Neuroticism and momentary differentiation of positive and negative affect

Affective differentiation is the degree to which positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) are uncorrelated. The dynamic model of affect (Zautra, Potter, & Reich, 1997) posits that the link between PA and NA should be stronger when stress is high. Because neuroticism relates to more negative everyday stress perceptions and therefore higher daily stress, we hypothesized that neuroticism should be associated with lower affective differentiation on a daily basis. We examined how neuroticism impacts momentary affective differentiation in undergraduate students (n = 126) using an experience sampling design with mood monitored four times daily for one week. We found that neuroticism moderates the within-person relationship between PA and NA: those who are higher in neuroticism experience less affective differentiation. This effect was not mediated or moderated by recent major life stress. We replicated the main finding in two subsequent samples (n = 102 and n = 120, respectively), and thus present the first large set of studies to demonstrate consistently that neuroticism moderates the within-person link between PA and NA.     

人际控制感对合作行为的影响:一项囚徒困境的ERPs研究

社会困境中的合作行为是通过抑制个体利益最大化的诱惑从而满足集体利益最大化的过程。研究采用囚徒困境游戏范式考察个体的合作行为,通过设置决策顺序操控人际控制感的高低,利用ERPs技术探讨了人际控制感影响合作行为的神经机制。行为结果发现:高人际控制感条件下个体做出合作行为的频率显著高于低人际控制感。ERPs结果发现:个体在高人际控制感条件下博弈时顶枕区所诱发的P2波幅更小,且右侧额区所诱发的N2波幅也更小。这表明被试在高人际控制感条件下感知到的不确定性更小,冲突控制水平更高,从而更能抑制利己诱惑,表现出更多的合作行为。     

Exploring Factor Model Parameters across Continuous Variables with Local Structural Equation Models

Using an empirical data set, we investigated variation in factor model parameters across a continuous moderator variable and demonstrated three modeling approaches: multiple-group mean and covariance structure (MGMCS) analyses, local structural equation modeling (LSEM), and moderated factor analysis (MFA). We focused on how to study variation in factor model parameters as a function of continuous variables such as age, socioeconomic status, ability levels, acculturation, and so forth. Specifically, we formalized the LSEM approach in detail as compared with previous work and investigated its statistical properties with an analytical derivation and a simulation study. We also provide code for the easy implementation of LSEM. The illustration of methods was based on cross-sectional cognitive ability data from individuals ranging in age from 4 to 23 years. Variations in factor loadings across age were examined with regard to the age differentiation hypothesis. LSEM and MFA converged with respect to the conclusions. When there was a broad age range within groups and varying relations between the indicator variables and the common factor across age, MGMCS produced distorted parameter estimates. We discuss the pros of LSEM compared with MFA and recommend using the two tools as complementary approaches for investigating moderation in factor model parameters.     

Investigation of Psychometric Properties of the Test for Creative Thinking—Drawing Production: Evidence from Study in Latvia

The Test for Creative Thinking—Drawing Production (TCT‐DP) is designed as an effective drawing‐based instrument for measuring creative potential. Many studies report adaptation efforts in other cultures pointing out good psychometric properties of the instrument nonetheless revealing also some trouble spots. The present study includes adaptation of TCT‐DP in Latvia and investigation of psychometric properties of the instrument such as measurement invariance between forms, sequence effect, gender differences, and factor structure of criteria employing methodology of structural equation modeling. Two samples were involved in the study—9th‐grade students (n = 300) and 15‐year‐old 9th‐grade students (n = 200). Results indicate that trained judges are able to achieve high reliability in evaluation of TCT‐DP total score and all criteria if some criteria are divided into subcategories. It was also found that TCT‐DP has measurement invariance between both forms but has small effect sizes regarding gender differences and method sequence. Observed differences of TCT‐DP total scores between the Latvian sample and relevant samples from Germany and Hong Kong could be considered as trivial. The study also revealed that, following original instructions, some test criteria had strong interdependence and therefore strategies in the evaluation process reducing interdependencies between criteria should be considered in future studies on the structure of TCT‐DP.     

Attention‐shift vs. response‐priming explanations for the spatial cueing effect in cross‐modal tasks

The task‐irrelevant spatial location of a cue stimulus affects the processing of a subsequent target. This “Posner effect” has been explained by an exogenous attention shift to the spatial location of the cue, improving perceptual processing of the target. We studied whether the left/right location of task‐irrelevant and uninformative tones produces cueing effects on the processing of visual targets. Tones were presented randomly from left or right. In the first condition, the subsequent visual target, requiring response either with the left or right hand, was presented peripherally to left or right. In the second condition, the target was a centrally presented left/right‐pointing arrow, indicating the response hand. In the third condition, the tone and the central arrow were presented simultaneously. Data were recorded on compatible (the tone location and the response hand were the same) and incompatible trials. Reaction times were longer on incompatible than on compatible trials. The results of the second and third conditions are difficult to explain with the attention‐shift model emphasizing improved perceptual processing in the cued location, as the central target did not require any location‐based processing. Consequently, as an alternative explanation they suggest response priming in the hand corresponding to the spatial location of the tone. Simultaneous lateralized readiness potential (LRP) recordings were consistent with the behavioral data, the tone cues eliciting on incompatible trials a fast preparation for the incorrect response and on compatible trials preparation for the correct response.     

