Emotional modulation of the attentional blink: Is there an effect of stress?

Individuals are often unable to identify the second target (T2) of two when it is presented within 500 ms after the first target (T1). This “attentional blink” (AB) is attenuated by an emotionally arousing T2. Stress is known to affect cognitive performance, in particular for emotional material. In the present study, we asked whether (a) an emotional T2 reduces the AB when preceded by an emotional T1 and (b) the emotional modulation of the AB is affected by stress. Participants were presented neutral and aversive words as T1 and T2 in rapid serial visual presentation after they were exposed to stress (socially evaluated cold pressor test) or a control condition in a crossover manner. Our results indicate that an aversive T1 extends the AB. Aversive T2 attenuated the AB in the presence of a neutral, but not an aversive, T1. Stress-enhanced T2 detection and high cortisol responses to stress reduced the AB. However, neither stress nor cortisol interacted with the emotionality of the target words. In summary, these findings point to a strong impact of emotional factors on early perceptual experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why does a red snake in the grass capture your attention?

It has been suggested that affective stimuli automatically capture attention; this preferential processing is thought to be related to the evolutionary significance of affective stimuli. However, recent evidence suggests that perceptual salience alone might explain why some affective stimuli are more likely to influence attentional processes in certain contexts. In this study, we manipulated affective and perceptual salience to better understand how affective information is processed and how it impacts attentional processes in different contexts. We used stimuli that are both affectively and perceptually salient, while varying the task requirement to encourage the processing of perceptually salient (Experiment 1) or affectively salient (Experiment 2) information. This design made it possible to observe independent and interdependent relationships between perceptual and affective salience. The results showed that when the task encouraged the processing of perceptually salient information, affective salience did not influence task performance. In contrast, when the task encouraged the processing of affectively salient information, affectively salient information impaired task performance. The findings suggest that the affective nature of the stimuli does not always influence attentional processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of valence on young and older adults’ attention in a rapid serial visual presentation task.

Using a rapid serial visual presentation task, the authors examined how the emotional valence of a word affected young and older adults’ abilities to detect another word that closely followed it in temporal proximity. Both age groups detected neutral words better when such words followed a positive or negative arousing word rather than a neutral arousing word. These results suggest that emotion influences attention in a similar fashion for young and older adults. Despite evidence that older adults can sometimes show a “positivity effect” in memory, we found no evidence of increased attention toward positive words for older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are attractive men's faces masculine or feminine? The importance of controlling confounds in face stimuli.

Women's preferences for male masculinity are highly variable. Although many researchers explain this variability as reflecting systematic individual differences in how women resolve the tradeoff between the costs and benefits of choosing a masculine partner, others suggest that methodological differences between studies are responsible. A recent study found general femininity preferences for judgments of faces that were manipulated in sexual dimorphism of shape but general masculinity preferences for judgments of faces that were based on perceived masculinity. Using the original stimuli, we replicated these previous results but found equivalent general femininity preferences for both types of faces when nonface confounds in the stimuli (e.g. hairstyle) were eliminated through masking. We conclude that care must be taken to control potential confounds in stimuli and that the influence of nonface cues on preferences for facial masculinity deserves further study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are they really that happy? Exploring scale recalibration in estimates of well-being.

Objective: The authors addressed a lingering concern in research on hedonic adaptation to adverse circumstances. This research typically relies on self-report measures of well-being, which are subjective and depend on the standards that people use in making judgments. The authors employed a novel method to test for, and rule out, such scale recalibration in self-reports of well-being. Design: The authors asked patients with chronic illness (either lung disease or diabetes) and nonpatients to evaluate quality of life (QoL) for the patients' disease. In addition, the authors also asked them to rank and rate the aversiveness of a diverse set of adverse circumstances, allowing examination of both the numerical ratings and ordering among items. Main Outcome Measures: The authors compared patients' and nonpatients' ratings and rankings for the patients' disease and other conditions. Results and Conclusion: The authors found that patients not only assigned higher numerical QoL ratings to their own disease than did nonpatients but also ranked it higher among the broad set of conditions. These results suggest that scale recalibration cannot account for discrepant QoL ratings between patients and nonpatients. More generally, this study presents a new approach for measuring well-being that is not subject to the problem of scale recalibration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of target–distractor relationships in guiding attention and the eyes in visual search.

