Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Psychology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Attention

Psychology Faculty Research

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Psychology

The Effects Of Rumination Induction On Attentional Breadth For Self-Related Information, M. Grol, Paula T. Hertel, E. H.W. Koster, Rudi De Raedt Apr 2015

The Effects Of Rumination Induction On Attentional Breadth For Self-Related Information, M. Grol, Paula T. Hertel, E. H.W. Koster, Rudi De Raedt

Psychology Faculty Research

The attentional scope model of rumination describes the links between rumination and attentional breadth. The model postulates that a more narrow attentional scope, caused by negative mood, increases the likelihood that thoughts become repetitive on the same topic, which in turn could exacerbate negative mood and lead to more attentional narrowing. We experimentally tested this model by examining the attentional effects of rumination using a newly developed rumination- versus problem-solving induction. In the first experiment we found that only at high levels of trait rumination, induction of rumination compared to a problem-solving approach was associated with more attentional narrowing for …


Attention To Explicit And Implicit Contrast In Verb Learning, Jane B. Childers, Amy Hirshkowitz, Kristin Benavides Jan 2013

Attention To Explicit And Implicit Contrast In Verb Learning, Jane B. Childers, Amy Hirshkowitz, Kristin Benavides

Psychology Faculty Research

Contrast information could be useful for verb learning, but few studies have examined children's ability to use this type of information. Contrast may be useful when children are told explicitly that different verbs apply, or when they hear two different verbs in a single context. Three studies examine children's attention to different types of contrast as they learn new verbs. Study 1 shows that 3 ½-year-olds can use both implicit contrast (“I'm meeking it. I'm koobing it.”) and explicit contrast (“I'm meeking it. I'm not meeking it.”) when learning a new verb, while a control group's responses did not differ …


Training The Forgetting Of Negative Material: The Role Of Active Suppression And The Relation To Stress Reactivity, J. Lemoult, Paula T. Hertel, Jutta Joormann Jan 2010

Training The Forgetting Of Negative Material: The Role Of Active Suppression And The Relation To Stress Reactivity, J. Lemoult, Paula T. Hertel, Jutta Joormann

Psychology Faculty Research

In this study, the authors investigated whether training participants to use cognitive strategies can aid forgetting in depression. Participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and never-depressed participants learned to associate neutral cue words with a positive or negative target word and were then instructed not to think about the negative targets when shown their cues. The authors compared 3 different conditions: an unaided condition, a positive-substitute condition, and a negative-substitute condition. In the substitute conditions, participants were instructed to use new targets to keep from thinking about the original targets. After the trainingphase, participants were instructed to recall all …


Training Forgetting Of Negative Material In Depression, Jutta Joormann, Paula T. Hertel, J. Lemoult, Ian Henry Gotlib Feb 2009

Training Forgetting Of Negative Material In Depression, Jutta Joormann, Paula T. Hertel, J. Lemoult, Ian Henry Gotlib

Psychology Faculty Research

In this study, the authors investigated whether training participants to use cognitive strategies can aid forgetting in depression. Participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and never-depressed participants learned to associate neutral cue words with a positive or negative target word and were then instructed not to think about the negative targets when shown their cues. The authors compared 3 different conditions: an unaided condition, a positive-substitute condition, and a negative-substitute condition. In the substitute conditions, participants were instructed to use new targets to keep from thinking about the original targets. After the training phase, participants were instructed to recall …


Joint Attention And Word Learning In Ngas-Speaking Toddlers In Nigeria, Jane B. Childers, J. Vaughan, D. A. Burquest Jan 2007

Joint Attention And Word Learning In Ngas-Speaking Toddlers In Nigeria, Jane B. Childers, J. Vaughan, D. A. Burquest

