Changes in auditory frequency guide visual-spatial attention

How do the characteristics of sounds influence the allocation of visual–spatial attention? Natural sounds typically change in frequency. Here we demonstrate that the direction of frequency change guides visual–spatial attention more strongly than the average or ending frequency, and provide evidence suggesting that this cross-modal effect may be mediated by perceptual experience. We used a Go/No-Go color-matching task to avoid response compatibility confounds. Participants performed the task either with their heads upright or tilted by 90°, misaligning the head-centered and environmental axes. The first of two colored circles was presented at fixation and the second was presented in one of four surrounding positions in a cardinal or diagonal direction. Either an ascending or descending auditory-frequency sweep was presented coincident with the first circle. Participants were instructed to respond to the color match between the two circles and to ignore the uninformative sounds. Ascending frequency sweeps facilitated performance (response time and/or sensitivity) when the second circle was presented at the cardinal top position and descending sweeps facilitated performance when the second circle was presented at the cardinal bottom position; there were no effects of the average or ending frequency. The sweeps had no effects when circles were presented at diagonal locations, and head tilt entirely eliminated the effect. Thus, visual–spatial cueing by pitch change is narrowly tuned to vertical directions and dominates any effect of average or ending frequency. Because this cross-modal cueing is dependent on the alignment of head-centered and environmental axes, it may develop through associative learning during waking upright experience.     

The embarrassed bystander: Embarrassability and the inhibition of helping

Two studies tested whether individual differences in the tendency to experience embarrassment could predict interpersonal helping behavior (informing another individual about a correctible flaw). In Study 1, 84 participants were given a chance to help an experimenter by telling her that she had ink on her face. Some knew she had an interview immediately following the experiment; some did not. Some participants were there with a confederate; some were alone. The presence of the confederate or of the interview predicted (negatively and positively, respectively) whether the participant would point out the ink. Among those who pointed out the ink, individuals higher in embarrassability were slower to help. In Study 2, participants reported on real-life interactions with others who had a temporary flaw (e.g., food in their teeth). Conceptually replicating Study 1, participants higher in embarrassability were less likely to point out the flaw. These studies suggest that fear of embarrassment is a strong inhibitory factor in social helping situations, and that personality factors can predict who will be inhibited from helping.     

Regulatory focus and executive function after interracial interactions

Recent research finds that interracial interactions can negatively impact executive function. The present study examined whether regulatory focus may moderate this effect. Specifically, prior to an interracial interaction, 45 White female students were told either to try to have a positive interracial exchange (promotion focus), avoid prejudice (prevention focus), or given no instruction (control). After the interaction, participants completed the Stroop color-naming task, which assessed executive attentional task performance. Results revealed that participants in the prevention and the no instruction, control conditions performed worse on the Stroop than participants in the promotion condition. The findings suggest that promoting positive contact through active engagement rather than prejudice avoidance attenuates the previously documented negative effects of interracial contact on cognitive functioning.     

Parenting Stress and Childhood Psychopathology: An Examination of Specificity to Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

The purpose of this study was to examine if specificity exists between three factors of parenting stress (i.e., parental distress, parent–child (PC) dysfunctional interactions, and difficult child) and childhood internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The incremental validity of parenting stress beyond parental psychopathology was also examined. The sample was drawn from families of children aged 5–17 (N = 300), who sought treatment for their child from a community mental health clinic. Results indicated that the PC dysfunctional interactions factor showed specificity to internalizing symptoms when controlling for parental psychopathology. Parental distress did not show specificity or incremental validity and the difficult child factor was associated with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms when controlling for parental psychopathology. The influence of age, gender, and ethnicity on these associations is also presented, and findings are discussed in terms of how the results add to understanding the specific relations between parenting stress and child and adolescent symptoms.     

