Publications

The relationships between online social networking (OSN) behaviour and users’ self-esteem are as important as well as ambiguous: Both positive and negative self-esteem can encourage users to engage in OSNs.  This work examined whether personality traits and attitudes toward traits can explain this controversy.  Data from 830 users of a local OSN were analysed.  I hypothesised that extraversion and attitudes toward extraversion eliminated correlations between positive self-esteem and users’ popularity (the number of friends and likes).  In contrast, neuroticism and attitudes toward neuroticism failed to eliminate a negative correlation between self-esteem and an indicator of users’ self-validation (the number of impersonal avatars).  This association also remained significant when conscientiousness as well as negative attitudes toward conscientiousness and agreeableness were controlled.  However, self-esteem did not correlate with the two other self-validation indicators―the number of posts and portraits.  This study casts doubt on the possibility of direct associations between positive self-esteem and users’ popularity beyond such factors as extraversion.  Nevertheless, it lends partial support to the association between negative self-esteem and users’ self-validation such as the use of impersonal avatars even when other personality characteristics are considered.

The perception of a pair of contours in a retinal image cannot be understood simply by adding up the perceptions of the individual contours, especially when they form a perpendicular junction, or are parallel to one another. It is the relationship among the contours that determines what is perceived. Note that it is hard to actually compare the perception of such configurations quantitatively. We managed to do this by testing the perception of such configurations in three psychophysical experiments in which the perception was characterized by measuring the orientation threshold of a single contour. This threshold was estimated by using a modified Method of Constant Stimulibased on the assumption that contours forming a configuration are perceived individually, and that they are integrated linearly. This assumption made the quantitative comparison of the perceived configurations possible. We found that changes of the estimated threshold depended on the type of the configuration, specifically thresholds estimated from a perpendicular junction were substantially lower than thresholds estimated from a single contour or from a non-perpendicular junction. The lowest thresholds were observed when the threshold was estimated from a pair of parallel contours. These results suggest that the visual system is sensitive to perpendicular junctions and parallel contours in a retinal image. Keywords: Orientation discrimination; Angle discrimination; Orientation threshold; Parallelism; Perpendicularity; Method of Constant Stimuli; Contour configuration

The article presents pilot data from a study conducted as part of a large project investigating the impact of socialization on child development supported by a Grant from the Government of the Russian Federation (№14.Z50.31.0027, PI: Grigorenko). The purpose of the study was to investigate indicators of psychological, social and emotional well-being in adults with experience of institutionalization in comparison with peers who grew up in biological families. We used scales from the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF). Results showed no significant differences between the group of orphanage graduates and the comparison group. However, using classification procedures we established that living conditions (separate apartment vs. a "public" space - a communal apartment or a dormitory) is an important variable predicting group belonging based on well-being indices. Thus, it appears that in adulthood, it is not the history of institutionalization but the actual living environment that is associated with indicators of the psychological, social and emotional well-being of orphanage graduates.

The article presents the results of the validation of the Circumplex of personality metatraits questionnaire on the Russian sample (Strus, Cieciuch, Rowiński, 2014, Strus, Cieciuch, 2017). The new concept of the personality metatraits, which is the development of Big Five, is briefly described in the article.

According to the model, metatraits can be described within a circumplex that is organized by 2 orthogonal dimensions: "Alpha" and "Beta". Also, authors of this model, introduced to the model 2 other metatraits: "Gamma" and "Delta". The main advantage of the CPM model is that it provides foundations for wide-ranging theoretical and methodological integration.

The description of the validated questionnaire, the sample on which the validation was conducted and other techniques that were additionally used to assess the empirical validity of the questionnaire is provided. During the validation of the questionnaire, direct and reverse translations of the questionnaire items were made, cognitive interviews were conducted, and, in order to approbate, 1191 respondents were interviewed. When processing the data obtained in this sample, the reliability-consistency of the eight scales of the questionnaire was evaluated, multidimensional scaling was performed to confirm the circumplex structure and the order of the mutual arrangement of the personality metatraits. To assess empirical validity, additional techniques were used that allow us to evaluate a number of other psychological constructs which can be hypothetically related to certain personality metatraits. As a result, we managed to get a questionnaire that meets the necessary requirements for validity and reliability. The questionnaire and the keys to it are attached to this article.

