Adjustment to War Captivity: The Role of Sociodemographic Background,Trauma Severity,and Immediate Responses,in the Long-Term Mental Health of Israeli Ex-Pows

This study assessed the role of sociodemographic features, pre-captivity combat exposure, captivity severity, emotional responses and coping during captivity, and social support at homecoming, to the short- and long-term mental health of 164 Israeli POWs of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The major contributors to the POWs' mental health were psychological responses during captivity, followed first by their education and ethnic status, and then by severity of captivity. Both traumatic stress of captivity and the results of the study were discussed in the light of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory.     

Response Facilitation and Inhibition in Manual,Vocal, and Oculomotor Performance: Evidence for a Modality-Unspecific Mechanism

In 2 experiments (N = 10, Experiment 1; N = 16, Experiment 2), the authors investigated whether evidence for response facilitation and subsequent inhibition elicited by masked prime stimuli can be observed for output modalities other than manual responding. Masked primes were followed by target stimuli that required a 2-choice manual, saccadic, or vocal response. Performance was measured for compatible trials in which primes and targets were identical and for incompatible trials in which they were mapped to opposite responses. When primes were presented centrally, performance benefits were obtained for incompatible trials; whereas for peripherally presented primes, performance benefits were found in compatible trials. That pattern of results was obtained for manual responses and for saccadic eye movements (Experiment 1), demonstrating that those effects are not mediated by specialized dorsal pathways involved in visuomanual control. An analogous pattern of effects was found when manual and vocal responses were compared (Experiment 2). Because vocal responding is controlled by the inferotemporal cortex, that result shows that prime-target compatibility effects are not primarily mediated by the dorsal stream, but appear to reflect modality-unspecific visuomotor links that allow rapid activation of motor responses that may later be subject to inhibition.     

神经科学视角下的共情研究热点

共情是指个体对他人情绪和想法的感受及理解。近年来关于共情神经机制的研究日益增多,但多集中在情感共情、认知共情、生理性疼痛共情等方面,而对社会痛共情、积极共情和不对称共情反应的研究相对较少。且由于研究范式及个体差异等原因,研究结果之间也充满着争议。未来研究可以设计更具生态效度的共情研究范式、进一步深化和细化共情的神经机制研究、从神经机制角度探讨不同共情能力个体的特点及共情反应的调节因素。     

Evaluating models of recognition memory using first- and second-choice responses

Swets, Tanner Jr., and Birdsall (1961) proposed a 4-alternative forced-choice task with two choices (4AFC-2R) for distinguishing between the Equal-Variance Signal Detection model and the One-High Threshold model. This task was recently implemented in the field of recognition memory (Parks & Yonelinas, 2009), a field in which several candidate models have been proposed. One advantage of the 4AFC-2R task is that it permits parameter estimation and goodness of fit testing, something which so far was only possible through the use of Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) functions for the more complex candidate models. The present article provides a thorough characterization and comparison of the main recognition memory models in the context of this task. Results are illustrated by a reanalysis of Parks and Yonelinas’ original data, revealing a preference for hybrid approaches to recognition memory, more specifically for the dual-process model (Yonelinas, 1997), whereas pure signal detection models performed poorly. The present analysis provides an assessment of the merits and limitations of this task, highlighting future research applications.     

Paradoxes of praise: Identity‐inconsistent praise results in praise‐inconsistent responses

In four experimental studies, we explored the effect of consistency between central group values and the content of group‐directed praise on group‐based esteem, group identification, and willingness to express attitudes and intentions (in)consistent with the content of praise. Study 1 used pre‐existing groups with clearly defined central values, Study 2 relied on individual differences in perceptions of central group values within the same social group, and Studies 3 and 4 manipulated the centrality of group values experimentally. The results demonstrated that identity‐inconsistent praise resulted in lower group‐based esteem (Studies 1–4), and reduced group identification (Study 4), as compared to identity‐consistent praise. In addition, in all studies, identity‐inconsistent praise led to stronger willingness to reaffirm (the ignored) central group characteristics than identity‐consistent praise. The results are consistent with extensions of the self‐verification approach to the collective self.     

