How long-lasting is the post-conflict slowing after incongruent trials? Evidence from the Stroop,Simon, and flanker tasks

The purpose of the present study was to determine how long-lasting the post-conflict slowing following incongruent stimuli is. In previous research, incongruent stimuli have been used to induce a conflict because they have relevant features for two different response alternatives. So far, the post-conflict slowing following incongruent stimuli has mainly been assessed up to one trial. In the first two experiments, we assessed the persistence of the post-conflict slowing across several trials. To this end, we presented a few incongruent stimuli among non-conflict stimuli. The results showed a consistent slowing for the first few trials immediately following the incongruent trials. In addition, a sporadic slowing was still found on later trials. In two subsequent experiments, we investigated to what extent the infrequency of incongruent trials — rather than their conflict — induced this slowing. To determine this, we used the same design as in the first two experiments, but we presented non-conflict stimuli as infrequent stimuli. The results showed a slowing on one subsequent trial, ruling out the possibility that the post-conflict slowing following incongruent trials was only caused by infrequency. Together, the findings of the present study indicate that the conflict induced by incongruent trials can have a longer lasting impact on subsequent trials than previously thought.     

Training synaesthesia

Synaesthetic inducers such as graphemes are typically cultural artifacts. Thus, a learning component seems evident in synaesthesia (Simner et al, 2009 Brain 132 57-64). Normally, synaesthetes report to have their experiences since they can remember. Nevertheless, a recent training study suggests that synaesthesia can be mimicked in non-synaesthetes. To date, the role of learning during the development of synaesthesia is still debated. It is not clear whether synaesthesia can be learned or trained at all. To address this question, we compared a non-adaptive and an adaptive training for their effectiveness. We assessed their impact on two types of priming tasks, before and after the training. We found stronger priming in the adaptive training group suggesting that adaptive training is more efficient to mimic synaesthesia.     

What Was the Syntax‐Semantics Debate in the Philosophy of Science About?

The debate between critics of syntactic and semantic approaches to the formalization of scientific theories has been going on for over 50 years. I structure the debate in light of a recent exchange between Hans Halvorson, Clark Glymour, and Bas van Fraassen and argue that the only remaining disagreement concerns the alleged difference in the dependence of syntactic and semantic approaches on languages of predicate logic. This difference turns out to be illusory.     

Predictors of race time in male ironman triathletes: physical characteristics, training, or prerace experience?

The aim of the present study was to assess whether physical characteristics, training, or prerace experience were related to performance in recreational male Ironman triathletes using bi- and multivariate analysis. 83 male recreational triathletes who volunteered to participate in the study (M age 41.5 yr., SD = 8.9) had a mean body height of 1.80 m (SD = 0.06), mean body mass of 77.3 kg (SD = 8.9), and mean Body Mass Index of 23.7 kg/m2 (SD = 2.1) at the 2009 IRONMAN SWITZERLAND competition. Speed in running during training, personal best marathon time, and personal best time in an Olympic distance triathlon were related to the Ironman race time. These three variables explained 64% of the variance in Ironman race time. Personal best marathon time was significantly and positively related to the run split time in the Ironman race. Faster running while training and both a fast personal best time in a marathon and in an Olympic distance triathlon were associated with a fast Ironman race time.     

Sex differences in association of race performance, skin-fold thicknesses, and training variables for recreational half-marathon runners

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between selected skin-fold thicknesses and training variables with a half-marathon race time, for both male and female recreational runners, using bi- and multivariate analysis. In 52 men, two skin-fold thicknesses (abdominal and calf) were significantly and positively correlated with race time; whereas in 15 women, five (pectoral, mid-axilla, subscapular, abdominal, and suprailiac) showed positive and significant relations with total race time. In men, the mean weekly running distance, minimum distance run per week, maximum distance run per week, mean weekly hours of running, number of running training sessions per week, and mean speed of the training sessions were significantly and negatively related to total race time, but not in women. Interaction analyses suggested that race time was more strongly associated with anthropometry in women than men. Race time for the women was independently associated with the sum of eight skin-folds; but for the men, only the mean speed during training sessions was independently associated. Skin-fold thicknesses and training variables in these groups were differently related to race time according to their sex.     

What matters in implicit task sequence learning: perceptual stimulus features, task sets, or correlated streams of information?

