Eternity in an hour: experiences of time related to psychotherapy sessions

In this paper I consider the individual nature of the way a person develops senses of time. I suggest that something of a patient's early, unvoiced, experience is revealed through the temporal rhythms of interaction with the therapist. I refer to development, cycles of experience, metabolism, transgenerational emotions, experiences of beginnings and endings, early interactions with (m)other, together with narrative and its relation to unconscious processes. Experiences of time within the session indicate the nature of the feelings that are being lived, or refused life. I consider the paradox of living in the present and its relation to chronology. Lastly I give an example of the difficulty of timing comments when there is no flow of feeling, which is, itself, a communication.     

Full statistical mediation of the relationship between trauma and depressive symptoms

Owing to the potentially devastating effects of trauma‐induced depression, explaining the relationship between trauma and depressive symptoms is important. In this study, we measured lifelong exposure to potentially traumatic events and depressive symptoms in 370‐female undergraduates. We also measured anxiety, past negative time perspective and dissociation as potential mediators. Trauma exposure and depressive symptoms were related with a small but significant effect size (r = .16). Trauma was not associated with dissociation. We found that past negative time perspective and anxiety were full statistical mediators of this trauma‐depressive symptoms relationship. These two mediators combined accounted for all of the variance in that association. Anxiety accounted for more of the variance than past negative time perspective. A proposed explanation is that trauma both affectively elevates anxiety and cognitively creates an enduring focus on the events. Chronic anxiety and a past negative time perspective may lead to depression over time. The clinical implications are possible explanations as to why some treatments work.     

Human–Computer Interaction in Face Matching

Automatic facial recognition is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in security contexts such as passport control. Currently, Automated Border Crossing (ABC) systems in the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) require supervision from a human operator who validates correct identity judgments and overrules incorrect decisions. As the accuracy of this human–computer interaction remains unknown, this research investigated how human validation is impacted by a priori face‐matching decisions such as those made by automated face recognition software. Observers matched pairs of faces that were already labeled onscreen as depicting the same identity or two different identities. The majority of these labels provided information that was consistent with the stimuli presented, but some were also inconsistent or provided “unresolved” information. Across three experiments, accuracy consistently deteriorated on trials that were inconsistently labeled, indicating that observers’ face‐matching decisions are biased by external information such as that provided by ABCs.     

Time perspective and environmental engagement: A meta-analysis

Environmental issues entail both a social conflict (private vs. public interests) and a temporal conflict (short- vs. long-term interests). This paper focuses on the role temporal concerns play in influencing environmental engagement by quantitatively integrating results of studies that assessed the associations between time perspective and proenvironmental attitudes and behaviors. The meta-analysis included a total of 19 independent samples and 6,301 participants from seven countries (Australia, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States). Results showed that the associations between time perspective and proenvironmental behaviors were higher than those for proenvironmental attitudes. Supporting predictions, the associations between future time perspective and proenvironmental behaviors were strong and nontrivial compared to those for the combined past-present time perspective. The findings indicate that future time perspective seems to play an important role in influencing individuals' attitudes and behaviors towards the environment. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Individual differences in vulnerability to subjective time distortion1

Time duration is perceived to be longer when accompanied by dynamic sensory stimulation than when accompanied by static stimulation. This distortion of time perception is thought to be due to the acceleration of an internal pacemaker that has been assumed to be the main component of temporal judgments. In order to investigate whether the function of the internal pacemaker is modality dependent or independent, we examined the correlation of visual flicker and auditory flutter effects on a temporal production task. While seeing a 10‐Hz visual flicker or hearing a 10‐Hz auditory flutter, participants estimated a duration of 2500 ms as accurately as possible by pressing a button. The results showed a significant within‐individual correlation between the time distortion due to visual flicker and that due to auditory flutter. Additionally, we found that time distortion due to auditory flutter tended to be larger in female participants than in male participants. These results suggest that the mechanisms underlying subjective time dilation are similar between vision and audition within individuals, but that they vary across individuals.     

Thinking Outside the Clocks: The Effect of Layered‐Task Time on the Creative Climate of Meetings

The turbulence of the new economy puts demands on organizations to respond rapidly, flexibly and creatively to changing environments. Meetings are one of the organizational sites in which organizational actors “do” creativity; interaction in groups can be an important site for generating creative ideas and brainstorming. Additionally, Blount (2004) demonstrated the importance of organizational temporalities for group performance. We draw on both of these literatures and examine how temporal structures influence the climate for creativity, or the extent to which creativity is fostered, within groups. Specifically, we develop a hypothesis linking organization‐ and job‐level temporal structures to the extent to which managers structure meetings with a climate supportive of creativity. Our results demonstrate that a nuanced relationship exists between temporal structures and creative climate such that certain temporal structures appear to either enhance or decrease the creative climate of meetings. We end with a discussion of the implications of the findings for management.     

THE EFFECTS OF FIXED-TIME REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES ON FUNCTIONAL RESPONSE CLASSES: A TRANSLATIONAL STUDY

Research on functional response classes has applied significance because less severe forms of problem behavior have been found to co‐occur with more severe forms. In addition, the most severe forms of problem behavior are sometimes targeted for intervention without monitoring other less severe forms. In such cases, it is unknown whether and how untreated forms of problem behavior covary with the targeted behaviors. The present study employed a translational procedure (with button presses as the target behavior) to investigate response covariation under noncontingent reinforcement with typically developing preschoolers. The results indicated that noncontingent reinforcement was generally effective in decreasing all response class members when only one member was targeted.     

A computer-based program to teach braille reading to sighted individuals

Instructors of the visually impaired need efficient braille‐training methods. This study conducted a preliminary evaluation of a computer‐based program intended to teach the relation between braille characters and English letters using a matching‐to‐sample format with 4 sighted college students. Each participant mastered matching visual depictions of the braille alphabet to their printed‐word counterparts. Further, each participant increased the number of words they read in a braille passage following this training. These gains were maintained at variable levels on a maintenance probe conducted 2 to 4 weeks after training.