Current models of visual search assume that visual attention can be guided by tuning attention toward specific feature values (e.g., particular size, color) or by inhibiting the features of the irrelevant nontargets. The present study demonstrates that attention and eye movements can also be guided by a relational specification of how the target differs from the irrelevant distractors (e.g., larger, redder, darker). Guidance by the relational properties of the target governed intertrial priming effects and capture by irrelevant distractors. First, intertrial switch costs occurred only upon reversals of the coarse relationship between target and nontargets, but they did not occur when the target and nontarget features changed such that the relation remained the same. Second, irrelevant distractors captured most strongly when they differed in the correct direction from all other items—despite the fact that they were less similar to the target. This suggests that priming and contingent capture, which have previously been regarded as prime evidence for feature-based selection, are really due to a relational selection mechanism. Here I propose a new relational vector account of guidance, which holds promise to synthesize a wide range of different findings that have previously been attributed to different mechanisms of visual search. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does emotion processing require attention? The effects of fear conditioning and perceptual load.

This study examined the impact of perceptual load on the processing of unattended threat-relevant faces. Participants performed a central letter-classification task while ignoring irrelevant face distractors, which appeared above or below the central task. The face distractors were graded for affective salience by means of aversive fear conditioning, with a conditioned angry face (CS+), an unconditioned angry face (CS?), and a neutral control face. The letter-classification task was presented under conditions of both low and high perceptual load. Results showed that fear conditioned (i.e., CS+) angry face distractors interfered with task performance more than CS? angry or neutral face distractors but that this interference was completely eliminated by high perceptual load. These findings demonstrate that aversively conditioned face distractors capture attention only under conditions of low perceptual load. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do the weary care about racioethnic similarity? The role of emotional exhaustion in relational demography.

Diversity theorists have hypothesized that similarity leads to both greater identification among individuals and reduced interpersonal conflict within organizations. Little research, however, has been conducted to identify boundary conditions for this relationship. The authors investigated the interactive effects of supervisor–subordinate racioethnic similarity and emotional exhaustion on organizational commitment in two studies. In Study 1, racioethnic supervisor–subordinate similarity related positively to commitment, but only among employees low in emotional exhaustion. In Study 2, we observed a significant indirect effect of racioethnic similarity on loyalty through supervisor support. Moreover, the support–loyalty linkage was significantly stronger for employees low in emotional exhaustion. Thus, the effects of supervisor–subordinate racioethnic similarity on employee commitment appear contingent upon employee emotional exhaustion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The bilateral field advantage in a sequential face–name matching task with famous and nonfamous faces.

The authors examined the bilateral field advantage (BFA) using a sequential name–face (Experiment 1) or face-name (Experiment 2) matching task with both famous and nonfamous stimuli. In both experiments, the first stimulus (name in Experiment 1, face in experiment 2) was followed by a delay of 1,500 ms. The second stimulus (face in Experiment 1, name in Experiment 2) was then presented during a speeded response interval. Experiment 1 indicated a BFA for famous faces, but not for recently familiarized nonfamous faces. Experiment 2 indicated a BFA for names regardless of familiarity level. These results are compatible with prior findings of a BFA for meaningful stimuli as opposed to nonmeaningful ones, but only if previously unknown personal names are considered meaningful while previously unknown faces are not. These findings suggest that personal names are processed by bilateral neural networks whether they are previously known or not, whereas this is not the case for faces. Our findings have additional implications for working memory-based theories of why the BFA arises, and for the time course of meaningful association formation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do reaction times in the perruchet effect reflect variations in the strength of an associative link?

In 3 experiments, we examined Perruchet, Cleeremans, and Destrebecqz’s (2006) double dissociation of cued reaction time (RT) and target expectancy. In this design, participants receive a tone on every trial and are required to respond as quickly as possible to a square presented on 50% of those trials (a partial reinforcement schedule). Participants are faster to respond to the square following many recent tone–square pairings and slower to respond following many tone-alone presentations. Of importance, expectancy of the square is highest when performance on the RT task is poorest—following many tone-alone trials. This finding suggests that RT performance is determined by the strength of a tone–square link and that this link is the product of a non-expectancy-based learning mechanism. The present experiments, however, provide evidence that the speeded RTs are not the consequence of the strengthening and weakening of a tone–square link. Thus, the RT Perruchet effect does not provide evidence for a non-expectancy-based link-formation mechanism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do balanced scales assess bipolar constructs? The case of the STAI scales.

Balanced scales, that is, scales based on items whose content is either negatively or positively polarized, are often used in the hope of measuring a bipolar construct. Research has shown that usually balanced scales do not yield 1-dimensional measurements. This threatens their construct validity. The authors show how to test bipolarity while accounting for method effects. This is demonstrated on a data set of state and trait anxiety measured with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; C. D. Spielberger, R. L. Gorsuch, R. Lushene, P. R. Vagg, & G. A. Jacobs, 1983) scales. Taking a test–retest perspective, assuming temporally stable method effects, the authors tested the bipolarity of the temporal change through suitable constraints specified in a structural equation model adapted from S. Vautier, R. Steyer, and A. Boomsma (2008). The model fit the data closely, χ2(13, N = 888) = 20.75, p = .07. Thus, the state and trait scales seem to measure bipolar constructs plus temporally stable method effects. Parameter estimates suggest reliable change scores for the state anxiety scale (ρ? = .90) and specific method effects for the state and trait scales of the STAI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of accuracy motivation on anchoring and adjustment: Do people adjust from provided anchors?

