Buffering preconscious stressor appraisal: the protective role of self-efficacy

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Education and awarded by Brunel University.Many cognitive resources contribute towards the appraisal of stressors. Of these, self-efficacy (SE) is widely acknowledged to play a significant role in protecting adolescents from the effects of stress (Bandura, 1997). This study investigated that relationship through the use of a quasi-experimental methodology (Cook & Campbell, 1979) utilising an untreated Control group of 44 adolescent, female participants and an Experimental group of 70 additional participants, all of whom were volunteers drawn from the Sixth Form of a single participating school. The members of both participant groups took part in two rounds of testing, between which the members of the Experimental group were exposed to a significant academic stressor (one or more public A-level examinations). During both test phases, all participants completed the 10- item Perceived Stress Scale self-report (Cohen & Williamson, 1988), the Examination Self-Efficacy Scale instrument (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995) and a bespoke Implicit Association Test (Greenwald et al., 1998) designed to measure implicit stressor appraisal. Significant trends were identified by means of ANCOVA, correlation and regression analyses, and the resulting data were interpreted in terms of a dual process model of stress (Compas, 2004). Results not only concurred with those of previous studies (e.g. Betoret, 2006; Vaezi & Fallah, 2011) by demonstrating a strongly negative correlation between acute academic stress and academic SE, but provided new evidence to suggest that the ‘protective’ effect of SE occurs via a buffering mechanism at the level of preconscious stressor appraisals (Bargh, 1990), which limits the effect of acute stress exposure on preconscious stressor appraisals (e.g. Luecken & Appelhans, 2005)

The role of phonology in visual word recognition: evidence from Chinese

Posters - Letter/Word Processing V: abstract no. 5024The hypothesis of bidirectional coupling of orthography and phonology predicts that phonology plays a role in visual word recognition, as observed in the effects of feedforward and feedback spelling to sound consistency on lexical decision. However, because orthography and phonology are closely related in alphabetic languages (homophones in alphabetic languages are usually orthographically similar), it is difficult to exclude an influence of orthography on phonological effects in visual word recognition. Chinese languages contain many written homophones that are orthographically dissimilar, allowing a test of the claim that phonological effects can be independent of orthographic similarity. We report a study of visual word recognition in Chinese based on a mega-analysis of lexical decision performance with 500 characters. The results from multiple regression analyses, after controlling for orthographic frequency, stroke number, and radical frequency, showed main effects of feedforward and feedback consistency, as well as interactions between these variables and phonological frequency and number of homophones. Implications of these results for resonance models of visual word recognition are discussed.postprin

Interactive effects of orthography and semantics in Chinese picture naming

Posters - Language Production/Writing: abstract no. 4035Picture-naming performance in English and Dutch is enhanced by presentation of a word that is similar in form to the picture name. However, it is unclear whether facilitation has an orthographic or a phonological locus. We investigated the loci of the facilitation effect in Cantonese Chinese speakers by manipulating—at three SOAs (2100, 0, and 1100 msec)—semantic, orthographic, and phonological similarity. We identified an effect of orthographic facilitation that was independent of and larger than phonological facilitation across all SOAs. Semantic interference was also found at SOAs of 2100 and 0 msec. Critically, an interaction of semantics and orthography was observed at an SOA of 1100 msec. This interaction suggests that independent effects of orthographic facilitation on picture naming are located either at the level of semantic processing or at the lemma level and are not due to the activation of picture name segments at the level of phonological retrieval.postprin

Cognitive control development in adolescence

Adolescence is a transitional period in which an increasing ability to coordinate basic cognitive control abilities is also particularly challenged by contextual factors in the environment. The aim of this dissertation was to examine the development of complex cognitive control in adolescence in relation to different socio-affective contexts at the behavioural and neural level. The dissertation presents three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments. The first studies explored transient and sustained aspects of cognitive control, and how the context influences behaviour and brain activation during cognitive control tasks. Study 1 used a prospective memory task where the cues were more or less salient, affecting the need to proactively monitor the stimuli vs. react to more distinctive cues. Study 2 used a working memory task and manipulated the reward context, on a trial-by-trial or run-by-run basis. Study 3 used a relational reasoning task to investigate manipulation and integration of information and its sensitivity to the nature of this information, in particular whether making judgements in the social domain elicited specific brain activations compared to the non-social domain. All three studies were run in adolescent and adult participants, to allow the study of developmental changes in complex cognitive control at the behavioural and brain level. Study 1 found behavioural evidence for development of prospective memory in adolescence and neuroimaging evidence for sustained and transient activation of the frontoparietal network associated with monitoring costs for cue detection whilst being engaged in a different task. Study 2 found that in the context of sporadic rewards, both adolescents and adults combine a proactive and a reactive strategy to maximise performance. Reward had both sustained and transient effects on frontoparietal regions as well as subcortical regions involved in reward processing. Study 3 showed parallel recruitment of the social brain and the relational reasoning network during the relational integration of social information in adolescence and adulthood. Across the three studies, there was evidence for behavioural improvement with age, but no strong differences of haemodynamic brain changes between adolescence and adulthood

