My Mentor,My Self: Antecedents and Outcomes of Perceived Similarity in Mentoring Relationships

This study examines the antecedents and outcomes of perceived similarity in mentoring relationships in a sample of 82 matched mentor-protégé dyads. Polynomial regression analyses were used to examine the association between actual and perceived similarity. Protégés were more likely to see themselves as similar to their mentors when they and their mentors shared either higher or lower levels of attachment security. However, sharing similar levels of relational self-construal was unrelated to protégés perceptions of similarity with their mentors. Path analyses revealed that protégés reported more organizational and professional commitment when they saw themselves as similar to their mentors, and that these associations were mediated by protégés’ reports of their mentors providing role modeling functions. These findings suggest that the effects of actual mentor-protégé similarity on perceptions of similarity may depend on the shared attribute, and provide further evidence of the importance of perceived similarity to not only mentoring relationships, but also to organizations.     

Short- and long-term implicit memory in aging and Alzheimer's disease

Implicit memory processes were investigated via picture naming in healthy young and older adults and in persons with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). Repetition priming in picture-naming was intact in all groups over the course of a short retention interval (seconds), and only the AD group revealed a deficit over a longer interval (72 hours). In addition, the AD group showed impaired procedural memory, with no benefit of practice on picture-naming. Impaired long-term priming was related to severity of AD. Both theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.     

Does incongruence of lexicosemantic and prosodic information cause discernible cognitive conflict?

We are often required to interpret discordant emotional signals. Whereas equivalent cognitive paradigms cause noticeable conflict via their behavioral and psychophysiological effects, the same may not necessarily be true for discordant emotions. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) and heart rates (HRs) were measured during a classic Stroop task and one in which the emotions conveyed by lexicosemantic content and prosody were congruent or incongruent. The participants’ task was to identify the emotion conveyed by lexicosemantic content or prosody. No relationship was observed between HR and congruence. SCR was higher during incongruent than during congruent conditions of the experimental task (as well as in the classic Stroop task), but no difference in SCR was observed in a comparison between congruence effects during lexicosemantic emotion identification and those during prosodic emotion identification. It is concluded that incongruence between lexicosemantic and prosodic emotion does cause notable cognitive conflict. Functional neuroanatomic implications are discussed.     

Event-related fMRI of category learning: differences in classification and feedback networks

Eighteen healthy young adults underwent event-related (ER) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain while performing a visual category learning task. The specific category learning task required subjects to extract the rules that guide classification of quasi-random patterns of dots into categories. Following each classification choice, visual feedback was presented. The average hemodynamic response was calculated across the eighteen subjects to identify the separate networks associated with both classification and feedback. Random-effects analyses identified the different networks implicated during the classification and feedback phases of each trial. The regions included prefrontal cortex, frontal eye fields, supplementary motor and eye fields, thalamus, caudate, superior and inferior parietal lobules, and areas within visual cortex. The differences between classification and feedback were identified as (i) overall higher volumes and signal intensities during classification as compared to feedback, (ii) involvement of the thalamus and superior parietal regions during the classification phase of each trial, and (iii) differential involvement of the caudate head during feedback. The effects of learning were then evaluated for both classification and feedback. Early in learning, subjects showed increased activation in the hippocampal regions during classification and activation in the heads of the caudate nuclei during the corresponding feedback phases. The findings suggest that early stages of prototype-distortion learning are characterized by networks previously associated with strategies of explicit memory and hypothesis testing. However as learning progresses the networks change. This finding suggests that the cognitive strategies also change during prototype-distortion learning.     

A decision theoretic and prototype conceptualization of possible selves: implications for the prediction of risk behavior

The present study explores a new framework for conceptualizing possible selves for the prediction of behavior. The framework uses decision theory, attitude theory, and classic expectancy-value models. The focus is on using possible-self constructs that (a) correspond to behavioral alternatives, (b) focus on self dimensions directly tied to the behavioral criterion, and (c) use expectancy-value constructs to assess the core features of a given possible self-dimension. A study of 305 college students was undertaken to predict alcohol use from possible self constructs using the framework. Results affirmed the utility of the approach, showing that possible-self constructs predicted behavior over and above current self-image and constructs in the Theory of Planned Behavior. Possible-self constructs associated with negative attributes of both binge drinkers and nonbinge drinkers were predictive of behavior.     

Word frequency and word likeness mirror effects in episodic recognition memory

Estes and Maddox (2002) suggested that the word frequency mirror effect in episodic recognition memory might be due to word likeness rather than to the frequency of experience with a word per se. We examined their suggestion using a factorial manipulation of frequency and neighborhood density, a measure used in lexical memory research to measure orthographic word likeness. For study with no specified task, main effects of density and frequency were in the mirror order, confirming the hypothesized mirror effect of word likeness but not its role in producing the frequency mirror effect. Lexical decision study increased the size of both mirror effects, even though the density manipulation had a negligible effect on lexical decision performance for words. Post hoc analyses showed that neither mirror effect could be explained by differences in lower order measures of word likeness (letter and bigram frequency). The joint orders of frequency and density results were mirrored across new and old conditions in accordance with attention likelihood theory (ALT), but density effects on z-ROC slope suggest that ALT may require extension to accommodate the effect of word likeness on response confidence.     

Anxiety symptomatology: the association with distress tolerance and anxiety sensitivity

Research focused on psychological risk factors for anxiety psychopathology has led to better conceptualization of these conditions as well as pointed toward preventative interventions. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) has been well-established as an anxiety risk factor, while distress tolerance (DT) is a related construct that has received little empirical exploration within the anxiety psychopathology literature. The current investigation sought to extend the existing literature by examining both DT and the relationship between DT and AS across a number of anxiety symptom dimensions, including panic, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive anxiety. Participants (N = 418) completed a number of measures that assessed DT, AS, anxiety symptomatology, and negative affect. Findings indicated that DT was uniquely associated with panic, obsessive compulsive, general worry, and social anxiety symptoms, but that DT and AS were not synergistically associated with each of these symptom dimensions. These findings indicate that an inability to tolerate emotional distress is associated with an increased vulnerability to experience certain anxiety symptoms.     

Non-symbolic arithmetic abilities and mathematics achievement in the first year of formal schooling

We examine the nature of motor representations evoked during comprehension of written sentences describing hand actions. We distinguish between two kinds of hand actions: a functional action, applied when using the object for its intended purpose, and a volumetric action, applied when picking up or holding the object. In Experiment 1, initial activation of both action representations was followed by selection of the functional action, regardless of sentence context. Experiment 2 showed that when the sentence was followed by a picture of the object, clear context-specific effects on evoked action representations were obtained. Experiment 3 established that when a picture of an object was presented alone, the time course of both functional and volumetric actions was the same. These results provide evidence that representations of object-related hand actions are evoked as part of sentence processing. In addition, we discuss the conditions that elicit context-specific evocation of motor representations.