The face in the crowd effect unconfounded: happy faces, not angry faces, are more efficiently detected in single- and multiple-target visual search tasks

Is it easier to detect angry or happy facial expressions in crowds of faces? The present studies used several variations of the visual search task to assess whether people selectively attend to expressive faces. Contrary to widely cited studies (e.g., ?hman, Lundqvist, & Esteves, 2001) that suggest angry faces "pop out" of crowds, our review of the literature found inconsistent evidence for the effect and suggested that low-level visual confounds could not be ruled out as the driving force behind the anger superiority effect. We then conducted 7 experiments, carefully designed to eliminate many of the confounding variables present in past demonstrations. These experiments showed no evidence that angry faces popped out of crowds or even that they were efficiently detected. These experiments instead revealed a search asymmetry favoring happy faces. Moreover, in contrast to most previous studies, the happiness superiority effect was shown to be robust even when obvious perceptual confounds--like the contrast of white exposed teeth that are typically displayed in smiling faces--were eliminated in the happy targets. Rather than attribute this effect to the existence of innate happiness detectors, we speculate that the human expression of happiness has evolved to be more visually discriminable because its communicative intent is less ambiguous than other facial expressions.     

Using story contexts to bias children’s true and false memories

The effects of embedding standard Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists into stories whose context biased interpretation either toward or away from the overall themes of the DRM lists on both true and false recognition were investigated with 7- and 11-year-olds. These biased story contexts were compared with the same children’s susceptibility to false memory illusions using the standard DRM list presentation paradigm. The results showed the usual age effects for true and false memories in the standard DRM list paradigm, where 11-year-olds exhibited higher rates of both true and false recognition compared with the 7-year-olds. Importantly, when DRM lists were embedded in stories, these age effects disappeared for true recognition. For false recognition, although developmental differences were attenuated, older children were still more susceptible to false memory illusions than younger children. These findings are discussed in terms of current theories of children’s false memories as well as the role of themes and elaboration in children’s memory development.     

Processing emotional category congruency between emotional facial expressions and emotional words

Facial expressions are critical for effective social communication, and as such may be processed by the visual system even when it might be advantageous to ignore them. Previous research has shown that categorising emotional words was impaired when faces of a conflicting valence were simultaneously presented. In the present study, we examined whether emotional word categorisation would also be impaired when faces of the same (negative) valence but different emotional category (either angry, sad or fearful) were simultaneously presented. Behavioural results provided evidence for involuntary processing of basic emotional facial expression category, with slower word categorisation when the face and word categories were incongruent (e.g., angry word and sad face) than congruent (e.g., angry word and angry face). Event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to the presentation of the word-face pairs also revealed that emotional category congruency effects were evident from approximately 170 ms after stimulus onset.     

Contextual information and memory for unfamiliar tunes in older and younger adults

We examined age differences in the effectiveness of multiple repetitions and providing associative facts on tune memory. For both tune and fact recognition, three presentations were beneficial. Age was irrelevant in fact recognition, but older adults were less successful than younger in tune recognition. The associative fact did not affect young adults' performance. Among older people, the neutral association harmed performance; the emotional fact mitigated performance back to baseline. Young adults seemed to rely solely on procedural memory, or repetition, to learn tunes. Older adults benefitted by using emotional associative information to counteract memory burdens imposed by neutral associative information.     

The effect of question expectedness and experience on lying about intentions

In recent years researchers have started to focus on lying about intentions (Granhag, 2010). In the present experiment participants were interviewed about their forthcoming trip. We tested the hypothesis that liars (N=43) compared to truth tellers (N=43) would give fewer details to unexpected questions about planning, transportation and the core event, but an equal amount or more detail to expected questions about the purpose of the trip. We also tested the hypothesis that participants who had previously experienced the intention (i.e., they had made such a trip before) would give more detail than those who had never experienced the intended action. The unexpected question hypothesis was supported, whereas the previous experience effect only emerged in interactions. The benefit of using different types of questions for lie detection purposes is discussed.     

