The role of physiological arousal in time perception: psychophysiological evidence from an emotion regulation paradigm

Time perception, crucial for adaptive behavior, has been shown to be altered by emotion. An arousal-dependent mechanism is proposed to account for such an effect. Yet, physiological measure of arousal related with emotional timing is still lacking. We addressed this question using skin conductance response (SCR) in an emotion regulation paradigm. Nineteen participants estimated durations of neutral and negative sounds by comparing them to a previously memorized duration. Instructions were given to attend either to temporal or to emotional stimulus features. Attending to emotion with negative sounds generated longer subjective duration and greater physiological arousal than attending to time. However, a shared-attention condition showed discrepancy between behavioral and physiological results. Supporting the idea of a link between autonomic arousal and subjective duration, our results however suggest that this relation is not as direct as was expected. Results are discussed within recent model linking time perception, emotion and awareness.     

Swedish women's perceptions of and conformity to feminine norms

The relatively high gender equality in the Swedish society is likely to exert an influence on gender role construction. Hence, the present research aimed to investigate Swedish women's perceptions of and conformity to feminine norms. A mixed methods approach with two studies was used. In Study 1, young Swedish women’s gender role conformity, as measured by the Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory 45 (CFNI‐45), was compared to the results from previously published studies in Canada, the United States, and Slovakia. Overall, Swedish women displayed less conformity than their foreign counterparts, with the largest difference on the subscale Sexual fidelity. In Study 2, focus group interviews with young Swedish women added a more complex picture of feminine norms in the Swedish society. For instance the results indicated that Swedish women, while living in a society with a strong gender equality discourse, are torn between the perceived need to invest in their appearances and the risk of being viewed as non‐equal when doing so. In sum, despite the fact that traditional gender roles are less pronounced in Sweden, gender role conformity is still a pressing issue. Since attending to the potential roles of feminine norms in women’s lives previously has been proposed to be useful in counseling and therapeutic work, the present research also offers valuable information for both researchers and practitioners. [Correction added on 5 May 2017, after first online publication in April 2017: An incorrect Abstract was inadvertently captured in the published article and has been corrected in this current version.]     

相对到达时间任务中飞行员对客体特征与运动特征的分离

相对到达时间任务(RAT)是判断两个运动客体哪个先到达指定目标, 可用来评估个体动态空间能力。采用RAT任务对飞行员与普通被试进行对照研究, 寻求发现两组在运动客体特征和视觉空间运动特征及其相互关系上的处理差异。设计了3个实验分别考察客体颜色、客体大小、运动方向、速率大小、视线方向以及背景特征对判断的影响。结果显示：(1)客体颜色不影响运动客体的相对时间判断, 客体大小、运动方向、速率大小、视线方向以及背景特征影响判断; (2)控制组对显示屏上从左到右的运动客体的相对时间判断好于从右到左任务, 大速率任务判断更好, 对大客体快速行驶而小客体低速行驶时的相对到达时间更易区分, 且与两眼视线方向不一致的运动方向会使控制组判断更难, 运动背景中的目标线特征改变使控制组判断绩效降低; (3)和控制组比, 飞行员反应快正确率高, 其快速判断优势集中体现在从右到左运动以及小速率任务上, 且在不同运动方向和不同速率上的反应时均无差异, 飞行员的处理优势还表现在不受客体大小、视线方向改变和目标线特征改变的影响。结论：飞行员能在变化的空间中准确处理相对速度、相对距离、相对时间等运动信息, 能分离客体大小、背景、运动方向等因素对相对到达时间判断的影响, 在运动空间中飞行员具有较高场独立性认知特征和动态空间处理能力。     

How long will it take? Power biases time predictions

People tend to underestimate the time it takes to accomplish tasks. This bias known as the planning fallacy derives from the tendency to focus attention too narrowly on the envisaged goal and to ignore additional information that could make predictions more accurate and less biased. Drawing on recent research showing that power induces attentional focus, four studies tested the hypothesis that power strengthens the tendency to underestimate future task completion time. Across a range of task domains, and using multiple operationalizations of power, including actual control over outcomes (Study 1), priming (Studies 2 and 3), and individual differences (Study 4), power consistently led to more optimistic and less accurate time predictions. Support was found for the role of attentional focus as an underlying mechanism for those effects. Differences in optimism, self-efficacy, and mood did not contribute to the greater bias in powerful individuals’ forecasts. We discuss the implications of these findings for institutional decision processes and occupational health.     

