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An attribution‐emotion‐action model was used to examine individuals' willingness to seek for another person's face in conflict situations. To induce interpersonal conflict and frustration, participants were engaged in the ultimatum bargaining game (UBG) where they received predetermined offers. A simple UBG consists of two players, a Proposer and a Responder, who must decide how to divide a resource. Our findings confirm our predictions in that during the interpersonal conflict (i.e., betraying the norm of equality in the UBG), participants made more controllable based attributions, felt more frustrated (less sympathetic), and more likely requested to view the Proposer's photograph than when there is no conflict. Stated differently, in conflict situations, the likelihood of seeking another person's face increases when controllable attributions are made and when frustration is felt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a series of famous experiments, Benjamin Libet claimed to have shown that there is no scientific basis for our commonsensical understanding of freedom of the will. The actions we are about to undertake register in our brains before they register in our conscious minds. And yet, all that Libet may have shown is that long-invoked notions such as 'the will' and 'freedom' are poor explanations of how actions are initiated. Actions take place as we respond to the call of the mood of the situation in which we find ourselves. Action is a way of attuning ourselves. Simple actions happen as long established habits kick in, and complex actions happen as the mood of a situation comes to correspond to the mood of a story we have been telling ourselves. When it feels right, we just act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effects of supported tagging (a prompting mechanism for students to stop and think about their writing) for team blogging on undergraduate students' reflective learning and the relationship between tagclouds and group cognition. Thirty-nine students were randomly assigned to six groups and blogged for 5 weeks. Three groups were randomly selected to receive instructor-provided keywords as supports for their tagging activity in the team blogs. Data analyses included: (1) comparing student-attached tags to the instructor-provided keywords and each participant's concept map for evidence of reflection; and (2) comparing each team's tagcloud against the team members' aggregated concept maps for the corresponding relationship between tagclouds and group cognition. Results revealed that the instructor's support in such situations might be helpful to keep students on task whereas free tagging may offer an opportunity for students' deeper processing of learning. The results also showed that tagclouds well represented students' group cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I make a number of observations about what can be learned from the concordance and the differences that exist between an enactive theory of perception in cognitive science and in philosophy of mind, the metapsychology of perception that can be drawn from Freud’sProjectand Laplanche’s theory of generalized seduction. Through this parallel between the three domains, I uphold the notion ofactual timeas representing the timeframe of enactive cognition as it happens in the analytic session, more specifically within the transference. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examined the efficacy of a novel reaching-and-grasping task in determining visuospatial abilities across adulthood. The task required male and female young (18-25 years) and older adults (60-82 years) to replicate a series of complex models by locating and retrieving the appropriate building blocks from an array. The task allows visuospatial complexity to be manipulated independently from the visuomotor demands. Mental rotation and spatial visualization abilities were assessed. The results showed that the time taken to complete the tasks increased with increased mental rotation complexity. Patterns of hand use were also influenced by the complexity of the models being constructed with right hand use being greater for the less complex models. In addition, although older adults consistently performed the visuomotor tasks slower than the younger adults, their performance was comparable when expressed as the percent change in task demands. This is suggestive that spatial abilities are preserved in older adults. Given the ecologically validity, the described task is an excellent candidate for investigating: (1) developmental; (2) sex-based; and (3) pathology-based differences in spatial abilities in the visuomotor domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Securing and improving the start-up process requires matching communicational strategies with business support objectives and situations. Over a period of five years, we did field research in a business incubator in the Paris area to identify the communicational strategies that business support professionals use in order to influence nascent entrepreneurs' attitudes and behaviors. We categorized these strategies as persuasion, engagement, criticism, and provocation. We assessed their impact in terms of commitment, compliance, and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the substantial overlap in cognitive dysfunction between bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ), we examined the utility of the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB)—developed for use in SZ—for the measurement of cognition in patients with BD with psychosis (BDP) and its association with community functioning. The MCCB, Multnomah Community Ability Scale, and measures of clinical symptoms were administered to participants with BDP (n=56), SZ (n=37), and healthy controls (HC) (n=57). Groups were compared on clinical and cognitive measures; linear