Pop-out and pop-in: Visual working memory advantages for unique items

Attentional control is thought to play a critical role in determining the amount of information that can be stored and retrieved from visual working memory (VWM). We tested whether and how task-irrelevant feature-based salience, known to affect the control of visual attention, affects VWM performance. Our results show that features of a task-irrelevant color singleton are more likely to be recalled from VWM than non-singleton items and that this increased memorability comes at a cost to the other items in the display. Furthermore, the singleton effect in VWM was negatively correlated with an individual’s baseline VWM capacity. Taken together, these results suggest that individual differences in VWM storage capacity may be partially attributable to the ability to ignore differences in task-irrelevant physical salience.     

Marriage and Family Therapy Students’ Views on Including Weight Bias Training into Their Clinical Programs

Discussions about diversity rarely focus on overweight, obesity, and bias about body size (i.e., weight bias). These discussions allow students to develop self-awareness about how their biases can affect their clinical work, as well as the challenges and subsequent bias clients may face in their everyday lives and from clinical providers. One consequence of the rising prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States is the increase in the level of weight bias and discrimination towards individuals who are overweight, which has been documented among mental and healthcare professionals. Thus, it is imperative that training programs integrate weight bias as a part of diversity training. The authors will review weight bias in mental and healthcare professions, and describe several trainings focused on self-awareness about weight bias. The purpose of this study was to pilot and evaluate a training program for marriage and family therapy (MFT) students about developing self-awareness around weight bias and working with clients who are overweight. Following the program, focus groups were conducted to explore participants’ experiences, learning, and feedback on the content and delivery method. Focus Group methodology was used to guide the analysis process. Four themes emerged: training program feedback, challenges for the MFT field, self-of-therapist, and etiology of weight loss/gain. Implications for MFT training programs are discussed.     

Great Expectations: The Relation Between Expectancies and Adjustment During the Transition to University1

The nature of students' expectations about university, and their relation with adjustment in university, were examined in a longitudinal investigation. Prior to starting university, participants responded to open‐ended questions regarding their expectations about university. At this time, and during their 1st, 2nd, and 4th years of study, measures of adjustment were completed. Four distinct types of expectations about university were identified: optimistic, prepared, fearful, and complacent. Students whose expectations were fearful reported more stress, depression, and poorer university adjustment than did individuals with other types of expectations, particularly prepared. Moreover, group differences in university adjustment existed throughout students' 4 years at university, and were not attributable to self‐reported previous levels of personal adjustment or academic achievement.     

Spatial attention is necessary for object-based attention: Evidence from temporal-order judgments

Attentional selection is a dynamic process that relies on multiple types of representations. That object representations contribute to attentional selection has been known for decades; however, most evidence for this contribution has been gleaned from studies that have relied on various forms of spatial cueing (some endogenous and some exogenous). It has thus remained unclear whether object-based attentional selection is a direct result of spatial cuing, or whether it still emerges without any spatial marker. Here we used a novel method—the temporal-order judgment (TOJ)—to examine whether object-based guidance emerges in the absence of spatial cuing. Participants were presented with two rectangles oriented either horizontally or vertically. Following a 150-ms preview time, two target stimuli were presented on the same or on different objects, and participants were asked to report which of the two stimuli had appeared first. The targets consisted of stimuli that formed a percept of a “hole” or a “hill.” First, we demonstrated that the “hill” target was indeed processed faster, as evidenced by a positive perceived simultaneity (PSS) measure. We then demonstrated that if two targets appeared with equal probabilities on the same and on different objects, the PSS values, although positive, were not modulated by the objects. In a subsequent set of experiments, we showed that objects can modulate attentional allocation—however, only when they are biased by a spatial (endogenous) cue. In other words, in the absence of a spatial cue or bias, object representations do not guide attentional selection. In addition to providing new constraints for theories of object-based attentional guidance, these experiments introduce a novel paradigm for measuring object-based attentional effects.     

