Interaction and representational integration: evidence from speech errors

We examine the mechanisms that support interaction between lexical, phonological and phonetic processes during language production. Studies of the phonetics of speech errors have provided evidence that partially activated lexical and phonological representations influence phonetic processing. We examine how these interactive effects are modulated by lexical frequency. Previous research has demonstrated that during lexical access, the processing of high frequency words is facilitated; in contrast, during phonetic encoding, the properties of low frequency words are enhanced. These contrasting effects provide the opportunity to distinguish two theoretical perspectives on how interaction between processing levels can be increased. A theory in which cascading activation is used to increase interaction predicts that the facilitation of high frequency words will enhance their influence on the phonetic properties of speech errors. Alternatively, if interaction is increased by integrating levels of representation, the phonetics of speech errors will reflect the retrieval of enhanced phonetic properties for low frequency words. Utilizing a novel statistical analysis method, we show that in experimentally induced speech errors low lexical frequency targets and outcomes exhibit enhanced phonetic processing. We sketch an interactive model of lexical, phonological and phonetic processing that accounts for the conflicting effects of lexical frequency on lexical access and phonetic processing.     

Self-regulation during a single performance episode: Mood-as-information in the absence of formal feedback

This investigation used a daily diary methodology to examine goal revision and effort allocation processes over a single, 2-weeks performance episode in which individuals prepared for a course exam. Growth curve modeling revealed that daily goal exhibited a curvilinear trend in which it was stable and relatively high at the beginning of the time period, but rapidly declined as the exam approached. Daily effort exhibited a trend opposite of the goal trend, remaining low and relatively stable at the beginning and increasingly rapidly as the exam approached. Current mood predicted daily goal revision, with positive mood being positively related to goal revision and negative mood being negatively related to goal revision. The traits of behavioral activation system (BAS) sensitivity and behavioral inhibition system (BIS) sensitivity moderated within-person relationships of positive and negative mood with goal revision. Simultaneous and lagged relationships among mood, goals, and daily effort were also examined.     

Signal detection theory with item effects

Applications of signal detection theory (SDT) often involve presentations of different items on each trial, such as slides in a medical imaging study or words in a memory study. If factors particular to the items themselves, apart from being a signal or noise, affect observers’ responses, then ‘item effects’ are present. One way to model these effects is to use a latent continuous variable as an item ‘factor’, such as item ‘difficulty’. Details of SDT models with item effects are clarified via derivations of their implied conditional means, variances, and covariances. Intra-item correlations are defined and suggested as measures of the magnitude of item effects. The SDT-item models are simple random coefficient models and can be fit with standard software. More general models, such as item models with mixing and/or with random observer effects, are also considered.     

The relation between parental influence, body image, and eating behaviors in a nonclinical female sample

The purpose of the current study is to create a comprehensive composite measure of parental influence based on previously developed measures to clarify the underlying dimensions of parental influence and to determine the degree to which parental influence relates to body image and dysfunctional weight concerns. Previously published literature was reviewed for measures of parental influence, and items from 22 measures were condensed and combined into a single questionnaire, which was completed by 367 female undergraduate psychology students. Two dimensions emerged from a principle components analysis: Direct Influence, which includes weight and eating related comments, and Modeling, which includes parental modeling of dieting and related behavior. Direct Influence and Modeling were significantly related to eating disturbance, such as drive for thinness and bulimic symptomatology. Overall, the results integrate the previous literature and clarify the underlying dimensions of parental influence. Further, this study provides directions for future research related to the development and maintenance of body image and eating disturbance.     

The utility of screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders (scared) as a tool for identifying children at high risk for prevalent anxiety disorders

Abstract

The current study examined the utility of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) as a screening tool for the identification of children at high risk for prevalent childhood anxiety disorders. The child version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (KSCID) was used as the diagnostic standard. It was investigated whether SCARED scores are indicative for the presence of generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and social phobia. Five-hundred-and-thirty-seven children aged 7–14 years completed the SCARED. From this sample, 82 children were selected on the basis of their SCARED scores. A subgroup of these children scored relatively high on the generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and/or social phobia scale(s) of the SCARED. A comparison group of children scored relatively low on these SCARED scales. Both groups of children then received the semi-structured interview to assess to what extent they fulfilled the DSM-IV criteria for the relevant anxiety disorders. Results provided some support for the predictive validity of the SCARED generalized anxiety disorder and separation anxiety disorder subscales. The implications of these findings for the detection of anxiety disorders in normal children are briefly discussed.     

