Context-processing deficits in schizophrenia: Converging evidence from three theoretically motivated cognitive tasks.

To test the hypothesis that the ability to actively represent and maintain context information is a central function of working memory and that a disturbance in this function contributes to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, the authors modified 3 tasks—the AX version of the Continuous Performance Test Stroop, and a lexical disambiguation task—and administered them to patients with schizophrenia as well as to depressed and healthy controls. The results suggest an accentuation of deficits in patients with schizophrenia in context-sensitive conditions and cross-task correlations of performance in these conditions. However, the results do not definitively eliminate the possibility of a generalized deficit. The significance of these findings is discussed with regard to the specificity of deficits in schizophrenia and the hypothesis concerning the neural and cognitive mechanisms that underlie these deficits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Salience and the cognitive mediation of attribution.

Conducted 2 studies of the impact of salience and informational factors on attribution and memory, with a total of 191 undergraduates and graduate students. In Exp I, manipulations of the amount of thought Ss gave to their attributions and of a delay before responding to attribution questions did not diminish the effect of salience on attribution; in fact, the delay increased the effect. In Exp II, recall of the stimulus material was shown to be influenced by salience and by covariation information (consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency) and to be related to attributions. These findings and theory and data from the literature on comprehension and representation of linguistic material in memory are used to argue that salience is not simply a process by which people make attributions without giving much thought to them. Instead, salience effects reflect the close relationships among the processes of comprehension, remembering, and attribution, and the fact that attributional processing can take place at the time of the encoding and storage of information, as well as at the time of its retrieval from memory. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Converging evidence for automatic perceptual processing in visual search.

Two experiments with 16 university students examined visual search performance both by itself and in conjunction with concurrent, nonvisual activity to assess the involvement of attention in the array size effect. Short-term retention was the concurrent activity in Exp I, and changing stimulus-response mapping during search was the activity in Exp II. In both experiments reaction time increased with array size (4, 8, or 12 letters) and concurrent activity, but their effects were additive. Results are interpreted as confirming predictions derived from unlimited-capacity theories of visual search and are related to findings with similar procedures in the memory search paradigm. (French summary) (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Converging evidence for phonological and surface subtypes of reading disability.

Using regression-based procedures introduced by A. Castles and M. Coltheart (1993), the authors identified 17 phonological and 15 surface dyslexics from a sample of 68 reading-disabled 3rd-grade children by comparing them to chronological-age (CA) controls on exception word and pseudoword reading. However, when the dyslexic subtypes were defined by reference to reading-level (RL) controls, 17 phonological dyslexics were defined but only 1 surface dyslexic. When the CA-defined subtypes were compared to RL controls, the phonological dyslexics displayed superior exception word reading but displayed deficits in pseudoword naming, phonological sensitivity, working memory, and syntactic processing. The surface dyslexics, in contrast, displayed a cognitive profile remarkably similar to that of the RL controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A taxometric study of the latent structure of disgust sensitivity: Converging evidence for dimensionality.

Disgust sensitivity has recently been implicated as a specific vulnerability factor for several anxiety-related disorders. However, it is not clear whether disgust sensitivity is a dimensional or categorical phenomenon. The present study examined the latent structure of disgust by applying three taxometric procedures (maximum eigenvalue, mean above minus below a cut, and latent-mode factor analysis) to data collected from 2 large nonclinical samples on 2 different measures of disgust sensitivity. Disgust sensitivity in the first sample (n=1,153) was operationalized by disgust reactions to food, animals, body products, sex, body envelope violations, death, hygiene, and sympathetic magic, as assessed by the Disgust Sensitivity Scale (J. Haidt, C. McCauley, & P. Rozin, 1994). Disgust Sensitivity Scale indicators of core, animal reminder, and contamination disgust were also examined in the 1st sample. Disgust sensitivity in the 2nd independent sample (n=1,318) was operationalized by disgust reactions to animals, injections and blood draws, mutilation and death, rotting foods, and odors, as assessed by the Disgust Emotion Scale (R. A. Kleinknecht, E. E. Kleinknecht, & R. M. Thorndike, 1997). Results across both samples provide converging evidence that disgust sensitivity is best conceptualized as a dimensional construct, present to a greater or lesser extent in all individuals. These findings are discussed in relation to the conceptualization and assessment of disgust sensitivity as a specific dimensional vulnerability for certain anxiety and related disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive reappraisal of negative affect: Converging evidence from EMG and self-report.