Telephone-based guided self-help for adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome: A non-randomised cohort study

The aim of this study was to gain preliminary evidence about the efficacy of a new telephone-based guided self-help intervention, based on cognitive-behavioural principles, which aimed to reduce fatigue and improve school attendance in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). A non-randomised cohort design was used, with a two-month baseline period. Sixty-three 11–18 year-old participants recruited from a specialist CFS unit received the intervention. Participants received six half-hour fortnightly telephone sessions and two follow-up sessions. Fatigue and school attendance were the main outcomes and the main time point for assessing outcome was 6 months post-treatment. Using multi-level modelling, a significant decrease in fatigue was found between pre-treatment and 6 month follow-up, treatment effect estimate = – 5.68 (?7.63, ?3.72), a large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.79). The decrease in fatigue between pre and post-treatment was significantly larger than between baseline and pre-treatment. A significant increase in school attendance was found between pre-treatment and 6 month follow-up, effect estimate = 1.38 (0.76, 2.00), a medium effect size (d = ?0.48). Univariate logistic regression found baseline perfectionism to be associated with poorer school attendance at six-month follow-up. In conclusion, telephone-based guided self-help is an acceptable minimal intervention which is efficacious in reducing fatigue in adolescents with CFS.     

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wind? Origins of Severe Weather Phobia

Natural Environment phobia include fears cued by events such as severe weather. Given the limited research in this area, the present study sought to assess the prevalence and learning history origins of these fears, as well as their relation to anxiety sensitivity (AS). Study One participants included 533 (66%F) undergraduates who completed the Weather Experiences Questionnaire. Overall, 42?% reported exposure to a severe weather event (e.g., hurricanes); 16?% reported high- and 44?% low-fear about weather. Thirty-three from each group participated in Study Two, wherein one high-fear participant approximated the diagnostic criteria for severe weather phobia. High-fear participants cited direct conditioning (43?%) followed by vicarious conditioning (39?%) as the most common learning pathways. The remaining18% could not recall the source of their fear and none identified operant conditioning. One-third cited mothers (versus 8?% fathers) as sharing similar fears. Most had not witnessed parents hurt, frightened, or distressed by severe weather but claimed parents had warned them about severe weather. High- (vs. low-) fear participants revealed more AS-somatic versus AS-cognitive or AS-social concerns. The importance of such research in light of the increasing frequency of severe weather events is discussed.     

Formula: see text]Substance exposure in utero and developmental consequences in adolescence: A systematic review

Background: The impacts of maternal substance use have been observed in both research and clinical experience. Several studies have shown that preschool children are at heightened risk of developing various cognitive, behavioral, and socioemotional difficulties. Most knowledge has been generated concerning alcohol consumption during pregnancy and the postnatal effects thereof. Less is known about substance use other than alcohol (for instance, opiates, marijuana, and cocaine) during pregnancy and the long-term developmental consequences. Objective: The aims of this review are to identify relevant published data on adolescents who have been exposed in utero to alcohol and/or other substances and to examine developmental consequences across functions and mental health at this point in life. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and PsychInfo were searched for publications during the period of 1980-2011 and titles and abstracts selected according to prespecified broad criteria. Results: Twenty-five studies fulfilled all of the specific requirements and were included in this review. Most research covered prenatal alcohol exposure. Other substances, however, included cocaine, marijuana, opiates, and poly-substances. Results showed that prenatal exposure to alcohol has long-term cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional developmental consequences depending on amount and timing of exposure in utero. Less evidence exists for long-term consequences of exposure in utero to other substances than alcohol. However, recent brain-imaging studies have provided important evidence of serious effects of other substance exposure on the developing brain and recent follow-up studies have found an association with deficits in language, attention, areas of cognitive performance and delinquent behavior in adolescence.     

Young Adults with MSUD and Their Transition to Adulthood: Psychosocial Issues

Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD) is an autosomal recessive condition with an incidence of 1 in 185,000 births worldwide. Regardless of the type of MSUD, treatment includes immediate and lifelong dietary restriction of isoleucine, leucine and valine. There is little known about the psychosocial impact of MSUD on the developmental milestones of emerging adulthood. We used a qualitative case study approach to explore the human experiences of MSUD on young adults (n?=?8) and parents (n?=?8). All participants were administered a semi-structured, qualitative interview as well as quantitative measures. Six core themes emerged: 1) lifelong strain of dietary management; 2) social isolation from peers and impact on dating; 3) impact of MSUD on academics and employment; 4) medical experiences and transition to adult care; 5) impact on family functioning; and 6) positive effects and growth. The results of this investigation highlight and expand awareness of the psychological and social needs of young adults with MSUD. This study calls for a collaborative, multidisciplinary effort in the treatment of these patients and their families.