Working memory guidance of visual attention to threat in offenders

Aggression and trait anger have been linked to attentional biases toward angry faces and attribution of hostile intent in ambiguous social situations. Memory and emotion play a crucial role in social-cognitive models of aggression but their mechanisms of influence are not fully understood. Combining a memory task and a visual search task, this study investigated the guidance of attention allocation toward naturalistic face targets during visual search by visual working memory (WM) templates in 113 participants who self-reported having served a custodial sentence. Searches were faster when angry faces were held in working memory regardless of the emotional valence of the visual search target. Higher aggression and trait anger predicted increased working memory modulated attentional bias. These results are consistent with the Social-Information Processing model, demonstrating that internal representations bias attention allocation to threat and that the bias is linked to aggression and trait anger.

Evaluation of economic recovery capability under the background of COVID-19: application of a big data information processing model

In order to promote local economic recovery under the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper first constructs a big data information processing model, then measure the growth of GDP and fiscal revenue driven by consumption, investment and export in Guangdong province. The measurement results show that under the stimulus of consumption, investment and export of the same intensity, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan perform better in the GDP index, while Shenzhen, Shaoguan and Qingyuan perform better in the fiscal revenue index. To this end, local governments should give priority to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Shaoguan and Qingyuan to take effective economic stimulus measures to achieve faster growth in GDP and fiscal revenue. The research results are of practical significance for guiding local governments to implement precise policies to promote the process of economic recovery.

Analyzing the Integrated Teaching of Theory and Practice in Communication Technology Based on the Cognitive Process

This study analyzes the cognitive characteristics of students in communication courses in military colleges and the impact of integrated teaching of theory and practice on students’ cognitive process as well as proposes the information processing model of students’ cognitive process in the integrated teaching of theory and practice. Combining the cognitive characteristics of the students from Communication Technology, on the one hand, this study analyzes the five factors that affect the teaching effect of integrating theory and practice; on the other hand, it proposes improvement measures for the integration of theory and practice from the structure of the teaching content, teaching organization and management, modern education technology, and the ability of teachers.

Influence of Prosocial Motivation on Employee Creativity: The Moderating Role of Regulatory Focus and the Mediating Role of Knowledge Sharing

Stimulating and improving the creativity of employees are both theoretically and practically important. The relationship between prosocial motivation and creativity has gradually gained attention in recent years; however, in the context of controlling for intrinsic motivation, the influence process and results between the two are not yet clear. Based on the motivated information processing model, componential theory of creativity, and regulatory focus theory, this study analyzed the mediating role of knowledge sharing and the moderating role of regulatory focus in the relationship between prosocial motivation and the creativity of employees. For this, we used the PROCESS program and the bootstrap method to test the theoretical hypotheses. Consequently, a survey of 320 Chinese employees revealed that, under the condition of controlling for intrinsic motivation, the prosocial motivation of employees was positively related to creativity and partially mediated by knowledge sharing. Furthermore, regulatory focus negatively moderated the correlation between prosocial motivation and knowledge sharing. Specifically, we found that the higher the prevention focus was, the weaker the effect prosocial motivation had on knowledge sharing. Contrary to the hypothesis, promotion focus also played a negative moderating role. Thus, the results revealed the mechanism and boundary conditions of prosocial motivation on creativity. This study expands the research on prosocial motivation and provides guidance on how managers can enhance the creativity of their employees.

Making the Case for a Preferences in Information Processing Model of Suicide

Introduction: In recent years, practice friendly models of suicidal behavior have emerged in the form of “ideation-to-action” frameworks. These frameworks focus on processes influencing both the formation of suicidal ideation and the translation of that ideation to suicide attempt and death. In this paper, we proffer an emerging model of suicide, Preferences in Information Processing (PIP), to augment contemporary suicide theories. First, we provide a primer on dual-process models of information processing theory and research as the foundation for the PIP. Next, drawing on a number of initial cross-sectional studies, we outline a rationale and examples of how preferences in motivated affect (i.e., Need for Affect) and cognition (i.e., Need for Cognition) may be integrated into existing ideation-to-action frameworks. Methods: We conducted secondary analysis of our pooled community sample PIP data. Results: We present new findings suggesting Need for Affect avoidance and Need for Cognition may be clinically relevant for persons at escalated risk for suicide. Discussion: The PIP offers new testable propositions within ideation-to-action suicide frameworks. We end with recommendations for a research agenda to further investigate the potential validation and utility of a PIP approach to suicidology.