Psychology Faculty Research

This study examines infants’ joint attention behavior and language development in a rural village in Nigeria. Participants included eight younger (1;0 to 1;5, M age=1;2) and eight older toddlers (1;7 to 2;7, M age=2; 1). Joint attention behaviors in social interaction contexts were recorded and coded at two time points six months apart. Analyses revealed that these toddlers were producing more high-level joint attention behaviors than less complex behaviors. In addition, the quality and quantity of behaviors produced by these Nigerian children was similar to those found in other cultures. In analyses of children’s noun and verb comprehension and production …


Memory For Emotional And Nonemotional Events In Depression: A Question Of Habit?, Paula T. Hertel Jan 2004

Memory For Emotional And Nonemotional Events In Depression: A Question Of Habit?, Paula T. Hertel

Psychology Faculty Research

The truest claim that cognitive science can make might also be the least sophisticated: the mind tends to do what it has done before. In previous centuries philosophers and psychologists invented constructs such as associations, habit strength, and connectivity to formalize the truism, but others have known about it, too. In small towns in the Ozarks, for example, grandmothers have been overheard doling out warnings such as, "Don't think those ugly thoughts; your mind will freeze that way." Depressed persons, like most of us, usually don't heed this advice. The thoughts frozen in their minds might not be "ugly," but …


Practical Aspects Of Emotion And Memory, Paula T. Hertel Jan 1996

Practical Aspects Of Emotion And Memory, Paula T. Hertel

Psychology Faculty Research

Can anyone doubt that the study of emotion and memory should have practical implications? Surely not those among us who have had emotional experiences and sometimes try to forget them, to remember them, or to remember other things while having them. Extreme examples include the witness to a robbery and the victim of abuse. Less dramatically but far more commonly, anxious or depressed people perform everyday acts that are memory dependent. Indeed, a practical or useful science of memory should have a great deal to say about how memory works under such emotional conditions.


Emotion, Mood, And Memory, Paula T. Hertel Jan 1992

Emotion, Mood, And Memory, Paula T. Hertel

Psychology Faculty Research

The ways in which we attend, learn, and remember are related to our transitory moods and to our enduring emotional states. This assertion is based on research performed by experimental and clinical psychologists who use a variety of methods. In some studies, psychologists measure differences in emotional states and determine whether those differences are associated with differences in the ways that the participants perform cognitive tasks. These studies usually focus on unpleasant emotions and moods, such as depression and anxiety. In other studies, psychologists attempt to induce either unpleasant or pleasant moods in the participants (perhaps by having them listen …


Depressive Deficits In Memory: Focusing Attention Improves Subsequent Recall, Paula T. Hertel, S. S. Rude Jan 1991

Depressive Deficits In Memory: Focusing Attention Improves Subsequent Recall, Paula T. Hertel, S. S. Rude

Psychology Faculty Research

58 Ss (aged up to 55 yrs) diagnosed as depressed, recovered from depression, or without a history of depression performed an unintentional learning task, followed by tests of free and forced recall. In the learning task, Ss decided whether a series of nouns sensibly completed corresponding sentence frames that varied in decision difficulty. For half of the Ss, the focus of attention was unconstrained by the demands of this task. The others, however, were required to repeat the targeted noun at the end of the trial as a means of focusing their attention on the task. Depressed Ss in the …


Remembering With And Without Awareness In A Depressed Mood: Evidence Of Deficits In Initiative, Paula T. Hertel, T. S. Hardin Jan 1990

Remembering With And Without Awareness In A Depressed Mood: Evidence Of Deficits In Initiative, Paula T. Hertel, T. S. Hardin

Psychology Faculty Research

We propose that depressive deficits in remembering are revealed in tasks that allow the spontaneous use of strategies; tasks that bypass or direct the use of strategies should not produce depressive deficits. College students received depressive- or neutral-mood inductions after answering questions worded to reflect homophones' less common meaning. After the inductions, subjects spelled old and new homophones and showed no effect of the depressive inductions on unaware memory for the old homophones. Subsequent tests of recognition did, however, reveal differences according to the induced moodor the presence of naturally occurring depression (in Experiment 3). The differences, evidence of nondepressed …