Culture and language in the emergence of autobiographical memory

Current conceptualizations of childhood amnesia assume that there is a "barrier" to remembering early experiences that must be overcome in order for one to begin to accumulate autobiographical memories. In contrast, we present a social-cultural-developmental perspective on the emergence of autobiographical memory. We first demonstrate the gradual emergence of autobiographical memories across the preschool years and then relate this developmental process to specific developments in language, narrative, and understanding of self and other that vary among individuals, as well as by culture and gender.     

Brain activation during upright and inverted encoding of own‐ and other‐age faces: ERP evidence for an own‐age bias

We investigated the neural processing underlying own‐age versus other‐age faces among 5‐year‐old children and adults, as well as the effect of orientation on face processing. Upright and inverted faces of 5‐year‐old children, adults, and elderly adults (> 75 years of age) were presented to participants while ERPs and eye tracking patterns were recorded concurrently. We found evidence for an own‐age bias in children, as well as for predicted delayed latencies and larger amplitudes for inverted faces, which replicates earlier findings. Finally, we extend recent reports about an expert‐sensitive component (P2) to other‐race faces to account for similar effects in regard to other‐age faces. We conclude that differences in neural activity are strongly related to the amount and quality of experience that participants have with faces of various ages. Effects of orientation are discussed in relation to the holistic hypothesis and recent data that compromise this view.     

Emotions Know Best: The Advantage of Emotional versus Cognitive Responses to Failure

Making mistakes or failing at tasks is a common occurrence in human life. People can respond to and cope with failure in many ways. In this research, we examine potential advantages of relatively emotional (versus cognitive) responses to failure. In particular, we study how effort and time spent in subsequent tasks depend on whether people predominantly focus on their emotions or their cognitions as they respond to a failure. We demonstrate that, left to their own means, people's cognitions upon a failure are mainly justificatory in nature and thus do not automatically have the commonly believed reflective, self‐improving qualities. We further argue and demonstrate that a relative focus on cognitions following a failure can prevent improvement in subsequent episodes, but a focus on emotions can allow for learning and, therefore, increased effort. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mean Streets and Mental Health: Depression and Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder at Crime Hot Spots

This study explores the relationship between mental health and place at microgeographic units of analysis. We examine self‐reported symptomology for depression and PTSD for 2,724 survey respondents interviewed in three types of randomly selected street segments: violent crime hot spots, cool spots, and cold spots. We find that the mean symptomology score is 61% higher for depression in violent crime hot spots than cold spots, and 85% higher for PTSD. Overall, we estimate that 14.8% of residents of violent crime hot spots meet thresholds for moderate depression or a diagnosis of PTSD. This can be compared to only 6.5% of residents at the cold spots. Using PSM and weighted negative binomial regression approaches we show that observable selection factors are not responsible for the relationships identified. Examining geographic influences, we find an important area effect of violent crime for both mental health measures, and an additional impact of the specific street of residence for PTSD.     

Bidirectional Relations Between Parenting and Prosocial Behavior for Asian and European-American Emerging Adults

The current study examined bidirectional relations between parenting and prosocial behavior for both European- and Asian-American emerging adults. Participants included 297 undergraduate students (M _age ?=?19.61 at Time 1, 59% European-American) who reported on prosocial behavior toward family members, positive parenting, and negative/controlling parenting at two time points, 1 year apart. Cross-lagged models supported bidirectional relations between parenting and prosocial behavior with particular emphasis on the role of the emerging adults’ prosocial behavior on subsequent parenting. Also, the bidirectional relations between parenting and emerging adults’ prosocial behavior were different for mothers and fathers. Results varied slightly as a function of ethnicity. Discussion focuses on the implications for understanding the multifaceted nature of prosocial development in emerging adulthood.     

The Sacred Sites of Houston: A Novel Experiential Course for Undergraduate Medical Education on Religion and Spirituality

Journal of Religion and Health - Medical schools are charged to deliver a curriculum on religion and spirituality (R/S), so a novel experiential course, the Sacred Sites of Houston, was developed....     

The influence of postural emotion cues on implicit trait judgements

Perceptions of others’ traits (e.g., trustworthiness or dominance) are influenced by the emotion displayed on their face. For instance, the same individual appears more trustworthy when they express happiness than when they express anger. This overextension of emotional expressions has been shown with facial expression but whether this phenomenon also occurs when viewing postural expressions was unknown. We sought to examine how expressive behaviour of the body would influence judgements of traits and how sensitivity to this cue develops. In the context of a storybook, adults (N?=?35) and children (5 to 8 years old; N?=?60) selected one of two partners to help face a challenge. The challenges required either a trustworthy or dominant partner. Participants chose between a partner with an emotional (happy/angry) face and neutral body or one with a neutral face and emotional body. As predicted, happy facial expressions were preferred over neutral ones when selecting a trustworthy partner and angry postural expressions were preferred over neutral ones when selecting a dominant partner. Children’s performance was not adult-like on most tasks. The results demonstrate that emotional postural expressions can also influence judgments of others’ traits, but that postural influence on trait judgments develops throughout childhood.