Approach-avoidance goals and relationship problems,communication of stress,and dyadic coping in couples

Partners in romantic relationships differ in the extent to which they are oriented towards positive outcomes (e.g., intimacy) or away from negative outcomes (e.g., conflict). The present study examines these approach-avoidance relationship goals in relation to self-reported relationship problems, stress communication, and dyadic coping. Hypotheses were tested on a dyadic level (Actor-Partner Interdependence Model) using data from 368 couples. As expected, people endorsing approach goals reported fewer relationship problems, more effective stress communication, and better dyadic coping. People endorsing avoidance goals reported more relationship problems and poorer dyadic coping. Further, approach-oriented people tended to perceive their partner as being more communicative and more supportive, whereas avoidance-oriented people tended to perceive their partner as more communicative but less supportive. Reports by partners agreed with the self-reports of approach- and avoidance-oriented spouses concerning stress communication and dyadic coping. These findings highlight motivational factors in general, and orientation towards approach-avoidance goals in particular, as key features in understanding relationship maintenance.     

幼儿对条件许诺的理解

通过给4、5、6岁儿童呈现一系列图片,分别代表孩子、妈妈以及双方违反约定的不同情况,考察了幼儿对条件许诺形式的社会约定的理解。结果表明：幼儿对条件许诺的认知表现出明显的发展趋势,绝大多数幼儿都能指出孩子违反,随年龄增大能指出妈妈违反、双违反的人次百分比逐渐增多,其中4岁组没有人能指出妈妈违反,5岁组没有人能指出双违反;幼儿对条件许诺中不同角色违背的检测存在“角色效应”和“同侪违背优先检测效应”;多数幼儿还没有将条件许诺理解为双条件规则。     

Goal-driven attentional capture by invisible colors: Evidence from event-related potentials

We combined event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measures to test whether subliminal visual stimuli can capture attention in a goal-dependent manner. Participants searched for visual targets defined by a specific color. Search displays served as metacontrast masks for preceding cue displays that contained one cue in the target color. Although this target-color cue was spatially uninformative, it produced behavioral spatial cuing effects and triggered an ERP correlate of attentional selection (i.e., the N2pc component). These results demonstrate that target-color cues captured attention, in spite of the fact that cue localization performance assessed in separate blocks was at chance level. We conclude that task-set contingent attentional capture is not restricted to supraliminal stimuli, but is also elicited by visual events that are not consciously perceived.     

A cross-cultural validation of stage development: A Rasch re-analysis of longitudinal socio-moral reasoning data

Kohlberg's characterization of moral development as displaying an invariant hierarchical order of structurally consistent stages is losing ground. However, by applying Rasch analysis, Dawson recently gave new interpretation and support to his characterization of stage development. Using Rasch models, we replicated and strengthened her findings in a re-analysis of three sets of longitudinal socio-moral reasoning data collected in Iceland. A new application of Rasch analysis provided support for upward development. Our results supported Kohlberg's characterization of stage development and the cross-cultural stability of Dawson's findings that were exclusively based on US samples. We conclude that proposals to replace Kohlberg's characterization of moral development are premature.     

Multi- and unisensory decoding of words and nonwords result in differential brain responses in dyslexic and nondyslexic adults

The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was designed, in order to investigate the neural substrates involved in the audiovisual processing of disyllabic German words and pseudowords. Twelve dyslexic and 13 nondyslexic adults performed a lexical decision task while stimuli were presented unimodally (either aurally or visually) or bimodally (audiovisually simultaneously).The behavioral data collected during the experiment evidenced more accurate processing for bimodally than for unimodally presented stimuli irrespective of group. Words were processed faster than pseudowords. Notably, no group differences have been found for either accuracy or for reaction times. With respect to brain responses, nondyslexic compared to dyslexic adults elicited stronger hemodynamic responses in the leftward supramarginal gyrus (SMG), as well as in the right hemispheric superior temporal sulcus (STS). Furthermore, dyslexic compared to nondyslexic adults showed reduced responses to only aurally presented signals and enhanced hemodynamic responses to audiovisual, as well as visual stimulation in the right anterior insula.Our behavioral results evidence that the two groups easily identified the two-syllabic proper nouns that we provided them with. Our fMRI results indicate that dyslexics show less neuronal involvement of heteromodal and extrasylvian regions, namely, the STS, SMG, and insula when decoding phonological information. We posit that dyslexic adults evidence deficient functioning of word processing, which could possibly be attributed to deficits in phoneme to grapheme mapping. This problem may be caused by impaired audiovisual processing in multimodal areas.     

