Prototypical actions with objects are more easily imagined than atypical actions

Tool use is an important facet of everyday life, though sometimes it is necessary to use tools in ways that do not fit within their typical functions. Here we asked participants to imagine characters using objects based on instructions that fit the prototypical actions for the object or were atypical in a novel object-action imagery task. Atypical action instructions either described sensible, substitute uses of the object, or actions that were bizarre but possible. Participants were better able to imagine the prototypical than atypical actions, but no effect of bizarreness was found. We additionally assessed inter-individual differences in movement imagery ability using two objective tests. Performance in the object-action imagery task correlated with the movement imagery tests, providing a link between motor simulations and mental imagery ability.     

Advice for Infallibilists: DIVORCE and RETREAT!

This paper comprises a defence of Infallibilism about knowledge. In it, I articulate two arguments in favour of Infallibilism, and for each argument show that Infallibilism about knowledge does not lead to an unpalatable Scepticism if justified belief is neither necessary nor sufficient for knowledge, and if Fallibilism about justified belief is true.     

Emotional Knowing: the Role of Embodied Feelings in Affective Cognition

The emotions play a crucial role in our apprehension of meaning, value, or significance — and their felt quality is intimately related to the sort of awareness they provide. This is exemplified most clearly by cases in which dispassionate cognition is cognitively insufficient, because we need to be emotionally agitated in order to grasp that something is true. In this type of affective experience, it is through a feeling of being moved that we recognize or apprehend that something is the case. And that is why our emotions are epistemically indispensable: namely, because they give us access to significant truths. In this essay, I explain how the phenomenally felt character of an emotion is intimately linked with its intentionality. Intellectual activity divorced from affective feeling is profoundly lacking — not only in its qualitative feel, but also in its epistemic import, or its ability to inform us about matters of significance. A better appreciation of how the living body is involved in affective experience should help us to understand the distinctive kind of embodied cognition that emotional responses involve. It also ought to resolve confusions about phobic responses and other “recalcitrant” emotions, which are not divorced from cognition as many have claimed.     

Predicting eye-movement characteristics across multiple tasks from working memory and executive control

Individual differences in working memory (WM) and executive control are stable, related to cognitive task performance, and clinically predictive. Between-participant differences in eye movements are also highly reliable (Carter & Luke, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2018; Henderson & Luke, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40(4), 1390–1400, 2014). However, little is known about how higher order individual differences in cognition are related to these eye-movement characteristics. In the present study, healthy college-age participants performed several individual difference tasks to measure WM span and executive control. Participants also performed three eye-movement tasks: reading, visual search, and scene viewing. Across all tasks, higher WM scores were related to reduced skewness in fixation duration distributions. In reading, higher WM scores predicted longer saccades. In scene viewing, higher WM scores predicted longer fixations. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Reduced Value-Driven Attentional Capture Among Children with ADHD Compared to Typically Developing Controls

The current study examined whether children with ADHD were more distracted by a stimulus previously associated with reward, but currently goal-irrelevant, than their typically-developing peers. In addition, we also probed the associated cognitive and motivational mechanisms by examining correlations with other behavioral tasks. Participants included 8–12 year-old children with ADHD (n = 30) and typically developing controls (n = 26). Children were instructed to visually search for color-defined targets and received monetary rewards for accurate responses. In a subsequent search task in which color was explicitly irrelevant, we manipulated whether a distractor item appeared in a previously reward-associated color. We examined whether children responded more slowly on trials with the previously-rewarded distractor present compared to trials without this distractor, a phenomenon referred to as value-driven attentional capture (VDAC), and whether children with and without ADHD differed in the extent to which they displayed VDAC. Correlations among working memory performance, immediate reward preference (delay discounting) and attentional capture were also examined. Children with ADHD were significantly less affected by the presence of the previously rewarded distractor than were control participants. Within the ADHD group, greater value-driven attentional capture was associated with poorer working memory. Although both ADHD and control participants were initially distracted by previously reward-associated stimuli, the magnitude of distraction was larger and persisted longer among control participants.     

