Fear of Failure Biases Affective and Attentional Responses to Lexical and Pictorial Stimuli

The purpose of this investigation was to examine whether attentional biases would be noticed among individuals differing in levels of fear of failure (FF) as they viewed pictorial and lexical stimuli depicting various affective content. Indices of natural selective attention, namely, viewing time and self-reported affect, were assessed in 137 college students during free viewing picture and word presentation conditions. As hypothesized, FF was (a) negatively associated with self-reported dominance and valence for failure- and unpleasant-themed stimuli, and (b) positively associated with arousal ratings for unpleasant pictures. Although initially suppressed by neuroticism, partial correlation coefficients revealed a significant positive relationship between FF and viewing time for failure pictures. Results are discussed in the context of current theories of emotional reactivity and attentional biases pertaining to the nature of FF. Recommendations are provided for future research to elaborate the mechanisms involved in detrimental effects of FF.     

Unreliability of the dot probe task

The dot probe task is a widely used measure of attention allocation to threatening stimuli. The present two studies examine the reliability of different versions of this task using words as well as pictures as stimulus material. Estimates of both internal consistency and retest reliability over one week lead to the conclusion that the dot probe task is a completely unreliable measure of attentional allocation in non‐clinical samples. This unreliability may explain the inconsistent findings for the dot probe task as reported in the literature. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sex differences in processing aggression words using the Emotional Stroop task

There is a robust relationship between the salience of stimulus materials presented in the Emotional Stroop task and inhibition of response in clinical populations. Researchers have now found information‐processing biases in both forensic and non‐forensic samples presented with threatening or aggressive stimuli [Cohen et'al., 1998; Eckhardt and Cohen, 1997; Smith and Waterman, 2003; Van Honk et'al., 2001]. We sought to explore sex differences in processing words relating to acts of direct and indirect aggression using a group of undergraduates (50 males and 50 females). Participants also completed self‐report questionnaires (AQ and EXPAGG) to allow some consideration of the relationship between objective and subjective measures. We predicted that males would demonstrate delayed responses when presented with words relating to acts of direct aggression. We also predicted that high levels of physical aggression would be the best predictor of bias for direct aggression words, high levels of verbal aggression would be the best predictor of bias for indirect aggression words, physical aggression would predict bias in males, and verbal aggression would predict bias in females. Males demonstrated a perceptual bias for words relating to acts of direct aggression, taking significantly longer to correctly colour name direct aggression words. Females were slower to correctly colour name indirect aggression words, but not significantly so. Verbal aggression, as expected, predicted bias performance for indirect aggression words but anger rather than physical aggression was the best predictor of bias for direct aggression words. Gender was a predictor for bias with both sets of words. Contrary to our predictions, it was observed that a high level of physical aggression was the best predictor of bias in both males and females. These data provide further evidence to confirm the saliency of aggression words to aggressive individuals in non‐forensic populations. Aggress. Behav. 00:00–00, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Models for a paraconsistent set theory

In this paper the existence of natural models for a paraconsistent version of naive set theory is discussed. These stand apart from the previous attempts due to the presence of some non-monotonic ingredients in the comprehension scheme they fulfill. Particularly, it is proved here that allowing the equality relation in formulae defining sets, within an extensional universe, compels the use of non-monotonic operators. By reviewing the preceding attempts, we show how our models can naturally be obtained as fixed points of some functor acting on a suitable category (stressing the use of fixed-point arguments in obtaining such alternative semantics).     

乐观者积极而务实？基于情绪和中性词分心抑制的证据

本研究采用负启动范式,从乐观特质连续谱上选择乐观、中性和悲观三组个体,考察他们对情绪和中性词的分心抑制。实验一以情绪词为材料发现,当启动分心词为负性时,乐观组出现负启动;分心词为正性时悲观组出现负启动;无论分心词为正或负,中性组均出现了负启动。实验二以中性词为材料发现,仅悲观组和中性组出现负启动。说明乐观个体对正性和中性信息不实施分心抑制。这可能与注意在这些刺激上的维持及乐观个体拥有积极的认知图式有关。本研究为乐观个体积极而务实的行为提供了一定依据。     

Emotional Responses to Pictures of Oneself in Healthy College Age Females

Emotional responses related to self-perceptions were investigated in healthy college-aged females using a picture-viewing paradigm that consisted of four categories of pictures (pleasant, neutral, unpleasant, and full body pictures of themselves). The startle eye-blink reflex, facial EMG, and self-reported valence, arousal, and dominance measures were recorded for each picture. Startle reflex and facial EMG measures exhibited decreased activation for self-pictures compared to the other affective categories. Self-reports indicated self-pictures were rated as moderately pleasant, low arousing, and moderately dominant relative to the other affective picture categories. The findings of reduced startle blink reflex coupled with decreased activation for all facial EMG measures and the moderate self-report ratings suggest increased attentional processing for self-pictures. These findings provide an understanding of emotional responses to self-perceptions in healthy young females.     