Increasing accuracy motivation (e.g., by providing monetary incentives for accuracy) often fails to increase adjustment away from provided anchors, a result that has led researchers to conclude that people do not effortfully adjust away from such anchors. We challenge this conclusion. First, we show that people are typically uncertain about which way to adjust from provided anchors and that this uncertainty often causes people to believe that they have initially adjusted too far away from such anchors (Studies 1a and 1b). Then, we show that although accuracy motivation fails to increase the gap between anchors and final estimates when people are uncertain about the direction of adjustment, accuracy motivation does increase anchor–estimate gaps when people are certain about the direction of adjustment, and that this is true regardless of whether the anchors are provided or self-generated (Studies 2, 3a, 3b, and 5). These results suggest that people do effortfully adjust away from provided anchors but that uncertainty about the direction of adjustment makes that adjustment harder to detect than previously assumed. This conclusion has important theoretical implications, suggesting that currently emphasized distinctions between anchor types (self-generated vs. provided) are not fundamental and that ostensibly competing theories of anchoring (selective accessibility and anchoring-and-adjustment) are complementary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The distractor frequency effect in picture–word interference: Evidence for response exclusion.

In 3 experiments, subjects named pictures with low- or high-frequency superimposed distractor words. In a 1st experiment, we replicated the finding that low-frequency words induce more interference in picture naming than high-frequency words (i.e., distractor frequency effect; Miozzo & Caramazza, 2003). According to the response exclusion hypothesis, this effect has its origin at a postlexical stage and is related to a response buffer. The account predicts that the distractor frequency effect should only be present when a response to the word enters the response buffer. This was tested by masking the distractor (Experiment 2) and by presenting it at various time points before stimulus onset (Experiment 3). Results supported the hypothesis by showing that the effect was only present when distractors were visible, and if they were presented in close proximity to the target picture. These results have implications for the models of lexical access and for the tasks that can be used to study this process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The other-race effect in eyewitness identification: What do we do about it?

The greater difficulty of other-race relative to own-race facial recognition is one of the most researched issues in eyewitness identification. The authors discuss articles in the March 2001 issue of Psychology, Public Policy, and Law as well as some methodological and interpretational problems regarding demonstrations of the other-race identification effect. In spite of some problems with the literature, they conclude that the other-race identification effect is real and that it is relevant to the criminal justice system. The authors propose a system-variable approach in which other-race identification cases receive special preventive treatment at the time of the identification test rather than after-the-fact attempts to assist triers of fact. These preventive procedures include using same-race lineup constructors, larger numbers of fillers in other-race cases, dual lineup techniques in other-race cases, or a combination of these procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relatedness-of-meaning effect for ambiguous words in lexical-decision tasks: When does relatedness matter?

Effects of the number of meanings (NOM) and the relatedness of those meanings (ROM) were examined for Japanese Katakana words using a lexical-decision task. In Experiment 1, only a NOM advantage was observed. In Experiment 2, the same Katakana words produced a ROM advantage when Kanji words and nonwords were added. Because the Kanji nonwords consisted of unrelated characters whereas the Kanji words consisted of related characters, participants may have used the relatedness of activated meanings as a cue in making lexical decisions in this experiment, artificially creating a ROM advantage for Katakana words. Consistent with this explanation, no ROM effect for Katakana words was observed in Experiment 3 when the Kanji nonwords consisted of characters with similar (i.e., related) meanings. These results pose a further challenge to the position that the speed of semantic coding is modulated by ROM for ambiguous words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of intersensory redundancy on attention and memory: Infants’ long-term memory for orientation in audiovisual events.

This research examined the effects of bimodal audiovisual and unimodal visual stimulation on infants’ memory for the visual orientation of a moving toy hammer following a 5-min, 2-week, or 1-month retention interval. According to the intersensory redundancy hypothesis (L. E. Bahrick & R. Lickliter, 2000; L. E. Bahrick, R. Lickliter, & R. Flom, 2004) detection of and memory for nonredundantly specified properties, including the visual orientation of an event, are facilitated in unimodal stimulation and attenuated in bimodal stimulation in early development. Later in development, however, nonredundantly specified properties can be perceived and remembered in both multimodal and unimodal stimulation. The current study extended tests of these predictions to the domain of memory in infants of 3, 5, and 9 months of age. Consistent with predictions of the intersensory redundancy hypothesis, in unimodal stimulation, memory for visual orientation emerged by 5 months and remained stable across age, whereas in bimodal stimulation, memory did not emerge until 9 months of age. Memory for orientation was evident even after a 1-month delay and was expressed as a shifting preference, from novelty to null to familiarity, across increasing retention time, consistent with Bahrick and colleagues’ four-phase model of attention. Together, these findings indicate that infant memory for nonredundantly specified properties of events is a consequence of selective attention to those event properties and is facilitated in unimodal stimulation. Memory for nonredundantly specified properties thus emerges in unimodal stimulation, is later extended to bimodal stimulation, and lasts across a period of at least 1 month. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What's love got to do with it? Social functioning, perceived health, and daily happiness in married octogenarians.

