Self-regulatory strategy and executive control: implementation intentions modulate task switching and Simon task performance

Two tasks where failures of cognitive control are especially prevalent are task-switching and spatial Simon task paradigms. Both tasks require considerable strategic control for the participant to avoid the costs associated with switching tasks (task-switching paradigm) and to minimize the influence of spatial location (Simon task). In the current study, we assessed whether the use of a self-regulatory strategy known as "implementation intentions" would have any beneficial effects on performance in each of these task domains. Forming an implementation intention (i.e., an if-then plan) is a self-regulatory strategy in which a mental link is created between a pre-specified future cue and a desired goal-directed response, resulting in facilitated goal attainment (Gollwitzer in European Review of Social Psychology, 4, 141-185, 1993, American Psychologist, 54, 493-503, 1999). In Experiment 1, forming implementation intentions in the context of a task-switching paradigm led to a reduction in switch costs. In Experiment 2, forming implementation intentions reduced the effects of spatial location in a Simon task for the stimulus specified in the implementation intention. Results supported the prediction that the need for high levels of cognitive control can be alleviated to some degree by making if-then plans that specify how one responds to that critical stimuli.     

Structural brain abnormalities in psychopaths-a review

The biological basis of psychopathy has not yet been fully elucidated. Few studies deal with structural neuroimaging in psychopaths. The aim of this article is to review these studies in order to contribute to our understanding of the biological basis of psychopathy. Data in the literature report a reduction in prefrontal gray matter volume, gray matter loss in the right superior temporal gyrus, amygdala volume loss, a decrease in posterior hippocampal volume, an exaggerated structural hippocampal asymmetry, and an increase in callosal white matter volume in psychopathic individuals. These findings suggest that psychopathy is associated with brain abnormalities in a prefrontal-temporo-limbic circuit-i.e. regions that are involved, among others, in emotional and learning processes. Additionally, data indicate that psychopathic individuals cannot be seen as a homogeneous group. The associations between structural changes and psychopathic characteristics do not enable causal conclusions to be drawn, but point rather to the important role of biological brain abnormalities in psychopathy. To gain a comprehensive understanding of this, psychopathy must be viewed as a multifactorial process involving neurobiological, genetic, epidemiological and sociobiographical factors.     

Pauses in elementary school children's verbatim and gist free recall of a story

The aim of the research was to explore the function of pauses in children's oral verbatim and gist-based free recall, assuming that pauses indicate cognitive processing. The main question guiding this research was whether verbatim and gist recall constituted two different ways of cognitive processing associated with different time patterns of speech. Elementary school children (n = 180) between the ages of 8 and 10 years heard a story and were then instructed to either retell the story verbatim or retell its gist. They orally recalled the story for the first time immediately after hearing the story and again 1 week later. The results confirmed the main hypothesis of independence of verbatim and gist traces in that mean pause lengths were longer when verbatim retrieval was asked for as compared to gist retrieval. High correct gist recall was characterized by more and shorter pauses, indicating fluent retrieval.     

Unprovoked aggression: effects of psychopathic traits and sadism

Psychopathic individuals engage in the most violent and cold-blooded acts of aggression. In the laboratory, psychopathy traits have been linked to the commission of unprovoked aggression. The purpose of this study was to assess affective motives that may underlie the relationship between psychopathy and unprovoked aggression. One hundred thirty-seven men viewed a series of photographs depicting violent imagery, completed a lexical decision task designed to assess state affect, and competed in a laboratory-based aggression paradigm. Results indicated that participants who responded faster to happiness words after viewing violent imagery (i.e., sadistic) were significantly more likely to engage in unprovoked aggression. Additionally, Factor 1 psychopathy (emotional detachment) predicted increased probability of unprovoked aggression; however, this relationship was not mediated by sadism. Rather, Factor 1 and sadism each independently predicted unprovoked aggression. The implications of the present data suggest that the type of violence evinced may inform the risk for perpetration of future acts. That is, the individual who demonstrates unprovoked violence may be more likely to employ aggressive tactics across situational contexts than the individual who demonstrates only impulsive acts of hostile/reactive aggression.     

Emotional processing in psychopathic personality

Emotional‐processing deficits may be one of the characteristic features of impaired affect in individuals with psychopathy. These include shallowness and profound lack of remorse or empathy. Performances on standardized emotion discrimination tasks and mood induction tasks were compared between 17 patients with antisocial personality disorder (DSM‐IV) and 17 nonpsychopaths. Subjects with psychopathic personality demonstrated poorer performance on emotion‐discrimination tasks compared with controls. However, higher scores on factor “emotional detachment” of the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL‐R) were associated with better discrimination ability. Subjective ratings were comparable between groups during mood induction. Although the findings support the hypothesis of a significant association between impaired emotional processing and psychopathy, they also suggest a relationship between emotional discrimination and the core personality features of psychopathy. Aggr. Behav. 28:394–400, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

When is schematic knowledge used in source monitoring?

Source monitoring involves judgments regarding the origin of information (M. K. Johnson, S. Hashtroudi, & D. S. Lindsay, 1993). When participants cannot remember the source in a source-monitoring task, they may guess according to their prior schematic knowledge (U. J. Bayen, G. V. Nakamura, S. E. Dupuis, & C.-L. Yang, 2000). The present study aimed at specifying conditions under which schematic knowledge is used in source monitoring. The authors examined the time course of schema-based guesses with a response-signal technique (A. V. Reed, 1973), and multinomial models that separate memory and guessing bias. Use of schematic knowledge was observed only when asymptotic old-new recognition was low. The time course of schematic-knowledge retrieval followed an exponential growth function. Implications for theories of source monitoring are discussed.     

Trauma und Sucht

Ausgehend von der Beobachtung, dass der Missbrauch psychotroper Substanzen bei traumaassozierten psychischen Erkrankungen geh?uft anzutreffen ist, werden m?gliche wechselseitige Zusammenh?nge zwischen Suchterkrankungen und Traumafolgest?rungen er?rtert. Selbstverletzendes Verhalten stellt kein einheitliches, sondern ein für die klinisch psychologische Forschung sehr komplexes und noch unzureichend erkl?rtes Ph?nomen dar. Selbstverletzendes Verhalten h?ngt zumeist mit frühen traumatischen Erlebnissen zusammen, auf die nicht angemessen reagiert werden konnte. Aufbauend auf den Ergebnissen einer Stichtagserhebung am Anton-Proksch-Institut wird ein ressourcenorientiertes Behandlungsmodul für traumatisierte, suchtkranke Frauen vorgestellt, welches Stabilisierung und die Entwicklung von Selbstfürsorge umfasst.     

Candidates' Ability to Identify Criteria in Nontransparent Selection Procedures: Evidence from an assessment center and a structured interview

In selection procedures like assessment centers (ACs) and structured interviews, candidates are often not informed about the targeted criteria. Previous studies have shown that candidates' ability to identify these criteria (ATIC) is related to their performance in the respective selection procedure. However, past research has studied ATIC in only one selection procedure at a time, even though it has been assumed that ATIC is consistent across situations, which is a prerequisite for ATIC to contribute to selection procedures' criterion‐related validity. In this study, 95 candidates participated in an AC and a structured interview. ATIC scores showed cross‐situational consistency across the two procedures and accounted for part of the relationship between performance in the selection procedures. Furthermore, ATIC scores in one procedure predicted performance in the other procedure even after controlling for cognitive ability. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.