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Curiosity has received increasing attention in the educational literature, yet empirical investigations have been limited by inconsistent conceptualizations and the use of curiosity synonymously with other constructs, particularly interest. The purpose of this review is to critically examine the dimensionality, definitions, and measures of curiosity within educational settings, and address the boundaries between curiosity and interest. A systematic review of 39 articles from 2003 to 2013 revealed a reliance on self-report measures, a focus on curiosity as a personality trait, and definitions characterized by four themes, the most common of which were curiosity as a need for knowledge or information, and curiosity as a motivator of exploratory behavior. The overlap and relations between curiosity and interest are discussed, and it is proposed that an examination of (a) the role of knowledge, (b) goals and outcomes, and (c) stability and malleability provide a basis for differentiating curiosity and interest according to their essential characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to test a model linking interest, engagement, and performance. The study assessed three types of situational interest (triggered, maintained-feeling, and maintained-value), behavioral engagement, behavioral disaffection, and performance in Spanish language classes. These variables were assessed in the classroom over a nine-month period on a sample of 565 Spanish secondary students aged 12 to 17 years (mean age = 13.78 years; SD = 1.14). A series of structural equation models revealed that the three types of situational interest significantly predicted engagement, disaffection, and performance; engagement and disaffection also predicted performance; as hypothesized, engagement and disaffection mediated the effects of situational interest on academic performance. To conclude, the implications of these findings are discussed in the light of current theory of interest and educational intervention programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the present study was to determine if older adults benefited from attention to a specific sensory modality in a voluntary attention task and evidenced changes in voluntary or involuntary attention when compared to younger adults. Suppressing and enhancing effects of voluntary attention were assessed using two cued forced-choice tasks, one that asked participants to localize and one that asked them to categorize visual and auditory targets. Involuntary attention was assessed using the same tasks, but with no attentional cues. The effects of attention were evaluated using traditional comparisons of means and Cox proportional hazards models. All analyses showed that older adults benefited behaviorally from selective attention in both visual and auditory conditions, including robust suppressive effects of attention. Of note, the performance of the older adults was commensurate with that of younger adults in almost all analyses, suggesting that older adults can successfully engage crossmodal attention processes. Thus, age-related increases in distractibility across sensory modalities are likely due to mechanisms other than deficits in attentional processing. [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]

