The differential contribution of facial expressions,prosody, and speech content to empathy

Background: Facial expressions, prosody, and speech content constitute channels by which information is exchanged. Little is known about the simultaneous and differential contribution of these channels to empathy when they provide emotionality or neutrality. Especially neutralised speech content has gained little attention with regards to influencing the perception of other emotional cues. Methods: Participants were presented with video clips of actors telling short-stories. One condition conveyed emotionality in all channels while the other conditions either provided neutral speech content, facial expression, or prosody, respectively. Participants judged the emotion and intensity presented, as well as their own emotional state and intensity. Skin conductance served as a physiological measure of emotional reactivity. Results: Neutralising channels significantly reduced empathic responses. Electrodermal recordings confirmed these findings. The differential effect of the communication channels on empathy prerequisites was that target emotion recognition of the other decreased mostly when the face was neutral, whereas decreased emotional responses attributed to the target emotion were especially present in neutral speech. Conclusion: Multichannel integration supports conscious and autonomous measures of empathy and emotional reactivity. Emotional facial expressions influence emotion recognition, whereas speech content is important for responding with an adequate own emotional state, possibly reflecting contextual emotion-appraisal.     

Predictors of outcome in Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy for severe health anxiety

Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for severe health anxiety can be effective, but not all patients achieve full remission. Under these circumstances, knowledge about predictors is essential for the clinician in order to make reliable treatment recommendations. The primary aim of this study was to investigate clinical, demographic, and therapy process-related predictors of Internet-based CBT for severe health anxiety. We performed three types of analyses on data from a sample comprising participants (N = 81) who had received Internet-based CBT in a randomized controlled trial. Outcomes were a) end state health anxiety, b) improvement in health anxiety (continuous change scores), and c) clinically significant improvement. Outcomes were assessed at six-month follow-up. The results showed that the most stable predictors of both end state health anxiety and improvement were baseline health anxiety and depressive symptoms. Treatment adherence, i.e. the number of completed treatment modules, also significantly predicted outcome. Notably, health anxiety at baseline was positively associated with symptom improvement while depressive symptoms was negatively related to improvement. Demographic factors were largely without significant impact on end state symptoms or improvement. We conclude that baseline symptom burden and adherence to treatment have strong predictive effects in Internet-based CBT for severe health anxiety.     

Belief in conspiracy theories: The influence of uncertainty and perceived morality

In the present research, we examined people's tendency to endorse or question belief in conspiracy theories. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that the perceived morality of authorities influences conspiracy beliefs, particularly when people experience uncertainty. Study 1 revealed that information about the morality of oil companies influenced beliefs that these companies were involved in planning the war in Iraq, but only when uncertainty was made salient. Similar findings were obtained in Study 2, which focused on a bogus newspaper article about a fatal car accident of a political leader in an African country. It is concluded that uncertainty leads people to make inferences about the plausibility or implausibility of conspiracy theories by attending to morality information. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impulsivity and Paced Tapping

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that impulsivity is positively related to both the intraindividual variability and the rate of performance of a paced tapping task. Selected experimental conditions which have been demonstrated to influence paced tapping were included in the experimental design of the tapping task. The independent variables in the tapping task were: feedback vs. no feedback; tempo; concurrent cognitive task (counting) vs. no concurrent cognitive task. Three measures of tapping performance were computed: absolute or total error of tapping, tapping rate, and the intraindividual variability of tapping. The results confirm the hypothesis that impulsivity is positively related to rate of paced tapping, although the degree of relationship varied under different experimental conditions within the paced tapping task. Intraindividual variability of tapping was not significantly related to impulsivity, but the results were suggestive of a positive relationship.     

Recognition memory for low- and high-frequency-filtered emotional faces: Low spatial frequencies drive emotional memory enhancement,whereas high spatial frequencies drive the emotion-induced recognition bias

This article deals with two well-documented phenomena regarding emotional stimuli: emotional memory enhancement—that is, better long-term memory for emotional than for neutral stimuli—and the emotion-induced recognition bias—that is, a more liberal response criterion for emotional than for neutral stimuli. Studies on visual emotion perception and attention suggest that emotion-related processes can be modulated by means of spatial-frequency filtering of the presented emotional stimuli. Specifically, low spatial frequencies are assumed to play a primary role for the influence of emotion on attention and judgment. Given this theoretical background, we investigated whether spatial-frequency filtering also impacts (1) the memory advantage for emotional faces and (2) the emotion-induced recognition bias, in a series of old/new recognition experiments. Participants completed incidental-learning tasks with high- (HSF) and low- (LSF) spatial-frequency-filtered emotional and neutral faces. The results of the surprise recognition tests showed a clear memory advantage for emotional stimuli. Most importantly, the emotional memory enhancement was significantly larger for face images containing only low-frequency information (LSF faces) than for HSF faces across all experiments, suggesting that LSF information plays a critical role in this effect, whereas the emotion-induced recognition bias was found only for HSF stimuli. We discuss our findings in terms of both the traditional account of different processing pathways for HSF and LSF information and a stimulus features account. The double dissociation in the results favors the latter account—that is, an explanation in terms of differences in the characteristics of HSF and LSF stimuli.     

