Apparent warmth as a function of thermal irradiation

The skin of the back was periodically exposed to a source of radiant heat. In Experiment 1, 20 Ss matched numbers to the apparent warmth aroused by various levels of irradiant flux (method of magnitude estimation). In Experiment 2, 15 Ss matched the loudness of a white noise to the apparent uwmth aroused by the same levels used in Experiment I (method of cross-modality matching). Both experiments showed that apparent warmth is related to absorbed irradiance by a power function whose exponent is approximately 0.7.     

Hard andsoft interacting dimensions: Differential effects of dual context on classification

In this article, we extend Garner’s speeded classification procedure to investigate processes underlying the interaction of the auditory dimensions pitch, loudness, and timbre. In the experiments reported here, subjects classified attributes on these three auditory dimensions. Our extended procedure, calledmulticlass, is based conceptually on our model of how such dimensions interact; the model explains the perception of attributes from an attended dimension through the action of contextual constraints created by variation along an unattended dimension. Two forms of context are present simultaneously in each multiclass task:intraclass context, variation along the unattended dimension that interferes with the classification of attributes, andredundant context, variation along the unattended dimension that enhances classification. We find that such dual-context situations reliably distinguish two kinds of interacting dimensions. Subjects classifying HARD dimensions, here pitch and timbre, resist the ill effects of intraclass.context and reap gains from redundant context. Subjects classifying SOFT dimensions, here loudness, show interference because the attributes are veiled perceptually in dual context, These findings, we argue, demonstrate the power of the multiclass procedure and fit well our view-that dimensional interaction entails processing both at the level of the stimulus whale and at the level of stimulus attributes.     

Seeing either the forest or the trees: dissociation in visuospatial processing

Traditionally, visuospatial processing has resisted fractionation into functional substrates. Recently, however, it has been shown that the brain honors the distinction between global and local processing of hierarchical visual stimuli: unilateral left hemisphere brain-damaged subjects were impaired in their ability to draw the local forms of a hierarchical design, whereas right hemisphere-damaged patients demonstrated the opposite pattern (Delis, Robertson, & Efron, 1986; Delis, Kiefner, & Fridlund, 1988). The present study reports a similar pronounced dissociation in hierarchical visual processing but in quite different populations and in the absence of focal structural brain damage. Mentally retarded subjects with Williams Syndrome are considerably more impaired in global relative to local analysis, whereas subjects with Down Syndrome display the opposite pattern. These results, in concert with other neuropsychological data, are provocative because they suggest that certain cognitive deficits may cluster even in the absence of frank cerebral damage, just as they cluster following insult to one hemisphere. These findings should provide clues to the interrelationship of components of visuospatial processing and other cognitive functions.     

The influence of negative advertising frames on political cynicism and politician accountability

This research examined the influence of negative political advertising frames on the thoughts and feelings people generate in response to campaign advertising. Preparing and conducting this investigation involved the use of a multiple‐method strategy. Content analysis identified two advertising frames (i.e., candidate theme and ad hoc issue advertisements) and two experiments separately induced political cynicism and politician accountability. Three hundred and sixty people participated in the experimental studies, in which they read and responded, using a thought‐listing technique, to candidate theme or ad hoc issue negative advertisements. Results demonstrated that participants were more likely to generate cynical comments and hold politicians accountable for the country's ills when reading candidate theme advertisements than ad hoc issue advertisements. The results indicate that this contributes to a political climate of cynicism and may function to erode the electorate's overall trust in government.     

Longitudinal Relations Between Parent–Child Conflict and Children’s Adjustment: The Role of Children’s Sleep

Sleep was examined as a process variable in relations between verbal and physical parent–child conflict and change in children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms over time. Participants were 282 children at T1 (M age?=?9.44 years; 48 % girls), 280 children at T2 (M age?=?10.41 years), and 275 children at T3 (M age?=?11.35 years). Children reported on parent–child conflict, sleep was assessed with actigraphy, and parents reported on children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Autoregressive effects for sleep and internalizing and externalizing symptoms were controlled to examine change over time. Supportive of intervening processes, physical parent–child conflict at T1 and increased change in internalizing and externalizing symptoms at T3 were indirectly related through their shared association with reduced sleep continuity (efficiency, long wake episodes) at T2. Findings build on a small but growing literature and highlight the importance of considering the role of sleep in relations between family conflict and child development.     

The Relation between Mind‐mindedness in Mothers with Borderline Personality Disorder and Mental State Understanding in their Children

This study investigated relations between mind‐mindedness in mothers with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and mental state understanding in their children. Participants were 20 mothers with BPD and 19 mothers without personality disorder and their children, aged 39–61 months. Children's mental state understanding was examined via a battery of theory of mind and emotion labelling tasks. Maternal mind‐mindedness was assessed by mothers' use of mental state references to describe their children relative to other attributes. Maternal BPD was associated with fewer references to children's mental states as well as poorer levels of mental state understanding in their children. Findings lend some empirical support to recent theoretical suggestions that BPD is associated with a reduced capacity for mentalization, as well as reduced capacity for mental state understanding in children of mothers with BPD. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preliminary evidence for reduced posterror reaction time slowing in hyperactive/inattentive preschool children

Background: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with deficits in self-regulatory cognitive processes, some of which are thought to lie at the heart of the disorder. Slowing of reaction times (RTs) for correct responses following errors made during decision tasks has been interpreted as an indication of intact self-regulatory functioning and has been shown to be attenuated in school-aged children with ADHD. This study attempted to examine whether ADHD symptoms are associated with an early-emerging deficit in posterror slowing. Method: A computerized two-choice RT task was administered to an ethnically diverse sample of preschool-aged children classified as either “control” (n = 120) or “hyperactive/inattentive” (HI; n = 148) using parent- and teacher-rated ADHD symptoms. Analyses were conducted to determine whether HI preschoolers exhibit a deficit in this self-regulatory ability. Results: HI children exhibited reduced posterror slowing relative to controls on the trials selected for analysis. Supplementary analyses indicated that this may have been due to a reduced proportion of trials following errors on which HI children slowed rather than due to a reduction in the absolute magnitude of slowing on all trials following errors. Conclusions: High levels of ADHD symptoms in preschoolers may be associated with a deficit in error processing as indicated by posterror slowing. The results of supplementary analyses suggest that this deficit is perhaps more a result of failures to perceive errors than of difficulties with executive control.     

Evaluations of Sexually Active Men and Women Under Divided Attention: A Social Cognitive Approach to the Sexual Double Standard

Past research on the sexual double standard has generally shown that both men and women are evaluated similarly, not differently, for engaging in high levels of sexual activity. However, the settings in which this research has taken place may have allowed participants to devote almost all of their cognitive resources to the task of evaluating sexually active men and women. Devoting one's full attention to person evaluation may lead to individuation instead of stereotyping. This article reports a study designed to test the hypothesis that when attention is divided, people will evaluate men with many partners more favorably than women with many partners. Participants, under conditions of divided or full attention, evaluated male or female target persons with 1, 7, or 19 sexual partners. Participants in the divided attention condition exhibited a sexual double standard, whereas participants in the full attention condition did not.