Merrillparsons8042

We found that negative attentional templates were not activated when the target could be located based on its saliency (singleton search) and the use of the negative attentional template was optional. In contrast, when the negative attentional template was necessary to locate the target (feature search), we found the expected difference between matching and nonmatching spatial cues. Thus, the activation of negative attentional templates depends on task demands. In contrast, positive attentional templates were activated irrespective of task demands. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).Daily locomotion tasks such as walking and driving often occur in a complex environment in which people frequently need to divide their attention to keep track of multiple moving objects. In this study, we examined the effects of divided attention on the visual control of goal-oriented locomotion by using a dual-task paradigm in which participants were instructed to steer a virtual vehicle toward a target while dividing their attention to a concurrent object tracking task. We found that divided attention reduced the accuracy of the early-stage control of steering and the precision of the steady-state control. We then instructed participants to rely on the target egocentric direction or optic flow cue for steering. Although we found similar negative effects of divided attention on the control of steering regardless of the cue instructions, divided attention adversely affected the accuracy of the steady-state control of steering only for participants who were instructed to rely on the optic flow cue. Furthermore, participants consistently showed lower attentional tracking accuracy when steering at a fast (15 m/s) than a low (2 m/s) speed. We conclude that divided attention negatively affects the control of steering toward a goal, and steering at higher travel speeds demands more attentional resource. Compared with optic flow, relying on target egocentric direction to steer toward a goal is less affected by a concurrent attention-demanding task, suggesting that target egocentric direction is the primary cue for the control of goal-oriented locomotion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).When interacting with the environment, humans exhibit robust biases toward information that pertains to themselves Self-relevant information is processed faster and yields more accurate responses than information linked to others. Recent studies have shown that simple social associations can lead to the instant deployment of this benefit in the processing of abstract stimuli. However, how self-prioritization evolves across the processing hierarchy has been a subject of intense debate. Furthermore, there is little empirical evidence about the functional efficiency of social relevance in natural environments in which information is present across multiple senses. Across three experiments (each n = 40), the present study shows that self-prioritization effects (a) can arise in simple audio-visual numerosity judgements, (b) can be efficiently deployed across the senses by funneling perception toward self-relevant information in the more reliable sensory modality, and (c) modulate the integration of auditory and visual information into a multisensory representation. Taken together, the present findings suggest that social relevance can influence multisensory processing at both perceptual and postperceptual stages via early attentional modulations of sensory integration and later, task-dependent attentional control. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).Loneliness is a recognized risk factor for morbidity and mortality across the adult life span including old age. Loneliness is a negative emotional experience that has been associated with social isolation, but loneliness may also be adaptive to the extent that it signals a need to socially reengage. To reconcile these seemingly contradictory findings, we unpack the timing of the underlying processes by distinguishing between transient and chronic loneliness in shaping prosocial behaviors. Using 10 days of electronic daily life assessments from 100 middle-aged and older adults (Mage = 67.0 years; 64.0% women), findings indicate that chronic loneliness moderates time-varying associations between transient loneliness and prosocial behavior. Simple slope results point to individual differences in daily loneliness-prosocial action associations. Specifically, adults high in chronic loneliness, but not those low in chronic loneliness, showed decreased prosocial behaviors on days with elevated transient loneliness. Findings suggest that chronic loneliness may elicit maladaptive responses to transient loneliness by hampering the use of opportunities to engage in prosocial behavior. Exploratory analyses point to fear of evaluation as a potential mechanism that is associated with increased loneliness and reduced prosocial behavior. Findings highlight the differential roles of transient and chronic loneliness in shaping prosocial activities in midlife and older adulthood, thereby providing a more nuanced picture as well as potential avenues for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).Age-related cognitive decline has been attributed to processing speed differences, as well as differences in executive control and response inhibition. However, recent research has shown that healthy older adults have intact, if not superior, sustained attention abilities compared to younger adults. The present study used a combination of reaction time (RT), thought probes, and pupillometry to measure sustained attention in samples of younger and older adults. The RT data revealed that, while slightly slower overall, older adults sustained their attention to the task better than younger adults, and did not show a vigilance decrement. Older adults also reported fewer instances of task-unrelated thoughts and reported