The automaticity of emotion recognition.

Evolutionary accounts of emotion typically assume that humans evolved to quickly and efficiently recognize emotion expressions because these expressions convey fitness-enhancing messages. The present research tested this assumption in 2 studies. Specifically, the authors examined (a) how quickly perceivers could recognize expressions of anger, contempt, disgust, embarrassment, fear, happiness, pride, sadness, shame, and surprise; (b) whether accuracy is improved when perceivers deliberate about each expression's meaning (vs. respond as quickly as possible); and (c) whether accurate recognition can occur under cognitive load. Across both studies, perceivers quickly and efficiently (i.e., under cognitive load) recognized most emotion expressions, including the self-conscious emotions of pride, embarrassment, and shame. Deliberation improved accuracy in some cases, but these improvements were relatively small. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for the cognitive processes underlying emotion recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The unbearable agony of being: interpreting tormented states of mind in the psychoanalysis of sexually traumatized patients

This article focuses on the clinical importance of the disturbing transference-countertransference matrix in the psychoanalysis of patients whose ego development was decisively influenced by early, traumatic sexual abuse. Dissociative defensive operations and "automatic" identifications are emphasized in accounting for the sadomasochistic and other characteristic features of the "traumatic" transference-countertransference ambiance. Two clinical vignettes depict the analyst's need to take his or her own disturbing experience as an object of analytic examination, while illustrating how "here-and-now" transference cues are used to interpret the patient's efforts to cope with overwhelming, traumatized states of mind.     

The automaticity of interpreting Automaticity.

Comments on J. A. Bargh and T. L. Chartrand's (see record 1999-05760-002) treatise on the pervasiveness of automaticity and its relation to self-regulation. While agreeing with Bargh and Chartrand that people do seem to evidence an automaticity of sorts in many behaviors, the present authors disagree with Bargh and Chartrand's interpretation of that automaticity as an empiricist "mechanism." Bargh and Chartrand failed to note that other interpretations are possible for automaticity. Other interpretations of automaticity, founded on philosophical traditions other than empiricism, do exist, and they lead to radically different conclusions. The present authors look at several of the competing interpretations of automaticity, including rationalist and ontological hermeneutics. The conclusions that scientists reach about data are driven as much by the philosophies they implicitly affirm as the data themselves. Before a particular interpretation of automaticity is adopted, psychologists ought to be aware of the different theoretical possibilities that exist and inform such a concept, as well as the conclusions and implications they suggest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic assumptions of automaticity.

Comments on J. A. Bargh and T. L. Chartrand's (see record 1999-05760-002) treatise on the pervasiveness of automaticity and its relation to self-regulation. Although Bargh and Chartrand pointed to the philosophy underlying current psychological theories about human activity, according to the present author they confused many important philosophical issues in presenting their argument. A specific point of contention is Bargh and Chartrand's misinterpretation of humanistic psychology as proposing a "causal self" as a mediator between the environment and one's responses to it. Such stimulus–organism–response formulations propose that aspects of the organism such as intention or will are shaped by and caused from without or from within by environmental or biological determinants. Thus, humanists cannot be endorsing a mediational model of activity. This misunderstanding by Bargh and Chartrand is important because such a misunderstanding of the debate between humanists and behaviorists allowed Bargh and Chartrand to erroneously subsume the humanists under the conceptual umbrella of mediational behaviorism. According to the present author, Bargh and Chartrand offered a narrow, and in some cases inaccurate, picture of the theoretical underpinnings of automaticity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous versus directed recognition: The relativity of automaticity.

Examined the contrast between spontaneous and directed recognition by using the flanker paradigm. It was reasoned that spontaneous recognition of a flanking word would be reflected by the influence that word had on recognition of a target word. In a first experiment, when attention was divided at test, recognition decisions were made more rapidly when flanker and target words were congruent, rather than incongruent, with regard to the response they dictated. In later experiments, the authors attempted to specify factors that influence spontaneous recognition of a flanking word and examined the effects of number of prior presentations and physical similarity between study and test. To anticipate, the nature of the results leads to questioning whether recognition is ever truly spontaneous. The findings are discussed in relation to the relativity of automaticity (O. Neumann, 1984). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modularity in musical processing: The automaticity of harmonic priming.

