Exploring attention-based explanations for some violations of Hick’s law for aimed movements

Choice reaction time generally increases linearly with the logarithm of the number of potential stimulus-response alternatives, a regularity known as Hick's law. Two apparent violations of this generalization, which have been reported for aimed eye movements (Kveraga, Boucher, & Hughes, Experimental Brain Research, 146, 307-314, 2002), and arm movements (Wright, Marino, Belovsky, & Chubb, Experimental Brain Research, 179, 475-496, 2007), occurred when the indicator stimulus was an abrupt change at the location that was the target of the to-be-made movement. We report two experiments that examined and rejected the hypothesis that these abrupt-onset indicator stimuli triggered a shift in exogenous attention and that this led to unusually small uncertainty effects. Each experiment compared this indicator stimulus with a single alternative: Experiment 1 tested an indicator stimulus at all locations other than the target; Experiment 2 tested a central pointer to the target. Neither alternative led to an uncertainty effect for pointing responses that was of the size typically observed for other responses using the same stimuli.     

Parental Problem-Solving Abilities and the Association of Sickle Cell Disease Complications with Health-Related Quality of Life for School-Age Children

Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at risk for poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The current analysis sought to explore parent problem-solving abilities/skills as a moderator between SCD complications and HRQOL to evaluate applicability to pediatric SCD. At baseline, 83 children ages 6–12 years and their primary caregiver completed measures of child HRQOL. Primary caregivers also completed a measure of social problem-solving. A SCD complications score was computed from medical record review. Parent problem-solving abilities significantly moderated the association of SCD complications with child self-report psychosocial HRQOL (p = .006). SCD complications had a direct effect on parent proxy physical and psychosocial child HRQOL. Enhancing parent problem-solving abilities may be one approach to improve HRQOL for children with high SCD complications; however, modification of parent perceptions of HRQOL may require direct intervention to improve knowledge and skills involved in disease management.     

Strategic and automatic threat processing in chronic musculoskeletal pain: a startle probe investigation

Attentional bias research with chronic pain samples has yielded conflicting results. In the present investigation the startle paradigm was used to test the postulate that fear-based mechanisms play an important role in attentional biases for pain-related threat in chronic pain. Participants, including 31 individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain and 20 healthy controls, completed a startle task designed to measure attention to different types of words (neutral vs sensory pain vs affective pain vs health catastrophe) presented at different levels of cognitive processing (strategic vs automatic). Measures of fear-based individual difference variables, including anxiety sensitivity and fear of pain, were also completed. Startle amplitudes and latencies to acoustic startle probes that followed word presentations were recorded. Data were analyzed with repeated measures ANOVAs and correlational analysis. Significant between-group differences were found indicating that, relative to chronic pain participants, healthy controls had higher startle amplitude index scores for health catastrophe words. There was also a trend among patients with chronic pain for greater startle amplitude index scores for strategic presentations of sensory pain words. In the automatic condition, all participants demonstrated a lower startle latency index for sensory words relative to both affect and health catastrophe words, suggesting participants had more difficulty disengaging from affect and health catastrophe words or were more avoidant of sensory words. Correlational analyses indicated that startle response indices for words related to health catastrophe became more pronounced for chronic pain patients as anxiety sensitivity and fear of pain increased. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Affect intensity and cardiac arousal.

Relationships between affect intensity and basal, evoked, and perceived cardiac arousal were investigated in 3 experiments. Affect intensity was assessed using Larsen and Diener's (1987) Affect Intensity Measure (AIM). Cardiac arousal was evoked with exercise in the 1st study and with mental arithmetic in the 2nd and 3rd. Perceived cardiac arousal was measured under optimal conditions using a standard heartbeat discrimination procedure. Women as a group scored higher on the AIM. Affect intensity was unrelated to basal or evoked cardiac arousal and was negatively related to perceived cardiac arousal in all 3 studies. Data suggest that affect intensity, although unrelated to actual physiological arousal, is negatively related to the accuracy with which individuals perceive their own arousal. Results are discussed within the context of an expanded arousal-regulation model (Blascovich, 1990).     

The role of norepinephrine and acetylcholine in mediating escape deficits produced by inescapable shocks

This study examined the role of neurochemical changes produced by inescapable shock, specifically the depletion of norepinephrine (NE) and enhancement of acetylcholine (ACh), in mediating subsequent inescapable shock-induced deficits in escape acquisition in rats. Enhancement of these neurochemical changes by injections of the NE synthesis inhibitor, FLA-63 (10 mg/kg), or the anticholinesterase, eserine sulphate (3 X 0.5 mg/kg), during the inescapable shock enhanced the subsequent escape deficits observed 3 days later. In contrast, these drugs had no effect on the subsequent escape behavior of rats that were not exposed to inescapable shock. Since these effects could not be attributed to carry-over or state-dependent effects of the drugs, these data suggest that the magnitude of the escape deficit produced by prior inescapable shock is dependent on the magnitude of the initial inescapable shock-induced changes in NE and ACh.     

Boundary Management and Work-Nonwork Balance While Working from Home

Within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we investigate work-nonwork boundary management among workers who transitioned to remote work. Based on five waves of data and a sample of 155 remote workers, we find that the preference for segmentation was associated with greater work-nonwork balance. We also found that having a dedicated office space within the home and fewer household members was associated with greater work-nonwork balance. However, these variables did not moderate the relationship between segmentation preferences and work-nonwork balance as expected. We discuss implications for future research on boundary management processes and practices.     

Moving Beyond the Gym: Exploring Life Skill Transfer Within a Female Physical Activity-Based Life Skills Program

Physical activity programs are viable contexts to foster life skills. Researchers contend that programs must be structured to deliberately teach life skills and teach how such skills can be transferred. The purpose of this study is to understand female youths’ perceptions of life skills transfer from participation in a physical activity-based life skills program. Interviews were conducted with eight youth. Results indicated that youth learned intrapersonal (i.e., emotional regulation, focus, goal setting), interpersonal (i.e., respect, responsibility, social skills), and physical activity skills and applied these skills in other life domains. Leaders’ practical strategies used to explicitly teach transferable skills are discussed.     

Dyadic Coping in the U.S.: Psychometric Properties and Validity for Use of the English Version of the Dyadic Coping Inventory

A majority of individuals living in the U.S. experience unhealthy levels of stress; however, romantic partners can help mitigate stress’ deleterious effects by coping together (dyadic coping). The Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI) measures coping behaviors when one or both partners experience stress. Specifically, the DCI measures a) partner’s self-report of his/her own (Self) and their partner’s (Partner) behavior, and b) Common DC during the experience of a common stressor. Despite its wide use, the DCI has not yet been validated for use in the United States (U.S.). The aim of this study was to address this gap in the literature. Using a sample of 938 individuals in the U.S. currently involved in a romantic relationship, we validated the English version of the DCI by analyzing its factorial structure and psychometric properties. Results supported the theoretically assumed factorial structure of the DCI. Convergent and discriminant validity, as well as measurement invariance across gender and culture using the original Swiss sample, was confirmed. The English version of the DCI is a valid self-report instrument for assessing couples' coping in the U.S.