挫折情境下自我肯定对执行功能的影响

为探讨挫折情境下自我肯定对执行功能的影响,创设挫折和非挫折情境,采用价值观自我肯定干预,通过Stroop范式和2-back范式分别测量抑制控制和工作记忆的刷新能力。结果发现,挫折情境下的Stroop任务和2-back任务反应时均高于非挫折情境;挫折情境下自我肯定组在Stroop任务和2-back任务上的反应时均显著低于非自我肯定组,而非挫折情境下两组的反应时没有显著性差异;Stroop效应量在情境与肯定条件上的交互作用不显著。结果表明挫折降低了执行功能的任务表现,自我肯定干预能够改善挫折情境下执行功能相关的任务成绩,促进了个体对工作记忆任务的刷新能力和Stroop任务的认知表现,但对抑制控制能力的改善没有明显作用。     

Patterns of Responding on a Balloon Analogue Task Reveal Individual Differences in Overall Risk-Taking: Choice Between Guaranteed and Uncertain Cash

ABSTRACT. We explored the utility of analyzing within- and between-balloon response patterns on a balloon analogue task (BAT) in relation to overall risk scores, and to a choice between a small guaranteed cash reward and an uncertain reward of the same expected value. Young adults (n = 61) played a BAT, and then were offered a choice between $5 in cash and betting to win $0 to $15. Between groups, pumping was differentially influenced by explosions and by the number of successive unexploded balloons, with risk takers responding increasingly on successive balloons after an explosion. Within-balloons, risk takers showed a characteristic pattern of constant high rate, while non-risk takers showed a characteristic variable lower rate. Overall, results show that the higher number of pumps and explosions that characterize risk takers at a molar level, result from particular forms of adaptation to the positive and negative outcomes of choices seen at a molecular level.

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/vgen.     

Longitudinal study of striatal activation to reward and loss anticipation from mid-adolescence into late adolescence/early adulthood

Adolescent risk-taking behavior has been associated with age-related changes in striatal activation to incentives. Previous cross-sectional studies have shown both increased and decreased striatal activation to incentives for adolescents compared to adults. The monetary incentive delay (MID) task, designed to assess functional brain activation in anticipation of reward, has been used extensively to examine striatal activation in both adult and adolescent populations. The current study used this task with a longitudinal approach across mid-adolescence and late adolescence/early adulthood. Twenty-two participants (13 male) were studied using the MID task at two time-points, once in mid-adolescence (mean age = 16.11; SD = 1.44) and a second time in late adolescence/early adulthood (mean age = 20.14; SD = .67). Results revealed greater striatal activation with increased age in high- compared to low-incentive contexts (incentive magnitude), for gain as well as for loss trials (incentive valence). Results extend cross-sectional findings and show reduced striatal engagement in adolescence compared to adulthood during preparation for action in an incentive context.     

Is the Male Advantage in Mental-Rotation Performance Task Independent? On the Usability of Chronometric Tests and Paper-and-Pencil Tests in Children

This article presents a reanalysis of the data of 862 second and fourth graders collected in two previous studies, focusing on the influence of method (psychometric vs. chronometric) and stimulus type on the gender difference in mental-rotation accuracy. The children had to solve mental-rotation tasks with animal pictures, letters, or cube figures, either in a chronometric condition (computerized) or in a psychometric condition (paper-and-pencil). Results show a slight male advantage in mental-rotation accuracy, which is neither influenced by method nor by stimulus type. However, mental-rotation accuracy differed between the stimulus types, with the highest accuracy in animal pictures and the lowest accuracy in cube figures, and between age groups, with better performance in fourth graders than in second graders in both conditions. Results show that psychometric and chronometric mental-rotation tests with all the stimulus types are more or less similarly usable with children of that age.     

Is it better to be happy or to be proud at school before doing a text comprehension task? First evidence with 10-year-old children

Introduction and objective

An experiment was conducted in a school context to examine whether joy and pride, two positive emotions, can promote children's acquisition of knowledge in a reading comprehension situation.

Holistic processing of faces is intact in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Are face recognition difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) related to impaired holistic processing? Gauthier et al. [Gauthier, I., Klaiman, C., &; Schultz, R. T. (2009). Face composite effects reveal abnormal face processing in Autism spectrum disorders. Vision Research, 49, 470–478. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2008.12.007] used the face composite task in adolescents with autism and found a congruency effect that was not modulated by alignment, a result which was interpreted as reflecting qualitatively different face processing mechanisms. In the present study we tested adults with ASD in a composite face task where presentation times were manipulated and further explored whether these participants were sensitive to holistic information in faces using a new version of the composite task: VHFPT 2.0 (The Vanderbilt Holistic Face Processing Test 2.0). Results suggest that adults with ASD process faces holistically and that their facial identity processing abilities are qualitatively similar and as efficient as that of typical adults. The difference between the results of Gauthier et al. (2009) with adolescents and the results with adults here reported are interpreted in terms of a developmental delay.     

