Attention to Emotion and Non-Western Faces: Revisiting the Facial Feedback Hypothesis

In a modified replication of Strack, Martin, and Stepper's demonstration of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis (1988), we investigated the effect of attention to emotion on the facial feedback process in a non-western cultural setting. Participants, recruited from two universities in Ghana, West Africa, gave self-reports of their perceived levels of attention to emotion, and then completed cartoon-rating tasks while randomly assigned to smiling, frowning, or neutral conditions. While participants with low Attention to Emotion scores displayed the usual facial feedback effect (rating cartoons as funnier when in the smiling compared to the frowning condition), the effect was not present in individuals with high Attention to Emotion. The findings indicate that (1) the facial feedback process can occur in contexts beyond those in which the phenomenon has previously been studied, and (2) aspects of emotion regulation, such as Attention to Emotion can interfere with the facial feedback process.     

Female face preference in 4-month-olds: The importance of hairline

At 3–4 months of age, infants respond to gender information in human faces. Specifically, young infants display a visual preference toward female over male faces. In three experiments, using a visual preference task, we investigated the role of hairline information in this bias. In Experiment 1, we presented male and female composite faces with similar hairstyles to 4-month-olds and observed a preference for female faces. In Experiment 2, the faces were presented, but in this instance, without hairline cues, and the preference was eliminated. In Experiment 3, using the same cropping to eliminate hairline cues, but with feminized female faces and masculinized male faces, infants’ preference toward female faces was still not in evidence. The findings show that hairline information is important in young infants’ preferential orientation toward female faces.     

Postural leaning direction challenges the manifestation of tendon vibration responses at the ankle joint

In this study, we examined the interaction between central and peripheral proprioceptive afferent pathways by applying ankle tendon vibration during postural leaning in different directions. Twenty young participants stood for 60s over the midline of two adjacent force platforms in (a) neutral stance distributing Body Weight (BW) equally between the platforms, (b) forward leaning transferring 80% of BW to the front platform and (c) backward leaning transferring 80% of BW to the rear platform. Participants controlled the degree of leaning by receiving on-line visual feedback of BW distribution matched to a target line. Vibration (80 Hz, 1.5–1.8 mm) was applied over the Achilles or tibialis anterior tendon during the middle 20s of standing. This induced a postural shift towards the vibration side and an increase in the variability of the BW distribution that was greater in backward compared to forward leaning. EMG responses to tendon vibration were independent of the leaning direction. Antagonistic activity also increased in response to vibration, the amplitude of this increase however was direction dependent. These results favor the hypothesis about the central co-modulation of the vibration evoked proprioceptive inflow based on postural and visual feedback rather than muscle tension constraints.     

The vision heuristic: Judging music ensembles by sight alone

Team effectiveness and group performance are often defined by standards set by domain experts. Professional musicians consistently report that sound output is the most important standard for evaluating the quality of group performance in the domain of music. However, across six studies, visual information dominated rapid judgments of group performance. Participants (1062 experts and novices) were able to select the actual winners of live ensemble competitions and distinguish top-ranked orchestras from non-ranked orchestras based on 6-s silent video recordings yet were unable to do so from sound recordings or recordings with both video and sound. These findings suggest that judgments of group performance in the domain of music are driven at least in part by visual cues about group dynamics and leadership.     

When Fluency Signals Truth: Prior Successful Reliance on Fluency Moderates the Impact of Fluency on Truth Judgments

Repeated statements are more frequently judged to be true. One position relates this so‐called “truth effect” to metacognitive experiences of fluency, suggesting that repeated statements are more frequently judged to be true because they are processed more fluently. Although most prior research focused on why repetition influences truth judgments, considerably less is known about when fluency is used as information. The present research addresses this question and investigates whether reliance on fluency is moderated by learning experiences. Specifically, we focus on changes in the reliance on fluency over the course of time. A series of experiments reveals that fluency is more likely to be used in truth judgments when previous reliance on fluency has resulted in valid judgments, compared with when previous reliance on fluency was misleading. These findings suggest that reliance on fluency in judgments is a finely tuned process that takes prior experiences with fluency‐based judgments into account. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Metaphorical sense-making: visual-narrative language portraits of South African students

