Timing a week later: The role of long-term memory in temporal preparation

Temporal preparation has been investigated extensively by manipulating the foreperiod, the interval between a warning stimulus and target stimulus requiring a speeded response. Although such research has revealed many effects of both the duration and distribution of foreperiods on reaction times, the underlying cognitive mechanism is still largely unknown. Here, we test a recent proposal that temporal preparation is driven by the retrieval of memory traces of past experiences from long-term memory rather than by knowledge about upcoming events. Two groups of participants received different foreperiod distributions in an acquisition phase, which was followed a week later by a transfer phase, in which both groups received the same distribution of foreperiods. We found that the effects of the different foreperiod distributions presented in the acquisition phase were still apparent a week later during the transfer phase, as the reaction time patterns of both groups reflected the old distributions. This occurred even though both groups were provided with full information about the change in the distribution of foreperiods at the start of the transfer phase. These findings provide compelling evidence that long-term memory plays an important role in temporal preparation.     

The effect of directive tutor guidance on students' conceptual understanding of statistics in problem‐based learning

Background. Education is aimed at students reaching conceptual understanding of the subject matter, because this leads to better performance and application of knowledge. Conceptual understanding depends on coherent and error‐free knowledge structures. The construction of such knowledge structures can only be accomplished through active learning and when new knowledge can be integrated into prior knowledge. Aims. The intervention in this study was directed at both the activation of students as well as the integration of knowledge. Sample. Undergraduate university students from an introductory statistics course, in an authentic problem‐based learning (PBL) environment, were randomly assigned to conditions and measurement time points. Method. In the PBL tutorial meetings, half of the tutors guided the discussions of the students in a traditional way. The other half guided the discussions more actively by asking directive and activating questions. To gauge conceptual understanding, the students answered open‐ended questions asking them to explain and relate important statistical concepts. Results and conclusions. Results of the quantitative analysis show that providing directive tutor guidance improved understanding. Qualitative data of students' misconceptions seem to support this finding. Long‐term retention of the subject matter seemed to be inadequate.     

Treatment of acrophobia in virtual reality: the role of immersion and presence

In this study the effects of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) were investigated in patients with acrophobia. Feelings of presence in VRET were systematically varied by using either a head-mounted display (HMD) (low presence) or a computer automatic virtual environment (CAVE) (high presence). VRET in general was found to be more effective than no treatment. No differences were found in effectiveness between VRET using an HMD or CAVE. Results were maintained at 6 months follow-up. Results of VRET were comparable with those of exposure in vivo (Cyberpsychology and Behavior 4 (2001) 335). In treatment completers no relationship was found between presence and anxiety. Early drop-outs experienced less acrophobic complaints and psychopathology in general at pre-test. They also experienced less presence and anxiety in the virtual environment used in session one as compared to patients that completed VRET.     

Effect of preparation on dual-task performance in postural control

The authors applied an overlapping-task design to study the interaction between postural control and cognitive task processes in young (n = 10) and older (n = 10) adults. A rapid destabilizing floor translation was followed at specific time intervals by a simple auditory reaction time (RT) task. The translations were preceded by either an informational cue or no cue. Interference between postural task demands and the RT task was found only in the first 50 ms. Cueing also had an effect on both the onset of the postural recovery response and RT performance. The results suggest (a) only a brief interference between postural and cognitive processing demands in relatively easy tasks, (b) competition for a common central mechanism, possibly a response-selection mechanism, and (c) no differential impact of aging on that interaction.     

Toward an Integrative Perspective on Distinct Positive Emotions for Political Action: Analyzing,Comparing, Evaluating,and Synthesizing Three Theoretical Perspectives

Which emotions explain why people engage in political action (e.g., voting, protesting)? To answer this question, theory and research in psychology and political science predominantly focused on distinct negative emotions such as anger. The current article conceptually explores the motivational potential of distinct positive emotions by developing an integrative perspective that specifies which positive emotions can be differentiated (i.e., their form), which function these emotions have, and which implications these have for explaining political action. To this end, I analyze, compare, evaluate, and synthesize three approaches to positive emotions (affective intelligence theory, appraisal theories of emotion, and broaden-and-build theory). This perspective generates new hypotheses for the field to test, including the role played by distinct positive emotions such as joy, inspiration, interest, hope, and pride in motivating political action. I discuss how this perspective may help restore a balance in research on emotions and political action by focusing on the motivational potential of distinct positive emotions.     

