Stimulus aspects of aversive controls: the effects of response contingent shock

A tone ending with electrical shock was periodically presented to pigeons while they pecked a key for food. Pairs of birds were run simultaneously under a yoked program which insured that both birds received the same number and temporal distribution of shocks. For one of the birds, shock was always initiated by a peck; for the other, shock was unavoidable. Both procedures led to reduced rates of pecking in the presence of the tone, and gradients of stimulus generalization were obtained. But the effects of response contingent shock extinguished more rapidly than the effects of unavoidable shock. In general, birds exposed to unavoidable shock tended to respond at intermediate rates throughout tone, whereas those exposed to response contingent shock ceased to peck for part or all of the tone period.     

Spatial and temporal episodic memory retrieval recruit dissociable functional networks in the human brain

Imaging, electrophysiological studies, and lesion work have shown that the medial temporal lobe (MTL) is important for episodic memory; however, it is unclear whether different MTL regions support the spatial, temporal, and item elements of episodic memory. In this study we used fMRI to examine retrieval performance emphasizing different aspects of episodic memory in the context of a spatial navigation paradigm. Subjects played a taxi-driver game ("yellowcab"), in which they freely searched for passengers and delivered them to specific landmark stores. Subjects then underwent fMRI scanning as they retrieved landmarks, spatial, and temporal associations from their navigational experience in three separate runs. Consistent with previous findings on item memory, perirhinal cortex activated most strongly during landmark retrieval compared with spatial or temporal source information retrieval. Both hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex activated significantly during retrieval of landmarks, spatial associations, and temporal order. We found, however, a significant dissociation between hippocampal and parahippocampal cortex activations, with spatial retrieval leading to greater parahippocampal activation compared with hippocampus and temporal order retrieval leading to greater hippocampal activation compared with parahippocampal cortex. Our results, coupled with previous findings, demonstrate that the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex are preferentially recruited during temporal order and spatial association retrieval--key components of episodic "source" memory.     

Predictors of Media Effects on Body Dissatisfaction in European American Women

This study involved a sample of 81 European American women viewing either appearance-related or non-appearance-related magazine advertisements. Participants completed measures of demographics and objectified body consciousness prior to viewing these images and a measure of body dissatisfaction prior to and after viewing the images. Body dissatisfaction scores worsened after viewing images of women who exemplified cultural standards of the thin beauty ideal. Neither objectified body consciousness nor body mass index predicted degree of change in body dissatisfaction after viewing the images. In other words, the impact of viewing the images was the same for all women, despite varying body mass index levels and varied degrees of objectified body consciousness. Implications are discussed.     

Neuroticism and extraversion share genetic and environmental effects with negative and positive mood spillover in a nationally representative sample

Work-family spillover research focuses on how negative and positive moods in one life domain carry over to another. Domain-specific etiologies (e.g., family conflict) are often emphasized to explain spillover. Yet, strong correlations exist between spillover variables of the same emotional valence but originating from different domains, suggesting individual differences in the tendencies to prolong mood-states. The current study (N = 1143 individuals) examined whether these general tendencies are associated with neuroticism and extraversion and how genetic and environmental effects contribute to these associations. Findings revealed that neuroticism and extraversion are related to these tendencies through both genetic and environmental pathways.     

Social Identity and Social Exchange: Identification, Support, and Withdrawal From the Job

Integrating insights from the social exchange perspective and the social identity perspective, we propose that evaluations of support received from the organization and its representatives and organizational identification interact to predict withdrawal from the job. The relationship of support with withdrawal is proposed to be weaker the more strongly employees identify with the organization. This prediction was confirmed in 2 samples focusing on different operationalizations of support and withdrawal. Study 1 explored the interaction between organizational support and organizational identification in predicting turnover intention; Study 2 investigated the link between supervisor support and organizational identification and absenteeism. The present study thus yields evidence that may lay the groundwork for further integration of social exchange and social identity analyses of organizational behavior.     

General and Domain-Specific Self-Esteem Among Regular Education and Special Education Students

We examined the global and domain-specific self-esteem of students who are emotionally disturbed, students who are learning disabled, and students who are in regular education classrooms. Students who were emotionally disturbed or learning disabled had lower global self-esteem than did students in regular education classes. The specific domains in which students in special education felt that they were less competent than students in regular education included social skills, leadership skills, and academics. However, the 2 groups of students in special education did not differ from one another. No differences emerged between the groups on a measure of self-esteem that is less subject to social desirability concerns. Implications of this research for education are discussed.     

Working memory abilities and children's performance in laboratory analogues of classroom activities

Laboratory analogues of classroom activities on which children with low working memory skills have been observed to perform very poorly were developed and employed in two studies. In Study 1, 5‐ and 6‐year‐old completed one task involving recalling spoken sentences and counting the numbers of words, and another task involving the identification of rhyming words in spoken poems. Poorer performance of low than average working memory children was obtained on the recall measure of both tasks. In Study 2, 5‐ and 6‐year‐old children heard spoken instructions involving the manipulation of a sequence of objects, and were asked either to perform the instructions or repeat them, in different conditions. The accuracy of performing but not repeating instructions was strongly associated with working memory skills. These results indicate that working memory plays a significant role in typical classroom activities that involve both the storage and mental manipulation of information. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparing the Impact of Bullying and Sexual Harassment Victimization on the Mental and Physical Health of Adolescents

A sample of 522 middle and high school students from a school district in a northeastern state in the U.S. was used to address two questions about bullying and sexual harassment: Is one more frequent than the other, and are there gender or sexual orientation differences in this regard? And, does one have greater adverse health effects than the other, and, if so, for whom? Bullying occurred more frequently than sexual harassment for both girls and boys but not among sexual minorities. Girls were bullied or harassed as frequently as boys, but sexual minorities experienced higher levels of both. Compared to bullying, sexual harassment had adverse effects on more health outcomes. These adverse effects were especially notable among girls and sexual minorities.     

Rapid facial reactions to emotional facial expressions in typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder

Typical adults mimic facial expressions within 1000 ms, but adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not. These rapid facial reactions (RFRs) are associated with the development of social-emotional abilities. Such interpersonal matching may be caused by motor mirroring or emotional responses. Using facial electromyography (EMG), this study evaluated mechanisms underlying RFRs during childhood and examined possible impairment in children with ASD. Experiment 1 found RFRs to happy and angry faces (not fear faces) in 15 typically developing children from 7 to 12 years of age. RFRs of fear (not anger) in response to angry faces indicated an emotional mechanism. In 11 children (8-13 years of age) with ASD, Experiment 2 found undifferentiated RFRs to fear expressions and no consistent RFRs to happy or angry faces. However, as children with ASD aged, matching RFRs to happy faces increased significantly, suggesting the development of processes underlying matching RFRs during this period in ASD.