Both negative and positive task-irrelevant stimuli contract attentional breadth in individuals with high levels of negative affect.

Emotionally-salient stimuli can capture attention to their spatial location, even when they are not relevant to a prescribed task. Here we tested whether they can influence the spatial of attention. Experiment 1 tested whether small task-irrelevant emotionally-salient stimuli contracted attentional breadth when the task required a broad focus, while Experiment 2 tested whether large task-irrelevant emotionally-salient stimuli expanded attentional breadth when the task required a narrow focus.

Cause or symptom? A longitudinal test of bidirectional relationships between emotion regulation strategies and mental health symptoms.

Previous work has generally conceptualized emotion regulation as contributing to mental health outcomes, and not vice versa. The present study challenges this assumption by using a prospective design to investigate the directionality of underlying relationships between emotion regulation and mental health in the context of a major population-level stressor. We surveyed a large nationally representative sample of adults (18-91 years, = 704) at three 1-month intervals across the acute lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, using standardized measures of depression and anxiety symptoms.

No effect of spatial attention on the processing of a motion ensemble: Evidence from Posner cueing.

The formation of ensemble codes is an efficient means through which the visual system represents vast arrays of information. This has led to the claim that ensemble representations are formed with minimal reliance on attentional resources. However, evidence is mixed regarding the effects of attention on ensemble processing, and researchers do not always make it clear how attention is being manipulated by their paradigm of choice.

Immediate emotions and subjective stakes in risky decision-making under uncertainty.

Background: Previous research has shown that immediate emotions and cognitive processing of the stakes of outcomes influence decision-making under uncertainty. The effect of perceived beneficial stakes and different types of immediate emotions on decision-making is an important topic that has received little attention in the literature. This study investigated the effects of trait anxiety and anticipatory emotions (fear, sadness, excitement and comfortability) on the perception of thee stakes of outcomes and behavioral intentions.

On the Structure and Source of Individual Differences in Toddlers' Comprehension of Transitive Sentences.

How children learn grammar is one of the most fundamental questions in cognitive science. Two theoretical accounts, namely, the Early Abstraction and Usage-Based accounts, propose competing answers to this question. To compare the predictions of these accounts, we tested the comprehension of 92 24-month old children of transitive sentences with novel verbs (e.

The Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Birth Parents in Child Protection Services: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Birth parents of children in the statutory child protection system have disproportionally high rates of trauma exposure and mental health problems, however, little is known about the extent to which this population display symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Complex PTSD. This study provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of the PTSD rates in parent samples involved in the child protection services.

Method: Articles were identified by searching PSYCINFO, Medline, CINAHL, and PILOTS.

A systematic survey of face stimuli used in psychological research 2000-2020.

For decades, psychology has relied on highly standardized images to understand how people respond to faces. Many of these stimuli are rigorously generated and supported by excellent normative data; as such, they have played an important role in the development of face science. However, there is now clear evidence that testing with ambient images (i.

Physical and Mental Health Effects of Bushfire and Smoke in the Australian Capital Territory 2019-20.

The 2019-20 bushfire season in south-eastern Australia was one of the most severe in recorded history. Bushfire smoke-related air pollution reached hazardous levels in major metropolitan areas, including the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), for prolonged periods of time. Bushfire smoke directly challenges human health through effects on respiratory and cardiac function, but can also indirectly affect health, wellbeing and quality of life.

Acute effects of Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol on auditory mismatch negativity.

Rationale: Mismatch negativity (MMN) is a candidate endophenotype for schizophrenia subserved by N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) function and there is increasing evidence that prolonged cannabis use adversely affects MMN generation. Few human studies have investigated the acute effects of cannabinoids on brain-based biomarkers of NMDAR function and synaptic plasticity.

Objectives: The current study investigated the acute effects of Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) alone and in combination on the mismatch negativity (MMN).

Interpersonal attachment, early family environment, and trauma in hoarding: A systematic review.

The formation of intense emotional attachments to objects, difficulty parting with possessions, and the extreme accumulation of clutter are key features of Hoarding Disorder (HD). Although substantial literature implicates processes such as dysfunctional beliefs and maladaptive emotional cycles in HD, little is known about the vulnerability factors that lead to their development and hoarding symptomatology. The current review sought to systematically collate and integrate findings from studies investigating the relationship between hoarding symptoms and three proposed vulnerability factors: i) interpersonal attachment, ii) early family environment, and iii) traumatic or adverse life events.

A randomised controlled trial evaluating two universal prevention programs for children: Building resilience to manage worry.

Background: Childhood anxiety and depression lead to great distress and impairment. Preventing them simultaneously in early life is critically important. We evaluated the long-term efficacy of an emotion regulation-based (ER) and a behavioural activation-based (BA) program.

Identifying the contingencies of self-worth associated with eating disorder symptoms: The use of choice-based conjoint analysis.

Objective: Self-worth contingent on shape/weight is a diagnostic criterion and key maintaining factor for eating disorders. However, the role of other contingencies of self-worth (i.e.