regressions examined associations between MCCB and community functioning. BDP and SZ groups performed significantly worse than HC on most neurocognitive domains; BDP and HC did not differ on Social Cognition. Patients with BDP performed better than patients with SZ on most cognitive measures, although groups only differed on social cognition, working memory, verbal memory, and the composite after controlling for clinical variables. MCCB was not associated with community functioning. The MCCB is an appropriate measure of neurocognition in BDP but does not appear to capture social cognitive deficits in this population. The addition of appropriate social cognitive measures is recommended. (JINS, 2015, 21, 468–472) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male phenotypes vary across mating systems, but what about the female mind? In poeciliid fishes, we observe that female response towards males varies, both at inter- and intraspecific levels. By using the natural variation in poeciliid male reproductive phenotypes, we can probe female responses in different social contexts to isolate the neuromolecular components associated with mate choice. Female Xiphophorus nigrensis exhibit differential nonapeptide ( isotocin , vasotocin ) gene expression between social contexts that differ by social affiliation; while differential expression of synaptic plasticity genes ( neuroserpin , neuroligin-3 , NMDAR ) is more strongly predictive of social contexts that differ by mate preference discrimination. Gene expression and pharmacological manipulation with X. nigrensis females suggests that the social cognition task of mate choice involves neuromolecular processes linked to learning at the cellular (synaptic plasticity genes) and regional (amygdala and hippocampus) levels. Comparative assays between two poeciliid species with different mating systems provide the first hint of a shared neuromolecular pathway underlying female mate preference response. Yet, it is still unclear how specific components of this neuromolecular pathway (nonapeptides and synaptic plasticity processes) interact to coordinate behavioural tasks associated with mate choice encounters (vigilance, affiliation, evaluation and discrimination). Nevertheless, this collection of studies, coupled with the natural diversity of poeciliid mating systems, pave the way for exciting new insights into the social cognition of mate choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capacity to detect landmarks in the environment and to associate each landmark with its spatial context is a fundamental operation for navigation, especially when the context is relevant for successful navigation. Recent evidence suggests robust age-related improvements in contextual memory. The current study investigated the effect of spatial context on landmark recognition memory in children and adolescents. Participants, ages 8-18, watched a video depicting a route through a virtual environment. The location at which landmarks occurred was manipulated to test the hypothesis that memory processes vary as a function of context. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data was acquired while participants performed an old-new recognition memory test of the landmarks. Old compared to new landmarks recruited a network of regions including the hippocampus and the inferior/middle frontal gyrus in all participants. Developmental differences were observed in the functional organization of the parahippocampal gyrus and the anterior cingulate cortex, such that memory representations strengthened linearly with age only when the associated spatial context was relevant for navigation. These results support the view that medial temporal lobe regions become increasingly specialized with development; these changes may be responsible for the development of successful navigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to extend current research regarding map users' cognitive processes while working with screen maps. The described experiment investigates how (expert and novice) map users retrieve information from memory that was previously gathered from screen maps. A user study was conducted in which participants had to draw a map from memory. During this task, they were instructed to say out loud every thought that came into mind. Both user groups addressed the same general cognitive structures and processes to solve the task at hand. However, the experts' background knowledge facilitated the retrieval process and allowed them to derive extra information through deductive reasoning. The novices used more descriptive terms instead of naming the objects and could remember less, and less detailed map elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information Manipulation Theory 2 (IMT2) is an example of the broad class of cognitive functionalist theories of message production. That is, IMT2 seeks to explicate message production (and in particular, deceptive message production) by recourse to the functional (rather than material) architecture of the system(s) that give rise to such messages. IMT2 is a welcome addition to theorizing in this area and certainly merits careful consideration and discussion. This essay examines the theory’s underlying architecture (particularly with respect to functionalist concerns of parsimony/elegance), formalisms that may not be sufficiently explicated, and aspects of deceptive-message production not explicitly addressed in the current version of IMT2. A final section of this essay invites a contrast between IMT2 and second-generation Action Assembly Theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay provides a unifying commentary concluding this special issue on new theories of deception. Information Manipulation Theory 2 (IMT2) and Truth-Default Theory (TDT) offer perspectives of deception that contrast with many past and current approaches. Key points of difference between these new