Joseph Hilgard

Emotional targets: Evaluative categorization as a function of context and content

Event-related potential (ERP) studies of early evaluative categorization have often used variants of an oddball paradigm to assess attention to target stimuli as a function of content (i.e., valence) and context (e.g., presentation among non-targets differing in valence). However, most previous studies have not fully crossed content and context, and have not examined the time-course of these effects. The purpose of the current study was to investigate these two issues in an effort to further clarify the nature of evaluative categorization as reflected in the late positive potential (LPP). Pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant images served as both targets and non-targets in an emotional oddball task. Results indicate additive effects of emotional content and target status on the early portion of the LPP; however, the LPP did not differ between pleasant and unpleasant stimuli. Only target status modulated the later portion of the LPP, suggesting different contributions of cognitive-affective processes over time during evaluative categorization.

Effects of Violent-Video-Game Exposure on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive-Thought Accessibility, and Aggressive Affect Among Adults With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

Recent mass shootings have prompted the idea among some members of the public that exposure to violent video games can have a pronounced effect on individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Empirical evidence for or against this claim has been missing, however. To address this issue, we assigned adults with and without ASD to play a violent or nonviolent version of a customized first-person shooter video game. After they played the game, we assessed three aggression-related outcome variables (aggressive behavior, aggressive-thought accessibility, and aggressive affect). Results showed strong evidence that adults with ASD, compared with typically developing adults, are not differentially affected by acute exposure to violent video games. Moreover, model comparisons provided modest evidence against any effect of violent game content whatsoever. Findings from this experiment suggest that societal concerns that exposure to violent games may have a unique effect on adults with autism are not supported by evidence.

The Negativity Bias in Affective Picture Processing Depends on Top-Down and Bottom-Up Motivational Significance

It is widely believed that negative information is psychologically more meaningful than positive information, a phenomenon known generally as the negativity bias. However, findings concerning the possibility of a negativity bias in emotional picture processing have been mixed, with recent studies indicating the lack of such a bias in event-related brain potentials (ERPs) when pleasant and unpleasant images are equated for motivational relevance. Here, we investigated 2 factors that could influence the detection of a negativity bias: picture-presentation paradigm and specific picture content. Across 2 studies, participants viewed pleasant affiliative, pleasant thrilling, unpleasant threatening and neutral images presented in the context of oddball, blocked, and random viewing paradigms. Across paradigms, emotional images elicited larger responses in the late positive potential (LPP) than did neutral images. A negativity bias was detected in the oddball paradigm and when thrilling, rather than affiliative, pleasant stimuli were used. Findings are discussed in terms of factors known to influence LPP amplitude and their relevance to differential effects across picture-viewing paradigms.

Overstated evidence for short-term effects of violent games on affect and behavior: A reanalysis of Anderson et al. (2010).

Violent video games are theorized to be a significant cause of aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Important evidence for this claim comes from a large meta-analysis by Anderson and colleagues (2010), who found effects of violent games in experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal research. In that meta-analysis, the authors argued that there is little publication or analytic bias in the literature, an argument supported by their use of the trim-and-fill procedure. In the present manuscript, we reexamine their meta-analysis using a wider array of techniques for detecting bias and adjusting effect sizes. Our conclusions differ from those of Anderson and colleagues in 3 salient ways. First, we detect substantial publication bias in experimental research on the effects of violent games on aggressive affect and aggressive behavior. Second, after adjustment for bias, the effects of violent games on aggressive behavior in experimental research are estimated as being very small, and estimates of effects on aggressive affect are much reduced. In contrast, the cross-sectional literature finds correlations that appear largely unbiased. Third, experiments meeting the original authors’ criteria for methodological quality do not yield larger adjusted effects than other experiments, but instead yield larger indications of bias, indicating that perhaps they were selected for significance. We outline future directions for stronger experimental research. The results indicate the need for an open, transparent, and preregistered research process to test the existence of the basic phenomenon.

Characterizing switching and congruency effects in the Implicit Association Test as reactive and proactive cognitive control

Recent research has identified an important role for task switching, a cognitive control process often associated with executive functioning, in the Implicit Association Test (IAT). However, switching does not fully account for IAT effects, particularly when performance is scored using more recent d-score formulations. The current study sought to characterize multiple control processes involved in IAT performance through the use of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants performed a race-evaluative IAT while ERPs were recorded. Behaviorally, participants experienced superadditive reaction time costs of incongruency and task switching, consistent with previous studies. The ERP showed a marked medial frontal negativity (MFN) 250-450 ms post-stimulus at midline fronto-central locations that were more negative for incongruent than congruent trials but more positive for switch than for no-switch trials, suggesting separable control processes are engaged by these two factors. Greater behavioral IAT bias was associated with both greater switch-related and congruency-related ERP activity. Findings are discussed in terms of the Dual Mechanisms of Control model of reactive and proactive cognitive control.