This study examined day-to-day links between perceived health and happiness and between time spent with others and happiness in 47 older adult couples over an 8-day period. Marital satisfaction and time spent with others were explored as potential moderators of links between health and happiness. For both men and women, hierarchical linear modeling revealed daily links between more time spent with others and greater happiness. Daily links between time spent with one's partner and happiness were strongly moderated by marital satisfaction. For both men and women, marital satisfaction buffered day-to-day links between poorer perceived health and a decline in happiness, but time spent with others did not. This study provides support for the role of marital satisfaction in protecting older adults' happiness from daily fluctuations in perceived physical health and for the influence of social connections in promoting happiness in the lives of older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What comes first? How selective attentional processes regulate the activation of a motor routine in a manual search task.

An intriguing error has been observed in toddlers presented with a 3-location search task involving invisible displacements of an object, namely, the C-not-B task. In 3 experiments, the authors investigated the dynamics of the attentional focus process that is suspected to be involved in this task. In Experiment 1, 2.5-year-old children were tested on a new adaptation of the C-not-B task in which the opening of the experimenter's hand between cloths provided visual information about the correct localization of the toy. Children still emitted a strong response bias toward the last hiding place. In Experiment 2, 2.5-year-old children were tested on a new version of the task that was designed to investigate the role of the central location in the task. This 2nd experiment demonstrated that changing the hand's movement from A to C to B did not enable children to succeed in the task. In Experiment 3, 2.5-year-old children were tested in a situation that is analogous to the C-not-B with open hands task except for the fact that the experimenter dropped the toy under the 1st cloth in the path. Toddlers succeeded when the toy was hidden at Location A but not when it was hidden at Location B. Data indicate that attentional focus on the experimenter's hand motion is contingent on whether that stimulus is critical to performing the task. We argue that these findings provide a potential mechanism through which motor routines can be regulated in accordance with strategic intentions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The history of malaria in S? Tomé. Considerations on an epidemic

Using a historical approach of malaria control in the island of S?o Tomé, the author describes the evolution of strategies used with special reference to the last 25 years. From a zero mortality rate in children under 4 years in 1981/83, malaria became the first cause of morbidity and mortality after the epidemic of 1985/86. Malaria was introduced in 1493, when the virgin island was populated with individuals of various origins (Europe, Africa). The problem became more important as the population of S?o Tomé increased in the XIXth century, with immigration of workers for cultivation of coffee and cocoa. At that time, methods of control of "fevers" were already defined including drainage of swamps, cleansing of the environment and use of quinine for prophylaxis and treatment. At the beginning of the XXth century, with the first epidemiological investigations, global plans of medical assistance and free delivery of chloroquine were elaborated. Between 1946 and 1967, localities were stratified according to their endemicity, the major vectorial species (Anopheles gambiae sp.) were identified and the parasitological indices were calculated. All species of the malarial parasites coexisted, Plasmodium falciparum being the most prominent. In 1968, the Mission of Eradication of Malaria was created. Between 1977 and 1983, anti-vectorial control (indoor spraying, larvicides) resulted in a decrease of mortality rate. The interruption of the antivectorial control activities was responsible for the 1985/86 epidemic and the restoration of the levels of endemicity.     

Do promises matter? An exploration of the role of promises in psychological contract breach.

Promises are positioned centrally in the study of psychological contract breach and are argued to distinguish psychological contracts from related constructs, such as employee expectations. However, because the effects of promises and delivered inducements are confounded in most research, the role of promises in perceptions of, and reactions to, breach remains unclear. If promises are not an important determinant of employee perceptions, emotions, and behavioral intentions, this would suggest that the psychological contract breach construct might lack utility. To assess the unique role of promises, the authors manipulated promises and delivered inducements separately in hypothetical scenarios in Studies 1 (558 undergraduates) and 2 (441 employees), and they measured them separately (longitudinally) in Study 3 (383 employees). The authors’ results indicate that breach perceptions do not represent a discrepancy between what employees believe they were promised and were given. In fact, breach perceptions can exist in the absence of promises. Further, promises play a negligible role in predicting feelings of violation and behavioral intentions. Contrary to the extant literature, the authors’ findings suggest that promises may matter little; employees are concerned primarily with what the organization delivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)