theories and prior works include how deception is defined, the centrality of deception cues, the role of stakes in deception, the importance of communication media or channel, and whether or not deception is intrinsically more cognitively effortful than truthtelling. IMT2 and TDT shift focus away from deception cues and toward situated, contextualized information and communication content. Theory-data consistency is argued to be paramount. The overarching goal of these new theories is to chart the course for future deception research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic is characterized by a highly interdisciplinary approach to the issue of action and language integration. Such an approach, combining computational models and cognitive robotics experiments with neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and linguistic approaches, can be a powerful means that can help researchers disentangle ambiguous issues, provide better and clearer definitions, and formulate clearer predictions on the links between action and language. In the introduction we briefly describe the papers and discuss the challenges they pose to future research. We identify four important phenomena the papers address and discuss in light of empirical and computational evidence: (a) the role played not only by sensorimotor and emotional information but also of natural language in conceptual representation; (b) the contextual dependency and high flexibility of the interaction between action, concepts, and language; (c) the involvement of the mirror neuron system in action and language processing; (d) the way in which the integration between action and language can be addressed by developmental robotics and Human-Robot Interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss the impact of motor expertise to gain insights for neural basis in action observation network (AON) and its role in action understanding. They state that the motor theories in action understanding modify the brain response within the AON. They also examine the effect of different sports actions such as dance expertise on activity within the AON.

A literary criticism of the book "Cognitive Pragmatics: The Mental Process of Communications," by Bruno G. Bara is presented. It presents a contradiction related to several basic principles as well as the inconsistencies and contradictions that the author has had in his book. It also cites ways on how such inconsistencies can be remedied especially those that pertain to pragmatics.

Models of decision making are distinguished by those that aim for an optimal solution in a world that is precisely specified by a set of assumptions (a so-called "small world") and those that aim for a simple but satisfactory solution in an uncertain world where the assumptions of optimization models may not be met (a so-called "large world"). Few connections have been drawn between these 2 families of models. In this study, the authors show how psychological concepts originating in the classic signal-detection theory (SDT), a small-world approach to decision making, can be used to understand the workings of a class of simple models known as fast-and-frugal trees (FFTs). Results indicate that (a) the setting of the subjective decision criterion in SDT corresponds directly to the choice of exit structure in an FFT; (b) the sensitivity of an FFT (measured in d') is reflected by the order of cues searched and the properties of cues in an FFT, including the mean and variance of cues' individual d's, the intercue correlation, and the number of cues; and (c) compared with the ideal and the optimal sequential sampling models in SDT and a majority model with an information search component, FFTs are extremely frugal (i.e., do not search for much cue information), highly robust, and well adapted to the payoff structure of a task. These findings demonstrate the potential of theory integration in understanding the common underlying psychological structures of apparently disparate theories of cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ulrike Heuer argues that there can be a reason for a person to perform an action that this person cannot perform, as long as this person can take efficient steps towards performing this action. In this reply, I first argue that Heuer’s examples fail to undermine my claim that there cannot be a reason for a person to perform an action if it is impossible that this person will perform this action. I then argue that, on a plausible interpretation of what ‘efficient steps’ are, Heuer’s claim is consistent with my claim. I end by showing that Heuer fails to undermine the arguments I gave for my claim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading action-related verbs brings about sensorimotor neural activity, suggesting that the linguistic representation of actions impinges upon neural structures largely overlapping with those involved in actual action execution. While studies of direct action observation indicate that motor mirroring is inherently anticipatory, no information is currently available on whether deriving action-related knowledge from language also takes into account the temporal deployment of actions. