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I advance theoretically and empirically grounded arguments for broadening how we frame and understand situational interests. A situational interest refers to the short-term spike in a person's attention and participation in an activity and it is triggered in the interactions between the person and environment features (e.g., novelty and surprise). As represented in the literature, extant conceptions of the phenomenon frame it fundamentally as a discontinuity in a person's experiences. Put differently, a situational interest denotes a moment in which a new object or activity is first brought into a person's stream of experiences and its triggering marks the boundary between two qualitatively distinct moments-a before-and-after-in one's ongoing activity participation. In contrast, I conjecture that situational interests are best understood as phenomena that combine both discontinuous and continuous dimensions of experience. To argue this point, I use three in-depth videotaped case studies of the triggering and (when available) retriggering of situational interests in STEM-based practices and show that the continuity + discontinuity lens provides a fine-grained and more accountable description of the phenomenon, its triggering process, and its eventual uptake and development (or not). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research investigated the nature of the inferences and decisions young children make about informants with a prior history of inaccuracies. Across three experiments, 3- and 4-year-olds (total N = 182) reacted to previously inaccurate informants who offered testimony in an object-labeling task. Of central interest was children's willingness to accept information provided by an inaccurate informant in different contexts of being alone, paired with an accurate informant, or paired with a novel (neutral) informant. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that when a previously inaccurate informant was alone and provided testimony that was not in conflict with the testimony of another informant, children systematically accepted the testimony of that informant. Experiment 3 showed that children accepted testimony from a neutral informant over an inaccurate informant when both provided information, but accepted testimony from an inaccurate informant rather than seeking information from an available neutral informant who did not automatically offer information. These results suggest that even though young children use prior history of accuracy to determine the relative reliability of informants, they are quite willing to trust the testimony of a single informant alone, regardless of whether that informant had previously been reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History is replete with well-intentioned actions and policies that have resulted in dramatic unintended consequences. We review evidence that several psychological biases result in an overly narrow focus on the intended consequences of acts and, consequently, tendencies to ignore or give too little weight to potential unintended consequences. First, a motivated desire for the intended consequences of acts can blind people to the likelihood of alternative possibilities. We review evidence that people process information and evidence in biased ways, leaving them overconfident that the desired consequences will come to pass. Second, even in the absence of motives regarding potential consequences, biases in cognition lead people to focus their attention narrowly on intended consequences in a way that limits their consideration of important alternative, unintended consequences. We review how biases toward focalism and anchoring contribute to a failure to foresee unintended consequences. Finally, we review evidence that subtle manipulations of both motivation and attention can be used to increase the focus and weight given to potential unintended consequences and, consequently, improve anticipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined effects of knowing where to attend to-be-remembered information in advance versus after the fact. Participants performed a visuospatial short-term memory task with orienting cues that appeared before or after a memory display and reported whether a probe item had appeared on the cued side. Event-related potentials ( ERPs) were recorded for cues, memory displays, and probes. Performance was better in precued versus postcued conditions. ERPs to orienting cues and memory displays were lateralized in relation to the direction of attention in precued but not postcued conditions. ERPs to recognition probes were lateralized, but this was similar between pre- and postcued conditions. Results suggest that we can orient visuospatial attention outwardly to external events and inwardly to remembered events alike, but knowing where to attend information in advance gives a bigger boost to brain and behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancín I, Santos JL, Teijeira C, Sánchez-Morla EM, Bescós MJ, Argudo I, Torrijos S, Vázquez-Álvarez B, De La Vega I, López-Ibor JJ, Barabash A, Cabranes-Díaz JA. Sustained attention as a potential endophenotype for bipolar disorder. Objective: Nowadays, it is accepted that to identify the biological basis of psychiatric illnesses it would be useful to deconstruct them into the most basic manifestations, such as cognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to set attention deficit as a stable vulnerability marker of bipolar disorder. Method: Sustained attention was evaluated by the Continuous Performance Test (DS-CPT) in 143 euthymic bipolar patients and 105 controls. To estimate the influence of clinical profile in attention, patients completed a semi-structured interview. Results: Bipolar patients showed a deficit in attention during euthymic periods. This disturbance correlated with years of evolution, age of onset and age of first hospitalisation; and was not influenced by other clinical data. Conclusion: Sustained attention may be considered as an endophenotype of the illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss Humphreys' article in the context of two challenges that exist in regards to future research on the link between action and attention: (1) determining the cognitive and neural mechanisms responsible for an action-attention link and (2) demonstrating that the action-attention links observed in the laboratory reflect the same links between action and attention observed in the complexities of everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pointing with the index finger is a universal behavior. However, the functional significance of indexical pointing has not been examined empirically. We examined the efficacy of various pointing gestures in evoking viewer's attentional shifts. After viewing the gesture cue, observers quickly reported the location of a visual target. With a short cue-target delay, reaction times were generally shorter for the target at the location where gesture cues pointed, but not with a long cue-target delay. Moreover, the indexical pointing gesture produced a significantly larger cueing effect than the other gestures. Our control experiments indicated that the index-finger advantage is tightly linked to the proper morphological shape (i.e. length and position of the index finger) of the indexical pointing and is not explained by the directional discriminability of the gesture. The visual system seems to use mechanisms that are partially independent of the directional discrimination of gestures, in order to quickly modulate the viewer's attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate whether salient visual singletons capture attention when they appear outside the current endogenous attentional focus, we measured the N2pc component as a marker of attentional capture in a visual search task where target or nontarget singletons were presented at locations previously cued as task-relevant, or in the uncued irrelevant hemifield. In two experiments, targets were either defined by color or by a combination of color and shape. The N2pc was elicited both for attended singletons and for singletons on the uncued side, demonstrating that focused endogenous attention cannot prevent attentional capture by salient unattended visual events. However, N2pc amplitudes were larger for attended and unattended singletons that shared features with the current target, suggesting that top-down task sets modulate the capacity of visual singletons to capture attention both within and outside the current attentional focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article points to an imbalance in studies of Jewish, and particularly German-Jewish, self-hatred, namely, they have focused on answering the question of what Jewish self-hatred is, while devoting relatively little attention to the question of how to identify instances of it. After offering some suggestions as to why that has been so, the article examines the effects of the imbalance; more precisely, it seeks to show how those effects amount to a serious problem in the study of Jewish self-hatred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is thought that a child takes the first 8 years of life to develop an adult-like volitional attention system. The data that support this belief, however, are based on studies that inadvertently measured a combination of volitional and reflexive attention, rather than volitional attention alone. What is immature then in children that are younger than 8 years of age? The volitional attention system or the manner that volitional and reflexive attention systems combine? We investigated this issue, with preschool and adult populations, by first isolating and then combining volitional and reflexive attention systems. Our results indicate that both volitional attention, and the way it combines with reflexive orienting, are immature in preschool children. We suggest that when volitional attention becomes adult-like its combination with reflexive attention will also become mature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does real time coupling between mental and physical activity early in development have functional significance? To address this question, we examined the habituation of visual attention and the subsequent response to change in two groups of 3-month-olds with different patterns of movement–attention coupling. In suppressors, the typical decrease in body movement at the onset of looks persists into the looks. In rebounders, the initial decrease is more transient and movement quickly returns above baseline. Suppressors and rebounders did not differ on measures of looking during habituation, but when the stimulus changed rebounders looked more than suppressors. When it did not change, they looked less. In addition, during habituation rebounders spent more time looking away from the stimulus. Rapid motor reactivation soon after gaze locks onto a target, characteristic of rebounders, may influence visual foraging and the response to change by keeping attention near a threshold of engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gricean theory of conversational implicature has always been plagued by data suggesting that what would seem to be conversational inferences may occur within the scope of operators like believe, for example; which for bona fide implicatures should be an impossibility. Concentrating my attention on scalar implicatures, I argue that, for the most part, such observations can be accounted for within a Gricean framework, and without resorting to local pragmatic inferences of any kin d. However, there remains a small class of marked cases that cannot be treated as conversational implicatures, and they do require a local mode of pragmatic interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been great interest in determining if mindfulness can be cultivated and if this cultivation leads to well-being. The current study offers preliminary evidence that at least one aspect of mindfulness, measured by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS; K. W. Brown & R. M. Ryan, 2003), can be cultivated and does mediate positive outcomes. Further, adherence to the practices taught during the meditation-based interventions predicted positive outcomes. College undergraduates were randomly allocated between training in two distinct meditation-based interventions, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR; J. Kabat-Zinn, 1990; n=15) and E. Easwaran's (1978/1991) Eight Point