We examined Goslin, Dixon, Fischer, Cangelosi, and Ellis's (Psychological Science 23:152-157, 2012) claim that the object-based correspondence effect (i.e., faster keypress responses when the orientation of an object's graspable part corresponds with the response location than when it does not) is the result of object-based attention (vision-action binding). In Experiment 1, participants determined the category of a centrally located object (kitchen utensil vs. tool), as in Goslin et al.'s study. The handle orientation (left vs. right) did or did not correspond with the response location (left vs. right). We found no correspondence effect on the response times (RTs) for either category. The effect was also not evident in the P1 and N1 components of the event-related potentials, which are thought to reflect the allocation of early visual attention. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2 for centrally located objects, even when the object was presented 45 times (33 more times than in Exp. 1). Critically, the correspondence effects on RTs, P1s, and N1s emerged only when the object was presented peripherally, so that the object handle was clearly located to the left or right of fixation. Experiment 3 provided further evidence that the effect was observed only for the base-centered objects, in which the handle was clearly positioned to the left or right of center. These findings contradict those of Goslin et al. and provide no evidence that an intended grasping action modulates visual attention. Instead, the findings support the spatial-coding account of the object-based correspondence effect.

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Previous studies suggest that older adults process positive emotions more efficiently than negative emotions, whereas younger adults show the reverse effect. We examined whether this age-related difference in emotional bias still occurs when attention is engaged in two emotional tasks. We used a psychological refractory period paradigm and varied the emotional valence of Task 1 and Task 2. In both experiments, Task 1 was emotional face discrimination (happy vs. angry faces) and Task 2 was sound discrimination (laugh, punch, vs. cork pop in Experiment 1 and laugh vs. scream in Experiment 2). The backward emotional correspondence effect for positively and negatively valenced Task 2 on Task 1 was measured. In both experiments, younger adults showed a backward correspondence effect from a negatively valenced Task 2, suggesting parallel processing of negatively valenced stimuli. Older adults showed similar negativity bias in Experiment 2 with a more salient negative sound ("scream" relative to "punch"). These results are consistent with an arousal-bias competition model [Mather and Sutherland (Perspectives in Psychological Sciences 6:114-133, 2011)], suggesting that emotional arousal modulates top-down attentional control settings (emotional regulation) with age.

Recent researchers have highlighted the need for research on deadly shootings and other forms of aggression in society. To provide a theoretical roadmap for future research in this area, we have brought together socialpsychological, anthropological, sociological, and neuro-biological literature. We present a theoretical model we have labeled the Masculinity-based model of Aggressive Retaliation in Society (MARS). Masculine honor cultural ideologies foster a norm that young men should swiftly and decisively respond against threats to their masculinity. We contend that better understanding how these top-down expectations that are placed on young men interact with bottom-up processes such as hormones, brain area activation, and brain area connectivity will help explain the risk factors behind extreme forms of retaliatory aggression including shootings in modern society, and why the vast majority of these heinous crimes are committed by young men. These predictors have been established in the literature individually as causes of violence and aggression, but we contend that these may function as additive risk factors and their deadly combination that may lead to retaliatory aggression as a perceived last resort for affected boys and young men. Public Significance StatementWe have created a Masculinity-based model of Aggressive Retaliation in Society (MARS). This model helps to explain retaliatory aggression in modern society and we believe it will, with further testing, help to better understand the manifestation of extreme forms of aggression in society like shootings and violence.

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