Prior psychophysiological studies of cognitive reappraisal have generally focused on the down-regulation of negative affect, and have demonstrated either changes in self-reports of affective experience, or changes in facial electromyography, but not both. Unfortunately, when taken separately, these measures are vulnerable to different sources of bias, and alternative explanations might account for changes in these indicators of negative affect. What is needed is a study that (a) obtains measures of self-reported affect together with facial electromyography, and (b) examines the use of reappraisal to regulate externally and internally generated affective responses. In the present study, participants up- or down-regulated negative affect in the context of both negative and neutral pictures. Up-regulation led to greater self reports of negative affect, as well as greater corrugator and startle responses to both negative and neutral stimuli. Down-regulation led to lesser reports of negative affect, and lesser corrugator responses to negative and neutral stimuli. These results extend prior research by (a) showing simultaneous effects on multiple measures of affect, and (b) demonstrating that cognitive reappraisal may be used both to regulate responses to negative stimuli and to manufacture a negative response to neutral stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of bases for trait attribution: Children's understanding of traits as causal mechanisms based on desire.

Two studies investigated 4- to 7-year-old children's understanding that traits can be causal mechanisms based on desires, as well as mere summaries of behavioral regularities. In Experiment 1, children made predictions given trait information. Children from 5 years made different emotion predictions about the same situation for actors with different traits, thus appreciating traits as psychological causes. For behavior prediction, children over age 4 generalized across situations. In Experiment 2, accurate emotion prediction by 3- to 7-year-olds was linked to understanding desire as a subjective mental property. The results suggest that children change from viewing traits as behavioral regularities to understanding them as internal mediators, and that advances in understanding desire underlie this change. These changes in understanding traits extend research on theory of mind beyond the basic concepts of desire and belief. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reasons and other causes: Their role in attribution processes.

The philosophical distinction between reasons and causes has recently been invoked in psychological discussions of attributional processes. The present authors discuss this philosophical distinction and consider its application to these processes. Reasons are considered to be a form of internal cause. This distinction between reasons and other causes is used to clarify 3 major claims in current attributional research: (a) the actor/observer difference, (b) the fundamental attribution error, and (c) the claim that people are largely unaware of the cognitive processes that influence and explain their behavior. The distinction between reasons and causes is used to interpret some, but not all, of the findings in these areas. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal attribution, cognitive interference, and the generalization of learned helplessness.

We assessed the role of off-task cognitions in mediating the performance effects of global and specific attributions for failure. In Experiment 1, subjects were divided into global and specific attributors and were exposed to either no feedback or failure feedback. In Experiment 2, subjects were exposed to no feedback or to unsolvable problems wherein they received attribution for failure to specific or global causes. Experiment 3 added a condition in which subjects were restrained from engaging in off-task cognitions. Results showed that exposure to unsolvable problems deteriorated performance and increased off-task cognitions mainly among subjects who attributed failure to global causes. In addition, the enhancement of off-task cognitions interfered with performance following unsolvable problems. The introduction of instructions that discouraged subjects from engaging in off-task cognitions eliminated the detrimental effects of global attribution. Results are discussed in terms of test anxiety and excuse-making conceptualizations of learned helplessness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Converging evidence for one-trial context fear conditioning with an immediate shock: Importance of shock potency.

In a sample of 208 Holtzman-descended albino rats, we found evidence with 4 measures of conditioning (freezing, defecation, side crossing, and nose crossing) that a single 2-s, 1.0-mA immediate shock could condition fear to a context (Experiments 1, 2, and 4). When we reduced the shock intensity to 0.5 mA, we obtained a complete immediate-shock conditioning deficit according to all measures in Experiment 3 and to all but the defecation measure in Experiment 4. Results suggest two conclusions: (a) Differences in shock potency between laboratories may help explain discrepant findings about whether immediate shock supports contextual conditioning; (b) theories of contextual conditioning need a mechanism that permits that conditioning to result from immediate shock. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Converging levels of analysis in the cognitive neuroscience of visual attention

Experiments using behavioural, lesion, functional imaging and single neuron methods are considered in the context of a neuropsychological model of visual attention. According to this model, inputs compete for representation in multiple visually responsive brain systems, sensory and motor, cortical and subcortical. Competition is biased by advance priming of neurons responsive to current behavioural targets. Across systems competition is integrated such that the same, selected object tends to become dominant throughout. The behavioural studies reviewed concern divided attention within and between modalities. They implicate within-modality competition as one main restriction on concurrent stimulus identification. In contrast to the conventional association of lateral attentional focus with parietal lobe function, the lesion studies show attentional bias to be a widespread consequence of unilateral cortical damage. Although the clinical syndrome of unilateral neglect may indeed be associated with parietal lesions, this probably reflects an assortment of further deficits accompanying a simple attentional imbalance. The functional imaging studies show joint involvement of lateral prefrontal and occipital cortex in lateral attentional focus and competition. The single unit studies suggest how competition in several regions of extrastriate cortex is biased by advance priming of neurons responsive to current behavioural targets. Together, the concepts of competition, priming and integration allow a unified theoretical approach to findings from behavioural to single neuron levels.     

