Physiological arousal and attention in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

Psychophysiological reactivity has been well documented in WWII, Korean Conflict, and Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In addition, these individuals have demonstrated cognitive impairments within the domains of attention, concentration, new learning, and memory. However, there has been no research examining the impact of physiological arousal on attention in individuals with PTSD. This study documents the level of physiological arousal and associated disruption of attentional abilities in 28 Persian Gulf War veterans (18 without PTSD or other psychopathology and 10 with PTSD). This population represents a group of combat trauma victims who experienced a relatively acute onset of PTSD, thus providing a unique opportunity to compare prior psychophysiological and cognitive results with a group of veterans who manifested a recent onset of PTSD. Results indicated relatively comparable psychophysiological reactivity and arousal between Persian Gulf War veterans with PTSD and Persian Gulf War veterans without PTSD. Furthermore, attentional processes of veterans with PTSD were not more disrupted than in comparison soldiers. Results suggest that the intensity and chronicity of the disorder may impact physiological arousal and disruption of cognitive functioning. Following Persian Gulf War veterans with PTSD over time may reveal that psychophysiological arousal becomes more pronounced with chronicity, perhaps as memory networks become strengthened and/or neuroendocrine systems become increasingly disrupted.     

Memory for feeding in rats' spatial and visual choice behaviour

Four experiments with mazes examined the effects of feeding upon rats' subsequent choice between spatially or visually distinct alternatives. It is concluded that rats can recall both whether any food remained at the cessation of feeding (nondepletion) and whether or not feeding was interrupted; both features can be associated with the place where they occurred. The memory of nondepleted food evokes an unlearned tendency to return to the place where it was present (“win-stay” behaviour). The memory of interruption transiently had a similar effect in naive animals but eventually exerts a more nonspecific influence, which facilitates not only win-stay learning but its opposite, win-shift. The nondepletion effect was also obtained when the alternatives were defined by a visual cue (brightness) rather than spatial location. The determinants of staying and shifting are discussed in terms of reward memory and exploration.     

Embodied Methodologies,Participation, and the Art of Research

In this article, I make the case for scholarship potential at the overlap of art and research. Using the case of the psychological study of adolescence, I show that in order to produce findings of meaning from a critical psychological perspective, it is imperative to consider methodology and epistemology. With a focus on artistic embodied methodologies within participatory action research projects on adolescence, I explore how creative approaches can be an analytic process for knowledge production in the critical social sciences. I argue that the artistic approaches employed using embodied methodologies can be considered as a way to make meaning and that especially within participatory research, these approaches can strengthen validity. In response to the epistemological violence (Teo, 2010) of some conventional social psychological studies, participatory artistic embodied methodologies contribute to building liberatory knowledge and rigorous science.     

A Nonparametric,Multiple Imputation-Based Method for the Retrospective Integration of Data Sets

Complex research questions often cannot be addressed adequately with a single data set. One sensible alternative to the high cost and effort associated with the creation of large new data sets is to combine existing data sets containing variables related to the constructs of interest. The goal of the present research was to develop a flexible, broadly applicable approach to the integration of disparate data sets that is based on nonparametric multiple imputation and the collection of data from a convenient, de novo calibration sample. We demonstrate proof of concept for the approach by integrating three existing data sets containing items related to the extent of problematic alcohol use and associations with deviant peers. We discuss both necessary conditions for the approach to work well and potential strengths and weaknesses of the method compared to other data set integration approaches.     

Motherhood: a potential source of bias in employment decisions

Results of 2 experimental studies in which job incumbents were said to be applying for promotions to traditionally male positions demonstrated bias against mothers in competence expectations and in screening recommendations. This bias occurred regardless of whether the research participants were students (Study 1) or working people (Study 2). Although anticipated job commitment, achievement striving, and dependability were rated as generally lower for parents than for nonparents, anticipated competence was uniquely low for mothers. Mediational analyses indicated that, as predicted, negativity in competence expectations, not anticipated job commitment or achievement striving, promoted the motherhood bias in screening recommendations; expected deficits in agentic behaviors, not in dependability, were found to fuel these competence expectations. These findings suggest that motherhood can indeed hinder the career advancement of women and that it is the heightened association with gender stereotypes that occurs when women are mothers that is the source of motherhood's potentially adverse consequences.     

On the value-dependence of value-driven attentional capture

Findings from an increasingly large number of studies have been used to argue that attentional capture can be dependent on the learned value of a stimulus, or value-driven. However, under certain circumstances attention can be biased to select stimuli that previously served as targets, independent of reward history. Value-driven attentional capture, as studied using the training phase-test phase design introduced by Anderson and colleagues, is widely presumed to reflect the combined influence of learned value and selection history. However, the degree to which attentional capture is at all dependent on value learning in this paradigm has recently been questioned. Support for value-dependence can be provided through one of two means: (1) greater attentional capture by prior targets following rewarded training than following unrewarded training, and (2) greater attentional capture by prior targets previously associated with high compared to low value. Using a variant of the original value-driven attentional capture paradigm, Sha and Jiang (Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 78, 403–414, 2016) failed to find evidence of either, and raised criticisms regarding the adequacy of evidence provided by prior studies using this particular paradigm. To address this disparity, here we provided a stringent test of the value-dependence hypothesis using the traditional value-driven attentional capture paradigm. With a sufficiently large sample size, value-dependence was observed based on both criteria, with no evidence of attentional capture without rewards during training. Our findings support the validity of the traditional value-driven attentional capture paradigm in measuring what its name purports to measure.     

Objectification,Masculinity, and Muscularity: A Test of Objectification Theory with Heterosexual Men

Sex Roles - Objectification theory is increasingly used to explain the body image-related experiences of men because research indicates that men are at heightened risk for body image concerns...