Three experiments investigated the modularity of harmonic expectations that are based on cultural schemata despite the availability of more predictive veridical information. Participants were presented with prime–target chord pairs and made an intonation judgment about each target. Schematic expectation was manipulated by the combination of prime and target, with some transitions being schematically more probable than others. Veridical information in the form of prime–target previews, local transition probabilities, or valid versus invalid previews was also provided. Processing was facilitated when a schematically probable target chord followed the prime. Furthermore, this effect was independent of all manipulations of veridical expectation. A solution to L. B. Meyer's (1967b) query "On Rehearing Music" is suggested, in which schematic knowledge contributes to harmonic expectation in a modular manner regardless of whether any veridical knowledge exists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The downside of being talented.

Comments on D. Lubinski and C. P. Benbow's (see record 2000-13324-013) discussion of individual differences and optimal development of exceptional talent, and E. Winner's (see record 2000-13324-015) discussion of giftedness. The articles, which have direct implications for the development of talent in children and adults, left J. A. Plucker and J. J. Levy with one serious concern: Practitioners could easily infer that being talented is an overwhelmingly positive experience with little downside. Research suggests otherwise. Plucker and Levy strongly advocate for improvements in the way psychologists and educators develop talent or--more generally--build on individuals' strengths, but any serious discussion of talent development should address strategies that help to mediate the negative consequences of excellence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis of memory-based theories of automaticity.

Memory-based theories of automaticity predict that performance in a memory search task which is automatic will not require a representation of the memory set in working memory. The information contained in working memory was manipulated by inserting an interference task between the presentation of a memory set and a probe stimulus in a memory search task. The interference task prevented rehearsal, necessitating the retrieval of the memory set from long-term memory in variably mapped (VM) conditions. Performance in consistently mapped (CM) conditions provided strong support for memory-based theories of automaticity. With CM practice, both the effects of memory load and the effect of the interference task were eliminated. Furthermore, there was a temporal coupling in the reduction of these two effects with consistent practice. Monte Carlo simulations of memory-based automaticity predict such a temporal coupling. Automaticity is viewed as a continuum reflecting the relative contribution of the direct memory access of past solutions from long-term memory on performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory-based automaticity in the discrimination of visual numerosity.

In the development of memory-based models of automaticity, it is crucial to specify the nature of the memory representation. Seven experiments with 94 students use a counting task to determine whether a feature (i.e., identity, color, or orientation) is explicitly represented in memory. It is assumed that the degree of transfer to a pattern differing on one feature is determined by that feature's importance in supporting skilled performance. Exp 1 determined the practice necessary to obtain automaticity. In Exps 2a, 3a, and 4a, which investigated the nature of the representation after extended practice, changing neither the identity nor color of elements had strong effects on transfer, but changing pattern orientation did impair memory retrieval, thus suggesting that for the counting task, pattern orientation is more important than element identity or color. Exps 2b, 3b, and 4b replicated these results after limited practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention, automaticity, and developmental dyscalculia.

People suffering from developmental dyscalculia (DD) show an abnormal pattern of the size congruity effect. They do not display a facilitation component in a numerical Stroop task. In this task, participants are presented with 2 digits that differ both in physical size and numerical value, and they have to compare the digits while ignoring one of the dimensions. The present study examined performance of those with DD and control participants in the numerical Stroop task under cognitive load. The no-load condition replicated previous findings (i.e., lack of facilitation in the physical task for the DD group). Load had opposite effects on interference and facilitation. Load eliminated facilitation and increased interference in the control group. Load increased interference only in the physical task in the DD group. The opposite effect of load on facilitation and interference suggests that these components are related to different cognitive mechanisms. The fact that load produced a DD-like pattern in the control group could suggest that individuals with DD suffer from difficulty in recruiting attention in addition to the deficits in numerical processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention in the acquisition and expression of automaticity.

