When Are Attention and Saccade Preparation Dissociated?

ABSTRACT— To understand the mechanisms of visual attention, it is crucial to know the relationship between attention and saccades. Some theories propose a close relationship, whereas others view the attention and saccade systems as completely independent. One possible way to resolve this controversy is to distinguish between the maintenance and shifting of attention. The present study used a novel paradigm that allowed simultaneous measurement of attentional allocation and saccade preparation. Saccades toward the location where attention was maintained were either facilitated or suppressed depending on the probability of making a saccade to that location and the match between the attended location and the saccade location on the previous trial. Shifting attention to another location was always associated with saccade facilitation. The findings provide a new view, demonstrating that the maintenance of attention and shifting of attention differ in their relationship to the oculomotor system.     

Are Exact Calculation and Computational Estimation Categorically Different?

This study examined, through the problem‐size effect, whether exact calculation and computational estimation are categorically different. In Experiment 1, 26 teacher candidates, most of whom were female, Caucasian, and in their early 20s, estimated 27 randomly generated double‐digit multiplication problems. In Experiment 2, 44 similar participants estimated and calculated a common set of double‐digit multiplication problems. Analysis of reaction times and error rates indicates that the problem‐size effect holds true for exact calculation but not for estimation. In estimation, as problem size increases, reaction times do not increase, nor does the rate of unreasonable estimates. Instead, the difference between a factor's unit digit and the nearest ten to be rounded to was a primary contributor to the variance of reaction times. It is concluded that exact calculation and computational estimation are computationally, cognitively, and structurally different processes. Furthermore, it is suggested that estimation skills be given separate, dedicated attention in schools. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Are irrational reactions to unfairness truly emotionally-driven? Dissociated behavioural and emotional responses in the Ultimatum Game task

The “irrational” rejections of unfair offers by people playing the Ultimatum Game (UG), a widely used laboratory model of economical decision-making, have traditionally been associated with negative emotions, such as frustration, elicited by unfairness (Sanfey et al., 2003, van’t Wout et al., 2006). We recorded skin conductance responses as a measure of emotional activation while participants performed a modified version of the UG, in which they were asked to play both for themselves and on behalf of a third-party. Our findings show that even unfair offers are rejected when participants’ payoff is not affected (third-party condition); however, they show an increase in the emotional activation specifically when they are rejecting offers directed towards themselves (myself condition). These results suggest that theories emphasizing negative emotions as the critical factor of “irrational” rejections (Pillutla & Murninghan, 1996) should be re-discussed. Psychological mechanisms other than emotions might be better candidates for explaining this behaviour.     

Are Science and Religion in Conflict?

The widely held legend of historical conflict between science and religion cannot be sustained on the basis of research. Different sciences show different relationships to religion; the physical sciences show rapprochement, whereas the human sciences often are antagonistic to religion. Reconciling science and religion by regarding each as applicable to a different domain is rejected in favor of seeing them as complementary perspectives on the same phenomena. The science and theology of human nature represents a fruitful arena for the development of this approach. A key general requirement is the epistemological reconciliation of science and religion.     

Young Adults of Maghrebi Origin from the French Banlieues: Social Mobility in Action?

A cohort of young French adults of Maghrebi origin, aged 20 to 29, who grew up in the same banlieue neighbourhood was constructed and used to observe their labour market integration. The biographical survey reviewed the pathways of these young men and women through the prism of social mobility. On the one hand, their parents?? migration (from one of three Maghreb countries), low skills level and occupations are not conducive to upward social mobility; on the other hand, the expectation of integration, the aspiration to a better life and education in French society are potentially positive factors. After describing the fieldwork conditions, the article presents the results as a typology comprising five types of occupational integration. These are compared with the parents?? occupational status in order to define the form of social mobility. While some young adults have clearly experienced upward social mobility, others have not managed to find stable employment in the blue-collar category. This outcome can be attributed partly to the diversity of educational pathways. However, the analysis would not be complete without a discussion of the changes in the labour market, growing job insecurity and downclassing. These new trends, which affect the whole population, have a special resonance in a situation of urban segregation, generating new inequalities. The occupational statuses of these young adults highlight the deindustrialization that has taken place between their parents?? generation and their own, constraining opportunities for social mobility.     

Are Persons Low in Self-Control Rational and Deterrable?

This work addresses a question raised by Wright et al. (2004 Wright , Richard T. and Scott H. Decker. 1994 . Burglars on the Job: Street life and Residential Breakins . Boston : Northeastern University Press . [Google Scholar]) pertaining to the rationality and deterrability of individuals with low self-control. According to some, all persons are presumed to be equally rational; according others, individuals who possess little self-control, who are impulsive and present-oriented are less likely to be influenced by a perceived risks and costs of punishment; and according to a third group of scholars, those who do possess such self-control/restraint are either not motivated toward offending or are inhibited by moral constraints and are, thus, unresponsive to sanction threats. These rival predictions are examined with the use of self-report survey data on academic dishonesty from a sample of undergraduate college students. Across a tremendous number of models employing a variety of functional forms for the effects of perceived sanction threats, we consistently observed that the effects of perceived sanction threats on college students' self-reported academic dishonesty did not vary by their level of offending propensity (self-control).     

