Crossmodal associations between flavoured milk solutions and musical notes

A number of crossmodal associations have now been described in the context of food evaluation, such as between tastes or flavours and musical notes (Crisinel & Spence, 2010b). Here we extend these findings by presenting flavoured milk solutions of varying fat contents. The participants in the present study matched a series of milk samples to musical notes. They chose both the pitch and the class of instrument that they felt was most appropriate for each sample. Participants also rated various features of the samples, such as their pleasantness, bitterness, or familiarity. Consistent associations between flavours and both pitch and instruments were confirmed. However, fat content did not influence either the pitch or instrument chosen, although it did have an effect on pleasantness and intensity ratings. These results demonstrate that flavour–sound associations are not restricted to basic tastes and flavours presented individually, but are still present in the context of more complex food stimuli. The present study opens the way for further investigations into the nature and characteristics of crossmodal associations (or correspondences) between more complex stimuli, both in the auditory and gustatory/olfactory modalities. This novel approach could lead to new insights into the representation of chemosensory stimuli in humans.     

Self-grounding visual,auditory and olfactory autobiographical memories

Given that autobiographical memory provides a cognitive foundation for the self, we investigated the relative importance of visual, auditory and olfactory autobiographical memories for the self. Thirty subjects, with a mean age of 35.4 years, participated in a study involving a three × three within-subject design containing nine different types of autobiographical memory cues: pictures, sounds and odors presented with neutral, positive and negative valences. It was shown that visual compared to auditory and olfactory autobiographical memories involved higher cognitive and emotional constituents for the self. Furthermore, there was a trend showing positive autobiographical memories to increase their proportion to both cognitive and emotional components of the self, from olfactory to auditory to visually cued autobiographical memories; but, yielding a reverse trend for negative autobiographical memories. Finally, and independently of modality, positive affective states were shown to be more involved in autobiographical memory than negative ones.     

The Impact of Protective Factors on Posttraumatic Growth for College Student Survivors of Childhood Maltreatment

Many college students experience traumatic life events in childhood, yet demonstrate personal growth following these experiences. Deriving benefit in the face of adversity has been termed “posttraumatic growth.” The relationship between posttraumatic growth and childhood experiences of abuse and neglect was investigated in a sample of 501 college students. The primary focus was on what protective factors moderated the relationship between childhood experiences of abuse and neglect and later posttraumatic growth. It was found that although the protective factors of acceptance, positive reframing, and emotional support all significantly predicted scores on the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, only the factor of prosocial adults and the overall number of social and emotional resources experienced moderated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and posttraumatic growth. These findings have implications for designing effective interventions that foster growth in college students who report a history of childhood maltreatment.     

No Ordinary Life: Complex Narratives of Trauma and Resilience in Under-Resourced Communities

This investigation examines the occurrence and impact of chronic adversity for young adults who grew up amidst poverty and community violence. Young adults in such contexts, particularly those who have been involved with the courts, are not commonly conceptualized through the developmental lens of complex trauma but rather described by maladaptive behaviors and risk to society. This grounded theory analysis explored how participants perceive and make meaning of their experiences. Interview data revealed consistent narratives of childhood neglect and psychological maltreatment, chronic loss, intergenerational trauma exposure, and the resulting survival-based adaptation. We identified 3 primary themes across the participant narratives: (a) lack of need fulfillment; paradoxical experience of self, others, and the world; and persistent sense of purpose and meaning. Findings illuminated the complexity of ongoing struggle, adaptation, and resilience in adult survivors. The need for an increased focus in trauma-informed treatment of adults in underresourced communities is discussed.     

The rubber hand illusion in a mirror

In the rubber hand illusion (RHI) one’s hand is hidden, and a fake hand is visible. We explored the situation in which visual information was available indirectly in a mirror. In the mirror condition, compared to the standard condition (fake hand visible directly), we found no reduction of the RHI following synchronised stimulation, as measured by crossmanual pointing and by a questionnaire. We replicated the finding with a smaller mirror that prevented visibility of the face. The RHI was eliminated when a wooden block replaced the fake hand, or when the hand belonged to another person or mannequin. We conclude that awareness of the reflection is the critical variable, despite the distant visual localisation of the hand in a mirror and the third-person perspective. Stimuli seen in a mirror activate the same response as stimuli seen in peripersonal space, through knowledge that they are near one’s body.     

