Trait impulsivity influences behavioural and physiological responses to threat in a virtual environment

Trait impulsivity represents a tendency to take action without forethought or consideration of consequences. This trait is multifaceted and can be decomposed into attentional, motor and non-planning subtypes of impulsivity. The purpose of the current study was to investigate how subtypes of trait impulsivity responded to different degrees of threat within room-scale virtual reality (VR) with respect to behaviour and level of physiological activation. Thirty-four participants were required to negotiate a virtual environment (VE) where they walked at height with the continuous threat of a virtual 'fall.' Behavioural measures related to the speed of movement, interaction frequency and risk were collected. Participants also wore ambulatory sensors to collect data from electrocardiogram (ECG) and electrodermal activity (EDA). Our results indicated that participants who scored highly on non-planning impulsivity exhibited riskier behaviour and higher skin conductance level (SCL). Participants with higher motor impulsivity interacted with more objects in the VE when threat was high, they also exhibited contradictory indicators of physiological activation. Attentional impulsivity was associated with a greater number of falls across the VE. The results demonstrate that subtypes of trait impulsivity respond to threats via different patterns of behaviour and levels of physiological activation, reinforcing the multifaceted nature of the trait.

Disclosing an autism diagnosis improves ratings of candidate performance in employment interviews

LAY ABSTRACT

Employment interviews are challenging for many autistic people, for example, due to difficulties with interpreting questions. Autistic people also have differences in non-verbal communication, such as emotional expression, eye-contact, and gestures, with research showing that these factors negatively affect first impressions. Some studies have shown that perceptions of autistic people are more positive when the person observing them, such as an interviewer, is already aware of their diagnosis. However, previous research has not studied how disclosing one's autism diagnosis affects perceptions of a candidate undergoing a full employment interview. Participants in this study acted as raters, who watched a video of an autistic person undergoing a mock employment interview with a researcher, and then rated their overall impressions of them on factors important to real-world hiring decisions, such as confidence, motivation, and knowledgeability. Prior to watching the interview, raters were either (1) not aware of the interviewee's diagnosis, (2) made aware of their diagnosis, or (3) made aware of their diagnosis and provided with additional information about autism, such as differences in behaviours and communication. The results show that disclosing an autism diagnosis improved ratings compared to not disclosing the diagnosis. Providing additional information about autism alongside the diagnostic label did not improve ratings further. The findings are important for employers and autistic people; employers should consider improving procedures by which autistic people can disclose their diagnosis prior to interview should they wish, and autistic people may wish to consider the potential benefits of disclosing their diagnosis.

The role of language in mental health during the transition from primary to secondary education

We report a preregistered analysis to test whether children meeting diagnostic criteria for language disorder (LD) have higher self-reported and/or parent-reported mental health symptoms during the transition from primary to secondary education. Data are from a UK-based longitudinal cohort study, The Surrey Communication and Language in Education Study (SCALES). SCALES oversampled children at risk of LD at school entry. Language was measured using a battery of standardised assessments in Year 1 (age 5-6 years, n = 529), and mental health symptoms were measured using self and parent report in Year 6 (age 10-11 years, n = 384) and Year 8 (age 12-13 years, n = 246). Social experiences were also measured using self-report measures in Year 6. Mental health symptoms were stable during the transition from primary to secondary school. Symptom rates did not differ between children with and without LD based on self-report, but children with LD had higher parent-reported mental health symptoms than their peers with typical language. Similarly, early language was negatively associated with parent-reported but not self-reported mental health symptoms. Early language was associated with fewer child-reported positive social experiences in Year 6, but social experiences did not mediate the association between language and mental health. We found poor agreement between parent and self-reported child mental health symptoms across language groups. Future studies should aim to determine sources of disagreement between parent and child report, particularly for children with communication difficulties who may struggle to accurately self-report mental health symptoms.

Switching from sucrose to saccharin: Extended successive negative contrast is not maintained by hedonic changes

