The Relation Between Factual and Counterfactual Conditionals

What is the relation between factual conditionals: If A happened then B happened, and counterfactual conditionals: If A had happened then B would have happened? Some theorists propose quite different semantics for the two. In contrast, the theory of mental models and its computer implementation interrelates them. It postulates that both can have a priori truth values, and that the semantic bases of both are possibilities: states that are possible for factual conditionals, and that were once possible but that did not happen for counterfactual conditionals. Two experiments supported these relations. Experiment 1 showed that, like factual conditionals, certain counterfactuals are true a priori, and others are false a priori. Experiment 2 replicated this result and showed that participants selected appropriate paraphrases, referring, respectively, to real and to counterfactual possibilities, for the two sorts of conditional. These results are contrary to alternative accounts of conditionals.     

The nature of cognitive development

Theories of cognitive development have led to enduring and fierce arguments that have been long on rhetoric but short on evidence. Constructivist theory has roots in Piagetian notions of cognitive development as proceeding from self-directed action during infancy. Nativist theories subsequently became popular by producing claims of cognitive precocity, but left open many central questions concerning mechanisms of development. Now, a new view of constructivism is experiencing a renaissance, having achieved greater psychophysical, computational and neural plausibility.     

Enhancement from targets and suppression from cues in fast task-irrelevant perceptual learning

Task-irrelevant perceptual learning (TIPL) refers to the phenomenon where the stimulus features of a subject's task are learned when they are consistently presented at times when behaviorally relevant events occur. In this article, we addressed two points concerning TIPL. First, we address the question, are all behaviorally relevant events equal in their impact on encoding processes? Second, we address the hypothesis that TIPL involves mechanisms of the alerting attentional system. Two experiments of fast-TIPL were conducted in which the attentional state of participants was manipulated by using an alerting cue (visual or auditory) that informed participants of the arrival of an upcoming target. Images were presented with task-related stimuli (cues, targets and distractors) and subjects were tested on their memory of those images. Results indicate that memory for target-paired images was enhanced and cue-paired images were suppressed relative to that of distractor-paired images. The alerting cue increased the ability to recall target-paired images presented after this cue, although this result depended on the proportion of cued trials in a session. These results demonstrate a complex interplay between task-elements and the encoding of stimuli paired with them where both enhancement and suppression of task-paired stimuli can be found depending whether those stimuli are paired with task-targets or cues.     

Healthy marriage initiatives: on the need for empiricism in policy implementation

The association between marriage and well-being has led to policies that promote marital interventions and discourage divorce. These include federal initiatives specifically targeting poor couples and couples of color. While there are many prospective studies on marriage that have informed some couple interventions, the studies that are included in this literature sampled predominantly White and middle-class couples. By comparison, far less is known about the longitudinal predictors of relationship satisfaction and status for poor couples and couples of color. Therefore, it is unsurprising that preliminary data on applying current interventions to the couples targeted by these federal initiatives have been disappointing. In this article, I detail three concerns with these initiatives, propose a course of psychological research to address deficits in what is known about poor couples and couples of color, and make specific recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of these initiatives.     

The gestures ASL signers use tell us when they are ready to learn math

The manual gestures that hearing children produce when explaining their answers to math problems predict whether they will profit from instruction in those problems. We ask here whether gesture plays a similar role in deaf children, whose primary communication system is in the manual modality. Forty ASL-signing deaf children explained their solutions to math problems and were then given instruction in those problems. Children who produced many gestures conveying different information from their signs (gesture-sign mismatches) were more likely to succeed after instruction than children who produced few, suggesting that mismatch can occur within-modality, and paving the way for using gesture-based teaching strategies with deaf learners.     

