Validation of the Japanese Version of the Modified Balanced Time Perspective Scale: Factor Structure,Reliability, and Validity Results1

A balanced time perspective (BTP) is defined as a frequent and equal tendency to think positively about both one's past and future. A BTP is related to greater psychological well-being, such as life satisfaction and wisdom, and these BTP associations may vary cross-culturally, although few studies of BTP in non-Western countries exist. In order to advance cross-cultural comparisons of BTP, an important methodological step is to validate BTP measures in different cultures. This study aimed to develop and validate a Japanese version of the modified Balanced Time Perspective Scale (mBTPS). Japanese participants (N = 1,020, aged 18–79 years) completed the mBTPS-J, along with Japanese versions of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI-J) and measures of well-being (life satisfaction and wisdom scales). Factor analysis of the mBTPS-J resulted in a 27-item mBTPS-J consisting of Past, Present, and Future subscales. Correlations between the relevant mBTPS-J and ZTPI-J subscales, and with the well-being measures, supported both convergent and predictive validity, respectively. The demonstrated psychometric strengths of the mBTPS-J will allow for specific testing of important cross-cultural questions.     

Right hemisphere specialization for color detection

Three experiments were carried out to investigate hemispheric asymmetry in color processing among normal participants. In Experiment 1, it was shown that the reaction times (RTs) of the dominant and non-dominant hands assessed using a visual target presented at the central visual field, were not significantly different. In Experiment 2, RTs of ipsilateral hands to lateralized chromatic stimuli revealed that the processing time was 17 ms shorter in the right hemisphere (RH) than that in the left hemisphere among the right-handed participants, whereas no significant difference was found among the left-handed participants. On the other hand, RTs to lateralized achromatic stimuli showed no such asymmetry among both the right- and left-handed participants (Experiment 3). These findings strongly suggest RH superiority for detection of color among right-handed individuals.     

3～9岁儿童人格特质稳定性理解的发展特点

采用情境故事法对281名3～9岁儿童对不同类型的消极或积极特质稳定性的理解进行了个别测查,使用了“性质-类型-性质”的特质推理研究范式,任务涉及跨时间稳定性和跨情境一致性两个层面的考察。五因素重复测量方差分析结果表明,3～9岁儿童对于特质稳定性的理解表现出随年龄发展稳定观不断增强的趋势,4岁可能是儿童特质稳定性理解由不成熟向成熟方向发展的关键点;此外,研究验证了年龄与特质性质的交互作用,也发现了问题类型和特质类型对特质稳定性理解的调节作用。这些特点与年幼儿童获得的心理知识和对特质发展影响因素的觉知有关,也可能与整个文化系统的直接或间接作用有关。     

A comparison of momentary time sampling and partial-interval recording for evaluating functional relations

In the current study, momentary time sampling (MTS) and partial-interval recording (PIR) were compared to continuous-duration recording of stereotypy and to the frequency of self-injury during a treatment analysis to determine whether the recording method affected data interpretation. Five previously conducted treatment analysis data sets were analyzed by creating separate graphic displays for each measurement method (duration or frequency, MTS, and PIR). An expert panel interview and structured criterion visual inspection were used to evaluate treatment effects across measurement methods. Results showed that treatment analysis interpretations based on both discontinuous recording methods often matched those based on frequency or duration recording; however, interpretations based on MTS were slightly more likely to match those based on duration and those based on PIR were slightly more likely to match those based on frequency.     

Demographic Indicators as Predictors of Future Time Perspective

The present investigation examined the relationships between five demographic variables (age, sex, income, marital status, and education) and future time perspective. From a theoretical perspective, these demographic indicators were conceptualized as proxy measures for the social forces that influence the adult expression of this personality dimension. Data were drawn from six investigations in which a brief measure of future time perspective (Hershey and Mowen in The Gerontologist 40:687–697, 2000) had been administered to one thousand four hundred and ninety eight individuals. Higher future time perspective scores (i.e., longer future orientations) were associated with being male, increased age, income, and educational level. These main effects, however, were mitigated by a significant three-way interaction among sex, age, and level of education. These findings suggest that a complex interplay of variables is responsible for the expression of personality traits at the individual level.     

