Automatic threat processing shows evidence of exclusivity.

De Neys argues against assigning exclusive capacities to automatic versus controlled processes. The dual implicit process model provides a theoretical rationale for the exclusivity of automatic threat processing, and corresponding data provide empirical evidence of such exclusivity. De Neys's dismissal of exclusivity is premature and based on a limited sampling of psychological research.

Correction to: On the Automatic Nature of Threat: Physiological and Evaluative Reactions to Survival-Threats Outside Conscious Perception.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s42761-021-00090-6.].

On the Automatic Nature of Threat: Physiological and Evaluative Reactions to Survival-Threats Outside Conscious Perception.

A neural architecture that preferentially processes immediate survival threats relative to other negatively and positively valenced stimuli presumably evolved to facilitate survival. The empirical literature on threat superiority, however, has suffered two problems: methodologically distinguishing threatening stimuli from negative stimuli and differentiating whether responses are sped and strengthened by threat superiority or delayed and diminished by conscious processing of nonthreatening stimuli. We addressed both problems in three within-subject studies that compared responses to empirically validated sets of threating, negative, positive, and neutral stimuli, and isolated threat superiority from the opposing effect of conscious attention by presenting stimuli outside conscious perception. Consistent with threat superiority, threatening stimuli elicited stronger skin-conductance (Study 1), startle-eyeblink (Study 2), and more negative downstream evaluative responses (Study 3) relative to the undifferentiated responses to negative, positive, and neutral stimuli. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00090-6.

Automatic and controlled antecedents of suicidal ideation and action: A dual-process conceptualization of suicidality.

Dual-process models of cognition distinguish relatively automatic from relatively controlled processes in terms of their interactive impact on perception, judgment, and behavior. Such models have advanced explanation and prediction in a variety of domains across psychology but have yet to be comprehensively applied to the pressing societal and public health problem of suicide. We propose a model of suicide that integrates dual-process models of social cognition with ideation-to-action conceptualizations of suicide. The model specifies: (a) suicide-relevant automatic associations involving the self, others, the future, death, and bodily harm, (b) suicide-relevant motives involving the self, interpersonal relations, the future, and the desire to die, and (c) hypotheses regarding the conditions under which automatic associations and motives individually and interactively impact suicidal ideation and lethal action at various stages of an ideation-to-action framework. The model recasts a number of suicide-relevant variables in terms of the opportunity factor of dual-process theories of attitudes, which encompasses capacity-relevant variables (e.g., time, cognitive resources) that determine whether suicide-relevant judgments and behavior are the result of relatively automatic associations or more controlled, deliberative cognition. Accordingly, the model articulates a number of novel predictions regarding the sources of suicide-relevant automatic associations, motives, and opportunity factors, as well as their interactive influences on suicidal ideation and action. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent Lag Patterns Differ Between Rest and Task Conditions, but Are Largely Typical in Autism.

Background/Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by atypical functional connectivity (FC) within and between distributed brain networks. However, FC findings have often been inconsistent, possibly due to a focus on static FC rather than brain dynamics. Lagged connectivity analyses aim at evaluating temporal latency, and presumably neural propagation, between regions. This approach may, therefore, reveal a more detailed picture of network organization in ASD than traditional FC methods. Methods: The current study evaluated whole-brain lag patterns in adolescents with ASD (n = 28) and their typically developing peers (n = 22). Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected during rest and during a lexico-semantic decision task. Optimal lag was calculated for each pair of regions of interest by using cross-covariance, and mean latency projections were calculated for each region. Results: Latency projections did not regionally differ between groups, with the same regions emerging among the "earliest" and "latest." Although many of the longest absolute latencies were preserved across resting-state and task conditions, lag patterns overall were affected by condition, as many regions shifted toward zero-lag during task performance. Lag structure was also strongly associated with literature-derived estimates of arterial transit time. Discussion: Results suggest that lag patterns are broadly typical in ASD but undergo changes during task performance. Moreover, lag patterns appear to reflect a combination of neural and vascular sources, which should be carefully considered when interpreting lagged FC. Impact statement Altered brain dynamics have been proposed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Lagged functional connectivity analysis uses cross-correlation between functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) time series to determine regional latency. Few studies have examined blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) lag in ASD, and findings have been inconsistent. Using multi-echo fMRI data with improved artifact detection and removal, we find differences in lag structure between task and rest states, but not between adolescents with ASD and typically developing peers. Additional analyses exploring links with arterial transit time, however, highlight the impact of vascular organization on BOLD lag patterns and its potential to confound measures of neural dynamics.

Danger or dislike: Distinguishing threat from negative valence as sources of automatic anti-Black bias.

