Psychology Commons^™

The Sound Of Social Cognition: Toddlers’ Understanding Of How Sound Influences Others, Rebecca Williamson, Rechele Brooks, Andrew N. Meltzoff

Psychology Faculty Publications

Understanding others’ perceptions is a fundamental aspect of social cognition. Children’s construal of visual perception is well investigated, but there is little work on children’s understanding of others’ auditory perception. The current study assesses toddlers’ recognition that producing different sounds can affect others differentially—auditory perspective taking. Two- and three-year-olds were familiarized with two objects, one loud and one quiet. The adult then introduced a doll, and children were randomly assigned to one of two goals: either to wake the doll or to let her sleep. Children’s object choice and the sound intensity they produced significantly varied in the predicted direction …

The Impact Of Genome-Wide Supported Schizophrenia Risk Variants In The Neurogranin Gene On Brain Structure And Function, Esther Walton, Daniel Geisler, Johanna Hass, Jingyu Liu, Jessica Turner, Anastasia Yendiki, Michael N. Smolka, Beng-Choon Ho, Dara S. Manoach, Randy L. Gollub, Veit Roessner, Vince D. Calhoun, Stefan Ehrlich

Psychology Faculty Publications

The neural mechanisms underlying genetic risk for schizophrenia, a highly heritable psychiatric condition, are still under investigation. New schizophrenia risk genes discovered through genome-wide association studies (GWAS), such as neurogranin (NRGN), can be used to identify these mechanisms. In this study we examined the association of two common NRGN risk single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with functional and structural brain-based intermediate phenotypes for schizophrenia. We obtained structural, functional MRI and genotype data of 92 schizophrenia patients and 114 healthy volunteers from the multisite Mind Clinical Imaging Consortium study. Two schizophrenia-associated NRGN SNPs (rs12807809 and rs12541) were tested for association with working …

When Given The Opportunity, Chimpanzees Maximize Personal Gain Rather Than "Level The Playing Field", Lydia M. Hopper, Susan P. Lambeth, Steven J. Schapiro, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

We provided chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with the ability to improve the quality of food rewards they received in a dyadic test of inequity.We were interested to see if this provision influenced their responses and, if so, whether it was mediated by a social partner’s outcomes. We tested eight dyads using an exchange paradigm in which, depending on the condition, the chimpanzees were rewarded with either high-value (a grape) or low-value (a piece of celery) food rewards for each completed exchange. We included four conditions. In the first, “Different” condition, the subject received different, less-preferred, rewards than their partner for each …

A Multi-Site Resting State Fmri Study On The Amplitude Of Low Frequency Fluctuations In Schizophrenia, Jessica Turner, Eswar Damaraju, Theo G. M. Van Erp, Daniel H. Mathalon, Judith Ford, James Voyvodic, Bryon A. Mueller, Aysenil Belger, Juan Bustillo, Sarah Mcewin, Steven G. Potkin, Vince D. Calhoun

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: This multi-site study compares resting state fMRI amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and fractional ALFF (fALFF) between patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy controls (HC). Methods: Eyes-closed resting fMRI scans (5:38 min; n = 306, 146 SZ) were collected from 6 Siemens 3T scanners and one GE 3T scanner. Imaging data were pre-processed using an SPM pipeline. Power in the low frequency band (0.01–0.08 Hz) was calculated both for the original pre-processed data as well as for the pre-processed data after regressing out the six rigid-body motion parameters, mean white matter (WM) and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) signals. …

Reduced Neural Activation During An Inhibition Task Is Associated With Impaired Fear Inhibition In A Traumatized Civilian Sample, Tanja Jovanovic, Tim Ely, Negar Fani, Ebony Glover, David Gutman, Erin Tone, Seth D. Norrholm, Bekh Bradley, Kerry J. Ressler

Psychology Faculty Publications

Introduction: Impaired inhibition of fear in the presence of safety cues and a deficiency in the extinction of fear cues are increasingly thought to be important biological markers of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Other studies have suggested that there may be altered neural activation during behavioral inhibition tasks in subjects with PTSD. The current study aimed to see whether neural activation during inhibition was reduced in a highly traumatized civilian population, and whether atypical activation was associated with impaired fear inhibition.

