Is visual attention automatically attracted by one’s own name?

Subjects were presented with briefly exposed visual displays of words that were common first names with a length of four to six letters. In the main experiment, each display consisted of four words: two names shown in red and two shown in white. The subject’s task was to report the red names (targets), but ignore the white ones (distractors). On some trials the subject’s own name appeared as a display item (target or distractor). Presentation of the subject’s name as a distractor caused no more interference with report of targets than did presentation of other names as distractors. Apparently, visual attention was not automatically attracted by the subject’s own name.     

Prospective and concurrent correlates of emotion perception in psychotic disorders: A naturalistic,longitudinal study of neurocognition,affective blunting and avolition

This naturalistic study investigated longitudinal and cross‐sectional symptomatic and neurocognitive correlates of social cognition indexed by emotion perception. Participants were 31 persons admitted to a psychiatric emergency ward due to acute psychosis. Positive and negative (i.e., affective blunting and avolition) symptoms were assessed at baseline and 12‐month follow‐up using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Participants completed neuropsychological assessments with alternative versions of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status at baseline and at 12‐month follow‐up. Emotion perception was measured using the Face/Voice Emotion Test at 12‐month follow‐up. Correlational analyses (Spearman's rho) revealed strong and statistically significant associations between neurocognition and emotion perception (baseline r = 0.58, follow‐up r = 0.43). Associations between positive symptoms and emotion perception were weak or non‐existent (baseline r = 0.13, follow‐up r  =  –0.01). Emotion perception was moderately, but not significantly, associated with affective blunting at follow‐up (r = 0.33), but not at baseline (r = 0.21). The association with avolition was non‐existent (baseline r  =  –0.05, follow‐up r = 0.01). This study supports the notion that emotion perception has neurocognitive correlates. The cross‐sectional trend level association with affective blunting suggests that the ability to perceive emotions might be related to, but dissociable from the ability to express emotions.     

Knowledge Utilisation in Road Safety Policy: Barriers to the Use of Knowledge from Economic Analysis

Previous research has found that the priority given to road safety measures is not based on the results of economic analyses, in particular cost–benefit analysis. This paper tries to identify some reasons for this fact. Knowledge utilisation theory is applied as a framework for identifying barriers. A typology of barriers to the use of economic efficiency analyses in road safety policy is developed. The presence of the barriers is investigated empirically by means of interviews of 83 road safety decision-makers in various European countries. Various technical barriers, particularly a lack of knowledge of the effects of road safety measures, are found. Based on a multivariate correspondence analysis (HOMALS), respondents can be placed in two groups with respect to the barriers they regard as most important. One group regards ethical objections to cost–benefit analyses as important, the other group but regards a large group of other barriers as important.     

Signaling in large-scale neural networks

We examine the recent finding that neurons in spinal motor circuits enter a high conductance state during functional network activity. The underlying concomitant increase in random inhibitory and excitatory synaptic activity leads to stochastic signal processing. The possible advantages of this metabolically costly organization are analyzed by comparing with synaptically less intense networks driven by the intrinsic response properties of the network neurons.     

Knowledge,power, and democracy: Lindblom,critical theory,and postmodernism

His current research aims at developing a scenario for the future of democracy in Sweden.     

Perceived Coaching Behaviors and College Athletes' Intrinsic Motivation: A Test of Self-Determination Theory

We investigated whether a shared mental model is present in elite ice hockey and handball teams. In total, 231 male players participated in the study. Shared mental models were found to exist. Relationships between shared mental models and coaching efforts to develop a general training shared mental model and an opponent-specific model were explored. The relationship between role clarity and shared mental model, general training shared mental model, and opponent-specific model was positive. The shared mental model is a useful construct for analyzing elite team practice and coaching behavior. Coaches and sport psychologists should be aware that establishing a shared mental model in elite teams is essential in facilitating performance.     

Dichotic listening,executive functions and grey matter cortical volume in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls

Schizophrenia is characterized by cognitive impairment, especially in relation to executive functions. Brain structural abnormalities are also often seen in schizophrenia although little is known of the relationship between cognitive impairment and structural brain changes. Our aim was therefore to investigate this relationship further using MRI and a dichotic listening (DL) task with simple speech sounds and with instructions to focus attention and report only from the left or right ear stimulus. When instructed to focus attention on the left ear syllable a cognitive conflict is induced requiring the allocation of executive resources to be resolved. Grey matter (GM) volume was measured with MRI from four volumes of interests (VOIs), left and right frontal and temporal cortex, respectively, and correlated with DL performance. The results showed significant differences between the groups in their ability to focus attention on and report the left ear stimulus, which was accompanied by reduced GM volume in the left frontal and right temporal lobe VOIs. There was also a significant positive correlation between left frontal GM volume and performance on the DL task, for the groups combined. The results did not support a conclusion that an impairment in cognitive function in schizophrenia was driven by an corresponding impairment in brain structure, since there were no significant correlations when the groups were analyzed separately. It is however concluded that patients with schizophrenia are impaired in executive functions and that they also show reduced GM volumes in left frontal and right temporal lobe areas, compared to healthy controls.     

More Than Weighting Cognitive Importance: A Dual-Process Model of Issue Framing Effects

Issue frames in policy discourse and news reporting regularly influence citizens' political opinions. Yet, we only have a limited understanding of how and among whom these framing effects occur. I propose a dual-process model of issue framing effects arguing that we must understand mediators of framing (the how question) in connection with individual-level moderators of framing (the whom question). Experimental results show that issue framing affects opinion through different psychological processes depending on who the receiver of the frame is. Among the moderately politically aware or those having weak political values, framing effects were mediated through processes of changing importance of considerations as well as changing content of considerations. Among the highly aware, only the importance change process mediated framing effects, while there were no framing effects among those least aware or those having strong values.     

Problematic video game use: estimated prevalence and associations with mental and physical health

A nationwide survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of video game addiction and problematic video game use and their association with physical and mental health. An initial sample comprising 2,500 individuals was randomly selected from the Norwegian National Registry. A total of 816 (34.0 percent) individuals completed and returned the questionnaire. The majority (56.3 percent) of respondents used video games on a regular basis. The prevalence of video game addiction was estimated to be 0.6 percent, with problematic use of video games reported by 4.1 percent of the sample. Gender (male) and age group (young) were strong predictors for problematic use of video games. A higher proportion of high frequency compared with low frequency players preferred massively multiplayer online role-playing games, although the majority of high frequency players preferred other game types. Problematic use of video games was associated with lower scores on life satisfaction and with elevated levels of anxiety and depression. Video game use was not associated with reported amount of physical exercise.     

Comparing Swedish and Norwegian teachers' professional development: How human capital and social capital factor into teachers' reading habits

The present study compares how Swedish (n = 340) and Norwegian (n = 236) teachers' human capital and social capital support reading habits as an aspect of professional development. The overall aim was to describe how teachers' human and social capital support their professional development as measured by the aspect of reading habits during leisure time. Our research questions were: To what extent do Swedish and Norwegian teachers differ in their reading habits during leisure time? To what extent do young and old Swedish and Norwegian teachers differ in their reading habits during leisure time? To what extent does Swedish and Norwegian teachers' social capital (collegial talk, principal talk) predict their reading habits during leisure time? To what extent does Swedish and Norwegian teachers' human capital (based on their age, education, and work years) predict their reading habits during leisure time? We compared teachers' reading habits between countries. Older teachers read, on average, more fiction, nonfiction, and newspapers. However, younger teachers in both countries are more prone to read digital texts than older teachers. By contrast, teachers' social capital only seemed to matter in Sweden, while talks with the principal had no effect in either country.