Time pressure effects on information processing in overlapping tasks: evidence from the lateralized readiness potential

Information processing is impaired when two tasks are performed concurrently. The interference between the tasks is commonly attributed to structural bottlenecks or strategic scheduling of information processing. The present experiment investigated the effects of time pressure for the second of two responses on information processing in overlapping tasks by recording the lateralized readiness potential (LRP). Time pressure shortened the latency of the second response by diminishing the time devoted to motoric processing. In addition, task interference decreased under time pressure, which is probably due to the relatively early availability of the central bottleneck stage rather than to increased overlap of central stages. The LRP also provided direct evidence for an additional bottleneck following response selection, possibly due to supramodal refractoriness of response initiation.     

Personality and risk of cognitive impairment 25 years later

The authors examined the relationship between personality and cognitive impairment in 4,039 members of the Swedish Twin Registry. Neuroticism and extraversion scores were collected in 1973 at midlife, and cognitive impairment was assessed in the same group 25 years later. Data were analyzed with case-control and co-twin control designs. Greater neuroticism was associated with higher risk of cognitive impairment in the results from case-control, but not from co-twin, analyses. Compared with both extraversion and introversion, moderate extraversion was associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment in both case-control and co-twin designs, as was the combination of high neuroticism and low extraversion. Findings are discussed in the context of theories related to personality, psychological distress, arousal, and cognitive function.     

Memory for facial expressions: The power of a smile

Faces with expressions (happy, surprise, anger, fear) were presented at study. Memory for facial expressions was tested by presenting the same faces with neutral expressions and asking participants to determine the expression that had been displayed at study. In three experiments, happy expressions were remembered better than other expressions. The advantage of a happy face was observed even when faces were inverted (upside down) and even when the salient perceptual feature (broad grin) was controlled across conditions. These findings are couched in terms of source monitoring, in which memory for facial expressions reflects encoding of the dispositional context of a prior event.     

Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in bipolar disorder

Abnormalities in brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during cognitive and emotional tasks have been identified in bipolar disorder patients, in frontal, subcortical and limbic regions. Several studies also indicate that mood state may be differentiated by lateralization of brain activation in fronto-limbic regions. The interpretation of fMRI studies in bipolar disorder is limited by the choice of regions of interest, medication effects, comorbidity, and task performance. These studies suggest that there is a complex alteration in regions important for neural networks underlying cognition and emotional processing in bipolar disorder. However, measuring changes in specific brain regions does not identify how these neural networks are affected. New analytical techniques of fMRI data are needed in order to resolve some of these issues and identify how changes in neural networks relate to cognitive and emotional processing in bipolar disorder.     

Cognitive behavioral therapy for compulsive buying disorder

To our knowledge, no psychotherapy treatment studies for compulsive buying have been published. The authors conducted a pilot trial comparing the efficacy of a group cognitive behavioral intervention designed for the treatment of compulsive buying to a waiting list control. Twenty-eight subjects were assigned to receive active treatment and 11 to the waiting list control group. The results at the end of treatment showed significant advantages for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) over the waiting list in reductions in the number of compulsive buying episodes and time spent buying, as well as scores on the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale—Shopping Version and the Compulsive Buying Scale. Improvement was well-maintained at 6-month follow-up. The pilot data suggests that a cognitive behavioral intervention can be quite effective in the treatment of compulsive buying disorder. This model requires further testing.     

Folkbiology of freshwater fish

Cross-cultural comparisons of categorization often confound cultural factors with expertise. This paper reports four experiments on the conceptual behavior of Native American and majority-culture fish experts. The two groups live in the same general area and engage in essentially the same set of fishing-related behaviors. Nonetheless, cultural differences were consistently observed. Majority-culture fish experts tended to sort fish into taxonomic and goal-related categories. They also showed an influence of goals on probes of ecological relations, tending to answer in terms of relations involving adult fish. Native American fish experts, in contrast, were more likely to sort ecologically. They were also more likely to see positive and reciprocal ecological relations, tending to answer in terms of relations involving the full life cycle of fish. Further experiments support the view that the cultural differences do not reflect different knowledge bases but rather differences in the organization and accessibility of knowledge. At a minimum the results suggest that similar activities within a well-structured domain do not necessarily lead to common conceptualizations.     

Cumulative semantic inhibition in picture naming: experimental and computational studies

We report an experiment in which subjects named 120 pictures, consisting of series of five pictures drawn from each of 24 semantic categories (and intermixed with 45 fillers). The number of intervening trials (lag) between successive presentations of members of the same category varied from two to eight. Subjects' naming latencies were slowed by 30 ms for each preceding member of the category. This effect was both cumulative and linear, and unrelated to the lag elapsing since the previous presentation of a category member. These results definitively demonstrate the occurrence of cumulative interference for word retrieval by prior retrieval of other exemplars of the same semantic category-cumulative semantic inhibition. We claim that this inhibition effect could only occur if the spoken word production system possesses three specific properties (competition, priming, and sharing of semantic activation). We provide computational-modelling evidence in support of this claim. We show that no current theory of spoken word production has all of these properties. In their current form, all these theories are falsified by these results. We briefly discuss the obstacles that may be encountered by current models were they modified to account for our findings.     

When perspective taking increases taking: reactive egoism in social interaction

Group members often reason egocentrically, believing that they deserve more than their fair share of group resources. Leading people to consider other members' thoughts and perspectives can reduce these egocentric (self-centered) judgments such that people claim that it is fair for them to take less; however, the consideration of others' thoughts and perspectives actually increases egoistic (selfish) behavior such that people actually take more of available resources. A series of experiments demonstrates this pattern in competitive contexts in which considering others' perspectives activates egoistic theories of their likely behavior, leading people to counter by behaving more egoistically themselves. This reactive egoism is attenuated in cooperative contexts. Discussion focuses on the implications of reactive egoism in social interaction and on strategies for alleviating its potentially deleterious effects.     

Physical self-presentation and competitive anxiety in male master divers

This study investigated the link between physical self-presentation and competitive anxiety in male, master-level, high-board divers (N=84, M age = 29.3 yr., SD = 14.3). Competitive trait anxiety, social physique anxiety, and physical self-presentation confidence were assessed using the Sport Anxiety Scale, Social Physique Anxiety Scale, and the Physical Self-presentation inventory. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that variance in competitive anxiety was accounted for by the physical self-presentation variables and that these variables were more strongly associated with the cognitive anxiety subscale Worry, and to a lesser extent, Somatic Anxiety. The results of this study provide support for the argument that physical self-presentation is associated with competitive anxiety in male athletes.