Expectation and temperament moderate amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex responses to fear faces

A chronic tendency to avoid novelty is often the result of a temperamental bias called inhibited temperament, and is associated with increased risk for anxiety disorders. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that an inhibited temperament is associated with increased amygdalar blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) response to unfamiliar faces that were not expected; however, the effects of variations in expectancy remain unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we studied BOLD response to infrequently encountered fear faces that were either expected or not expected in 42 adults with an inhibited or an uninhibited temperament. Individuals with an inhibited temperament had greater amygdala, but less dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), BOLD response when the stimuli were expected. In contrast, those with an uninhibited temperament had a smaller amygdala but larger dorsal anterior cingulate cortex BOLD response when expecting to see fear faces. These findings demonstrate temperament differences in expectancy effects and provide preliminary evidence for the dACC as a neural substrate mediating differences in inhibited temperament. Enhanced amygdala sensitivity coupled with weak inhibitory control from the dACC may form a neural circuit mediating behaviors characteristic of inhibited temperament and risk for anxiety disorders.     

Flexible attention allocation to visual and auditory working memory tasks: manipulating reward induces a trade-off

Prominent roles for general attention resources are posited in many models of working memory, but the manner in which these can be allocated differs between models or is not sufficiently specified. We varied the payoffs for correct responses in two temporally-overlapping recognition tasks, a visual array comparison task and a tone sequence comparison task. In the critical conditions, an increase in reward for one task corresponded to a decrease in reward for the concurrent task, but memory load remained constant. Our results show patterns of interference consistent with a trade-off between the tasks, suggesting that a shared resource can be flexibly divided, rather than only fully allotted to either of the tasks. Our findings support a role for a domain-general resource in models of working memory, and furthermore suggest that this resource is flexibly divisible.     

Rethinking speed theories of cognitive development. Increasing the rate of recall without affecting accuracy

Researchers have suggested that developmental improvements in immediate recall stem from increases in the speed of mental processes. However, that inference has depended on evidence from correlation, regression, and structural equation modeling. We provide counter-examples in two experiments in which the speed of spoken recall was manipulated. In one experiment, second-grade children and adults recalled lists of digits more quickly than usual when the lists were presented at a rapid rate of two items per second. In a second experiment, children received lists at a rate of one item per second; half the children were trained (successfully) to speak their responses more quickly than usual, at a rate similar to adults' usual rate. Recall accuracy was completely unaffected by either of these response-speed manipulations. Thus, although response rate is a strong marker of an individual's maturational level, it does not appear to determine the accuracy of immediate recall. These results have important methodological and theoretical implications for human development.     

Capacity limits in list item recognition: evidence from proactive interference

Capacity limits in short-term recall were investigated using proactive interference (PI) from previous lists in a speeded-recognition task. PI was taken to indicate that the target list length surpassed working memory capacity. Unlike previous studies, words were presented either concurrently or sequentially and a new method was introduced to increase the amount of PI. On average, participants retrieved about four items without PI. We suggest an activation-based account of capacity limits.     

The usefulness of coroners' data on suicides for providing information relevant to prevention

Coroners' records are an accessible source of information on suicides. To assess their usefulness in relation to the investigation of specific methods of suicide, we examined coroners' records for 492 suicides across 24 jurisdictions in England. Generally data on demographic variables were well recorded. Information on contact with general practitioner and psychiatric services was less commonly available. Where those who had self-poisoned died in hospital, information on treatment and blood levels of drugs taken were not routinely available. For suicides by hanging, information on the source of ligature was frequently missing. Where firearms were used, information about licensing and storage were not routinely recorded. Generally there was wide variation across coroners in information relevant to specific methods. The use of standardized forms by coroners would assist studies of factors associated with suicide and potentially provide a representative source of information relevant to suicide prevention.     

Amygdala responses to emotionally valenced stimuli in older and younger adults

Abstract— As they age, adults experience less negative emotion, come to pay less attention to negative than to positive emotional stimuli, and become less likely to remember negative than positive emotional materials. This profile of findings suggests that, with age, the amygdala may show decreased reactivity to negative information while maintaining or increasing its reactivity to positive information. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess whether amygdala activation in response to positive and negative emotional pictures changes with age. Both older and younger adults showed greater activation in the amygdala for emotional than for neutral pictures; however, for older adults, seeing positive pictures led to greater amygdala activation than seeing negative pictures, whereas this was not the case for younger adults.     

Constant capacity in an immediate serial-recall task: a logical sequel to Miller (1956)

We assessed a hypothesis that working memory capacity should include a constant number of separate mental units, or chunks (cf. Miller, 1956). Because of the practical difficulty of measuring chunks, this hypothesis has not been tested previously, despite wide attention to Miller's article. We used a training procedure to manipulate the strength of associations between pairs of words to be included in an immediate serial-recall task. Although the amount of training on associations clearly increased the availability of two-item chunks and therefore the number of items correct in list recall, the number of total chunks recalled (singletons plus two-word chunks) appeared to remain approximately constant across association strengths, supporting a hypothesis of constant capacity.     

Culture-specific patterns in the prediction of life satisfaction: roles of emotion, relationship quality, and self-esteem

This study was conducted to explore the culture-specific roles of emotion, relationship quality, and self-esteem in determining life satisfaction. It was hypothesized that maintaining good interpersonal relationships would make individuals in collectivistic cultures not only feel good about their lives but also feel better about themselves. Furthermore, two emotion variables--emotional expression and emotion differentiation--were proposed as possible determinants of relationship quality. It was hypothesized that emotional expressiveness would be more important for maintaining good interpersonal relationships in individualistic societies but emotion differentiation would be more important in collectivistic cultures. These hypotheses were tested with Euro-American, Asian American, Korean, and Chinese groups using multigroup analyses in a structural equation model. Results supported all proposed hypotheses and indicated that emotion differentiation contributes to maintaining good interpersonal relationships in collectivistic cultures, which contributes to self-esteem and satisfaction with life.     

Career Movement of Female Employees Holding Lower-Level Positions: An Analysis of the Impact of the Type A Behavior Pattern

This paper examines the role of the Type A behavior pattern (TABP) in predicting several types of career movement of women. In general, TABP and in particular the job involvement facet of TABP, had a strong impact on several types of promotion. Relevant results and implications for future research are discussed.     

Stress-management interventions in the workplace: Stress counselling and stress audits

Within the field of stress-management intervention, there have been substantial disagreements on the 'right' approach. Some argue for counselling and stress-management training, while other argue for more substantive organisational change through stress audits. It is argued that both are important in meeting the needs of individuals and organisations.