Treatment of Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma using Stem Cell Differentiation Stage Factors

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the third leading cause of cancer-related death. Because HCC is multicentric with time, excluding the few transplanted patients, sooner or later it becomes untreatable with loco-regional therapies and, until some years ago, it was not responsive to systemic therapies. In 2005 a randomized trial indicated the efficacy of a product containing stem cell differentiation stage factors (SCDSF) taken from zebrafish embryos during the stage in which the totipotent stem cells are differentiating into the pluripotent adult stem cells. In such a trial the patients, with “intermediate” and “advanced” HCC according to Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer/American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (BCLC/AASLD) guidelines, presented benefit in terms of performance status and objective tumoral response, with some cases (2.4%) of complete response, that is, sustained disappearance of the neoplastic areas or blood supply therein, accompanied by normalization of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels (complete response [CR]). A second study reporting the experience of a tertiary referral center on patients with “advanced” stage confirmed the possibility to obtain CR. Out of 38 patients, 5 presented a sustained CR (13.1%). Improvement on PS was obtained in 17 patients (34.6%). No side effects occurred.     

Readiness potentials driven by non-motoric processes

An increase in brain activity known as the “readiness potential” (RP) can be seen over central scalp locations in the seconds leading up to a volitionally timed movement. This activity precedes awareness of the ensuing movement by as much as two seconds and has been hypothesized to reflect preconscious planning and/or preparation of the movement. Using a novel experimental design, we teased apart the relative contribution of motor-related and non-motor-related processes to the RP. The results of our experiment reveal that robust RPs occured in the absence of movement and that motor-related processes did not significantly modulate the RP. This suggests that the RP measured here is unlikely to reflect preconscious motor planning or preparation of an ensuing movement, and instead may reflect decision-related or anticipatory processes that are non-motoric in nature.     

Trait anxiety and attenuated negative affect differentiation: a vulnerability factor to consider?

Background and Objectives: Describing emotional experiences using distinct terms, or affect differentiation, has been associated with emotion regulation and adaptive behavior under stress. There is little data, however, examining the association between differentiation and dispositional factors underlying psychopathology. The current study examines the association between differentiation and trait anxiety (TA) given prior evidence of cognitive biases in TA relevant to higher order processing of emotional experiences.

Design: We examined cross-sectionally, via lab-based repeated assessment, the association between differentiation of negative and positive experiences and TA.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-two adults completed an emotion reactivity task including repeated assessments of affect. We hypothesized that individuals higher in trait anxiety (HTA) would have greater difficulty differentiating their experiences.

Results: HTA individuals exhibited lower levels of negative affect (NA) differentiation even when controlling for depression. Although negative emotion intensity was consistently associated with lower differentiation, this did not account for the influence of HTA on differentiation.

Conclusions: These data suggest that HTA individuals have greater difficulty differentiating negative emotions, regardless of negative emotion intensity and depression. As HTA is common to many emotional disorders; this evidence suggests that poor differentiation may also be an important transdiagnostic consideration in models of risk and of affective disease.     

The Self As a Complex Adaptive System Part III: A Revised View of Development

The goal of this project has been to explore the characteristics of the self as a complex adaptive system. It began with the effort to provide a foundation for a developmental theory based on principles from self psychology that also permitted the incorporation of some of the recent findings from neuroscience. Part I (Palombo, 2013a Palombo, J. (2013a). The self as a complex adaptive system part I: Complexity, metapsychology, and developmental theories. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 20(1), 1–25.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) outlined some features of nonlinear dynamic systems theory and complexity science that provided the basis for a critique of traditional psychodynamic developmental theories. This critique was followed in Part II (Palombo, 2013b Palombo, J. (2013b). The self as a complex adaptive system part II: Levels of analysis and the position of the observer. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 20(2), 1–19.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) with the proposal of a levels-of-analysis perspective as a methodology to organize the data on development, the three levels of analysis being the neuropsychological, the introspective, and the interpersonal. This article, Part III, outlines the trends that contributed to the revised view of development and proposes a set of processes that are consistent with a nonlinear dynamic perspective that govern human beings' mental activities during development. These processes are the progression from lower to higher levels of complexity, the movement from lesser to greater differentiation, and advancement from lesser to greater individuation.