“I Hate These Little Turds!”: Science,Entertainment, and the Enduring Popularity of Scared Straight Programs

Americans’ opinions about crime and justice are more often shaped by media coverage than by scientific evidence. A prime example of this phenomenon is Arts and Entertainment (A&E) Network’s Beyond Scared Straight program—a show that has achieved strong ratings despite the large body of empirical evidence demonstrating the ineffectiveness of inmate–juvenile confrontation tactics. To understand the complexity of American citizens’ opinions toward this program, we conducted a qualitative analysis of the online responses to the television series Beyond Scared Straight. The themes that emerged center around beliefs about the effectiveness of Scared Straight, the level of brutality displayed, its inspirational and emotional content, and its authenticity. We discuss these results in terms of the need for scholars to more effectively communicate social science information concerning what does—and does not—“work” to the public and to correctional policymakers.     

The Differential Impact of Video-Stimulated Recall and Concurrent Questioning Methods on Beginning Readers' Verbalization About Self-Monitoring During Oral Reading

This pilot study explored two methods of eliciting beginning readers' verbalizations of their thinking when self-monitoring oral reading: video-stimulated recall and concurrent questioning. First and second graders (N = 11) were asked to explain their thinking about repetitions, attempts to self-correct, and successful self-corrects, in order to determine affordances and constraints of these two methods. Data analysis revealed the concurrent questioning method enabled students to recall their thinking and did not hinder comprehension. Video-stimulated recall method elicited fewer explanations due to a higher cognitive load from successive questioning and from an extended time interval between the oral reading and discussion.     

Examining task difficulty and the time course of inhibition of return: detecting perceptually degraded targets.

The ability to efficiently direct visual attention to salient features in the environment is a critical function of the visual system. The finding that people are slower to detect a target that appears at a previously cued location is thought to reflect a mechanism known as inhibition of return (IOR). Past research has shown that difficult target discriminations result in a greater amount of time needed to inhibit previously attended locations (i.e., a delayed onset of inhibition), suggesting that task difficulty plays a critical role in the allocation of attention. In this study, IOR was measured at a wide range of SOAs while participants detected either a perceptually degraded target or a standard, high luminance target. When responses were made to a perceptually degraded target, the time course of IOR was delayed by approximately 250 ms (relative to the control group), suggesting that the difficulty in detecting targets also influences the allocation of attention. The results are consistent with the notion that IOR is not simply a reflexive subcortical mechanism but rather involves top-down attentional control settings.     

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways: parenting during adolescence, attachment styles, and romantic narratives in emerging adulthood

In this longitudinal study, a quantitative and qualitative examination of the associations among parent-child relations, adult attachment styles, and relationship quality and theme in romantic narratives was conducted. Parenting and adult attachment style were assessed through questionnaires, whereas overall quality of romantic relationships (regard and importance), intimacy, and romantic story theme were examined with a life story approach (McAdams, 1993). At ages 17 and 26 years, 100 participants completed a series of questionnaires and also, at age 26, told a story about a "relationship-defining moment" with a romantic partner. Parent-child relations when participants were 17 years old were related predictably to all three attachment styles. About 70% of the sample told romantic stories with a "true love" type of theme. Associations between parent-child relations when the child was 17 and this type of theme in the story told when the participant was 26 were mediated by a more secure (and a less avoidant) attachment style when the participant was 26, as predicted. The implications of these findings for links between attachment models and the life story are discussed.     

Learning language from the input: why innate constraints can't explain noun compounding

Do the production and interpretation of patterns of plural forms in noun-noun compounds reveal the workings of innate constraints that govern morphological processing? The results of previous studies on compounding have been taken to support a number of important theoretical claims: first, that there are fundamental differences in the way that children and adults learn and process regular and irregular plurals, second, that these differences reflect formal constraints that govern the way the way regular and irregular plurals are processed in language, and third, that these constraints are unlikely to be the product of learning. In a series of seven experiments, we critically assess the evidence that is cited in support of these arguments. The results of our experiments provide little support for the idea that substantively different factors govern the patterns of acquisition, production and interpretation patterns of regular and irregular plural forms in compounds. Once frequency differences between regular and irregular plurals are accounted for, we find no evidence of any qualitative difference in the patterns of interpretation and production of regular and irregular plural nouns in compounds, in either adults or children. Accordingly, we suggest that the pattern of acquisition of both regular and irregular plurals in compounds is consistent with a simple account, in which children learn the conventions that govern plural compounding using evidence that is readily available in the distribution patterns of adult speech.