The costs of crossing paths and switching tasks between audition and vision

Switching from one functional or cognitive operation to another is thought to rely on executive/control processes. The efficacy of these processes may depend on the extent of overlap between neural circuitry mediating the different tasks; more effective task preparation (and by extension smaller switch costs) is achieved when this overlap is small. We investigated the performance costs associated with switching tasks and/or switching sensory modalities. Participants discriminated either the identity or spatial location of objects that were presented either visually or acoustically. Switch costs between tasks were significantly smaller when the sensory modality of the task switched versus when it repeated. This was the case irrespective of whether the pre-trial cue informed participants only of the upcoming task, but not sensory modality (Experiment 1) or whether the pre-trial cue was informative about both the upcoming task and sensory modality (Experiment 2). In addition, in both experiments switch costs between the senses were positively correlated when the sensory modality of the task repeated across trials and not when it switched. The collective evidence supports the independence of control processes mediating task switching and modality switching and also the hypothesis that switch costs reflect competitive interference between neural circuits.     

内隐联想测验研究进展述评

内隐联想测验作为基于反应时范式的内隐社会认知研究方法,自1998年由Greenwald提出后,得到了广泛的应用。但因其本身具有一定局限性,近10年来,研究者们对这一方法进行了不断地修正和改进,先后发展出了GO／NO—GO联想任务、外部情感西蒙作业等;近几年又提出了单类内隐联想测验、单靶内隐联想测验和单属性内隐联想测验等,这些方法丰富充实了内隐联想测验,是对Greenwald提出的IAT的继承和发展。     

Predictors of time-based prospective memory in children

This study identified age differences in time-based prospective memory performance in school-aged children and explored possible cognitive correlates of age-related performance. A total of 56 7- to 12-year-olds performed a prospective memory task in which prospective memory accuracy, ongoing task performance, and time monitoring were assessed. Additional tests of time estimation, working memory, task switching, and planning were performed. Results showed a robust relationship between age and prospective memory performance even after controlling for ongoing task performance. Developmental differences in time monitoring were also observed, with older children generally adopting a more strategic monitoring strategy than younger children. The majority of age-related variance in prospective memory task performance could be explained by cognitive resources, in particular planning and task switching. In contrast, no further independent contribution of time estimation was observed. Findings are in line with the development of strategic behavior, as well as executive functioning, in school-aged children.     

Building an Expanded Therapeutic Alliance: A Task Analysis with Families Trapped in Parental-Adolescent Conflict

Parental-adolescent conflict is part of the normal developmental cycle of families, but when it occurs in a dysfunctional way, it is associated with the appearance of various harmful conditions for the family system and for the adolescent in particular. Family therapy is one of the main options for psychotherapeutic intervention in these cases and has ample evidence of its effectiveness. The success of this intervention is conditioned to the construction of an adequate therapeutic alliance with the family, but the process of this task has not been clarified yet. The present study is a task analysis, the purpose of which was to create a heuristic model of how an expanded alliance may be built in these kinds of cases. The model was revised and improved from the intensive analysis of six cases. The resulting model can be a useful guide for family therapists in that it describes the specific client and therapist behaviors involved in balancing the alliance, as well as the potential obstacles and suggested ways to resolve them.     

A Task Analysis of Client Re-engagement: Therapeutic De-escalation of High-Conflict Coparents

Parents who are engaged in protracted conflict following a divorce are often referred to coparenting therapy. Episodes of intense conflict are common during these therapy sessions and often result in coparents disengaging from the therapist while they engage in escalating conflict with each other, potentially disrupting their progress in therapy. The purpose of this study was to identify how therapists successfully re-engage clients in the session. To understand this process, 24 disengagement events (12 successful and 12 unsuccessful) from 13 cases were analyzed using a task analytic approach. The sample included coparent dyads referred by the judicial system to a high-conflict coparenting therapy program. Task analysis was used to create a model of how re-engagement unfolds in treatment. The empirical model that resulted has five phases: (1) disengagement from the therapeutic process, (2) disruption of the conflict, (3) de-escalating the most escalated coparent, (4) de-escalating the other coparent, and (5) therapist buffered re-engagement. Successful episodes of re-engagement tended to have therapists who remained active throughout the conflict episode, used structuring interventions aimed at disrupting and then regulating the most escalated partner, blocked attempts to re-engage in conflict, and then repeated this process with the less escalated partner. Additional interventions that promote therapeutic re-engagement are described for each phase, and implications for clinicians and researchers are discussed.     

Successive incrementing non-matching-to-samples in rats: An automated version of the odor span task

The odor span task is a procedure frequently used to study remembering of multiple stimuli in rodents. A large arena is used and odor stimuli are presented using scented cups. Selection of each odor is reinforced when first presented, but not on subsequent presentations; correct selections depend on remembering which stimuli were previously presented. The use of an arena setting with manual stimulus presentation makes the odor span task labor-intensive and limits experimental control; thus, an automated version of the task would be of value. The present study used an operant chamber equipped with an olfactometer and trained rats using successive conditional discrimination procedures under an incrementing non-matching-to-samples contingency. High rates of responding developed to odor stimuli when they were session-novel with low rates of responding to subsequent presentations of that odor. Additional experiments assessed variations of the procedure to determine the role of the frequency of odor presentation and the retention interval separating sample and comparison. Discrimination was impaired with long retention intervals suggesting the importance of this variable. These findings confirmed that rats differentiate between stimuli that are session-novel and those previously encountered and support the use of an automated procedure as an alternative to the odor span task.     

