Dynamic Construction of Stimulus Values in the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

Signals representing the value assigned to stimuli at the time of choice have been repeatedly observed in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Yet it remains unknown how these value representations are computed from sensory and memory representations in more posterior brain regions. We used electroencephalography (EEG) while subjects evaluated appetitive and aversive food items to study how event-related responses modulated by stimulus value evolve over time. We found that value-related activity shifted from posterior to anterior, and from parietal to central to frontal sensors, across three major time windows after stimulus onset: 150–250 ms, 400–550 ms, and 700–800 ms. Exploratory localization of the EEG signal revealed a shifting network of activity moving from sensory and memory structures to areas associated with value coding, with stimulus value activity localized to vmPFC only from 400 ms onwards. Consistent with these results, functional connectivity analyses also showed a causal flow of information from temporal cortex to vmPFC. Thus, although value signals are present as early as 150 ms after stimulus onset, the value signals in vmPFC appear relatively late in the choice process, and seem to reflect the integration of incoming information from sensory and memory related regions

Measuring facets of Worry: A LISREL analysis of the Worry Domains Questionnaire

In the development of the Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ) for the measurement of nonpathological worry, (Tallis, Eysenck & Mathews, 1992. A questionnaire for the measurement of nonpathological worry. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 161–168) Tallis et al. had used cluster analytical procedures to establish the number of worry domains. The resulting structure of the WDQ, however, was never adequately tested. This study therefore examined the WDQ's structure by use of confirmatory factor analysis comparing models of different factor structures. In the first sample of 466 participants, a five-factor model yielded the best fit to the data, characterized by highly correlated yet distinct domains of everyday worrying as they were originally proposed. This model was cross-validated with a second sample of 503 participants, showing stable factor loadings across samples. Whereas these analyses displayed a good fit of the five-factor representation for the item-based models, overall fit of all models was more prominent when items were aggregated (subscale models). Implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed

Effect of the rating source in organizational citizenship behavior: A multitrait-multimethod analysis, The

This study compares the ratings for three dimensions of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) provided by managers (self-ratings), their subordinates, and their colleagues (superiors and peers) in the Spanish branch of a multinational food company. Using hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis, we find strong method effects, indicating that ratings from different sources provide different information. A comparison among means shows that, in most cases, subordinate and self-ratings are significantly higher than colleague ratings. We also add to the recent research about the dimensionality of OCB by performing a correlation analysis among OCB dimensions that controls for method effects. Our results show that, when methods are taken into account, correlations among OCB dimensions are not significant.Organizational citizenship behavior; rating source; self-ratings; method effect

Doing less but getting more: Improving forced-choice measures with IRT.

Multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) questionnaires typically show good validities and are resistant to impression management effects. However, they yield ipsative data, which distorts scale relationships and makes comparisons between people problematic. Depressed reliability estimates also led developers to create tests of potentially excessive length. We apply an IRT Preference Model to make more efficient use of information in existing MFC questionnaires. OPQ32i used for selection and assessment internationally is examined using this approach. The latent scores recovered from a much reduced number of MFC items are superior to the full test?s ipsative scores, and comparable to unbiased normative scores

Overlapping neural systems represent cognitive effort and reward anticipation

Anticipating a potential benefit and how difficult it will be to obtain it are valuable skills in a constantly changing environment. In the human brain, the anticipation of reward is encoded by the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) and Striatum. Naturally, potential rewards have an incentive quality, resulting in a motivational effect improving performance. Recently it has been proposed that an upcoming task requiring effort induces a similar anticipation mechanism as reward, relying on the same cortico-limbic network. However, this overlapping anticipatory activity for reward and effort has only been investigated in a perceptual task. Whether this generalizes to high-level cognitive tasks remains to be investigated. To this end, an fMRI experiment was designed to investigate anticipation of reward and effort in cognitive tasks. A mental arithmetic task was implemented, manipulating effort (difficulty), reward, and delay in reward delivery to control for temporal confounds. The goal was to test for the motivational effect induced by the expectation of bigger reward and higher effort. The results showed that the activation elicited by an upcoming difficult task overlapped with higher reward prospect in the ACC and in the striatum, thus highlighting a pivotal role of this circuit in sustaining motivated behavior

Understanding customers' holistic perception of switches in automotive human–machine interfaces

For successful new product development, it is necessary to understand the customers' holistic experience of the product beyond traditional task completion, and acceptance measures. This paper describes research in which ninety-eight UK owners of luxury saloons assessed the feel of push-switches in five luxury saloon cars both in context (in-car) and out of context (on a bench). A combination of hedonic data (i.e. a measure of ‘liking’), qualitative data and semantic differential data was collected. It was found that customers are clearly able to differentiate between switches based on the degree of liking for the samples' perceived haptic qualities, and that the assessment environment had a statistically significant effect, but that it was not universal. A factor analysis has shown that perceived characteristics of switch haptics can be explained by three independent factors defined as ‘Image’, ‘Build Quality’, and ‘Clickiness’. Preliminary steps have also been taken towards identifying whether existing theoretical frameworks for user experience may be applicable to automotive human–machine interfaces

Parents’ Motivations for Enrolling their Children in Recreational Sports

 Extensive literature covers reasons for participation in sports from the perspective of youth athletes. However, athletic involvement starts early and is determined in part by parental support. The purpose of this study was to learn more about parents’ motivations for enrolling their children in sports. A 49-item parent motivational scale of reasons for enrolling child(ren) in sports was created as part of the study first as a pilot and later tested with 84 parent participants who had school-aged children enrolled in recreational sports. An open-ended question on primary reasons why parents enrolled their child in sports was also included in the study. Exploratory factor analysis of the motivational scale indicated a four-component solution for types of reasons parents enrolled their children in sports: 1. Extrinsic/parent-focused; 2. Child growth and development; 3. Social benefits; and 4. Health/well-being.  Parents rated the latter three types of beneficial reasons for enrolling children in sports more highly than extrinsic/parent-focused ones and were more likely to list beneficial than extrinsic reasons in the open-ended question. Scores on several individual motivational items varied by child’s, not parent’s, gender and parent’s marital status. Implications for use of self-determination and expectancy-value theoretical perspectives, understanding parents’ motivations to encourage children’s sports participation while considering family structure and gender of child, and study limitations with ideas for future research are discussed.  &nbsp

Language control is not a one-size-fits-all languages process: Evidence from simultaneous interpretation students and the n-2 repetition cost

Simultaneous interpretation is an impressive cognitive feat which necessitates the simultaneous use of two languages and therefore begs the question: how is language management accomplished during interpretation? One possibility is that both languages are maintained active and inhibitory control is reduced. To examine whether inhibitory control is reduced after experience with interpretation, students with varying experience were assessed on a three language switching paradigm. This paradigm provides an empirical measure of the inhibition applied to abandoned languages, the n-2 repetition cost. The groups showed different patterns of n-2 repetition costs across the three languages. These differences, however, were not connected to experience with interpretation. Instead, they may be due to other language characteristics. Specifically, the L2 n-2 repetition cost negatively correlated with self-rated oral L2 proficiency, suggesting that language proficiency may affect the use of inhibitory control. The differences seen in the L1 n-2 repetition cost, alternatively, may be due to the differing predominant interactional contexts of the groups. These results suggest that language control may be more complex than previously thought, with different mechanisms used for different languages. Further, these data represent the first use of the n-2 repetition cost as a measure to compare language control between groups