Hedges, mottes, and baileys: Causally ambiguous statistical language can increase perceived study quality and policy relevance.

There is a norm in psychology to use causally ambiguous statistical language, rather than straightforward causal language, when describing methods and results of nonexperimental studies. However, causally ambiguous language may inhibit a critical examination of the study's causal assumptions and lead to a greater acceptance of policy recommendations that rely on causal interpretations of nonexperimental findings. In a preregistered experiment, 142 psychology faculty, postdocs, and doctoral students (54% female), ages 22-67 (M = 33.20, SD = 8.96), rated the design and analysis from hypothetical studies with causally ambiguous statistical language as of higher quality (by .34-.80 SD) and as similarly or more supportive (by .16-.27 SD) of policy recommendations than studies described in straightforward causal language. Thus, using statistical rather than causal language to describe nonexperimental findings did not decrease, and may have increased, perceived support for implicitly causal conclusions.

Cardiovascular stress reactivity, habituation, and adiposity.

The relationship between adiposity and cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality is complex. One pathway through which adiposity may influence future health outcomes is by altering how biological systems respond to stress. The current study aimed to examine the association between two metrics of adiposity (body mass index and waist-hip ratio) and two indices of cardiovascular stress responses (reactivity and habituation). A sample of 455 participants (Mean age = 19.47, SD = 1.25 years; BMI = 24.32, SD = 5.04 kg/m2 ; 62% female; 17.9% Hispanic/Latino; 65.2% White, 18.7% Asian, 7.9% Black, 0.2% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 7% other) completed two acute psychosocial stress tasks. Heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were recorded throughout each stressor. In unadjusted and adjusted models, there were no statistically significant associations between adiposity and HR, SBP, or DBP stress reactivity or habituation. The current data do not support the hypothesis that adiposity influences health by altering cardiovascular responses to acute psychological stress. Results are at odds with prior population-level studies and the single prior study examining adiposity and habituation. At the same time, results are in line with mounting evidence that adiposity itself does not drive poor cardiovascular outcomes seen in people classified as overweight or obese.

Taking Stock and Moving Forward: A Personalized Perspective on Mixed Emotions.

Research on mixed emotions is flourishing but fractured. Several psychological subfields are working in parallel and separately from other disciplines also studying mixed emotions, which has led to a disorganized literature. In this article, we provide an overview of the literature on mixed emotions and discuss factors contributing to the lack of integration within and between fields. We present an organizing framework for the literature of mixed emotions on the basis of two distinct goals: solving the bipolar-bivariate debate and understanding the subjective experience of mixed emotions. We also present a personalized perspective that can be used when studying the subjective experience of mixed emotions. We emphasize the importance of assessing both state and trait emotions (e.g., momentary emotions, general levels of affect) alongside state and trait context (e.g., physical location, culture). We discuss three methodological approaches that we believe will be valuable in building a new mixed-emotions literature-inductive research methods, idiographic models of emotional experiences, and empirical assessment of emotion-eliciting contexts. We include recommendations throughout on applying these methods to research on mixed emotions, and we conclude with avenues for future interdisciplinary research. We hope that this perspective will foster research that results in the organized accumulation of knowledge about mixed emotions.

Emotional context effects on memory accuracy for neutral information.

Despite decades of study, it remains unclear how emotional contexts influence memory for non-emotional information. In two studies, we previously found memory accuracy for neutral information encoded in an emotional context differed by valence. Specifically, neutral images encoded in a negative context were remembered with similar accuracy as those encoded in a non-emotional context, and neutral images encoded in a positive context were remembered with less accuracy than a non-emotional context. This Registered Report contains a third study to replicate our original results and allow for direct comparison between the negative and positive encoding conditions. People in the positive condition showed decreased memory accuracy, but this effect was very small in size and only significant when compared to the neutral condition. Given the lack of difference between negative and neutral conditions, effects of emotion on memory are not only a function of emotional arousal. At the same time, given the nonsignificant, small difference between positive and negative conditions, effects of emotion on memory are also not solely attributable to valence. This series of studies represents a step towards re-examining the tenet that emotion enhances memory unless the experience elicits sufficiently high arousal levels such that memory is impaired.

