established that motor map expansion is linked to a functional alteration of motor behaviour. Evidence for some of the putative brain mechanisms responsible for motor map size is discussed. Our successes reversing seizure-induced map expansion by two different methods are also briefly reviewed. Lastly, unanswered questions for possible future experimentation are posed.     

Addressing Culture,Gender, and Power with Asian American Couples: Application of Socio‐Emotional Relationship Therapy

Asian Americans juggle the intersections of multiple social identities and societal discourses as they respond to experiences of immigration, marginalization, and patriarchy, integrate collectivist and individualistic family values, and form families and intimate relationships. In this study we examine what we have learned as we apply Socio‐Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT) with heterosexual couples of Asian heritage. SERT begins with sociocultural attunement and the assumption that relationships should mutually support each partner. Drawing on case examples, we illustrate how we practice sociocultural attunement as couples respond to the relational processes that comprise the Circle of Care (mutual influence, vulnerability, attunement, and shared relational responsibility). We emphasize three key socioemotional themes that intersect with gender: (1) intangible loss; (2) quiet fortitude/not burdening others; and (3) duty to the family.     

A multiple-schedule evaluation of immediate and subsequent effects of fixed-time food presentation on automatically maintained mouthing

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immediate and subsequent effects of fixed-time (FT) food presentations on mouthing. The effects of FT food presentations were analyzed within a three-component multiple schedule in which baseline conditions were implemented during the first and third components and treatment conditions were implemented during the second component. Results indicated that FT food reduced mouthing and that levels of mouthing during post-FT components were reliably lower than pre-FT components. Behavioral mechanisms responsible for treatment effects are discussed.     

U.S. Muslim women and body image: links among objectification theory constructs and the hijab

This study tested tenets of objectification theory and explored the role of the hijab in body image and eating disorder symptoms with a sample of 118 Muslim women in the United States. Results from a path analysis indicated that individual differences in wearing the hijab were related negatively with reported sexual objectification experiences. Sexual objectification experiences, in turn, had significant positive indirect relations with body surveillance, body shame, and eating disorder symptoms, primarily through the mediating role of internalization. Internalization of cultural standards of beauty also had a significant positive direct relation with body shame and significant positive direct and indirect relations with eating disorder symptoms. By contrast, the direct and indirect relations of body surveillance were significant only when the role of internalization was constrained to 0 (i.e., eliminated), suggesting that internalization of cultural standards of beauty subsumed the hypothesized role of body surveillance in the model. Taken together, these results support some of the tenets of objectification theory with a sample of U.S. Muslim women, point to the importance of internalization of dominant cultural standards of beauty within that framework, and suggest the utility of considering individual differences in wearing the hijab among U.S. Muslim women.