This article reflects on a creative visual-narrative approach to understanding South African students’ lived experiences of languages. Data were collected in two interviews: the first entailing a biographical history and the drawing of a linguistic portrait on a simple body outline and the second a narrative interview utilising the portrait generated in the first as a basis for talking about language and identity. Framing the research process in this creative visual mode shifts the focus of narrative talk, simultaneously grounding it in affective, embodied experience, and enabling a reflexive position from which to analyse the taken-for-granted role of language in the minutiae of everyday life. The theoretical lenses of identity and subjectivity are invigorated through these metaphorical representations, and new creative possibilities are released for analysing the role of language in mediating shifting power dynamics in post-apartheid and postcolonial South African life.     

抑郁个体对社会反馈的加工：研究现状及存在问题

抑郁症伴随着严重的社会功能障碍。本文以“社会反馈”这一重要社会性信息为切入点,综述了抑郁症患者及抑郁倾向人群对社会反馈的体验、期待及情绪调节障碍的研究现状,发现抑郁个体对社会奖赏存在快感缺失,对社会排斥、社会拒绝等负性反馈表现出过敏化,对社会奖赏的期待降低,且可能存在情绪调节困难。目前此领域存在社会与非社会反馈神经机制的异同不清楚、异常脑区与社会反馈加工障碍的因果关系难以确定以及无法排除抑郁症患者和抑郁倾向人群存在不同社会反馈加工模式的可能性等问题。     

上司地位知觉对下属默契的影响——反馈寻求行为和观点采择的作用

下属默契指的是下属与上司间不经言传而暗相投合的状态,它能潜移默化地提升下属绩效。因此,探讨下属默契的产生原因,对组织有着重要意义。鉴于此,本文以目标动机模型为理论基础,探讨了上司地位知觉对下属默契的影响及其内部机制。通过对186名企业员工的调查分析发现,上司地位知觉对下属默契有显著的正向影响;反馈寻求行为在此过程中起部分中介作用;此外,下属的观点采择能力调节了反馈寻求行为与下属默契间的正向关系。     

反馈类型和反馈时间对动作技能获得的影响

基于简单直线运动任务和复杂曲线追踪任务,在运动技能获得阶段考察不同反馈类型和反馈时间对操作绩效的影响。结果发现,在复杂曲线轨迹追踪任务中,接受运动轨迹反馈的被试组比接受偏差数值反馈组的成绩更好;即时反馈和延迟反馈组的操作绩效间没有显著差异。在简单直线运动任务中,提供落点偏差的图形反馈组成绩始终优于提供“近/远”信息的文本反馈组;在练习初期,即时反馈组成绩更好。说明,反馈信息的具体-抽象程度影响被试运动技能获得,提供具体直观的轨迹/图形反馈利于运动技能获得;反馈时间对运动技能的影响因任务难度而异。     

反馈时间、反馈类型和掩蔽类型对概率类别学习的影响

通过操纵反馈时间(即时,延迟)、反馈类型(简单,丰富)和掩蔽类型(塔罗牌,空白矩形),考察概率类别学习的学习机制。结果发现:(1)被试的学习成绩在即时反馈条件下显著优于在延迟反馈条件下;(2)在即时反馈条件下,仅给予简单反馈,被试虽能出色地完成天气预报任务,但是不能正确地判断卡片预测晴天的概率,倾向内隐学习;(3)在其他条件下,被试能正确地判断卡片预测晴天的概率以及各卡片在天气预报任务中预测天气的重要程度,表明被试能外显地意识到这些线索的作用。综上,概率类别学习采用的是双系统学习机制,既依赖内隐学习,又依赖外显学习。