Event-related cerebral hemodynamics reveal target-specific resource allocation for both “go” and “no-go” response-based vigilance tasks

Transcranial Doppler sonography was used to measure cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in the right and left cerebral hemispheres during the performance of a 50-min visual vigilance session. Observers monitored a simulated flight of unmanned aerial vehicles for cases in which one of the vehicles was flying in an inappropriate direction relative to its cohorts. Two types of vigilance tasks were employed: a traditional task in which observers made button press (“go”) responses to critical signals, and a modification of the traditional task called the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) in which “go” responses acknowledged nonsignal events and response withholding (“no-go”) signified signal detection. Signal detections and global CBFV scores declined over time. In addition, fine-grained event-related analyses revealed that the detection of signals was accompanied by an elevation of CBFV that was not present with missed signals. As was the case with the global scores, the magnitude of the transient CBFV increments associated with signal detection also declined over time, and these findings were independent of task type. The results support the view of CBFV as an index of the cognitive evaluation of stimulus significance, and a resource model of vigilance in which the need for continuous attention produces a depletion of information-processing assets that are not replenished as the task progresses. Further, temporal declines in the magnitude of event-related CBFV in response to critical signals only is evidence that the decrement function in vigilance is due to attentional processing and not specific task elements such as the required response format.     

Undergraduate Marijuana Use and Anger

The Anger Expression Scale and a questionnaire regarding marijuana usage were administered to 497 undergraduate college students enrolled at a rural university in the midwestern United States. Four levels of marijuana use were defined by the questionnaire: nonuser, occasional user, frequent user, and daily user. No significant main effect was found on the Anger-In or Total Anger Expression scales, but differences among the four levels of use were noted on the Anger-Out scale. The trend analysis showed a significant linear trend for the Anger-Out and Total Anger Expression scales. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Age, memory load, and individual differences in working memory as determinants of class-inclusion reasoning.

We studied the effects of individual differences in speak-span scores and variations in memory demands on the class-inclusion performance of 10-, 13-, and 15-year-old children. The speak-span task was an age-appropriate modification of Daneman and Carpenter's (1980) reading-span task and was considered to be a measure of global resources. The age variable was assumed to be a global index of skill development, and some of the specific skills hypothesized to be important in class-inclusion reasoning were estimated using a mathematical model. The results from both regression analyses and the mathematical model indicated that differences in age, speak span, and memory load all affected performance. Surprisingly, the effects of speak span and memory load were independent. However, the effects of each of these variables depended on the age level of the participants. Based on these findings, we argued that (a) resources vary continuously with age, (b) both skill level and global resources should be varied in developmental studies of problem solving, and (c) resource theories (e.g., Norman & Shallice, 1986) should be modified to account for developmental change.     

Effect of brief mindfulness and relaxation inductions on anxiety,affect and brain activation in athletes

The mindfulness-based intervention and psychological skills training are often used for maintaining the mental health or reducing undesirable mental states in athletes. However, their differences in acute effects on mental health and underlying neural mechanism are not well understood. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the differential effects of brief mindfulness induction (MI) and relaxation induction (RI) on state anxiety, affect and brain activation. Thirty-five track and field athletes were recruited for this study. Using a within-subjects crossover design, participants underwent three conditions that incorporated two 30-min experimental conditions (i.e., MI or RI) and a control condition. State anxiety and affect were assessed before and after intervention, and brain activation (i.e., theta, alpha bands) were recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) during each 30-min condition. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that MI and RI similarly reduced state anxiety and negative affect from pre-test to post-test compared to the control condition. In terms of positive affect, there were no significant differences among the three conditions across times. Furthermore, participants exhibited higher frontal theta power during the MI and RI than control condition, whereas no differences in alpha power were observed among conditions. The current study provides initial evidence from an electrophysiological perspective that brief MI and RI both improve the negative psychological states in individual sport athletes through similar neural mechanisms. Nevertheless, the moderating effects of training experiences and long-term interventions on mental state and EEG activity in athletes need further investigation in future studies.     

