State emotional clarity and attention to emotion: a naturalistic examination of their associations with each other,affect, and context

ABSTRACT

Despite emotional clarity and attention to emotion being dynamic in nature, research has largely focused on their trait forms. We examined the association between state and trait forms of these two constructs, and how they are related to affect intensity and two contextual variables: Social context and significant event occurrence. Seventy-nine adults recruited from the community reported eight times a day for a week on the extent to which they were clear about their emotions, attended to their emotions, levels of affect intensity, the number of people with whom they were interacting, and whether a significant event had occurred. State clarity and attention were positively associated, demonstrating a moderate relation similar to that of their trait forms. Trait and state attention, but not trait and state clarity, were significantly positively associated. Positive and negative affect were quadratically associated with clarity and attention, with the highest levels of affect intensity reported at high levels of clarity and attention. Clarity and attention were positively associated with increasing numbers of people with whom people were interacting. Attention and clarity were elevated when significant events occurred – especially during positive events. We discuss the findings in the context of functional adaptation theories of emotion.     

VALIDITY OF THE PEARSON‐JOHNSON TAXONOMY OF COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Questions constitute an important component of reading instruction and several studies suggest that the Pearson‐Johnson taxonomy of comprehension questions can be applied in classroom situations. However, the validity of the taxonomy has not been directly investigated. The present study was conducted for this purpose and involved 82 fourth‐ and fifth‐grade students. Three research questions were investigated: (1) do mean scores for the taxonomy categories correspond to theoretical expectations regarding difficulty?; (2) do response patterns to questions correspond to taxonomy categories?; and (3) are the relationships among scores on the types of questions logical and to be expected? The results of the study generally conformed to theoretically derived expectations.     

Regional cortical volume and cognitive functioning following traumatic brain injury

There has been limited examination of the effect of brain pathology on subsequent function. The current study examined the relationships between regional variation in grey matter volume, age and cognitive impairment using a semi-automated image analysis tool. This study included 69 individuals with mild-to-severe TBI, 41 of whom also completed neuropsychological tests of attention, working memory, processing speed, memory and executive functions. A widespread reduction in grey matter volume was associated with increasing age. Regional volumes that were affected also related to the severity of injury, whereby the most severe TBI participants displayed the most significant pathology. Poorer retention of newly learned material was associated with reduced cortical volume in frontal, parietal, and occipital brain regions. In addition, poorer working memory and executive control performance was found for individuals with lower cortical volume in temporal, parietal, and occipital regions. These findings are largely in line with previous literature, which suggests that frontal, temporal, and parietal regions are integral for the encoding of memories into long-term storage, memory retrieval, and working memory. The present study suggests that automated image analysis methods may be used to explore the relationships between regional variation in grey matter volume and cognitive function following TBI.     

The 1-2-3 Magic Program: Implementation Outcomes of an Australian Pilot Evaluation With School-Aged Children

No abstract available for this article.     

Unexpected nanoscale phase separation in sputterdeposited Ni-25 at.%Al thin films

Thin films of nominal composition Ni-25at.%Al, sputter deposited from a target of the intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al on unheated substrates, exhibit an unexpected phase separation, in contrast with other intermetallic-forming systems such as Ti-Al which are deposited as compositionally homogeneous amorphous films under similar conditions. Precipitates of a novel tetragonal phase, a few nanometres in size, were formed in the matrix consisting of a fcc Ni-rich Ni(Al) phase and a hcp Ni-rich Ni(Al) phase. Ni-Al films of the same composition deposited on heated substrates exhibited the formation of a single, chemically long-range-ordered Ni 3 Al phase with the L1 2 structure, the thermodynamically stable phase for this composition.     

Improvement Strategies in Free-Throw Shooting and Grip-Strength Tasks

Participants performed a free-throw shooting task and a grip-strength task before and after imagery, nonspecific arousal, or no instructions. Imagery improved performance in the free-throw shooting task, which is assumed to have more cognitive components than the grip-strength task. Imagery did not improve performance in the grip-strength task, which is assumed to have fewer cognitive components than the free-throw task. Nonspecific arousal, on the other hand, improved performance in the grip-strength task but not in the free-throw shooting task. Athletic experience, confidence levels, and gender were correlated with actual performance levels in both tasks, but not with improvement. Results are discussed within the transfer-appropriate processing framework.     

Knowledge of Memory Aging Across the Lifespan

ABSTRACT. The authors examined knowledge of normal and pathological memory aging in a lifespan sample of 198 individuals who ranged in age from 13 to 88 years. Participants completed the Knowledge of Memory Aging Questionnaire (Cherry, Brigman, Hawley, & Reese, 2003). The authors hypothesized that high school students would be less knowledgeable about memory aging issues than college students, middle-aged, and community-dwelling older adults. Consistent with this hypothesis, response accuracy was lower for high school students compared to their older counterparts. Follow-up analyses revealed that high school students’ responses to a subset of questions that tap ageist views of adult cognition were less accurate than the other age groups, implying a response bias toward stereotypical images of memory aging. Implications for research and the design of instructional materials to increase people's knowledge about normative changes in adult cognition are discussed.     

A theory‐driven investigation of prospective applicants' intentions to submit video résumés

As a quickly growing trend among job seekers, video résumés represent an area where practice has outpaced research. This study investigated whether the theory of planned behavior (TpB) can be used to understand future job seekers (n = 154) video résumé submission intentions and behaviors. Results supported the TpB model. Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control predicted intentions, which in turn predicted video résumé creation behaviors. Compared with perceived behavioral control, attitudes and subjective norms were more important predictors. As one of the first empirical studies on video résumés, this research breaks important new ground. It also extends what is known about the TpB because it is the first study to use a relative importance analysis to statistically compare the influence of the theory's antecedent constructs.     

Test Anxiety,Coping Strategies,and Perceived Health in a Group of High School Students: A Turkish Sample

A group of high school juniors and a group of high school seniors in Izmir, Turkey completed measures of test anxiety, coping skills, and perceived health status both before and after a major exam period. Students with high test anxiety used less effective coping mechanisms and tended to have poorer perceptions of their health. Prior to the exams, juniors displayed higher test anxiety and used less effective coping mechanisms than seniors. After the exam periods, improvements were seen for both age groups on perceived health, but scores of younger students remained significantly higher than scores of seniors on one of the key measures of test anxiety. Results of the study lend support to those of previous studies done in other cultural contexts, and findings have implications for the development of interventions designed to help students cope with stress.     

Preschoolers' Use of Reflective Properties: Identification of Reflections on Partially Transparent Surfaces

This exploratory study extended past studies of children's ability to reference the mirror as a tool in locating the source of reflected images to preschoolers' ability to use the affordances of a transparency. Thirty-six children (3.5 to 5 years old) were shown nonreflected lights and lights reflected on a partially transparent, glassy surface. Children did not spontaneously locate the source of the reflected image. However, they were able to verbally discriminate reflected from nonreflected images following training. These findings indicate that, although preschoolers may not spontaneously use transparencies as a perceptual tool, the ability to distinguish visual differences of reflected from nonreflected images on transparencies is likely within preschool children's developmental capacity.