Shifting of attentional focus within and about a visual display

If several positions must be attended in a large visual display, does the efficiency of performance vary as a function of the display distance between these to-be-attended positions? Two previous experiments (Podgorny & Shepard, 1983; Shaw, 1978) gave conflicting answers. In the present experiments, eight-letter circular displays were briefly presented. On each trial one, two, or three positions of the display were cued or precued. The number of noncued display positions intervening between the cued locations varied from zero to three. The subjects' task was to rapidly discriminate between two target letters. Although reaction time was found to increase with increases in the number of cued locations, no significant or suggestive effects were found for the spacing or distance between the cued locations. The evidence strongly suggests that the subjects serially searched the cued locations, which further implies that attention can index locations in the visual field at a speed that is independent of the distance between these locations.     

Mood and sleep in aging women

The possible covariations of mood and sleep was examined in a group of 25 normal, aging women. Mood assessments made in the evenings of 3 consecutive days were independently related to both before and after sleep night. Only two sleep variables: sleep efficiency and latency to first rapid eye movement (REM) period--were reliably related to daytime moods. The relative paucity of relation between mood and sleep variables was interpreted as reflecting a general insulation of sleep from day-to-day mood variations.     

Postnatal mental health and mothers’ processing of infant emotion: an eye-tracking study

ABSTRACT

Background

Postnatal mental illnesses are associated with less maternal sensitivity. Differences in how mothers with and without mental illness process infant emotions could explain this. People with mental illness in non-perinatal populations show certain processing patterns when viewing emotional faces, but it is not clear whether these patterns are present in mothers.