Program (EPP; n=14), or a waitlist control (n=15). Pretest, posttest, and 8-week follow-up data were gathered on self-report outcome measures. Compared to controls, participants in both treatment groups (n=29) demonstrated increases in mindfulness at 8-week follow-up. Further, increases in mindfulness mediated reductions in perceived stress and rumination. These results suggest that distinct meditation-based practices can increase mindfulness as measured by the MAAS, which may partly mediate benefits. Implications and future directions are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 64: 1–23, 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple schedules using continuous discriminative stimuli have been used to minimize children's disruptive requesting for teacher attention (e.g., colored floral leis; Tiger & Hanley, 2004; Tiger, Hanley, & Heal, 2006). The present study evaluated the effectiveness of, and children's preferences for, two multiple-schedule arrangements in which brief experimenter vocalizations served as discriminative stimuli. Results showed that brief signals were highly effective discriminative stimuli for 3 of the 4 children, and that all children preferred one or both variations of the multiple schedule to a control arrangement. For 1 child, highly discriminated responding was achieved only when continuous signals were introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the nature of childrens' questions. A total of 68 children aged 1 to 5 from the Bing Nursery School comprised the respondents. A total of 81% asked information-seeking questions, 67% on facts, and 14% on explanation. The younger children asked for facts while the older children gravitated toward question which required explanation. Also, children ask both isolated queries and questions that take place in a series that build on one another. Thus, the building questions act as the bridge between the information-seeking questions and exploratory questions.

Two experiments explored whether weapons automatically capture attention or whether eyewitnesses can overcome the weapon focus effect if so instructed. Witnesses heard a lecture that either instructed them to attend to the target individual and avoid fixating on the weapon or presented unrelated information. Subsequently, they observed the target carrying either a weapon or a book and attempted to remember his appearance. Control witnesses reported fewer correct and more incorrect details when he carried a weapon rather than the book. However, the reports of educated witnesses did not differ between object conditions. Additionally, witnesses' ability to avoid weapon focus was unaffected by weapon unusualness and elevated arousal levels, and control witnesses provided better descriptions of the weapon than the book. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (or who engage in behavior consistent with such a diagnosis) are often prescribed stimulant medications for hyperactive or inattentive behaviors. However, the mechanisms by which stimulant medications affect individuals' behavior are rarely evaluated. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of stimulant medication on response allocation when antecedents and consequences were held constant and equated. Results indicated that the presence of an amphetamine medication (Adderall®) influenced response allocation across two concurrently available responses while all other stimulus conditions were held constant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Study 1, 54 3-, 6- and 9-month-old infants interacted with an adult stranger who engaged in a face-to-face (dyadic) exchange. Dyadic interaction was halted when the adult turned away to look at an object. In a Joint Attention condition, the adult alternated visual attention between the infant and the object, and in a Look Away condition she looked away at the object only. Infants gazed and smiled more in the Joint Attention condition compared to in the Look Away condition. Infants’ gazing to the target object interacted with age and condition. In Study 2, 37 3-, 6- and 9-month old infants interacted with an adult who coordinated visual attention and affect, affect only, visual attention only, or ignored the infant. Infants gazed reliably more at E when she coordinated both affect and attention and smiled reliably more when the adult coordinated affect and attention or attention only. The findings show a sensitivity to triadic attention by 3 months of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study replicates and extends previous research on stimulus control by ar- ranging teacher attention for preschooler's mands into a multiple schedule and conducting a component analysis of the effects of schedule-correlated stimuli and contingency-specifying stimuli (rules) on the development of discriminated manding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crossmodal links in spatial attention were studied in an experiment where participants had to detect peripheral tactile or visual targets on the attended side, while ignoring all stimuli on the unattended side and in the currently irrelevant modality. Both relevant locations and relevant modalities were specified on a trial-by-trial basis by auditory precues. Spatial orienting in the cue--target interval was reflected in anterior negativities and occipital positivities contralateral to the cued side, either when vision or touch was cued as relevant. These effects resembled previously reported ERP modulations during shifts of visual attention, implicating supramodal mechanisms in the control of spatial attention and demonstrating their independence of cue modality. Early effects of spatial attention on somatosensory and visual ERPs were of equivalent size for currently relevant and irrelevant modalities. Results support the idea that crossmodal links in spatial attention are mediated by supramodal control mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two groups of children, one with good attention and low hyperactivity and the other with poor attention and high hyperactivity, were formed on the basis of teachers' ratings. The groups were tested on a large number of tests of attentional performance, covering selective attention, divided attention, sustained attention