Previous experiments found that acceptance of saccharin by rats was reduced if they had prior experience of sucrose or some other highly palatable solution. This reduction in saccharin consumption was particularly extended after a switch from sucrose. On the surface, this seems to correspond to a successive negative contrast (SNC) effect. This term was coined by C. F. Flaherty to describe the situation where consumption of a target solution is reduced by prior experience of a more valuable solution, typically a more concentrated version of the target solution. However, SNC effects are normally transient and assessed relative to a nonshifted control. Here, we confirm that the reduction in consumption seen when shifting from sucrose to saccharin is persistent and is seen relative to the traditional unshifted control. In addition, an analysis of licking microstructure showed that the shift from sucrose to saccharin suppressed the hedonic value of saccharin relative to controls, but this effect was less persistent than consumption suppression. Interestingly, a similar dissociation is observed in extinction of conditioned taste aversion (CTA): suppression of consumption produced by CTA is far more persistent than suppression of hedonic value. The comparison of results across procedures suggests that persistent SNC produced by a qualitative downshift from sucrose to saccharin appears different from quantitative downshifts in the concentration of a single solution, and qualitative downshift effects may involve CTA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Building Numeracy Skills: Associations between DUPLO® Block Construction and Numeracy in Early Childhood

Research shows that children's block construction skills are positively associated with their concurrent and later mathematics performance. Furthermore, there is evidence that block construction training is particularly beneficial for improving early mathematics skills in children from low-Socio Economic Status (SES) groups who are known to have lower maths performance than their peers. The current study investigates (a) the association between block construction and mathematics in children just before the start of formal schooling (4 years-of-age in the UK) and (b) whether the association between block construction and mathematics differs between children from more compared to less affluent families. Participants in this study included 116 children (M = 3 years 11 months, SD = 3 months) who all completed numeracy, block construction, and receptive vocabulary tasks. Socio-economic status and demographic information (child age, gender, ethnicity) were also obtained from parents. Findings show a strong positive association between block construction and early numeracy skills. Block construction skills explained approximately 5% of the variation in numeracy, even after controlling for age in months, household income, and child receptive vocabulary. When separated by SES group, for children from less affluent families, block construction explained a significant amount of variability (14.5%) in numeracy performance after covariates. For children from more affluent families, block construction did not explain a significant amount of variation in numeracy. These findings suggest that, interventions involving block construction skills may help to reduce SES-based attainment gaps in UK children's mathematics achievement.

Contrasting one's share of the shared life space: Comparing the roles of metacognition and inhibitory control in the development of theory of mind among Scottish and Japanese children

Cultural comparisons suggest that an understanding of other minds may develop sooner in independent versus interdependent settings, and vice versa for inhibitory control. From a western lens, this pattern might be considered paradoxical, since there is a robust positive relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and inhibitory control in western samples. In independent cultures, an emphasis on one's own mind offers a clear route to 'simulate' other minds, and inhibitory control may be required to set aside one's own perspective to represent the perspective of others. However, in interdependent cultures, social norms are considered the key catalyst for behaviour, and metacognitive reflection and/or suppression of one's own perspective may not be necessary. The cross-cultural generalizability of the western developmental route to ToM is therefore questionable. The current study used an age-matched cross-sectional sample to contrast 56 Japanese and 56 Scottish 3-6-year-old's metacognition, ToM and inhibitory control skills. We replicated the expected cultural patterns for ToM (Scotland > Japan) and inhibitory control (Japan > Scotland). Supporting western developmental enrichment theories, we find that inhibitory control and metacognition predict theory of mind competence in Scotland. However, these variables cannot be used to predict Japanese ToM. This confirms that individualistic mechanisms do not capture the developmental mechanism underlying ToM in Japan, highlighting a bias in our understanding of ToM development. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We replicate an independent cultural advantage for theory of mind (Scotland > Japan) and interdependent advantage for inhibitory control (Japan > Scotland). From a western lens, this pattern might be considered paradoxical, since there is a robust positive relationship between theory of mind and inhibitory control. Supporting western developmental enrichment theories, we find that the development of inhibitory control mediates the link between metacognition and theory of mind in Scotland. However, this model does not predict Japanese theory of mind, highlighting an individualistic bias in our mechanistic understanding of theory of mind development.

Segregation of Neural Circuits Involved in Social Gaze and Non-Social Arrow Cues: Evidence from an Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis

Orienting attention by social gaze cues shares some characteristics with orienting attention by non-social arrow cues, but it is unclear whether they rely on similar neural mechanisms. The present ALE-meta-analysis assessed the pattern of brain activation reported in 40 single experiments (18 with arrows, 22 with gaze), with a total number of 806 participants. Our findings show that the network for orienting attention by social gaze and by non-social arrow cues is in part functionally segregated. Orienting by both types of cues relies on the activity of brain regions involved in endogenous attention (the superior frontal gyrus). Importantly, only orienting by gaze cues was also associated with the activity of brain regions involved in exogenous attention (medial frontal gyrus), processing gaze, and mental state attribution (superior temporal sulcus, temporoparietal junction).