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation, here we sought to determine whether reading action verbs conjugated in the future induced higher cortico-spinal activity with respect to when the same verbs were conjugated in the past tense. We recorded motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) from relaxed hand and leg muscles of healthy subjects who were reading silently hand- or leg-related action, sensorial (non-somatic) and abstract verbs conjugated either in future or past tense. The amplitude of MEPs recorded from the hand was higher during reading hand-related action verbs conjugated in the future than in the past. No future-related modulation of leg muscles activity was found during reading leg-related action verbs. In a similar vein, no future-related change of hand or leg muscles reactivity was found for abstract or sensorial verbs. These results indicate that the anticipatory mirroring of hand actions may be triggered by linguistic representations and not only by direct action observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with the psychometric properties of the Thought-Action Fusion Questionnaire for Adolescents (TAFQ-A), which assesses the belief that harmful thoughts and actions are equivalent. The TAFQ-A comprises two scales: TAF-Moral and TAF-Likelihood. A total of 1726 children and adolescents completed 5 tests in order to establish the relationships of TAFQ-A with measures of psychopathology and with cognitive variables related to the ethiology of obsessive-compulsive problems. Results show that factorial structure, reliability and criterion validity of TAFQ-A are appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating spatial cognition in individuals with acquired language impairments can inform our understanding of how components of language are involved in spatial representation. Using the reorientation paradigm of Hermer-Vazquez, Spelke, and Katsnelson (1999), we examined spatial cue integration (landmark-geometry conjunctions) in individuals with severe agrammatic or global aphasia and in a group of healthy older adults. Participants with aphasia performed similarly to healthy controls in the reorientation task, demonstrating the ability to integrate landmark and geometric cues, even during a concurrent verbal task designed to block access to any residual lexical resources. These results extend previous findings with healthy adults by suggesting that neither syntax nor lexicon is essential for spatial cue representation in a mature cognitive system, and provide further evidence that language deficits in aphasia can be independent from other domains of reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly recognized that messages are simultaneously patterned and creative, but studies of message production have tended to focus on repetitive features of messages, to the relative exclusion of examination of their novel characteristics. This study is concerned with creative facility—the ability readily to construct novel, appropriate messages. In order to investigate this phenomenon, subjects produced a series of simple SITUATION-ACTION-BECAUSE narratives and also completed measures of speed of information processing (Digit-Symbol Substitution Test, DSST), cognitive tempo (Matching Familiar Figures Test, MFFT), and need for cognitive structure (Personal Need for Structure scale, PNS). Results indicate each of these measures was related to the speed with which participants were able to formulate their narratives. Moreover, the impact of both cognitive tempo, assessed as number of errors on the MFFT, and need for cognitive structure was heightened under more cognitively demanding message-production conditions. Implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusions about the cognitive and neural requirements of saccade control may differ as a result of stimulus presentation method. This issue was examined in the current study by evaluating behavioral differences in pro- and antisaccade responses among 12 healthy young adults as a function of task presentation method, length of cue-to-target interval, and previous trial type. A 1-s cue-to-target interval fostered goal neglect, indicated by an increase in uncorrected errors and reaction times for “error” saccades. There was also a strong relationship between speed of visual orienting (prosaccade latencies) and failed inhibition (antisaccade errors) for the simultaneous condition. Interestingly, only the simultaneous condition produced task switch costs (on saccade latencies and error response percentages). The saccadic task presentation method, therefore, can influence conclusions about the cognitive operations supporting successful performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) are increasingly being examined as neural correlates of response monitoring. The minimum number of error trials included in grand averages varies across studies; indeed, there has not been a systematic investigation on the number of trials required to obtain a stable ERN and Pe. In the current study, the ERN and Pe were quantified as two random trials were added to participants' ( N=53) ERP averages. Adding trials increased the correlation with the grand average ERN and Pe; however, high correlations ( rs>.80) were obtained with only 6 trials. Internal reliability of the ERN and Pe reached moderate levels after 6 and 2 trials and the signal-to-noise ratio of the ERN and Pe did not change after 8 and 4 trials, respectively. Combined, these data suggest that the ERN and Pe can be quantified using a minimum of between 6 and 8 error trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the influence of knowledge schemata on inhibitory processes we analysed how the typicality of the actions of an event modulated retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). Participants were presented with a realistic videotape of a bank robbery. Based on a normative study, high- and low-typicality actions of the event were determined. After watching the video, participants practised retrieving either half of the high- or half of the low-typicality actions, and their performance was compared against a no-practice control group. Tests given immediately after the event and after a 1-week retention interval demonstrated significant RIF for low-typicality actions exclusively when low-typicality actions were practised, but a comparable forgetting effect did not emerge for highly schematic actions. These findings confirm that highly integrated script knowledge protects high-typicality actions of an event from inhibitory processes, and demonstrate that RIF's effects last far longer than has been