Processing strategy moderates the cultivation effect

This study tested the hypothesis that processing strategy moderates the effect of television viewing on social perceptions (cultivation effect). One hundred twenty‐two male and female students provided estimates of the prevalence of crime, occupations, affluence, and marital discord under one of three conditions. Some participants were induced to process heuristically (heuristic group) through instructions to provide their estimates spontaneously with little elaboration. Other participants were induced to process systematically (systematic group) through an accuracy motivation/task importance manipulation. A third (control) group received instructions to simply answer the questions. The results indicated that processing strategy moderated the cultivation effect such that cultivation effects were noted in the heuristic and control groups but not in the systematic group. These results are consistent with the notion that the cultivation effect can be explained in part as the result of heuristic processing through lack of source discounting, and they provide support for the heuristic processing model of cultivation effects.     

The preferred level of face categorization depends on discriminability

People usually categorize objects more quickly at the basic level (e.g., “dog”) than at the subordinate (e.g., “collie”) or superordinate (e.g., “animal”) levels. Notable exceptions to this rule include objects of expertise, faces, or atypical objects (e.g., “penguin,” “poodle”), all of which show faster than normal subordinate-level categorization. We hypothesize that the subordinate-level reaction time advantage for faces is influenced by their discriminability relative to other faces in the stimulus set. First, we replicated the subordinate-level advantage for faces (Experiment 1) and then showed that a basic-level advantage for faces can be elicited by increasing the perceptual similarity of the face stimuli, making discrimination more difficult (Experiment 2). Finally, we repeated both effects within subjects, showing that individual faces were slower to be categorized in the context of similar faces and more quickly categorized among diverse faces (Experiment 3).     

Lack of strategy holding: A new pattern of learning deficit in cortical dementias

The aim of this study was to demonstrate, by means of systematic research and qualitative data analysis, the presence, among a group of patients with fronto‐temporal lobar degeneration of a subgroup that, at variance with the standard pattern, is able to devise and implement learning strategies, but appear impaired at carrying them on from a trial to the next. In order to provide evidence of the existence of a group of patients showing this type of learning disability, that we refer to as lack of strategy holding, we performed a stepwise hierarchical cluster analysis of a set of variables whose scores were selected from the subject's performance at the Test de Aprendizaje Verbal España‐Complutense. Results substantiate the segregation of three groups of subjects characterized by the following patterns of performance: normal elderly individuals, who show a quite preserved ability to discover a semantic strategy along the learning trials and to carry it from a trial to the next, patients presenting with a deficit in implementing semantic learning strategies and possibly use of serial and/or phonological strategies to perform the task, and to patients who, although able to generate and implement appropriate learning strategies, appear unable to carry them over the learning trials. The presence of this new pattern raises a few questions that seem worth trying to address.     

An Investigation of Psychology Staffing in Australian Metropolitan Acute Public Hospitals

Psychology is one component of the multidisciplinary services provided to patients in acute public hospitals, with research demonstrating that psychological intervention significantly enhances clinical outcomes for patients across a range of health issues. Despite the increasingly important role that psychologists play in Australian hospitals, there remains a lack of information available about staff levels, discipline structures, and clinical activity for psychological services within acute hospital settings. The most recent Australian data about hospital‐based psychology services was collected 20 years ago. The current study provides updated information from a survey of 15 Australian metropolitan, acute public hospitals: presenting and critically reviewing staffing configurations and models of service delivery. Results suggest that: (a) hospitals employ a highly skilled workforce at a rate of 0.16 full‐time equivalent psychology staff for every 10 hospital beds; (b) psychologists have a viable career pathway within the hospital‐based health sector; (c) role diversity is common, with the primary focus varying as a function of position level; (d) neuropsychology staffing requires urgent attention to address significant delays in access to services; and (e) public hospitals actively contribute to current and future workforce development through supervision, research, and training. The implications of these results for the future of psychological services in Australian healthcare are discussed.     

