Has someone moved my plate? The immediate and persistent effects of object location changes on gaze allocation during natural scene viewing

In this study, we investigated the immediate and persisting effects of object location changes on gaze control during scene viewing. Participants repeatedly inspected a randomized set of naturalistic scenes for later questioning. On the seventh presentation, an object was shown at a new location, whereas the change was reversed for all subsequent presentations of the scene. We tested whether deviations from stored scene representations would modify eye movements to the changed regions and whether these effects would persist. We found that changed objects were looked at longer and more often, regardless of change reportability. These effects were most pronounced immediately after the change occurred and quickly leveled off once a scene remained unchanged. However, participants continued to perform short validation checks to changed scene regions, which implies a persistent modulation of eye movement control beyond the occurrence of object location changes.     

A guide for the estimation of gender and sexual orientation effects in dyadic data: an actor-partner interdependence model approach

The study of gender differences is a pervasive topic in relationship science. However, there are several neglected issues in this area that require special care and attention. First, there is not just one gender effect but rather three gender effects: gender of the respondent, gender of the partner, and the gender of respondent by gender of the partner interaction. To separate these three effects, the dyadic research design should ideally have three different types of dyads: male-female, male-male, and female-female. Second, the analysis of gender differences in relational studies could benefit from the application of recent advances in the analysis of dyadic data, most notably the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Third, relationship researchers need to consider the confounding, mediating, and moderating effects of demographic variables. We use the American Couples (Blumstein & Schwartz, 1983) data set to illustrate these points.     

Are Our Concepts conscious state and conscious creature Vague?

Intuitively it has seemed to many that our concepts conscious state and conscious creature are sharp rather than vague, that they can have no borderline cases. On the other hand, many who take conscious states to be identical to, or realized by, complex physical states are committed to the vagueness of those concepts. In the paper I argue that conscious state and conscious creature are sharp by presenting four necessary conditions for conceiving borderline cases in general, and showing that some of those conditions cannot be met with conscious state. I conclude that conscious state is sharp, and the conclusion is then extended to conscious creature. The paper ends with a brief discussion of some implications.

Sensitivity to Phonological Similarity Within and Across Languages

The influence of phonological similarity on bilingual language processing was examined within and across languages in three experiments. Phonological similarity was manipulated within a language by varying neighborhood density, and across languages by varying extent of cross-linguistic overlap between native and non-native languages. In Experiment 1, speed and accuracy of bilinguals’ picture naming were susceptible to phonological neighborhood density in both the first and the second language. In Experiment 2, eye-movement patterns indicated that the time-course of language activation varied across phonological neighborhood densities and across native/non-native language status. In Experiment 3, speed and accuracy of bilingual performance in an auditory lexical decision task were influenced by degree of cross-linguistic phonological overlap. Together, the three experiments confirm that bilinguals are sensitive to phonological similarity within and across languages and suggest that this sensitivity is asymmetrical across native and non-native languages and varies along the timecourse of word processing.     

The Effects of Incentives on Visual–Spatial Working Memory in Children with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Working memory is one of several putative core neurocognitive processes in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present work seeks to determine whether visual–spatial working memory is sensitive to motivational incentives, a laboratory analogue of behavioral treatment. Participants were 21 children (ages 7–10) with a diagnosis of ADHD-combined type. Participants completed a computerized spatial span task designed to assess storage of visual–spatial information (forward span) and manipulation of the stored information (backward span). The spatial span task was completed twice on the same day, once with a performance-based incentive (trial-wise feedback and points redeemable for prizes) and once without incentives. Participants performed significantly better on the backward span when rewarded for correct responses, compared to the no incentive condition. However, incentives had no effect on performance during the forward span. These findings may suggest the use of motivational incentives improved manipulation, but not storage, of visual–spatial information among children with ADHD. Possible explanations for the differential incentive effects are discussed, including the possibility that incentives prevented a vigilance decrement as task difficulty and time on task increased.     

Relationships Between Parental Negativity and Childhood Antisocial Behavior over Time: A Bidirectional Effects Model in a Longitudinal Genetically Informative Design

This study examined the direction and etiology underlying the relationships between parental negativity and early childhood antisocial behavior using a bidirectional effects model in a longitudinal genetically informative design. We analyzed parent reports of parental negativity and early childhood antisocial behavior in 6,230 pairs of twins at 4 and 7 years of age. Results from a cross-lagged twin model contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the bidirectional processes involved in parental negativity and childhood antisocial behavior. Specifically, the findings of this study suggest that the association between parenting and child antisocial behavior is best explained by both parent-driven and child-driven effects. We found support for the notion that parent's negative feelings towards their children environmentally mediate the risk for child antisocial behavior. We also found evidence of genetically mediated child effects; in which genetically influenced antisocial behavior evoke parental negativity towards the child.     

It's either a cook or a baker: patients with conduction aphasia get the gist but lose the trace

Patients with conduction aphasia have been characterized as having a short-term memory deficit that leads to relative difficulty on span and repetition tasks. It has also been observed that these same patients often get the gist of what is said to them, even if they are unable to repeat the information verbatim. To study this phenomenon experimentally, patients with conduction aphasia and left hemisphere-injured controls were tested on a repetition recognition task that required them to listen to a sentence and immediately point to one of three sentences that matched it. On some trials, the distractor sentences contained substituted words that were semantically-related to the target, and on other trials, the distractor sentences contained semantically-distinct words. Patients with conduction aphasia and controls performed well on the latter condition, when distractors were semantically-distinct. However, when the distractor sentences were semantically-related, the patients with conduction aphasia were impaired at identifying the target sentence, suggesting that these patients could not rely on the verbatim trace. To further understand these results, we also tested elderly controls on the same task, except that a delay was introduced between study and test. Like the patients with conduction aphasia, the elderly controls were worse at identifying target sentences when there were semantically-related distractors. Taken together, these results suggest that patients with conduction aphasia rely on non-phonologic cues, such as lexical-semantics, to support their short-term memory, just as normal participants must do in long-term memory tasks when the phonological trace is no longer present.     

Ethnocentrism and Sexism: How Stereotypes Legitimize Six Types of Power

We review evidence of inequality associated with gender and social categories like ethnicity with respect to six types of power: control of resources, force, legitimacy, obligations, knowledge, and sexuality. Presuming that stereotypes are one means of legitimizing power differentials between groups, we review research on stereotype contents for both ethnicity and gender with respect to the six forms of power. The review reveals a number of rhetorical means by which stereotypes legitimize ethnic dominants and men having particular forms of power, such as disguising the exercise of power by describing it in individualistic rather than relational terms, and also how stereotypes de‐legitimize women and ethnic subordinates from obtaining particular forms of power, such as by stating that what they desire and their virtues preclude exercising power. A new research agenda regarding stereotypes and how they legitimize group power differences is outlined.     

Is Character Fate,or Is There Hope to Change My Personality Yet?

Different perspectives on personality development propose a range of possible degrees to which traits are free to change, from hardly at all to very much. This essay reviews the empirical evidence on just how consistent and changeable personality traits are across the life course. To gain a thorough perspective on personality trait development, we review developmental studies that focus on three different types of change: rank‐order consistency, mean level change, and individual level change. Starting in late childhood, personality traits exhibit modest levels of rank‐order consistency that increase with age. In addition personality traits show mean level changes, especially in young adulthood, that are consistent with the idea of increasing maturity. Finally, despite these general trends in personality continuity and change, there is evidence that individuals may change in ways that contradict general trends and that these individual differences in change are related to life experiences.