Proprioception plays a different role for sensorimotor adaptation to different distortions

If proprioceptive feedback is degraded by agonist-antagonist muscle vibration, then adaptation to rotated vision remains intact while adaptation to a velocity-dependent force field worsens. Here we evaluate whether this differential effect of vibration is related to the physical nature of the distortion - visual versus mechanical - or to their kinematic coupling to the subjects’ hand - velocity versus position dependent. Subjects adapted to a velocity-dependent visual distortion, to a position-dependent force, or to a velocity-dependent force; one half of the subjects adapted with, and the other half without agonist-antagonist vibration at the wrist, elbow, and shoulder. We found, as before, that vibration slowed down adaptation to a velocity-dependent force. However, vibration did not modify adaptation to the other two distortions, nor did it influence the aftereffects of any distortion. From this we conclude that intact proprioception supports strategic compensatory processes when proprioceptive signals agree with visual ones, and provide relevant (dynamic) information not available to the visual system.     

The role of anxiety and perspective-taking strategy on affective empathic responses

Empathy is an important pro-social behaviour critical to a positive client–therapist relationship. Therapist anxiety has been linked to reduced ability to empathise and lower client satisfaction with therapy. However, the nature of the relationship between anxiety and empathy is currently unclear. The current study investigated the effect of experimentally-induced anxiety on empathic responses elicited during three different perspective-taking tasks. Perspective-taking was manipulated within-subjects with all participants (N = 52) completing imagine-self, imagine-other and objective conditions. A threat of shock manipulation was used to vary anxiety between-subjects. Participants in the threat of shock condition reported higher levels of anxiety during the experiment and lower levels of empathy-related distress for the targets than participants in the control condition. Perspective-taking was associated with higher levels of empathy-related distress and concern compared to the objective condition. The present results suggest that perspective-taking can to a large extent mitigate the influence of heightened anxiety on an individual’s ability to empathise.     

The neurobiology of the stress-resistant brain

The 2010 Neurobiology of Stress Workshop brought together scientists from all over the world to share and discuss their results from studies examining the consequences of acute, repeated, and chronic stressor exposure on health and disease. Session IV entitled "The neurobiology of the stress-resistant brain" explored how we can intervene to promote stress resistance and stress resilience. Four scientists, who explore this topic from unique and convergent perspectives, presented their experimental results derived from studies in rat (Fleshner and Maier), non-human primates (Lyons), and human (Raskind). Summaries of each presentation, supporting publications, and overall take-home messages from the session are presented.     

Androstadienone in motor reactions of men and women toward angry faces

The endogenous compound androstadienone modulating the evaluation of others and activating the human fear system was hypothesized in terms of processing socially relevant cues by regulating responses to angry faces. Androstadienone was investigated in association with arm movements of 62 participants (30 women) in response to happy and angry facial expressions. Volunteers pushed away or pulled toward them a joystick as fast as possible on seeing either an angry or a happy cartoon face on a computer screen. This task was repeated twice: once during exposure to androstadienone masked with clove oil and once to clove oil only. In the former condition participants' reaction speed was accelerated, especially when reacting to angry faces. This observation may indicate an androstadienone-related activation of the fear system leading to faster responses to threat signals, assuming an enhanced allocation of attentional resources toward threat-related social cues.