Nonverbal behavioral patterns predict social rejection elicited aggression.

Aggression elicited by social rejection is costly, prevalent, and often lethal. Attempts to predict rejection-elicited aggression using trait-based data have had little success. This may be because in-the-moment aggression is a complex process influenced by current states of attention, arousal, and affect which are poorly predicted by trait-level characteristics. In a study of young adults (N = 89; 18-25 years), machine learning tested the extent to which nonverbal behavioral indices of attention (eye gaze), arousal (pupillary reactivity), and affect (facial expressions) during a novel social interaction paradigm predicted subsequent aggression towards rejecting and accepting peers. Eye gaze and pupillary reactivity predicted aggressive behavior; predictions were more successful than measures of trait-based aggression and harsh parenting. These preliminary results suggest that nonverbal behavior may elucidate underlying mechanisms of in-the-moment aggression.

Eye movements during change detection: implications for search constraints, memory limitations, and scanning strategies.

Search, memory, and strategy constraints on change detection were analyzed in terms of oculomotor variables. Observers viewed a repeating sequence of three displays (Scene 1-->Mask-->Scene 2-->Mask...) and indicated the presence-absence of a changing object between Scenes 1 and 2. Scenes depicted real-world objects arranged on a surface. Manipulations included set size (one, three, or nine items) and the orientation of the changing objects (similar or different). Eye movements increased with the number of potentially changing objects in the scene, with this set size effect suggesting a relationship between change detection and search. A preferential fixation analysis determined that memory constraints are better described by the operation comparing the pre- and postchange objects than as a capacity limitation, and a scanpath analysis revealed a change detection strategy relying on the peripheral encoding and comparison of display items. These findings support a signal-in-noise interpretation of change detection in which the signal varies with the similarity of the changing objects and the noise is determined by the distractor objects and scene background.

Synchronizing visual and language processing: an effect of object name length on eye movements.

Are visual and verbal processing systems functionally independent? Two experiments (one using line drawings of common objects, the other using faces) explored the relationship between the number of syllables in an object's name (one or three) and the visual inspection of that object. The tasks were short-term recognition and visual search. Results indicated more fixations and longer gaze durations on objects having three-syllable names when the task encouraged a verbal encoding of the objects (i.e., recognition). No effects of syllable length on eye movements were found when implicit naming demands were minimal (i.e., visual search). These findings suggest that implicitly naming a pictorial object constrains the oculomotor inspection of that object, and that the visual and verbal encoding of an object are synchronized so that the faster process must wait for the slower to be completed before gaze shifts to another object. Both findings imply a tight coupling between visual and linguistic processing, and highlight the utility of an oculomotor methodology to understand this coupling.

Immunomodulatory and clinical effects of Viscum album (Iscador M and Iscador P) in children with recurrent respiratory infections as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Ninety-two children 5 to 14 years of age living in areas exposed to the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl with recurrent respiratory infections (RRIs) were treated after randomization with either Viscum album praeparatum mali or pini (Iscador M or P). The dosage was two subcutaneous injections a week for 5 weeks with individual doses of 0.001 mg to 1.0 mg. Both Viscum album preparations were effective in significantly reducing clinical symptoms. One year after a single treatment course, the frequency of RRI relapses decreased by 78% and 73%, respectively. Immunomodulatory effects were assessed by investigation of lymphocyte subsets, natural killer (NK) cell activity, phagocytic and oxidative activity of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and antiviral activity of serum before and 1 week after treatment. Viscum album therapy resulted in normalization of initial immune indices either below or above the normal ranges. High levels of antiviral activity before treatment were significantly decreased by Viscum album mali. Viscum album treatment should be studied further in children with RRI.

Influence of attentional capture on oculomotor control.

Previous research has shown that when searching for a color singleton, top-down control cannot prevent attentional capture by an abrupt visual onset. The present research addressed whether a task-irrelevant abrupt onset would affect eye movement behavior when searching for a color singleton. Results show that in many instances the eye moved in the direction of the task-irrelevant abrupt onset. There was evidence that top-down control could neither entirely prevent attentional capture by visual onsets nor prevent the eye from starting to move in the direction of the onset. Results suggest parallel programming of 2 saccades: 1 voluntary goal-directed eye movement toward the color singleton target and 1 stimulus-driven eye movement reflexively elicited by the abrupt onset. A neurophysiologically plausible model that can account for the current findings is discussed.

Eye movements during parallel-serial visual search.

Two experiments (one using O and Q-like stimuli and the other using colored-oriented bars) investigated the oculomotor behavior accompanying parallel-serial visual search. Eye movements were recorded as participants searched for a target in 5- or 17-item displays. Results indicated the presence of parallel-serial search dichotomies and 2:1 ratios of negative to positive slopes in the number of saccades initiated during both search tasks. This saccade number measure also correlated highly with search times, accounting for up to 67% of the reaction time (RT) variability. Weak correlations between fixation durations and RTs suggest that this oculomotor measure may be related more to stimulus factors than to search processes. A third experiment compared free-eye and fixed-eye searches and found a small RT advantage when eye movements were prevented. Together these findings suggest that parallel-serial search dichotomies are reflected in oculomotor behavior.

Using eye saccades to assess the selectivity of search movements.

The degree of selectivity or guidance underlying search was tested by having subjects search for a target (a red vertical or green horizontal bar) among Similar (red horizontal and green vertical bars) and Dissimilar distractors (blue and yellow diagonal bars). If search is indeed a guided process, then the Dissimilar items should not be given the same scrutiny as elements sharing a feature with the target. The frequency of eye movements directed to the two distractor types was used as an indicator of this scrutiny. The analysis revealed almost equal percentages of saccades to Similar and Dissimilar elements (55% and 45%, respectively). Although indicating some evidence for selectivity during oculomotor search, this finding suggests that simpler and less optimal strategies may undermine the more efficient guided search algorithm.