Musical expertise has minimal impact on dual task performance

Studies investigating effect of practice on dual task performance have yielded conflicting findings, thus supporting different theoretical accounts about the organisation of attentional resources when tasks are performed simultaneously. Because practice has been proven to reduce the demand of attention for the trained task, the impact of long-lasting training on one task is an ideal way to better understand the mechanisms underlying dual task decline in performance. Our study compared performance during dual task execution in expert musicians compared to controls with little if any musical experience. Participants performed a music recognition task and a visuo-spatial task separately (single task) or simultaneously (dual task). Both groups showed a significant but similar performance decline during dual tasks. In addition, the two groups showed a similar decline of dual task performance during encoding and retrieval of the musical information, mainly attributed to a decline in sensitivity. Our results suggest that attention during dual tasks is similarly distributed by expert and non-experts. These findings are in line with previous studies showing a lack of sensitivity to difficulty and lack of practice effect during dual tasks, supporting the idea that different tasks may rely on different and not-sharable attentional resources.     

Early predictors of self‐regulation in middle childhood

The present study examined the contribution of caregiving practices at ages 4–5 (Time 1) to children's capacity for self‐regulation at ages 8–9 (Time 2). The multi‐ethnic sample comprised 549 children of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) participants. High levels of maternal warmth and low levels of physically punitive discipline at Time 1 were associated with a greater capacity for self‐regulation at Time 2. These associations remained significant once initial levels of self‐regulation were taken into account, indicating that the development of self‐regulation is open to caregiver influence during childhood. Neither child gender nor ethnicity moderated the effects of early parenting practices on later self‐regulation; the interaction between low maternal warmth and high discipline was also non‐significant. Findings add to the literature on how early parenting practices shape children's capacity for effective self‐regulation, and have implications for researchers and practitioners. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Expanded norms for 400 experimental pictures in an Argentinean Spanish-speaking population

The study of the cognitive processes in the production of language demands careful selection of stimuli and requires normative databases. The main goal of the present research was to collect normative data for the set of 400 figures taken from Cycowicz, Friedman, Rothstein, and Snodgrass (1997; including the 260 figures of Snodgrass & Vanderwart, 1980) using a sample of native Argentinean Spanish speakers. The pictures have been standardized on the following variables: name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, visual complexity, image variability, age of acquisition, and word association. The obtained norms were compared with the normative data of other studies in Spanish, English, and French. This comparison highlights the variability of some of the measures (e.g., name agreement in naming and verbal association) across the different studies and confirms the necessity of elaborating specific norms that are adapted to the studied population’s linguistic and sociocultural context. The norms described may be downloaded as supplemental materials for this article from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.     

The Factor Structure of the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in Thirteen Distinct Populations

There is considerable evidence that self-criticism plays a major role in the vulnerability to and recovery from psychopathology. Methods to measure this process, and its change over time, are therefore important for research in psychopathology and well-being. This study examined the factor structure of a widely used measure, the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in thirteen nonclinical samples (N?=?7510) from twelve different countries: Australia (N?= 319), Canada (N?= 383), Switzerland (N?= 230), Israel (N?=?476), Italy (N?=?389), Japan (N?=?264), the Netherlands (N?=?360), Portugal (N?=?764), Slovakia (N?=?1326), Taiwan (N?=?417), the United Kingdom 1 (N?=?1570), the United Kingdom 2 (N?=?883), and USA (N?=?331). This study used more advanced analyses than prior reports: a bifactor item-response theory model, a two-tier item-response theory model, and a non-parametric item-response theory (Mokken) scale analysis. Although the original three-factor solution for the FSCRS (distinguishing between Inadequate-Self, Hated-Self, and Reassured-Self) had an acceptable fit, two-tier models, with two general factors (Self-criticism and Self-reassurance) demonstrated the best fit across all samples. This study provides preliminary evidence suggesting that this two-factor structure can be used in a range of nonclinical contexts across countries and cultures. Inadequate-Self and Hated-Self might not by distinct factors in nonclinical samples. Future work may benefit from distinguishing between self-correction versus shame-based self-criticism.     