Changes in self-other boundaries modulate children's body image attitudes

One's own face is a key distinctive feature of our physical appearance, yet multisensory visuo-tactile stimulation can alter self-other boundaries, eliciting changes in adult's self-face representation and social cognition processes. This study tested whether changing self-face representation by altering self-other boundaries with the enfacement illusion modulates body image attitudes toward others in 6-11-year-old children (N = 51; 31 girls; predominantly White). Across all ages, congruent multisensory information led to stronger enfacement (η²_p = 0.06). Participants who experienced a stronger enfacement illusion showed preference for larger body size, suggesting increased positive body size attitudes. This effect was stronger in 6-7-year-olds compared to 8-9-year-olds. Thus, blurring self-other boundaries successfully modulates self-face representation and body image attitudes toward others in children. Our results suggest that increased self-resemblance through self-other blurring resulting from the enfacement illusion may reduce social comparisons between self and other and result in positive body size attitudes.

Irony as a Test of the Presupposition-Denial Account: An ERP Study

According to the Presupposition-Denial Account, complement set reference arises when focus is on the shortfall between the amount conveyed by a natural language quantifier and a larger, expected amount. Negative quantifiers imply a shortfall, through the denial of a presupposition, whereas positive quantifiers do not. An exception may be provided by irony. One function of irony is to highlight, through indirect negation, the shortfall between what is expected/desired, and what is observed. Thus, a positive quantifier used ironically should also lead to a shortfall and license complement set reference. Using ERPs, we examined whether reference to the complement set is more felicitous following a positive quantifier used ironically than one used non-ironically. ERPs during reading showed a smaller N400 for complement set reference following an ironic compared to a non-ironic context. The shortfall generated thorough irony is sufficient to allow focus on the complement set, supporting the Presupposition-Denial Account.

Verbal estimation of the magnitude of time, number, and length

Performance similarities on tasks requiring the processing of different domains of magnitude (e.g. time, numerosity, and length) have led to the suggestion that humans possess a common processing system for all domains of magnitude (Bueti and Walsh in Philos Trans R Soc B 364:1831-1840, 2009). In light of this, the current study examined whether Wearden's (Timing Time Percept 3:223-245, 2015) model of the verbal estimation of duration could be applied to verbal estimates of numerosity and length. Students (n = 23) verbally estimated the duration, number, or physical length of items presented in visual displays. Analysis of the mean verbal estimates indicated the data were typical of that found in other studies. Analysis of the frequency of individual verbal estimates produced suggested that the verbal responses were highly quantized for duration and length: that is, only a small number of estimates were used. Responses were also quantized for number but to a lesser degree. The data were modelled using Wearden's (2015) account of verbal estimation performance, which simulates quantization effects, and good fits could be obtained providing that stimulus durations were scaled as proportions (0.75, 1.06, and 0.92 for duration, number, and length, respectively) of their real magnitudes. The results suggest that despite previous reports of similarities in the processing of magnitude, there appear to be differences in the way in which the underlying representations of the magnitudes are scaled and then transformed into verbal outputs.

Child witness expressions of certainty are informative

Children are frequently witnesses of crime. In the witness literature and legal systems, children are often deemed to have unreliable memories. Yet, in the basic developmental literature, young children can monitor their memory. To address these contradictory conclusions, we reanalyzed the confidence-accuracy relationship in basic and applied research. Confidence provided considerable information about memory accuracy, from at least age 8, but possibly younger. We also conducted an experiment where children in young (4-6 years), middle (7-9 years), and late (10-17 years) childhood (N = 2,205) watched a person in a video and then identified that person from a police lineup. Children provided a confidence rating (an explicit judgment) and used an interactive lineup-in which the lineup faces can be rotated-and we analyzed children's viewing behavior (an implicit measure of metacognition). A strong confidence-accuracy relationship was observed from age 10 and an emerging relationship from age 7. A constant likelihood ratio signal-detection model can be used to understand these findings. Moreover, in all ages, interactive viewing behavior differed in children who made correct versus incorrect suspect identifications. Our research reconciles the apparent divide between applied and basic research findings and suggests that the fundamental architecture of metacognition that has previously been evidenced in basic list-learning paradigms also underlies performance on complex applied tasks. Contrary to what is believed by legal practitioners, but similar to what has been found in the basic literature, identifications made by children can be reliable when appropriate metacognitive measures are used to estimate accuracy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Unobtrusive tracking of interpersonal orienting and distance predicts the subjective quality of social interactions