老年抑郁个体注意偏向的发生阶段

本研究以老年抑郁量表、自评抑郁量表和汉密顿抑郁量表为工具筛选出老年抑郁个体和老年正常对照组为研究对象,通过空间线索化范式,以及分离的情绪Stroop范式考察了刺激呈现时间、线索呈现条件对老年抑郁个体注意偏向的影响,并探讨了老年抑郁个体注意偏向的发生阶段。研究结果表明：（1）在空间线索任务中,当刺激呈现时间为250ms或500ms时,老年抑郁组与老年正常组的返回抑制效应在各种情绪刺激下均无显著差异（P>0.05）,即老年抑郁个体没有呈现出对任何情绪刺激类型的注意偏向现象;当刺激呈现时间为750ms或1000ms时,老年抑郁组的返回抑制效应在不同情绪刺激条件下差异显著,F(2, 66)=3.22,P=0.046,而老年正常组则不存在返回抑制效应在情绪刺激类型上的差异（P>0.05）,提示老年抑郁组对不同情绪类型的刺激注意返回抑制能力不同;进一步检验得知：返回抑制效应在悲伤条件下,存在组间差异,分别是F(1, 33)=10.03,P=0.003;F(1, 33)=18.21,P=0.000,即老年抑郁组的返回抑制效应弱于老年正常组。（2）在Stroop实验中,老年抑郁组在单中性、双中性与单悲伤面孔、中性悲伤面孔、双悲伤面孔线索类型下的反应时差异显著;且当线索类型为单悲伤面孔、中性悲伤面孔、双悲伤面孔时,老年抑郁组与老年正常组的反应时差异均显著,即老年抑郁组的反应时明显长于老年正常组,F(1, 41) = 5.37,P=0.026;F(1, 41) = 7.08,P=0.011;F(1, 41) = 7.28,P=0.010;而当线索类型为单中性和双中性面孔时,老年抑郁组与老年正常组的反应时差异不显著（P>0.05）;提示抑郁组可能在自动化注意选择分配期存在注意偏向。研究认为,老年抑郁个体的注意偏向可能发生在注意初始分配阶段和解释阶段,且受加工深度的影响。在刺激呈现时间较长的条件下,注意偏向的效应更明显。     

注意瞬脱范式中的知觉负载对情绪面孔加工的影响

情绪性刺激的加工是否受注意影响目前尚存争论。基于许多操纵空间注意焦点的研究未能在注意资源的分配上进行精确的调节, 本实验将时间维度的注意瞬脱范式与负载理论相结合, 通过调节注意瞬脱中T1刺激物知觉负载水平的高低(箭头朝向相同与否), 观察被试在四种时间延迟条件下(延迟2, 延迟3, 延迟5, 延迟8)T2目标侦测任务恐惧和中性面孔的反应正确率, 从而对情绪性刺激的加工特征进行研究。实验发现：对恐惧面孔侦测的正确率在高知觉负载条件下显著降低, 而中性面孔则不受知觉负载水平影响, 并且这种高知觉负载对恐惧面孔加工的抑制作用仅发生在注意瞬脱中的短延迟条件下。说明在知觉加工资源和注意调节作用同时受限的情况下恐惧面孔的优势加工受到限制, 提示情绪性刺激的加工与中性刺激相比消耗的加工资源较少, 并依赖于注意的调控。     

广泛性焦虑个体的注意偏向

探讨广泛性焦虑个体在一般情境和不确定性情境下注意偏向的特点。采用点探测注意搜索任务研究了在一般情境下和不确定性情境下广泛性焦虑个体的注意偏向, 结果表明高广泛性焦虑个体的注意偏向以对威胁性刺激的注意转移困难为主, 不确定性情境会让广泛性焦虑个体更容易处于紧张焦虑的状态当中, 从而对情绪性刺激尤其是消极刺激表现出更多的注意偏向和对情绪性刺激直接的注意敏感性。     

注意偏向训练：起源、效果与机制

近年来注意偏向被证明是一些心理疾病产生、维持和复发的原因。因此, 注意偏向训练成为一种前景性的治疗方法, 对低自尊、焦虑障碍、物质成瘾有良好的干预效果。它可能作用于注意的晚期加工阶段, 通过调节 “自上而下”的注意系统来改变相关症状。干预效果的条件、机制与神经机制的探索应成为今后的研究方向。