The cognitive representation of intending not to act: Evidence for specific non-action-effect binding

The question how we represent voluntary action on a cognitive level has recently become of increasing interest to researchers studying motor control. However, so far it has been neglected how we represent the voluntary omission of an action. In our attempt to investigate the representation of voluntary non-actions we demonstrated binding effects between voluntary non-actions and subsequent action effects (Kühn, Elsner, Prinz, & Brass, 2009). That study, however, only distinguished between acting or not acting, and did not address the question of whether non-actions are coded as general omissions or whether they can be encoded specifically as the actual negation of the action in question (“not-right” or “not-left”). Our current study provides first evidence for the specificity of representations of intentional non-actions. Additionally, we compare two ways in which the specific non-actions might be represented: an ironic representation account implying that negations are prone to be omitted and a reformulated representation account assuming that the negated action is suppressed and/or the alternative action is facilitated. Our results suggest that the representation of non-actions contains a facilitation of the alternative action rather than a suppression of the action in question.     

The Creative Brain: Corepresenting Schema Violations Enhances TPJ Activity and Boosts Cognitive Flexibility

Cognitive flexibility is one of the essential mental abilities underlying creative thinking. Previous findings have shown that cognitive flexibility can be enhanced by schema violations, and it has been suggested that active involvement is needed for schema violations to facilitate cognitive flexibility. The possibility that identification with an actor performing a schema violation (i.e., corepresenting an active schema violation) can enhance cognitive flexibility was investigated in 2 studies. In the first study, under conditions of high or low identification, participants watched an actor preparing a sandwich. The way the actor made the sandwich followed either a schema violation or contained the normal schema of preparing a sandwich. When identification was high, watching a schema-violation-enhanced cognitive flexibility as compared to watching the corresponding normal event. No effect of schema violation occurred under conditions of low identification. As little is known about the neural correlates of schema violations, in the second study the brain activity during schema violations was explored by means of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Participants were instructed to identify with an actor and brain activity was measured while participants watched the actor performing a schema violation or the corresponding normal schema. Activity in the temporal parietal junction (TPJ), a brain region that is associated with violation of expectations, was higher in the schema-violation condition than in the normal schema condition. These findings enhance the theoretical understanding of the effects of schema violations and may provide important practical implications in various settings where creative thinking is needed.     

Influences of Work-Family Interface on Job and Life Satisfaction

Research investigating the relationship between family and work domains, according to a reductionist approach, has traditionally focused on the negative aspects of the work-family relationship. However, over the past 15 years a number of studies have also focused on the positive aspects of family and work relationships and on the interactions between the work-family interface and outcomes such as job and life satisfaction. These research studies have made it possible to capture different facets of the relationship between family and working life, and to clarify the specific nature of these interactions. In the present study, we tested a model that included positive and negative interactions between work and family as predictors of job and life satisfaction. We also examined the role of some of the potential moderators (work engagement, organizational and family support) of these relationships, using a sample of 427 Italian employees working in public administration. In our analysis, we first tested the factorial structure of the work-family interface measure (Kinnunen et al. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 47, 149–162 2006). Factor analysis confirmed a four-factor model: negative work-to-family interface, negative family-to-work interface, positive work-to-family interface, and positive family-to-work interface. Secondly, we analyzed the relationship between the work-family interface, job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Path analysis showed that the factors involved in the work-family interface influenced directly and indirectly life satisfaction, job satisfaction and work engagement. This analysis also showed that work engagement had a direct strong effect on job satisfaction and a direct weaker effect on life satisfaction. This pattern of findings is consistent with a causal sequence in which the work-family interface (WIF) and family-work interface (FIW) can increase or reduce a satisfaction-specific domain. Our results highlight the importance of using a theoretical and empirical model that integrates and focuses on both the positive and negative aspects of the work-family relationship. Moreover, this pattern demonstrates the potential consequences of this influence on employees’ working life and general well-being.     

