Attachment style and the regulation of negative affect: exploring individual differences in mood congruency effects on memory and judgment

Three studies examined the role that attachment style plays in moderating the effects of induced negative affect on memory and judgment. Israeli undergraduates completed an attachment style scale and were exposed to a negative or neutral affect induction. In Study 1, incidental recall of negative and positive information was assessed; in Study 2, the attribution of negative and positive relational events was studied; and in Study 3, findings of Study 1 were replicated using a different affect induction procedure. Whereas securely attached persons reacted to induced negative affect with an affect-incongruent pattern of cognitions (better recall of positive information, more unstable/specific attribution of negative event), anxiously attached persons reacted with an affect-congruent pattern (worse recall of positive information, more stable/global attribution of negative event). Persons scoring high on attachment avoidance showed no significant cognitive effect of negative affect. The discussion emphasizes the role that attachment strategies play in the affect-cognition link.     

A within-subject design of comparison of waiting time of pedestrians before crossing three successive road crossings

This study is a partial replication of the work of Hamed (2001) who found a negative correlation between waiting time of pedestrians before crossing the first and the second stage of a road divided by an island. The innovation of the current study is an addition of testing the waiting time before crossing a third successive crosswalk. The research is based on examining the correlation between the waiting times of pedestrians before each stage of crossing a triple-crossing. The research was conducted in two different types of three successive crossings: (1) with a narrow or (2) with a wide refuge island dividing between the two parts of the main road. We hypothesized that in a narrow island condition the correlation between the waiting time of the first and the second crossings will be negative; a finding that would have replicated Hamed’s finding. However, in a wide island condition, so that the two-stage crossing will be perceived by the pedestrian as two separate units, the correlation between the waiting time in the first and the second crossings would be positive. More than 750 people (of which 54% were female) were observed crossing junctions with a triple-stage crossings in three different locations in the center of Israel (two with wide islands and one with a narrow island). The waiting time before crossing each part of the road was measured by two experienced observers. The mean waiting time beyond individual differences was 6.00, 5.76 and 0.79 s at the first, second and third crossings respectively. Our results are not in line with those of Hamed (2001). At the junction with the narrow island no correlation between the waiting time of the first and the second crossing was found. A positive correlation has been found between the waiting time of the first and the second crossing in the condition of the wide refuge island. In all locations a positive correlation has been found between the waiting times at the second and third crossings. These findings lead to an optional explanation that the width of the refuge island determines the way in which the pedestrian perceives the task of crossing two-stage crossings. These findings support a possible explanation by a newly suggested model – Renewed Patience Model. The implications of the research and other methodological issues are discussed.     

Task switching training effects are mediated by working-memory management

Task switching is an important executive function, and finding ways to improve it has become a major goal of contemporary scientists. Karbach and Kray (2009) found that training in the Alternating-Runs Task-Switching (AR-TS) paradigm (in which the task changed every second trial) reduced the costs of switching in untrained tasks, as well as led to far transfer to interference control ability and fluid intelligence. However, AR-TS is known to involve working memory updating (WMU). Therefore, we hypothesized that AR-TS training involves WMU and not task-switching proper. Participants were trained using Karbach and Kray's protocol. Results indicate a highly specific transfer pattern in which participants showed near transfer to switching cost in the AR-TS paradigm, but did not significantly improve in another version of the task switching paradigm in which the tasks were randomly ordered or a version in which the task changed every 3rd trial. The results suggest that what has been trained is not a broad task-switching ability but rather a specific skill related to the unique WMU requirements of the training paradigm.     

Attachment Theory and Affect Regulation: The Dynamics,Development, and Cognitive Consequences of Attachment-Related Strategies

Attachment theory (J. Bowlby, 1982/1969, 1973) is one of the most useful and generative frameworks for understanding both normative and individual-differences aspects of the process of affect regulation. In this article we focus mainly on the different attachment-related strategies of affect regulation that result from different patterns of interactions with significant others. Specifically, we pursue 3 main goals: First, we elaborate the dynamics and functioning of these affect-regulation strategies using a recent integrative model of attachment-system activation and dynamics (P. R. Shaver & M. Mikulincer, 2002). Second, we review recent findings concerning the cognitive consequences of attachment-related strategies following the arousal of positive and negative affect. Third, we propose some integrative ideas concerning the formation and development of the different attachment-related strategies.