The instance theory of automaticity claims that people learn what they attend to and express what they learned in transfer if they attend to the same things in the same was. These hypotheses were tested in 8 category search experiments in which target position was cued by color (red or green). The main question was whether target color would be encoded in training and retrieved in transfer. After training, recognition memory for target color was above chance, which suggests that color was encoded. However, category search performance was not affected by changing target color unless color was reported explicitly during training and transfer, which suggests that color was not always retrieved. The results are consistent with the instance theory. The distinction between encoding and retrieval is important in understanding the acquisition and expression of automaticity. Automatic performance emphasized speed and so may not be sensitive to things that are retrieved slowly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cell polarity. The importance of being polar

Cell polarization is often accompanied by cytoskeletal rearrangements. Two signalling proteins, a GTPase and a kinase, are required for both actin and microtubule rearrangements. Are these two systems coupled?     

The automatic component of habit in health behavior: Habit as cue-contingent automaticity.

Objective: Habit might be usefully characterized as a form of automaticity that involves the association of a cue and a response. Three studies examined habitual automaticity in regard to different aspects of the cue-response relationship characteristic of unhealthy and healthy habits. Design, Main Outcome Measures, and Results: In each study, habitual automaticity was assessed by the Self-Report Habit Index (SRHI). In Study 1 SRHI scores correlated with attentional bias to smoking cues in a Stroop task. Study 2 examined the ability of a habit cue to elicit an unwanted habit response. In a prospective field study, habitual automaticity in relation to smoking when drinking alcohol in a licensed public house (pub) predicted the likelihood of cigarette-related action slips 2 months later after smoking in pubs had become illegal. In Study 3 experimental group participants formed an implementation intention to floss in response to a specified situational cue. Habitual automaticity of dental flossing was rapidly enhanced compared to controls. Conclusion: The studies provided three different demonstrations of the importance of cues in the automatic operation of habits. Habitual automaticity assessed by the SRHI captured aspects of a habit that go beyond mere frequency or consistency of the behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theories of automaticity and the power law of practice.

In a recent reanalysis of numerosity judgment data from T. J. Palmeri (see record 1997-03378-004), T. C. Rickard (see record 1999-00904-017) found that mean response times did not decrease as a pure power law of practice and standard deviations systematically increased and then decreased with practice in some conditions. Rickard argued that these results were consistent with the component power laws (CMPL) theory of strategy shifting (Rickard, 1997), but were inconsistent with instance theory (G. D. Logan, 1988) and the exemplar-based random walk (EBRW) model (R. M. Nosofsky & Palmeri, 1997). In this article, the author demonstrates how a slightly more complex power function fitted the numerosity data nearly as well as the CMPL function, and how race models, such as instance theory and the EBRW, can predict deviations from a pure power law of practice and can predict nonmonotonic changes in standard deviations with practice. Potential limitations of CMPL are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relational being.

Reviews the book, Relational being: Beyond self and community by Kenneth J. Gergen (see record 2009-10534-000). In this book, Gergen develops and elaborates a theoretical framework for shifting the unit of analysis in psychology and other social sciences away from the individual toward relationships. The core arguments of the book revolve around claims that individuals (“bounded entities”) are social constructs that should be understood not as natural and self-evident phenomena but rather as emergent from relationships. By corollary, many of the properties traditionally associated with individuals (e.g., thoughts, feelings, beliefs) are argued to be better understood as relational accomplishments; that is, as arising from the larger context of the social fabric from which individuals are seen to be emergent. Significantly, Gergen also asserts that traditional individualist assumptions have negative impacts on our social world. He focuses on a number of specific domains to illustrate how a relational approach would lead to a more constructive, harmonious, and better existence. I found much value in the practical aspects of Gergen’s exposition of relational being, while feeling uncomfortable with the epistemological and ontological foundations provided in the book. The root of this ambiguity seems to lie in Gergen’s own contradictory stance, which oscillates between offering a relational approach as “just another perspective” (i.e., no more or less true than any other) and implying the moral and epistemic superiority of relational over individualist approaches. Although the former position seems to me sensible and appropriate, the latter (which dominates in the book) constitutes an unnecessary universalism that seems to run counter to the pluralistic spirit that is evident in parts of the book. Gergen’s own words, Let us replace the Hobbesian dystopia of 'all against all,' with a vision of 'all with all' (p. 403) for me sums up both the strengths and weaknesses of the book—the insights offered by the application of a relational perspective to specific practical contexts are a truly valuable contribution; but suggesting that this perspective is a panacea and needs to replace all individualistic accounts is counterproductive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inevitability and automaticity: A response to Fisk.

