Building tasks from verbal instructions: An EEG study on practice trial exposure and task structure complexity during novel sequences of behavior

Configuring the mind to perform a novel task is an effortful process and one that is related to differences in general intelligence. Previous research has suggested that when participants are given instructions for a future task, representations of the rules contained in the instructions can influence subsequent behavior, even when the rules are not necessary to perform the upcoming task. One hypothesis for the continued activation of rule representations suggests that the practice trials participants perform before the experimental trials may instantiate the unnecessary task rules into participants’ mental model of the task (i.e., the task space). To test this hypothesis, EEGs were recorded as participants (N = 66) completed a multirule task designed to contrast the effects of increasing task structure complexity and practice trial exposure. The results showed that, as was predicted, performance is significantly poorer when more task rules are specified in the task instructions. Practice trials with the extra rule did not affect task performance, indicating that an unacted verbal instruction is sufficient to incorporate the rule into participants’ mental model of the task. The EEG results showed that instruction complexity was linked to a phasic increase in frontal theta synchronization but reduced posterior alpha and beta desynchronization. These changes in synchronization occurred during a time period of low intertrial phase coherence and suggest that participants were “checking the task rules” amidst a trial. This transient neural activity may reflect compensatory mechanisms for dealing with increased mind-wandering that is more likely to occur in complex tasks.     

Interaction of Socio-structural Characteristics Predicts Identity Concealment and Self- Esteem in Stigmatized Minority Group Members

The present research investigated the relationship between socio-structural characteristics of intergroup differences, identity concealment, and self-esteem in members of a stigmatized minority group. Structural equation modeling of survey responses collected at a convention showed that socio-structural characteristics interact to predict concealment strategies as a way of managing perceived stigma. Perceived permeability of intergroup boundaries predicted increased endorsement of concealment, moderated by the legitimacy and stability of intergroup status differences. Interacting socio-structural characteristics also predicted self-esteem, an effect mediated by identity concealment. The results illustrate that socio-structural characteristics can help predict stigmatized minority group members’ endorsement of identity concealment despite its potentially maladaptive effects.     

Minority Representation in Special Education: 5-Year Trends

The disproportionate representation of minority students in special education has been a concern for decades. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates states to have policies and procedures in place to prevent inappropriate over identification or disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity of students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of minority representation in special education given the mandate and related efforts to reduce overrepresentation and to identify trends for the 5-year period from 2004 to 2008. Growth models were used to analyze trends in national data collected from the 50 states and the District of Columbia for these 5 years. Findings indicate some improvements from 10 years ago, especially noteworthy are a significant decrease in the number of African American students and a moderate decrease in the number of Hispanic students categorized as having intellectual disabilities. However, during the same period, the number of Hispanic students in learning disabilities increased. Otherwise, the trend of racial/ethnic representation in special education remains the same as it was a decade ago.     

Listening as Religious Practice (Part Two): Exploring Qualitative Data from an Empirical Study of the Cultural Habits of Music Fans

This article analyses qualitative data from responses to open questions addressed by 231 music users in a 2009–2010 survey. By coding and quantifying the data provided, the analysis enables the construction of four ‘acoustic axes’ (uplift–relax, inspiration–memory, energy–calm, joy/happiness–sad/sadness) which make direct use of respondent-initiated terminology and enable a means of mapping the activity which occurs for listeners in the affective space created in the listening process. Use of these axes in turn suggests, at a second level of analysis and interpretation, the construction of a musical–spiritual ‘social imaginary’ (Taylor), to grasp how music is used and understood by the music users themselves with respect to their self-understanding and life-commitments. It is concluded that, while music use cannot be referred to as religious, a religion or a form of spirituality in any direct or simplistic sense, there is evidence of the seriousness and intensity with which listeners make use of their listening practices in the activity of meaning-making.     

Individual Differences in Situation Awareness: Validation of the Situationism Scale

This article concerns the construct of lay situationism—an individual’s belief in the importance of a behavior’s context. Study 1 identified a 13-item Situationism Scale, which demonstrated good reliability and validity. In particular, higher situationism was associated with greater situation-control (strategies to manipulate the environment in order to avoid temptation). Subsequent laboratory studies indicated that people higher on the situationism subscales used greater situation-control by sitting farther from junk food (Study 2) and choosing to drink non-alcoholic beverages before a cognitive task (Study 3). Overall, findings provide preliminary support for the psychometric validity and predictive utility of the Situationism Scale and offer this individual difference construct as a means to expand self-regulation theory.     

