What top-down task sets do for us: an ERP study on the benefits of advance preparation in visual search

When target-defining features are specified in advance, attentional target selection in visual search is controlled by preparatory top-down task sets. We used ERP measures to study voluntary target selection in the absence of such feature-specific task sets, and to compare it to selection that is guided by advance knowledge about target features. Visual search arrays contained two different color singleton digits, and participants had to select one of these as target and report its parity. Target color was either known in advance (fixed color task) or had to be selected anew on each trial (free color-choice task). ERP correlates of spatially selective attentional target selection (N2pc) and working memory processing (SPCN) demonstrated rapid target selection and efficient exclusion of color singleton distractors from focal attention and working memory in the fixed color task. In the free color-choice task, spatially selective processing also emerged rapidly, but selection efficiency was reduced, with nontarget singleton digits capturing attention and gaining access to working memory. Results demonstrate the benefits of top-down task sets: Feature-specific advance preparation accelerates target selection, rapidly resolves attentional competition, and prevents irrelevant events from attracting attention and entering working memory.     

ADHERENCE TO DISCRETE‐TRIAL INSTRUCTION PROCEDURES BY RURAL PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders may not attempt treatment, even when effective treatment options are available. Little is known about how to improve frequency of attempts to implement treatment (‘treatment adherence’). We provided 32 rural parents of young children with autism spectrum disorders with either written or video training materials about how to implement discrete‐trial instruction and compared parental adherence between the written (control) and video (experimental) groups. Parents who received video instructions adhered to the training procedures to a significantly greater extent than did parents who received written instructions, suggesting that instruction format is a predictor of training success. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Little Children with Big Worries: Addressing the Needs of Young,Anxious Children and the Problem of Parent Engagement

Anxiety disorders in preschool-age children represent an important clinical problem due to high prevalence, substantial impairment, persistence, and associated risk for later emotional problems. Early intervention may mitigate these problems by capitalizing on a strategic developmental period. Elevated neuroplasticity, availability of screening tools, and the potential to modify parenting practices position anxiety as a good candidate for early intervention and preventive efforts. While some novel interventions show promise, the broad success of such programs will largely depend on parent engagement. Since parents are less likely to identify and seek help for anxiety problems compared to other childhood behavior problems, especially in a preventive manner, methods for understanding parents’ decisions to participate and enhancing levels of engagement are central to the success of early childhood anxiety prevention and intervention. Understanding these processes is particularly important for families characterized by sociodemographic adversity, which have been underrepresented in anxiety treatment research. This review summarizes the developmental phenomenology of early emerging anxiety symptoms, the rationale for early intervention, and the current state of research on interventions for young, anxious children. The roles of parent engagement and help-seeking processes are emphasized, especially among economically disadvantaged and ethnic minority communities who are acutely at risk. Evidence-based strategies to enhance parent engagement to facilitate the development and dissemination of efficacious programs are offered.     

Social Cognition in Paediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Neuropsychology Review - Recent evidence suggests social cognitive deficits may be among the most profound and disabling consequences of childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, it is only...     

Applicant Reactions to Digital Selection Methods: A Signaling Perspective on Innovativeness and Procedural Justice

Research has shown that the use of digital technologies in the personnel selection process can have both positive and negative effects on applicants’ attraction to an organization. We explain this contradiction by specifying its underlying mechanisms. Drawing on signaling theory, we build a conceptual model that applies two different theoretical lenses (instrumental-symbolic framework and justice theory) to suggest that perceptions of innovativeness and procedural justice explain the relationship between an organization’s use of digital selection methods and employer attractiveness perceptions. We test our model by utilizing two studies, namely one experimental vignette study among potential applicants (N?=?475) and one retrospective field study among actual job applicants (N?=?335). With the exception of the assessment stage in Study 1, the positive indirect effects found in both studies indicated that applicants perceive digital selection methods to be more innovative. While Study 1 also revealed a negative indirect effect, with potential applicants further perceiving digital selection methods as less fair than less digitalized methods in the interview stage, this effect was not significant for actual job applicants in Study 2. We discuss theoretical implications for the applicant reactions literature and offer recommendations for human resource managers to make use of positive signaling effects while reducing potential negative signaling effects linked to the use of digital selection methods.