Abstract: Mental processes related to visceral activity have gained growing interest during the last few years. The following study is the first to investigate possible interactions between interoceptive awareness and measures of attentional performance. We tested the hypothesis whether interoceptive awareness is positively related to indices of selective and divided attentional performances. Using a heartbeat perception task, 29 healthy female participants were separated into two groups scoring either high or low in an interoceptive awareness task. Attentional performance was assessed by several tests including the ‘d2 test of attention’ and subtests from the ‘TAP: Test Battery for Attentional Performance’. We observed a significantly better performance in selective and divided attention for participants with high interoceptive awareness. Our data suggests that interoceptive awareness is related to a better performance especially in tasks assessing selective and divided attention. We conclude 1) that perception of bodily states might be a crucial determinant for the processing of external, visual stimuli, 2) that the ability to perceive internal signals might be an indicator of self-focused attention, and 3) that bodily signals may use, at least in part, similar processing resources as signals from the attention system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study explored the relationship between handedness and interest in night-sky watching. University students (N = 128) completed the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (Oldfield, 1971) and the Noctcaelador Inventory (Kelly, 2004). The findings indicated that mixed-handed participants scored highest on noctcaelador relative to those classified as either left or right-handed. The results and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This experiment investigated the relationships between the characteristics of prospective-users of traffic signs (people who will use the signs in the future) and the guessability of traffic signs, and also examined the effects of sign design features on the guessability of traffic signs. Forty-one Hong Kong Chinese subjects guessed the meanings and rated the sign features of 120 Mainland Chinese signs. Contrary to expectation, cycling experience and previous experience with sign information had no effect on sign guessing. Males and females with similar education level had similar guessing performance. Previous experience of visiting Mainland China was a significant predictor of guessing performance. Family ownership of a vehicle was associated with guessing performance for subjects who intended to become a driver and for those with car game experience. Subjects who claimed to pay attention to traffic signs in daily life performed better at sign guessing than those who did not. Traffic incident experience did not seem to enhance awareness of, or knowledge about, traffic signs. Guessability of a sign varied with the five design features of; familiarity, concreteness, simplicity, meaningfulness, and semantic closeness of the sign. Semantic closeness was the best predictor of guessability score, followed by familiarity, meaningfulness, concreteness, and simplicity. In order to design more user-friendly traffic signs and effective ways of using them, it is suggested that designers develop and evaluate signs according to the relative importance of the five sign features. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two studies tested whether the possession of a mental story-bank (a set of thematically related narratives) affected the processing of a related narrative. Three competing predictions were proposed: a story-bank may lead to reduced attention, increased attention, or selective attention to a new, related story. The results of Study 1 (N = 125 undergraduates) suggested that a prior story-bank led to more efficient processing of a target narrative (as indicated by recall data), favoring a selective attention interpretation. Study 2 (N = 114 undergraduates) showed that individuals who possessed a relevant story-bank were more persuaded by a related target narrative, also consistent with the selective attention interpretation. Story-banks thus appeared to facilitate, rather than hinder, processing of new narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the effects of voluntary and automatic orienting after a relatively long interval in an attentional cueing paradigm. Facilitation of return was observed after the voluntary orienting to a designated color (Experiment 1) and motion direction (Experiment 2), whereas inhibition of return was observed after the automatic orienting to an abrupt stimulus onset (Experiment 1). These results suggest that the voluntary orienting to a visual attribute modulates subsequent processes differently from the automatic orienting to an abrupt onset. In the voluntary orienting to visual attributes, it would be advantageous to return attention to the previously attended location, which is a potential source of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the relations of the Divided Attention Questionnaire (DAQ) developed by Tun and Wingfield (1995) to age, and to measures of divided attention performance. With increased age activities assumed to require divided attention were rated as more difficult, were perceived as becoming more difficult over time, and were per- formed less frequently. However, no significant relations were found between DAQ ratings and performance on divided attention tasks administered in the laboratory. This suggests that the DAQ may not be a valid measure of divided attention ability as that construct is measured with laboratory tasks. Possible explanations for the lack of relations between the DAQ ratings and measures of divided attention performance are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a risk model under a constant interest force was constructed. The first results devoted to the behavior of a ruin probability in this model were obtained. But there was no systematical research of its properties, not even qualitative properties. In this paper, the problem of qualitative model research is put forth and the main formulas characterizing dynamics of the model are obtained. This paper develops classical results devoted to the behavior of the ruin probability under conditions of permanent inflation and constant interest force and gives a generalization of the Lindley chain, which was used in the risk model without interest force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are scientific advantages to defining mindfulness in terms of the psychological processes involved. Doing so, however, necessarily uncouples mindfulness from any given technology, including meditation. Defining mindfulness in terms of the self-regulation of attention and a posture of acceptance seems progressive, but there are underlying philosophical attachments in the proposed definition that might limit its applicability if they are treated too rigidly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in knowledge about personality will be fostered by improved research methods, but corresponding improvements in our theories will be needed also, better methods will not be enough. Theory itself can have methodological functions, and some methods provide strong impetus toward greater theoretical clarity and rigor. Distinctions between methodological developments in research design, measurement, and analysis need to be maintained, and we badly need more research directed specifically toward improving methodologies. Some papers in this volume point quite clearly to the need for all aspects of our research to be better rationalized and deliberate, casual and opportunistic decisions about how to carry out research simply will not do. These papers indicate, for example, that the trait vs situation controversy would likely never have occurred had the issues been addressed with greater methodological, and logical, rigor. This volume is not complete in its coverage of the potentially useful methods for personality research, and attention should ultimately be devoted to such methods as life histories and case studies and cross-cultural comparisons. In general, however, the papers in this volume offer an opportunity to raise the level of research in personality to a new plane of sophistication and revealingness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on termination as one of the stages of consultation which receives minimal attention in consultation. She believes that the mentioned topic rightfully deserves careful thought and acknowledgement. Moreover, she comments that now is the appropriate time to think about the past as well as the future.

The article discusses the clinical use of Peak and Nadir experience reports. The rise of clinical interest in existential problems raises the issue of how existential data are to be brought within objective frames of reference. To date, experimental-statistical studies of existential problems are almost completely lacking and methods for bringing such data into the laboratory have yet to be developed. A "nadir" experience may be described operationally as a subjective experiencing of what is subjectively recognized to be one of the lowest points of life, one of the worst, most unpleasant and harrowing experiences of life.

The article explores whether student subjects' implicit leadership theories are generalizable to professional subjects. Considerable attention has been focused recently in the literatwe of social and organizational psychology on the issue of the generalizability of research from the laboratory to the field. Whereas some researchers argue that it is appropriate to use student samples, others maintain that results differ from those of field samples. The present study explored whether student subjects' implicit leadership theories are generalizable to professional subjects. An individual's implicit leadership theory refers to beliefs held about how leaders behave in general and what is expected of them. These beliefs have been shown to bias or distort an individual's perception and description of leaders' actual behavior. In this study, student and professional subjects' implicit theories about requirements for effective leadership were examined within the attribution framework by analyzing their internal and external requirements.

Visual attention is attracted by salient stimuli that ‘pop out’ from their surroundings. Attention can also be voluntarily directed to objects of current importance to the observer. What happens in the brain when these two processes interact? [Copyright &y& Elsevier]