Thyroid hormones,psychophysiological reactivity,and anxiety

Thirty-eight adults were assigned to three groups: posttreatment hyperthyroid (n=13), low euthyroid (n=12), and high euthyroid (n=13). Physiological and subjective responses to three anxiety-induction procedures—public speaking, personally distressing imagery, and threat of shock—were compared across groups. Although there were differences across stressors for physiological and subjective measures, group differences were not detected. Results are discussed with regard to the risk for residual anxiety following treatment for hyperthyroidism and the possible influence of thyroid function on the etiology or maintenance of anxiety.     

The role of attention in automatization: Does attention operate at encoding, or retrieval, or both?

In this research, we investigated whether attention operates in the encoding of automatized information, the retrieval of automatized information, or in both cases. Subjects searched two-word displays for members of a target category in focused-attention or divided-attention conditions that were crossed with block (training vs. transfer). To see whether subjects encoded all available items or only attended items, we compared performance for subjects in different training conditions but in the same transfer condition. Subjects encoded attended items. To see whether subjects retrieved all the items they had in memory, or only items associated with that to which they were attending at retrieval, we compared performance for subjects in the same training conditions but in different transfer conditions. Subjects retrieved attended items. Attention was found to operate at both encoding and retrieval. These findings support the instance theory of automaticity, which predicts the role of attention at encoding and retrieval     

On the ability to inhibit simple and choice reaction time responses: a model and a method

This article reports four experiments on the ability to inhibit responses in simple and choice reaction time (RT) tasks. Subjects responding to visually presented letters were occasionally presented with a stop signal (a tone) that told them not to respond on that trial. The major dependent variables were (a) the probability of inhibiting a response when the signal occurred, (b) mean and standard deviation (SD) of RT on no-signal trials, (c) mean RT on trials on which the signal occurred but subjects failed to inhibit, and (d) estimated RT to the stop signal. A model was proposed to estimated RT to the stop signal and to account for the relations among the variables. Its main assumption is that the RT process and the stopping process race, and response inhibition depends on which process finishes first. The model allows us to account for differences in response inhibition between tasks in terms of transformations of stop-signal delay that represent the relative finishing times of the RT process and the stopping process. The transformations specified by the model were successful in group data and in data from individual subjects, regardless of how delays were selected. The experiments also compared different methods of selecting stop-signal delays to equate the probability of inhibition in the two tasks.     

Effects of methylphenidate on inhibitory control in hyperactive children

This study investigated the effects of methylphenidate (MPH) on inhibitory control in hyperactive children. A double-blind, placebo-control, within-subject (crossover) design was used in which 12 children, between 6 and 11 years of age, were each tested four times in each drug condition: 0.3 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg of methylphenidate, and placebo. Dependent measures included (a) the probability of inhibiting responses to a primary choice reaction time task given a stop signal, on the Stopping Task, and (b) response latency and errors on the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT). MPH improved the efficiency of the central inhibitory mechanism by speeding the inhibitory process, thereby affording the children greater control over their actions and enabling them to increase the probability with which they inhibited responses given a stop signal. MPH increased response latency but did not reduce errors on the MFFT, and observation of the children's task performance highlighted the interpretive problems associated with this task. Performance on both tasks was better at a dosage of 1.0 mg/kg than at 0.3 mg/kg.     

Personality correlates of the attitude toward women scale

The full and short versions of the Attitudes Towards Women Scale, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Trait Anxiety Scale and the Group Embedded Figures Test were administered to 95 freshmen (male and female). Results indicated a relationship between liberal attitudes toward women and emotional stability. Scores on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale also tended to be independent of Lie scores.     

Attention and automaticity in Stroop and priming tasks: Theory and data

Three major variables identified with attention and automaticity in the priming paradigm are shown to have parallel effects in the Stroop paradigm. A model is developed to explain the effects in both paradigms in terms of a single decision process that combines evidence from several sources (e.g., habitual associations and temporary contingencies between the prime and the target or between the unreported and reported dimensions). The model is applied to two Stroop experiments in which the faster two of three stimulus dimensions relate associatively and cue through a frequency manipulation the third, which must be reported. Depending on the direction of the cueing relation, attentional effects enhanced or counteracted automatic (associative) effects, and the attentional effects were stronger with the faster unreported dimension than with the slower one. These results corroborate findings in the priming paradigm and confirm the model. Implications of the results and the model for broader issues are discussed.     

Measuring Tactical Innovation in Terrorist Attacks

Terrorism provides a unique context for examining innovation, as the generation of novel, effective, and complex ideas are essential for survival in destructive and malevolent groups. Despite this, innovation remains an underdeveloped concept in terrorism research, at least from the creativity scholars. One reason for this is the limited empirical data about this phenomenon, making it unclear which tenets of creativity research hold versus which do not translate in the domain of terrorism. This two-part study explores this rich domain by examining the dimensions of innovation in a robust sample of terrorist attacks. Findings indicated that three dimensions of innovation (i.e., novelty, relevance, and elegance) emerged from the attack data and that these dimensions were related to different attack characteristics. This article expands our understanding of terrorist innovation by drawing from established theory and methods from creativity research and highlights their manifestations in this understudied domain.     

Charles “Erik” Eriksen (1923-2018)

A towering figure in experimental psychology, Charles W. Eriksen, passed away in February this year. “Erik” made extensive original and lasting contributions to both research methods and theories in several areas of psychology, especially involving visual information processing. His research exhibited consistent concerns with experimental methods for distinguishing among alternative explanations and distinguishing perception from behavior. Erik pioneered many research methods now in common use—including converging operations, visual search, rapid serial presentations, the stop-signal paradigm, temporal integration in form perception, spatial cues for guiding selective attention, and the flankers task. He also introduced and tested many theories of selective attention. Erik was the founding editor of Perception & Psychophysics, and served for 23 years as its principal editor. An impressive and unforgettable person, Erik was a compelling personification of “the greatest generation.”