The self in action effects: selective attenuation of self-generated sounds

The immediate experience of self-agency, that is, the experience of generating and controlling our actions, is thought to be a key aspect of selfhood. It has been suggested that this experience is intimately linked to internal motor signals associated with the ongoing actions. These signals should lead to an attenuation of the sensory consequences of one’s own actions and thereby allow classifying them as self-generated. The discovery of shared representations of actions between self and other, however, challenges this idea and suggests similar attenuation of one’s own and other’s sensory action effects.Here, we tested these assumptions by comparing sensory attenuation of self-generated and observed sensory effects. More specifically, we compared the loudness perception of sounds that were either self-generated, generated by another person or a computer. In two experiments, we found a reduced perception of loudness intensity specifically related to self-generation. Furthermore, the perception of sounds generated by another person and a computer did not differ from each other. These findings indicate that one’s own agentive influence upon the outside world has a special perceptual quality which distinguishes it from any sort of external influence, including human and non-human sources. This suggests that a real sense of self-agency is not a socially shared but rather a unique and private experience.     

A policy maker’s dilemma: Preventing terrorism or preventing blame

Although anti-terrorism policy should be based on a normative treatment of risk that incorporates likelihoods of attack, policy makers’ anti-terror decisions may be influenced by the blame they expect from failing to prevent attacks. We show that people’s anti-terror budget priorities before a perceived attack and blame judgments after a perceived attack are associated with the attack’s severity and how upsetting it is but largely independent of its likelihood. We also show that anti-terror budget priorities are influenced by directly highlighting the likelihood of the attack, but because of outcome biases, highlighting the attack’s prior likelihood has no influence on judgments of blame, severity, or emotion after an attack is perceived to have occurred. Thus, because of accountability effects, we propose policy makers face a dilemma: prevent terrorism using normative methods that incorporate the likelihood of attack or prevent blame by preventing terrorist attacks the public find most blameworthy.     

Sensory Processing Sensitivity and its association with personality traits and affect: A meta-analysis

In two Bayesian meta-analyses, we investigated associations between Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) and the Big Five personality traits (MA1) as well as both Positive and Negative Affect (MA2). Moderators were age and the three SPS subscales. In MA1 (8 papers, 6790 subjects), SPS in children correlated with Neuroticism (r = 0.42) but did not with Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness or Conscientiousness. In adults, SPS correlated with Openness (r = 0.14) and Neuroticism (r = 0.40) but did not with Extraversion, Agreeableness or Conscientiousness. In MA2 (19 papers, 5326 subjects), SPS in children correlated with Negative (r = 0.29) and Positive Affect (r = 0.21), but only with Negative Affect (r = 0.34) in adults. Developmental and measurement aspects are discussed.     

The relationship between childhood abuse and depression in a sample of Chinese people who use methamphetamine

Background/ObjectivePrevious studies have shown that childhood abuse is associated with symptoms of depression. This study aims to examine the prevalence of childhood abuse or neglect and its correlation with depression among a sample of Chinese people who use methamphetamine.MethodPeople who use methamphetamine (MA) (N = 1,173) were recruited from government-operated drug rehabilitation centres in Anhui province, China. Participants were assessed using the short form of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory-II for childhood abuse or neglect and depression symptoms.ResultsA total of 44.6% of people who use MA reported moderate/severe childhood abuse or neglect, and 56.9% of this sample were diagnosed with depression. Emotional abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect and physical neglect were revealed to increase the risk of depression. Multivariable regression analyses showed that depression scores were significantly predicted by gender, duration of drug use, sexual abuse and emotional neglect (model R² = .08, p < .001). The interaction between emotional neglect and duration of drug use on the depression was statistically significant.ConclusionsThese analyses indicate that sexual abuse and emotional neglect increase the severity of depression in individuals who use MA in drug rehabilitation centres of China.