How Separable Are Spirituality and Theology in Psychotherapy?

The authors respond to D. A. Helminiak's (2001) article “Treating Spiritual Issues in Secular Psychotherapy.” They focus particularly on Helminiak's argument for secular spirituality (whether spirituality can be independent of theology/religion) and his inherent biases in discussing the nature and existence of spirituality. The authors argue that all spiritual conceptions have theological implications—and thus a theology, broadly defined—and that theology, in this sense, pervades the theory and practice of all psychotherapists, whether or not they are religious.     

Where's the Action? Understanding What Works and Why in Relationship Education

The field of couples relationship education has come to a critical junction. We have generally demonstrated that our interventions work (at least in the short run) but to what extent have we shown that the skills and processes we teach are in fact responsible for the success of the intervention? In this paper we review progress made in understanding mechanisms of change in relationship education, explore limitations of this body of research, explicate the barriers that interfere with progress in understanding mechanisms of change in intervention research, and present recommendations on how to proceed from here. Although our goal in this paper is to focus more on issues in the field rather than to present a comprehensive review of the literature, we provide overarching research summaries to illustrate some of our points. We conclude with offering recommendations for the next generation of research in the couples relationship education field.     

The Young and the Restless? The Liberalization of Young Evangelicals

This study examines popular and scholarly perceptions that young American evangelicals are becoming more liberal than older evangelicals. Young evangelicals are more likely to have more liberal attitudes on same‐sex marriage, premarital sex, cohabitating, and pornography, but not abortion. This analysis is situated within the theoretical context of emerging adulthood, and considers higher education, delayed marriage, and shifts in moral authority as potential mediating factors accounting for age differences. A new method for operationalizing evangelical as a religious identity is suggested and three different classification schemes are examined: religious tradition, self‐identified evangelicals, and theologically conservative Protestants. The data come from the 2006 Panel Study of American Religion and Ethnicity.     

Young citizens in Hong Kong: obedient,active and patriotic?

There are multiple ways of understanding citizenship: as a status conferred by a nation state, a personal identity constructed in response to particular circumstances or a social identity developed out of group membership. These are not mutually exclusive categories: an individual may experience “citizenships” that integrate these legal, personal and social identities. Yet how do young people who are not yet citizens understand what it means to be a citizen? In the present study, 15-year-old Hong Kong students were surveyed 2 years after the transition from colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty. They were asked to respond to a series of questions about citizenship responsibilities and the way they saw these reflected in ‘good citizens’. The results showed that students viewed citizenship responsibilities as multidimensional with reference to specific groups. They identified legal obligations related to civil authorities, personal obligations to support other members of the community and patriotic obligations to support the nation-state.     

Are Female Action Heroes Risky Role Models? Character Identification, Idealization, and Viewer Aggression

Although research has shown that affinity for aggressive media characters is linked to greater aggressive tendencies, the increasingly prevalent female action hero has received little empirical scrutiny to date. The present study surveyed 85 undergraduate women in Michigan, United States to determine whether identification with and/or idealization (wishful identification) of a favorite female action hero was associated with aggressive tendencies. Results show that behavioral idealization of an action hero was linked to increased self-reported aggressive behaviors and feelings. Behavioral identification (perceived similarity), by contrast, was not significantly associated with behavioral or affective aggression and showed an inverse relationship with relational aggression. Findings highlight the potentially distinct psychological mechanisms and consequences for idealizing vs. identifying with a favorite female action character.     

Are space and time automatically integrated in episodic memory?

The aim of the present study was to determine to what extent spatial and temporal features are automatically integrated during encoding in episodic memory. Both nameable and non-nameable stimuli were presented sequentially at different locations on a computer screen. Mixed and pure blocks of trials were used. In the mixed blocks participants were instructed to focus either on the spatial or the temporal order of the objects, as on the majority of the trials recall of this feature was tested (expected trials). However, on a few trials participants had to reproduce the other feature (unexpected trials). In the pure blocks either the spatial or the temporal order of the objects was tested on all trials. More errors were made on unexpected than on expected trials of the mixed blocks. Moreover, no primacy or recency effects were found when performance on the spatial task was plotted as a function of the temporal position. These results suggest that spatial information and temporal order information rely on separate encoding processes.     

Are space and time automatically integrated in episodic memory?