Methods: The participants were 41 traumatized women (20 PTSD+, 21 PTSD-) recruited from Grady Memorial Hospital in …

Fkbp5 Modulates Attention Bias For Threat: Associations With Hippocampal Function And Morphology, Negar Fani, David Gutman, Erin Tone, Lynn Almli, Kristina B. Mercer, Jennifer Davis, Ebony Glover, Tanja Jovanovic, Bekh Bradley, Ivo D. Dinov, Alen Zamanyan, Arthur W. Toga, Elisabeth B. Binder, Kerry J. Ressler

Psychology Faculty Publications

Context: The FKBP5 gene product regulates glucocorticoid receptor (GR) sensitivity and hypothalamicpituitary‐adrenal axis functioning, and has been associated with a number of stress‐related psychiatric disorders. The study of intermediate phenotypes, such as emotion‐processing biases and their neural substrates, provides a way to clarify the mechanisms by which FKBP5 dysregulation mediates psychopathology risk.

Objective: To examine whether allelic variations for a putatively functional SNP associated with FKBP5 gene regulation (rs1360780) would relate differentially to attentional bias for threat; this was measured through behavioral response on a dot probe task and hippocampal activation during task performance. Morphological substrates of differential hippocampal response …

Increased Cnv-Region Deletions In Mild Cognitive Impairment (Mci) And Alzheimer's Disease (Ad) Subjects In The Adni Sample, Guia Guffanti, Federica Torri, Jerod Rasmussen, Andrew P. Clark, Anita Lakatos, Jessica Turner, James H. Fallon, Andew Saykin, Michael Weiner, Marquis P. Vawter, James A. Knowles, Steven G. Potkin, Fabio Macciardi

Psychology Faculty Publications

We investigated the genome-wide distribution of CNVs in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) Neuroimaging Initia- tive (ADNI) sample (146 with AD, 313 with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and 181 controls). Comparison of single CNVs between cases (MCI and AD) and controls shows overrepresentation of large hetero- zygous deletions in cases (p-value b 0.0001). The analysis of CNV-Regions identifies 44 copy number variable loci of heterozygous deletions, with more CNV-Regions among affected than controls (p = 0.005). Seven of the 44 CNV-Regions are nominally significant for association with cognitive impairment. We validated and con- firmed our main findings with genome re-sequencing of …

Potential Impact Of Mir-137 And Its Targets In Schizophrenia, Carrie Wright, Jessica Turner, Vince D. Calhoun, Nora I. Perrone-Bizzozero

Psychology Faculty Publications

The significant impact of microRNAs (miRNAs) on disease pathology is becoming increas- ingly evident. These small non-coding RNAs have the ability to post-transcriptionally silence the expression of thousands of genes. Therefore, dysregulation of even a single miRNA could confer a large polygenic effect. Schizophrenia is a genetically complex illness thought to involve multiple genes each contributing a small risk. Large genome-wide association studies identified miR-137, a miRNA shown to be involved in neuronal maturation, as one of the top risk genes. To assess the potential mechanism of impact of miR-137 in this disorder and identify its targets, we used a …

Electroconvulsive Therapy Response In Major Depressive Disorder: A Pilot Functional Network Connectivity Resting State Fmri Investigation, Christopher C. Abbott, Nicholas T. Lemke, Shruti Gopal, R J. Thoma, Juan Bustillo, Vince D. Calhoun, Jessica Turner

Psychology Faculty Publications

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with increased functional connectivity in specific neural networks. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the gold-standard treat- ment for acute, treatment-resistant MDD, but temporal dependencies between networks associated with ECT response have yet to be investigated. In the present longitudinal, case–control investigation, we used independent component analysis to identify distinct networks of brain regions with temporally coherent hemodynamic signal change and func- tional network connectivity (FNC) to assess component time course correlations across these networks. MDD subjects completed imaging and clinical assessments immediately prior to the ECT series and a minimum of 5 days after the last …

Number Without Language: Comparative Psychology And The Evolution Of Numerical Cognition, Christian Agrillo, Michael J. Beran

Language Research Center

No abstract provided.