Responds to the comments of A. D. Fisk (see record 1986-16289-001) on the present authors' (see record 1985-27168-001) work on automatic processing of fundamental information. The present authors use the term automaticity as a process by which some attributes of an attended to stimulus are encoded into memory. It is suggested that Fisk's view of automaticity is derived from the study of automatic search mechanisms, particularly as they slowly develop in multiple frame visual search tasks; therefore, several methodological problems that Fisk addresses do not fit the concerns of the present authors or are irrelevant to them. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Restructuring versus automaticity: Alternative accounts of skill acquisition.

Disagrees with the view of W. Schneider and R. M. Shiffrin (see PA, Vol 58:305; see also Shiffrin and Schneider, PA, Vol 57:4785) that improvement in performance is due to the development of automatic (capacity-free) processes. The present author notes that Schneider and Shiffrin's evidence was confounded by a category difference between memory-ensemble and distractor-set characters and argues that attempts by Shiffrin and Schneider to resolve the confounding failed. An alternative explanation of their results is presented in terms of the restructuring of task components. Other evidence regarding capacity-free processing is reviewed, and the implications of the critique for limited-capacity models of attention are discussed. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategies and automaticity: II. Dynamic aspects of strategy adjustment.

Examined the temporal dynamics of strategic adjustment of response criteria by comparing performance in blocked conditions, in which all stimulus-response mappings were either consistent (CM) or varied (VM), to performance in mixed conditions, in which CM and VM items were presented in the same block of trials. The degree of flexibility that Ss exhibit in deploying differential response strategies was examined. Surprisingly, Ss were unable to use a variety of informative pre-cues to rapidly shift between response strategies associated with automatic (CM) and nonautomatic (VM) processing. However, an analysis of sequential dependencies indicated that repetition of stimuli from the same class (CM vs VM) gradually led to shifts in response strategies. These results are interpreted within the framework of an extension of M. Treisman and T. C. Williams's (see record 1984-08523-001) 2-stage criteria adjustment model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and the development of automaticity in visual search.

The rate of short-term memory search has previously been reported to be slower for older individuals than for college-age Ss (F. I. Craik, 1977). Current research has suggested that after extensive practice with the same population of stimuli, performance in memory-search and visual-search tasks can become "automatic," or independent of memory load. The present experiment examined age differences in the development of automatic processing in a hybrid memory-search/visual-search paradigm; 8 young (18–25 yrs old) and 8 older (61–74 yrs old) Ss participated. Although older Ss demonstrated a significantly slower rate of search, the 2 age groups shifted toward automatic processing, over practice, at equivalent rates. The slower rate of search thus represents an age-related increase in the time required to compare the memory-set items against those in a visual array, rather than a change in the mode of processing available. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A dual-task investigation of automaticity in visual word processing.

An analysis of activation models of visual word processing suggests that frequency-sensitive forms of lexical processing should proceed normally while unattended. This hypothesis was tested by having participants perform a speeded pitch discrimination task followed by lexical decisions or word naming. As the stimulus onset asynchrony between the tasks was reduced, lexical-decision and naming latencies increased dramatically. Word-frequency effects were additive with the increase, indicating that frequency-sensitive processing was subject to postponement while attention was devoted to the other task. Either (a) the same neural hardware shares responsibility for lexical processing and central stages of choice reaction time (RT) task processing and cannot perform both computations simultaneously, or (b) lexical processing is blocked in order to optimize performance on the pitch discrimination task. Either way, word processing is not as automatic as activation models suggest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)