Sleep, watchkeeping and accidents: a content analysis of incident at sea reports

The unique profession of seafaring involves rest and sleep in a 24-h-a-day work environment that usually involves time-zone crossings, noise, heat, cold and motion. Sleep under such conditions is often difficult to obtain, and sleeping and sleep loss are often related to fatigue and contributory to accidents. This study aims to determine how accident investigators report sleep in Incident at Sea Reports and subsequently analyse the relationships between sleep, fatigue and accidents in these reports.The full text of 44 Incident at Sea Reports was coded and analysed using NUDIST software. This sample included collisions and groundings reported since 1991, where significant human factors contributed to the incident. The Incident at Sea Reports were electronically searched for reference to sleep and content was indexed against parameters such as fatigue behaviours, time of day and contributing personnel. Incident at Sea Reports incorporate three levels of reference to sleep, analysis of which may associate sleeping and sleepiness with accident causation. The highest level of reference unequivocally associates either being asleep, or being sleep deprived with accidents, but not always with fatigue. At an intermediate level, reference to the conflicting pressures of work and sleep on board fishing boats and ships suggests a work environment that is not conducive to obtaining sufficient sleep, and accident investigators are usually unable to link the watchkeeping environment with fatigue as a contributing factor. At the lowest level of association, reference is made to the integrated nature of sleeping and work on board.     

不同类型罪犯在爱荷华赌博任务中的决策功能缺陷

采用爱荷华赌博任务(Behcara等人1994年版本)测量了8类共222名在监男性罪犯以及32名普通男性的决策功能, 并运用前景效用学习模型分析了不同类型罪犯在情感决策中的心理功能缺陷。罪犯组选择牌1的比例与控制组没有显著差异, 选择牌2的比例显著高于控制组, 选择牌3和牌4的比例显著低于控制组。暴力犯和涉黑犯对收益和损失都不敏感, 对过去的预期效用折扣很快; 吸毒犯(已戒除)、涉毒犯、盗窃犯和抢劫犯对奖赏加工正常, 对惩罚不敏感; 经济犯选择一致性最低; 性罪犯选择一致性最高。结果表明不同类型罪犯在爱荷华赌博任务中都具有决策功能缺陷, 但他们的决策功能缺陷由不同的心理功能缺陷所致。     

Towards a better understanding of the association between motor skills and executive functions in 5- to 6-year-olds: The impact of motor task difficulty

Different lines of evidence suggest an association between motor skills and executive functions (EFs) in kindergarten children. Comparatively little is known about the specific nature of this relationship. In the present study, using a within-subjects design, a sample of 124 five- to six-year-old children completed 12 fine and gross motor tasks of varying nominal difficulty and three EFs tasks. We assumed that difficult motor tasks are less automated than easy motor tasks. Therefore, EFs should be involved more strongly in difficult compared to easy motor tasks. Firstly, results replicated the association between motor skills and EFs. Secondly, results provided a new and differentiated perspective on the evidence of this link. Performance on both easy and difficult fine motor tasks was significantly related to EFs. However, only performance on the difficult, but not on the easy gross motor tasks was significantly correlated with EFs. The findings demonstrate that the challenges and demands inherent in any motor task influence the magnitude of the motor–EFs link. That is, difficult (i.e., less automated) motor tasks require EFs more substantially than easy (i.e., more automated) motor tasks. Results will be discussed with regard to further candidate processes underlying the motor–EFs link.     

Development of behavioural regulation in Do and Don't contexts among behaviourally inhibited Chinese children

Behavioural inhibition influences the development of behavioural regulation in early childhood. Previous studies have mainly focused on the relationship between inhibition and regulation in the Don't context (e.g., inhibitory control), while few have investigated this relationship in the Do context (e.g., task persistence). This longitudinal study examined the effect of temperamental inhibition on behavioural regulation during both the Do and Don't contexts in 112 Chinese preschoolers. At 3.5 years of age, children's behavioural inhibition was assessed by behavioural observation and parental report, and then at 4.5 years of age, their regulatory behaviours were measured in the following two challenging contexts: Do [locked box (LB)] and Don't [toy inhibition (TI)]. In each task, children were randomly assigned to either a high‐ or a low‐incentive condition designed to vary the value of a given goal. Results suggested that higher inhibition was associated with poorer regulation (lower task persistence) in both conditions of the Do context (LB), whereas in the Don't context (TI) highly inhibited children showed better regulation (less violation behaviours) in the low‐incentive condition than they did in the high‐incentive condition. The results highlight the context characteristics and goal incentive as important factors for behavioural regulation development in inhibited children in China.