Interpersonal coordination of behaviour is essential for smooth social interactions. Measures of interpersonal behaviour, however, often rely on subjective evaluations, invasive measurement techniques or gross measures of motion. Here, we constructed an unobtrusive motion tracking system that enables detailed analysis of behaviour at the individual and interpersonal levels, which we validated using wearable sensors. We evaluate dyadic measures of joint orienting and distancing, synchrony and gaze behaviours to summarize data collected during natural conversation and joint action tasks. Our results demonstrate that patterns of proxemic behaviours, rather than more widely used measures of interpersonal synchrony, best predicted the subjective quality of the interactions. Increased distance between participants predicted lower enjoyment, while increased joint orienting towards each other during cooperation correlated with increased effort reported by the participants. Importantly, the interpersonal distance was most informative of the quality of interaction when task demands and experimental control were minimal. These results suggest that interpersonal measures of behaviour gathered during minimally constrained social interactions are particularly sensitive for the subjective quality of social interactions and may be useful for interaction-based phenotyping for further studies.

The effect of performing versus preparing a task on the subsequent switch cost

Behaviour occurs not as isolated incidents, but within an ongoing sequence of events. The task-switching paradigm provides a useful way to investigate the impact of different events upon subsequent performance. An implication of two-stage task-switching models is that preparing a task without performing it might affect task readiness only to a limited extent. However, recent research has surprisingly shown larger switch costs following preparation (“cue-only” trials) than following performance (“completed” trials). We set out to conduct a rigorous comparison of the size of switch costs following cue-only versus completed trials. In Experiments 1 and 2, we controlled the timing between critical trial events. This had the effect of roughly equating, but not reversing, the relative size of switch costs. In Experiment 3, we restructured the paradigm to equate the predictability of cue and target events. Switch costs following cue-only trials were now smaller than those following completed trials. These studies confirm that task preparation alone is sufficient to drive subsequent switch costs. They also indicate that task performance might increase the size of these costs, consistent with two-stage task-switching models. Switch costs appear to be affected by both the timing and predictability of trial events.

Delay of reinforcement versus rate of reinforcement in Pavlovian conditioning

Conditioned stimulus (CS) duration is a determinant of conditioned responding, with increases in duration leading to reductions in response rates. The CS duration effect has been proposed to reflect sensitivity to the reinforcement rate across cumulative exposure to the CS, suggesting that the delay of reinforcement from the onset of the cue is not crucial. Here, we compared the effects of delay and rate of reinforcement on Pavlovian appetitive conditioning in mice. In Experiment 1, the influence of reinforcement delay on the timing of responding was removed by making the duration of cues variable across trials. Mice trained with variable duration cues were sensitive to differences in the rate of reinforcement to a similar extent as mice trained with fixed duration cues. Experiments 2 and 3 tested the independent effects of delay and reinforcement rate. In Experiment 2, food was presented at either the termination of the CS or during the CS. In Experiment 3, food occurred during the CS for all cues. The latter experiment demonstrated an effect of delay, but not reinforcement rate. Experiment 4 ruled out the possibility that the lack of effect of reinforcement rate in Experiment 3 was due to mice failing to learn about the nonreinforced CS exposure after the presentation of food within a trial. These results demonstrate that although the CS duration effect is not simply a consequence of timing of conditioned responses, it is dependent on the delay of reinforcement. The results provide a challenge to current associative and nonassociative, time-accumulation models of learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Implicit Mentalising during Level-1 Visual Perspective-Taking Indicated by Dissociation with Attention Orienting

Experiments demonstrating level-1 visual perspective-taking have been interpreted as providing important evidence for 'implicit mentalising'-the ability to track simple mental states in a fast and efficient manner. However, this interpretation has been contested by a rival 'submentalising' account that proposes that these experiments can be explained by the general purpose mechanisms responsible for attentional orienting. Here, we aim to discriminate between these competing accounts by examining whether a gaze aversion manipulation expected to enhance attention orienting would have similar effects on both perspective-taking and attention orienting tasks. Gaze aversion was operationalised by manipulating head position relative to torso of the avatar figures employed in two experiments (gaze-averted vs. gaze-maintained). Experiment 1 used a Posner cueing task to establish that gaze aversion enhanced attention orienting cued by these avatars. Using the avatar task, Experiment 2 revealed level-1 visual perspective-taking effects of equivalent magnitude for gaze-averted and gaze-maintained conditions. These results indicate that gaze aversion moderated attention orienting but not perspective-taking. This dissociation in performance favours implicit mentalising by casting doubt on the submentalising account. It further constrains theorising by implying that attention orienting is not integral to the system permitting the relatively automatic tracking of mental states.