Implicit task sequence learning may be attributed to learning the order of perceptual stimulus features associated with the task sequence, learning a series of automatic task set activations, or learning an integrated sequence that derives from 2 correlated streams of information. In the present study, our purpose was to distinguish among these 3 possibilities. In 4 separate experiments, we replicated and extended a previous study by Heuer, Schmidtke, and Kleinsorge (2001). The presence or absence of a sequence of tasks, as well as that of a sequence of different task-to-response mappings, was manipulated independently within experiments. Evidence of implicit sequence learning was found only when correlated sequences of tasks and mappings were present. No sequence learning effects were found when only a single task sequence or a single mapping sequence was present, even when the structure of the single sequence was identical to the structure of the integrated sequence of task-mapping combinations. These results suggest that implicit task sequence learning is not dependent on either perceptual learning of stimulus features or automatic task-set activation per se. Rather, it appears to be driven by correlated streams of information.     

Creativity and involvement in art in different types of synaesthesia

The aim of the present study was to test the relationship between different types of synaesthesia and their involvement in art, creative, and visual abilities. We tested 20 grapheme‐colour, 18 sound‐colour, 19 grapheme‐colour‐and‐sound‐colour, 20 sequence‐space synaesthetes, and the same number of controls matched by age, gender, and education. We assessed the number of artistic professions, involvement in art, and the performance in psychometric tests of divergent and convergent creativity, as well as visual and visuo‐spatial abilities. Results show a higher prevalence of artists among synaesthetes, especially sound‐colour synaesthetes. Sound‐colour synaesthetes also showed a higher involvement in artistic activities overall while sequence‐space synaesthetes showed higher involvement in visual art. Only grapheme‐colour‐and‐sound‐colour synaesthetes showed significantly higher divergent creativity compared to matched controls. Additionally, overall, synaesthetes scored higher in visuo‐spatial abilities (i.e., mental rotation). For synaesthetes and controls, visuo‐spatial abilities correlated with divergent creativity. We discuss that synaesthetes’ higher involvement in art is not necessarily reflected in their basic creative abilities.     

Perceived Similarity, Expectation-Reality Discrepancies, and Mentors' Expressed Intention to Remain in Big Brothers/Big Sisters Programs

Studies have begun to document the academic and psychosocial benefits of Big Brothers/ Big Sisters programs for at-risk youth (Rhodes, Grossman, & Resch, 2000). However, investigators have noted a problem with mentor attrition (Meissen & Lounsbury, 1981). The purpose of the current study was twofold. First, we explored the relative importance of specific dimensions of perceived similarity (including similarity in attitudes, interests, race, and personality) as well as mentors' expectation-reality discrepancies in predicting mentors' expressed intention to remain in Big Brothers/Big Sisters programs. Second, we examined a model whereby interpersonal attraction and relationship quality served as mediators of these associations. Our results suggest that perceived similarity in extraver-sion as well as the discrepancy between mentors' ideal versus actual roles were significant predictors of mentors' expressed intention to remain in the relationship. Relationship quality and interpersonal attraction appeared to mediate these findings.     

Die Psychotherapeutenausbildung aus Sicht der Teilnehmer

Background

A survey was performed to assess the current situation in education and to identify critical issues 10 years after the inception of the German law regulating the education of psychological psychotherapists and child and adolescent psychotherapists. The study reports the results of a nationwide survey of German psychological psychotherapists and child and adolescent psychotherapists currently in training. The aim of the survey was to evaluate the individual sections of training, desired alterations and structural and financial conditions.

Methods

All trainees were contacted via the training institutes and the umbrella organizations. A total of 3,223 trainees participated and answered questions mainly using an online questionnaire.

Results

Most respondents practiced their training part-time and in most cases the trainees thought that the training would last longer than initially expected. The practical training was rated most poorly, whereas practical education and individual supervision were rated as most useful. The survey revealed deficits concerning the evaluation of the quality of several components of the training.

Conclusions

From the perspective of the trainees there is a necessity to modify the financial conditions of the training. This result has been considered in the recommendations of a research expertise on psychotherapy training and should stimulate further research.     

A Computer tool for constructing and integrating inferences into text representations

We present a new computer tool for modeling inference generation processes in text comprehension. With this tool, an explicit inference statement is constructed by marker passing in a joint text and knowledge base and a subsequent compilation process. In addition, the tool can be applied to describe knowledge integration processes, which can produce spatial, causal, and other types of representations. Because the system provides explicit accounts for reproductive and creative inferencing, it exceeds the functionality of previous simulations in text research. Text researchers can employ this system as a common ground for comparing their different positions on inferencing in a more precise manner.