Neuronal deactivation is equally important for understanding emotional processing

In their analyses of the neural correlates of discrete emotionality, Lindquist et al. do not consider the numerous drawbacks to inferring psychological processes based on currently available cognitive neurometric technology. The authors also disproportionately emphasize the relevance of neuronal activation over deactivation, which, in our opinion, limits the scope and utility of their conclusions.     

Personalidad,estrategias cognitivas y tiempo de Inspección

Resumen

En el presente trabajo se han empleado las medidas cronométricas de Tiempo de Inspección (TI) y Tiempo de Reacción (TR) para estudiar los efectos de las diferencias individuales en extroversion sobre una tarea de discriminación perceptual. Para ello se utilizaron dos grupos de sujetos que habían obtenido puntuaciones máximas y mínimas en la dimensión Extraversión del Test EPI de H. J. Eysenck. Se postuló que los extrovertidos obtendrían un TI más corto que los introvertidos y asimismo un TR también más corto, de acuerdo a los modelos de Brebner (1980) y Tous (1986). Los resultados indicaron que si bien existieron diferencias entre extrovertidos e introvertidos en cuanto a las medidas cronométricas, estas dit erencias dependieron del uso diferencial de estrategias de resolver la tarea que fueron utilizadas por estos sujetos.     

A life history assessment of early childhood sexual abuse in women

Life history theory provided a framework for examining the relations among child sexual abuse (CSA), childhood adversity, and patterns of reproductive development and behavior. A community survey that assessed CSA, life history variables (e.g., age of menarche), and social and family background was administered to 623 women (mean age=26.9 years). Independent of social and family background, CSA was associated with earlier age of (a) menarche, (b) first sexual relationship, (c) desire to have children, (d) first childbirth, and (e) lower self-evaluated physical attractiveness. Cluster analyses revealed different patterns of experiential correlates of reproductive development within the group of abused women, suggesting CSA may operate in combination with other childhood circumstances to modify the timing and pattern of individual maturation.     

Intra-regional assortative sociality may be better explained by social network dynamics rather than pathogen risk avoidance

Fincher & Thornhill's (F&T's) model is not entirely supported by common patterns of affect behaviors among people who live under varying climatic conditions and among people who endorse varying levels of (Western) religiosity and conservative political ideals. The authors' model is also unable to account for intra-regional heterogeneity in assortative sociality, which, we argue, can be better explained by a framework that emphasizes the differential expression of fundamental social cues for maintaining distinct social network structures.     

Factors Associated with Interest in Gene-Panel Testing and Risk Communication Preferences in Women from <Emphasis Type="Italic">BRCA1/2</Emphasis> Negative Families

Scientific advances have allowed the development of multiplex gene-panels to assess many genes simultaneously in women who have tested negative for BRCA1/2. We examined correlates of interest in testing for genes that confer modest and moderate breast cancer risk and risk communication preferences for women from BRCA negative families. Female first-degree relatives of breast cancer patients who tested negative for BRCA1/2 mutations (N = 149) completed a survey assessing multiplex genetic testing interest and risk communication preferences. Interest in testing was high (70 %) and even higher if results could guide risk-reducing behavior changes such as taking medications (79 %). Participants preferred to receive genomic risk communications from a variety of sources including: primary care physicians (83 %), genetic counselors (78 %), printed materials (71 %) and the web (60 %). Factors that were independently associated with testing interest were: perceived lifetime risk of developing cancer (odds ratio (OR) = 1.67: 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.06–2.65) and high cancer worry (OR = 3.12: CI 1.28–7.60). Findings suggest that women from BRCA1/2 negative families are a unique population and may be primed for behavior change. Findings also provide guidance for clinicians who can help develop genomic risk communications, promote informed decision making and customize behavioral interventions.     

Psycholexical Value Factors in Spain and Their Relation with Personality Traits

The aim of the present study is to determine the structure of values in the Spanish population and its relation to the Big Five personality traits. Using a psycholexical approach, 566 words were identified as values and administered to a sample of participants who were instructed to rate the extent to which they were guided by each value. Principal components analysis revealed seven factors: Social Recognition, Competence, Love and Happiness, Benevolence, Idealism, Equilibrium and Family. The results show that there is no complete equivalence between these factors and those obtained in previous studies. However, the results are congruent with those obtained in other studies as far as the relation between values and personality traits is concerned. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identifying the Null Subject: Evidence from Event-Related Brain Potentials

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded during spoken language comprehension to study the on-line effects of gender agreement violations in controlled infinitival complements. Spanish sentences were constructed in which the complement clause contained a predicate adjective marked for syntactic gender. By manipulating the gender of the antecedent (i.e., the controller) of the implicit subject while holding constant the gender of the adjective, pairs of grammatical and ungrammatical sentences were created. The detection of such a gender agreement violation would indicate that the parser had established the coreference relation between the null subject and its antecedent. The results showed a complex biphasic ERP (i.e., an early negativity with prominence at anterior and central sites, followed by a centroparietal positivity) in the violating condition as compared to the non-violating conditions. The brain reacts to NP-adjective gender agreement violations within a few hundred milliseconds of their occurrence. The data imply that the parser has properly coindexed the null subject of an infinitive clause with its antecedent.     

Multicultural perspectives on suicide

Cultural differences exist as to suicide rates, suicide attempts, suicide attitudes such as acceptability, and appropriate treatment of suicide. Although suicide has been studied cross-nationally to highlight cross-cultural differences, the nuances of suicide among racioethnic groups within the United States have been at times been overlooked. The present article discusses suicide among the four (African American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American) most populous minority sociopolitical groups in the United States, and makes culture-specific recommendations for treatment and research.     

Experiencing the mastership in transdisciplinary studies for sustainability

In this article, we describe the transdisciplinarity process in our education postgraduate program at the University of Veracruz. The program emphasizes the main processes of the eco-formation experience for sustainability through a transdisciplinarity methodology that is focused on three processes: (a) Re-Learning; (b) Eco-literacy; and (c) Dialogue of Knowledge. The experience of self-knowledge is described through our specific re-learning practices in the Mastership program, which represents a central tenet in the process for creating our Learning Community through holarchy practices, profound dialogues, and self-organization processes. Finally we discuss three central ideas: creativity, spirituality, and play, which express and nurture our Learning Community.