Comparing Materials for Self-Guided Learning in Interactive Science Exhibitions

Science center exhibitions are considered to have the potential to support students' learning. To contribute to the field's knowledge of how to use this potential to the fullest, this study compares four different designs of self-guided resources for use during a science center visit. The first two (open exploration and a traditional worksheet) are similar to many currently in use, and the other two designs (guided exploratory learning, one paper-based and one tablet-based) provided more structure and explicitly aimed to support deeper engagement and exploration. Verbal and nonverbal behaviors of 64 11- to 13-year-old students were recorded by chest-mounted cameras. Video was coded and analyzed quantitatively around instances of behaviors consistent with deep engagement and learning. Findings suggest that different resource designs are associated with different levels of engagement-related behaviors, and designs for guided exploratory learning in particular have the potential to support students' progress towards conceptual understanding.     

Cost-effectiveness of Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy vs. cognitive behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder: results from a randomized controlled trial

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is highly prevalent and associated with a substantial societal economic burden, primarily due to high costs of productivity loss. Cognitive behavior group therapy (CBGT) is an effective treatment for SAD and the most established in clinical practice. Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT) has demonstrated efficacy in several trials in recent years. No study has however investigated the cost-effectiveness of ICBT compared to CBGT from a societal perspective, i.e. an analysis where both direct and indirect costs are included. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cost-effectiveness of ICBT compared to CBGT from a societal perspective using a prospective design. We conducted a randomized controlled trial where participants with SAD were randomized to ICBT (n = 64) or CBGT (n = 62). Economic data were assessed at pre-treatment, immediately following treatment and six months after treatment. Results showed that the gross total costs were significantly reduced at six-month follow-up, compared to pre-treatment in both treatment conditions. As both treatments were equivalent in reducing social anxiety and gross total costs, ICBT was more cost-effective due to lower intervention costs. We conclude that ICBT can be more cost-effective than CBGT in the treatment of SAD and that both treatments reduce societal costs for SAD.     

Extended Memory Evolutive Systems in a Hyperstructure Context

This paper is just a comment to the impressive work by A. C. Ehresmann and J.-P. Vanbremeersch on the theory of Memory Evolutive Systems (MES). MES are truly higher order systems. Hyperstructures represent a new concept which I introduced in order to capture the essence of what a higher order structure is—encompassing hierarchies and emergence. Hyperstructures are motivated by cobordism theory in topology and higher category theory. The morphism concept is replaced by the concept of a bond. In the paper I briefly introduce hyperstructures motivated geometrically and suggest further developments of the MESs along these lines, which could widen up new areas of applications.     

The virtues of collective gatherings: A study on the positive effects of a major scouting event

The present study addresses, in a highly ecological setting, the short- and long-term psychosocial consequences of participation in a major scouting event. Using a quasi-longitudinal design comprising three measures taken over two-and-a-half months (i.e., baseline level; within the 24 hr following the event; 10 weeks after the gathering), we show that participation in this collective gathering was followed by a series of positive effects at the psychosocial level. More precisely, we noticed an increase in the scout's levels of social integration, and individual and social well-being after their participation in the gathering. Further, in line with a central tenet of the neo-Durkheimian model of collective processes, the results stress the key role of perceived emotional synchrony in the prediction of the outcomes. Higher perceived emotional synchrony during the gathering was associated with stronger in-group identification, identity fusion, pride, openness to experience, self-esteem, positive affects, and adhesion to specific scouting values. Finally, we found that the effects of participation lasted more than a few days and were predicted by the level of perceived emotional synchrony. These findings are the first to show that positive effects of participation in a collective event last for at least ten weeks.     

Change in school ethnic diversity and intergroup relations: The transition from segregated elementary to mixed secondary school for majority and minority students

This research examined the impact of a change in school diversity on school children's intergroup relations. A longitudinal survey tracked 551 White British and Asian British students (M_age = 11.32) transitioning from elementary (time 1) to secondary (time 2) school in an ethnically segregated town in the United Kingdom. We estimated a multivariate, multilevel model. A cross-sectional comparison of segregated schools and a mixed elementary school at time 1 revealed that both Asian and White British in the mixed school reported more positive intergroup relations. A longitudinal analysis found that the transition from segregated elementary to mixed secondary schools was associated with Asian British developing more positive intergroup relations. White British reported overall less positive intergroup relations, although only trust decreased; evidence from other measures remains inconclusive. The findings are important for understanding early stages of diversity exposure, and the impact of changing diversity levels on majority and minority groups.