A comparison of cue competition in a simple and a complex design

Recent evidence suggests that controlled reasoning processes play an important role in cue competition in human causal learning (see De Houwer, J., Beckers, T., & Vandorpe, S. (2005). Evidence for the role of higher-order reasoning processes in cue competition and other learning phenomena. Learning &Behavior, 33(2), 239-249, for a review). Until now, this evidence comes almost exclusively from studies with simple designs that involved only a limited number of cues. Little is known about the role of controlled reasoning processes when the design is more complex. It is important to examine this issue because the complexity of the design could determine the resources that are available for reasoning and thus the role that reasoning plays in cue competition. We directly compared cue competition in a simple and a complex design. The results showed that complexity of the design affected retrospective cue competition but not forward cue competition. More fine grained analyses with respect to retrospective cue competition showed that unovershadowing but not backward blocking differed significantly between complexity conditions.     

Fifty years on: a training for the 21 century, from couple to community

The paper describes the gradual transformation of the structures, process and content of the adult training at the Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP) from 1997 when the potential for individuation had gone awry through lack of a culturally relevant and coherent programme until 2005 when trainees' professional and personal individuation could be enhanced by a process and a curriculum representing fairly the interests and beliefs of the range of different approaches to Jungian psychology that are to be found in the SAP. The process has taken eight years to complete and in the paper, the authors, two successive Directors of Training, describe the persistent resistances to necessary change from within their Society, focusing in particular on the key role of the founder member; the privileging of the internal world at the expense of significant external factors; a confusion of roles among members between volunteers and professionals and last, but by no means least, the contamination of the educative task and the creation of a training community by fantasies of the mother/infant couple.     

Stressors, resources, and strain at work: a longitudinal test of the triple-match principle

Two longitudinal studies investigated the issue of match between job stressors and job resources in the prediction of job-related strain. On the basis of the triple-match principle (TMP), it was hypothesized that resources are most likely to moderate the relation between stressors and strains if resources, stressors, and strains all match. Resources are less likely to moderate the relation between stressors and strains if (a) only resources and stressors match, (b) only resources and strains match, or (c) only stressors and strains match. Resources are least likely to moderate the relation between stressors and strains if there is no match among stressors, resources, and strains. The TMP was tested among 280 and 267 health care workers in 2 longitudinal surveys. The likelihood of finding moderating effects was linearly related to the degree of match, with 33.3% of all tested interactions becoming significant when there was a triple match, 16.7% when there was a double match, and 0.0% when there was no match. Findings were most consistent if there was an emotional match or a physical match.     

Investigating the dopaminergic basis of extraversion in humans: A multilevel approach

A recent theory suggests that the agency facet of Extraversion (E) is based on brain dopamine (DA). The paucity of human data relevant to this model is probably due to the lack of widely accessible noninvasive psychophysiological indices and well-established behavioral measures sensitive to both E and manipulations of DA activity. Aiming to identify such measures, the authors assessed the electroencephalogram and n-back task performance in groups of introverts and extraverts after administration of either placebo or a selective DA D2 receptor antagonist. As predicted, the antagonist's effects on n-back reaction time measures and frontal versus parietal electroencephalogram theta activity were strongly and specifically modulated by E. New research avenues and theoretical extensions suggested by these results are discussed.     

The MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales and restraints to innovation, or "what have they done to my song?"

Rogers, Sewell, Harrison, and Jordan (2006/this issue) largely replicate in an independent clinical sample the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales developed by Tellegen et al. (2003). Nichols (2006/this issue) raises numerous concerns about the development and utility of the RC Scales, which on close appraisal did not change our view that the scales are well conceived and potentially valuable to researchers and clinicians alike. We present two case studies in which the RC Scales helped clarify complex MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) profiles with multiple elevations on the Clinical, Content, Supplementary, and Personality Psychopathology Five (Harkness, McNulty, Ben-Porath, & Graham, 2001) scales. When interpretations refined by the RC Scales were discussed with the clients, each seemed to feel deeply understood. Reservations about instrument innovation can be appreciated as helping to counterbalance change and thereby ensure the MMPI-2's successful ongoing evolution. We discuss specific ways the MMPI-2 community could avoid polarization about the RC Scales.     

Phoneme awareness is a key component of alphabetic literacy skills in consistent and inconsistent orthographies: evidence from Czech and English children

Two studies investigated the importance of phoneme awareness relative to other predictors in the development of reading and spelling among children learning a consistent orthography (Czech) and an inconsistent orthography (English). In Study 1, structural equation models revealed that Czech (n=107) and English (n=71) data were fitted well by the same predictors of reading and spelling. Phoneme awareness was a unique predictor in all models. In Study 2, Czech (n=40) and English (n=27) children with dyslexia showed similar deficits on phoneme awareness relative to their age- and spelling-matched control peers. Phoneme awareness appears to be a core component skill of alphabetic literacy, which is equally important for learners of consistent and inconsistent orthographies.     

Attentional capture and inhibition (of return): the effect on perceptual sensitivity

The present study was designed to determine the spatial distribution of attention in displays in which an irrelevant color singleton was present. The results show that at the location of an irrelevant singleton, there is, first, an increased sensitivity (d'), followed later by a reduced sensitivity. The increased sensitivity implies that, first, the irrelevant singleton captured spatial attention, producing an increased sensory gain for input at the irrelevant distractor location. The later-occurring, reduced sensitivity implies the operation of inhibitory processes, possibly related to inhibition of return.     

Avoidance behavior can function as a negative occasion setter

The authors put forward the hypothesis that avoidance learning can result from the fact that participants learn (a) that a stimulus is followed by an unconditioned stimulus (US) when the avoidance behavior is not emitted and (b) that the stimulus is not followed by the US when the avoidance behavior is emitted. As such, avoidance behavior is assumed to function as a negative occasion setter. The results of a contingency judgment experiment involving 65 students showed that avoidance behavior indeed has the unique functional properties of a negative occasion setter (resistance to counterconditioning and selective transfer of modulation).