Positive effects of low intensity recorded maternal voice on physiologic reactions in premature infants

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of low intensity recorded maternal voice on the physiologic reactions of healthy premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).MethodsPhysiologic responses of 20 healthy preterm infants in the NICU of Shariati Hospital, Tehran, were obtained during a 15 min intervention including three 5 min periods (no-sound control, audio recorded playback of mother’s voice, no-sound post-voice). The intervention was presented three times a day for three consecutive days. During each intervention, oxygen saturation (%, OSPR), heart rate (HR), and respiratory rate (RR) were recorded at 1 min intervals over the 15 min and then averaged over each 5 min period, resulting in 3 averages for each variable for each intervention.ResultsRepeated Measures Analysis of Variance were employed to examine each variable separately. Over the three days, comparison of oxygen saturation over each of the three periods (before, during voice, after) revealed an increase in oxygen saturation during the voice period, compared to the pre-voice period, which persisted over the post-voice period; there were no differences between the voice and post-voice periods. Analyses of the HR and RR data showed a decrease in both variables during the voice period compared to the pre-voice period which persisted over the post-voice period. Again, there were no differences between the voice and post-voice periods.ConclusionExposure to low intensity recorded maternal voice has positive effects on the preterm infants ‘physiologic responses.     

Victim and peer group responses to different forms of aggression among primary school children

Both behaviourist and social learning theory emphasise the importance of the consequences of a behaviour on its subsequent frequency of occurrence [e.g., Bandura, 1973, 1977; Skinner, 1953]. Despite this, very little is known about the types of consequences children receive when they aggress towards other children. The present study employed a wireless microphone and hidden camera to record victim and peer responses to primary school children's physical, verbal, indirect, and relational forms of aggression. The results showed that the most frequent consequences of aggression were victim retaliation or withdrawal, and peer support. In addition, the results showed limited support for the suggestion that sex differences in the use of different types of aggression arise due to differential reinforcement from victims and/or peers. The implications of the results for the development of interventions aimed at reducing aggression are considered along with alternative explanations for sex differences in aggression. Aggr. Behav. 31:00–00, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

儿童的内隐特质观与社交失败后反应的关系

以160名儿童为被试考察儿童内隐特质观与社交失败后反应的关系。结果表明:(1)随着年龄增长,儿童越来越积极地应对社交失败;(2)社交失败后,越赞同固存观儿童提出的积极群体加入策略比例越低而消极策略比例越高;越赞同发展观儿童提出的积极策略比例越高而消极策略比例越低;(3)持固存观儿童比持发展观儿童更倾向将社交失败归因于自己,自我评价也更为消极,但两者在社交坚持性、未来社交预期等方面无显著差异。     

态度测量的新进展:二值概率展开模型及一般形式

态度测量主要应用两种模型:累进型与展开型。目前国内的相关研究主要针对累进型模型。文章在回顾累进型模型的基础上,介绍了当前国际研究最为前沿的一种新的态度测量模型———二值概率展开模型,并详细阐述了该模型的一般数学表达式。     

Spontaneous response to and expressive regulation of mirth elicited by humorous cartoons in younger and older adults

Many studies have examined the effect of aging on the ability to regulate negative emotions but less is known about the way the elderly people control their positive affects. Thirty-eight younger and 38 older adults were compared on their affective, expressive, physiological, and behavioral spontaneous responses to and in expressive regulation of mirth elicited by humorous cartoons. Compared to younger adults, older adults were equally amused and aroused but showed lower expressivity in their spontaneous reaction. They were similarly successful in implementing expressive regulation but they had lower physiological activation under amplification condition and more gaze avoidance from the key areas of the cartoons under suppression condition. This indicates that in older, amplification skills are disjointed from the physiological responses and suppression skills seem supplanted by a less costly strategy of attention redeployment. This also suggests that older adults’ behavior is not driven by a greater preference for positive information.