Christianity,settler colonialism,and resource extraction

This article explores the relationship between Christianity, extractivism, and Amer-European settler colonialism. It argues that Amer-European Christianity is an extractivist religion, with beliefs and practices that are deeply intertwined with an extractivist relationship to the natural world and Indigenous peoples. In conversation with the work of Willie Jennings and exploring the impact of the doctrine of Christian discovery, the extractivist theology of John Locke, and the supersessionist use of divine election and covenant, this article exemplifies how Amer-European Christianity has shaped and been shaped by settler colonial extractivism. It raises the question whether and how Amer-European settler Christians may decolonize their extractivist relationship to Indigenous peoples and the natural world by learning from Indigenous peoples in dialogue with the work of the Osage theologian “Tink” Tinker.     

归类任务中负启动效应与分心物特性抑制的实验研究

以汉语单字词为材料,采用负启动技术,在归类任务中考察了作为负启动效应根源的扩散抑制是否遵循资源有限机制以及在要求操作反应的情况下是否也能获得来自分心物特性抑制的负启动效应。结果表明：１．被试对曾在启动显示中作为分心物的探测目标的反应时随着启动显示中分心物数目的增加而缩短。因此,扩散抑制遵循资源有限机制;２．在操作反应要求下能获得非常显著的来自分心物特性抑制的负启动效应。     

Difference as a Resource for Thinking: An Online Dialogue Showing the Role Played by Difference in Problem Solving and Decision Making

Contemporary societies require citizens and workers to face unexpected challenges. This calls for a shift of emphasis from individualistic competence to the importance of collective intelligence. This article describes a plan for a project in which students who are eight to twelve years old will not only realize that difference is a crucial resource in problem solving and decision making but also live out their personal value as thinking, active beings. They will participate in an online dialogue that takes place among children who attend schools in under‐resourced communities and in middle‐class and upper‐class communities. The students will work on learning units based on philosophical content designed to stimulate their critical ability. The philosophical scenarios will be related to the everyday lives of the children through concrete examples. These examples will be followed by questions that aim to promote the advancement of the students’ thinking skills.     

Black Jack: Do company benefits and feelings have an impact on my happiness?

The aim of this study was to determine whether casino employees’ benefits and their feelings about the company influence their experienced happiness. A total of 1 502 casino employees were surveyed (females = 57%; males = 43%). They completed a company benefits, feelings and happiness questionnaire within the work context. Data were analysed to predict what company benefits and whether feelings about the company impact on the casino employees’ happiness; and also to test the mediation effects of company benefits on their happiness experienced through feelings about the company. In addition, structural relations between happiness and feelings about the company, and happiness and company benefits were tested. Findings from the regression analyses and structural equation modelling suggest that feelings about the company and company benefits such as staff meals and pension funds do predict personal happiness and positive feelings about the company where they are employed. Moreover, feelings about the company mediated the effect of stay-in facilities, staff meals and a bonus on happiness. Positive feelings about their company seem to explain employee happiness, particularly with the availability of company benefits such as stay-in facilities, staff meals and a bonus scheme.     

The Impact of Time‐Keeping Direction on Compensatory Consumption: The Role of Perceived Resource Deficiency

Time is a scarce resource, and time‐keeping has become a common part of our lives. This research investigates the impact of exposure to a specific direction of time‐keeping on resource deficiency perception and on compensatory consumption of calories. Results from four studies show that exposure to downward time‐keeping (e.g., 60→1 s), compared to upward time‐keeping (e.g., 1→60 s), results in a higher perceived resource deficiency, leading to a higher preference, consumption, and choice of caloric foods. The effect is attenuated for evaluation of calorie‐lean foods, or by recalling instances of resourcefulness, or when time is not a resource (as in the case of waiting). Related alternate explanations are addressed. This research is the first to identify a novel antecedent of resource deficiency (i.e., time‐keeping direction), and to elicit an unexplored aspect of temporal cognition, that exposure to direction of time‐keeping can influence compensatory consumption in an unrelated domain. These findings contribute to the literature on temporal cognition and resource deficiency and may inspire further research in these domains.