The article describes the main results of the study investigating the predictors of the behavioral strategy choice among Russians in an imaginary conflict with a representative of the North Caucasus ethnic groups. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research includes the dual concern model, the refined theory of personal values ​​by S. Schwartz and the concept of intergroup anxiety by W. Stefan and C. Stefan. As the predictors of the behavioral strategy choice in a conflict, following personal values ​​were considered: Openness to change, Conservation, Self-Transcendence and Self-Enhancement. The role of intergroup anxiety was tested as a moderator affecting the link between values ​​and behavior in the conflict. Cultural identity and self-esteem were considered as control variables. The study involved 214 ethnic Russians living in Russia (73 men, 141 women, age M = 31.96, SD = 10.21). Respondents were involved in the study helping by "snowball" method. The following methods were used:  Organizational Conflict Inventory by M. Rahim in the modification of J. Oetzel, PVQ-R by S. Schwartz, the intercultural communication apprehension scale by J. Neulep and D. McKrosky, and the certain scales from the MIRIPS questionnaire. The results of the path analysis showed that the choice of the competing is positively related to the values ​​of Self-Enhancement and is negative with the values ​​of Self-Transcendence. The choice of collaborating strategy has a positive relation with the values ​​of Self-Transcendence and Openness to change. The choice of an avoiding strategy is positively related to the values ​​of Conservation and intergroup anxiety. The choice of the accommodating did not reveal a significant influence of values but this strategy is in positive connection with cultural identity and in a negative connection with self-esteem. Intergroup anxiety is a moderator of the relationship between the value of Openness to change and the collaborating strategy. The obtained results can be used in the development of recommendations in the field of intercultural communication and in the settlement of intercultural conflicts.

The literature on the consequences of academic inbreeding shows ambiguous results: some papers show that inbreeding positively influences research productivity measured by the quantity and quality of publications, while others demonstrate the opposite effect. There are contradictory results both in the studies of different countries and within countries. This variety of results makes it impossible to transfer the findings from one academic system to another, and in Russia this problem has been under-explored. This paper focuses on the relationship between inbreeding and publication activity among Russian faculty. The research was conducted using data from the ‘Monitoring of Educational Markets and Organizations’ survey. The results show that there is no significant effect of academic inbreeding on publication productivity: no substantial and robust differences in publication activity between inbreds and non-inbreds have been found. The paper finishes with a discussion of possible explanations inherent in the Russian academic system.

Employing a person-oriented approach to acculturation expectations held by Russian majority group members, we investigated the presence of groups of profiles and relationships between acculturation expectation profiles and intergroup attitudes. Applying latent profile analysis, we found three easy-to-interpret acculturation expectation profiles: biculturalism expectations, alternate-biculturalism expectations (with public—private domain differences in preference), and assimilation expectations. The subsequent comparative analysis showed that these profiles mainly differed in the extent of the desirability of maintenance of heritage culture, and adoption of the mainstream culture by immigrants only in private domains of life. The biculturalism expectation profile contained individuals who support the idea of a multicultural society. The alternate-biculturalism expectation profile contained individuals with slightly less emphasis on adoption of mainstream acculturation for immigrants, a distinction between preferences in the public and private domains of life, more focus on public domains, and less right-wing authoritarianism. The assimilation expectation profile contained individuals with a higher dangerous worldview and endorsement of discrimination, and lower support of a multicultural ideology, willingness to engage in intergroup contact, and desire of maintenance of heritage acculturation for immigrants. Our study demonstrated the value of a person-oriented approach in a population where subgroups differ in the domain dependence of their acculturation expectations.