The Dual Implicit Process Model (March et al., 2018b) distinguishes the implicit processing of physical threat (i.e., "Can it hurt or kill me?") from valence (i.e., "Do I dislike/like it?"). Five studies tested whether automatic anti-Black bias is due to White Americans associating Black men with threat, negative valence, or both. Studies 1 and 2 assessed how quickly White participants decided whether positive, negative, and threatening images were good versus bad when primed by Black versus White male-faces. Studies 3 and 4 assessed how early in the decision process White participants began deciding whether Black and White (and, in Study 3, Asian) male-faces displaying anger, sadness, happiness, or no emotion were, in Study 3, dangerous, depressed, cheerful, or calm or, in Study 4, dangerous, negative, or positive. Study 5 assessed how quickly White participants decided whether negative and threatening words were negative versus dangerous when primed by Black versus White male-names. All studies indicated that White Americans automatically associate Black men with physical threat. Study 3 indicated the association is unique to Black men and did not extend to Asian men as a general intergroup effect. Studies 3, 4, and 5, which simultaneously paired threat against negativity, indicated that the Black-threat association is stronger than a Black-negative association. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Bile Salts Regulate Zinc Uptake and Capsule Synthesis in a Mastitis-Associated Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli Strain.

Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) strains are major causes of urinary and bloodstream infections. ExPEC reservoirs are not completely understood. Some mastitis-associated E. coli (MAEC) strains carry genes associated with ExPEC virulence, including metal scavenging, immune avoidance, and host attachment functions. In this study, we investigated the role of the high-affinity zinc uptake (znuABC) system in the MAEC strain M12. Elimination of znuABC moderately decreased fitness during mouse mammary gland infections. The ΔznuABC mutant strain exhibited an unexpected growth delay in the presence of bile salts, which was alleviated by the addition of excess zinc. We isolated suppressor mutants with improved growth in bile salts, several of which no longer produced the K96 capsule made by strain M12. The addition of bile salts also reduced capsule production by strain M12 and ExPEC strain CP9, suggesting that capsule synthesis may be detrimental when bile salts are present. To better understand the role of the capsule, we compared the virulence of mastitis strain M12 with that of its unencapsulated ΔkpsCS mutant in two models of ExPEC disease. The wild-type strain successfully colonized mouse bladders and kidneys and was highly virulent in intraperitoneal infections. Conversely, the ΔkpsCS mutant was unable to colonize kidneys and was unable to cause sepsis. These results demonstrate that some MAEC strains may be capable of causing human ExPEC illness. The virulence of strain M12 in these infections is dependent on its capsule. However, capsule may interfere with zinc homeostasis in the presence of bile salts while in the digestive tract.

Incidental Attitude Formation via the Surveillance Task: A Preregistered Replication of the Olson and Fazio (2001) Study.

Evaluative conditioning is one of the most widely studied procedures for establishing and changing attitudes. The surveillance task is a highly cited evaluative-conditioning paradigm and one that is claimed to generate attitudes without awareness. The potential for evaluative-conditioning effects to occur without awareness continues to fuel conceptual, theoretical, and applied developments. Yet few published studies have used this task, and most are characterized by small samples and small effect sizes. We conducted a high-powered (N = 1,478 adult participants), preregistered close replication of the original surveillance-task study (Olson & Fazio, 2001). We obtained evidence for a small evaluative-conditioning effect when "aware" participants were excluded using the original criterion-therefore replicating the original effect. However, no such effect emerged when three other awareness criteria were used. We suggest that there is a need for caution when using evidence from the surveillance-task effect to make theoretical and practical claims about "unaware" evaluative-conditioning effects.

I Know (What) You Are, But What Am I? The Effect of Recategorization Threat and Perceived Immutability on Prejudice.

Learning one is similar to a stigmatized group can threaten one's identity and prompt disassociation from the group. What are the consequences of learning of a similarity to a stigmatized group when that similarity implies possible recategorization into the group? We investigated how learning of an immutable, recategorization implying similarity with an outgroup affects implicitly and explicitly assessed prejudice. In Study 1, White participants who believed they had above average genetic overlap with African Americans showed decreased prejudice on implicit but not explicit measures. In Study 2, straight/heterosexual participants who were led to believe they exhibited some same-sex attraction showed reduced implicitly assessed prejudice, but only if they believed sexual orientation was biologically determined. Thus, learning of an identity-implying similarity with an outgroup can reduce implicit prejudice if that group membership is believed to be immutable. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Implicit interpersonal evaluations as a risk factor for suicidality: Automatic spousal attitudes predict changes in the probability of suicidal thoughts.

