Exploring inter-task transfer following a CO-OP approach with four children with DCD: A single subject multiple baseline design

IntroductionCognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach has been shown to be effective for improving the performance of tasks worked on in therapy and the use of cognitive strategies. No study to date seems to have explored its effectiveness for improving performance of untrained tasks (inter-task transfer) in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD).ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine whether CO-OP leads to improved performance in an untrained task.MethodsA single-subject design with multiple baselines across skills was adopted, with three replications. Four children with DCD (7–12 years) received 10 sessions of CO-OP intervention where each child worked on three tasks during therapy sessions and a fourth task was identified, but not worked on, to verify inter-task transfer. Task performance was rated over four phases (baseline, intervention, post-intervention, follow-up) using the Performance Quality Rating Scale (PQRS-OD). Graphed data was statistically analyzed using a two or three standard deviation band method.ResultsSignificant improvement was obtained for 11 of 12 tasks worked on during therapy and for two of the four untrained tasks.ConclusionThese results indicate that the effectiveness of CO-OP to improve untrained tasks in children merit further exploration.     

Realistic affective forecasting: The role of personality

Affective forecasting often drives decision-making. Although affective forecasting research has often focused on identifying sources of error at the event level, the present investigation draws upon the “realistic paradigm” in seeking to identify factors that similarly influence predicted and actual emotions, explaining their concordance across individuals. We hypothesised that the personality traits neuroticism and extraversion would account for variation in both predicted and actual emotional reactions to a wide array of stimuli and events (football games, an election, Valentine's Day, birthdays, happy/sad film clips, and an intrusive interview). As hypothesised, individuals who were more introverted and neurotic anticipated, correctly, that they would experience relatively more unpleasant emotional reactions, and those who were more extraverted and less neurotic anticipated, correctly, that they would experience relatively more pleasant emotional reactions. Personality explained 30% of the concordance between predicted and actual emotional reactions. Findings suggest three purported personality processes implicated in affective forecasting, highlight the importance of individual-differences research in this domain, and call for more research on realistic affective forecasts.     

Relevance drives attention: Attentional bias for gain- and loss-related stimuli is driven by delayed disengagement

Attentional bias to gain- and loss-related stimuli was investigated in a dot-probe task. We used coloured stimuli that had acquired their valence during the experiment by signalling the chance to either win or lose points in a game task. Replicating previous findings with the additional singleton paradigm, we found attentional bias effects for both gain- and loss-related colours. The effects were due to delayed disengagement from valent stimuli, especially if they were positive, and could not be explained by nonattentional processes like behavioural freezing. Our findings suggest that stimuli signalling opportunities and dangers hold attention, supporting a general motivational relevance principle of the orienting of attention.     

Associations between empathy and altruistic sharing behavior in Chinese adults

Previous research has shown that affective empathy, rather than cognitive empathy, significantly predicts people’s altruistic sharing behavior in economic games. However, most of these studies were conducted in Western populations. There might be cultural differences in the relations between empathy and altruism due to different levels of empathy between Western and Asian individuals. In this study, we measured different aspects of empathy in Chinese adults as well as their allocation offers in the dictator and ultimatum games. We found that cognitive empathy, but not affective empathy, was a significant predictor of adults’ altruistic sharing behavior in the two economic games. Subjective family income was also revealed to be a significant predictor of individuals’ altruism in the ultimatum game, such that people with lower subjective family income tended to be more generous. Potential implications of our findings are discussed.     

Resurgence is greater following a return to the training context than remaining in the extinction context

The present study examined whether resurgence of a previously reinforced target response upon removing alternative reinforcement would be greater when (1) returning to the original training context (ABA context changes) versus (2) remaining in the analogue treatment context in which the alternative response was differentially reinforced (ABB context changes). Experiment 1 arranged reinforcement of button pressing with points exchangeable for money in university students. Experiment 2 arranged reinforcement of lever pressing with food for rats. Experiment 3 arranged reinforcement of responses to a touchscreen with small bites of food with children diagnosed with ASD. Overall, resurgence of target responding tended to be greater when returning to the original training context (A) than when remaining in the analogue treatment context (B). These findings suggest context changes with differential reinforcement treatments could exacerbate the recurrence of problem behavior resulting from reductions in treatment integrity through failure to reinforce appropriate behavior.     

