Do the Dynamics of Prior Information Depend on Task Context? An Analysis of Optimal Performance and an Empirical Test

In speeded two-choice tasks, optimal performance is prescribed by the drift diffusion model. In this model, prior information or advance knowledge about the correct response can manifest itself as a shift in starting point or as a shift in drift rate criterion. These two mechanisms lead to qualitatively different choice behavior. Analyses of optimal performance (i.e., Bogacz et al., 2006; Hanks et al., 2011) have suggested that bias should manifest itself in starting point when difficulty is fixed over trials, whereas bias should (additionally) manifest itself in drift rate criterion when difficulty is variable over trials. In this article, we challenge the claim that a shift in drift criterion is necessary to perform optimally in a biased decision environment with variable stimulus difficulty. This paper consists of two parts. Firstly, we demonstrate that optimal behavior for biased decision problems is prescribed by a shift in starting point, irrespective of variability in stimulus difficulty. Secondly, we present empirical data which show that decision makers do not adopt different strategies when dealing with bias in conditions of fixed or variable across-trial stimulus difficulty. We also perform a test of specific influence for drift rate variability

The dynamic interplay between appraisal and core affect in daily life

Appraisals and core affect are both considered central to the experience of emotion. In this study we examine the bidirectional relationships between these two components of emotional experience by examining how core affect changes following how people appraise events and how appraisals in turn change following how they feel in daily life. In an experience sampling study, participants recorded their core affect and appraisals of ongoing events; data were analyzed using cross-lagged multilevel modeling. Valence-appraisal relationships were found to be characterized by congruency: The same appraisals that were associated with a change in pleasure-displeasure (motivational congruency, other-agency, coping potential, and future expectancy), changed themselves as a function of pleasure-displeasure. In turn, mainly secondary appraisals of who is responsible and how one is able to cope with events were associated with changes in arousal, which itself is followed by changes in the future appraised relevance of events. These results integrate core affect and appraisal approaches to emotion by demonstrating the dynamic interplay of how appraisals are followed by changes in core affect which in turn change our basis for judging future events

Commentary: Consistent superiority of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors over placebo in reducing depressed mood in patients with major depression.

In the past decades, almost all research in psychiatry and clinical psychology has been directed at the level of disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD) or schizophrenia. As has been argued by many scholars in recent work, this organization of the psychiatric research program has yielded limited insights, which justifies the investigation of psychopathology at a more fine-grained level: the level of symptoms (1, 2). In the present letter, we indicate two primary directions for this research program, which we propose to call symptomics. We will focus our discussion on MDD specifically and discuss possibilities in relation to the recently published work by Hieronymus et al. (3)