Affective forecasting and accuracy in social anhedonia: Predicted and experienced emotion for a social interaction.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research suggests people with social anhedonia (SocAnh) exhibit deficits in anticipated pleasure for social stimuli relative to controls. However, previous research has relied on hypothetical social stimuli and has focused on anticipated pleasure without examining negative affect. METHOD: Participants were informed that they would complete an "enjoyable" sharing task with a peer and were asked to forecast positive and negative affect during the interaction. After the interaction, participants reported their experienced emotions. RESULTS: We found SocAnh and controls anticipated and experienced similar levels of positive affect and that both groups underpredicted positive affect. The SocAnh group anticipated and experienced more negative affect than controls and was more accurate in forecasting negative affect. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to show that SocAnh is associated with the heightened anticipation of negative affect and that experiencing heightened negative affect during social interactions could drive reduced motivation and desire to engage in future social interaction.

Differential emotional abnormalities among schizotypy clusters.

Schizotypy, a multidimensional personality organization that reflects liability to develop schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, has been associated with a number of emotional abnormalities. Yet, the exact nature of any emotional abnormalities in schizotypy is relatively unclear. Using an ethnically diverse nonclinical sample (N = 2637), the present study identified homogenous clusters of individuals based on positive and negative schizotypy dimensions and explored three interrelated domains of emotion traits closely tied to functional outcomes and quality of life: affective experience, emotional awareness, and meta-level emotions. Consistent with prior research, four schizotypy clusters were obtained: low ("nonschizotypic"), high positive, high negative, and mixed (high positive and high negative). Regarding emotion correlates of schizotypy clusters, the mixed cluster was found to be the most deviant on almost all emotion traits (e.g., heightened trait negative affect, diminished emotional clarity), suggesting that the effects of positive and negative schizotypy are additive. In addition, positive and negative schizotypy clusters were associated with differential abnormalities, with the negative cluster presenting a wider range of, and more severe, impairments compared to the low cluster (e.g., reduced trait positive affect and reduced attention to positive emotion). The current study highlights the heterogeneity in emotional traits among schizotypy dimensions and the importance of studying the mixed schizotypy in terms of emotional dysfunction.

Emotional response in schizophrenia to the "36 questions that lead to love": Predicted and experienced emotions regarding a live social interaction.

Evidence suggests that individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) report anticipatory pleasure deficits compared to controls and that these deficits are linked to decreased motivation to engage socially. However, these deficits have been identified via self-report measures of hypothetical pleasant stimuli, leaving it unclear whether they exist in reference to actual social situations. To address this issue, we created a live social interaction that minimized the reliance of higher-order cognitive processes. SZ and control participants were told that they would be playing an "enjoyable sharing game" with another study participant (who was actually a confederate) that involved asking and answering questions (36 interpersonal closeness generation questions; Aron et al., 1997). Participants then reported their current mood and the emotions they anticipated experiencing during the pleasant social interaction. Immediately following the interaction, they reported their experienced emotions. We found that the SZ group anticipated more negative emotion (d = 1.0), but were less accurate in forecasting negative emotion (d = .81), than controls, and these effects were large. There were small, non-significant group differences in anticipation, experience, and accuracy in forecasting of positive emotion (all ds < .29). Also, social anhedonia was positively correlated with anticipated negative affect and negatively associated with experienced positive emotion. At the same time, controls reported finding the interaction to be a more positive emotional experience overall, d = 0.75. This is the first study to show that "anticipatory pleasure deficits" in SZ might actually be heightened anticipated negative emotion and that inaccurate forecasting could be linked to decreased social motivation.

ERP indices of performance monitoring and feedback processing in psychosis: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Although individuals with, or at risk for, psychotic disorders often show difficulties with performance monitoring and feedback processing, findings from studies using event-related potentials (ERPs) to index these processes are not consistent. This meta-analytic review focused on studies of two different indexes of performance monitoring, the early error-related negativity (ERN; n = 25) and the later error positivity (Pe; n = 17), and one index of feedback processing, the feedback negativity (FN; n = 6). METHODS: We evaluated whether individuals (1) with psychotic disorders, or (2) at heightened risk for these disorders differ from healthy controls in available studies of the ERN, Pe, and FN. RESULTS: There was a significant, large ERN reduction in those with psychosis (g = -0.96) compared to controls, and a significant, moderate ERN reduction in those at-risk (g = -0.48). In contrast, there were uniformly non-significant, small between-group differences for Pe and FN (gs ≤ |0.16|). CONCLUSIONS: The results reveal a differential pattern of impairment in psychosis. Early performance monitoring (ERN) impairments are substantial among those with psychotic disorders in general and may be a useful vulnerability indicator for these disorders. However, later performance monitoring (Pe) and basic feedback processing (FN) appear to be relatively spared in psychosis.