The Importance of the Default Mode Network in Creativity—A Structural MRI Study

Anecdotal reports as well as behavioral studies have suggested that creative performance benefits from unconscious processes. So far, however, little is known about how creative ideas arise from the brain. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the neural correlates of creativity by means of structural MRI research. Given that unconscious and less controlled processes are important in creative thinking, structural brain research may find a positive correlation between well‐established creativity measures and cortical thickness in brain structures of the default mode network (i.e., the counterpart of the cognitive control network). Individuals performed the Alternative Uses task by which an individual's cognitive flexibility and the average uniqueness and average creativity of a participant's ideas were assessed. We computed optimized voxel‐based‐morphometry (VBM) to explore the correlation between inter‐individual differences in creativity and inter‐individual differences in gray matter volume. For all creativity measures, a positive correlation was found between creative performance and gray matter volume of the default mode network. These findings support the idea that the default mode network is important in creativity, and provide neurostructural support for the idea that unconscious forms of information processing are important in creativity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Reference frame effects on shape perception in two versus three dimensions

Three experiments are reported in which it is tested whether the Gestalt effect of configural orientation on shape perception operates on two-dimensional (2-D) or three-dimensional (3-D) representations of space. It is known that gravitationally defined squares and diamonds take longer to discriminate in diagonal arrays than in horizontal or vertical arrays. In the first experiment it is shown that this interference effect decreases dramatically in magnitude when pictorial depth information is added so that subjects perceive the target shapes in different depth planes. In the second experiment this difference is shown not to be due to relative size of the target shapes or to occlusion of a background plane. It is also shown, in the final experiment, that this difference is not due to linear perspective information or merely to perception of the target figures in a 3-D scene. The overall pattern of results supports the position that this configural reference frame effect arises primarily when the elements of the configuration are coplanar, and that the principal organization underlying it is the structure of the perceived 3-D environment rather than that of the 2-D image. In all three experiments, however, there is also a small interference effect in the noncoplanar 3-D conditions. This might be due either to some aspect of reference frame selection operating on the 2-D image representation or to the failure of subjects to see depth in the 3-D stimuli on some proportion of the trials.     

The ontogeny of intentional communication in chimpanzees in the wild

The onset of intentional communication in children's first year of life represents a major milestone in human cognitive development. Similarly, it is well established that our closest living relatives, the great apes, communicate with signals characterized by at least first‐order intentionality. Despite the well‐documented influence of developmental experiences on socio‐cognitive abilities in apes, the developmental trajectory of intentional signal use as well as effects of social exposure remain poorly understood under naturalistic conditions. Here, we addressed these issues by studying the ontogeny of intentional communication in chimpanzee infants of two subspecies (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii/verus) and communities living in their natural environments. Overall, we found that gestures and bimodal signal combinations were most commonly accompanied by markers of intentional communication: audience checking, persistence to the goal, and sensitivity to recipient’s attentional state. Within individuals, the proportion of communicative behaviours associated with goal persistence and sensitivity to attention increased with age. Cross‐sectional comparisons between infants revealed an age effect on the use of audience checking. Context, interaction partner and site affiliation affected the production of specific markers irrespective of infants' age. The present study provided hitherto undocumented evidence for the development of three important markers of intentional communication in great apes. Moreover, our results suggest that social exposure impacts early intentional signal use.     

Serial migration and its implications for the parent-child relationship: a retrospective analysis of the experiences of the children of Caribbean immigrants

This study addressed the potential impact of serial migration for parent-children relationships and for children's psychological well-being. The experience of being separated from their parents during childhood and reunited with them at a later time was retrospectively examined for 48 individuals. A series of measures (e.g., self-esteem, parental identification) associated with appraisals at critical time periods during serial migration (separation, reunion, current) revealed that serial migration can potentially disrupt parent-child bonding and unfavorably affect children's self-esteem and behavior. Time did not appear to be wholly effective in repairing rifts in the parent-child relationship. Risk factors for less successful reunions included lengthy separations and the addition of new members to the family unit in the child's absence.