Rate of Change of Angular Bearing as the Relevant Property in a Horizontal Interception Task During Locomotion

The authors ran 3 experiments to investigate how catchers deal with the horizontal component of the ball's trajectory in an interception task during locomotion. The experiments were built upon the finding that velocity adaptations are based upon changes in the horizontal angular position or velocity of the ball with respect to the observer (M. Lenoir, M. Janssens, E. Musch, E. Thiery, & J. Uyttenhove, 1999); a potential underlying information source for that strategy is described. In Experiment 1, actor (N = 10 participants) and ball approached each other along the legs of a V-shaped track. When the velocity and the initial angular bearing of the ball were varied, the observed behavior fitted with nulling the horizontal angular velocity of the ball: A positive or negative angular velocity was compensated by a velocity change. Evidence was obtained that those adaptations are modulated by a critical change in, rather than by a critical state of, the environment-actor system. In Experiment 2, the distance between the head and an artificial end-effector was varied. Irrespective of that distance, participants (N = 7) accelerated and decelerated in order to keep the angular velocity of the ball with respect to the end-effector close to constant. The ecological relevance of that constant bearing angle strategy was confirmed in Experiment 3: Participants (N = 7) in that experiment freely ran to catch fly balls. The present results support the concept that one can explain with a limited number of control variables an actor's behavior in an interception task during self-motion.     

A Semantic Differential Investigation of Color on the Holtzman

This study was an attempt to find evidence of subjective color disturbance on the Holtzman Inkblot Test. Two tests of anxiety and one of neuroticism were administered to 129 male undergraduates. Those Ss scoring in the extreme ranges on each instrument were classified as high and low groups.

Eight entirely chromatic cards from the Holtzman and their achromatic photographic reproductions served as experimental stimuli while 15 cards (15 mixed chromatic-achromatic cards) served as buffers. The degree of subjective disturbance elicited by each card was determined by means of a semantic differential composed of 16 pairs of bi-polar adjectives.

It was found by means of X² analyses that no significant differences appeared between the two groups of Ss when either the chromatic or achromatic stimuli were rated separately. When a difference measure between the two types of stimuli was employed, both groups rated the chromatic cards in more favorable terms. In the discussion, it was suggested that “novelty shock” might be a more appropriate term than color shock and that traditional color shock indices may be artifacts inherent in Rorschach stimuli and administration. Some suggestions for clarifying the possible interrelationship between neurotic symptomatology and emotional reactions to chromatic stimuli through empirical approaches were advanced.     

Associations Between the Repressive Adaptive Style and Self-Reported Hope in Mexican American and Euro-American Children

The investigators factor-analyzed abstract art preferences and correlated art factors with traits on the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey. Factors were derived from preference ratings on the “Abstract Art Test” developed by Knapp and Green in a previous study. Two of the three multiple loading factors were “non-geometric” or expressionistic; one was “geometric,” rationalistic. Only 2 of the 30 correlations with the GZTS scales were significant at the .10 level, and these could have been due to chance. There is support for dichotomizing abstract art types into “geometric” and “non-geometric” but little support for the role of temperament in aesthetic preference.     

Transformation on the Pacific Crest Trail: A Review of Cheryl Strayed’s Narrative “Wild”

Cheryl Strayed shares her experience of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in her book, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed’s narrative provides readers with insights into her arduous adventure and offers occupational therapy practitioners some understanding of personal transformation through her daily mundane occupations and exceptional accomplishments. Strayed transforms her self-identity, acknowledges the “gifts” given to her during the trek, and shares the epiphanies she discovers.     

Still cautious: Personality characteristics of extremely low birth weight adults in their early 30s

Extremely low birth weight survivors (ELBW; <1000 g) display a personality style characterized by cautiousness, shyness, and risk aversion in their 20s. We examined whether non-impaired ELBW survivors were still more cautious than their normal birth weight (NBW) peers at ages 30–35 and assessed the stability of this personality characteristic across approximately a decade in the oldest known cohort of ELBW survivors. Of the 154 participants tested at ages 22–26, 111 (i.e., 72%) of them returned approximately 10 years later [i.e., 69% (49/71) ELBW and 75% (62/83) NBW], and once again they completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R). We created the same theoretically and empirically derived composite measure of cautiousness at each visit by summing the EPQ-R psychoticism scale (reverse scored) and the EPQ-R lie scale. We found that ELBW adults reported higher cautiousness than their NBW counterparts at ages 30–35. We also found that levels of cautiousness remained stable over approximately 10 years in both groups. Our findings suggest that individuals born at ELBW were more cautious than NBW peers and that this personality characteristic remained stable into their early 30s. The present study appears to be the first empirical demonstration of personality stability among adult ELBW survivors.     