Emotional word usage in groups at risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: An objective investigation of attention to emotion.

Both extreme levels of social anhedonia (SocAnh) and extreme levels of perceptual aberration/magical ideation (PerMag) indicate increased risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and are associated with emotional deficits. For SocAnh, there is evidence of self-reported decreased trait positive affect and abnormalities in emotional attention. For PerMag, there is evidence of increased trait negative affect and increased attention to negative emotion. Yet, the nature of more objective emotional abnormalities in these groups is unclear. The goal of this study was to assess attention to emotions more objectively in a SocAnh, PerMag, and control group by using a positive (vs. neutral) mood induction procedure followed by a free writing period. Linguistic analyses revealed that the SocAnh group used fewer positive emotion words than the control group, with the PerMag group falling in between the others. In addition, both at-risk groups used more negative emotion words than the control group. Also, for the control group only, those in the positive mood induction used more positive emotion words, suggesting their emotions influenced their linguistic expression. Overall, SocAnh is associated with decreased positive emotional expression and at-risk groups are associated with increased negative emotional expression and a decreased influence of emotions on linguistic expression.

Computer control using human intracortical local field potentials.

We describe the use of human cortical control signals to operate two assistive technology tools--a virtual keyboard speller and a computer-simulated digit. The cortical signals used for control are local field potentials recorded through an implanted neurotrophic electrode. In this system, the patients' cortical signals are transmitted wirelessly to a receiver and translated by computer software into either a computer cursor movement (for the virtual keyboard) or flexion of a cyber digit on a virtual hand. This report focuses on the progress of two subjects toward effective use of their "virtual" neuro-prosthetic devices to meet their assistive technology needs.

Using human extra-cortical local field potentials to control a switch.

Individuals with profound paralysis and mutism require a communication channel. Traditional assistive technology devices eventually fail, especially in the case of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) subjects who gradually become totally locked-in. A direct brain-to-computer interface that provides switch functions can provide a direct communication channel to the external world. Electroencephalographic (EEG) signals recorded from scalp electrodes are significantly degraded due to skull and scalp attenuation and ambient noise. The present system using conductive skull screws allows more reliable access to cortical local field potentials (LFPs) without entering the brain itself. We describe an almost locked-in human subject with ALS who activated a switch using online time domain detection techniques. Frequency domain analysis of his LFP activity demonstrates this to be an alternative method of detecting switch activation intentions. With this brain communicator system it is reasonable to expect that locked-in, but cognitively intact, humans will always be able to communicate.

Brain-computer interface technology: a review of the Second International Meeting.

This paper summarizes the Brain-Computer Interfaces for Communication and Control, The Second International Meeting, held in Rensselaerville, NY, in June 2002. Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and organized by the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health, the meeting addressed current work and future plans in brain-computer interface (BCI) research. Ninety-two researchers representing 38 different research groups from the United States, Canada, Europe, and China participated. The BCIs discussed at the meeting use electroencephalographic activity recorded from the scalp or single-neuron activity recorded within cortex to control cursor movement, select letters or icons, or operate neuroprostheses. The central element in each BCI is a translation algorithm that converts electrophysiological input from the user into output that controls external devices. BCI operation depends on effective interaction between two adaptive controllers, the user who encodes his or her commands in the electrophysiological input provided to the BCI, and the BCI that recognizes the commands contained in the input and expresses them in device control. Current BCIs have maximum information transfer rates of up to 25 b/min. Achievement of greater speed and accuracy requires improvements in signal acquisition and processing, in translation algorithms, and in user training. These improvements depend on interdisciplinary cooperation among neuroscientists, engineers, computer programmers, psychologists, and rehabilitation specialists, and on adoption and widespread application of objective criteria for evaluating alternative methods. The practical use of BCI technology will be determined by the development of appropriate applications and identification of appropriate user groups, and will require careful attention to the needs and desires of individual users.

Real-world applications for brain-computer interface technology.

The mission of the Georgia State University BrainLab is to create and adapt methods of human-computer interaction that will allow brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies to effectively control real-world applications. Most of the existing BCI applications were designed largely for training and demonstration purposes. Our goal is to research ways of transitioning BCI control skills learned in training to real-world scenarios. Our research explores some of the problems and challenges of combining BCI outputs with human-computer interface paradigms in order to achieve optimal interaction. We utilize a variety of application domains to compare and validate BCI interactions, including communication, environmental control, neural prosthetics, and creative expression. The goal of this research is to improve quality of life for those with severe disabilities.