Mental workload and visual impairment: differences between pupil, blink, and subjective rating

This research has two aims: (a) To study the concurrent validity of three measures of mental workload, NASA TLX rating scale, pupil dilation and blink rate, testing the hypothesis that they will provide convergent results using a single-task, and dissociative results for dual-task; and (b) To analyse their capability to predict visual search impairment. These three measures were analyzed in the same cognitive tasks in single-task and dual-task (cognitive task and visual search) conditions in a within-subjects experiment with twenty-nine participants. Mental workload measures showed concurrent validity under single-task condition, but a complex pattern of results arose in the dual-task condition: it is suggested that NASA TLX would be a subjective addition of the rating of each task; pupil dilation would measure the average arousal underlying the cognitive tasks; and the blink rate would produce opposite effects: whereas mental workload of cognitive tasks would increase blink rate, visual demand would inhibit it. All three measures were good predictors of visual impairment. The soundness of these measures is discussed with regard to the applied field of driving and other activities.     

Putting Self-Regulation Theory into Practice: A User's Manual

Cervone, Shadel, Smith, and Fiori (2006 ) propose that theories of personality architecture may provide an integrative theoretical framework for self-regulation research. Building further on this argument, the present paper considers one comprehensive modern approach to personality architecture, personality systems interactions (PSI) theory. The authors provide a brief overview of PSI theory and discuss a simple, three-step "user's manual" that has guided applications of the theory to real-life behavior. Work on PSI theory highlights some of the integrative potential of personality science in the field of self-regulation. The authors conclude that theories of personality architecture may improve the quality and precision of the counselling, coaching, and training that psychologists in many diverse areas provide.     

Study on the relations between temperament,aggression, and anger in children

The present work analyzes the relationships between the dimensions of temperament and the exteriorized emotions of aggression and anger. Temperament was assessed by mothers using the Dimensions of Temperament Survey‐Revised, while aggression and anger were self‐reported by the children using the Scale of physical and Verbal Aggression and the State–Trait Anger Expression Inventory for Children. The sample studied was made up of 293 children (49.83% boys; 50.17% girls) with a mean age of 11.13 years. The results showed that temperamental difficulties give rise to exteriorized emotions, especially anger. Predictive values of temperament on aggression and anger ranged from 1% to 7% of explained variance. Aggr. Behav. 32:207–215, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The Role of Thin‐Slice Judgments in Consumer Psychology

This article examines the potential theoretical and practical contributions that thin‐slice judgments may offer to consumer psychology. We begin by exploring thin‐slice judgments in the context of existing consumer information processing research. Then, we discuss the antecedents of thin‐slice judgments, the type of processing that may underlie and impact thin‐slice judgment formation. Finally, we review the potential consequences of thin‐slice judgments and investigate applications within the consumer domain.     

The Role of Irrelevant,Class-Consistent,and Class-Inconsistent Intraverbal Training on the Establishment of Equivalence Classes

The Psychological Record - The current study evaluated whether college students’ performance on visual–visual matching-to-sample (MTS) tasks were differentially affected by learning to...     

Precompetitive anxiety and self-confidence in athletes with disability

This study examined the precompetition temporal patterning of competitive anxiety components in 42 athletes with disability who participated at the national level and at the national trials for the Paralympic Games in a variety of sports. All subjects completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 which measures intensity and direction of the competitive anxiety response on three occasions before competition (1 wk., 2 hr., and 20 min.). Analysis suggested that for cognitive and somatic dimensions athletes with disabilities show a similar precompetition anxiety response to athletes without disability. However, there appear to be some differences, particularly in the intensity of self-confidence, as athletes with disability reported a reduction of self-confidence just prior to competition.     

Suggestion overrides the Stroop effect in highly hypnotizable individuals

Cognitive scientists distinguish between automatic and controlled mental processes. Automatic processes are either innately involuntary or become automatized through extensive practice. For example, reading words is a purportedly automatic process for proficient readers and the Stroop effect is consequently considered the "gold standard" of automated performance. Although the question of whether it is possible to regain control over an automatic process is mostly unasked, we provide compelling data showing that posthypnotic suggestion reduced and even removed Stroop interference in highly hypnotizable individuals. Drawing on a large sample of highly hypnotizable participants, we examined the effects of suggestion on Stroop performance both with and without a posthypnotic suggestion to perceive the input stream as meaningless symbols. We show that suggestion administered to highly hypnotizable persons significantly reduced Stroop interference and derailed a seemingly automatic process.     

Visual category-selectivity for faces, places and objects emerges along different developmental trajectories

The organization of category-selective regions in ventral visual cortex is well characterized in human adults. We investigated a crucial, previously unaddressed, question about how this organization emerges developmentally. We contrasted the developmental trajectories for face-, object-, and place-selective activation in the ventral visual cortex in children, adolescents, and adults. Although children demonstrated adult-like organization in object- and place-related cortex, as a group they failed to show consistent face-selective activation in classical face regions. The lack of a consistent neural signature for faces was attributable to (1) reduced face-selectivity and extent of activation within the regions that will become the FFA, OFA, and STS in adults, and (2) smaller volumes and considerable variability in the locus of face-selective activation in individual children. In contrast, adolescents showed an adult-like pattern of face-selective activation, although it was more right-lateralized. These findings reveal critical age-related differences in the emergence of category-specific functional organization in the visual cortex and support a model of brain development in which specialization emerges from interactions between experience-dependent learning and the maturing brain.     

Depressive Realism: Wiser or Quieter?

The Psychological Record - Depressive realism consists of the lower personal control over uncontrollable events perceived by depressed as compared to nondepressed individuals. In this article, we...