Time in the eye of the beholder: Gaze position reveals spatial-temporal associations during encoding and memory retrieval of future and past

Time is grounded in various ways, and previous studies point to a “mental time line” with past associated with the left, and future with the right side. In this study, we investigated whether spontaneous eye movements on a blank screen would follow a mental timeline during encoding, free recall, and recognition of past and future items. In all three stages of processing, gaze position was more rightward during future items compared to past items. Moreover, horizontal gaze position during encoding predicted horizontal gaze position during free recall and recognition. We conclude that mental time line and the stored gaze position during encoding assist memory retrieval of past versus future items. Our findings highlight the spatial nature of temporal representations.     

Dignity and Dissent in Humans and Non-humans

Science and Engineering Ethics - Is there a difference between human beings and those based on artificial intelligence (AI) that would affect their ability to be subjects of (human-like) dignity?...     

Equilibria in Personality States: A Conceptual Primer for Dynamics in Personality States

We provide a basic, step-by-step introduction to the core concepts and mathematical fundamentals of dynamic systems modelling through applying the Change as Outcome model, a simple dynamical systems model, to personality state data. This model characterizes changes in personality states with respect to equilibrium points, estimating attractors and their strength in time series data. Using data from the Personality and Interpersonal Roles study, we find that mean state is highly correlated with attractor position but weakly correlated with attractor strength, suggesting strength provides added information not captured by summaries of the distribution. We then discuss how taking a dynamic systems approach to personality states also entails a theoretical shift. Instead of emphasizing partitioning trait and state variance, dynamic systems analyses of personality states emphasize characterizing patterns generated by mutual, ongoing interactions. Change as Outcome modelling also allows for estimating nuanced effects of personality development after significant life changes, separating effects on characteristic states after the significant change and how strongly she or he is drawn towards those states (an aspect of resiliency). Estimating this model demonstrates core dynamics principles and provides quantitative grounding for measures of ‘repulsive’ personality states and ‘ambivert’ personality structures. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Take a risk or proceed with caution: Prevention motivation moderates responses to near-loss events

A persistently pressing issue identified in the decision-making literature is that people not only fail to recognize the risks entailed in a near-loss event but also subsequently engage in further risk-taking. We contend in this paper that prevention motivation critically regulates decision-makers' responses to a near-loss. Across three studies, we found that high prevention-focused individuals perceive greater risks in a near-loss event and are subsequently less likely to take risks, compared with low prevention-focused individuals. This finding highlights the significance of applying a motivational perspective to studying decision-making and risk.     

Complex prospective memory: development across the lifespan and the role of task interruption

Prospective memory (PM) reflects the product of cognitive processes associated with the formation, retention, delayed initiation, and execution of intentions. It has been proposed that developmental changes in PM across the lifespan are heavily dependent upon the developmental trajectory of executive control functions. This study is the first to apply a complex PM task to children, young adults, and older adults. The procedure allows for the assessment of each of the 4 phases of PM. During intention execution, the authors additionally manipulated whether participants had to actively interrupt attention to the current 'ongoing' task in order to switch to the execution of the next intended task. Group differences mirroring inverted U-shaped functions were observed in those phases conceptualized as relying on executive control (intention formation, initiation, and execution). Age differences in intention execution were substantially greater when active task interruption was necessary. The current study provides the first evidence of growth and decline of complex PM across the lifespan and suggests that the degree of inhibitory control needed to succeed in the task may be one factor underlying this development.     

Cognitive Development in Young-old Type-2 Diabetes Patients: A Longitudinal Analysis From The “Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Aging”

In the present study, we investigated cognitive status and cognitive development in young-old Type-2 diabetes patients. Extending previous research, using the sample of the ILSE study (“Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Aging”), we applied a comprehensive cognitive test battery to 38 Type-2 diabetes patients (mean age at T1: 63 years) and 421 control participants and tested both cognitive status and longitudinal changes after four years in several cognitive domains (crystallized intelligence, verbal memory, visual memory, executive functioning, psychomotor speed, and fluid intelligence). Results revealed no cross-sectional group differences in any cognitive domain at T1 nor at T2. However, testing group differences in intraindividual change over time, reliable group differences in the change of crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence were revealed. While controls improved in crystallized intelligence as well as in fluid intelligence over time, diabetes patients’ performance decreased. The results demonstrate that in young-old adults the effects of diabetes on cognition may only be detected by analyzing within-person changes instead of mean level differences.

Adult age differences in function concept learning

Function concept learning and knowledge use was explored across adulthood. During training older and younger adults predicted an amount of physiological arousal produced as a negative and positive function of a chemical substance. Knowledge use was evaluated with two transfer conditions requiring a switch between contextual contingencies: a relationship inversion, predicting the chemical amount given the physiological arousal, and a change from graphic based to text based stimuli. Older adults were impaired in applying the negative slope concept. However, there was no relative deficit in switching between the negative and positive function slopes or inverting the learned relationship. Our results suggest that age-related differences in relational reasoning tasks vary not only with processing efficiency, but also task related conceptual knowledge.     

Hormones and personality: Testosterone as a marker of individual differences

Recently, testosterone (T) has been linked to behaviors that are conceptually related to dominance as a personality characteristic. Although evidence for this association is growing, the psychometric properties of T as an individual difference variable have been largely neglected. For T to be considered a biological marker of dispositional dominance it is critical that it demonstrates high test–retest reliability and good convergent and discriminant validity. Two studies tested the temporal stability of salivary T in humans and the relationship between T and traditional measures of personality. Across both studies, test–retest reliability for T was high and comparable to the short-term stability of questionnaire-based and implicitly assessed personality assessment instruments. In being modestly correlated with self-reported dominance, T showed some evidence of convergent validity. In being statistically independent from conceptually unrelated personality constructs (such as Emotional Stability and Openness to Experience) it showed good evidence of discriminant validity. The findings strengthen the psychometric foundation for using T as a hormonal marker of individual differences.     

Mood regulation in depression: Differential effects of distraction and recall of happy memories on sad mood

Recent research suggests that the recall of positive memories plays an important role in mood regulation. In this study, the authors examined the ability of currently depressed, formerly depressed, and never-depressed participants to regulate sad mood through the recall of positive memories or through distraction. Although improvement in mood was found for all participants in response to distraction, under instructions to recall positive memories, never-depressed participants' moods improved, whereas formerly depressed participants' sad moods remained unchanged. It is important to note that depressed participants exhibited a worsening of their sad moods after recalling positive memories. These results suggest both that depression is associated with an impaired ability to use positive recall to regulate a sad mood and that this impairment continues to be evident following recovery.