Change-Agent-For-Equity (Cafe) Model: A Framework For School Counselor Identity, Erin Mason, Melissa Ockerman

Counseling and Psychological Services Faculty Publications

Significant recent influences in the profession have provided clear direction about what school counseling programs should look like but have not explicitly defined the professional identity necessary to enact these programs. A Change-Agent-for-Equity (CAFE) Model draws from the American School Counselor Association National Model (2003, 2005, 2012) and the tenets of the National Center for Transforming School Counseling (Martin, 2002), proposing that the school counselor’s professional identity is central to school counseling programs and program outcomes. A case scenario is presented to illustrate the CAFE model in context.

School Counseling Supervision In Challenging Times: The Cafe Supervisor Model, Melissa Ockerman, Erin Mason, Stuart Chen-Hayes

Counseling and Psychological Services Faculty Publications

Given the increased need for school counselors to proactively address the pervasive achievement, opportunity, and attainment gaps, school counselor preparation should move from traditional supervision models to one with an equitable K-12 student outcomes focus. The Change Agent for Equity (CAFE) model presented can help school counselors-in-training foster a change agent identity, aimed at helping all K-12 students succeed and reach their postsecondary dreams. The CAFE model and the supervisor’s identity and supervision practices within the model are described. Additionally, internship assignments and rubrics are outlined and supervisory recommendations and implications are discussed.

Commentary On The Special Issue On Parent Involvement/Engagement In Early Childhood Education, Christopher C. Henrich

Psychology Faculty Publications

The articles in this special issue of the NHSA Dialog contribute to the growing body of literature on the importance of engaging parents in early childhood education for children’s development, learning and achievement. They highlight cultural factors that programs should take into consideration in their outreach to parents, and address a number of potential barriers to their involvement parents may face. Findings reported in this issue also provide evidence-based, innovative strategies for engaging parents. Additionally, the set of articles presents a robust range of ways that parent involvement and engagement in early childhood education can be conceptualized and operationalized. Hopefully …

Dissecting The Mechanisms Of Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri Boliviensis) Social Learning, Lydia M. Hopper, A. N. Holmes, Lawrence E. Williams, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Although the social learning abilities of monkeys have been well documented, this research has only focused on a few species. Furthermore, of those that also incorporated dissections of social learning mechanisms, the majority studied either capuchins (Cebus apella) or marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). To gain a broader understanding of how monkeys gain new skills, we tested squirrel monkeys (Saimiri boliviensis) which have never been studied in tests of social learning mechanisms. To determine whether S. boliviensis can socially learn, we ran “open diffusion” tests with monkeys housed in two social groups (N = 23). Over the course of 10 20-min sessions, …

Comparative Approaches To Studying Strategy: Towards An Evolutionary Account Of Primate Decision Making, Sarah F. Brosnan, Michael J. Beran, Audrey E. Parrish, Sarah A. Price, Burt J. Wilson

Psychology Faculty Publications

How do primates, humans included, deal with novel problems that arise in interactions with other group members? Despite much research regarding how animals and humans solve social problems, few studies have utilized comparable procedures, outcomes, or measures across different species. Thus, it is difficult to piece together the evolution of decision making, including the roots from which human economic decision making emerged. Recently, a comparative body of decision making research has emerged, relying largely on the methodology of experimental economics in order to address these questions in a cross-species fashion. Experimental economics is an ideal method of inquiry for this …

Visual Processing Speed In Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus Apella) And Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Darby Proctor, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Visual acuity is a defining feature of the primates. Humans can process visual stimuli at extremely rapid presentation durations, as short as 14 ms. Evidence suggests that other primates, including chimpanzees and rhesus macaques, can process visual information at similarly rapid rates. What is lacking is information on the abilities of New World monkeys, which is necessary to determine whether rapid processing is present across the primates or is specific to Old World primates. We tested capuchin (Cebus apella) and rhesus (Macaca mulatta) monkeys on a computerized matching-to-sample paradigm to determine the shortest presentation duration at …

The Ontogeny Of Social Comparisons By Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Lydia M. Hopper, Susan P. Lambeth, Bruce J. Bernacky, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

This longitudinal study investigated the development of social contrast-negative responses to inequitable rewards-in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Although responses to inequity by humans appear universal, this is something that develops with age. Infants first recognize inequity when around 18 months old and respond to it only when they are around 3 years old. To date, however, there have been no studies of the ontogeny of the inequity response in any species other than humans. To address this, we used an exchange paradigm, in which 10 pairs of rhesus monkeys had to exchange inedible tokens with the experimenter to …

How Fairly Do Chimpanzees Play The Ultimatum Game?, Darby Proctor, Sarah F. Brosnan, Frans B.M. De Waal

Psychology Faculty Publications

Humans can behave fairly, but can other species? Recently we tested chimpanzees on a classic human test for fairness, the Ultimatum Game, and found that they behaved similarly to humans. In humans, Ultimatum Game behavior is cited as evidence for a human sense of fairness. By that same logic, we concluded that chimpanzees behaved fairly in our recent study. However, we make a distinction between behavior and motivation. Both humans and chimpanzees behaved fairly, but determining why they did so is more challenging.