Thwarted social connection is a critical risk factor for suicidality, and several theoretical perspectives highlight the importance of interpersonal affect to social connection. Given that marriage is an increasingly important source of social connection, we examined the role of automatic spousal attitudes-conceptualized as spontaneously activated affective associations involving one's spouse-in predicting suicidal thoughts in 3 longitudinal studies of married couples. Studies 1a (N = 204) and 1b (N = 159) demonstrated that more positive automatic spousal attitudes, assessed implicitly shortly after the marriage as the speed with which people categorized positive relative to negative words following photo-primes of their spouse, were associated with a weakened probability of the self-reported suicidal thoughts 1 year later. Study 2 (N = 229) provided further evidence that automatic spousal attitudes predict suicidal thoughts by showing that newly conditioned automatic spousal attitudes predicted suicidal thoughts. In that study, more positive automatic spousal attitudes exhibited after an evaluative conditioning procedure were associated with a reduced probability of suicidal thoughts 2 months later. Across studies, an increase (1 SD) in automatic spousal attitudes was associated with approximately a 50% decreased probability of suicidal thought. In all 3 studies, implicitly measured spousal attitudes captured variance in suicidal thoughts not captured by implicitly measured attitudes toward oneself and self-reported marital satisfaction, both of which proved to be less reliable predictors of suicidal thoughts. These findings highlight the importance of automatic interpersonal processes to well-being generally and suicidality specifically, and may thereby suggest novel methods for reducing risk of suicidality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Genome-Wide Identification of Fitness Factors in Mastitis-Associated Escherichia coli.

Virulence factors of mammary pathogenic Escherichia coli (MPEC) have not been identified, and it is not known how bacterial gene content influences the severity of mastitis. Here, we report a genome-wide identification of genes that contribute to fitness of MPEC under conditions relevant to the natural history of the disease. A highly virulent clinical isolate (M12) was identified that killed Galleria mellonella at low infectious doses and that replicated to high numbers in mouse mammary glands and spread to spleens. Genome sequencing was combined with transposon insertion site sequencing to identify MPEC genes that contribute to growth in unpasteurized whole milk, as well as during G. mellonella and mouse mastitis infections. These analyses show that strain M12 possesses a unique genomic island encoding a group III polysaccharide capsule that greatly enhances virulence in G. mellonella Several genes appear critical for MPEC survival in both G. mellonella and in mice, including those for nutrient-scavenging systems and resistance to cellular stress. Insertions in the ferric dicitrate receptor gene fecA caused significant fitness defects under all conditions (in milk, G. mellonella, and mice). This gene was highly expressed during growth in milk. Targeted deletion of fecA from strain M12 caused attenuation in G. mellonella larvae and reduced growth in unpasteurized cow's milk and lactating mouse mammary glands. Our results confirm that iron scavenging by the ferric dicitrate receptor, which is strongly associated with MPEC strains, is required for MPEC growth and may influence disease severity in mastitis infections.IMPORTANCE Mastitis caused by E. coli inflicts substantial burdens on the health and productivity of dairy animals. Strains causing mastitis may express genes that distinguish them from other E. coli strains and promote infection of mammary glands, but these have not been identified. Using a highly virulent strain, we employed genome-wide mutagenesis and sequencing to discover genes that contribute to mastitis. This extensive data set represents a screen for mastitis-associated E. coli fitness factors and provides the following contributions to the field: (i) global comparison of genes required for different aspects of mastitis infection, (ii) discovery of a unique capsule that contributes to virulence, and (iii) conclusive evidence for the crucial role of iron-scavenging systems in mastitis, particularly the ferric dicitrate transport system. Similar approaches applied to other mastitis-associated strains will uncover conserved targets for prevention or treatment and provide a better understanding of their relationship to other E. coli pathogens.

In Harm's Way: On Preferential Response to Threatening Stimuli.

Given the evolutionary significance of survival, the mind might be particularly sensitive (in terms of strength and speed of reaction) to stimuli that pose an immediate threat to physical harm. To rectify limitations in past research, we pilot-tested stimuli to obtain images that are threatening, nonthreatening-negative, positive, or neutral. Three studies revealed that participants (a) were faster to detect a threatening than nonthreatening-negative image when each was embedded among positive or neutral images, (b) oriented their initial gaze more frequently toward threatening than nonthreatening-negative, positive, or neutral images, and (c) evidenced larger startle-eyeblinks to threatening than to nonthreatening-negative, positive, or neutral images. Social-psychological implications for the mind's sensitivity to threat are discussed.

Automatic Associations Between One's Partner and One's Affect as the Proximal Mechanism of Change in Relationship Satisfaction: Evidence From Evaluative Conditioning.