previously found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of message production have in common that they presume the existence of inventional repertoires, but few such theories have connected repertorial elements to message features. Research on inventional capacity has established that repertoire size is a feature of cognitive ability and has explored the content of the repertoires. This is the first study to connect these repertoires to actual messages. We hypothesized that repertorial features would be predicted by a combination of motivation and ability, that the repertoire elements would predict message elements, and that the message features would predict the contents of think-aloud protocols. Each hypothesis was supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This is the third in a series of three papers devoted to energy flow and entropy changes in chemical and biological processes, and their relations to the thermodynamics of computation. The previous two papers have developed reversible chemical transformations as idealizations for studying physiology and natural selection, and derived bounds from the second law of thermodynamics, between information gain in an ensemble and the chemical work required to produce it. This paper concerns the explicit mapping of chemistry to computation, and particularly the Landauer decomposition of irreversible computations, in which reversible logical operations generating no heat are separated from heat-generating erasure steps which are logically irreversible but thermodynamically reversible. The Landauer arrangement of computation is shown to produce the same entropy-flow diagram as that of the chemical Carnot cycles used in the second paper of the series to idealize physiological cycles. The specific application of computation to data compression and error-correcting encoding also makes possible a Landauer analysis of the somewhat different problem of optimal molecular recognition, which has been considered as an information theory problem. It is shown here that bounds on maximum sequence discrimination from the enthalpy of complex formation, although derived from the same logical model as the Shannon theorem for channel capacity, arise from exactly the opposite model for erasure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Much evidence exists supporting a richer interaction between cognition and action than commonly assumed. Such findings demonstrate that short-timescale processes, such as motor execution, may relate in systematic ways to longer-timescale cognitive processes, such as learning. We further substantiate one direction of this interaction: the flow of cognition into action systems. Two experiments explored match-to-sample paired-associate learning, in which participants learned randomized pairs of unfamiliar symbols. During the experiments, their hand movements were continuously tracked using the Nintendo Wiimote. Across learning, participant arm movements are initiated and completed more quickly, exhibit lower fluctuation, and exert more perturbation on the Wiimote during the button press. A second experiment demonstrated that action dynamics index novel learning scenarios, and not simply acclimatization to the Wiimote interface. Results support a graded and systematic covariation between cognition and action, and recommend ways in which this theoretical perspective may contribute to applied learning contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recent studies have supported close interactions between language and action-related processes, suggesting comparable neural mechanisms. However, relatively little is known about the semantics involved in action planning. The present study investigated the activation of semantic knowledge in meaningful actions by recording event-related potentials (ERPs). Subjects prepared meaningful or meaningless actions with objects and made a semantic categorization response before executing the action. Words presented could be either congruent or incongruent with respect to the goal of the action. Preparation of meaningful actions elicited a larger anterior N400 for words incongruent to the present action goal as compared to congruent words, while no N400 effect was found when subjects prepared meaningless actions. These findings indicate that the preparation of meaningful actions with objects is accompanied by the activation of semantic information representing the usual action goals associated with those objects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: There has been considerable interest in identifying the neural correlates of action naming, but the bulk of previous work on this topic has utilized static stimuli. Recent research comparing the visual processing of dynamic versus static actions suggests that these two types of stimuli engage largely overlapping neural systems, raising the possibility that the higher-order processing requirements for naming dynamic and static actions might not be very different. To explore this issue in greater depth, we developed the Dynamic Action Naming Test (DANT), which consists of 158 video clips 3–5s in length, for each of which the participant is asked to produce the most appropriate verb. We administered the DANT to 78 brain-damaged patients drawn from our Patient Registry, and to a demographically matched group of 50 normal participants. Out of the 16 patients who performed defectively on the DANT, nearly all (15/16) had damage in the left hemisphere. Lesion analysis indicated that the frontal operculum was the most frequent area of damage in the 15 patients; also, damage to the posterolateral temporal-occipital sector (in and near MT) was specifically related to defective dynamic action naming. Most of the brain-damaged participants (n =71) also received our Static Action Naming Test (SANT), and we found that performances on verb items that were common across the DANT and SANT were