Recent theories of cognitive control put large emphasis on theta oscillations in relation to action monitoring. Multiple EEG studies of cognitive control revealed increased power of theta oscillations restricted to midfrontal areas, while there is a substantial body of functional connectivity data demonstrating that theta oscillations may be a carrier of informational exchange over multiple cortical regions. fMRI studies revealed immense distributed networks involved in cognitive control. Paradoxically, MEG has been considered almost insensitive to theta oscillations in such an experimental context. It also remains debatable what is the functional role of such theta oscillations. An influential line of evidence links feedback-related theta oscillations to two types of prediction errors (unsigned and signed), but this distinction has not been tested during trial-end-error learning with theta activity measured beyond the midfrontal cortex.

We recorded MEG while participants were involved in trial-and-error learning within a novel multiple-choice behavioral task with complex stimulus-to-response mapping. Three conditions were analyzed: correct and erroneous trials during the initial stage of learning acquisition, as well as correct trials during stable performance. Sources of MEG activity were analyzed using minimum-norm estimation method within 4-6 Hz frequency range.

We revealed a number of bilateral cortical areas that displayed theta oscillations to the feedback signal: in addition to the "classical" medial frontal areas (the anterior part of the medial cingulate cortex and the pre-supplementary motor area), this network included the insula and the auditory cortex, the frontal operculum and posterior inferior frontal gyrus, the premotor cortex, the paracentral lobule, and the posterior part of the medial cingulate cortex. Granger causality analysis revealed overall communication directed from lateral to medial sites. During the initial stage of trial-and-error learning, we observed a strong non-differential response to feedback signal that reflected an unsigned component of the prediction error. The signed component of the prediction error was observed later – with greater theta activations after errors compared with correct responses.

Thus, using MEG, we were able to reveal a distributed network of brain areas in relation to feedback-related processing that included not only medial frontal, but also auditory areas, insula, lateral frontal, and medial parietal areas. The data obtained confirm the existence of two components of the prediction error, and this distinction was evident all over the network revealed.

The study was implemented in the framework of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in 2018.

Embodied cognition theory implies that speech is largely based on the body motor and sensory experience. The question, which is crucial for understanding the origin of language, is how our brain transforms sensory-motor experience and gets access to word semantic representation. We developed an auditory-motor experimental procedure that allowed investigating neural underpinning of word meaning acquisition by way of associative "trial-and-error" learning paradigm that mimics basic aspects of natural language learning. Participants were presented with eight pseudowords; four of them were assigned to specific body part movements during learning blocks – through commencing actions by one of participant’s left or right extremities and receiving a feedback. The other pseudowords did not require actions and were used as controls. Magnetoencephalogram was recorded during passive listening of the pseudowords before and after learning blocks. The cortical sources of the magnetic evoked responses were reconstructed using distributed source modeling. Learning of novel word meaning through word-action association selectively increased neural specificity for these words in the auditory parabelt areas responsible for spectrotemporal analysis, as well as in articulatory areas, both located in the left hemisphere. The extent of neural changes was linked to the degree of language learning, specifically implicating the physiological contribution of the left perisylvian cortex in the speech learning success.

This paper presents a cross-cultural study on the mediating role of implicit theories of innovativeness in the relationship between basic values and specific attitudes towards innovation. Modernized samples (399 Russians from Moscow and Novokuznetsk) and more traditional samples (194 Chechens and Ingushs from North Caucasus and 200 Tuvins from the Tuva Republic) within the Russian Federation answered Schwartz Value Survey (SVS) (Schwartz, 1992), measures of attitudes towards innovation (Lebedeva, Tatarko, 2009), and an Adjective Check List (Runco et al., 1993) adapted for measuring implicit theories of innovativeness in the current samples. Main findings include (1) a split in individual and social aspects of implicit theories of innovativeness, (2) different mediation of the effects of Openness to Change and Conservation values, and (3) differences in mediation models between the two samples. Implications of these findings for cross-cultural studies on innovativeness are discussed.

