The time course of temporal attention effects on nonconscious prime processing

We presented a masked prime at various prime–target intervals (PTIs) before a target that required a speeded motor response and investigated the impact of temporal attention on the nonconscious prime processing. The allocation of temporal attention to the target was manipulated by presenting an accessory tone and comparing that condition with a no-tone condition. The results showed that, independently of the visibility of the prime, temporal attention led to an enhanced effect of prime–target congruency on the reaction times, and that the amount of the enhancement increased with increasing PTIs. This effect pattern is consistent with the assumption of increasing influences of temporal attention and of the increasing PTI on nonconscious prime processing; it argues against the hypothesis that temporal attention narrows the time period in which the prime may affect target processing. An accumulator model is proposed assuming that target-related temporal attention increases the accumulation rate for masked primes and, thus, enhances the impact of the prime on the speed of choice decisions.     

Speaking of pain in Greek: Implications for the cognitive permeation of emotions

ABSTRACT

Although item-memory for emotional information is enhanced, memory for associations between items is often impaired for negative, emotionally arousing compared to neutral information. We tested two possible mechanisms underlying this impairment, using picture pairs: 1) higher confidence in one’s own ability to memorise negative information may cause participants to under-study negative pairs; 2) better interactive imagery for neutral pairs could facilitate associative memory for neutral pairs more than for negative pairs. Tested with associative recognition, we replicated the impairment of associative memory for negative pairs. We also replicated the result that confidence in future memory (judgments of learning) was higher for negative than neutral pairs. Inflated confidence could not explain the impairment of associative recognition memory: Judgements of learning were positively correlated with associative memory success for both negative and neutral pairs. However, neutral pairs were rated higher in their conduciveness to interactive imagery than negative pairs, and this difference in interactive imagery showed a robust relationship to the associative memory difference. Thus, associative memory reductions for negative information are not due to differences in encoding effort. Instead, interactive imagery may be less effective for encoding of negative than neutral pairs.     

Observational Learning and the Role of Confinement in Pigeons: Suppression of Learning as a Function of Observing the Performance of a Conspecific

Observational learning of a successive discrimination problem by pigeons was studied using conspecifics as models responding for either contingent or noncontingent reinforcement. We found that observation of these models was associated with poorer performance on subsequent testing than was shown by a control group that learned without first observing conspecifics' performance. No significant difference was found between subjects without observational experience and another control group that was confined in the observation apparatus and observed an empty chamber only.     

Re-evaluating the Time Course of Gender and Phonological Encoding During Silent Monitoring Tasks Estimated by ERP: Serial or Parallel Processing?

Neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic studies suggest that grammatical (gender) and phonological information are retrieved independently and that gender can be accessed before phonological information. This study investigated the relative time courses of gender and phonological encoding using topographic evoked potentials mapping methods. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded using a high resolution electroencephalogram (EEG) system (128 channels) during gender and phoneme monitoring in silent picture naming. Behavioural results showed similar reaction times (RT) between gender and word onset (first phoneme) monitoring, and longer RT when monitoring the second syllable onset. Temporal segmentation analysis (defining dominant map topographies using cluster analysis) revealed no timing difference between gender monitoring and word onset monitoring: both effects fall within the same time window at about 270–290 ms after picture presentation. Monitoring a second syllable onset generated a later effect at about 480 ms. Direct comparison between gender and first phoneme monitoring revealed a difference of only 10 ms between tasks at approximately 200 ms. Taken together, these results suggest that lemma retrieval and phonological encoding may proceed in parallel or overlap. Word onset is retrieved simultaneously with gender, while the longer RT and the later ERP effect for second syllable onset reflect that segmental encoding continues incrementally to the following phonemes.     

Exploring the path through which career adaptability increases job satisfaction and lowers job stress: The role of affect

The construct of career adaptability, or the ability to successfully manage one's career development and challenges, predicts several important outcomes; however, little is known about the mechanisms contributing to its positive effects. The present study investigated the impact of career adaptability on job satisfaction and work stress, as mediated by individuals' affective states. Using a representative sample of 1671 individuals employed in Switzerland we hypothesized that, over time, career adaptability amplifies job satisfaction and attenuates work stress, through higher positive affect and lower negative affect, respectively. The data resulted from the first three waves of a longitudinal project on professional paths conducted in Switzerland. For each wave, participants completed a survey. Results of the 3-wave cross-lagged longitudinal model show that employees with higher career adaptability at Time 1 indeed experienced at Time 3 higher job satisfaction and lower work stress than those with lower career adaptability. The effect of career adaptability on job satisfaction and work stress was accounted for by negative affect: Individuals higher on career adaptability experienced less negative affect, which led to lower levels of stress and higher levels of job satisfaction, beyond previous levels of job satisfaction and work stress. Overall results support the conception of career adaptability as a self-regulatory resource that may promote a virtuous cycle in which individuals' evaluations of their resources to cope with the environment (i.e., career adaptability) shape their affective states, which in turn influence the evaluations of their job.     

South African Serial Homicide: Offender and Victim Demographics and Crime Scene Actions

There is an abundance of literature on serial homicide from a Western perspective that outlines operational definitions, types of offenders and how they prey upon their victims. However, currently, there is a lack of studies that compare serial homicide in different countries. The current study aims to give an overview of the demographics of serial homicide offenders and victims in South Africa and compare these to the demographics of offenders and victims from other currently available empirical studies of other countries. The sample consisted of 33 out of the total 54 solved series in South Africa between 1936–2007, which includes a total of 33 offenders, 302 victims, and 254 crime scenes. Results of the sample as a whole showed that South African serial homicide offenders are similar to offenders in other countries in terms of their actions at the crime scene and victim choice, with some notable exceptions. Additional analysis looked at the offender's consistency of targeting certain types of victims across their homicide series in comparison with the patterns of serial homicide offenders in other countries. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Profiles and professional perspectives: Ten leading former soviet union sport psychologists

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to identify 10 leading former Soviet Union sport psychologists and describe their major contributions. The investigators also desired to determine the status and future directions of sport psychology in Russia and the other new countries that formerly comprised the Soviet Union. Balloting for the leading sport psychologists occurred at the newly formed meeting of the Interstates Association of Sport Psychologists (IASP) and 10 persons were identified: Anatoli V. Alekseev, Marina V. Ennolaeva, Leonid D. Gissen. Gennadij D. Gorbunov, Nickolai A. Hudadov. Piotr A. Jorov. Juri A. Kolomeitzev, Albert V. Rodionov, Vladimir R. Sopov, and Bronislav A. Viatkin. These individuals were subsequently interviewed and the results indicated that although many cutbacks have occurred during the previous decade (1980–1990). sport psychologists continue their work. They are developing new and innovative ways to help athletes improve their individual and collective performance. Their work in psychodiagnostics is exemplary. Nevertheless, the future of sport psychology remains uncertain in the Former Soviet Union.