feeling more motivated and alert than younger adults, despite finding the task more demanding. Additionally, older adults showed larger, albeit later-peaking, task-evoked pupillary responses (TEPRs), corroborating the behavioral and self-report data. Finally, older adults did not show a shallowing of TEPRs across time, corroborating the finding that their RTs also did not change across time. The present findings are interpreted in light of processing speed theory, resource-depletion theories of vigilance, and recent neurological theories of cognitive aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).Research on close relationships demonstrates that dyadic convergence, or two people becoming more similar in their experiences and/or beliefs over time, is commonplace and adaptive. As psychotherapy involves a close relationship, patient-therapist convergence processes may influence treatment-specific outcomes. Although prior research supports that patients and therapists tend to converge on their alliance perspectives over time, which associates with subsequent patient improvement, no research has similarly examined belief convergence during therapy. Accordingly, this study focused on patient-therapist convergence in their outcome expectations (OE), a belief variable associated with patient improvement when measured from individual participant perspectives. We predicted both that significant OE convergence would occur and relate to better posttreatment outcome. Data derived from a trial of naturalistic psychotherapy. Patients and therapists repeatedly rated their respective OE through treatment, and patients rated their symptom/functional outcomes at posttreatment. For dyads with the requisite OE data (N = 154), we tested our questions using multilevel structural equation modeling. Counter to our hypotheses, there was no discernable OE convergence pattern over treatment (γ₁₀₀ = 0.01, SE = 0.03, p = .690) and OE convergence was unrelated to outcome at the between-dyad level (γ₀₂₀ = 2.37, SE = 10.28, p = .818). However, on its own, higher early patient OE was significantly associated with better outcome at the between-dyad level (γ₀₅₀ = -0.04, SE = 0.01, p = .007). Results suggest that OE may be more of a facilitative patient versus relational process factor. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).How do task groups react to poor performers? We integrate attribution theory with individual motivation theories in a novel, parsimonious model that makes nuanced predictions. Our model asserts that group members assess the poor performer's intent to help the group (i.e., pro-group intent) by first considering the poor performer's characteristics suggested by attribution theory effort and ability. While attribution theorists have mainly assumed that low effort reflects lacking desire to contribute to group goals and that it is infeasible to acquire ability, motivation theories assume individuals set their goals to perform tasks and acquire skills based on both desirability (value) and feasibility (expectancy). As group members may well assume that a poor performer uses these criteria when forming a pro-group intent to contribute to group goals, low effort may also reflect the infeasibility of making the required contributions, and low ability may reflect a low desire to acquire new skills. Therefore, our model of pro-group intent predicts that desirability-feasibility assumptions moderate the effort-ability effect on reactions to poor performers and that evaluations of pro-group intent mediate this effect. Indeed, in five experiments (total N = 1,011), low effort only produced more negative reactions than low ability when a desirability attribution was made for effort, and a feasibility attribution was made for ability. In contrast, reversing these assumptions eliminated the effort-ability effect. This interaction was fully mediated by the performer's perceived pro-group intent. We discuss how our (meta-) intentional perspective informs existing accounts of poor performers, group processes, and motivation science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).Western culture idealizes an autonomous self-a self that strives for independence and freedom from the influence and control of others. We explored how the value placed on autonomy in Western culture intersects with the normative trait expectations experienced by men and women. While trait expectations placed on men (i.e., to be confident and assertive) affirm an autonomous sense of self, trait expectations placed on women (i.e., to be caring and understanding) conflict with an autonomous sense of self. We theorized that this conflict contributes to women's resentment toward positive gender stereotypes that emphasize women's interdependent qualities. MS1943 Six preregistered studies (N = 2,094) demonstrated that U.S. women experienced more anger in response to positive-gendered trait expectations and less motivation to comply with them compared to U.S. men. We found that these effects were partially attributable to stereotypically feminine communal expectations affirming autonomy less than stereotypically masculine agentic expectations. Cross-cultural comparisons between the U.S. (a Western context) and India (a non-Western context) further indicated that the conflict between communal expectations placed on women and Western prioritization of autonomy contributes to U.S. women's anger toward positive gender stereotypes Although traits expected of women in both the U.S. and India oriented women away from feeling autonomous more than traits expected of men, this diminished sense of being autonomous only elicited anger in a U.S. context. For Western societies, findings illuminate the uniquely frustrating nature of stereotyped expectations that demand interdependence and thus the unequal psychological burden placed on those who must contend with them. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).