Affective Computing

This book provides an overview of state of the art research in Affective Computing. It presents new ideas, original results and practical experiences in this increasingly important research field. The book consists of 23 chapters categorized into four sections. Since one of the most important means of human communication is facial expression, the first section of this book (Chapters 1 to 7) presents a research on synthesis and recognition of facial expressions. Given that we not only use the face but also body movements to express ourselves, in the second section (Chapters 8 to 11) we present a research on perception and generation of emotional expressions by using full-body motions. The third section of the book (Chapters 12 to 16) presents computational models on emotion, as well as findings from neuroscience research. In the last section of the book (Chapters 17 to 22) we present applications related to affective computing

Psychological Engagement in Choice and Judgment Under Risk and Uncertainty

Theories of choice and judgment assume that agents behave rationally, choose the higher expected value option, and evaluate the choice consistently (Expected Utility Theory, Von Neumann, & Morgenstern, 1947). However, researchers in decision-making showed that human behaviour is different in choice and judgement tasks (Slovic & Lichtenstein, 1968; 1971; 1973). In this research, we propose that psychological engagement and control deprivation predict behavioural inconsistencies and utilitarian performance with judgment and choice. Moreover, we explore the influences of engagement and control deprivation on agent’s behaviours, while manipulating content of utility (Kusev et al., 2011, Hertwig & Gigerenzer 1999, Tversky & Khaneman, 1996) and decision reward (Kusev et al, 2013, Shafir et al., 2002)

New neural multiprocess memory model for adaptively regulating associative learning

This article describes the development, operation, and behaviour of the neural multiprocess memory model (NMMM). The NMMM is a new artificial synaptic multistage memory system that replaces the single associative long-term memory that normally modulates the efficacy of artificial neural network (ANN) element inputs. The NMMM enhances learning in an ANN element by supporting multiple time scales in the acquisition, retention, and recall of encoded associative memory traces, and by appropriately modulating the learning rate based upon previous learning experience over many trials. Presented computer simulation results indicate that the NMMM on its own supports spontaneous regression and recovery behaviour and U-shaped memory retention, and that when functioning as part of the associative conditioning element (ACE), the NMMM's new adaptive associability mechanism is capable of supporting both negatively accelerated and sigmoidal acquisition curves, latent inhibition, learned irrelevance, the partial reinforcement effect, and accelerated learning following alternating acquisition-extinction training sessions

Pressure, Threat, and Fear in the Classroom: Pupils' and Teachers' Perceptions of Soft Failure in an 11+ Context

This thesis concerns both pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions and reactions to soft failure. Whilst there is widespread agreement that errors and impasses in the classroom can be pedagogically useful, pupils do not always respond positively to soft failure, potentially limiting their learning. Teachers, whilst keen to support pupils experiencing temporary academic setbacks, can unintentionally cement perceptions that errors should be avoided, leading to a co-construction between teacher and pupil of a classroom climate that is unfriendly to error making. In taking a bio ecological and interdisciplinary approach, this thesis addresses a gap in error climate studies through examining the intersection of sociocultural and psychological factors that impact perceptions of, and reactions to, soft failure. This thesis argues that pupils’ reactions to soft failure are imprinted, not only with immediate classroom proximal processes, but also from processes within the home, wider values, and ideologies. Drawing upon the case study genre and bound by the entry and exit points of a selective education system, findings from observations and interviews with Y7 and Y5 pupils suggest the facilitation of classroom peer ecologies orientated towards performance and demonstrating success. Through conceptualising gender as heteroglossic, Y7 grammar school girls were seen to enact masculine, highly competitive performances which reinforced a pressured climate where negative evaluation and soft failure was feared. However, these findings are complicated by pupils’ divergent and fluctuating responses and reactions to soft failure, situated and contextualised by teachers’ error handling, classroom organisation and school processes. Therefore, to establish when soft failure matters for pupils, this thesis explores the interplay of competing values, goals, and interactions. In doing so, the antecedents of soft failure adaptivity are identified, with the perceived threat to pupils’ dignity – which I reason must be understood in an adolescent context — argued as the fulcrum on which soft failure appraisals are made