highly correlated (R =.91). Moreover, patients who failed the DANT almost invariably also failed the SANT. These findings lend further support to the hypothesis that there is considerable commonality in the neural systems underlying the use of verbs to orally name dynamic and static actions, a conclusion that is in turn compatible with the concept of “representational momentum”. Our results also contribute more generally to the rapidly growing field of research on embodied cognition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Numerous previous neuroimaging studies suggest an involvement of cortical motor areas not only in action execution but also in action recognition and understanding. Motor areas of the human brain have also been found to activate during the processing of written and spoken action-related words and sentences. Even more strikingly, stimuli referring to different bodily effectors produced specific somatotopic activation patterns in the motor areas. However, metabolic neuroimaging results can be ambiguous with respect to the processing stage they reflect. This is a serious limitation when hypotheses concerning linguistic processes are tested, since in this case it is usually crucial to distinguish early lexico-semantic processing from strategic effects or mental imagery that may follow lexico-semantic information access. Timing information is therefore pivotal to determine the functional significance of motor areas in action recognition and action-word comprehension. Here, we review attempts to reveal the time course of these processes using neurophysiological methods (EEG, MEG and TMS), in visual and auditory domains. We will highlight the importance of the choice of appropriate paradigms in combination with the corresponding method for the extraction of timing information. The findings will be discussed in the general context of putative brain mechanisms of word and object recognition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This review discusses the contributions of functional imaging (fMRI/PET) to our understanding of how action and tool concepts are represented and processed in the human brain. Category-selective deficits in neuropsychological patients have suggested a fine-grained functional specialization within the neural systems of semantics. However, the underlying principles of semantic organization remain controversial. The feature-based account of semantic memory (or ‘sensory-motor theory’) predicates category-selective effects (e.g. tool vs. animals) on anatomical segregation for different semantic features (e.g. action vs. visual). Within this framework, we will review functional imaging evidence that semantic processing of tools and actions may rely on activations within the visuo-motor system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The theory of embodied semantics for actions specifies that the sensory-motor areas used for producing an action are also used for the conceptual representation of the same action. Here we review the functional imaging literature that has explored this theory and consider both supporting as well as challenging fMRI findings. In particular we address the representation of actions and concepts as well as literal and metaphorical phrases in the premotor cortex. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Less is known about depression in children than in adults. This study integrates fields by combining cognitive and interpersonal research investigating childhood depression symptoms through the use of a genetic framework. Three research questions are addressed. First, what are the associations among interpersonal cognitions, anxiety, and depression? Second, what are the relative magnitudes of genetic and environmental influences on interpersonal cognitions? Third, to what extent do genetic and environmental influences explain associations between interpersonal cognitions and depression? Three hundred pairs of 8-year-old twins reported on symptoms of depression and anxiety by completing the Children's Depression Inventory and the Screen for Childhood Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders. The authors examined interpersonal cognitions with the Children's Expectation of Social Behaviors and the Perceptions of Peers and Self Questionnaires. Interpersonal cognitions were more strongly correlated with depression (mean r = .35) than with anxiety (mean r = .13). Genetic influence on interpersonal cognitions was small (M = 3%), and associations between interpersonal cognitions and depression were mainly explained by environmental influences. These latter findings may result from interpersonal cognitions in young children, reflecting life experiences as opposed to trait-like cognitive biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Two studies examined the relationships among trait negative affectivity, dispositional thought suppression, and intrusions in non-clinical samples. In Study 1 (N=87), participants were presented with a series of emotionally evocative images and intrusions were examined 48h after presentation via self-report. In Study 2 (N=118), intrusions were examined using a behavioral Key-press and self-report at two time points (5 and 20min) following exposure to a series of emotionally evocative images. In each study, participants were assessed for trait negative affectivity and the tendency to engage in thought suppression in response to unpleasant cognitions. Results from both studies support a model in which chronic thought suppression fully mediates the relationship between negative affectivity and the frequency of intrusions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Relationship governance improves performance and is considered as the key to the creation of competitive advantage in the twenty-first century. The extant literature examined the direct effect of relationship governance of commitment, consensus, and communication