Is a pre-change object representation weakened under correct detection of a change?

We investigated whether a pre-change representation is inhibited or weakened under correct change detection. Two arrays of six objects were rapidly presented for change detection in three experiments. After detection, the perceptual identification of degraded stimuli was tested in Experiments 1 and 2. The weakening of a pre-change representation was not observed under correct detection. The repetition priming effect was observed for a pre-change object and the magnitude was equivalent to the effect for a post-change object. Under change blindness, repetition priming for a pre-change representation was observed when detection did not require report of location in Experiment 1 and was not observed when location was required to be reported in Experiment 2. The results of Experiment 3 showed that a pre-change representation was recognized at a higher rate under correct detection than under change blindness, reflecting a stronger rather than a weaker pre-change representation in the former context.     

Parent-child conflict and psychological maladjustment: a mediational analysis with reciprocal filial belief and perceived threat

Empirical research has shown that parent–child conflict is positively related to poor adjustment in adolescents; however, the underlying processes have not been adequately examined. To explore the possible mediating pathways, reciprocal filial belief and perceived threat were chosen to represent two likely mechanisms accounting for how parent–child conflict harms adolescents' perceptions of their relationship with their parents and their self‐perceptions within their cognitive‐appraisal framework. The former operates by attenuating children's affection towards their parents and the latter by lowering their self‐perceptions. This study also distinguishes internalizing from externalizing problems in order to examine whether lower reciprocal filial belief more strongly mediates the relation between conflict with parents and adolescents' externalizing problems and whether perceived threat more strongly mediates the relation between conflict with parents and adolescents' internalizing problems. Hypotheses are as follows: (1) the more parent–child conflict adolescents report, the less reciprocal filial belief they recognize, which, in turn, leads to more maladjustments, especially externalizing ones; (2) the more parent–child conflicts adolescents report, the more threat they perceive, which, in turn, leads to more maladjustments, especially internalizing ones. Participants consisted of 603 Taiwanese adolescents (226 males and 377 females) aged 15 to 19 (average age=16.95; SD=0.78). Structural equation modelling analyses confirmed the hypotheses. However, the three direct effects of conflict on internalizing problems, aggression, and deviant behaviour were still significant. In addition, a greater effect of the paternal than the maternal role on the link between conflict and attenuated reciprocal filial belief, and between perceived threat and internalizing problems, was identified. Implications for understanding the mediation processes responsible for all indirect effects, even the subsidiary ones, and the greater impact of conflict with the father than with the mother are discussed. Limitations of the study and considerations for future research are also addressed.     

Construct validation of individuating and relating autonomy orientations in culturally Chinese adolescents

Adolescent individuating and relating autonomies were compared to the concepts of detachment and public conformity. Participants included 573 junior high and 673 senior high school students. Each type of autonomy had a distinctive function in intrapsychic or interpersonal domains and clearly differed from detachment and public conformity. In the competing model analysis, individuating autonomy was more associated than relating autonomy with adjustment variables in the personal domain, such as the global and personal aspects of self-esteem, the personal aspect of happiness, and internalizing problems (mainly anxiety and depression). Relating autonomy was more associated than individuating autonomy with adjustment variables in the interpersonal domain such as social skills and externalizing problems (mainly aggression and delinquent behaviour).     

Differentiating the effects of enacted parental support on adolescent adjustment in Taiwan: Moderating role of relationship intimacy

The moderating effect of relationship intimacy on the relation between enacted parental support and adolescent adjustment was examined. Using a pretest-posttest design, we studied 213 Taiwanese parent-adolescent dyads in which the adolescents were facing a major stressful event, the final school examinations. Analyses showed a significant cross-over interaction of provided parental support and relationship intimacy on change in emotional anxiety. Parental support predicted reduced anxiety when adolescent's perceived relationship with parents was intimate, and increased anxiety when it was distant. Possible underlying mediators that account for the moderating effect are discussed.     