The aim of the present study was to determine to what extent spatial and temporal features are automatically integrated during encoding in episodic memory. Both nameable and non-nameable stimuli were presented sequentially at different locations on a computer screen. Mixed and pure blocks of trials were used. In the mixed blocks participants were instructed to focus either on the spatial or the temporal order of the objects, as on the majority of the trials recall of this feature was tested (expected trials). However, on a few trials participants had to reproduce the other feature (unexpected trials). In the pure blocks either the spatial or the temporal order of the objects was tested on all trials. More errors were made on unexpected than on expected trials of the mixed blocks. Moreover, no primacy or recency effects were found when performance on the spatial task was plotted as a function of the temporal position. These results suggest that spatial information and temporal order information rely on separate encoding processes.     

Are Arabic and verbal numbers processed in different ways?

Four experiments were conducted in order to examine effects of notation--Arabic and verbal numbers--on relevant and irrelevant numerical processing. In Experiment 1, notation interacted with the numerical distance effect, and irrelevant physical size affected numerical processing (i.e., size congruity effect) for both notations but to a lesser degree for verbal numbers. In contrast, size congruity had no effect when verbal numbers were the irrelevant dimension. In Experiments 2 and 3, different parameters that could possibly affect the results, such as discriminability and variability (Experiment 2) and the block design (Experiment 3), were controlled. The results replicated the effects obtained in Experiment 1. In Experiment 4, in which physical size was made more difficult to process, size congruity for irrelevant verbal numbers was observed. The present results imply that notation affects numerical processing and that Arabic and verbal numbers are represented separately, and thus it is suggested that current models of numerical processing should have separate comparison mechanisms for verbal and Arabic numbers.     

Are associative changes in acquisition and extinction negatively accelerated?

Performance to a conditioned stimulus typically shows a negatively accelerated change with Pavlovian conditioning or extinction. This is commonly attributed to negatively accelerated changes in the underlying associative learning. However, the absence of well-specified rules for mapping learning into performance makes it difficult to infer changes in the size of associative changes for stimuli occupying different points on the performance scale. This problem can be addressed by comparing responding to stimulus compounds each consisting of 2 stimuli, 1 of which is poorly conditioned and 1 of which is well conditioned, when either the former or the latter receives a specified amount of additional training. This permits comparison at a common performance level. Two magazine-approach experiments in rats and 2 autoshaping experiments in pigeons used this technique to assess the form of the associative changes in acquisition and extinction.     

Weak Interactions: Asymmetry of Time or Asymmetry in Time?

The paper analyzes the philosophical consequences of the recent discovery of direct violations of the time–reversal symmetry of weak interactions. It shows that although we have here an important case of the time asymmetry of one of the fundamental physical forces which could have had a great impact on the form of our world with an excess of matter over antimatter, this asymmetry cannot be treated as the asymmetry of time itself but rather as an asymmetry of some specific physical process in time. The paper also analyzes the consequences of the new discovery for the general problem of the possible connections between direction (arrow) of time and time-asymmetric laws of nature. These problems are analyzed in the context of Horwich’s Asymmetries in time: problems in the philosophy of science (1987) argumentation, trying to show that existence of a time–asymmetric law of nature is a sufficient condition for time to be anisotropic. Instead of Horwich’s sufficient condition for anisotropy of time, it is stressed that for a theory of asymmetry of time to be acceptable it should explain all fundamental time asymmetries: the asymmetry of traces, the asymmetry of causation (which holds although the electrodynamic, strong and gravitational interactions are invariant under time reversal), and the asymmetry between the fixed past and open future. It is so because the problem of the direction of time has originated from our attempts to understand these asymmetries and every plausible theory of the direction of time should explain them.     

Inductive Inferences Across Time and Identity: Are Category Members More Alike Than Single Individuals?

Young children tend to expect that 2 members of the same category will share properties, yet they frequently deny that an individual's properties will remain stable across time and context. Two experiments, involving 72 four- to five-year-olds, 72 seven- to eight-year-olds, and 76 undergraduates, explored the factors that lead children to generalize properties across and within individuals. Results suggest that adults' and older children's judgments are consistent with the principle of homogeneity—within-individual projections are more secure than across. In contrast, young children showed distinct patterns of reasoning across and within individuals, suggesting that for young children, the 2 contexts may present distinct inductive problems. This discussion focuses on how features of each problem contribute to young children's willingness to make inductive generalizations.     

Are individual differences in masked repetition and semantic priming reliable?

Despite the robustness of semantic priming (e.g., cat–DOG), the test-retest and internal reliabilities of semantic priming effects within individuals are surprisingly low. In contrast, repetition priming (e.g., dog–DOG) appears to be far more reliable across a range of conditions. While Stolz and colleagues attribute the low reliability in semantic priming to uncoordinated automatic processes in semantic memory, their use of unmasked priming paradigms makes it difficult to fully rule out the influence of strategic processes. In the present study, we explored the reliability of semantic and repetition priming when primes were heavily masked and cannot be consciously processed. We found that masked repetition, but not semantic, priming effects showed some degree of reliability. Interestingly, skilled lexical processors (as reflected by vocabulary knowledge and spelling ability) also produced larger masked repetition priming effects.