Psychological and Somatic Factors in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery: Towards Building a Psychological Framework

The present study explored the relationships between psychological and somatic factors in patients undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft surgery (CABG). The data-analysis of previous work was extended by adding somatic factors, including feelings of disability, somatic complaints and fatigue. The focus was on their relationships with psychological factors, including anxiety, depression and neuroticism. Prior to surgery and six months postoperatively, 217 patients completed self-report questionnaires. Using the method of structural equation modeling (SEM), the structure of relationships between the somatic, psychological and background factors (i.e., gender, age and medical factors) was explored. A model was developed providing a good fit and accounting for a substantial amount of variance. The structure of relationships revealed that somatic factors lead to anxiety and depression in the preoperative period, whereas anxiety and depression lead to somatic factors in the postoperative period. The structure further strengthened the key position of neuroticism and its overall negative prognostic implications.     

Spouses' Cortisol Associations and Moderators: Testing Physiological Synchrony and Connectedness in Everyday Life

In this study, associations were examined between cortisol levels of wives and husbands in 47 heterosexual married couples. Both partners' salivary cortisol levels were measured at the same moments seven times a day on 2 typical weekdays. After accounting for the effects of the diurnal rhythm of cortisol and relevant control variables, dyadic hierarchical linear modeling indicated significant positive linkages between partners' cortisol levels, consistent with the hypothesized within‐couple physiological synchrony. Variables reflecting more (spousal presence) or less connectedness (loneliness, being alone) were also collected at the time of each cortisol sample. Results indicated that husbands' cortisol levels were higher at moments they reported feeling lonelier and lower at moments they were in the presence of their spouse. Wives' cortisol levels were higher at moments they were alone. In addition, wife–husband cortisol synchrony was stronger for husbands who spent relatively more time with their spouse across the study period—even after accounting for time spent with others in general. These findings suggest that marital partners evidence positive within‐couple cortisol associations, and that connectedness (particularly physical closeness) may underpin spouses' physiological synchrony.     

Time-specific Errors in Growth Curve Modeling: Type-1 Error Inflation and a Possible Solution with Mixed-Effects Models

Growth curve modeling (GCM) has been one of the most popular statistical methods to examine participants’ growth trajectories using longitudinal data. In spite of the popularity of GCM, little attention has been paid to the possible influence of time-specific errors, which influence all participants at each timepoint. In this article, we demonstrate that the failure to take into account such time-specific errors in GCM produces considerable inflation of type-1 error rates in statistical tests of fixed effects (e.g., coefficients for the linear and quadratic terms). We propose a GCM that appropriately incorporates time-specific errors using mixed-effects models to address the problem. We also provide an applied example to illustrate that GCM with and without time-specific errors would lead to different substantive conclusions about the true growth trajectories. Comparisons with other models in longitudinal data analysis and potential issues of model misspecification are discussed.     

Tests of the E-Z Reader model: exploring the interface between cognition and eye-movement control

This paper is simultaneously a test and refinement of the E-Z Reader model and an exploration of the interrelationship between visual and language processing and eye-movements in reading. Our modeling indicates that the assumption that words in text are processed serially by skilled readers is a viable and attractive hypothesis, as it accounts not only for "normal" reading data, but also for the pattern of decrements that occur when text is withheld from view during certain periods of time, such as in the boundary paradigm and the disappearing text paradigm. Our analyses also indicate (a) that lexical processing during reading is essentially continuous and (b) that the trigger for eye movements has to be a different (and prior) event to the trigger for shifts of covert spatial attention. In addition, the parameter values in our model are in accordance with what is known about such processes and should be taken as serious hypotheses for how long these processes last. Although a parallel model may be able to duplicate the predictions of the E-Z Reader model, we think that it is likely to be far less parsimonious and not nearly as good a heuristic device for using eye movements to understand language processing in reading.     

The neuronal basis of bimanual coordination: recent neurophysiological evidence and functional models

Recent physiological studies of the neuronal processes underlying bimanual movements provide new tests for earlier functional models of bimanual coordination. The recently acquired data address three conceptual areas: the generalized motor program (GMP), intermanual crosstalk and dynamic systems models. To varying degrees, each of these concepts has aspects that can be reconciled with experimental evidence. The idea of a GMP is supported by the demonstration of abstract neuronal motor codes, e.g. bimanual-specific activity in motor cortex. The crosstalk model is consistent with the facts that hand-specific coding also exists and that interactions occur between the motor commands for each arm. Uncrossed efferent projections may underlie crosstalk on an executional level. Dynamic interhemispheric interactions through the corpus callosum may provide a high-level link at the parametric programming level, allowing flexible coupling and de-coupling. Flexible neuronal interactions could also underlie adaptive large-scale systems dynamics that can be formalized within the dynamic systems theory approach.

The correspondence of identified neuronal processes with functions of abstract models encourages the development of realistic computational models that can predict bimanual behavior on the basis of neuronal activity.