The dynamics of the stream of behavior

Motivational psychology and ethology conceive of behavior as a continuous stream of activities, a conceptualization that is taken up formally in the present paper. Modeling the stream of behavior, unlike modeling an individual activity selected out of the stream, requires processes of data generation that govern the repeated overt appearances of activities through time. To this end the motivation theory of the dynamics of action, with its self-contained data generating process, is employed as a mathematical framework. The resulting theory, modeled as a continuous succession of mutually exclusive and exhaustive activities driven by the countdown of activation times, yields expectations for the relative frequencies of transitions and the distributions of transition times in a stream segment. Results supporting the theory were obtained in a series of critical tests using a unique data set provided by the artist Morgan O’Hara who has made extensive recordings of her stream of behavior.     

时距估计任务中的间断期望效应

使用单任务研究程序,采用引入提示线索的方法,以产生时距作为反应指标对存在间断的时距估计任务中的间断期望效应和提示线索效应（注意效应）进行系统考察,并对间断时距的效应、产生时距与等待时距的关系问题作出进一步探讨。结果表明,间断位置（等待时距）因素是被试时间判断的主要线索,被试的产生时距随着等待时距的增加而延长。间断实验中表现出极其显著的提示线索效应,此效应既增加了时距估计的变异,又延长了被试的时距估计。无间断实验条件下,被试表现出显著的间断期望效应,被试对间断的期望有损于时间估计。     

SINGLE‐SAMPLE DISCRIMINATION OF DIFFERENT SCHEDULES' REINFORCED INTERRESPONSE TIMES

Food‐deprived rats in Experiment 1 responded to one of two tandem schedules that were, with equal probability, associated with a sample lever. The tandem schedules' initial links were different random‐interval schedules. Their values were adjusted to approximate equality in time to completing each tandem schedule's response requirements. The tandem schedules differed in their terminal links: One reinforced short interresponse times; the other reinforced long ones. Tandem‐schedule completion presented two comparison levers, one of which was associated with each tandem schedule. Pressing the lever associated with the sample‐lever tandem schedule produced a food pellet. Pressing the other produced a blackout. The difference between terminal‐link reinforced interresponse times varied across 10‐trial blocks within a session. Conditional‐discrimination accuracy increased with the size of the temporal difference between terminal‐link reinforced interresponse times. In Experiment 2, one tandem schedule was replaced by a random ratio, while the comparison schedule was either a tandem schedule that only reinforced long interresponse times or a random‐interval schedule. Again, conditional‐discrimination accuracy increased with the temporal difference between the two schedules' reinforced interresponse times. Most rats mastered the discrimination between random ratio and random interval, showing that the interresponse times reinforced by these schedules can serve to discriminate between these schedules.     

THE EFFECT OF CHANGES IN CRITERION VALUE ON DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT OF LOW RATE SCHEDULE PERFORMANCE

The differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) schedule is commonly used to assess impulsivity, hyperactivity, and the cognitive effects of pharmacological treatments on performance. A DRL schedule requires subjects to wait a certain minimum amount of time between successive responses to receive reinforcement. The DRL criterion value, which specifies the minimum wait time between responses, is often shifted towards increasingly longer values over the course of training. However, the process invoked by shifting DRL values is poorly understood. Experiment 1 compared performance on a DRL 30‐s schedule versus a DRL 15‐s schedule that was later shifted to a DRL 30‐s schedule. Dependent measures assessing interresponse time (IRT) production and reward‐earning efficiency showed significant detrimental effects following a DRL schedule transition in comparison with the performance on a maintained DRL 30‐s schedule. Experiments 2a and 2b assessed the effects of small incremental changes vs. a sudden large shift in the DRL criterion on performance. The incremental changes produced little to no disruption in performance compared to a sudden large shift. The results indicate that the common practice of incrementing the DRL criterion over sessions may be an inefficient means of training stable DRL performance.     

Reduction of appeasement‐related affect as a concomitant of diazepam‐induced aggression: evidence for a link between aggression and the expression of self‐conscious emotions

Aggressive responding following benzodiazepine ingestion has been recorded in both experimental and client populations, however, the mechanism responsible for this outcome is unclear. The goal of this study was to identify an affective concomitant linked to diazepam‐induced aggression that might be responsible for this relationship. Thirty males (15 diazepam and 15 placebo) participated in the Taylor Aggression Paradigm while covertly being videotaped. The videotapes were analyzed using the Facial Action Coding System with the goal of identifying facial expression differences between the two groups. Relative to placebo participants, diazepam participants selected significantly higher shock settings for their opponents, consistent with past findings using this paradigm. Diazepam participants also engaged in significantly fewer appeasement expressions (associated with the self‐conscious emotions) during the task, although there were no group differences for other emotion expressions or for movements in general. Aggr. Behav. 35:203–212, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.