Neurophysiological characteristics of acts of remembering in the process of positive ageing / Características neurofisiológicas de los actos de recuerdo en el proceso de envejecimiento positivo

Abstract

‘Acts of remembering’ refer to the conscious cognitive process that facilitates recognition of socioculturally relevant events. This study presents an analysis of the differences and similarities between the morphological characteristics and architecture of Event-Related Potentials associated with the visual recognition of cultural events, by comparing a group of older adults (n = 15) with a group of young adults (n = 17). The results show similar modulations in the N1, P2, P300 and N400 components while a differential modulation appears in N200, a component that has been associated with attentional processes. Two ways of interpreting the results are put forward: one suggests that with age come greater difficulties for cognitive processing and the other suggests that older adults have a particular interest in this type of material.     

Neurodynamics inside therapeutic interaction: a case study with simultaneous EEG recording / La neurodinámica en el contexto de la interacción terapéutica: un estudio de caso con una grabación simultánea de EEG

Recent research on processes of psychotherapy has focused on the study of patient-therapist regulation. Evidence concerning verbal and nonverbal coordination as predictors of therapeutic alliance and outcome in psychotherapy has been cumulating. These, along with others results in the field of social neuroscience, suggest that behavioural coordination may have neurophysiological correlates, which play a role in the regulatory process in psychotherapy. Here we introduce an observational paradigm and analytic method to assess the joint neurodynamic activity of patient and therapist. Additionally we report results from ongoing psychotherapy sessions. Our work highlights the involvement of brain activity in the psychotherapeutic process and provides novel insights on how psychotherapy works, in order to further the understanding of the embodied characteristic of the therapeutic interaction.     

Premarital Sexual Debut in Emerging Adults of South Asian Descent: The Role of Parental Sexual Socialization and Sexual Attitudes

Ethnicity is an important factor in premarital sexual debut as norms regarding appropriate sexual conduct outside of marriage vary considerably across cultures. Emerging adults of South Asian descent living in Western societies are an important demographic group, yet little is known about the factors that contribute to variations in their premarital sexual debut. The goal of this study was to investigate the contributions of parental sexual socialization and attitudes toward premarital sexual behaviors to premarital sexual debut in emerging adults of South Asian descent. University students of South Asian descent (N = 87) aged 18–24 completed a questionnaire containing measures of parental attitudes toward premarital sexual behaviors, their own attitudes toward premarital sexual behaviors, and experience with oral sex and intercourse. Mediation analyses showed that perceptions of mothers’ as more permissive toward premarital sexual behaviors was associated with respondents reporting more permissive attitudes toward premarital sexual behaviors, which in turn was associated with a greater likelihood of having engaged in oral sex and intercourse. No significant effect was found for fathers. These findings suggest that parental sexual socialization may influence emerging adults of South Asian descent’s decision to engage in premarital sexual behaviors through the process of sexual attitudes formation.     

Friendships,Subjective Age,and Life Satisfaction of Women in Midlife

The authors conducted a study of 422 women, ages 31 to 77 years, to explore the relationships among friendship networks, subjective age, and life satisfaction. Friendship network size was related to lower subjective age but not to chronological age. More frequent visits with friends were related to lower subjective age and to higher life satisfaction. Satisfaction with the number of friends and a larger number of friends were related to higher levels of life satisfaction. Subjective age, group belonging, and being someone's best friend were significant predictors of life satisfaction.     

James’s theory of emotion and affective turn in psychology / La teoría de las emociones de James y el giro afectivo en psicología

Using William James’s classical theory of the emotions, this article discusses the way the relationship between cognition and emotion are predominantly explained and operationalized in contemporary psychology and neuroscience research. Specific aspects of James’s theory are reconstructed, connecting his more general philosophical framework with arguments about the relationship between subjective experience and the process of corporal change. A review published in the journal Cognition & Emotion (C&E) (2001–11) concludes that almost all its literature is based on the idea of interaction between two different processes, while James suggests that the process of experience is one and the same. Dialogue between these two scenarios facilitates the identification of current research potentialities in terms of mixed-method studies and with emphasis on the temporality of action, overall physiological change, and uniqueness of experience.