on relationship performance outcomes and hence ignored the intervening processes. The purpose of this study is to provide one of the first empirical tests of the intervening role of relationship learning processes (i.e., joint information sharing, sense-making, and memory-building) in the linkage between relationship governance mechanisms (i.e., commitment, consensus, and communication) and relationship performance (i.e., relational efficiency and relational effectiveness). By empirically exploring the notion of partial mediation of the effects of relationship governance through relationship learning processes, this study has opened up a fruitful avenue for future research on relationship marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present research, the authors hypothesized that additive counterfactual thinking mind-sets, activated by adding new antecedent elements to reconstruct reality, promote an expansive processing style that broadens conceptual attention and facilitates performance on creative generation tasks, whereas subtractive counterfactual thinking mind-sets, activated by removing antecedent elements to reconstruct reality, promote a relational processing style that enhances tendencies to consider relationships and associations and facilitates performance on analytical problem-solving tasks. A reanalysis of a published data set suggested that the counterfactual mind-set primes previously used in the literature tend to evoke subtractive counterfactuals. Studies 1 and 2 then demonstrated that subtractive counterfactual mind-sets enhanced performance on analytical problem-solving tasks relative to additive counterfactual mind-sets, whereas Studies 3 and 4 found that additive counterfactual mind-sets enhanced performance on creative generation tasks relative to subtractive counterfactual mind-sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience has suggested that the control mechanisms by which people are able to regulate task performance can be dissociated into evaluative and executive components. One process, implemented in the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain, monitors the amount of conflict that occurs during information processing; another process, implemented in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is involved with maintaining the requirements of the task at hand and with biasing information processing in favor of appropriate responses. In the current article, we review this theory and some of the research that has supported it, including its implication for understanding cognitive disturbances in clinical disorders such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. We conclude by addressing several interesting possibilities for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-time cognition is best described not as a sequence of logical operations performed on discrete symbols but as a continuously changing pattern of neuronal activity. The continuity in these dynamics indicates that, in between describable states of mind, mental activity does not lend itself to the linguistic labels relied on by much of psychology. We discuss eye-tracking and mouse-tracking evidence for this temporal continuity and provide geometric visualizations of mental activity, depicting it as a continuous trajectory through a state space (a multidimensional space in which locations correspond to mental states). When the state of the system travels toward a frequently visited region of that space, the destination may constitute recognition of a particular word or a particular object; but on the way there, the majority of the mental trajectory is in intermediate regions of that space, revealing graded mixtures of mental states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article focuses on the relationship between a formal description of some cognitively driven behavioral regularity (such as language/speech or culture/action) and the cognitive basis of that regular behavior—as seen in Chomskyan grammar, Lounsburyan kinship terminology analysis, and circles in Euclidian analytic geometry. It considers the nature of people’s production of the regularity, including their use of “rules of thumb”, their learning of underlying regularities, and the increasing abstraction of their knowledge. In this context the role of formal descriptions, including both their attractions and their limitations is discussed—as is the repeated attempts by anthropologists to copy or adapt linguistic formalisms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

People think of things to say that they have never thought (or heard, or seen) before. Ideational dynamics is concerned with the processes that give rise to the ideas that shape overt verbal and nonverbal behavior. The focus of this article is on three specific problems of ideational dynamics: How do message-content ideations arise? What is the nature of these ideations as cognitive entities? and How do these ideations come to be manifested in overt behavior? This article overviews the implications of one particular theory, second generation action assembly theory (AAT2), for addressing these problems. AAT2 suggests that message-content ideations need not be propositional, that the abstract conceptions one is conscious of may not be related to the propositional content of his or her speech, that abstract conceptions need not be conscious to impact overt behavior, that message-relevant ideations may fail to be expressed in actual behavior, and that message-relevant ideations are malleable on a time scale shorter than is required for their enactment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive differences between expert and non-expert UE triathletes. Design: Twenty-one UE triathletes were stratified according to finishing times into three groups; experts (<9.5h), middle of the pack (∼12.5h), and back of the pack triathletes (>14.0h). Methods: Cognition was