Is task interference in event-based prospective memory dependent on cue presentation?

Whether having an intention produces a performance cost to ongoing activities (task interference) is central to theoretical claims regarding the mechanisms underlying cue detection in event-based prospective memory. Recent evidence suggests that task interference primarily reflects an attention allocation policy stored in memory when intentions are encoded. The present study examined whether these policies can change with ongoing task experience. In Experiment 1, task interference was more greatly reduced when expected cues were not presented than when they were. Experiment 2 replicated this effect when the importance of the prospective memory task was emphasized. In Experiment 3, task interference decreased with time, and this decrease was greater when expected cues were not presented than when they were. Cue presentation is crucial to maintenance of attention allocation policies established by task instructions. This is the first article to demonstrate changes in task interference with ongoing task experience without forewarning individuals of the relevance of upcoming ongoing task trials to intentions.     

The Church of Faith and Freedom: African–American Baptists and Social Action

Clergy have an undeniable ability to shape the political beliefs and attitudes of their congregations and thus revealing how the framing activities of clergy affect behavior and influence mobilization is vital for political sociology. This ethnographic work delineates how, in 1972, the Second Baptist Church of Evanston's new pastor initiated a rapid change from social conservatism to become one of the most politically and socially active African–American Baptist churches in the Midwest. Second Baptist's radical change confirms the power of religious elites in shaping politics in spiritual institutions, and also demonstrates the vital impact of professional socialization on the theological and political orientations of clergy.     

Prospective memory in an air traffic control simulation: external aids that signal when to act

At work and in our personal life we often need to remember to perform intended actions at some point in the future, referred to as Prospective Memory. Individuals sometimes forget to perform intentions in safety-critical work contexts. Holding intentions can also interfere with ongoing tasks. We applied theories and methods from the experimental literature to test the effectiveness of external aids in reducing prospective memory error and costs to ongoing tasks in an air traffic control simulation. Participants were trained to accept and hand-off aircraft and to detect aircraft conflicts. For the prospective memory task, participants were required to substitute alternative actions for routine actions when accepting target aircraft. Across two experiments, external display aids were provided that presented the details of target aircraft and associated intended actions. We predicted that aids would only be effective if they provided information that was diagnostic of target occurrence, and in this study, we examined the utility of aids that directly cued participants when to allocate attention to the prospective memory task. When aids were set to flash when the prospective memory target aircraft needed to be accepted, prospective memory error and costs to ongoing tasks of aircraft acceptance and conflict detection were reduced. In contrast, aids that did not alert participants specifically when the target aircraft were present provided no advantage compared to when no aids were used. These findings have practical implications for the potential relative utility of automated external aids for occupations where individuals monitor multi-item dynamic displays.     

ATC-lab: An air traffic control simulator for the laboratory

Air Traffic Control Laboratory Simulator (ATC-lab) is a new low- and medium-fidelity task environment that simulates air traffic control. ATC-lab allows the researcher to study human performance of tasks under tightly controlled experimental conditions in a dynamic, spatial environment. The researcher can create standardized air traffic scenarios by manipulating a wide variety of parameters. These include temporal and spatial variables. There are two main versions of ATC-lab. The medium-fidelity simulator provides a simplified version of en route air traffic control, requiring participants to visually search a screen and both recognize and resolve conflicts so that adequate separation is maintained between all aircraft. The low-fidelity simulator presents pairs of aircraft in isolation, controlling the participant’s focus of attention, which provides a more systematic measurement of conflict recognition and resolution performance. Preliminary studies have demonstrated that ATC-lab is a flexible tool for applied cognition research.     

The structure of child and adolescent psychopathology: generating new hypotheses

To begin to resolve conflicts among current competing taxonomies of child and adolescent psychopathology, the authors developed an interview covering the symptoms of anxiety, depression, inattention, and disruptive behavior used in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994), the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10; World Health Organization, 1992), and several implicit taxonomies. This interview will be used in the future to compare the internal and external validity of alternative taxonomies. To provide an informative framework for future hypothesis-testing studies, the authors used principal factor analysis to induce new testable hypotheses regarding the structure of this item pool in a representative sample of 1,358 children and adolescents ranging in age from 4 to 17 years. The resulting hypotheses differed from the DSM-IV, particularly in suggesting that some anxiety symptoms are part of the same syndrome as depression, whereas separation anxiety, fears, and compulsions constitute a separate anxiety dimension.     

