When you name the pizza you look at the coin and the bread: Eye movements reveal semantic activation during word production

Two eyetracking experiments tested for activation of category coordinate and perceptually related concepts when speakers prepare the name of an object. Speakers saw four visual objects in a 2 3 2 array and identified and named a target picture on the basis of either category (e.g., “What is the name of the musical instrument?”) or visual-form (e.g., “What is the name of the circular object?”) instructions. There were more fixations on visualform competitors and category coordinate competitors than on unrelated objects during name preparation, but the increased overt attention did not affect naming latencies. The data demonstrate that eye movements are a sensitive measure of the overlap between the conceptual (including visual-form) information that is accessed in preparation for word production and the conceptual knowledge associated with visual objects. Furthermore, these results suggest that semantic activation of competitor concepts does not necessarily affect lexical selection, contrary to the predictions of lexical-selection-by-competition accounts (e.g., Levelt, Roelofs, &; Meyer, 1999).     

Ist psychodynamische Kurztherapie eine wirksame Behandlungsform bei psychischen Störungen?

To test the efficacy of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) in specific psychiatric disorders, a meta-analysis of more recent studies was performed. Its importance is grounded on the inconsistent results of previous meta-analyses regarding short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) and the controversial discussion regarding the efficacy of psychodynamic therapy in general. In a computer-based search, studies of STPP published between 1970 and 2004 were identified. Studies of interpersonal therapy were excluded and rigorous inclusion criteria were applied. Seventeen studies fulfilled these criteria. Effect sizes were calculated for target problems, general psychiatric symptoms, and social functioning. In order to examine the stability of outcome, effect sizes were assessed separately for end of therapy and for follow-up assessment. The effect sizes of STPP were compared to those of waiting list control patients, treatments as usual, and of other forms of psychotherapy. STPP yielded significant and large pre-post effect sizes, which were not only stable, but tended to increase at follow-up. The effect sizes of STPP significantly exceeded those of waiting list and treatments as usual, but no differences were found between STPP and other forms of psychotherapy. STPP proved to be an effective treatment in different psychiatric disorders. However, further research of STPP in specific psychiatric disorders is needed, including a study of the active ingredients of STPP. Effectiveness studies should be included.     

The relationship between unstandardized and standardized alpha, true reliability, and the underlying measurement model

Popular computer programs print 2 versions of Cronbach's alpha: unstandardized alpha, α(Σ), based on the covariance matrix, and standardized alpha, α(R), based on the correlation matrix. Sources that accurately describe the theoretical distinction between the 2 coefficients are lacking, which can lead to the misconception that the differences between α(R) and α(Σ) are unimportant and to the temptation to report the larger coefficient. We explore the relationship between α(R) and α(Σ) and the reliability of the standardized and unstandardized composite under 3 popular measurement models; we clarify the theoretical meaning of each coefficient and conclude that researchers should choose an appropriate reliability coefficient based on theoretical considerations. We also illustrate that α(R) and α(Σ) estimate the reliability of different composite scores, and in most cases cannot be substituted for one another.     

Developmental Potential in Venezuelan and American Artists: A Cross-Cultural Validity Study

By comparing the overexcitability scores of 27 Venezuelan and 23 American artists, support was found for the hypothesis that creative individuals show a high degree of animistic, intuitive, and emotional thinking. Overexcitability refers to heightened mental functioning in Dabrowski's (1964) theory of emotional development. Along with other special talents and abilities, it represents the developmental potential for intensified personality growth. Scores on 4 of the 5 dimensions of overexcitability were not significantly different for American and Venezuelan artists. This evidence of similar profiles for artists in 2 different societies demonstrates cross-cultural validity for the concept of developmental potential.     

Sexism Versus Partisanship: A New Look at the Question of Whether America is Ready for a Woman President

We question the validity of traditional polling about the likelihood of respondents to vote for a woman president and argue that the use of such polls may overestimate sexism and underestimate the role that party identification and individual characteristics play in deciding about whether to vote for a woman president. Our analysis of data collected in May–June 2004 show that many people who say they will not vote for a woman for president would do so if given realistic, specific, political scenarios via head-to-head match-ups with potential candidates. Although survey respondents preferred George W. Bush to Hillary Clinton, the margin between these candidates was close especially considering that Bush had been actively campaigning for months, whereas Clinton had not.     

