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...     

Walking through doorways differentially affects recall and familiarity

Previous research has reported that walking through a doorway to a new location makes memory for objects and events experienced in the previous location less accurate. This effect, termed the location updating effect, has been used to suggest that location changes are used to mark boundaries between events in memory: memories for objects encountered within the current event are more available than those from beyond an event boundary. Within a computer‐generated memory task, participants navigated through virtual rooms, walking through doorways, and interacting with objects. The accuracy and their subjective experience of their memory for the objects (remember/know and confidence) were assessed. The findings showed that shifts in location decreased accurate responses associated with the subjective experience of remembering but not those associated with the experience of knowing, even when considering only the most confident responses in each condition. These findings demonstrate that a shift in location selectively impacts recollection and so contributes to our understanding of boundaries in event memory.     

Exposure to War Trauma, War-Related PTSD, and Psychological Impact of Subsequent Hurricane

This study explored the impact of psychological outcomes to war on response to subsequent natural disaster. Participants were 312 military personnel, 66% of whom saw Gulf War duty. All were exposed to the 1992 Hurricane Andrew. Troops were compared on reported traumatic events, hurricane impact responses, and psychological symptoms in subgroups defined by war or no war exposure prior to hurricane and by presence or absence of war-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Data were gathered in face-to-face clinical assessments. War trauma prior to hurricane was associated with more reported traumatic events, greater fears for safety during the hurricane, and heightened psychological symptoms. Troops with preexisting war-related PTSD showed more adverse psychological hurricane sequelae and reported more traumatic events, higher depression, anxiety, anger, PTSD symptoms, and physical symptoms, and lower self-esteem than those free of diagnoses. Results point to the negative influence of exposure to one traumatic event on the experience of and response to a subsequent stressor.     

Differentiating overreporting and extreme distress: MMPI-2 use with compensation-seeking veterans with PTSD

This purpose of this study was to examine overreporting on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) in compensation-seeking veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A sample of veterans tested during a V.A. hospital compensation and pension exam were given the MMPI-2 and measures of PTSD, depression, and combat exposure. Veteran's MMPI-2s were only included in the analyses if their profile was extremely exaggerated, as measured by an F scale T score above 80, did not elevate the MMPI-2 VRIN and TRIN scales, and had a primary diagnosis of PTSD (n = 127). Using the Infrequency-Psychopathology, F(p), scale to distinguish overreporting from distress, it was found that 98 veterans elevated profiles due to distress, whereas 29 elevated due to overreporting, F(p) below and above 7, respectively. Differences between groups on MMPI-2 clinical scales and the other measures were assessed. Implications of these findings for assessing veteran response style and using the MMPI-2 with a PTSD population are discussed.     

Effects of headings and familiarity with a text on strategies for searching a text

College students were videotaped while they searched chapter-length texts for answers to specific questions. The texts either did not contain headings or contained one of three types of headings that varied in the information that they provided about text organization and content. Familiarity with the text was varied by manipulating (1) the number of prior searches of the text and (2) whether or not the text was read before searching. Measures were taken of the time spent examining each page and of the sequence of examination of pages. Cluster analyses of the search measures revealed that familiarity with the text influenced a searcher's strategy for selecting which pages to examine. Once a page was selected for examination, both headings and familiarity influenced how the page was inspected.     

The implications of threat for blind and constructive patriots and immigration attitudes

Immigration attitudes are influenced by types of patriotism and the perceived threat that immigrants pose. Previous research indicated realistic and symbolic threat mediates the relationships between blind and constructive patriotism types and anti-immigration attitudes in different ways. In two studies, the purpose was to replicate the mediating role of realistic and symbolic threat for the relationship between patriotism types and anti-immigration attitudes, and to determine if inducing threat in constructive patriots would result in immigration attitudes like that of blind patriots. In both studies, hypotheses were confirmed. Blind patriotism predicts realistic threat, symbolic threat, and anti-immigration attitudes. Realistic and symbolic threats provided moderated mediation between blind patriotism and anti-immigration attitudes. Constructive patriotism negatively predicts anti-immigration attitudes, but realistic and symbolic threats provide complete mediation for this relationship. The introduction of threatening information on future demographic changes had no impact on the relationship between blind patriotism, realistic and symbolic threats, and anti-immigration attitude. However, the introduction of demographic threat modified the relationship for constructive patriots, leaving no predictive negative relationship with realistic threat, symbolic threat, or anti-immigration attitude. The findings are important for understanding ethnic threat and the motivations to oppose immigrants in a changing United States.     

What’s the point? Domestic dogs’ sensitivity to the accuracy of human informants

Animal Cognition - Dogs excel at understanding human social-communicative gestures like points and can distinguish between human informants who vary in characteristics such as knowledge or...     

Benchmarking Treatment Response in Tourette’s Disorder: A Psychometric Evaluation and Signal Detection Analysis of the Parent Tic Questionnaire

This study assessed the psychometric properties of a parent-reported tic severity measure, the Parent Tic Questionnaire (PTQ), and used the scale to establish guidelines for delineating clinically significant tic treatment response. Participants were 126 children ages 9 to 17 who participated in a randomized controlled trial of Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT). Tic severity was assessed using the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), Hopkins Motor/Vocal Tic Scale (HMVTS) and PTQ; positive treatment response was defined by a score of 1 (very much improved) or 2 (much improved) on the Clinical Global Impressions – Improvement (CGI-I) scale. Cronbach’s alpha and intraclass correlations (ICC) assessed internal consistency and test-retest reliability, with correlations evaluating validity. Receiver- and Quality-Receiver Operating Characteristic analyses assessed the efficiency of percent and raw-reduction cutoffs associated with positive treatment response. The PTQ demonstrated good internal consistency (α = 0.80 to 0.86), excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = .84 to .89), good convergent validity with the YGTSS and HM/VTS, and good discriminant validity from hyperactive, obsessive-compulsive, and externalizing (i.e., aggression and rule-breaking) symptoms. A 55% reduction and 10-point decrease in PTQ Total score were optimal for defining positive treatment response. Findings help standardize tic assessment and provide clinicians with greater clarity in determining clinically meaningful tic symptom change during treatment.     

Choice or circumstance: When are women penalized for their success?

Past research shows that successful women in traditionally masculine roles often experience interpersonal penalties not sustained by similarly successful men. In two studies we, addressed the question of how the perceived motivation of women for counter-stereotypical positions affects whether such penalties occur. Specifically, we investigated whether women who are successful in male gender-typed roles are less likely to be penalized when their attainment of the role is due to circumstance than to focused and intentional goal pursuit. In Study 1, we compared reactions to women and men who had been successful in a leadership role on a STEM project and showed that when a woman had been arbitrarily assigned to the leadership role she incurred fewer interpersonal penalties than when she had actively pursued it. In Study 2, we replicated and extended these findings by demonstrating similar effects for a successful woman in a financial position when she had attained her position due to a series of lucky breaks rather than purposeful goal-directed efforts. The results of these studies support the idea that the perception that women have actively chosen to pursue counter-normative goals plays an important role in determining whether they are penalized for their success in traditionally male domains. It was not simply being in the role, but how she got there, that determined whether the derogation and dislike shown to be directed at successful women in past research occurred.