Κατανοώντας τα κοινωνικο-παρωθητικά χαρακτηριστικά των αρχηγών-θυτών του εκφοβισμού: Ο ρόλος των κοινωνικών στόχων και των λειτουργιών της επιθετικότητας

The present study examines the role of social goals of ringleader bullies on school bullying according to Social Information Processing Model as well as the role of proactive and reactive aggression. The sample consisted of 222 fifth-grade and sixth-grade elementary school students from Northern Greece, who completed self-report questionnaires and responded to questions regarding social scenarios of ambiguous intent shown on video. The results showed that boys choose revenge more often than girls. Furthermore, ringleader bullies and ringleader bully followers choose more often, than the uninvolved, revenge as a motive in a social scenario of ambiguous intent. It is noteworthy that ringleader bullies choose more often than ringleader bully followers the social goal of building a relationship, while both ringleader bullies and ringleader bully followers adopt both forms of aggression, proactive and reactive, more than the uninvolved. The findings underline the motivational role of social goals in bullying, contribute to the discussion regarding ringleader bullies’ social cognition and emphasize the necessity of intervention programs focusing on social motives of preadolescent bullies.

Brain as Transducer: What if the brain is not a self-contained information processor? What if it is simply a transducer?

Evolution has not only produced millions of different species; it has also produced millions of different transducers. Our bodies are encased in transducers that convert distinctive properties of electromagnetic radiation, air pressure waves, airborne chemicals, liquid-borne chemicals, textures, pressure, and temperature into similarly distinctive patterns of electrical and chemical activity in the brain. What if, at some point - perhaps when humans first developed language and consciousness - the random mixing of genes produced a brain that could send signals to and receive signals from an alternate universe? Unlike string theory or theories of parallel universes, the theory that the brain is bidirectional transducer is directly testable, and empirical support for this theory has the potential to profoundly change our understanding both of ourselves and of our universe. It will help to explain, in rational and objective terms, more than 50 odd phenomena that have baffled humans for eons, among them: dreams, hallucinations, schizophrenia, and even claims about bizarre experiences such as demonic possession and communication with the dead. Neuroscience has been hamstrung for half a century by its reliance on the information processing model of the brain - a metaphor that has shed no light on how the human brain actually works. Let’s set aside the metaphors we have used for 2,000 years to "explain" human intelligence. Transduction theory is a testable theory consistent with evolutionary theory and with three core theories of modern physics - string theory, inflation theory, and quantum theory - each of which predicts the existence of alternate universes.

Using computational tools to support journalists’ creativity

This paper presents work surrounding INJECT, a newsroom innovation offering digital tools to support journalists. Research showing increasing time and resource pressure on journalists has led to concerns about the demise of investigative reporting and the ability of today’s journalists to interrogate information adequately. Some digital innovations (e.g. tools facilitating robot journalism) have been viewed with suspicion by newsrooms. This paper reports on a research project that seeks to create an innovative tool to support the creative capabilities of time and resource poor journalists. The INJECT project used the advanced information discovery capabilities of digitisation to help journalists find new angles on stories and this paper analyses the extent to which such initiatives might harness digital innovation to benefit both the quality and range of reporting and thereby enhance creativity. It examines the potential of an information processing model of creativity derived from the INJECT tool to assist and support journalists, exploring the theoretical impact as well as the practical implications reported from the newsroom.

Attentional variability and avoidance of hostile stimuli decrease aggression in Chinese male juvenile delinquents

Background As a prominent issue worldwide, juveniles’ aggressive and violent crimes have attracted much interest in recent years. Based on the social information processing model, the present study aimed to evaluate the Chinese male juvenile delinquents’ attention bias towards hostile stimuli from both static and dynamic perspectives. Additionally, the predictive effect of attention bias on aggressive behavior and the moderating effect of group (juvenile delinquents and the controls with no criminal history) were also investigated. Methods The hostile attention bias and aggressive behavior of 76 juvenile delinquents (Mage = 17.5 years, SD = 0.59 years) and 67 controls (Mage = 18.3 years, SD = 0.73 years) were measured with the emotional dot-probe task, emotional Stroop task, and the Chinese version of the Buss & Perry aggression questionnaire, respectively. Results The results showed that compared with controls, juvenile delinquents showed more attention biases towards hostile faces and words, and demonstrated higher levels of physical aggression and anger. Furthermore, the type of participants moderated the relationship between hostile attention bias and aggressive behavior. For juvenile delinquents, attention bias away from hostile stimuli and attention variability negatively predicted anger, while for controls, attention variability positively predicted self-directed aggression. Conclusion Attentional variability and avoidance of hostile stimuli are expected to reduce the aggressive level of Chinese male juvenile delinquents. The relationship between attention bias and aggression should be further considered and applied in the clinical practice.