Reading Emotion From Mouse Cursor Motions: Affective Computing Approach

Affective computing research has advanced emotion recognition systems using facial expressions, voices, gaits, and physiological signals, yet these methods are often impractical. This study integrates mouse cursor motion analysis into affective computing and investigates the idea that movements of the computer cursor can provide information about emotion of the computer user. We extracted 16–26 trajectory features during a choice‐reaching task and examined the link between emotion and cursor motions. Participants were induced for positive or negative emotions by music, film clips, or emotional pictures, and they indicated their emotions with questionnaires. Our 10‐fold cross‐validation analysis shows that statistical models formed from “known” participants (training data) could predict nearly 10%–20% of the variance of positive affect and attentiveness ratings of “unknown” participants, suggesting that cursor movement patterns such as the area under curve and direction change help infer emotions of computer users.     

Parental Perceived Control and Social Support: Linkages to Change in Parenting Behaviors During Early Adolescence

Prior studies have found that parents’ perceptions of control over their lives and their social support may both be important for parenting behaviors. Yet, few studies have examined their unique and interacting influence on parenting behaviors during early adolescence. This longitudinal study of rural parents in two‐parent families (N = 636) investigated (a) whether perceived control and social support when their youth were in sixth grade were independently or interactively associated with changes in parenting behaviors (discipline, standard setting) and parent–child warmth and hostility 6 months later and (b) if these linkages differed by parent gender. We also investigated the interactive links between perceived control, social support, and parenting. Specifically, we tested if parents’ perceived control moderated the linkages between social support and parenting and if these linkages differed by parent gender. Greater perceived control predicted more increases in parents’ consistent discipline and standard setting, whereas greater social support predicted increases in parent–child warmth and decreases in parent–child hostility. Parental perceived control moderated the effect of social support on parental warmth: For mothers only, social support was significantly linked to parent–child warmth only when mothers had low (but not high) perceived self‐control. The discussion focuses on reasons why perceived control and social support may have associations with different aspects of parenting and why these might differ for mothers and fathers.     

Prospective Associations Between Sleep Disturbance and Repetitive Negative Thinking: The Mediating Roles of Focusing and Shifting Attentional Control

Although considerable evidence has linked sleep disturbance to symptoms of psychopathology, including repetitive negative thinking, few studies have examined how sleep disturbance may predict repetitive negative thinking over time. Further, no study to date has examined specific mechanisms that may account for this relationship. The present study sought to address these gaps in the literature by testing focusing and shifting attentional control as two potential mediators of the relationship between sleep disturbance and repetitive negative thinking over a 6-month period. A final sample of 445 unselected community participants completed measures of sleep disturbance and repetitive negative thinking at Time 1, measures of focusing and shifting attentional control 3 months later, and measures of repetitive negative thinking again 6 months later. Results revealed that focusing, but not shifting, attentional control mediated the relationship between sleep disturbance and repetitive negative thinking, specifically, worry, rumination, and obsessions. These findings provide preliminary evidence for focusing attentional control as a candidate mechanism that may explain the causal role of sleep disturbance in the development of repetitive negative thinking observed in various disorders.     

Linking metaphor comprehension with analogical reasoning: Evidence from typical development and autism spectrum disorder

We examined the relationship between metaphor comprehension and verbal analogical reasoning in young adults who were either typically developing (TD) or diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The ASD sample was highly educated and high in verbal ability, and closely matched to a subset of TD participants on age, gender, educational background, and verbal ability. Additional TD participants with a broader range of abilities were also tested. Each participant solved sets of verbal analogies and metaphors in verification formats, allowing measurement of both accuracy and reaction times. Measures of individual differences in vocabulary, verbal working memory, and autistic traits were also obtained. Accuracy for both the verbal analogy and the metaphor task was very similar across the ASD and matched TD groups. However, reaction times on both tasks were longer for the ASD group. Additionally, stronger correlations between verbal analogical reasoning and working memory capacity in the ASD group indicated that processing verbal analogies was more effortful for them. In the case of both groups, accuracy on the metaphor and analogy tasks was correlated. A mediation analysis revealed that after controlling for working memory capacity, the inter-task correlation could be accounted for by the mediating variable of vocabulary knowledge, suggesting that the primary common mechanisms linking the two tasks involve language skills.     

The role of psychological factors on the choice of different driving controls: On manual,partial, and highly automated controls

The present study investigates the role of psychological factors on the choice of three controls (modes) in driving a vehicle, namely highly automated, partially automated, and manual control. Traditional driving habits, resistance to change, and behavioural beliefs were all assessed along with individual and socioeconomic variables. Using survey data (n = 595) of car users, a model was developed to predict the share of different driving controls and determine the effects of psychological variables. Results indicate that up to 55% of people prefer driving with highly automated control, and 30% prefer partially automated control. Behavioural beliefs (e.g., attitudes toward highly automated control) are not as critical to driving control as habits. People with stronger driving habits are less likely to use highly automated controls. A one-unit increase in worry could reduce driving in highly automated control by 5.5% and increase manual control by 4.5%, and those who welcome the new technologies are more likely to prefer highly automated control. Some practical policy solutions are also provided.     