Perfectionism in depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders

High levels of perfectionism have been observed in major depression, anxiety disorders and eating disorders. Though few studies have compared levels of perfectionism across these disorders, there is reason to believe that different dimensions of perfectionism may be involved in eating disorders than in depression or anxiety [Bardone-Cone, A. M. et al. (2007). Perfectionism and eating disorders: Current status and future directions. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 84-405]. The present study compared patients with major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders on dimensions of perfectionism. Concern over Mistakes was elevated in each of the patient groups while Pure Personal Standards was only elevated in the eating disorder sample. Doubts about Actions was elevated in both patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders, but not in depressed patients. Analyses of covariance indicated that Concern over Mistakes accounted for most of the variance in the relationship of perfectionism to these forms of psychopathology.     

Psychoanalytic supervision of the difficult patient

Control cases from the broad group of non-neurotic but potentially analyzable patients appear with increasing frequency. The intense, complex transferences they develop place great stress on the psychoanalytic relationship and evoke marked countertransference reactions in psychoanalytic candidates, which reverberate within the supervisory relationship. Through application of a case study method, common themes emerge in the candidate-supervisor dyad: idealization of the supervisor and of classical technique, identification with the patient, parallel process enactments, difficulty maintaining the analytic frame, and the importance of concurrent training analysis. Classical supervisory techniques must be adapted to the "difficult" (non-neurotic) control case. Complex countertransference issues must be carefully addressed while maintaining the teach/treat boundary.     

Cross-task individual differences in error processing: Neural,electrophysiological, and genetic components

The error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) are electrophysiological markers of error processing thought to originate in the medial frontal cortex. Previous studies using probabilistic reinforcement showed that individuals who learn more from negative than from positive feedback (negative learners) had larger ERNs than did positive learners. These findings support the dopamine (DA) reinforcement-learning hypothesis of the ERN and associated computational models. However, it remains unclear (1) to what extent these effects generalize to tasks outside the restricted probabilistic reinforcement-learning domain and (2) whether there is a dopaminergic source of these effects. To address these issues, we tested subjects’ reinforcement-learning biases behaviorally and recorded EEG during an unrelated recognition memory experiment. Initial recognition responses were speeded, but the subjects were subsequently allowed to self-correct their responses. We found that negative learners, as assessed via probabilistic learning, had larger ERNs in the recognition memory task, suggestive of a common underlying enhanced error-processing mechanism. Negative learners also had enhanced Pes when selfcorrecting errors than did positive learners. Moreover, the ERN and Pe components contributed independently to negative learning. We also tested for a dopaminergic genetic basis of these ERP components. We analyzed the COMT val/met polymorphism, which has been linked to frontal DA levels. The COMT genotype affected Pe (but not ERN) magnitude; met/met homozygotes showed enhanced Pes to self-corrected errors, as compared with val carriers. These results are consistent with a role for the Pe and frontal monoamines in error awareness.     

Neuromodulation can reduce aggressive behavior elicited by violent video games

Research has shown that exposure to violent media increases aggression. However, the neural underpinnings of violent-media-related aggression are poorly understood. Additionally, few experiments have tested hypotheses concerning how to reduce violent-media-related aggression. In this experiment, we focused on a brain area involved in the regulation of aggressive impulses—the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC). We tested the hypothesis that brain polarization through anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over rVLPFC reduces aggression related to violent video games. Participants (N = 79) were randomly assigned to play a violent or a nonviolent video game while receiving anodal or sham stimulation. Afterward, participants aggressed against an ostensible partner using the Taylor aggression paradigm (Taylor Journal of Personality, 35, 297–310, 1967), which measures both unprovoked and provoked aggression. Among those who received sham stimulation, unprovoked aggression was significantly higher for violent-game players than for nonviolent-game players. Among those who received anodal stimulation, unprovoked aggression did not differ for violent- and nonviolent-game players. Thus, anodal stimulation reduced unprovoked aggression in violent-game players. No significant effects were found for provoked aggression, suggesting tit-for-tat responding. This experiment sheds light on one possible neural underpinning of violent-media-related aggression—the rVLPFC, a brain area involved in regulating negative feelings and aggressive impulses.