Different Responses To Reward Comparisons By Three Primate Species, Hani D. Freeman, Jennifer Sullivan, Lydia M. Hopper, Catherine F. Talbot, Andrea N. Holmes, Nancy Schulz-Darken, Lawrence E. Williams, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Recently, much attention has been paid to the role of cooperative breeding in the evolution of behavior. In many measures, cooperative breeders are more prosocial than non-cooperatively breeding species, including being more likely to actively share food. This is hypothesized to be due to selective pressures specific to the interdependency characteristic of cooperatively breeding species. Given the high costs of finding a new mate, it has been proposed that cooperative breeders, unlike primates that cooperate in other contexts, should not respond negatively to unequal outcomes between themselves and their partner. However, in this context such pressures may extend beyond …

Relations Among Self-Concealment, Mindfulness, And Internalizing Problems, Joshua Edmunds, Akihiko Masuda, Erin C. Tully

Psychology Faculty Publications

Self-concealment and mindfulness can be viewed as two fairly stable emotion/behavior regulation tendencies, which are often linked to a range of internalizing problems. The current study examined whether low levels of mindfulness and higher levels of self-concealment predict higher levels of depression, anxiety, and somatization for both men and women. An ethnically diverse sample of college undergraduate females (n = 738) and males (n = 249) completed a web-based survey that included the self-report measures of interest. Path analysis models were evaluated separately for male participants and female participants. The findings from these models revealed that low levels …

Changes In Genetic And Environmental Influences On Trait Anxiety From Middle Adolescence To Early Adulthood, Sarah Garcia, Erin C. Tully, Nick Tarantino, Susan South, William G. Iacono, Matt Mcgue

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Middle adolescence to early adulthood is an important developmental period for the emergence of anxiety. Genetically-influenced stable traits are thought to underlie internalizing psychopathology throughout development, but no studies have examined changes in genetic and environmental influences on trait anxiety during this period.

Method: A longitudinal twin study design was used to study same-sex twin pairs (485 monozygotic pairs, 271 dizygotic pairs) at three ages, 14, 18, and 21 years, to examine developmental shifts in genetic and environmental effects on trait anxiety.

Results: The heritability of trait anxiety increased with age, particularly between ages 14 and 18, no significant …

When Given The Opportunity, Chimpanzees Maximize Personal Gain Rather Than “Level The Playing Field”, Lydia M. Hopper, Susan P. Lambeth, Steven J. Schapiro, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

We provided chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with the ability to improve the quality of food rewards they received in a dyadic test of inequity.We were interested to see if this provision influenced their responses and, if so, whether it was mediated by a social partner’s outcomes. We tested eight dyads using an exchange paradigm in which, depending on the condition, the chimpanzees were rewarded with either high-value (a grape) or low-value (a piece of celery) food rewards for each completed exchange. We included four conditions. In the first, “Different” condition, the subject received different, less-preferred, rewards than their partner …

Learning How To Help Others: Two-Year-Olds’ Social Learning Of A Prosocial Act, Rebecca A. Williamson, Meghan R. Donohue, Erin C. Tully

Psychology Faculty Publications

Engaging in prosocial behaviors (acts that benefit others) is associated with many positive outcomes in children, including the development of positive peer relationships, academic achievement, and good psychological functioning. This study examines the social learning mechanisms toddlers use to acquire prosocial behaviors. This brief report presents a new experimental procedure in which 2-year-olds (28-32 months, N=30) saw a video of an adult performing a novel prosocial behavior in response to another person’s distress. The children then had the opportunity to imitate and implement the behaviors in response to their own parent’s physical distress. Children who saw the video were …