Space and Time in the Child's Mind: Evidence for a Cross-Dimensional Asymmetry

What is the relationship between space and time in the human mind? Studies in adults show an asymmetric relationship between mental representations of these basic dimensions of experience: Representations of time depend on space more than representations of space depend on time. Here we investigated the relationship between space and time in the developing mind. Native Greek‐speaking children watched movies of two animals traveling along parallel paths for different distances or durations and judged the spatial and temporal aspects of these events (e.g., Which animal went for a longer distance, or a longer time?). Results showed a reliable cross‐dimensional asymmetry. For the same stimuli, spatial information influenced temporal judgments more than temporal information influenced spatial judgments. This pattern was robust to variations in the age of the participants and the type of linguistic framing used to elicit responses. This finding demonstrates a continuity between space‐time representations in children and adults, and informs theories of analog magnitude representation.     

Do-no-harm in coalition formation: Why losses inhibit exclusion and promote fairness cognitions

Previous research on coalition formation has established that people will not hesitate to exclude others in order to maximize their payoff. The authors propose that this view is too narrow and that the decision to exclude depends on the valence of the payoff. Consistent with a “do-no-harm” hypothesis, Experiment 1 showed that participants were more reluctant to exclude in order to minimize their losses than to maximize their gains. Experiment 2 replicated this effect and showed that participants were most affected by payoff valence when they were disposed to consider the viewpoint of others. Additional analyses revealed that participants were more motivated by fairness (Experiment 1) and that fairness was more cognitively accessible (Experiment 2) when payoffs were negative rather than positive.     

On additivity of duration reproduction functions

In the present paper properties of theoretical response functions in the duration reproduction task (drt) are studied. If the drt response is to be interpreted as the measure of a temporal duration elapsed in the past, the reproduction function (rf) must be additively measuring. The additivity property is defined for bivariate rfs, taking into account the delay between retention and reproduction. The requirement that an rf be additively measuring leads to a system of two functional equations, which are solved by (i) linear functions of time, or (ii) functions of the form yielded by the ‘dual klepsydra model’ of duration reproduction [Wackermann, J., & Ehm, W. (2006). The klepsydra model of internal time representation and time reproduction. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 239, 482-493]. This result supports the outstanding rôle of the ‘klepsydraic reproduction function’ (krf) in models of internal representation and reproduction of temporal durations.     

Planning for Multiple Shopping Goals in the Marketplace

Four online grocery‐shopping experiments and one field study using video‐tracking technology at a grocery store document how shoppers’ motivation evolves from the beginning to the end of their shopping trips. We uncover unique motivational patterns as shoppers achieve multiple subgoals (i.e., choose multiple grocery items) to complete their trips: a monotonic decrease in motivation for shoppers with a shopping list versus a curvilinear trend (i.e., decrease then increase) in motivation for shoppers without a list. In addition, we demonstrate how to reverse the observed patterns for shoppers with a list by changing their reference points for tracking progress. The discovery of the moderating role of shopping‐list usage adds to the bubbling dialogue in goal pursuit and shopper psychology research concerning how consumer motivation follows either a monotonic trend (e.g., a goal gradient effect) or a nonmonotonic trend (e.g., the stuck‐in‐the‐middle effect). Importantly, we demonstrate how the stuck‐in‐the‐middle theory, which applies to single‐goal pursuits, can apply more broadly to the domain of grocery shopping, which consists of the generation and completion of multiple subgoals.     

A balanced time perspective: Is it an exercise in empiricism,and does it relate meaningfully to health and well‐being outcomes?

Time perspective research assesses the degree to which thoughts and feelings about the past, present and future influence behaviour, and a balanced time perspective profile has been posited as being ideal. Although this area of research has seen a move towards person‐centred analyses, using either cluster analyses or a deviation from balanced time perspective (DBTP) approach, there are a number of theoretical and methodological issues that must be addressed. Using data from diverse samples in four countries, the present study used both cluster analyses and the DBTP approach to assess how cluster membership and DBTP scores related to a range of health and well‐being outcomes. As in previous studies, a balanced profile only emerged once in cluster analyses, and positive‐oriented profiles were associated with optimal outcomes. The study also found evidence of a relationship between DBTP scores and scores on well‐being indicators. However, results gained after manipulating the DBTP equation in two different ways again indicated that higher than expected positive past and present or past and future scores were responsible for the positive outcomes. As such, these findings raise concerns regarding the use of the DBTP construct within clinical settings.     

Facial affect recognition in college students with psychopathic traits: A comparison using tests matched in discriminating power

Research has provided inconsistent evidence for the relationship between psychopathy and facial affect recognition. We examined whether some of the previous findings could reflect a psychometric artifact in which deficits are more easily detected with very discriminating measures than with less discriminating measures, an issue not addressed in prior psychopathy studies. We developed measures of facial affect recognition matched in discriminating power and administered these measures to 194 college students who had also completed the Psychopathic Personality Inventory. Results indicate that high levels of Coldheartedness were associated with poorer recognition of the specific emotion of disgust. These findings demonstrate that some affective processing deficits associated with psychopathic traits cannot be attributed to psychometric artifacts.