Contingent attentional capture by top-down control settings: Converging evidence from event-related potentials.

Theories of attentional control are divided over whether the capture of spatial attention depends primarily on stimulus salience or is contingent on attentional control settings induced by task demands. The authors addressed this issue using the N2-posterior- contralateral (N2pc) effect, a component of the event-related brain potential thought to reflect attentional allocation. They presented a cue display followed by a target display of 4 letters. Each display contained a green item and a red item. Some participants responded to the red letter and others to the green letter. Converging lines of evidence indicated that attention was captured by the cues with the same color as the target. First, these target-color cues produced a cuing validity effect on behavioral measures. Second, distractors appearing in the cued location produced larger compatibility effects. Third, the target-color cue produced a robust N2pc effect, similar in magnitude to the N2pc effect to the target itself. Furthermore, the target-color cue elicited a similar N2pc effect regardless of whether it competed with a simultaneous abrupt onset. The findings provide converging evidence for attentional capture contingent on top-down control settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Not for attribution: Reply to Bonta.

Addresses issues raised by J. Bonta (see record 1986-20536-001) in response to the discussion by the present authors (see record 1985-28931-001) of prison crowding research. Comments are offered in reply to Bonta's concern about coping strategies, variables other than density, misconduct and violence, individual differences and moderator variables, and conditions associated with density. It is suggested that a longitudinal study of inmates and moderator variables may be fruitful in answering the questions remaining in the area of prison crowding. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The moderating effect of self-esteem in reaction to voice: Converging evidence from five studies.

It has been posited that high self-esteem persons (high SEs) are more confident than low self-esteem persons (low SEs) of their capability to provide meaningful input in a decision process. If this is so, then high SEs should be more influenced by their perceived level of voice, relative to low SEs. Survey data from 4 field studies showed that voice was more positively related to various dependent variables among high SEs than low SEs. In Study 5, the authors experimentally manipulated voice as well as participants' beliefs about their capability to provide meaningful input. As expected, voice had a greater impact on the reactions of participants who were led to believe that they were more capable of providing meaningful input. Theoretical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Roles of attribution, affect, and cognitive interference in test anxiety.

Examined the impact of performance outcome, task difficulty, and level of test anxiety on attributional accounts for performance and achievement-related affect. 83 undergraduates who had scored high or low on the Test Anxiety Scale worked on tasks of varying difficulty, evaluated their own performance, and then responded to 2 types of attribution items: the brief version of the Differential Emotions Scale and the Cognitive Interference Questionnaire. Meaningful attributional accounts were uncovered; in particular, performance outcome and task difficulty had independent effects on Ss' attributional judgments. Cognitive interference was implicated as a factor contributing to the attributional predispositions of Ss differing in test anxiety, and it was a major determinant of affective reactions. In addition, Ss' affective responses were predictably associated with their perceived performance outcome, level of test anxiety, difficulty of the task, and attributional accounts of the factors influencing their performance. Results are discussed in terms of the cognitive components and phenomenological experience of test anxiety and the consequent impact anxiety may have on achievement-related behavior. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new role for the cerebellum in cognitive operations.

Over the last 2 centuries, the predominant view of the cerebellum has been that it is part of a motor control system. Evidence is now presented that the neocerebellum, the evolutionarily newest region of the cerebellum, may also be involved in a key mental operation: the voluntary shift of selective attention between sensory modalities. It is theorized that this newly recognized function may operate via previously described sensory modulation properties of the cerebellum and its many connections with areas known to be important for selective attention, such as the pulvinar, the superior colliculus, and the parietal and frontal cortices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of attribution of motivation in producing postsuppressional rebound.

Three studies demonstrated that postsuppressional rebound (PSR) may be both reduced and enhanced by manipulating people's attributions about why they experience difficulty during suppression. Telling participants that suppression failures indicate a high motivation to use the suppressed construct produced more PSR than telling them that suppression failures indicate a low motivation to use the construct (Study 1). Telling participants that an external stimulus would make suppression easy produced more PSR than telling them that it would make suppression difficult (Study 2). Telling participants that suppressing a stereotype is difficult and unindicative of prejudice eliminated PSR (Study 3). These results support the notion that PSR occurs because people infer from the difficulty experienced during suppression and from suppression failures that they are motivated to use the suppressed construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)