The construction of identification with mnemonic engineering—toward a conceptual framework of identity-remembering

The construction of collective memory (and the formation of people’s identification) is a social process; however, this process is under-theorized. This article proposes a conceptual framework through which to understand the identity-remembering process. Several significant elements to consider are pointed out and discussed. Mnemonic engineering indicates that social actors strategically employ available mnemonic techniques and resources to promote a preferred memory and thus identity. Mnemonic alignment and mnemonic refreshment are seen as the two primary goals of mnemonic engineering: to provide standardized memories and to renovate memories on a regular basis. Moreover, a distinction between mnemonic revolution and mnemonic reform is made to refer to the different styles that mnemonic engineerings use to deal with mnemonic sediments (the taken-for-granted memories). The almost inevitable alternatives and constant modifications are also discussed. The proposed conceptual framework is intended for application to identity-remembering cases in various social fields and differential scales.     

Vertical force and wrist deviation angle when using a walker to stand up and sit down

Research investigating walkers suggests that safety and assistance for the elderly with weak lower limbs were important. However, the relationship between the use of a walker and the upper limbs has received little investigation. Standing up and sitting down are important daily activities. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore wrist deviation and vertical force among elderly individuals using a walker for assistance to stand up and sit down. In total, 64 elderly volunteers (M age = 80.22, SD = 9.36) were enrolled. Data were obtained from four load cells and a twin-axis wrist goniometer. Wrist deviation and vertical force were examined when participants used a walker with horizontal handles to assist in standing up and sitting down. Significant wrist angle deviation occurred with the use of a walker, with dorsiflexion of the right hand greater than that of the left. Males exerted significantly greater vertical force. In the sitting position, greater ulnar deviation was seen among experienced walker users, whereas during standing, experienced users exhibited greater dorsiflexion. The horizontal handles of most marketed walkers may cause user wrist deviations, suggesting researchers should pursue improvements in walker design.     

Effect of display size on visual attention

Attention plays an important role in the design of human-machine interfaces. However, current knowledge about attention is largely based on data obtained when using devices of moderate display size. With advancement in display technology comes the need for understanding attention behavior over a wider range of viewing sizes. The effect of display size on test participants' visual search performance was studied. The participants (N = 12) performed two types of visual search tasks, that is, parallel and serial search, under three display-size conditions (16 degrees, 32 degrees, and 60 degrees). Serial, but not parallel, search was affected by display size. In the serial task, mean reaction time for detecting a target increased with the display size.     

Depression and self-focused language in structured interviews with older men

The association between depression and self-focused language has been found to varying extents across studies. The presence or absence of the association may depend on the communicative context. Based on Beck's depression model, a broad, evaluative self-focused question was predicted more likely to elicit a stronger association than a full interview containing a more heterogeneous question set of items. The spontaneous speech obtained during structured interviews of 26 depressed and nondepressed older men, an as-yet little studied population, was analyzed. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that association between self-focused language and depression was demonstrated in the target question but not across the entire interview. The results may explain some of the aforementioned discrepancies in prior studies.     

Relative salience affects the process of detecting changes in orientation and luminance

This study tests the effect of relative saliency on perceptual comparison and decision processes in the context of change detection in which distinct visual mechanisms process two features (e.g., luminance and orientation). Townsend and Nozawa's (1995) systems factorial technology was used to investigate the process architecture and stopping rule when deciding whether luminance or orientation of a Gabor patch had changed. Experiment 1 found individual differences in decision strategies when we did not control relative saliency. One group of participants adopted co-active processing, and the other group adopted serial self-terminating processing to detect the change signals. When Experiment 2 eliminated the relative saliency, all but one observer adopted parallel processing and followed a self-terminating rule. These results support the relative saliency hypothesis and highlight the fact that observers adopt different change-detection strategies for two features, especially when relative saliency exists between the two feature dimensions.     

Language and age effects in children's processing of word order

We compare the processing of transitive sentences in young learners of a strict word order language (English) and two languages that allow noun omissions and many variant word orders: Turkish, a case-marked language, and Mandarin Chinese, a non case-marked language. Children aged 1–3 years listened to simple transitive sentences in the typical word order of their language, paired with two visual scenes, only one of which matched the sentence. Multiple measures of comprehension (percent of looking to match, latency to look to match, number of switches of attention) revealed a general pattern of early sensitivity to word order, coupled with language and age effects in children's processing efficiency. In particular, English learners showed temporally speedier processing of transitive sentences than Turkish learners, who also displayed more uncertainty about the matching scene. Mandarin learners behaved like Turkish learners in showing slower processing of sentences, and all language groups displayed faster processing by older than younger children. These results demonstrate that sentence processing is sensitive to crosslinguistic features beginning early in language development.