ERPs reveal similar effects of social gaze orienting and voluntary attention, and distinguish each from reflexive attention

Spatial attention can be reflexively captured by a physically salient stimulus, effortfully directed toward a relevant location, or involuntarily oriented in the direction of another person's gaze (i.e., social gaze orienting). Here, we used event-related potentials to compare the effects of these three types of orienting on multiple stages of subsequent target processing. Although gaze orienting has been associated more strongly with reflexive capture than with voluntary attention, the present data provide new evidence that the neural effects of social gaze orienting are markedly different from the effects of reflexive attentional capture by physically salient stimuli. Specifically, despite their similar behavioral effects, social gaze orienting and reflexive capture produce different effects on both early sensory processing (~120 ms; P1/N1 components) and later, higher-order processing (~300 ms; P3 component). In contrast, the effects of social gaze orienting were highly similar to those of voluntary orienting at these stages of target processing.     

Perceptual categories and the computation of “grandmother”

Abstract

Recent theoretical approaches to understanding face recognition have used converging evidence from studies of normal face processing, everyday errors and patterns of neuropsychological impairment to suggest how different face processing modules are related to each other. This paper disuses four issues that arise from this body of work. These concern the nature of representations involved in face recognition, the existence of parallel pathways for processing different types of information, the relationship between recognition and awareness, and the question of how faces become familiar. Current research provoked by these issues is reviewed in the paper and suggestions are made about the ways in which such research will help refine theories of face processing.     

Recovery and predictors of language skills two years following pediatric traumatic brain injury

Subtle language processing difficulties may adversely affect scholastic performance, as well as communication and social skills. It is therefore crucial that language skills are monitored following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in childhood. The present study examined language skills in a group of 68 children who had sustained a mild, moderate or severe TBI. Results indicated that during the acute stage a dose-response relationship was evident, where severe TBI was associated with poorest performance and mild TBI with least deficits. By 24 months post-TBI, it was clear that for some language functions, the severe TBI group showed substantial recovery, and at times performed better than the moderate TBI group. Predictors of language and literacy skills at 24 months post TBI included pre-injury communication skills, socio-economic status, age at injury, and Vocabulary, as measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-111).     

TRAINING AND GENERALIZATION OF SEXUAL ABUSE PREVENTION SKILLS FOR WOMEN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

Previous research has shown that behavioral skills training to teach sexual abuse prevention skills to women with mental retardation results in skill acquisition but poor generalization. In this investigation we evaluated procedures for enhancing generalization following training. Five women with mental retardation received 10 behavioral skills training sessions followed by in situ training when the skills did not fully generalize. Behavioral skills training resulted in skill acquisition and in situ training produced generalized responding during naturalistic assessments.     

Ambiguity seeking in multi-attribute decisions: Effects of optimism and message framing

This paper investigates the influence of message framing and personality variables on preferences over ambiguity in the context of multi-attribute decision scenarios. Undergraduate subjects responded to scenarios in which one of two medical treatments was associated with ambiguous probabilities of treatment effects. Probabilities were either positively or negatively framed. Subjects indicated their degree of preference for one treatment over the other. Subjects' optimism, trait anxiety, health locus of control, need for cognitive structure, and current mood were measured. In two separate studies, subjects preferred ambiguity when probabilities were positively framed, and were neutral toward ambiguity when probabilities were negatively framed. Also, in both studies the preference for ambiguity in positively framed scenarios was greater for more optimistic subjects. The unexpected finding of ambiguity seeking may be associated with the use of different decision strategies in multi-attribute versus single-attribute decisions.     

Perceived social structure,role, and communication patterns in an organization

Relationships among organizational roles, perceptions of the structure of the organization, and communications were studied in a university psychology department. Fifty-five members, representing five status groups (e.g., faculty, graduate students, etc.) and four sections of the department (e.g., Counseling, Experimental, etc.), judged the similarity of 16 faculty stimuli, rated the faculty on their interests and activities, and reported on their own communications. Individual Differences Multidimensional Scaling analysis of the similarities data revealed four dimensions of the perceptions of the organization: Section Affiliation, Teaching versus Research, Interest in Industrial Psychology, and Orthodoxy of Life-Style. Section groups differed significantly both in their communications and in the way the Orthodoxy of Life-Style dimension was weighted in their perceptions of the organization. Perceptions of the organization were related to communication behavior.     

Two Important Distinctions in Social Support: Kind of Support and Perceived Versus Received1

The present study was conducted to examine the effects of social support on adjustment to a first cardiac event. There were two goals: (a) to determine which function of support best facilitated adjustment and (b) to determine whether perceived or received support had a greater impact on psychological health. Sixty-four patients and their spouses were interviewed shortly before hospital discharge and 3 months following discharge. The results indicated that perceived support has a greater impact on adjustment than received support and that received support does not necessarily indicate that needs are being met. The most helpful form of support was best understood by considering the stressor phase, patient and spouse needs, and the adjustment outcome. Consistent with previous research, however, the negative aspects of social relationships were more robust predictors of well-being than the positive aspects of social relationships.     

Judgments of men's and women's feelings during hypothetical social interactions

We studied college students' perceptions of how good/bad and how powerful/powerless men and women feel during hypothetical social interactions. Stimuli were constructed by combining each of 16 behaviors that fell into four categories (negative, low power, sexual, and help) with each of four dyads (male-male, male-female, female-male, female-female). Subjects made judgments about the likelihood of each behavior occurring, and about how actors and recipients felt when engaging in each of 16 behaviors. Three themes pervaded the results. First, subjects perceived men to feel more powerful than women whether behaving as actors or recipients—especially during interactions with women. Second, subjects perceived behaviors to be more likely, and actors and recipients to feel better and more powerful when the interaction pattern was consistent with gender role norms. Third, subjects perceived recipients' affective responses as being more polarized in opposite-sex than in same-sex dyads. Results from this research show that subjects' perceptions about feelings are largely consistent with the literature on social interaction and sex role stereotypes, and are similar for male and female subjects. In addition, our results provide a rich set of hypotheses concerning whether perceptions of feelings reflect actual feelings and are related to interaction participants' actual behavior.