Spatial offloading in multiple task monitoring

Coordinating multiple tasks requires a high degree of cognitive control, and individuals with limited executive functions often show difficulties in everyday multitasking. We tested the hypothesis that demands on executive control can be alleviated by internally representing the temporal pattern of goals and deadlines as spatial relations. In two experiments, participants completed a multitasking session by monitoring deadlines of four clocks running at different rates, along with separate tasks of executive functioning and spatial ability. In Experiment 1, individual and gender-related differences in spatial ability (mental rotation) predicted multitasking performance, beyond the contributions of both the updating and inhibition components of executive functioning, and even when spatial cues were eliminated from the layout of the monitoring task. Experiment 2 extended these findings by showing that concurrent spatial load impaired task monitoring accuracy, and that these detrimental effects were accentuated when spatial abilities were compromized due to fluctuation in female sex hormones. These findings suggest that multiple task monitoring involves working memory-related functions, but that these cognitive control demands can be offloaded by relying on spatial relation processes.     

Perceived collective continuity and social well‐being: exploring the connections

Research has shown that people tend to perceive the groups to which they belong (e.g., national groups) as temporally persistent. In this paper we argue that enhanced perceptions of collective continuity lead to lower levels of anomy and misfit, and to higher levels of social well‐being (SWB). Furthermore, we argue that the effects of perceived collective continuity (PCC) on SWB are mediated by collective self‐esteem (CSE). Finally, we contend that PCC has positive effects on perceived group entitativity (PGE), which in turn has a positive influence on CSE. This model is tested by means of a cross‐sectional study using a sample of Spanish nationals (N = 145) drawn from the general public. Results confirm that the data fit the model well. These findings are in line with research demonstrating that a sense of personal continuity through time is related with better mental health and personal well‐being. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Schism in Groups: A Social Psychological Account

Far from being monoliths, groups tend to be internally subdivided into competing factions that, in some cases, may leave the parent group thereby causing a schism. Although schisms are complex phenomena, research has revealed the existence of specific social psychological patterns that different schisms seem to have in common. A schism is normally triggered by the perception that a change (i.e., either the adoption of a new norm or the revision of an old norm) endorsed by the group majority denies the group identity and constitutes a rupture with its historically sedimented essence. Members of the faction opposing the change may or may not decide to leave the group, depending on their perceived ‘voice’ within the group. Feeling marginalised and discriminated against, rather than valued and respected within, the group will increase chances of joining a schism.     

THE TRAINING ANALYSIS AT A TIME WHEN THEORY IS IN SHORT SUPPLY1

The author discusses the risks confronting the training analysis when original theoretical production is lacking. In his view, little progress has been made since Freud's time in establishing a general science of the psyche based on Freud's interpretive method. What has been transmitted is stated to be not Freud's method of discovery but the knowledge thereby produced, which has been handed down in the form of doctrines, defined as theory presented as psychic fact. Hence analyses tend to apply theories rather than to discover unconsciouses. Some of today's most common interpretational aberrations are described, and the author shows the powerful suggestive effect on patients of using doctrines as metaphors of psychic life. Where such a training analysis is reinforced by a like form of theoretical teaching and supervision, candidates may uncritically assimilate the relevant theory. The author uses his concept of the reality‐providing circuit to show how belief in a doctrine imparted by the training analysis makes that doctrine appear as the ideological basis of psychoanalytic knowledge. He finally notes that, theories being essentially heuristic instruments and not bodies of acquired information, the consequence of the current dearth of theories, which have degenerated into doctrines, is that the training analysis itself has come to constitute the theory of training in many institutes.     

Perceived collective continuity and ingroup identification as defence against death awareness

Perhaps unique among the animal species, humans are aware that they will ultimately die. Terror management theory (TMT) posits that investing in a social group helps people to manage paralysing anxiety stemming from death awareness. In line with this proposition, research to date has shown that when reminded of their own mortality, people increase their identification with a relevant group and defend its beliefs, values, and practices. In the reported study, we demonstrate that a mortality salience induction enhances people’s perceptions of group temporal endurance—or perceived collective continuity (PCC), as we define it. Enhanced PCC leads, in turn, to enhanced group identification. This is in line with the TMT assumption that death awareness leads people to invest in a social group because this constitutes a temporally enduring meaning-system that imbues life with meaning, order, and permanence, and promises death transcendence to those who meet the prescribed standards of value.     

Formative Evaluation of a Tabletop Display Meant to Orient Casual Conversation

In this paper, we introduce a novel type of persuasive system aimed at orienting a group conversation in a casual setting. The system is based on a tabletop display complemented by a limited speech recognition system (a word spotter). It affects group behavior indirectly by presenting on the shared interface contextually appropriate visual material in a way reminiscent of the tradition of advertising: attention-catching, evocative, and cognitively stimulating. The system is meant to be used in the context of a museum visit. The purpose is to influence a group of friends so that they discuss their museum experience, while sitting at the museum café after the visit. Results show the system in the current version has a moderate effect on group behavior and provide indications for promising improvements.     

Thought control strategies as mediators of trauma symptoms in young women with histories of child sexual abuse

The current retrospective study examined thought control strategies, or cognitive techniques individuals use to deal with unpleasant thoughts following stressful events, as potential mediators of adjustment in young women with histories of child sexual abuse (CSA). In a sample of 76 undergraduate women who self-reported on abuse experiences, thought control strategies, and current trauma symptoms, several key findings emerged: (i) Greater severity of the CSA event was associated with greater reported use of worry and punishment strategies and less use of social control strategies; (ii) Increased use of worry and punishment strategies following the CSA event was associated with greater levels of trauma symptoms, while increased use of social control strategies following the CSA event was associated with lower levels of trauma symptoms; and (iii) Worry, punishment, and social control strategies served as mediators between CSA severity and trauma symptoms. The results suggest that thought control strategies, specifically increased worry and punishment, and decreased social control, play a vital role in understanding adjustment after CSA. Future research should examine the roles of these cognitive control strategies as possible avenues of intervention following CSA.     

Unraveling the Aging Skein: Disentangling Sensory and Cognitive Predictors of Age‐related Differences in Decision Making

Age‐related differences in sensory functioning, processing speed, and working memory have been identified as three significant predictors of the age‐related performance decline observed in complex cognitive tasks. Yet, the assessment of their relative predictive capacity and interrelations is still an open issue in decision making and cognitive aging research. Indeed, no previous investigation has examined the relationships of all these three predictors with decision making. In an individual‐differences study, we therefore disentangled the relative contribution of sensory functioning, processing speed, and working memory to the prediction of the age‐related decline in cognitively demanding judgment and decision‐making tasks. Structural equation modeling showed that the age‐related decline in working memory plays an important predictive role, even when controlling for sensory functioning, processing speed, and education. Implications for research on decision making and cognitive aging are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.