Mental Juggling: When Does Multitasking Impair Reading Comprehension?

The present study investigated the conditions under which multitasking impairs reading comprehension. Participants read prose passages (the primary task), some of which required them to perform a secondary task. In Experiment 1, we compared two different types of secondary tasks (answering trivia questions and solving math problems). Reading comprehension was assessed using a multiple-choice test that measured both factual and conceptual knowledge. The results showed no observable detrimental effects associated with multitasking. In Experiment 2, the secondary task was a cognitive load task that required participants to remember a string of numbers while reading the passages. Performance on the reading comprehension test was lower in the cognitive load conditions relative to the no-load condition. The present study delineates the conditions under which multitasking can impair or have no effect on reading comprehension. These results further our understanding of our capacity to multitask and have practical implications in our technologically advanced society in which multitasking has become commonplace.     

Analogical reasoning in working memory: Resources shared among relational integration,interference resolution,and maintenance

We report a series of experiments using a pictorial analogy task designed to manipulate relational integration, interference resolution, and active maintenance simultaneously. The difficulty of the problems was varied in terms of the number of relations to be integrated, the need for interference resolution, and the duration of maintenance required to correctly solve the analogy. The participants showed decreases in performance when integrating multiple relations, as compared with a single relation, and when interference resolution was required in solving the analogy. When the participants were required to integrate multiple relations while simultaneously engaged in interference resolution, performance was worse, as compared with problems that incorporated either of these features alone. Maintenance of information across delays in the range of 1-4.5 sec led to greater decrements in visual memory, as compared with analogical reasoning. Misleading information caused interference when it had been necessarily attended to and maintained in working memory and, hence, had to be actively suppressed. However, sources of conflict within information that had not been attended to or encoded into working memory did not interfere with the ongoing controlled information processing required for relational integration. The findings provide evidence that relational integration and interference resolution depend on shared cognitive resources in working memory during analogical reasoning.     

Age-related differences in the brain areas outside the classical language areas among adults using category decision task

Older adults perform much like younger adults on language. This similar level of performance, however, may come about through different underlying brain processes. In the present study, we evaluated age-related differences in the brain areas outside the typical language areas among adults using a category decision task. Our results showed that similar activation patterns were found in classical language processing areas across the three age groups although regional lateralization indices in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas decreased with age. The greatest differences, however, among the three groups were found primarily in the brain areas not associated with core language functioning including the hippocampus, middle frontal gyrus, ventromedial frontal cortex, medial superior parietal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Therefore, the non-classical language areas may exhibit an age-related difference between three age groups while the subjects show a similar activation pattern in the core, primary language processing during a semantic decision task.     

Living in the north is not necessarily favorable: Different metaphoric associations between cardinal direction and valence in Hong Kong and in the United States

The Conceptual Metaphor Theory (e.g., Lakoff & Johnson, 1980 ) suggests that people represent abstract concepts in terms of concrete concepts via metaphoric association. Participants in the United States (US) showed that cardinal direction (north/south) is metaphorically associated with valence (positive/negative), as reflected by their estimate for where a person with high or low socioeconomic status (SES) lives in a fictional city or their own living preference (Meier, Moller, Chen, & Riemer‐Peltz, 2011 ). The present study tested whether the cardinal direction–valence metaphoric association could be moderated by cultural differences. Although US participants believed that high‐SES and low‐SES individuals were more likely to live in the northern and southern part of the city, respectively, the reverse was so for Hong Kong (HK) participants (Study 1). When asked where they themselves would like to live, HK participants preferred to live in a southern area, whereas US participants showed no preference (Studies 2 and 3). These findings demonstrate cultural differences in metaphoric associations between cardinal direction and valence for HK and US participants. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rediscovering the Positive Psychology of Sport Participation: Happiness in a Ski Resort Context

Interrelated functions of the three orientations to happiness were examined by a cross-sectional survey, in the context of a ski resort experience. Accordingly, a conceptual framework of pleasure, flow, and involvement influencing satisfaction was established. Utilizing structural equation modeling, the conceptual framework was tested by analyzing data collected from 279 participants who enjoyed skiing and/or snowboarding. Results from bootstrap test indicated that direct and total effects from flow had the highest predictive power on satisfaction. In contrast, pleasure showed higher explanatory power on subjective experiences of flow and meaning, and influenced satisfaction only by indirect effects through those elements. Together, these findings support the research model synthesizing the behavioral constructs of sport participation with subjective well-being perspectives. Moreover, the expanded model in a sporting context further evidences the functional roles of the orientations to happiness by results consistent with extant literature of positive psychology. Roles of embodiments of orientations to happiness in an action-based exercise and its implications are further discussed.     

