Carver and Whites’ BIS/FFFS/BAS scales and domains and facets of the Five Factor Model of personality

Few empirical studies have investigated the relationship between Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) and the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality. In a large sample of undergraduates (N = 779), we examined the relationship between FFM domains and facets and the revised RST (see Gray & McNaughton, 2000). Regression and partial correlation analyses indicated that only FFM Agreeableness discriminates between the BIS and FFFS. Other differences at the facet level were found for Neuroticism facets of Self-Consciousness and Angry Hostility (negatively), Agreeableness facets of Compliance and Modesty, and Conscientiousness facets of Self-Discipline and Deliberation. These findings emphasize social inhibition and constraint in the BIS, compared to the FFFS.     

Pay attention! Attention to the primes increases attitude assessment accuracy

We demonstrate that an oft-used indirect attitude assessment technique—the attitude activation paradigm—accurately assesses attitudes only when participants attend to the prime stimuli during the attitude activation task. Attitude activation attitudes toward obviously valenced words (e.g., torture, liberty) were more sensitive to attitude valence and extremity when participants were required to attend to the prime words than when they attended to a competing stimulus. As a result, we observed a significantly stronger correlation between attitude activation attitudes and a direct, self-report attitude measure when participants attended to the primes than when they ignored them. We conclude that failing to require participants to attend to the primes during the attitude activation task results in a flawed measurement, which could lead researchers to underestimate relations between the attitude activation measure and direct, self-report attitude measures.     

Personality types and behavioural activation and inhibition in adolescents

A hypothesis relating personality types to activity of the Behavioural Approach System (BAS) and the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) was tested in a sample of 1015 10–18-year-old adolescents. According to this hypothesis, Undercontrollers could be characterized as individuals with overactive BAS, Overcontrollers as individuals with overactive BIS, and Resilients as individuals with low activity of both systems. These predictions were generally confirmed. Psychometrically measured BAS and BIS appeared to be the strongest predictors of Undercontrolled and Overcontrolled prototypes, respectively. Resilients were characterized by low scores on both dimensions.     

刻板印象激活的行为效应

刻板印象激活的行为效应是指刻板印象激活后个体所产生的行为变化。本文介绍了西方关于刻板印象激活的行为效应的两种主要机制,即刻板印象威胁理论和观念运动理论,并对两种理论进行了分析和比较。     

Daily playful work design: A trait activation perspective

We introduce the concept of daily playful work design (PWD) and test the factorial validity of a new instrument to assess PWD. Using trait activation theory, we hypothesize that employees who are more open to experiences and playful will be more engaged and creative in their work on the days they playfully design their work activities. We tested the factorial validity of the instrument and our hypotheses in a sample of 88 employees who answered questionnaires during five consecutive workdays (N = 391 observations). The multilevel analyses yielded evidence for the psychometric quality of the PWD instrument and generally supported the hypotheses. The traits openness and playfulness moderated the relationship of daily PWD behaviors with daily work engagement and creativity.     

Exploring cortical activation and connectivity in infants with and without familial risk for autism during naturalistic social interactions: A preliminary study

Behavioral signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are typically observable by the second year of life and a reliable diagnosis of ASD is possible by 2 to 3 years of age. Studying infants with familial risk for ASD allows for the investigation of early signs of ASD risk within the first year. Brain abnormalities such as hyper-connectivity within the first year may precede the overt signs of ASD that emerge later in life. In this preliminary study, we use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), an infant-friendly neuroimaging tool that is relatively robust against motion artifacts, to examine functional activation and connectivity during naturalistic social interactions in 9 high-risk (HR; older sibling with ASD) and 6 low-risk (LR; no family history of ASD) infants from 6 to 9 months of age. We obtained two 30-second baseline periods and a 5-minute social interaction period. HR infants showed reduced right and left-hemispheric activation compared to LR infants based on oxy (HbO₂) and deoxy (HHb) signal trends. HR infants also had greater functional connectivity than LR infants during the pre- and post-social periods and showed a drop in connectivity during the social period. Our findings are consistent with previous work suggesting early differences in cortical activation associated with familial risk for ASD, and highlight the promise of fNIRS in evaluating potential markers of ASD risk during naturalistic social contexts.     

