Subliminal priming of motivational orientation in educational settings: Effect on academic performance moderated by mindfulness

Recent literature indicates that a motivational orientation can be unconsciously primed. This study examined whether motivational priming influences students’ academic performance within an educational setting and whether this effect is moderated by students’ degree of mindfulness. Two randomly assigned groups of students received an identical lesson. However, the teacher’s slideshow contained different subliminal words according to the condition (autonomous vs. controlled motivation). Results demonstrated an interaction between students’ dispositional mindfulness and priming conditions. The more mindful students were immune to the manipulation whereas the less mindful students were affected by the priming: those primed with autonomous motivation obtained better results than those primed with controlled motivation. These findings contribute to priming research specifying individual differences of priming responsiveness.     

Une étude sur le rôle modérateur des traits de personnalité sur la relation entre les conditions de l’organisation du travail et la détresse psychologique

This study is about psychological distress lived by Canadian workers. Only a few studies considered personal traits in the comprehension of this phenomenon. This study aims to determine the moderator role of self-esteem, the sense of control and the sense of cohesion on the relation between the work organization conditions and psychological distress. Some longitudinal data (n=7338 workers) coming from five cycles (1994-2003) of the National Population Health Survey (NPHS) have been used to complete some multilevel analysis (n1=time and n2=individual). The results indicate that the sense of control and the sense of cohesion play a moderator role on the relation between some of the work organization conditions and the level of psychological distress.     

Identity status and perceived parenting style in adolescents living in central South Africa

This study investigated the relationship between black South African adolescents’ identity statuses and their perceived parenting styles. Participants (n = 188; 66% = females) were from central South Africa. They completed the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status and the Parental Authority Questionnaire in addition to a biographic survey that included questions on their family structures (nuclear, extended, other types). Findings suggest that diffused and achieved identity statuses relate to perceived authoritative and permissive parenting styles respectively. Results bring into question the universality of Western identity development and parenting style theories.     

A statistical approach to sensorimotor strategies: conjugate cross-correlations

A simple method, based on cross-correlation functions (CCFs) between two time series of kinematic or physiological measurements, is proposed for the analysis of multisegmental movements. Special emphasis is placed on measuring accelerations. When the movements of two body segments are coordinated but consistently time lagged, their CCF displays a peak at the corresponding time abscissa. The reproducible positions of the peaks reflect biomechanical or physiological constraints. Several significantly large peaks can be observed in a CCF. It is possible to identify coordinated movements involving more than two segments by applying simple rules of compatibility between the time lags and between the signs of the correlation peaks. With the method proposed, it is possible to determine the signs of relative variation and the time lags of the successive statistically correlated segmental movements. This is particularly useful in the case of both continuous and periodic sensorimotor control, where classical poststimulus methods cannot be applied. Unlike the classical poststimulus methods, this method does not require a time origin, and it is not necessary to monitor the muscles or even to specify exactly which ones are involved. The method is also applicable to experiments involving a time origin (e.g., and applied perturbation), although in this case it is less accurate than the averaging technique. Individual postural strategies can be identified, which suggests some interesting potential applications of the method to clinical studies.     

The buffering power of overt socially supportive and unsupportive behaviors from the significant other on posttraumatic stress disorder individuals’ emotional state

Background and objectives: Social support is one of the three strongest predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the present study, we aimed to assess the buffering power of overt socially supportive and unsupportive behaviors from the significant other, in a group with PTSD and a comparison group. Design and methods: A total of 46 individuals with PTSD and 42 individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or panic disorder (PD) completed diagnostic interviews and an anxiety-oriented social interaction with a significant other. Heart rate of participants was continuously measured during this interaction and overt social behaviors from the significant other were recorded on videotape and coded using a validated system. Results: Changes in heart rate in PTSD participants correlated negatively with changes in overt socially supportive behaviors from their significant other (r from ?.36 to ?.50, p?<?.05), while changes in overt unsupportive social behaviors from their significant other did not yield any significant correlation (r from ?.01 to .05, p?>?.05). No such statistically significant association emerged in the group with OCD or PD (r from .01 to ?.27, p?>?.05). Conclusions: This study sustain the buffering power of overt supportive behaviors from the significant other on heart rate changes in PTSD.     

Lexical and semantic fluency discrepancy scores in aMCI and early Alzheimer's disease

Episodic memory is compromised in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), but lesser deficits in other cognitive domains are also commonly observed and may be helpful in identifying this group. The relative difference in performance on lexical and semantic fluency tasks may be a sensitive and specific measure in aMCI and early Alzheimer's disease (AD). We compared four groups of participants, 35 early AD, 47 aMCI, 24 healthy controls, and 18 depressive out‐patient controls, on semantic and lexical fluency as well as other neuropsychological tests. Early AD and aMCI patients showed a distinct pattern of semantic impairment in the two fluency measures compared with the healthy and depressive controls. The findings implicate early failure of the semantic memory system in aMCI and AD and suggest that consideration of the discrepancy in performance on semantic and lexical fluency measures may help in the early identification of AD.     

Spatial memory of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) for hidden objects in a detour task

Spatial memory of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) for hidden objects was investigated via a visible displacement problem of object permanence with a detour paradigm. Experiment 1 showed that dogs were able to spontaneously locate a disappearing object in a detour situation. In Experiments 2 and 3, dead reckoning and allocentric spatial information were put in conflict. Results revealed that dogs simultaneously encoded both sources of information when they had to bypass an obstacle to locate a hidden object. Experiment 3 also revealed that, over the course of testing, dogs gradually learned to rely predominantly on allocentric cues when the detour involved several reorientations. The current study reveals that spatial memory of dogs for hidden objects in a detour task was guided by flexibility in processing spatial information. Dogs could simultaneously encode dead reckoning and allocentric information to locate a disappearing object and used them hierarchically according to the complexity of the detour they encountered in the environment.