Anticipación semántica e interferencia de tipo Stroop en tareas de denominación de palabras

Resumen

Una relación semántica entre los componentes de estímulo relevantes e irrelevantes facilita la ejecución en tareas de anticipación pero parece inhibir la ejecución en tareas de tipo Stroop. Se estudiaron las causas de esta discrepancia. En una serie de tareas de denominación de palabras, se analizaba el efecto del número de dominios semánticos (que covariaba con el número de alternativas de respuesta) presentando a un grupo de estudiantes un conjunto idéntico de estímulos en forma bloqueada o mixta. El experimento 1 muestra que la presentación bloqueada produce un efecto de interferencia de tipo Stroop, mientras la presentación mixta produce facilitación semántica. Los experimentos 2 y 3 muestran que la variante palabra-palabra de la tarea de Stroop y la variante denominación de palabra de la tarea de anticipación semántica pertenecen a una misma familia de tareas. Ambas tareas muestran: a) un efecto de facilitación cuando el anticipador se relaciona con el objetivo y b) un efecto de interferencia cuando el anticipador es miembro del conjunto de respuesta. En la tarea de Stroop, la competición de respuestas aumenta el efecto de facilitación; en la tarea de anticipación, el efecto de facilitación semántica aumenta el efecto de competición de respuestas.     

How automatic is “automatic vigilance”? The role of working memory in attentional interference of negative information

Whereas attentional interference of negative information has previously been assumed to be automatic, the present research hypothesised that this effect depends on the availability of working-memory resources. In two experiments, participants judged the gender of angry versus happy faces. Working-memory load was manipulated by the presence or absence of a math task (Study 1) or mental rehearsal of a one- versus 8-digit number (Study 2). The results showed that angry faces interfered more with gender naming than happy faces, but only when working-memory load was low. As such, attentional interference of negative stimulus features can be modulated by top-down attentional control processes.     

Overgeneral autobiographical memory predicts changes in depression in a community sample

This study investigated whether overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM) predicts the course of symptoms of depression and anxiety in a community sample, after 5, 6, 12 and 18 months. Participants (N = 156) completed the Autobiographical Memory Test and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) at baseline and were subsequently reassessed using the DASS-21 at four time points over a period of 18 months. Using latent growth curve modelling, we found that OGM was associated with a linear increase in depression. We were unable to detect changes over time in anxiety. OGM may be an important marker to identify people at risk for depression in the future, but more research is needed with anxiety.     

The appraisal basis of anger occurrence and intensity revisited

In a diary study we examined the relation between anger appraisals on the one hand, and the occurrence and intensity of anger experiences in frustrating situations on the other hand. The appraisals of frustration, other presence, other-accountability, and hostile intention are shown to be jointly sufficient for the occurrence of anger experience. Absence of one or more of these appraisals further results in a smaller proportion of anger occurrences, in lower anger intensities, and in both within- and between-person differences in anger occurrence. These results are interpreted in terms of anger experience as a categorical phenomenon for which the jointly sufficient set of appraisals acts as a cognitive point of reference. Willingness to go for anger categorisations in appraisal patterns that deviate from this cognitive point of reference is, at least in part, subject to dispositional individual differences.     

Embodiment effects in memory for facial identity and facial expression

Research suggests that states of the body, such as postures, facial expressions, and arm movements, play central roles in social information processing. This study investigated the effects of approach/avoidance movements on memory for facial information. Faces displaying a happy or a sad expression were presented and participants were induced to perform either an approach (arm flexion) or an avoidance (arm extension) movement. States of awareness associated with memory for facial identity and memory for facial expression were then assessed with the Remember/Know/Guess paradigm. The results showed that performing avoidance movements increased Know responses for the identity, and Know/Guess responses for the expression, of valence-compatible stimuli (i.e., sad faces as compared to happy faces), whereas this was not the case for approach movements. Based on these findings, it is suggested that approach/avoidance motor actions influence memory encoding by increasing the ease of processing for valence-compatible information.