     

The Impact of Right Temporal Lobe Epilepsy On Nonverbal Memory: Meta-regression of Stimulus- and Task-related Moderators

Neuropsychology Review - Nonverbal memory tests have great potential value for detecting the impact of lateralized pathology and predicting the risk of memory loss following right temporal lobe...     

Motivated semantic control: Exploring the effects of extrinsic reward and self-reference on semantic retrieval in semantic aphasia

Recent insights show that increased motivation can benefit executive control, but this effect has not been explored in relation to semantic cognition. Patients with deficits of controlled semantic retrieval in the context of semantic aphasia (SA) after stroke may benefit from this approach since ‘semantic control’ is considered an executive process. Deficits in this domain are partially distinct from the domain-general deficits of cognitive control. We assessed the effect of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in healthy controls and SA patients. Experiment 1 manipulated extrinsic reward using high or low levels of points for correct responses during a semantic association task. Experiment 2 manipulated the intrinsic value of items using self-reference, allocating pictures of items to the participant (‘self’) or researcher (‘other’) in a shopping game before participants retrieved their semantic associations. These experiments revealed that patients, but not controls, showed better performance when given an extrinsic reward, consistent with the view that increased external motivation may help ameliorate patients’ semantic control deficits. However, while self-reference was associated with better episodic memory, there was no effect on semantic retrieval. We conclude that semantic control deficits can be reduced when extrinsic rewards are anticipated; this enhanced motivational state is expected to support proactive control, for example, through the maintenance of task representations. It may be possible to harness this modulatory impact of reward to combat the control demands of semantic tasks in SA patients.     

Positive and extensive intergroup contact in the past buffers against the disproportionate impact of negative contact in the present

Negative (vs positive) intergroup contact may have a disproportionately large impact on intergroup relations because of valence‐salience effects, whereby negative contact causes higher category salience (Paolini, Harwood, & Rubin, 2010). One correlational and three experimental studies in three conflict areas (Northern Ireland, Arizona's border area, and Cyprus; Ns = 405, 83, 76, and 91) tested the moderation of these valence‐salience effects by individuals' histories of outgroup contact. Consistent with a perceived fit principle valence‐salience effects of face‐to‐face, television‐mediated, and imagined contact held among individuals with negative or limited histories of outgroup contact; these effects were significantly reduced or nonsignificant among individuals with positive or extensive past outgroup contact. These moderation effects suggest that positive and diverse intergroup contact in the past buffers against the harmful effects of negative contact experiences in the present, thus limiting the potential for negative spiralling of intergroup relations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring Callous Unemotional Behaviors in Early Childhood: Factor Structure and the Prediction of Stable Aggression in Middle Childhood

This study sought to replicate the results of our earlier study, which were published in this Journal (Willoughby et. al 2011), that used mother-reported items from the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment to develop a screening measure of callous unemotional (CU) behaviors for use with preschool-aged children. We further sought to extend those results by exploring the predictive validity of the CU measure with aggression trajectories in early-/mid- childhood. The current study involved secondary data analysis of the NICHD Study of Early Childhood and Youth Development (NICHD-SECCYD) dataset. Factor analyses included N?=?1,176 children who participated in the age 3 year assessment of the NICHD-SECCYD. Predictive models included N?=?1,081 children for whom four of the six possible teacher ratings of aggressive behavior were available from annual assessments spanning 1st–6th grades. Consistent with prior work, a three-factor confirmatory factor model, which differentiated CU from oppositional defiant (ODD) and attention deficit/hyperactive-impulsive (ADHD) behaviors, provided the best fit to the data. Among children with disorganized attachment status, the combination of high levels of mother-rated ODD behaviors and CU behaviors, was predictive of stable elevated levels of teacher-rated aggression from 1st–6th grade (predicted probability?=?0.38, compared with a base rate of 0.07). These results demonstrate that CU behaviors can be reliably measured by parent report in young children and are dissociable from more commonly assessed dimensions of disruptive behavior. Three-year-old children who exhibit elevated levels of ODD and CU behaviors, and who have disorganized attachments, are at increased risk for exhibiting elevated levels of aggression across middle childhood. Results are discussed from the perspective of early assessment and intervention.