The current study examined whether directly altering affective associations involving a relationship partner through evaluative conditioning can lead to changes in relationship satisfaction. Married couples ( N = 144) were asked to view a brief stream of images once every 3 days for 6 weeks. Embedded in this stream were pictures of the partner, which, according to random assignment of couples to experimental group, were paired with either positive or neutral stimuli. Couples also completed measures of automatic partner attitudes and explicit marital satisfaction at baseline and once every 2 weeks for 8 weeks. Spouses who viewed their partners paired with positive stimuli demonstrated more-positive automatic partner attitudes than did control spouses, and these attitudes predicted increased self-reported marital satisfaction over time. These results provide novel evidence for a mechanism of change in relationship satisfaction, represent a step toward documenting how strong attitudes can evolve through passive exposure to information, and suggest novel avenues for relationship interventions.

Capturing the Interpersonal Implications of Evolved Preferences? Frequency of Sex Shapes Automatic, but Not Explicit, Partner Evaluations.

A strong predisposition to engage in sexual intercourse likely evolved in humans because sex is crucial to reproduction. Given that meeting interpersonal preferences tends to promote positive relationship evaluations, sex within a relationship should be positively associated with relationship satisfaction. Nevertheless, prior research has been inconclusive in demonstrating such a link, with longitudinal and experimental studies showing no association between sexual frequency and relationship satisfaction. Crucially, though, all prior research has utilized explicit reports of satisfaction, which reflect deliberative processes that may override the more automatic implications of phylogenetically older evolved preferences. Accordingly, capturing the implications of sexual frequency for relationship evaluations may require implicit measurements that bypass deliberative reasoning. Consistent with this idea, one cross-sectional and one 3-year study of newlywed couples revealed a positive association between sexual frequency and automatic partner evaluations but not explicit satisfaction. These findings highlight the importance of automatic measurements to understanding interpersonal relationships.

Spectrally reconfigurable integrated multi-spot particle trap.

Optical manipulation of small particles in the form of trapping, pushing, or sorting has developed into a vast field with applications in the life sciences, biophysics, and atomic physics. Recently, there has been increasing effort toward integration of particle manipulation techniques with integrated photonic structures on self-contained optofluidic chips. Here, we use the wavelength dependence of multi-spot pattern formation in multimode interference (MMI) waveguides to create a new type of reconfigurable, integrated optical particle trap. Interfering lateral MMI modes create multiple trapping spots in an intersecting fluidic channel. The number of trapping spots can be dynamically controlled by altering the trapping wavelength. This novel, spectral reconfigurability is utilized to deterministically move single and multiple particles between different trapping locations along the channel. This fully integrated multi-particle trap can form the basis of high throughput biophotonic assays on a chip.

What We Talk About Matters: Content Moderates Cognitive Depletion in Interracial Interactions.

The antecedents and consequences of intergroup interactions have been well studied, but interaction content--what partners actually talk about--has not. In the experiment we report here, interaction content moderated well-documented self-regulation effects (i.e., cognitive depletion) among White participants interacting with a Black partner. Specifically, White individuals participated in a video email interaction with an ostensible Black or White partner who broached topics systematically varying in intimacy. Greater cognitive depletion was evident after interacting with a Black partner relative to a White partner, but only after discussing more intimate topics. When conversation topics aligned with Whites' preferences to avoid intimacy in interracial interactions, depletion effects were reduced. Thus, interaction content, which has been largely ignored in intergroup interaction research, has important implications for intergroup interaction.

Implicit self-evaluations predict changes in implicit partner evaluations.

Do people who feel good about themselves have better relations with others? Although the notion that they do is central to both classic and modern theories, there is little strong evidence to support it. We argue that one reason for the lack of evidence is that prior research has relied exclusively on explicit measures of self- and relationship evaluation. The current longitudinal study of newlywed couples used implicit measures of self- and partner evaluation, as well as explicit measures of self-, relationship, and partner evaluation, to examine the link between self-evaluations and changes in relationship evaluations over the first 3 years of marriage. Whereas explicit self-evaluations were unrelated to changes in all interpersonal measures, implicit self-evaluations positively predicted changes in implicit partner evaluations. This finding adds to previous research by highlighting the importance of automatic processes and implicit measures in the study of close interpersonal relationships.

Though they may be unaware, newlyweds implicitly know whether their marriage will be satisfying.

For decades, social psychological theories have posited that the automatic processes captured by implicit measures have implications for social outcomes. Yet few studies have demonstrated any long-term implications of automatic processes, and some scholars have begun to question the relevance and even the validity of these theories. At baseline of our longitudinal study, 135 newlywed couples (270 individuals) completed an explicit measure of their conscious attitudes toward their relationship and an implicit measure of their automatic attitudes toward their partner. They then reported their marital satisfaction every 6 months for the next 4 years. We found no correlation between spouses' automatic and conscious attitudes, which suggests that spouses were unaware of their automatic attitudes. Further, spouses' automatic attitudes, not their conscious ones, predicted changes in their marital satisfaction, such that spouses with more positive automatic attitudes were less likely to experience declines in marital satisfaction over time.