Chimpanzees Play The Ultimatum Game, Darby Proctor, Rebecca A. Williamson, Frans B.M. De Waal, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Is the sense of fairness uniquely human? Human reactions to reward division are often studied by means of the Ultimatum Game (UG), in which both partners need to agree on a distribution for both to receive rewards. Humans typically offer generous portions of the reward to their partner, a tendency our close primate relatives have thus far failed to show in experiments. Here, we tested chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children on a modified UG. One individual chose between two tokens that, with their partner's cooperation, could be exchanged for rewards. One token offered equal rewards to both players, whereas …

Justice- And Fairness-Related Behaviors In Non-Human Primates, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

A distinctive feature across human societies is our interest in justice and fairness. People will sometimes invest in extremely costly behavior in order to achieve fair outcomes for themselves and others. Why do people care so much about justice? One way to address this is comparatively, exploring behaviors related to justice and fairness in other species. In this paper, I review work exploring responses to inequity, prosocial behavior, and other relevant behaviors in non-human primates in an effort to understand both the potential evolutionary function of these behaviors and the social and ecological reasons for the individual differences in behavior. …

The Importance Of Risk Tolerance And Knowledge When Considering The Evolution Of Inequity Responses Across The Primates, Gregory Deangelo, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Researchers studying human and non-human primates have begun exploring deviations from the canonical model of expected utility. Additionally, researchers have examined the role of inequality in decision-making across the taxa. However, these two research programs are rarely combined. In this paper we offer an examination of the role and impact of risk and inequity on decision-making in both human and non-human primates. We also offer insights into what drives these observed differences, considering a range of explanations from biological to methodological.

How Gesture Input Provides A Helping Hand To Language Development, Seyda Özçalışkan, Nevena Dimitrova

Psychology Faculty Publications

Children use gesture to refer to objects before they produce labels for these objects and gesture–speech combinations to convey semantic relations between objects before conveying sentences in speech—a trajectory that remains largely intact across children with different developmental profiles. Can the developmental changes that we observe in children be traced back to the gestural input that children receive from their parents? A review of previous work shows that parents provide models for their children for the types of gestures and gesture–speech combinations to produce, and do so by modifying their gestures to meet the communicative needs of their children. More …

How Early Do Children Understand Gesture-Speech Combinations With Iconic Gestures?, Carmen Stanfield, Rebecca Williamson, Seyda Özçalışkan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Children understand gesture+speech combinations in which a deictic gesture adds new information to the accompanying speech by age 1;6 (Morford & Goldin-Meadow, 1992; ‘push’+point at ball). This study explores how early children understand gesture+speech combinations in which an iconic gesture conveys additional information not found in the accompanying speech (e.g., ‘read’+BOOK gesture). Our analysis of two- to four-year-old children's responses in a gesture+speech comprehension task showed that children grasp the meaning of iconic co-speech gestures by age three and continue to improve their understanding with age. Overall, our study highlights the important role gesture plays in language comprehension as children …

Developmental Changes In Children's Comprehension And Explanation Of Spatial Metaphors For Time, Lauren Stites, Seyda Özçalışkan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Time is frequently expressed with spatial motion, using one of three different metaphor types: moving-time, moving-ego, and sequence-as-position. Previous work shows that children can understand and explain moving-time metaphors by age five (Özçalışkan, 2005). In this study, we focus on all three metaphor types for time, and ask whether metaphor type has an effect on children's metaphor comprehension and explanation abilities. Analysis of the responses of three- to six-year-old children and adults showed that comprehension and explanation of all three metaphor types emerge at an early age. Moreover, children's metaphor comprehension and explanation vary by metaphor type: children perform better …

Gesturing With An Injured Brain: How Gesture Helps Children With Early Brain Injury Learn Linguistic Constructions, Seyda Ozcaliskan, Susan C. Levine, Susan Goldin-Meadow

Psychology Faculty Publications

Children with pre/perinatal unilateral brain lesions (PL) show remarkable plasticity for language development. Is this plasticity characterized by the same developmental trajectory that characterizes typically developing (TD) children, with gesture leading the way into speech ? We explored this question, comparing eleven children with PL – matched to thirty TD children on expressive vocabulary – in the second year of life. Children with PL showed similarities to TD children for simple but not complex sentence types. Children with PL produced simple sentences across gesture and speech several months before producing them entirely in speech, exhibiting parallel delays in both gesture+speech …