A performance analysis of In-Car Music engagement as an indication of driver distraction and risk

Drivers engage in a host of driving-unrelated tasks while on the road. They listen to music, sing-along, and accompany songs by pounding-out drum-kicks and syncopated rhythms on the steering wheel. However, there is controversy over in-cabin music: Does background music facilitate driver performance via increased arousal leading to more focused concentration, or cause distraction placing drivers at greater risk. In an effort to shed light on the debate, the current study evaluated music engagement by employing Music Performance Analyses with audio recordings from three simulated driving conditions. The results indicate that as the perceptual demands of the primary driving task increased, the secondary music activity was hampered, and subsequently sub-optimal vocal and percussive performances were demonstrated consisting of intonation errors, rhythmic inaccuracy, lack of synchrony, inconsistent and unstable temporal flow, neglect of text, and lyric replacement. The findings seem to point out that drivers allocate greater reserves to music than previously considered, and as drivers do not withdraw altogether from music engagement under high-demand driving conditions, driving may be under-resourced. Exploring active music engagement while driving might assist traffic safety researchers in decoding the effects of In-Car Music on driver behavior.     

Effect of electronic device use while driving on cardiovascular reactivity

Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death in people ages 5–34 in the US, and secondary task engagement, such as talking on a cell phone, is a leading contributor to motor vehicle collisions. The negative effects of secondary task engagement on driving performance has become a prominent recent topic of study given the increasing amount of time drivers engage in distracted driving. However, few studies have examined the effects of secondary task engagement while driving on health related outcomes such as cardiovascular reactivity. Cardiovascular reactivity, as measured by heart rate and blood pressure, has been used in previous studies as a means of measuring effort in task engagement as well as a means to predict cardiovascular disease and stroke. This study investigates the effect of secondary task (talking on a cell phone, texting, and driving with no task) while driving in a simulator on cardiovascular reactivity. Using difference scores between baseline (a period of inactivity) and stimulus (driving with no task and driving with secondary tasks), a repeated measures analysis of variance using a mixed model approach was used to determine the effect of secondary task on cardiovascular reactivity. Findings indicated that talking on a cell phone while driving significantly increased cardiovascular reactivity via heart rate and blood pressure compared to driving with no task. Texting while driving did not differ significantly from driving with no task. This study demonstrates the need for more research on the long term effects of secondary tasks while driving on cardiovascular reactivity and for assessing the risks associated with secondary task use while driving on developing cardiovascular disease or stroke.     

反馈时间、反馈类型和掩蔽类型对概率类别学习的影响

通过操纵反馈时间(即时,延迟)、反馈类型(简单,丰富)和掩蔽类型(塔罗牌,空白矩形),考察概率类别学习的学习机制。结果发现:(1)被试的学习成绩在即时反馈条件下显著优于在延迟反馈条件下;(2)在即时反馈条件下,仅给予简单反馈,被试虽能出色地完成天气预报任务,但是不能正确地判断卡片预测晴天的概率,倾向内隐学习;(3)在其他条件下,被试能正确地判断卡片预测晴天的概率以及各卡片在天气预报任务中预测天气的重要程度,表明被试能外显地意识到这些线索的作用。综上,概率类别学习采用的是双系统学习机制,既依赖内隐学习,又依赖外显学习。     

Workplace ostracism And workplace behaviors: A moderated mediation model of perceived stress and psychological empowerment

Background and objectives: Workplace ostracism research has examined numerous underlying mechanisms to understand the link between workplace ostracism and behavioral outcomes. Ostracism has been suggested to be an interpersonal stressor; however, research has not investigated workplace ostracism from a stress perspective. Therefore, the study investigated the mediating effect of perceived stress for the relationships between workplace ostracism and helping behavior, voicing behavior, and task performance. The study also investigated the moderating effect of psychological empowerment for the relationships between perceived stress and behavioral outcomes.

Design: The study design was a three-wave self-reported questionnaire.

Method: The study sampled 225 full-time employees in South Korea and regression analyses with bootstrapping were conducted to test the moderated mediation models.

Results: The bootstrapped 95% CI around the indirect effects did not contain zero; therefore, perceived stress mediated the relationship between workplace ostracism and helping behavior (–.06), voicing behavior (–.07), and task performance (–.07). Further, the moderated mediation analyses found perceived stress mediated the relationships between workplace ostracism and behavioral outcomes only when individuals perceived low levels of psychological empowerment.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that workplace ostracism is a stressor and psychological empowerment can mitigate the negative effects of ostracism on behavioral outcomes.