Neuron spike activity was recorded in the retrosplenial area of the cortex during execution of acquired cyclic operant food-procuring behavior (COFPB) in adult (8–12 months) and elderly (20–27 months) LongEvans rats. As compared with adult rats, elderly animals showed a signifi cant decrease in the proportion of neurons specialized for COFPB. The normalized discharge frequency of all neurons in elderly animals during execution of basic food-procuring acts was signifi cantly greater than that in adults. Elderly rats showed signifi cantly fewer pairs of acts with signifi cant differences in discharge frequency than adults, indicating that neuron activity on execution of COFPB was more uniform. These data indicate that in old age, learning involves less “extension” of existing experience due to formation of new neuronal specializations than in earlier stages of an individual’s life and that the internal system structure of the newly formed behavior is more “homogeneous.”

People socialized in different cultures differ in their thinking styles. Eastern-culture people view objects more holistically by taking context into account, whereas Western-culture people view objects more analytically by focusing on them at the expense of context. Here we studied whether participants, who have different thinking styles but live within the same culture, exhibit differential brain activity when viewing a drama movie. A total of 26 Finnish participants, who were divided into holistic and analytical thinkers based on self-report questionnaire scores, watched a shortened drama movie during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We compared intersubject correlation (ISC) of brain hemodynamic activity of holistic vs analytical participants across the movie viewings. Holistic thinkers showed significant ISC in more extensive cortical areas than analytical thinkers, suggesting that they perceived the movie in a more similar fashion. Significantly higher ISC was observed in holistic thinkers in occipital, prefrontal and temporal cortices. In analytical thinkers, significant ISC was observed in right-hemisphere fusiform gyrus, temporoparietal junction and frontal cortex. Since these results were obtained in participants with similar cultural background, they are less prone to confounds by other possible cultural differences. Overall, our results show how brain activity in holistic vs analytical participants differs when viewing the same drama movie.

Background Used / introduction  of The early eye tracking studies of descriptive Yarbus Provided Evidence That an observer's task Influences patterns of eye Movements, a leading to the a tantalizing prospect That an observer's Intentions Could the BE inferred from Their saccade behavior. This is a dynamic and dynamic cognitive companion using a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN). Understanding how it comes to human cognitive goals. This model provides a Bayesian, cognitive approach to pre-frontal areas with the colliculus.  This method  has been previously shown.  This is an analysis of the observer’s task. Secondly, it is a state cognitive state . Finally, we ’ve been able to make a difference .  Results  This is the only factor that influences observers' saccadic behavior. It has been shown that it has been shown that it has been selected for the paradigms.  Conclusions  Given the generative nature of this model in real time. We have shown that it has been closely coordinated with those of human observers. Many current models of vision The area of ​​interest is within the visual scene. There are three ways to add top-down knowledge and knowledge . First of all, it is given the information available to the visual system. Matches influential theories This of bias signals by Miller & Cohen (2001), and implements selection of state without simply shifting the decision to an external homunculus. Second, our model is a generative and capable of those found in visual search. Third, our model generates relative saccadic vector information as opposed to absolute spatial coordinates. This match is more closely associated with the colliculus.   

The temporal dynamic characteristics of mood play an important role in various aspects of our lives including our psychological health and well-being. It is assumed that the individuals with high emotional intelligence (EI) are characterized by more positive and stable moods. However, most studies analyze how EI is related to emotional traits or momentary assessments of mood; there are almost no findings on EI relationships with mood dynamics. The present study fills this gap. Two research questions were asked. How mood dynamics characteristics are related to each other and to what extent are they independent? Which aspects of EI are related to particular characteristics of mood dynamics? Method. To collect data on mood dynamics, an experience sampling procedure was implemented. Twenty-six female participants reported their mood for two weeks, three times a day, using the EmoS-18 questionnaire. Their emotional intelligence was measured with the EmIn questionnaire. Mean mood scores calculated across all measurement points were regarded as static characteristics showing a mood background typical for the participant. Also, three dynamic characteristics of mood were calculated, namely variability, instability, and inertia. Results. Mood variability and instability were found to be very closely related to each other, measuring essentially the same construct. Inertia is relatively independent. EI was not related to mean mood scores which contradicts the results of other studies and can be explained by the use of the experience sampling procedure. EI was positively related to the inertia of a positive mood with high arousal and a negative mood with low arousal. In addition, a negative relationship between EI and the instability of tension was found. Most of the correlations were low. Further studies with higher statistical power are needed for more decisive conclusions. However, the results show that experience sampling provides new important insights on the role of EI in mood

