Top-down influences mediate hand bias in spatial attention

Spatial attention can be biased to locations near the hand. Some studies have found facilitated processing of targets appearing within hand-grasping space. In this study, we investigated how changing top-down task priorities alters hand bias during visual processing. In Experiment 1, we used a covert orienting paradigm with nonpredictive cues and emphasized the location of the hand relative to the target. Hands or visual anchors (boards) were placed next to potential target locations, and responses were made with the contralateral hand. Results indicated a hand-specific processing bias: Hand location, but not board location, speeded responses to targets near the hand. This pattern of results replicated previous studies using covert orienting paradigms with highly predictive cues. In Experiment 2, we used the same basic paradigm but emphasized the location of the response hand. Results now showed speeded responses to targets near response locations. Together these experiments demonstrated that top-down instructional sets (i.e., what is considered to be most relevant to task performance) can change the processing priority of hand location by influencing the strength of top-down, as compared with bottom-up, inputs competing for attention resources.     

Stress, Coping, and Differentiation of Self: A Test of Bowen Theory

Differentiation of self from the family of origin is thought to be a significant factor in psychological functioning. Bowen contended that the effects of stress are moderated by differentiation of self, such that high levels of stress would have more impact on individuals lower in differentiation as compared to individuals higher in differentiation in predicting dysfunction. We tested this hypothesis and also assessed the relations among stress, coping, differentiation of self, and dysfunction. Results provided support for Bowen's prediction; differentiation indeed moderated the effects of perceived stress in predicting psychological functioning in expected ways. The interaction of differentiation of self and stress predicted variance in functioning beyond what was accounted for by coping styles, suggesting that although coping and differentiation of self are related, they are not synonymous.     

Effects of Question-Wording Style and Research Context on Attributions for Success and Failure

Although a substantial body of research exists concerning the patterns of causal attributions that are made to explain achievement outcomes, relatively little attention has been paid to the effects that measurement techniques have on the attributions they elicit. Two methodological factors—question-wording style and research context—were hypothesized to affect the results of attribution studies. Participants made informational (e.g., "How hard did you try?") and causal (e.g., "To what extent was effort a cause of your outcome?") attributions to outcomes in either an experimental (anagram-task) or natural (classroom-examination) research context. Significant outcome effects were found for (a) informational but not causal attributions to ability and to the task and for (b) attributions to ability in the natural but not in the experimental context. The implications of these findings for attribution theory and research are discussed.     

Effects of Frustration Increase and Decrease on Percentage of Short Interresponse Times

The finding by H. L. Armus (1986) that short (less than 1 s) interresponse times (IRTs) occur with greater frequency at higher levels of required lever-pressing effort was investigated. It has been hypothesized that greater percentages of short IRTs at higher effort requirements are an expression of frustration (S. Boyer & R. Carroll, 1980); in the present study, between-groups manipulations of effort and reward combinations were made in an attempt to increase and decrease relative frustration and thereby increase and decrease percentages of short IRTs. The subjects were 17 experimentally naive, male Long-Evans rats. Manipulation of effort requirements and reward magnitudes yielded both an increase and a decrease in percentage of short IRTs. The rats switched from low effort and high reward to high effort and low reward demonstrated the greatest increase in percentage of short IRTs, whereas the rats switched from low effort and low reward to high effort and high reward demonstrated a decrease in short IRTs.     

Social Adjustment,Academic Adjustment,and the Ability to Identify Emotion in Facial Expressions of 7-Year-Old Children

The authors aimed to examine the possible association between (a) accurately reading emotion in facial expressions and (b) social and academic competence among elementary school-aged children. Participants were 840 7-year-old children who completed a test of the ability to read emotion in facial expressions. Teachers rated children's social and academic behavior using behavioral rating scales. The authors found that children who had more difficulty identifying emotion in faces also were more likely to have more problems overall and, more specifically, with peer relationships among boys and with learning difficulties among girls. Findings suggest that nonverbal receptive skill plays a significant role in children's social and academic adjustment.     

Development of visuospatial short-term memory in the second half of the 1st year

Eighty 5.5- to 12.5-month-old infants participated in 4 delayed-response procedures challenging shortterm visuospatial memory (STVM), 2 that varied the time between presentation and search and 2 that varied the number of locations. Within each type of challenge, 1 task required a gaze response and 1 required a reach response. There was little improvement in STVM performance from 5.5 to 8 months and linear improvement in the percentage correct from 8 to 12 months, with overall STVM performance accounting for 66% of the variance in age. Improvement in searching multiple locations lagged behind improvement in spanning longer delays. Memory scores did not vary for the visual and manual tasks. Perseveration was greatest for reach responses, increased with challenge, and decreased with age. ((c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)     

Looking down and ramping up: The impact of status differences on effort in intergroup contexts

This paper examines how the status of an out-group impacts effort in intergroup settings. The results provide evidence that people work harder when their individual performance is compared to a lower, as opposed to higher, status out-group member. Moreover, comparisons to a lower status out-group were found to elicit motivation gains as these participants worked harder than participants in the control (Studies 1-3) or in-group comparison conditions (Studies 2 and 3). In Study 4, evidence for the role of threat as an underlying mechanism was provided as gains in effort for those compared with a lower status out-group member were eliminated when participants self- or group-affirmed prior to comparison. Finally, Study 5 shows that both social identity threat and self-categorization threat underlie increases in effort for participants compared to a lower status out-group member. We detail a theoretical basis for our claim that performance comparisons with lower status out-group members are especially threatening, and discuss the implications for this research in terms of social identity and self-categorization theories as they relate to effort in intergroup contexts.     

Rethinking the Divide: Modules and Central Systems

In this paper I argue that the cognitive system is best viewed as a continuum of cognitive processing from modules to central systems rather than having these as discrete and wholly different modes of cognitive processing. I rely on recent evidence on the development of theory of mind (ToM) abilities and the developmental disorder of autism. I then turn to the phenomenology of modular processes. I show that modular outputs have a stronger force than non-modular or central system outputs. I then evaluate social cognitions and show them to occupy a middle ground with respect to phenomenal strength between modular and non-modular outputs. The evidence presented then seems to indicate a continuum of cognitive processing rather than the traditional division between modules and central systems.