Can emotional bonding be a liability? Status striving as an intervening mechanism in affective commitment and negative work behaviors relationship

IntroductionThe dark side of affective commitment has been ignored in the past literature on organizational commitment.ObjectivesUsing the tenants of moral self-licensing theory, we examined how affective commitment can cause negative outcomes. We hypothesized that affective commitment leads to unethical pro-organizational behaviors, careerism and counter-productive work behaviors through increased urge for status striving.Methods and resultsA multi-wave and two-source data was obtained (n = 306) from employees and their peers working in the service sector of Pakistan. Employing structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis our results indicate that high levels of affective commitment might unleash status striving which further creates unethical pro-organizational behaviors, careerism and CWBs.ConclusionThe current study opens up a new side in the affective commitment literature by examining status striving as an underlying mechanism through which affective commitment reveals its deleterious consequences for employees.     

A mechanism for biasing the appraisal process in affective agents

In this paper we present a mechanism to model the influence of agents’ internal and external factors on the emotional evaluation of stimuli in computational models of emotions. We propose the modification of configurable appraisal dimensions (such as desirability and pleasure) based on influencing factors. As part of the presented mechanism, we introduce influencing models to define the relationship between a given influencing factor and a given set of configurable appraisal dimensions utilized in the emotional evaluation phase. Influencing models translate factors’ influences (on the emotional evaluation) into fuzzy logic adjustments (e.g., a shift in the limits of fuzzy membership functions), which allow biasing the emotional evaluation of stimuli. We implemented a proof-of-concept computational model of emotions based on real-world data about individuals’ emotions. The obtained empirical evidence indicates that the proposed mechanism can properly affect the emotional evaluation of stimuli while preserving the overall behavior of the model of emotions.     

情绪调节自我效能感与心理健康的交叉滞后研究

摘 要：对531名青少年进行为期五个月的追踪,运用交叉滞后回归分析考察积极、沮丧、生气三种情绪调节自我效能感与心理健康（问题行为、抑郁和生活满意度）间的相互影响。结果：T1积极情绪调节自我效能感不能预测T2问题行为、抑郁和生活满意度;T1沮丧情绪调节自我效能感显著预测T2抑郁水平;T1生活满意度和抑郁显著预测T2生气情绪调节自我效能感。结论：高沮丧情绪调节自我效能感能保护青少年处于“低抑郁状态”,而生气情绪调节自我效能感更容易受到个体生活满意度和抑郁水平的影响,是青少年处于不良心理状态下的易感效能。     

Integrating a cognitive computational model of planning and decision-making considering affective information

Planning and decision-making are two of the cognitive functions involved in the solution of problems. These functions, among others, have been studied from the point of view of a new field known as cognitive informatics focused on the development of cognitive architectures, autonomous agents, and human robots that are capable of showing human-like behavior. We present an exhaustive study of current biological and computational models proposed in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and cognitive informatics. Also, we present a deep review of the brain areas involved in planning, decision-making, and affection. However, the majority of the proposed computational models are seeking to mimic human external behavior. This paper aims to contribute to the cognitive informatics field with an innovative cognitive computational model of planning and decision-making. The two main differences of our model with respect to the current models in the literature are: (i) our model considers affective and motivational information as a basic and essential trigger in planning and decision-making processes; (ii) our model attempts to mimic both the internal human brain as well as the external human behavior. We developed a computational model capable of offering a direct mapping from human brain areas to computational modules of our model. Thus, in this paper we present our model from a conceptual, formal, and computational approach in order to show how our proposal must be implemented. Finally, a set of tests were conducted in order to validate our proposal. These tests show an interesting comparison between the behavior of our prototype and the behavior exhibited by some people involved in a case study.