A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between outgroup entitativity and prejudice. A quantitative analysis of 85 effect sizes from 33 independent samples showed a significant positive relationship between entitativity and prejudice (Fisher’s z = .414, 95% CI [.272, .557], p < .0001). Three possible moderators of the relationship between entitativity and prejudice were tested: conceptualization of the entitativity (essence-based entitativity scale, agency-based entitativity scale, common entitativity scale), the target of the prejudice, the measures of prejudice (attitudes, emotions, behavior towards outgroup). Results demonstrated that outgroup entitativity correlated with prejudice only when entitativity was conceptualized as an essence-based or common-based scale, and prejudice was measured as the attitude to the outgroup. The target of prejudice does not moderate the relationship between entitativity and prejudice.

It is intended in this study to present initial reliability and validity data for the Russian adaptation of the Multidimensional Inventory of Religious/Spiritual Well-being (MI-RSWB-R), as being related to personality factors and psychopathology. Therefore, the first version of the MI-RSWB-R was applied to a sample of 192 (147 females) nonclinical subjects, together with the NEO Five Factor Inventory and the Symptom- Check-List (SCL-90-R). The original six-factor structure of the scale could be replicated for the MI-RSWB-R, which also provides satisfying psychometric properties. In accordance with previous research the RSWB total score was linked to more favorable personality traits such as Extraversion (r = .45), Openness to Experience (r = .39), and Agreeableness (r = .38), which was paralleled by substantial negative correlations with increased psychopathology. Our findings support the reliability and structural validity of the MI-RSWB-R as a standardized instrument for addressing the spiritual dimension in Russian populations. Further research in clinical surroundings is now recommended.

Background

In the past decade, several studies have examined the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on long-term episodic memory formation and retrieval. These studies yielded conflicting results, likely due to differences in stimulation parameters, experimental design and outcome measures.

Objectives

In this work we aimed to assess the robustness of tDCS effects on long-term episodic memory using a meta-analytical approach.

Methods

We conducted four meta-analyses to analyse the effects of anodal and cathodal tDCS on memory accuracy and response times. We also used a moderator analysis to examine whether the size of tDCS effects varied as a function of specific stimulation parameters and experimental conditions.

Results

Although all selected studies reported a significant effect of tDCS in at least one condition in the published paper, the results of the four meta-analyses showed only statistically non-significant close-to-zero effects. A moderator analysis suggested that for anodal tDCS, the duration of the stimulation and the task used to probe memory moderated the effectiveness of tDCS. For cathodal tDCS, site of stimulation was a significant moderator, although this result was based on only a few observations.

Conclusions

To warrant theoretical advancement and practical implications, more rigorous research is needed to fully understand whether tDCS reliably modulates episodic memory, and the specific circumstances under which this modulation does, and does not, occur.

The well-known modern dimensional models of affect include two or three dimensions. They are typically based on self-reports using English emotion terms. It remains unclear to what extent these models can be applied to different cultures and languages. The present study is aimed at finding the dimensions underlying the descriptions of emotional states in Russian and suggests a structural model of affect based on these findings. At the first stage, a comprehensive list of Russian nouns denoting emotional states was compiled. It comprised 330 words and was reduced to a list of 56 words. At the second stage, participants rated their emotional states using this list. The exploratory factor analysis yielded three dimensions that underlay participant descriptions of the emotional states – negative affect with low activation, positive affect with high activation, and tension. This model is compared to other structural models of affect and its special features are discussed. This model can be used for developing Russian-based measures for the assessment of mood.