and executive function. Analysis of group differences, with verbal and non-verbal intelligence controlled statistically, indicated that the groups demonstrated significant differences on a variety of measures. Principal components analysis of the tests of attention isolated two components, one of which significantly distinguished the two groups. It is suggested that this component reflected aspects of executive control of attention. The measures which discriminated the groups most clearly were efficiency of visual search involving two targets in alternation, the number of correct responses on a specially devised version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and a task measuring the ability to inhibit a dominant response. It is suggested that all these tasks required a combination of selective attention and executive control. It was also noted that the poor attention group produced bigger individual differences on all measures, indicating that this group may include a variety of weaknesses which require more precise analysis to distinguish them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attentional modulations of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured when subjects were cued to attend to a visual quadrant or to a ring-shaped region of visual space to detect infrequently presented targets within the attended region. Spatial attention directed to quadrants was reflected in modulations of sensory-evoked P1 and N1 components at lateral posterior sites and enhanced negativities (Nds) at midline electrodes that started around 150 ms poststimulus. When attention was directed to ring-shaped regions, no modulations of P1 and N1 amplitudes were found, and Nd effects observed at midline electrodes were delayed by about 50 ms. These findings indicate that behavioral effects observed both when attention is directed to contiguous regions and to general areas of visual space may be caused by different underlying processes. Intraperceptual “sensory gating” mechanisms operating in a way suggested by the notion of an attentional “zoom-lens” may be responsible for the selection of single regions, quadrants, or hemifields. When relevant regions are more complex, spatial selectivity will affect primarily postperceptual processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of shifting attention toward or away from visual or auditory stimuli of varying intensities were studied using average evoked responses (AERs) in 24 normal human volunteers. Ss were asked to attend to visual or auditory stimuli of four intensities (randomly presented) or to ignore the lights and tones and do mental arithmetic. For visual stimuli, attentional effects were largest at low intensities whereas for auditory stimuli equal effects were shown across intensities. Similar individual rates of increase of AER amplitude with increasing intensity were observed for both visual and auditory stimuli when attentional conditions were controlled. These results suggest that some general intensity processing response is reflected in the AER and that it is important to control attention in AER experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that this it is known that responses to the MMPI may be manipulated to a certain extent to give the impression of a greater or lesser severity of illness. For the most part, however, studies have been confined to a global instruction to "fake good" or "fake bad" with less attention given to what happens to other scores when subjects are requested to alter a particular area of response. Scores on this scale appear to have some behavioral meaning, and at the same time, seem to be less subject to conscious dissimulation than many of the other clinical scales. This study investigated the degree to which the PD scale could be deliberately manipulated independently of other MMPI dimensions.

The article investigates the effects of offering clients a choice of therapeutic style on show rate and reactions to the initial interview. Individuals who called for an appointment were assigned randomly to choice and attention-control conditions. Attention-Control clients were informed about the range of services available at the clinic and paired with a therapist regardless of style on the usual rotating basis. A significantly higher proportion of choice than attention-control subjects kept their scheduled appointments. However, no significant differences were found on client and therapist evaluations of the initial interview.

The article indicates that the Developmental Attention Test offers much promise as a developmental test of attentivity and as a diagnostic test of the process of attention. The present data, although of a preliminary nature, indicate that the ability to attend to a task increases with age. However, the grade to grade and year to year increase seems to be greater in the first half rather than the second half of elementary school. The relation of IQ to the ability to attend also seems to be of greater magnitude during the first half of this period.

The article presents a study, which attempts an empirical evaluation of nondirective reflection vs. conflict attention. Nondirective reflection and conflict attention were systematically manipulated by therapists functioning at different levels of therapeutically facilitative conditions of empathy, regard, genuineness and concreteness. The results so obtained indicated that attention to conflict elicited more client self-exploration than did nondirective reflection. The study also discusses the implications thereof.

The article test the retardation-divided attention hypothesis, a technique that had to be devised to break up the melancholic's absorption. It was thought that, if the blotting out process took place with the depressives, their speed of performance would increase, while the speed of hysterics would not increase since their attention was presumed not to be divided. Abolition of all choice-points in the mazes reduced the intra-individual variability of the speed measures and thus enabled statistically significant differences to be obtained with half the number of subjects used in the original experiments. Abolition of choice-points should also increase the range of subjects to whom the procedure can be applied.