When seeing is knowing: the role of visual cues in the dissociation between children's rule knowledge and rule use

The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task requires children to switch from sorting cards based on shape or color to sorting based on the other dimension. Typically, 3-year-olds perseverate, whereas 4-year-olds flexibly sort by different dimensions. Zelazo and colleagues (1996, Cognitive Development, 11, 37-63) asked children questions about the postswitch rules and found an apparent dissociation between rule knowledge and rule use, namely that 3-year-olds demonstrate accurate knowledge of the postswitch rules despite sorting cards incorrectly. Here, we show that children's success with these questions is grounded in their use of available visual cues; children who fail sorting use the target cards to correctly answer questions, and when the cards are unavailable they guess. This suggests that there might not be a dissociation between children's rule knowledge and rule use in the DCCS.     

Elevated ambitions for fame among persons diagnosed with bipolar I disorder

A growing body of evidence suggests that people with bipolar disorder are highly goal-oriented. Compared to other persons, they expend more effort to attain rewards and view goal pursuit as more important to their self-worth. Persons at risk for mania and those diagnosed with bipolar spectrum disorders have been shown to endorse highly ambitious life goals, such as becoming a multimillionaire or achieving fame. This study is the first examination of whether such elevated goals characterize persons diagnosed with bipolar I disorder. We also examined whether elevated ambitions predicted symptom change over time. Ninety-two persons with bipolar I disorder and 81 age- and sex-matched controls completed the Willingly Approached Set of Statistically Unlikely Pursuits, a measure of extremely high life ambitions. A subset of the bipolar participants completed a 3-month follow-up interview. Participants with bipolar disorder endorsed higher ambitions for popular fame than did controls; moreover, heightened ambitions for popular fame and financial success predicted increases in manic symptoms in those with bipolar disorder over the next three months. Discussion focuses on goal regulation in bipolar disorder.     

Heritability in cognitive performance: evidence using computer-based testing

There is overwhelming evidence of genetic influence on cognition. The effect is seen in general cognitive ability, as well as in specific cognitive domains. A conventional assessment approach using face-to-face paper and pencil testing is difficult for large-scale studies. Computerized neurocognitive testing is a suitable alternative. A total of 267 parent-child dyads were selected from a larger database of computerized neurocognitive test results. Correlations were determined between parent-child dyads, as well as matched parent-child dyads. Univariate regression analyses were estimated to determine the extent to which children's performance could be accounted for by that of their parents, compared with matched control parents. Multiple significant positive correlations in neurocognitive test performance were found in parent-child dyads. Parent performance accounted for a greater proportion of variability in every case. These findings indicated that a computerized neurocognitive battery is an effective tool for studying heritability in cognitive performance in a large sample.     

The powerful disregard social comparison information

Social comparisons are important because other people can serve as benchmarks to determine one's own capabilities and act as sources for inspiration. Despite this, people do not always fully utilize social comparison information. The present paper demonstrates that feelings of power may reduce use of social comparison information. In three experiments, participants were first induced to feel high or low in power, or were in a control condition. Then, they were exposed to either upward or downward comparison targets. In all three experiments, low power participants responded to targets with contrast or assimilation, whereas high power participants did not. This has important implications for our understanding of how people's positions in the social and organizational hierarchies affect their basic psychological functioning.     

Interpersonal development, stability, and change in early adulthood

The goal of this research was to explore the development of the interpersonal system mapped by the interpersonal circumplex in early adulthood (ages 18–22). This study uses the Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders sample (N = 250; 53% female). Participants completed the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales (Wiggins, Trapnell, & Phillips, 1988) in their freshman, sophomore, and senior years of college. Estimates of structural, rank‐order, mean, individual, and ipsative stability were calculated for the broad interpersonal dimensions of Dominance and Affiliation and also the lower order octant scales. Additionally, the interpersonal profile parameters of differentiation and prototypicality were calculated at each wave and explored longitudinally and also used as predictors of interpersonal stability. We found excellent structural and high rank‐order and ipsative stability in the interpersonal scales over this time period. Mean increases on the Affiliation axis, but not on the Dominace axis, were found to mask differential rates of change among the octant scales, along with significant individual variation in the rates of change. Interpersonal differentiation and prototypicality were related to higher stability in overall interpersonal style. Results point to evidence of both stability and nuanced change, illuminating some of the features of the structural variables that can be derived from interpersonal circumplex profiles.