examined using a think-aloud protocol with the aid of a video montage of segments from an UE triathlon representing periods of high decision-making or cognition. Inductive qualitative analyses supported the classification of athlete cognitions as passive, active, or proactive. Results: Expert triathletes reported a greater emphasis on thoughts related to their performance, while middle of the pack and back of the pack triathletes reported a greater number of passive thoughts. Furthermore, experts were more proactive in their approach to performance situations than mid- and back-pack triathletes. Conclusions: Expert UE triathletes are cognitively different from non-experts, although future research is needed to determine the role these differences play in promoting expert performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Efforts to bridge emotion theory with neurobiology can be facilitated by dynamic systems (DS) modeling. DS principles stipulate higher-order wholes emerging from lower-order constituents through bidirectional causal processes - offering a common language for psychological and neurobiological models. After identifying some limitations of mainstream emotion theory, I apply DS principles to emotion-cognition relations. I then present a psychological model based on this reconceptualization, identifying trigger, self-amplification, and self-stabilization phases of emotion-appraisal states, leading to consolidating traits. The article goes on to describe neural structures and functions involved in appraisal and emotion, as well as DS mechanisms of integration by which they interact. These mechanisms include nested feedback interactions, global effects of neuromodulation, vertical integration, action-monitoring, and synaptic plasticity, and they are modeled in terms of both functional integration and temporal synchronization. I end by elaborating the psychological model of emotion-appraisal states with reference to neural processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lip movements were examined across several repetitive speaking conditions (speech alone and speaking concurrently with a linguistic, cognitive, or visuomotor challenge task) in 20 young adults. Performance in these nonspeech activities was also compared between isolated tasks and concurrent speech conditions. Linguistic challenges resulted in increased spatiotemporal variability of lip displacement across repetitions. Motor challenges led to more rapid speech with smaller lip displacement. These qualitatively different changes suggest that different aspects of attention are required for linguistic versus manual visuomotor activity. Vocal intensity increased for all concurrent task conditions compared with speech alone, suggesting increased effort compared to the control condition. Scores for linguistic performance decreased when utterance repetition occurred concurrently with the syntactic challenge. These findings reveal that speech motor activity can influence linguistic performance as well as be influenced by it. Although these data come from healthy speakers, they suggest that clinicians working with disordered speakers should not overlook the potential interactions among the demands of language formulation, cognitive activity, and speech motor performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influences of perceptual and motor activity on evaluation have led to theories of embodied cognition suggesting that putatively complex judgments can be carried out using only perceptual and motor representations. We present an experiment that revisited a movement-compatibility effect in which people are faster to respond to positive words by pulling a lever than by pushing a lever and are faster to respond to negative words by pushing than by pulling. We demonstrate that the compatibility effect depends on people's representation of their selves in space rather than on their physical location. These data suggest that accounting for embodied phenomena requires understanding the complex interplay between perceptual and motor representations and people's representations of their selves in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the action in memory principle as an explanation for the variety of effects in the control of action. Interplay between action and memory; Phenomena that proves the relation between action and memory; Other effects that serve as an evidence for the role of memory in action.

Examines each of the points of received understanding and suggests need for approaches that are able to capture the fluid and multiplanar character of messages and message production. Details on the dominant approach to message production; Evaluation of the second-generation action assembly theory of message production; Alternative characterization of message encoding.

This chapter reviews the program of research on multiple-goal message production conducted within the action assembly theory framework. Action assembly theory has served to direct attention to the temporal characteristics of multiple-goal messages. These message features are seen not only to have social significance by virtue of the fact that they are related to social perception and attributions, but also to provide a window on cognitive encoding processes. From the perspective of action assembly theory, messages aimed at accomplishing multiple social objectives are formulated through the same processes of activation and assembly that are held to underlie all behavioral production. The specific characteristics of these processes have been used to derive a number of hypotheses concerning the temporal features of messages produced under various goal instruction sets. The bulk of this chapter reviews the experimental tests of these hypotheses, summarizes the pattern of empirical findings across multiple studies, and traces the theoretical implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]