Locus of control as a mediator of the association between attachment and children’s mental health

Locus of control—the expectation that one is in control of one’s outcomes in life—is linked to well-being. The authors explored one of the possible antecedents of locus of control such as secure children’s attachment. The hypothesis was that locus of control acts as a mediator of the association between children’s attachment and their mental health, in terms of depression, anxiety (internalizing problems), and aggression (externalizing problems). Participants were 206 children with ages ranging from 8 to 14 years. The authors obtained data from teachers as well as by self-report. Structural equations modelling yielded significant results for both a direct path from insecure attachment to internalizing problems and an indirect pathway in which locus of control functions as a mediating variable between children’s attachment and internalizing problems. Although the data were consistent with the mediated pathway with regard to internalizing problems, different findings emerged for aggression. Insecure attachment was a significant predictor of aggressive behavior, while locus of control was not a mediator between attachment and aggressive behavior. The authors’ findings confirm the mediating role of the locus of control between attachment and internalizing problems, but not between attachment and externalizing ones.     

Learning,Motor Skill,and Long-Range Correlations

Long-range correlations have been evidenced in a number of experiments, generally using overlearned and overpracticed tasks. The authors hypothesized that long-range correlation could represent the byproduct of learning. They analyzed the series of periods produced by a group of expert and a group of novices during prolonged trials on a ski simulator. Results showed a very low variability in expert's series, as compared to novices. Fractal analyses showed that fluctuations were significantly more structured and correlated in experts. These results suggest that learning could be conceived as the progressive installation of complexity in the system.     

Cognitive control deficits in adolescents born with very low birth weight (≤ 1500 g): Evidence from dichotic listening

The objective of the paper is to explore bottom‐up auditory and top‐down cognitive processing abilities as part of long‐term outcome assessment of preterm birth. Fifty‐five adolescents (age 13–15) born with very low birth weight (VLBW) were compared to 80 matched controls born to term, using three consonant‐vowel dichotic listening (DL) instruction conditions (non‐forced, forced‐right and forced‐left). DL scores were correlated with cortical gray matter thickness derived from T1‐weighted structural MRI volumes using FreeSurfer to examine group differences also in the neural correlates of higher cognitive processes. While showing normal bottom‐up processing, VLBW adolescents displayed impaired top‐down controlled conflict processing related to significant cortical thickness differences in left superior temporal gryus and anterior cingulate cortex. Preterm birth with VLBW induces fundamental changes in brain function and structure posing a risk for long‐term neurocognitive impairments. Deficits emerge in situations of increasing cognitive conflict and can be related to measures of executive functions as well as morphology.     

Tatool: A Java-based open-source programming framework for psychological studies

Tatool (Training and Testing Tool) was developed to assist researchers with programming training software, experiments, and questionnaires. Tatool is Java-based, and thus is a platform-independent and object-oriented framework. The architecture was designed to meet the requirements of experimental designs and provides a large number of predefined functions that are useful in psychological studies. Tatool comprises features crucial for training studies (e.g., configurable training schedules, adaptive training algorithms, and individual training statistics) and allows for running studies online via Java Web Start. The accompanying “Tatool Online” platform provides the possibility to manage studies and participants’ data easily with a Web-based interface. Tatool is published open source under the GNU Lesser General Public License, and is available at www.tatool.ch.     

当代积极心理学运动存在的几个问题

积极心理学运动是当代心理学发展的一个重要趋势,但它并不是对传统以问题为核心的病理性心理学的取代而只是一种补充。积极心理学强调心理学不仅要研究人或社会所存在的问题,同时还要研究人的积极力量和积极品质。由于积极心理学运动兴起的时间较短,因而在其发展过程中还存在一些问题,这些问题主要包括：表现出一定的话语霸权、研究对象不够全面、缺少有说服力的纵向研究、和早期心理学的一些相关研究存在一定的脱节     

From heart attacks to melanoma: do common sense models of somatization influence symptom interpretation for female victims?

Common sense models regarding gender and stress influenced how laypeople responded to information about symptoms in 3 experiments. In Study 1, medical intervention was perceived to be less important for female targets reporting chest pain and stressful events than for male targets experiencing identical symptoms and stressors. In addition, chest pain was less likely to be attributed to cardiac causes for female targets. This gender-based stress-discounting effect was replicated for symptoms of gallstones and melanoma in Study 2, where participants again were less likely to recommend medical care for female than for male targets. Recognition memory for information about a somatizing target was tested in Study 3; results suggested that laypeople hold stereotypes associating somatization with female gender. The authors' findings provide insight into the naive theories that shape symptom interpretation and self-referral behavior.     

A Markov Chain Analysis of Emotional Exchange in Voice‐to‐Voice Communication: Testing for the Mimicry Hypothesis of Emotional Contagion

Mimicry is a central plank of the emotional contagion theory; however, it was only tested with facial and postural emotional stimuli. This study explores the existence of mimicry in voice‐to‐voice communication by analyzing 8,747 sequences of emotional displays between customers and employees in a call‐center context. We listened live to 967 telephone interactions, registered the sequences of emotional displays, and analyzed them with a Markov chain. We also explored other propositions of emotional contagion theory that were yet to be tested in vocal contexts. Results supported that mimicry is significantly present at all levels. Our findings fill an important gap in the emotional contagion theory; have practical implications regarding voice‐to‐voice interactions; and open doors for future vocal mimicry research.     

An attentional blink for sequentially presented targets: Evidence in favor of resource depletion accounts

Several accounts of the attentional blink (AB) have postulated that this dual-target deficit occurs because of limited-capacity attentional resources being devoted to processing the first target at the expense of the second (resource depletion accounts; e.g., Chun & Potter, 1995). Recent accounts have challenged this model (e.g., Di Lollo, Kawahara, Ghorashi, & Enns, 2005; Olivers, van der Stigchel, & Hulleman, 2007), proposing instead that the AB occurs because of subjects’ inability to maintain appropriate levels of attentional control when targets are separated by distractors. Accordingly, the AB is eliminated when three targets from the same attentional set are presented sequentially in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream. However, under such conditions poorer identification of the first target is typically observed, hinting at a potential trade-off between the first and subsequent target performances. Consistent with this hypothesis, the present study shows that an AB is observed for successive targets from the same attentional set in an RSVP stream when the first target powerfully captures attention. These results suggest that resource depletion contributes significantly to the AB.