Training programme designs in professional team sport: An ecological dynamics exemplar

Ecological dynamics is a contemporary theory of skill acquisition, advocating the mutuality of the performer-environment system, with clear implications for the design of innovative training environments in elite sport. It contends that performance behaviours emerge, and are adapted, by athletes satisfying a confluence of constraints impacting on their structural and functional capacities, the physics of a performance environment and the intended task goals. This framework implicates contemporary models of coaching, training design and sport science support, to stimulate continuous interactions between an individual and performance environment, predicated on representative learning designs (RLD). While theoretical principles of RLD in ecological dynamics are tangible, their practical application in elite and high level (team) sports need verification. Here, we exemplify how data sampled from a high-performance team sport setting could underpin innovative methodologies to support practitioners in designing representative training activities. We highlight how the use of principles grounded within ecological dynamics, along with data from performance analytics, could suggest contemporary models of coaching and preparation for performance in elite sport.     

The Impact of Childcare and Parent-Child Interactions on School Readiness and Social Skills Development for Low-Income African American Children

Low-income and African American children are at increased risk for school readiness deficits in terms of both cognitive and social development. This study examined the roles of childcare involvement and parent-child interaction quality on the development of school readiness and social skills among a low-income, minority sample of kindergarten children. Findings provide mixed evidence on the role of childcare exposure, with early entry into childcare predicting higher levels of social skills ratings and increased time per week in such settings predicting lower levels of social skills development. Childcare exposure had positive, although trend-level, relationships with other readiness-related outcomes after accounting for demographic characteristics of children and their families. Parent-child interactions characterized as structured and responsive to the child's needs and emotions were positively related to school readiness, social skills, and receptive communication skills development after accounting for demographic characteristics and childcare exposure. Implications for preventive intervention program development and the role of school psychologists in the areas of consultation and intervention are discussed.     

Emotion Regulation and Parenting in AD/HD and Comparison Boys: Linkages with Social Behaviors and Peer Preference

Children's emotion regulation strategies and parenting responses in a family task that elicited frustration are investigated by, comparing core attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) symptomatology, emotional reactivity, and emotional regulation in the prediction of social behaviors and peer social preference. Participants were boys, ages 6–12 years, either with AD/HD (n = 45) or without problem behaviors (comparison; n = 34). A high-aggressive subgroup of AD/HD boys showed a significantly less constructive pattern of emotional coping than did both a low-aggressive AD/HD subgroup of boys and nondiagnosed comparison boys, who did not differ. With statistical control of core AD/HD symptomatology, noncompliance in a naturalistic summer camp was predicted by boys' overall emotion regulation and three specific strategies (emotional accommodation, problem solving, negative responses) during the parent–child interaction. Emotional accommodation and negative responses to the frustration task also marginally predicted social preference at the camp. These emotion regulation variables outperformed emotional reactivity in predicting such outcomes. Some emotion-related parenting behaviors were associated with child coping in the task. We discuss the relationship of emotion regulation to core AD/HD symptomatology and emotional reactivity, and the role of parents' behaviors in influencing children's emotional responses.     

The self-composing brain: towards a glial-neuronal brain theory

A brain model is proposed which describes its structural organization and the related functions as compartments organized in time and space. On a molecular level the negative feedback loops of clock-controlled genes are interpreted as compartments. This spatio-temporal operational principle may also work on the cellular level as glial-neuronal interactions, wherein glia have a spatio-temporal boundary setting function. The synchronization of the multi-compartmental operations of the brain is compared to the harmonization in a symphony and appears as an integrated behavior of the whole organism, defined as modes of behavior. For explanation of the principle of harmonization, an example from Schubert's Symphony No. 8 has been chosen. While harmonization refers to the synchronization of diverse systems, it seems appropriate to select the brain of a composer and the structure of musical composition as a paradigm towards a glial-neuronal brain theory. Finally, some limitations of experimental brain research are discussed and robotics are proposed as a promising alternative.     

Spontaneous decay of compulsive urges: the case of covert compulsions

It is well established that many patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder have covert, or internal, compulsions. Empirical studies of this phenomenon, however, are limited. The present study followed the paradigm developed by Rachman and his colleagues for the study of overt compulsions. Patients with urges to carry out covert compulsions underwent an experimental procedure in which their compulsive urges were provoked, followed by a period of response prevention. The strength of the compulsive urges and associated discomfort were monitored. There was marked, and relatively rapid, spontaneous decay of both the compulsive urges and the discomfort. Implications of these results are discussed.