Working memory and behavioral inhibition in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): an examination of varied central executive demands,construct overlap,and task impurity

The stop-signal paradigm is the premier metric of behavioral inhibition in contemporary attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) research. The stop-signal paradigm’s choice-reaction time component, however, arguably places greater demands on working memory processes (e.g., controlled-focused attention) relative to alternative inhibition metrics (i.e., go/no-go (GNG) tasks), and consequently obscures conclusions about inhibition and working memory deficits in affected children. The current study, therefore, aimed to determine whether shared variance between stop-signal behavioral inhibition and working memory performance in children with ADHD reflects overlap between the working memory and inhibition constructs or insufficient specificity of the stop-signal paradigm. Fifty-five children (8–12 years) with and without ADHD were administered established phonological (PH) and visuospatial (VS) working memory measures, as well as stop-signal and GNG tasks that vary with respect to demands on controlled-focused attention. Although working memory and GNG performance each uniquely predicted children’s inattention, stop-signal task performance was not a significant predictor of unique variance in inattention, above and beyond variance associated with working memory. Collectively, these findings suggest that performance on the stop-signal task, compared to the GNG task, is confounded by greater demands associated with working memory and consequently reflects an impure estimate of the inhibition construct.     

Personality Trait Differences Between Young and Middle‐Aged Adults: Measurement Artifacts or Actual Trends?

A growing body of research demonstrates that older individuals tend to score differently on personality measures than younger adults. However, recent research using item response theory (IRT) has questioned these findings, suggesting that apparent age differences in personality traits merely reflect artifacts of the response process rather than true differences in the latent constructs. Conversely, other studies have found the opposite—age differences appear to be true differences rather than response artifacts. Given these contradictory findings, the goal of the present study was to examine the measurement equivalence of personality ratings drawn from large groups of young and middle‐aged adults (a) to examine whether age differences in personality traits could be completely explained by measurement nonequivalence and (b) to illustrate the comparability of IRT and confirmatory factor analysis approaches to testing equivalence in this context. Self‐ratings of personality traits were analyzed in two groups of Internet respondents aged 20 and 50 (n = 15,726 in each age group). Measurement nonequivalence across these groups was negligible. The effect sizes of the mean differences due to nonequivalence ranged from –.16 to .15. Results indicate that personality trait differences across age groups reflect actual differences rather than merely response artifacts.     

Top-down social modulation of interpersonal observation–execution

Cyclical upper limb movement can involuntarily deviate from its primary movement axis when the performer concurrently observes incongruent biological motion (i.e. interpersonal observation–execution). The current study examined the social modulation of such involuntary motor interference using a protocol that reflected everyday social interactions encountered in a naturalistic social setting. Eighteen participants executed cyclical horizontal arm movements during the observation of horizontal (congruent) or curvilinear (incongruent) biological motion. Both prior to, and during the interpersonal observation–execution task, participants also received a series of social words designed to prime a pro-social or anti-social attitude. The results showed greater orthogonal movement deviation, and thus interference, for the curvilinear compared to horizontal stimuli. Importantly, and opposite to most of the previous findings from work on automatic imitation and mimicry, there was a greater interference effect for the anti-social compared to pro-social prime condition. These findings demonstrate the importance of interpreting the context of social primes, and strongly support predictions of a comparison between the prime construct and the self-concept/-schema and the top-down response modulation of social incentives.     

Optimal Distinctiveness and Identification with the Furry Fandom

We examined perceptions of optimal distinctiveness in the furry fandom and the relationship between this perception and identification with the furry fandom. Self-identified furries (N?=?2998) completed measures of optimal distinctiveness that included felt inclusion/belongingness with the fandom and a measure of perceived group distinctiveness from other groups. Participants also completed a measure of identification with the fandom. Results revealed an interaction between felt belongingness and perceived distinctiveness that predicted fandom identification. Furries who felt both a high degree of belonging/inclusion to the fandom and who perceived the group to be distinct from other fandoms expressed the highest level of identification with the fandom. The results support prior optimal distinctiveness research and demonstrate that furries’ motivation to feel psychologically connected to the furry fandom is driven, in part, by the need for optimal distinctiveness.