Coping Mechanisms in Navigating Xenophobia-Afrophobia-Related Challenges Within the Transnational Space: Case of Somali Refugee Women in Gauteng,South Africa

This study explores the coping strategies that Somali women espouse in dealing with complexities in the transnational space, within the context of Gauteng, South Africa. The paper is drawn from a qualitative study where I conducted in-depth interviews of 40 female Somali participants. Under the Power Geometries (one of the components of Geographies of power theory), the study argues that Somali women are not helpless victims of Xenophobia-Afrophobia and other complexities in the transnational space. They are individuals that make use of economic partnerships, business niches, narrate stories, are resilient in their nature, navigate marriage unions whilst in the context of Xenophobia-Afrophobia among other complexities. The study applied the theories of Geographies of Power and Social Network. Xenophobia-Afrophobia is a recurrent phenomenon that challenges migrant’s lives in South Africa. Somalis are among the most affected communities. This is due to their involvement in businesses located in the poor zones of the South African townships where they compete with local businesses. The Somali women are affected by overt and covert Xenophobia-Afrophobia.     

Analysis of Migration,Regional Characteristics,and Socioeconomic Outcomes in Developing Economies: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

Highly skilled migrants from Nigeria and other developing countries are becoming more attractive resources for industrial countries, as these countries experience demographic shifts characterized by skilled labor force shortages in certain sectors of their economies. Although there are a number of regional characteristics that may affect migration outcomes, in this paper, we also include individual-level factors in our analyses, such as education and age. Again, this paper also examines the issue of the North-South divide in poverty and other characteristics and how these affect migration. Furthermore, this paper also identifies which regional economic factors influence the individual’s migration decision, taking into account personal characteristics. For empirical analysis, we used data from the Nigerian Migration Survey by the World Bank. The micro data allow us to identify household factors that influence migration decisions. In doing this, we control for different individual propensities to migrate and also assess the genuine impact of regional economic factors on migration. The results show that individual, regional, and country-specific factors make significant impact on migration decisions and dynamics. The paper concludes that socioeconomic variables and personal characteristics are crucial for explaining the pattern of regional migration flows in Nigeria. Thus, migration policies have to be adopted that will emphasize the mutual links between migration and development across the different regions.     

A Better Tomorrow: Toward a Stronger Science of Youth Purpose

Having a sense of purpose in life has been discussed as a psychological asset for promoting positive youth development. Yet confidence in the benefits of purpose has accumulated faster than rigorous confirmation of their existence among youth, using instruments and methods calibrated to the developmental stage of those under study. Here, the authors illuminate four problems this asymmetry creates for drawing inferences from extant research on youth purpose, namely its reliance on (1) unclear scientific criteria for distinguishing “youth” and measures that include developmentally presumptuous items, (2) single-informant and self-report methods, (3) misapplication of cross-sectional designs to test prospective or causal theories, and (4) analytic techniques insensitive to purpose content. In delineating these problems, the authors consider the extent to which the three empirical contributions included in this issue are responsive to each and may provide templates to guide future studies of youth purpose.     

Interpersonal Transgressions and Interest in Spiritual Activities: The Role of Narcissism

As levels of narcissism rise among Americans, it is important to understand how being narcissistic affects individuals’ day-to-day lives. One domain in which narcissism may have particularly interesting effects is individuals’ spirituality. When interpersonal expectations have been violated, individuals experience a variety of emotions. Chief among these emotions is guilt, which is linked both thematically and empirically to many aspects of Western religion. Given narcissism’s complex relationship with guilt, it is important to investigate how narcissists may react to failings in the interpersonal domain, particularly in a spiritual context. The current study investigated the effects of a simulated interpersonal failing on narcissists’ interest in a variety of spiritual behaviors, including prayer, seeking spiritual guidance, and participating in spiritual activities aimed at self-enhancement. After reading a scenario designed to induce feelings associated with interpersonal failings, participants reported their interest in a variety of religious activities, including prayer. Results indicated that the manipulation tended to decrease interest in a variety of spiritual activities across the sample, but that these effects were only robust among participants high in narcissism.