Attentional capture by items that match episodic long-term memory representations

A remarkable ability of the human visual system is the implementation of attentional control settings (ACSs) that govern what stimuli capture or hold attention. We provide evidence that ACSs can be specified by episodic long-term memory representations. In all experiments, participants memorized 30 images of objects that they then monitored for in an attention task, inducing an episodic-based ACS. In Experiments 1a and 1b, only studied cues in a cueing task captured attention. We confirmed these cueing effects reflect capture by testing for inhibition of return in Experiment 2a, and controlled for perceptual masking by cues in Experiment 2b. In Experiment 3 we determined that ACSs are specifically supported by episodic retrieval, by dividing studied images into two sets and designating one as the targets in a rapid serial visual presentation task: Only target-set matching distractors produced a spatial blink (captured attention). These results extend our understanding of the representations specifying ACSs.     

Emotional modulation of attention affects time perception: Evidence from event-related potentials

Emotional effects on human time perception are generally attributed to arousal speeding up or slowing down the internal clock. The aim of the present study is to investigate the less frequently considered role of attention as an alternative mediator of these effects with the help of event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants produced short intervals (0.9, 1.5, 2.7, and 3.3 s) while viewing high arousal images with pleasant and unpleasant contents in comparison to neutral images. Behavioral results revealed that durations were overproduced for the 0.9 s interval whereas, for 2.7 and 3.3 s intervals, underproduction was observed. The effect of affective valence was present for the shorter durations and decreased as the target intervals became longer. More specifically, the durations for unpleasant images were less overproduced in the 0.9 s intervals, and for the 1.5 s trials, durations for unpleasant images were slightly underproduced, compared to pleasant images, which were overproduced. The analysis of different ERP components suggests possible attention processes related to the timing of affective images in addition to changes in pacemaker speed. Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) was larger for positive than for negative images, indicating valence-specific differences in activation of early attention mechanisms. Within the early P1 and the Late Positive Potential (LPP) components, both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli exhibited equal affective modulation. Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) remained independent of both timing performance and affective modulation. This pattern suggests that both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli enhanced arousal and captured attention, but the latter effect was more pronounced for pleasant stimuli. The valence-specificity of affective attention revealed by ERPs combined with behavioral timing results suggests that attention processes indeed contribute to emotion-induced temporal distortions, especially for longer target intervals.     

BeCause of the Effect the role of health messages ordering on behavioral change intention

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Health messages are central to the field of public health in influencing behavioral change, and previous research does not offer a univocal answer on the most...     

Are subjective cognitive complaints associated with executive functions and mental health of older adults?

Cognitive Processing - Subjective cognitive complaints are used to detect detrimental age-related variations in cognitive efficiency before cognitive decline occurs in late adulthood. Despite this,...     

An attribution-emotion-action interpretation of the “evil eye” in everyday conflict situations

An attribution-emotion-action model was used to examine individuals’ willingness to seek for another person's face in conflict situations. To induce interpersonal conflict and frustration, participants were engaged in the ultimatum bargaining game (UBG) where they received predetermined offers. A simple UBG consists of two players, a Proposer and a Responder, who must decide how to divide a resource. Our findings confirm our predictions in that during the interpersonal conflict (i.e., betraying the norm of equality in the UBG), participants made more controllable based attributions, felt more frustrated (less sympathetic), and more likely requested to view the Proposer's photograph than when there is no conflict. Stated differently, in conflict situations, the likelihood of seeking another person's face increases when controllable attributions are made and when frustration is felt.     

An evaluation of matrix training to teach college students piano notes and rhythms

Twelve college students learned to tact the names of notes and rhythms and play them when presented with compound stimuli (visuals of notes and rhythms on a musical staff). In Experiment 1, we assessed generalization by presenting novel notes, rhythms, and compound stimuli not previously paired together. In the second experiment, we added a metronome that played at 60 beats per minute in all conditions for 3 out of 6 participants to ensure consistent tempo. Across both experiments, participants passed almost all posttests with the exception of tacting and playing in the presence of sound clips. Our data suggest that matrix training is an effective procedure to teach music skills to college students.     

At the borders of the average man: Adolphe Quêtelet on mental,moral, and criminal monstrosities

This study examines Adolphe Quêtelet's conception of deviance. It investigates how he identified social marginalities and what actions he recommended governments to undertake. To get a close understanding of his views, this paper examines three cases of “monstrosities,” namely mental alienation, drunkenness, and criminality. My main thesis is that Quêtelet provided scientific authority to a conception of deviance as sickness, immorality, and cost thus encouraging legislators to use statistics for containing social marginalities. The case of alienation shows that Quêtelet viewed insanity as a pathology of civilization to be understood through phrenology. The case of drunkenness demonstrates how Quêtelet conflated the notion of statistical mean with moral decency. The case of criminality illustrates Quêtelet's major concern with the cost of criminals for the state. While advocating for the perfectibility of mankind, Quêtelet urged governments to take actions against what he considered the monstrosities of society.     

Infant mental health home visiting therapists’ fidelity to the Michigan IMH-HV model in community practice settings

Implementation research suggests that fidelity to a therapeutic model is important for enhancing outcomes, yet can be difficult to achieve in community practice settings. Furthermore, few published studies have reported on characteristics of treatment fidelity. The present study examined fidelity to the Infant Mental Health Home Visiting (IMH-HV) model among 51 therapists with a range of experience practicing in community settings across the state of Michigan. IMH therapists completed fidelity checklists after every session with participating families to track use of 15 treatment strategies central to the IMH-HV model across the 12-month study period. Results indicated that the most commonly endorsed components utilized in home visits were developmental guidance and infant–parent psychotherapy, followed by the provision of emotional support. Use of IMH-HV components did not vary over time for the entire sample; however, patterns of strategies used showed somewhat more variability among more experienced therapists and when serving higher risk families. Findings demonstrate that IMH-HV therapists report a range of adherence to the model in community settings, with greatest fidelity to several model core components. Ongoing training in the flexible use of all core strategies may further enhance fidelity and contribute to positive outcomes for caregivers and their children receiving IMH-HV services.     

Infant mental health home visiting therapists’ reflective supervision self-efficacy in community practice settings

In recent years, there has been an increase in the research on reflective supervision, including the development of tools designed to measure reflective practice in the context of reflective supervision. The Reflective Supervision Self-Efficacy Scale for Supervisees (RSSESS) is a self-report measure that has been used in previous evaluations and is designed to assess perceived reflective practice self-efficacy for Infant Mental Health-Home Visiting (IMH-HV) therapists. Properties of the RSSESS including factor structure and reliability are explored in a first study that lays the foundation for the use of the RSSESS in an IMH-HV evaluation in the State of Michigan. IMH-HV therapists completed the RSSESS at 4 time points over a 12-month period and also completed a Clinician Profile Form that included questions about their IMH background and their work experience, including job satisfaction and burnout. Results indicated that the RSSESS is a reliable tool to measure change in reflective practice skills. IMH-HV therapists demonstrated growth in their use of reflective practice skills with families and their observational skills over the 12-month period. In addition, results indicated correlations between reflective supervision self-efficacy and job satisfaction as well as burnout.