Demographic and Experiential Correlates of Public Attitudes Towards Cell-Free Fetal DNA Screening

This study seeks to inform clinical application of cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) screening as a novel method for prenatal trisomy detection by investigating public attitudes towards this technology and demographic and experiential characteristics related to these attitudes. Two versions of a 25-item survey assessing interest in cffDNA and existing first-trimester combined screening for either trisomy 13 and 18 or trisomy 21 were distributed among 3,164 members of the United States public. Logistic regression was performed to determine variables predictive of interest in screening options. Approximately 47 % of respondents expressed an interest in cffDNA screening for trisomy 13, 18, and 21, with a majority interested in cffDNA screening as a stand-alone technique. A significantly greater percent would consider termination of pregnancy following a diagnosis of trisomy 13 or 18 (52 %) over one of trisomy 21 (44 %). Willingness to consider abortion of an affected pregnancy was the strongest correlate to interest in both cffDNA and first-trimester combined screening, although markedly more respondents expressed an interest in some form of screening (69 % and 71 %, respectively) than would consider termination. Greater educational attainment, higher income, and insurance coverage predicted interest in cffDNA screening; stronger religious identification also corresponded to decreased interest. Prior experience with disability and genetic testing was associated with increased interest in cffDNA screening. Several of these factors, in addition to advanced age and Asian race, were, in turn, predictive of respondents’ increased willingness to consider post-diagnosis termination of pregnancy. In conclusion, divergent attitudes towards cffDNA screening—and prenatal options more generally – appear correlated with individual socioeconomic and religious backgrounds and experiences with disability and genetic testing. Clinical implementation and counseling for novel prenatal technologies should take these diverse stakeholder values into consideration.     

Organizational identification and perceived organizational support as mediators of the procedural justice–citizenship behaviour relationship: A cross-cultural constructive replication

This study examined the psychological processes that might underlie the relationship between procedural justice and organizational citizenship behaviour using an integrative approach. In doing so, we focused on the mediating effects of perceived organizational support and organizational identification in the relationship simultaneously. Framed as an integrated test of social exchange and social identity predictions, the hypotheses were tested using two cross-cultural samples (i.e., South Korea and the United States) as well as different operationalizations of the constructs of interest, which meets the criterion of a constructive replication (Lykken, 1968 Lykken, D. 1968. Statistical significance in psychological research. Psychological Bulletin, 70: 151–159. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) by two samples (N = 130, 135). Interestingly, the results showed convergence in support of the mediating role of organizational identification, but not perceived organizational support, when the two mediators were included in the model concurrently. These findings indicate that social identity may be the dominant psychological mechanism underlying the relationship between procedural justice and organizational citizenship behaviour in workplaces.     

Differential involvement of prefrontal cortex,striatum, and hippocampus in DRL performance in mice

Behavioral effects of neurotoxic lesions of the hippocampus, medial prefrontal (prelimbic, infralimbic and anterior cingulate) cortex or dorsal striatum were assessed using a DRL-10s schedule in mice. Post-operative acquisition data indicate that mice with hippocampal, but not prefrontal or striatal lesions received fewer reinforcements during daily 30-min sessions, and were less efficient in the timing of their responses. Additional analysis of inter-response-time (IRT) distributions revealed that the responses of hippocampal-lesioned mice exhibited undistinguishable responses for short IRTs (up to 9s). In addition, prefrontal-lesioned mice demonstrated a degradation of performance with further testing, and a flattened IRT distribution at late test phase, while striatal-lesioned mice behaved similarly to sham-lesioned mice. These results are interpreted in terms of known functions of the hippocampus in behavioral inhibition, and of the prefrontal cortex in executive control/decision making (and time production).