Spatiotemporal competition and task-relevance shape the spatial distribution of emotional interference during rapid visual processing: Evidence from gaze-contingent eye-tracking

People’s ability to perceive rapidly presented targets can be disrupted both by voluntary encoding of a preceding target and by spontaneous attention to salient distractors. Distinctions between these sources of interference can be found when people search for a target in multiple rapid streams instead of a single stream: voluntary encoding of a preceding target often elicits subsequent perceptual lapses across the visual field, whereas spontaneous attention to emotionally salient distractors appears to elicit a spatially localized lapse, giving rise to a theoretical account suggesting that emotional distractors and subsequent targets compete spatiotemporally during rapid serial visual processing. We used gaze-contingent eye-tracking to probe the roles of spatiotemporal competition and memory encoding on the spatial distribution of interference caused by emotional distractors, while also ruling out the role of eye-gaze in driving differences in spatial distribution. Spontaneous target perception impairments caused by emotional distractors were localized to the distractor location regardless of where participants fixated. But when emotional distractors were task-relevant, perceptual lapses occurred across both streams while remaining strongest at the distractor location. These results suggest that spatiotemporal competition and memory encoding reflect a dual-route impact of emotional stimuli on target perception during rapid visual processing.     

From Fathers to Sons: The Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting Behavior among African American Young Men

This study examined the intergenerational transmission of fathering among young, African American fathers in rural communities. A sample of 132 African American young men living in the rural South reported on the quality of their relationship with their biological and social fathers in the family of origin, their own involvement with their young children, and relational schemas of close, intimate relationships. Results of path analyses supported the hypothesized mediational model, such that a better relationship with one's biological (but not social) father predicted increased father involvement in the next generation, and this association was partially mediated through positive relational schema after controlling for a range of covariates. Tests of moderated mediation indicated that the link between relational schema and father involvement was significantly stronger among fathers of girls than fathers of boys. Findings highlight the unique influence of close, nurturing father–child relationships for downstream father involvement, and the role of relational schemas as a mechanism for intergenerational transmission among young, rural, African American fathers of girls.     

Toward a contemporary quantitative model of punishment

A direct‐suppression, or subtractive, model of punishment has been supported as the qualitatively and quantitatively superior matching law‐based punishment model (Critchfield, Paletz, MacAleese, & Newland, 2003; de Villiers, 1980; Farley, 1980). However, this conclusion was made without testing the model against its predecessors, including the original (Herrnstein, 1961) and generalized (Baum, 1974) matching laws, which have different numbers of parameters. To rectify this issue, we reanalyzed a set of data collected by Critchfield et al. (2003) using information theoretic model selection criteria. We found that the most advanced version of the direct‐suppression model (Critchfield et al., 2003) does not convincingly outperform the generalized matching law, an account that does not include punishment rates in its prediction of behavior allocation. We hypothesize that this failure to outperform the generalized matching law is due to significant theoretical shortcomings in model development. To address these shortcomings, we present a list of requirements that all punishment models should satisfy. The requirements include formal statements of flexibility, efficiency, and adherence to theory. We compare all past punishment models to the items on this list through algebraic arguments and model selection criteria. None of the models presented in the literature thus far meets all of the requirements.     

Recognition and recall performance both benefit from the production effect with content-specific information

Two experiments assessed how reading aloud versus reading silently would benefit recognition and recall performance of content-specific vocabulary (i.e., the production effect). Participants studied 30 terms from an American history curriculum by reading half of the vocabulary aloud, while the remaining words were read silently. After a brief distractor task, they completed a recognition memory test (Experiment 1) or a recall memory test (Experiment 2). Both experiments revealed a benefit for reading aloud. Recognition performance showed a 22% performance advantage, while recall performance showed a smaller advantage for the words read aloud (8% benefit). The vast majority of participants in both experiments showed a memory advantage for those words that were studied aloud versus those read silently (88% of participants in Experiment 1 and 67% of individuals in Experiment 2). Implications for educational settings are considered.

Attempts to improve student performance have been manifested in various forms; however, recent developments in cognitive psychology have a great deal to offer educators and students regarding instruction and learning. Studies suggest that educators and cognitive psychologists ought to approach educational research as an interdisciplinary endeavor. Through this collaborative relationship, those who teach could improve their understanding of the science of learning, while researchers extend theoretical research to practical, classroom applications for the benefit of students and teachers.     

Do tests facilitate decision‐making performance on a transfer task?

Testing can improve later recall of information. However, much less is known about the potential use of testing in promoting the transfer of learning. In this study, we investigated whether testing improves decision‐making performance on a transfer task in a sample of 98 university students using a between‐subjects design. After studying several statements about a fictional disease under different learning conditions (restudy, free recall, and multiple‐choice), participants were asked to recall this information and subsequently make medical decisions concerning the fictional disease (i.e., the transfer task). The present study found no advantage of testing conditions over restudy condition on the 30‐min delayed memory task. However, participants in the active retrieval practice (i.e., free recall) group performed significantly better on the transfer task over those in both restudy and multiple‐choice groups. These results suggest free‐recall tests promote the transfer of learning.     

Sense and the identity conception of truth

The identity conception of truth holds that a thinkable is true just in case it is a fact. As such, it sets itself against correspondence theories of truth, while respecting the substantive role played by truth in respect of enquiry. In this article, I motivate and develop that view, and, in so doing, promote a particular conception of sense. This allows me to defend the view from two substantial criticisms. First, that the identity conception of truth is incoherent in respect of its treatment of objects in the realm of reference, and, second, that it is committed to a view of the world in which ordinary objects have no place.     

Attention and Narration to Micro-Moment Registrations of Embodied Dialogue in the Clinical Interaction: How Are We Doing?

ABSTRACT

This article offers a comparison between two different strategies for clinical attention. The author compares his lens shaped by a musical metaphor of “polyrhythmic patterning” on embodied registrations which he describes as “fluidity” in contrast to a lens of structures or categories of experience. He then contrasts this lens to that offered by Lewis which she describes with the metaphor of an “imaginary camera” with which she creates “snapshots” as representations of unbearable (and often unformulated) trauma shaped by the patient's narrative and her own trauma history. Acknowledging the exquisite connection between analyst and patient, the author uses 2 clinical moments to further illustrate the benefits of each metaphoric lens for possible analytic work.     

Emotion Regulation and the Specific Associations with Health Anxiety

This study investigated two primary research aims surrounding health anxiety: (a) to examine what differences exist in emotion regulation strategies of health anxious and non-health anxious populations and (b) to investigate what emotion regulation strategies predict health anxiety, before and after controlling for trait cognitive and somatic anxiety. A total of 95 participants of the general population completed a series of online questionnaires. A single factor between groups MANOVA revealed that a health anxious group scored significantly higher in several emotion regulation strategies: distraction, external attribution, emotion expression and acting out; anxiety-related variables: trait cognitive and somatic anxiety; and beliefs about the negative consequences of becoming ill. Hierarchical regressions showed that several emotion regulation strategies were significantly associated with higher levels of health anxiety, before: distraction, external attribution, capitalising, positive reappraisal and emotional expression; and after: external attribution and capitalising, the control of trait anxiety. Overall, the results demonstrated that (a) emotional intelligence and behavioural attempts to understand emotional experiences may be associated with specific health anxiety symptomology, while a lack of effective cognitive strategies and worry may be responsible for the associated trait anxiety dimensions.