Awareness of faces is modulated by their emotional meaning

A central question in perception is how stimuli are selected for access to awareness. This study investigated the impact of emotional meaning on detection of faces using the attention blink paradigm. Experiment 1 showed that fearful faces were detected more frequently than neutral faces, and Experiment 2 revealed preferential detection of fearful faces compared with happy faces. To rule out image artifacts as a cause for these results, Experiment 3 manipulated the emotional meaning of neutral faces through fear conditioning and showed a selective increase in detection of conditioned faces. These results extend previous reports of preferential detection of emotional words or schematic objects and suggest that fear conditioning can modulate detection of formerly neutral stimuli.     

Higher-order dimensions of personality disorder: hierarchical structure and relationships with the five-factor model, the interpersonal circle, and psychopathy

Two studies examined the higher-order factor structure of DSM-IV personality disorders using the International Personality Disorder Examination in male forensic psychiatric patients. In Study 1 (N = 168), exploratory factor analysis at the level of individual personality disorder criteria indicated nine primary factors. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of these first-order factors supported a hierarchical structure in which two of three second-order factors covaried to yield a third-order factor. The two resulting superordinate factors were labelled Anxious-Inhibited and Acting Out. In Study 2 (N = 160), we used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to test hypotheses of common dimensions underlying these superordinate factors of personality disorder and superordinate factors of the five-factor model of personality, dimensions of the interpersonal circle, and psychopathy. Of three common factors, one combined Anxious-Inhibited disorders, "neurotic introversion," and hostile-submission. The other two factors of Acting Out/ psychopathy and antagonism/hostile-dominance covaried to yield a superordinate factor. Possible substrates underlying two superordinate dimensions common to normal and abnormal personality were identified in the theoretical literature.     

A memory-based account of automatic numerosity processing

We investigated the mechanisms responsible for the automatic processing of the numerosities represented by digits in the size congruity effect (Henik & Tzelgov, 1982). The algorithmic model assumes that relational comparisons of digit magnitudes (e.g., larger than {8,2}) create this effect. If so, congruity effects ought to require two digits. Memory-based models assume that associations between individual digits and the attributes "small" and "large" create this effect. If so, congruity effects ought only to require one digit. Contrary to the algorithmic model and consistent with memory-based models, congruity effects were just as large when subjects judged the relative physical sizes of small digits paired with letters as when they judged the relative physical sizes of two digits. This finding suggests that size congruity effects can be produced without comparison algorithms.     

Reduced response readiness delays stop signal inhibition

This study examines the effect of response readiness on the stopping of motor responses. Thirteen subjects performed a primary task requiring a speeded choice reaction on go trials and response inhibition on nogo trials. An occasional cue informed subjects that a nogo trial was imminent but left them uncertain about the number of go trials separating the cue and the upcoming nogo trial. This setup was meant to create test episodes of reduced response readiness (i.e., trial sequences initiated by the cue and terminated by the nogo signal) and control episodes, in which subjects were ready to execute a speeded choice reaction (i.e., trial sequences consisting only of go trials). During both episodes, a visual stop signal could occasionally and unpredictably follow go signal onset, instructing subjects to withhold their response to the go signal. Choice reactions on go trials were delayed during test episodes relative to control episodes. Most importantly, stop reactions were delayed, not facilitated, during test episodes compared to control episodes. These findings were taken to suggest that reduced readiness gives rise to more forceful responses that are then more difficult to inhibit.     

An instance theory of attention and memory

An instance theory of attention and memory (ITAM) is presented that integrates formal theories of attention and memory phenomena by exploiting commonalities in their formal structure. The core idea in each theory is that performance depends on a choice process that can be modeled as a race between competing alternatives. Attention and categorization are viewed as different perspectives on the same race. Attention selects objects by categorizing them; objects are categorized by attending to them. ITAM incorporates each of its ancestors as a special case, so it inherits their successes.     

When scientific knowledge becomes scientific discovery: the disappearance of classical conditioning before Pavlov

In the nineteenth century, scientific materials in experimental physiology changed dramatically. In this context, phenomena that had been widely accepted were lost, sometimes to be reintroduced later as "discoveries." I describe the loss of the phenomenon of classical conditioning, later rediscovered by Ivan Pavlov. In 1896, Austrian physiologist Alois Kreidl demonstrated experimentally that animals anticipate the occurrence of food that is cued by a variety of stimuli. Kreidl stated, moreover, that the fact that animals can be called to food had been widely known to science since the 1830s. I describe Kreidl's work and discuss several factors that may have led to the disappearance of conditioning prior to its rediscovery by Pavlov.     

Understanding anaphors in story dialogue

Previous research has identified two processes that play an important role in anaphor resolution. An activation process increases the accessibility of an anaphor’s referent; a suppression process diminishes the accessibility of its nonreferents. In this study, we examined how these processes operate when reference to two story characters shifts rapidly, as it does in story dialogue. Dialogue raises interesting questions about how the antecedent of an anaphor becomes the most activated entity in the reader’s discourse model. Do readers suppress an anaphor’s nonreferent even though that same entity is likely to be the referent of a subsequent anaphor? Are activation and suppression processes triggered by the anaphor itself or by cues that signal a change of speaker? We found that an anaphor’s antecedent is activated differently in dialogue than it is elsewhere in a narrative. Our results suggest that readers use knowledge about the structure of dialogue to anticipate the referent of an upcoming anaphor.     

Evaluating Ethics Education Programs: A Multilevel Approach

Although education in the responsible conduct of research is considered necessary, evidence bearing on the effectiveness of these programs in improving research ethics has indicated that, although some programs are successful, many fail. Accordingly, there is a need for systematic evaluation of ethics education programs. In the present effort, we examine procedures for evaluation of ethics education programs from a multilevel perspective: examining both within-program evaluation and cross-program evaluation. With regard to within-program evaluation, we note requisite designs and measures for conducting systematic program evaluation have been developed and multiple measures should be applied in program evaluation. With regard to cross-program evaluation, we argue that a meta-analytic framework should be employed where analyses are used to identify best practices in ethics education. The implications of this multilevel approach for improving responsible conduct of research educational programs are discussed.     

The association between vivid thoughts of death and authenticity

Many theoretical perspectives link death-related thoughts to authenticity; however, there is little empirical research directly examining this association. The current studies examined how recalling a vivid experience associated with mortality relates to outcomes indicative of authentic engagement. In Study 1, participants described an experience that made them think about their mortality, indicated how vivid their recollection was, and completed measures of authenticity and goal-pursuit. Results indicated that how vividly a mortality experience was recalled predicted greater authenticity and more important goal-pursuits. Study 2 replicated many of the findings and found a similar pattern when individuals vividly recalled a mortality experience of a close other. Study 3 again replicated these results after controlling for a host of death-related variables. Exploratory analyses further revealed that ruminating about death was often negatively associated with authenticity. Implications for the role of death-related thoughts in authentic and alienated becoming are discussed.