Prior Exposure and Toddlers' Sleep-Related Memory for Novel Words.

Children can easily link a novel word to a novel, unnamed object-something referred to as fast mapping. Despite the ease and speed with which children do this, their memories for novel fast-mapped words can be poor unless they receive memory supports such as further exposure to the words or sleep. Axelsson, Swinton, Winiger, and Horst (2018) found that 2.

The effect of descriptive norms and social identification on performance and exertion during a physical fitness task.

Research suggests that people's perceptions of the typical physical activity behaviors of others-descriptive norms-shape their own physical activity. However, prior work has primarily used cross-sectional designs, focused on people's physical activity intentions or self-reported overall physical activity, and failed to attend to how the normative referent affects the norm-behavior relationship. In a pre-registered experiment, we manipulated the descriptive norm to explore its effect on perceived exertion during, and objectively assessed performance on, an exercise (running) task.

Effects of Symmetry and Apparent Distance in a Parasagittal-Mirror Variant of the Rubber Hand Illusion Paradigm.

When I see my face in a mirror, its apparent position (behind the glass) is not one that my own face could be in. I accept the face I see as my own because I have an implicit understanding of how mirrors work. The situation is different if I look at the reflection of my right hand in a parasagittal mirror (parallel to body midline) when my left hand is hidden behind the mirror.

Insights on overflow from failure to report tasks.

Theories of consciousness diverge on the functional requirement that a conscious state need be reportable. Some maintain that the perceptual system's capacity for consciousness exceeds that of its capacity for access. Others contend that what is accessed is all there is to consciousness.

The relationship between the subjective experience of real-world cognitive failures and objective target-detection performance in visual search.

Visual search is a common occurrence in everyday life, such as searching for the location of keys, identifying a friend in a crowd, or scanning an upcoming intersection for hazards while driving. Visual search is also used in professional contexts, such as medical diagnostic imaging and airport baggage screening. These contexts are often characterised by low-prevalence or rare targets.

An Updated Account on Parents' Use of and Attitudes Towards Time-Out.

Time-out (TO) is a well-established technique for effectively managing childhood conduct problems, yet there is increasing controversy around its use. Using a mixed-methods approach, we investigated the impact of recent criticisms against TO on parents' use of and attitudes towards it. A community sample of parents (N = 297, M = 37.

A cognitive model of delusion propensity through dysregulated correlation detection.

Background: We present a novel account of delusion propensity that integrates the roles of working memory (WM), decision criteria, and information gathering biases. This framework emphasises the role of aberrant correlation detection, which leads to the spurious perception of relationships between one's experiences. The frequency of such outcomes is moderated by the scaling of one's decision criteria which, for reasons discussed, must also account for WM capacity.

Patterns of brain function associated with cannabis cue-reactivity in regular cannabis users: a systematic review of fMRI studies.

Rationale: Regular cannabis use (i.e. ≥ monthly) is highly prevalent, with past year use being reported by ~ 200 million people globally.

A multifaceted study of interpersonal functioning and cognitive biases towards social stimuli in adolescents with eating disorders and healthy controls.

Background: Cognitive biases towards social stimuli have been identified as one of the putative modifiable mechanisms to remediate interpersonal difficulties in adolescents with mental disorders. However, evidence for these biases in adolescents with eating disorders is scarce.

Methods: This study assessed interpersonal sensitivity, cognitive biases towards social stimuli, and quantity and quality of social group memberships in adolescents with eating disorders (n = 80), compared to healthy controls (n = 78), and examined whether a negative interpretation bias would mediate the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity, eating disorder symptoms and positive group memberships.

Associations of loneliness, belongingness and health behaviors with psychological distress and wellbeing during COVID-19.

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of loneliness, belongingness and other modifiable factors on psychological distress and wellbeing and whether the effects of COVID-19 modulated these relationships.

Methods: The current study reported on 1217 participants aged 18 years or older who completed an online survey from 28 to 31 March 2020. Survey measures included demographic characteristics; exposure to COVID-19; impact of COVID-19 on employment, finance, and work and social adjustment; loneliness, thwarted belongingness, and health behavior changes as modifiable factors.

Onset Neighborhood Density Slows Lexical Access in High Vocabulary 30-Month Olds.

There is consensus that the adult lexicon exhibits lexical competition. In particular, substantial evidence demonstrates that words with more phonologically similar neighbors are recognized less efficiently than words with fewer neighbors. How and when these effects emerge in the child's lexicon is less clear.

Groups 4 Health protects against unanticipated threats to mental health: Evaluating two interventions during COVID-19 lockdown among young people with a history of depression and loneliness.

Background: Decades of research indicate that when social connectedness is threatened, mental health is at risk. However, extant interventions to tackle loneliness have had only modest success, and none have been trialled under conditions of such threat.

Method: 174 young people with depression and loneliness were randomised to one of two evidence-based treatments: cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) or Groups 4 Health (G4H), an intervention designed to increase social group belonging.