Cognitive control deployment is flexibly modulated by social value in early adolescence

Recent mechanistic models of cognitive control define the normative level of control deployment as a function of the effort cost of exerting control balanced against the reward that can be attained by exerting control. Despite these models explaining empirical findings in adults, prior literature has suggested that adolescents may not adaptively integrate value into estimates of how much cognitive control they should deploy. Moreover, much work in adolescent neurodevelopment casts social valuation processes as competing with, and in many cases overwhelming, cognitive control in adolescence. Here, we test whether social incentives can adaptively increase cognitive control. Adolescents (M_age = 14.64, 44 male, N = 87) completed an incentivized cognitive control task in which they could exert cognitive control to receive rewards on behalf of real peers who were rated by all peers in their school grade as being of either high- or low-status. Using Bayesian modeling, we find robust evidence that adolescents exert more cognitive control for high- relative to low-status peers. Moreover, we demonstrate that social incentives, irrespective of their high- or low-status, boost adolescent cognitive control above baseline control where no incentives are offered. Findings support the hypothesis that the cognitive control system in early adolescence is flexibly modulated by social value.     

父母行为控制、心理控制与高中生消极社会适应的关系：人际自立和校园排斥的序列中介作用

基于自我决定理论和人与环境互动理论,研究考察了父母行为控制、心理控制与高中生消极社会适应的关系,以及人际自立与校园排斥的中介效应。采用父母控制问卷、青少年人际自立量表、青少年校园排斥问卷、消极社会适应问卷对辽宁省3所中学的1209名高中生进行施测。结果发现:(1)父母行为控制对高中生消极社会适应无明显预测作用,心理控制对消极社会适应具有正向预测作用;(2)人际自立和校园排斥在父母控制与消极社会适应之间发挥中介作用。具体而言,父母行为控制只能通过人际自立的单独作用以及人际自立与校园排斥的序列中介作用预测高中生消极社会适应;父母心理控制既能直接预测消极社会适应,还能分别通过人际自立和校园排斥的单独作用,以及人际自立与校园排斥的序列中介作用预测高中生消极社会适应。研究最终梳理出一条“父母教养→人格发展→人际反馈→适应结果”的理论作用机制。     

视觉与言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导

通过三个实验,探讨不同时间进程下视觉和言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。实验1采用注意引导与注意探测任务同时呈现的范式,探讨不同记忆项与注意项时间间隔(SOA)条件下言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。结果发现,当SOA较短时言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意有引导效应,而SOA较长时未观察到引导效应;实验2、3采用注意引导任务与注意探测任务分离范式,分别探讨在不同SOA条件下言语和视觉工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。结果发现,不同SOA条件下言语和视觉工作记忆表征均能引导视觉注意。研究表明,不同实验范式对言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导有明显影响,视觉比言语工作记忆表征能在更广泛条件下引导视觉注意。     

仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪增强控制感：双路径机制

以中国普米族人的传统文化仪式“敬锅庄”为例, 采用回忆任务、创设新颖仪式等方法考察仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪对普米族青少年及成人的控制感的影响。结果表明, 熟悉敬锅庄仪式的动作、象征意义或者具有更多情感体验的青少年的控制感更强。仪式动作与象征意义对控制感的影响存在双路径机制：仪式动作直接增强个体的控制感, 象征意义通过积极情绪间接增强个体的控制感。象征意义与控制感的关系还因仪式主体不同有所区别：祈求庇佑通过积极情绪间接增强青少年的控制感, 表达感恩通过积极情绪间接增强成年人的控制感。研究结果对探究仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪对个体控制感的影响有重要启示。     

客户支持对一线服务员工服务绩效的影响——基于自我验证理论的视角

基于自我验证理论, 文章探讨了客户支持能否通过组织自尊的中介作用促进员工服务绩效(角色内服务绩效和主动服务客户行为), 以及员工促进定向和内控的调节作用。针对3时间点的调查得到652名员工和139名主管的配对数据进行分析, 结果显示：(1)客户支持会显著正向影响员工组织自尊, 进而显著影响他们的角色内服务绩效和主动服务客户行为; (2)员工促进定向正向调节客户支持对员工组织自尊的影响; (3)员工内控负向调节客户支持对员工组织自尊的影响。研究结果拓展了员工服务绩效的机制研究, 为组织提升员工服务绩效提供了新的思路。