Force irradiation effect of kinesiotaping on contralateral muscle activation

We aimed to determine the force irradiation effect of kinesiotaping (KT) on contralateral muscle activity during unilateral muscle contraction. Forty healthy (26 females, 14 males) subjects were divided into two groups: KT and control groups. KT was applied on the biceps brachii at the contralateral limb (non-dominant limb) in the KT group, whereas no taping was applied to the control group. All participants performed unilateral isometric, concentric, and eccentric contractions with their dominant upper limbs (exercised limb) by means of an isokinetic dynamometer, while the contralateral limb was in the resting condition, neutral position, and motionless during the testing procedure. During the exercise, contralateral biceps brachii muscle activity was recorded by surface electromyography (EMG). To quantify the muscle activation, EMG signals were expressed as a percentage of the maximal isometric voluntary contraction, which is referred to as %EMG_max. The KT group showed significantly higher %EMG_max in the biceps brachii compared to the control group at the contralateral limb during the isometric, concentric, and eccentric contractions (p = 0.035, p = 0.046, and p = 0.002, respectively) The median values of the contralateral muscle activity were 2.74 %EMG_max and 6.62 %EMG_max during the isometric contraction for the control and KT groups, respectively (p = 0.035). During the concentric contraction, the median values of the contralateral muscle activity were 1.61 %EMG_max and 9.39 %EMG_max for the control and KT groups, respectively (p = 0.046). The median values of the contralateral muscle activity were 4.49 %EMG_max and 22.89 %EMG_max for the eccentric contraction for the control and KT groups, respectively (p = 0.002). In conclusion, KT application on the contralateral limb increased the contralateral muscle activation in the biceps brachii during the unilateral isometric, concentric, and eccentric contractions.     

Neural correlates of facial emotion processing in infancy

In the present study we examined the neural correlates of facial emotion processing in the first year of life using ERP measures and cortical source analysis. EEG data were collected cross‐sectionally from 5‐ (N = 49), 7‐ (N = 50), and 12‐month‐old (N = 51) infants while they were viewing images of angry, fearful, and happy faces. The N290 component was found to be larger in amplitude in response to fearful and happy than angry faces in all posterior clusters and showed largest response to fear than the other two emotions only over the right occipital area. The P400 and Nc components were found to be larger in amplitude in response to angry than happy and fearful faces over central and frontal scalp. Cortical source analysis of the N290 component revealed greater cortical activation in the right fusiform face area in response to fearful faces. This effect started to emerge at 5 months and became well established at 7 months, but it disappeared at 12 months. The P400 and Nc components were primarily localized to the PCC/Precuneus where heightened responses to angry faces were observed. The current results suggest the detection of a fearful face in infants’ brain can happen shortly (~200–290 ms) after the stimulus onset, and this process may rely on the face network and develop substantially between 5 to 7 months of age. The current findings also suggest the differential processing of angry faces occurred later in the P400/Nc time window, which recruits the PCC/Precuneus and is associated with the allocation of infants’ attention.     

Pervasive influence of semantics in letter and category fluency: a multidimensional approach

We used multidimensional statistical procedures to study semantic and lexical processes underlying word retrieval in verbal-fluency performance. Forty healthy participants were given a two-choice letter task (i.e., generate items beginning with the letter 'A' or 'F', in any order) and a two-choice category task (i.e., generate animal or fruit names, in any order). Using correspondence analysis (CoA) and hierarchical clustering (HC), we found evidence of prominent semantic organization in both letter and category fluency. For example, a striking categorical segregation between animate and inanimate entities emerged during the letter task. Analysis of inter-item times revealed strong sequential priming effects in both tasks. Taken together, these results indicate that semantic facilitation is pervasive in word retrieval processes, even in the letter-fluency task, and therefore suggest that the traditional view of letter fluency as a purely phonemically based task should be revised. Finally, our findings may help explain patterns of verbal-fluency measures obtained in focal brain lesion patients.     

Enhanced Brief Motivational Intervention for College Student Drinkers With ADHD: Goal-Directed Activation as a Mechanism of Change

College students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk for alcohol-related problems and disorders relative to their typically developing peers. Despite risk, the optimal therapeutic approach for reducing problem alcohol use in students with ADHD, and mechanisms of change underlying treatment effects in this population, are largely unknown. The current study evaluated putative mechanisms of change in a randomized controlled trial of two harm reduction interventions for college student drinkers with ADHD (N = 113; 49% male): brief motivational intervention plus supportive counseling (BMI + SC) versus brief motivational intervention plus behavioral activation (BMI + BA). Results showed that participants in the BMI + BA condition engaged in more goal-directed activation and less avoidant behavior over the course of treatment compared to those in the BMI + SC condition, in turn predicting reductions in alcohol-related negative consequences. Effects were more robust 1 month following intervention, and diminished by 3 months. Sensitivity analyses revealed a significant indirect effect of treatment condition on alcohol-related negative consequence via reductions in avoidance over treatment. Post hoc moderated mediations showed that BMI + BA engaged target mechanisms more robustly for students with more severe ADHD and depressive symptoms compared to BMI + SC. These findings support the application of BMI + BA intervention, particularly in targeting goal-directed activation and avoidance/rumination in at-risk student drinkers with ADHD.