Posttraumatic Cognitions and Depressive Symptoms in War and Disaster Affected Widows in Sri Lanka: The Role of Community Support

In this study the authors evaluated the associations between war- and disaster-related problems and indicators of psychological distress (posttraumatic cognitions and culturally-specific symptoms of depression) among a sample of Tamil widows in the Eastern Provence of Sri Lanka. Furthermore, community support was evaluated as a mediator of these associations. Surveys were administered to women (N?=?156) in an interview format by trained research assistants who were native Tamil speakers. Mediation hypotheses were evaluated using path analysis. Results showed that war-related problems, but not disaster-related losses, was significantly associated with community support and posttraumatic cognitions, such that higher number of war-problems was associated with lower community support and more posttraumatic cognitions. Community support had a significant negative association with posttraumatic cognitions and depression. Additionally, we found evidence that war-related problems was indirectly associated with depression through community support. Although the magnitude of associations was small, results suggest that contextual problems resulting from years of armed conflict may be associated with less support from one’s community which, in turn, is associated with increased psychological distress. Limitations and implications for intervention and future research are discussed.     

Does Criminal Propensity Moderate the Effects of Social Learning Theory Variables on Intimate Partner Violence?

Akers’ Social Learning Theory (SLT) is one of the predominant general theories of criminal behavior; it has been widely tested and is typically supported. Despite being a validated general theory, it is possible there are other factors such as criminal propensity that influence the effects of social learning constructs. This study examines the extent, if any, to which crime-specific operationalizations of SLT exert equivalent effects on a specific type of offense—intimate partner violence (IPV) (both perpetration and victimization)—across level of criminal propensity. Using self-report data on intimate partner violence among university students and specifically designed to test SLT, the results indicate that (1) the effects of differential associations and differential reinforcements exerted consistent effects across the various measures of IPV, (2) the effects of definitions and imitation are much less consistent, and, most importantly (3) the effects of SLT constructs on IPV were moderated by criminal propensity. These results suggest that SLT may be less general than claimed; that is, the effects of SLT vary both across measures of IPV and across levels of criminal propensity.     

Daily Events for Clinical Couples: Examining Therapy Interventions,Positive Events,Arguments, and Exercise in the Beginning Stage of Therapy

This study examined the daily association of several events within the beginning phase of couple therapy. Events examined were as follows: trying something from therapy, an argument, a positive event, and physical exercise. Participants were 33 couples in a treatment‐as‐usual setting who completed the Daily Diary of Events in Couple Therapy (DDECT). A dyadic multilevel model was used to explore the daily associations between predictor and outcome variables. Results showed when male partners tried something from therapy at rates greater than the average their female partners reported a more positive relationship while when female partners tried something from therapy at rates greater than the average it contributed to a more negative relationship. In addition, results showed that clients in couple therapy rarely try things from therapy on a daily basis. Finally, relative to other predictors trying something from therapy had a smaller, but significant relationship with outcomes.     

ATC-lab<Superscript>Advanced</Superscript>: An air traffic control simulator with realism and control

ATC-lab^Advanced is a new, publicly available air traffic control (ATC) simulation package that provides both realism and experimental control. ATC-lab^Advanced simulations are realistic to the extent that the display features (including aircraft performance) and the manner in which participants interact with the system are similar to those used in an operational environment. Experimental control allows researchers to standardize air traffic scenarios, control levels of realism, and isolate specific ATC tasks. Importantly, ATC-lab^Advanced also provides the programming control required to cost effectively adapt simulations to serve different research purposes without the need for technical support. In addition, ATC-lab^Advanced includes a package for training participants and mathematical spreadsheets for designing air traffic events. Preliminary studies have demonstrated that ATC-lab^Advanced is a flexible tool for applied and basic research.