Previous studies have documented the centrality of the two basic dimensions of warmth and competence in stereotype. This study aims at further investigating the embodiment of the competence content, by testing whether occupational words with high/low competence can activate spatial image schema. A modified version of the spatial cuing paradigm was used in which participants first indicated whether an occupational word represented a mental or manual occupation (e.g., scientist or farmer), and then carried out an arrow direction judgment task (Experiment 1) or a letter identification task (Experiment 2). It was shown that the mere processing of occupations with high/low competence both primed upward/downward arrow judgments and oriented attention to the higher/lower area of visual space, respectively. The interpretation of the results indicated that the competence dimension of stereotype automatically refers to vertical space, suggesting the embodiment of the competence content.

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A computational model of perceptual reversal alternating between two interpretations is presented. Initially, the model represents the ambiguous state of a reversible picture, such as the bistable face-vase image. The internal state of the network evolves to settle into a stable state, which corresponds to one of two alternatives. Top-down feedback proves a deciding factor in leading the system into a modeled perceptual state over the time course. At any given time, top-down input from temporal associative memory provides contextual modulation of bottom-up input in the network. The model accounts for the role of top-down knowledge in resolving perceptual ambiguity as well as reversibility from one state to another.

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The present study explored the longitudinal relationship between infant temperament and maternal characteristics including depression and temperament, as well as the developmental change and stability of infant temperament. Assessments by questionnaires were conducted at 3 (N = 55), 10 (N = 51), and 16 (N = 52) months for infant temperament; at 1 month before and after delivery for maternal temperament; and at 1 month after delivery for maternal depression. Maternal temperamental characteristics significantly predicted infant temperament, but depression did not. Maternal Negative Affectivity predicted infant Negative Affectivity at 3 months, and maternal Orienting Sensitivity predicted infant Regulatory Capacity/Orienting at 10 months. Infant Positive Affectivity/Surgency significantly predicted infant later Regulatory Capacity/Orienting. Infant temperament showed developmental stability as individual differences as well as developmental changes as a group. The results are discussed with respect to genetic and environmental influences on infant temperament.

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In addition to material rewards (such as money, food, and liquid), various social signals, including facial attractiveness, are perceived as incentives. Although material and monetary rewards are known to enhance various aspects of cognitive performance, it is not clear whether and how social signals affect cognition. The present study focused on facial attractiveness and investigated its effects on working memory. In addition, we used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to characterize the activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), an area known to be involved in the processing of reward-related cues in working memory. Our results show that compared to the non-reward condition, the cue for attractive faces enhanced working memory performance, but DLPFC activation did not differ between these two conditions. These results provide new evidence that facial attractiveness enhances verbal working memory performance and function via neural mechanisms different from those characterized for other types of rewarding cues.

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