Linguistic intergroup bias in Japan

This study examined linguistic intergroup bias in Japan. Linguistic intergroup bias is the tendency to describe positive in‐group and negative out‐group behaviors more abstractly than negative in‐group and positive out‐group behaviors. Participants were 26 Japanese high school students. Fans of the participants' favorite professional baseball team were employed as in‐groups and those of their least‐favorite professional baseball team as out‐groups. The students described the negative behaviors of out‐groups more abstractly than the negative behaviors of in‐groups, but there was no intergroup bias with regard to positive behaviors. It is suggested that linguistic intergroup bias contributes to the formation and maintenance of negative out‐group stereotypes in Japan.     

Subliminal gaze cues increase preference levels for items in the gaze direction

Another individual’s gaze automatically shifts an observer’s attention to a location. This reflexive response occurs even when the gaze is presented subliminally over a short period. Another’s gaze also increases the preference level for items in the gaze direction; however, it was previously unclear if this effect occurs when the gaze is presented subliminally. This study showed that the preference levels for nonsense figures looked at by a subliminal gaze were significantly greater than those for items that were subliminally looked away from (Task 1). Targets that were looked at by a subliminal gaze were detected faster (Task 2); however, the participants were unable to detect the gaze direction (Task 3). These results indicate that another individual’s gaze automatically increases the preference levels for items in the gaze direction without conscious awareness.     

Reading Emotion From Mouse Cursor Motions: Affective Computing Approach

Affective computing research has advanced emotion recognition systems using facial expressions, voices, gaits, and physiological signals, yet these methods are often impractical. This study integrates mouse cursor motion analysis into affective computing and investigates the idea that movements of the computer cursor can provide information about emotion of the computer user. We extracted 16–26 trajectory features during a choice‐reaching task and examined the link between emotion and cursor motions. Participants were induced for positive or negative emotions by music, film clips, or emotional pictures, and they indicated their emotions with questionnaires. Our 10‐fold cross‐validation analysis shows that statistical models formed from “known” participants (training data) could predict nearly 10%–20% of the variance of positive affect and attentiveness ratings of “unknown” participants, suggesting that cursor movement patterns such as the area under curve and direction change help infer emotions of computer users.     

Learning from human tutoring

Human one-to-one tutoring has been shown to be a very effective form of instruction. Three contrasting hypotheses, a tutor-centered one, a student-centered one, and an interactive one could all potentially explain the effectiveness of tutoring. To test these hypotheses, analyses focused not only on the effectiveness of the tutors' moves, but also on the effectiveness of the students' construction on learning, as well as their interaction. The interaction hypothesis is further tested in the second study by manipulating the kind of tutoring tactics tutors were permitted to use. In order to promote a more interactive style of dialogue, rather than a didactic style, tutors were suppressed from giving explanations and feedback. Instead, tutors were encouraged to prompt the students. Surprisingly, students learned just as effectively even when tutors were suppressed from giving explanations and feedback. Their learning in the interactive style of tutoring is attributed to construction from deeper and a greater amount of scaffolding episodes, as well as their greater effort to take control of their own learning by reading more. What they learned from reading was limited, however, by their reading abilities.     

Effects of lavender aroma on sleep quality in healthy Japanese students

This single-blind randomized study investigated the effectiveness of lavender aroma on quality of sleep in healthy Japanese students. The data of seven participants (2 men, 5 women) in the intervention group and eight participants (3 men, 5 women) in the control group were analyzed (M age = 19.0 yr., SD = 0.9). The total procedure comprised 3 days for pre-intervention assessment, 5 days for the intervention, and 3 days for post-intervention assessment. Lavender exposure was compared with the absence of lavender (control). Information regarding the relaxing effect of aromas was provided to examine expectancy effects. Results showed that lavender aroma improved sleepiness at awakening after the intervention. Sex differences and daily variation in quality of sleep during the intervention period were not observed. The findings suggest that nighttime exposure to lavender aroma relieves sleepiness at awakening.     

How can reward contribute to efficient self-control? Reinforcement of task-defined responses diminishes ego-depletion

We examined whether reinforcement learning of habitual actions diminishes ego depletion after a cognitive control task. Participants performed the Stroop task after a card selection task, in which one group was reinforced to respond to colors in the Stroop task (Stroop-color group) while another group was reinforced to respond to colors not in the Stroop task (non-Stroop-color group). We measured ego depletion in terms of decrement in endurance on an isometric handgrip task after the Stroop task. The Stroop-color group exhibited less decrease in their isometric handgrip endurance compared to the non-Stroop-color group. These results suggest that the former needed less effort for cognitive control during conflict processing, as reinforcement learning make task-defined response habitual. This finding provides a new perspective on the role of reward in cognitive control.     

Effects of Cultural Orientation,Self-Esteem,and Collective Self-Esteem on Well-Being

This study examined a model of independent and interdependent self-construal, individual and collective self-esteem, and subjective well-being in a sample of college students from the mainland USA, Hawaii, and Japan. Specifically, the mediation role of individual as well as collective self-esteem in the effects of independent and interdependent self-construal on subjective well-being was explored. Results indicated that the hypothesized model fit well. The study found the direct effects of independent self-construal on subjective well-being in all three cultural groups. Collective self-esteem was a significant mediator of the effects of both independent and interdependent self-construal on subjective well-being only in the mainland USA. The negative effect of interdependent self-construal on collective self-esteem was observed only in the mainland USA. Better understanding of both universal and culture-specific aspects of collective self-esteem in promoting subjective well-being seems essential for further theoretical development as well as effective prevention/intervention efforts across three cultural groups.     

Working memory load in the initial learning phase facilitates relearning: a study of vocabulary learning

In this study, the effect of working memory load in the initial learning phase on the relearning phase was examined. Exp. 1 examined the effect of articulatory suppression in paired associative learning with a relearning method. In the learning phase, 28 participants (M age=21.8 yr., SD=2.1) learned all word-nonword associations under conditions of articulatory suppression or simple tapping. After a delay, they answered a cued recall task in a nonsuppressed condition and a relearning task in a simple tapping condition. The subjects who learned under the simple tapping condition in the learning phase required significantly more trials in the relearning phase. In Exp. 2, 28 participants (M age=20.8 yr., SD=1.5) participated, and the result was replicated. These results suggested that working memory load facilitates relearning. Results are best explained by contextual interference (Battig) rather than by the less-is-more hypothesis of Newport.