Cross-pressuring conservative Catholics? Effects of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the U.S. public opinion on climate change

In an encyclical released in June of 2015, Pope Francis cast the need to address climate change as a moral imperative. Using nationally-representative surveys with supplemental samples of Catholics, we investigate changes in the U.S. public’s post-encyclical attitudes about climate change and the Catholic pontiff. People who were aware of the encyclical held more polarized attitudes toward climate change than those who were unaware of it. Whereas encyclical-aware liberals expressed heightened concerns about climate change, encyclical-aware conservatives expressed lower levels. Cross-pressured by the inconsistency between the pontiff’s views and those of their political allies, conservative Catholics devalued the Pope’s credibility on climate change. These findings have important implications for communication about climate change in polarized opinion environments.

Decreased functional brain connectivity in individuals with early-treated phenylketonuria: evidence from resting state fMRI

Previous histological and neuroimaging studies have documented structural abnormalities in the white matter of the brain in individuals with early-treated phenylketonuria (ETPKU). It remains unclear, however, the extent to which the function of the brain’s interconnections are impacted by this condition. Presently, we utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate the synchronization of neural signals (i.e., functional connectivity) among brain regions comprising the default mode network (DMN) in a sample of 11 individuals with ETPKU and 11 age- and gender-matched neurologically intact controls. The DMN is a group of interconnected brain regions that are known to be generally more active during rest than during task performance. Data analysis revealed decreased functional connectivity among DMN regions for the ETPKU group compared with the control group. Within the PKU group, we also found a significant relationship between blood phenylalanine (phe) levels and the functional connectivity between select regions of the DMN. In conjunction with findings from another recent fMRI study (Christ, Moffitt et al. 2010), the present results suggest that ETPKU-related deficiencies in functional connectivity are pervasive. The current findings also provide initial evidence that the extent of such impairment may be moderated in part by blood phe levels.

Acute exposure to difficult (but not violent) video games dysregulates cognitive control

We examined the effects of game difficulty and game violence on cognitive control.Game difficulty and game violence were orthogonally manipulated using custom games.Game difficulty reduced cognitive control for people who found the games difficult.Violent game content had no effect on post-game cognitive control. Recent research has suggested that acute exposure to violent video games inhibits the capacity for self-control across neurological, cognitive, and behavioral domains. However, the games used in previous research to reach these conclusions often confound violence with other game features, such as game difficulty. Here, participants were randomly assigned to play one of four versions of a video game, wherein content (violent or not) and difficulty (easy or difficult) were orthogonally manipulated, prior to completing a cognitive control task. Results showed that playing a difficult video game produced decrements in cognitive control, but only if the game was perceived to be difficult, and that perceptions of game difficulty may mediate this relationship. Game content, by comparison, had no effect on cognitive control. Findings are discussed in terms of understanding effects of difficult games on cognitive processes that have important implications for social behavior.

Bedtime Electronic Media Use and Sleep in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to better understand the use of screen-based media at bedtime among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study specifically examined whether the presence of media devices in the childs bedroom, the use of media as part of the bedtime routine, and exposure to media with violent content just before bedtime were associated with sleep difficulties. Methods: Parents of 101 children with ASD completed questionnaires assessing their childrens sleep habits, bedroom media access (including television, video game devices, and computers), and patterns of nighttime media use (including timing of media exposure and violent media content). Results: Children with ASD who used media as part of the bedtime routine showed significantly greater sleep onset latency than those who did not (39.8 vs 16.0 minutes). Similarly, children who were exposed to media with violent content within the 30-minute period before bedtime experienced significantly greater sleep onset delays and shorter overall sleep duration. In contrast, the mere presence of bedroom media was not associated with either sleep onset latency or sleep duration. Conclusion: Overall, these findings indicate that incorporating television and video games into the bedtime routine is associated with sleep onset difficulties among children with ASD. Exposure to violent media before bed is also associated with poor sleep. Families of children with ASD should be encouraged to regulate and monitor the timing and content of television and video game use, whether or not such devices are physically present in the childs bedroom.

Does a Scientific Breakthrough Increase Confidence in Science? News of a Zika Vaccine and Trust in Science:

How can public support for science be encouraged? In early August 2016, a Zika vaccine entered its first human trial. Extensive media coverage followed. Using repeated cross-sectional surveys, we observed that, following this media coverage, survey respondents reported greater attention to Zika news and an increased trust in science as providing solutions to problems. Whereas the increase in attention was long-lived, lasting 6 weeks or more, the increase in trust was short-lived, lasting only 2 weeks. This result provides insight into the duration of media effects and suggests conditions that facilitate trust in science.