A simple device for detecting saccades and judging their intervals

A simple device is described with which the occurrence of saccades can be detected and their intervals classified by reference intervals determined by experimental requirements. The device reliably detects saccades of greater than 2 deg.     

Constraints on using the dual-task methodology to specify the degree of central executive involvement in cognitive tasks

The dual-task paradigm has been used to examine the role of the central executive in various cognitive tasks. In these studies, performance decrements in primary cognitive tasks performed concurrently with secondary executive tasks have been interpreted as evidence for the involvement of the central executive in those primary tasks. In the present study, we examined the effects of different secondary tasks on performance of three psychometric visuospatial tasks. The decrement in performance of these tasks when they were paired with secondary executive tasks was smallest for the psychometric task considered to most heavily involve the central executive and largest for the task considered least demanding of executive mechanisms. We propose that, when applied to the assessment of central executive involvement, the prevalent simple dual-task logic does not always apply. Special conditions that limit the application of the dual-task methodology include two inherently related factors--a response selection bottleneck and a strategic tradeoff between primary and secondary tasks.     

Is Trait Rumination Associated with the Ability to Generate Effective Problem Solving Strategies? Utilizing Two Versions of the Means-Ends Problem-Solving Test

This study examined the relationship between trait rumination and the effectiveness of problem solving strategies as assessed by the Means-Ends Problem-Solving Test (MEPS) in a nonclinical population. The present study extended previous studies in terms of using two instructions in the MEPS: the second-person, actual strategy instructions, which has been utilized in previous studies on rumination, and the third-person, ideal-strategy instructions, which is considered more suitable for assessing the effectiveness of problem solving strategies. We also replicated the association between rumination and each dimension of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised Short Version (SPSI-R:S). Japanese undergraduate students (N = 223) completed the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition, Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS), MEPS, and SPSI-R:S. One half of the sample completed the MEPS with the second-person, actual strategy instructions. The other participants completed the MEPS with the third-person, ideal-strategy instructions. The results showed that neither total RRS score, nor its subscale scores were significantly correlated with MEPS scores under either of the two instructions. These findings taken together with previous findings indicate that in nonclinical populations, trait rumination is not related to the effectiveness of problem solving strategies, but that state rumination while responding to the MEPS deteriorates the quality of strategies. The correlations between RRS and SPSI-R:S scores indicated that trait rumination in general, and its brooding subcomponent in particular are parts of cognitive and behavioral responses that attempt to avoid negative environmental and negative private events. Results also showed that reflection is a part of active problem solving.     

Computational models of inductive reasoning using a statistical analysis of a Japanese corpus

Existing computational models of human inductive reasoning have been constructed based on psychological evaluations concerning the similarities or relationships between entities. However, the costs involved in collecting psychological evaluations for the sheer number of entities that exist mean that they are prohibitively impractical. In order to avoid this problem, the present article examines three types of models: a category-based neural network model, a category-based Bayesian model, and a feature-based neural network model. These models utilize the results of a statistical analysis of a Japanese corpus computing co-occurrence probabilities for word pairs, rather than using psychological evaluations. Argument strength ratings collected by a psychological experiment were found to correlate well with simulations for the category-based neural network model.     

Is self-positive information more appealing than money? Individual differences in positivity bias according to depressive symptoms

The self-positivity bias, which is inherent to healthy people, is known to be blunted in depression. The lack of positive or excessive negative self-reference is considered to be a potential mechanism underlying depressive rumination. However, the motivational factors that drive people to approach and avoid emotional self-related materials are still unclear. Therefore, we measured intrinsic motivation that is associated with emotional self-references by using a reward-based decision-making task (pay-per-view paradigm). Forty-nine undergraduates completed two tasks in which they were asked to choose between negative vs. positive references (Task 1) and self vs. other references (Task 2) for variable monetary rewards. Participants with lower levels of depressive symptoms showed a self-positivity bias, sacrificing rewards for the opportunity to engage in positive self-reference, whereas those with higher levels of depressive symptoms had no specific preference for either negative or positive self-reference (Task 1). However, all participants sacrificed monetary rewards for the opportunity for self-reference versus other reference, regardless of the symptom level or the primed valence (Task 2). Together, these findings suggest that depressive cognition could be characterised by the lack of intrinsic motivation for positive self-reference, which is attributable to the biased valence selection, but not to self–other preferences.     

Syntactic Creativity Errors in Children's Wh-Questions

Previous work has reported that children creatively make syntactic errors that are ungrammatical in their target language, but are grammatical in another language. One of the most well-known examples is medial wh-question errors in English-speaking children's wh-questions (e.g., What do you think who the cat chased? from Thornton, 1990). The evidence for this non-target-like structure in both production and comprehension has been taken to support the existence of innate, syntactic parameters that define all possible grammatical variation, which serve as a top-down constraint guiding children's language acquisition process. The present study reports new story-based production and comprehension experiments that challenge this interpretation. While we replicated previous observations of medial wh-question errors in children's sentence production (Experiment 1), we saw a reduction in evidence indicating that English-speaking children assign interpretations that conform to the medial wh-question pattern (Experiment 2). Crucially, we found no correlation between production and comprehension errors (Experiment 3). We suggest that these errors are the result of children's immature sentence production mechanisms rather than immature grammatical knowledge.     

Self-focusing situations and depression

The author examined the situations in which people turn their attention to the self and investigated differences between depressed and nondepressed persons in self-focusing situations. He developed a Self-Focusing Situation List containing 58 items and administered the list to 436 Japanese undergraduates. He also administered a depression scale to part of the sample (n = 365). A factor analysis extracted 6 factors, and cluster analyses of these 6 factors scores yielded 5 clusters. The participants who preferred self-focusing when alone and avoided self-focusing after positive events (Cluster 5) scored higher on the depression scale than did the participants in Clusters 1, 2, 3, and 4.     

Video Game Use and The Development of Sociocognitive Abilities in Children: Three Surveys of Elementary School Students1

The purpose of the present study was to examine the validity of the popular hypothesis that video game use will prevent children from socially adjusting. Three surveys of elementary school children were reported. The primary results were as follows: (a) The frequency of video game use had no correlation with children's popularity among classmates. (b) The frequency of video game use had slightly negative correlations with boys' sociocognitive abilities such as empathy, cognitive complexity, and cognitive abstractness. (c) However, it was likely that the negative correlations were not due to the causal relation that video game use affected boys' sociocognitive abilities, which supported the hypothesis, but rather the causal relation that video game use was affected by their abilities; and (d) In the case of computer use, such as word processing or programming, the frequency of use had few correlations with sociocognitive abilities.     

Signing environment in an institution: Teaching sign vocabulary to residents with mental retardation for communication with deaf peers

Two experiments were conducted so that deaf adults with mental retardation could develop their communication skills in an institution. Deaf and hearing residents were taught sign vocabulary using the following four procedures: sign language lessons in a large group, posters, review lessons, and distribution of a sign language book. Experiment 1 was a pilot study to assess the effect of a sign language lesson, and Experiment 2 was a systematic study to evaluate the 4 procedures using a multiple baseline design. Sign language use in natural settings was monitored for 10 months, starting with the first sign language lesson. Results showed that a sign language lesson was an effective way for most hearing residents to acquire expressive signs. Three out of 4 deaf residents learned expressive signs gradually during experiments. In natural settings, hearing residents were seen to use signs spontaneously with deaf residents in many different social contexts. Additional comprehensive assessment was conducted to confirm whether or not residents could understand one another's expressive signs. Seven out of 10 residents showed correct responses more than 80% of the time.