Toddlers' language-mediated visual search: they need not have the words for it

Eye movements made by listeners during language-mediated visual search reveal a strong link between visual processing and conceptual processing. For example, upon hearing the word for a missing referent with a characteristic colour (e.g., "strawberry"), listeners tend to fixate a colour-matched distractor (e.g., a red plane) more than a colour-mismatched distractor (e.g., a yellow plane). We ask whether these shifts in visual attention are mediated by the retrieval of lexically stored colour labels. Do children who do not yet possess verbal labels for the colour attribute that spoken and viewed objects have in common exhibit language-mediated eye movements like those made by older children and adults? That is, do toddlers look at a red plane when hearing "strawberry"? We observed that 24-month-olds lacking colour term knowledge nonetheless recognized the perceptual-conceptual commonality between named and seen objects. This indicates that language-mediated visual search need not depend on stored labels for concepts.     

The nature of the visual environment induces implicit biases during language-mediated visual search

Four eyetracking experiments examined whether semantic and visual-shape representations are routinely retrieved from printed word displays and used during language-mediated visual search. Participants listened to sentences containing target words that were similar semantically or in shape to concepts invoked by concurrently displayed printed words. In Experiment 1, the displays contained semantic and shape competitors of the targets along with two unrelated words. There were significant shifts in eye gaze as targets were heard toward semantic but not toward shape competitors. In Experiments 2–4, semantic competitors were replaced with unrelated words, semantically richer sentences were presented to encourage visual imagery, or participants rated the shape similarity of the stimuli before doing the eyetracking task. In all cases, there were no immediate shifts in eye gaze to shape competitors, even though, in response to the Experiment 1 spoken materials, participants looked to these competitors when they were presented as pictures (Huettig & McQueen, 2007). There was a late shape-competitor bias (more than 2,500 ms after target onset) in all experiments. These data show that shape information is not used in online search of printed word displays (whereas it is used with picture displays). The nature of the visual environment appears to induce implicit biases toward particular modes of processing during language-mediated visual search.     

In the trenches of real-world self-control: neural correlates of breaking the link between craving and smoking

Successful goal pursuit involves repeatedly engaging self-control against temptations or distractions that arise along the way. Laboratory studies have identified the brain systems recruited during isolated instances of self-control, and ecological studies have linked self-control capacity to goal outcomes. However, no study has identified the neural systems of everyday self-control during long-term goal pursuit. The present study integrated neuroimaging and experience-sampling methods to investigate the brain systems of successful self-control among smokers attempting to quit. A sample of 27 cigarette smokers completed a go/no-go task during functional magnetic resonance imaging before they attempted to quit smoking and then reported everyday self-control using experience sampling eight times daily for 3 weeks while they attempted to quit. Increased activation in right inferior frontal gyrus, pre-supplementary motor area, and basal ganglia regions of interest during response inhibition at baseline was associated with an attenuated association between cravings and subsequent smoking. These findings support the ecological validity of neurocognitive tasks as indices of everyday response inhibition.     

Looking, language, and memory: Bridging research from the visual world and visual search paradigms

In the visual world paradigm as used in psycholinguistics, eye gaze (i.e. visual orienting) is measured in order to draw conclusions about linguistic processing. However, current theories are underspecified with respect to how visual attention is guided on the basis of linguistic representations. In the visual search paradigm as used within the area of visual attention research, investigators have become more and more interested in how visual orienting is affected by higher order representations, such as those involved in memory and language. Within this area more specific models of orienting on the basis of visual information exist, but they need to be extended with mechanisms that allow for language-mediated orienting. In the present paper we review the evidence from these two different – but highly related – research areas. We arrive at a model in which working memory serves as the nexus in which long-term visual as well as linguistic representations (i.e. types) are bound to specific locations (i.e. tokens or indices). The model predicts that the interaction between language and visual attention is subject to a number of conditions, such as the presence of the guiding representation in working memory, capacity limitations, and cognitive control mechanisms.