The evil eye: Eye gaze and competitiveness in social decision making

We demonstrate that a person's eye gaze and his/her competitiveness are closely intertwined in social decision making. In an exploratory examination of this relationship, Study 1 uses field data from a high‐stakes TV game show to demonstrate that the frequency by which contestants gaze at their opponent's eyes predicts their defection in a variant on the prisoner's dilemma. Studies 2 and 3 use experiments to examine the underlying causality and demonstrate that the relationship between gazing and competitive behavior is bi‐directional. In Study 2, fixation on the eyes, compared to the face, increases competitive behavior toward the target in an ultimatum game. In Study 3, we manipulate the framing of a negotiation (cooperative vs. competitive) and use an eye tracker to measure fixation number and time spent fixating on the counterpart's eyes. We find that a competitive negotiation elicits more gazing, which in turn leads to more competitive behavior.     

Investigating the parameters of transsaccadic memory: inhibition of return impedes information acquisition near a saccade target

A limited amount of visual information is retained between saccades, which is subsequently stored into a memory system, such as transsaccadic memory. Since the capacity of transsaccadic memory is limited, selection of information is crucial. Selection of relevant information is modulated by attentional processes such as the presaccadic shift of attention. This involuntary shift of attention occurs prior to execution of the saccade and leads to information acquisition at an intended saccade target. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence that another attentional effect, inhibition of return (IOR), has on the information that gets stored into transsaccadic memory. IOR is the phenomenon where participants are slower to respond to a cue at a previously attended location. To this end, we used a transsaccadic memory paradigm in which stimuli, oriented on a horizontal axis relative to saccade direction, are only visible to the participant before executing a saccade. Previous research showed that items in close proximity to a saccade target are likely to be reported more accurately. In our current study, participants were cued to fixate one of the stimulus locations and subsequently refixated the centre fixation point before executing the transsaccadic memory task. Results indicate that information at a location near a saccade landing point is less likely to be acquired into transsaccadic memory when this location was previously associated with IOR. Furthermore, we found evidence which implicates a reduction of the overall amount of elements retained in transsaccadic memory when a location near a saccade target is associated with IOR. These results suggest that the presaccadic shift of attention may be modulated by IOR and thereby reduces information acquisition by transsaccadic memory.     

The social affirmation use of social media as a motivator of collective action

The mobilizing potential of the internet has been widely recognized but also sharply criticized. We propose and test in two studies that the social affirmation use of social media motivates individuals for collective action to achieve social change. In Study 1, we surveyed participants of a university occupation and found that enduring participation was predicted by social affirmation use, mediated by group identification. In Study 2 we experimentally tested our hypothesis, the results of which confirmed that the social affirmation use of a forum (and in particular its interactive aspect) motivated individuals for collective action to achieve social change. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for theory and research on the mobilizing potential of the internet.     

Testing the limits of tolerance: how intergroup anxiety amplifies negative and offensive responses to out-group-initiated contact

Three studies examine the amplifying effects of intergroup anxiety on individuals' negative and offensive responses to out-group-initiated contact. Because intergroup anxiety typically results in avoidance of the initiation of intergroup contact, these studies explored how intergroup anxiety affected individuals' interpretation of and responses to out-group-initiated contact. The authors hypothesized that intergroup anxiety amplifies individuals' threat appraisal of out-group-initiated contact as well as their feelings of anger and offensive action tendencies toward the out-group. Results showed consistent support for these hypotheses by demonstrating that intergroup anxiety amplified individuals' threat appraisal (Studies 2 and 3), anger (Studies 1-3), and offensive action tendencies toward the out-group (Study 2). Anger consistently predicted offensive action tendencies (Studies 2-3). Thus, intergroup anxiety decreased individuals' limits of tolerance by increasing their threat appraisal of out-group-initiated contact. The results are discussed in relation to theories of threat, emotion, and tolerance.     

A longitudinal study on transactional relations between parental marital distress and adolescent emotional adjustment

Using a cross-lagged effect model with 3 waves of data from a 6-year longitudinal study with 3-year intervals, transactional relations between parental marital distress and adolescent emotional adjustment were examined. The sample consisted of 531 parent-adolescent dyads. Results showed that marital distress as reported by parents and emotional adjustment as reported by adolescents were reciprocally related in a transactional model over time. This was principally true for girls and for late adolescents and young adults. For older adolescent girls, an almost full transactional model was found, whereas associations between marital distress and emotional adjustment were less strong for younger girls and were absent for boys.