The Police Officer Tacit Knowledge Inventory (POTKI): Towards Determining Underlying Structure and Applicability as a Recruit Screening Tool

Summary The purpose of this research was to examine the potential application of the police officer tacit knowledge inventory (POTKI) as a police recruit screening tool. The POTKI is a situational judgment test and consists of knowledge gained on the job by experienced officers that is thought to be important for problem‐solving. In the present study, four police agencies from a western US state administered the POTKI along with other screening measures to police applicants. Performance of the novice recruits was subsequently rated by their supervisors using the measure of professional expertise (MOE). Principal component analysis, multiple regression analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance were conducted on the POTKI response options. POTKI response options were found to be predictive of supervisor MOE ratings. Principal component analysis results identified intrapersonal tacit knowledge components that predicted MOE metacognitive, skill, and social recognition supervisor ratings and distinguished novice from expert police officers.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visual motion influences the contingent auditory motion aftereffect

In this study, we show that the contingent auditory motion aftereffect is strongly influenced by visual motion information. During an induction phase, participants listened to rightward-moving sounds with falling pitch alternated with leftward-moving sounds with rising pitch (or vice versa). Auditory aftereffects (i.e., a shift in the psychometric function for unimodal auditory motion perception) were bigger when a visual stimulus moved in the same direction as the sound than when no visual stimulus was presented. When the visual stimulus moved in the opposite direction, aftereffects were reversed and thus became contingent upon visual motion. When visual motion was combined with a stationary sound, no aftereffect was observed. These findings indicate that there are strong perceptual links between the visual and auditory motion-processing systems.     

Young at heart,old at work? Relations between age, (meta-)stereotypes,self-categorization,and retirement attitudes

The aims of this study were to examine how workers' negative age stereotypes (i.e., denying older workers' ability to develop) and negative meta-stereotypes (i.e., beliefs that the majority of colleagues feel negative about older workers) are related to their attitudes towards retirement (i.e., occupational future time perspective and intention to retire), and whether the strength of these relationships is influenced by workers' self-categorization as an “older” person. Results of a study among Dutch taxi drivers provided mixed support for the hypotheses. Negative meta-stereotypes, but not negative age stereotypes, were associated with fewer perceived opportunities until retirement and, in turn, a stronger intention to retire. Self-categorization moderated the relationships between negative age (meta-)stereotypes and occupational future time perspective. However, contrary to expectations, the relations were stronger among workers with a low self-categorization as an older person in comparison with workers with a high self-categorization in this regard. Overall, results highlight the importance of psychosocial processes in the study of retirement intentions and their antecedents.     

The Expanding World of Edward Tronick

Edward Tronick operates at the interface of empirical analysis of mother–infant communication, systems theories, and psychoanalysis. He has been a leader in the articulation of the implications of systems views for child development research. Systems views of mother–infant interaction, and of development more broadly, increasingly provide one theoretical underpinning for psychoanalysis. His work has enriched our understanding of interactive models of the dyad, of development, and of the mind. He has made a pivotal contribution to the development of a relational systems approach to infant research and its implications for adult treatment.     

Amygdala and Periaqueductal Gray Lesions Only Partially Attenuate Unconditional Defensive Responses in Rats Exposed to a Cat

Defensive responses to a cat were observed in rats given excitotoxic lesions of the central nucleus of the amygdala (ACe), dorsolateral periaqueductal gray (dlPAG), ventral periaqueductal gray (vPAG), or sham lesions. Rats were placed adjacent to a compartment containing a cat. Sham-lesioned rats avoided the area nearest the cat and preferred the area furthest away from the cat. They also exhibited numerous defensive responses including, climbing, escape from the apparatus, and freezing. Rats with lesions of the ACe reacted like the sham lesioned rats by preferring the area of the apparatus furthest from the cat, however they climbed and escaped significantly less than sham lesioned rats. Avoidance of the area adjacent to the cat was attenuated in rats with lesions of the vPAG. Climbing along the walls of the apparatus was also attenuated in rats with lesions of the vPAG. Escapes from the apparatus were not significantly reduced by lesions of the vPAG and dlPAG. Thus, ACe lesions attenuated climbing and eliminated escapes, but did not impair locomotion of the rat away from the cat.     

A mental number line in human newborns

Humans represent numbers on a mental number line with smaller numbers on the left and larger numbers on the right side. A left‐to‐right oriented spatial–numerical association, (SNA), has been demonstrated in animals and infants. However, the possibility that SNA is learnt by early exposure to caregivers’ directional biases is still open. We conducted two experiments: in Experiment 1, we tested whether SNA is present at birth and in Experiment 2, we studied whether it depends on the relative rather than the absolute magnitude of numerousness. Fifty‐five‐hour‐old newborns, once habituated to a number (12), spontaneously associated a smaller number (4) with the left and a larger number (36) with the right side (Experiment 1). SNA in neonates is not absolute but relative. The same number (12) was associated with the left side rather than the right side whenever the previously experienced number was larger (36) rather than smaller (4) (Experiment 2). Control on continuous physical variables showed that the effect is specific of discrete magnitudes. These results constitute strong evidence that in our species SNA originates from pre‐linguistic and biological precursors in the brain.     

Specificity of autobiographical memory and mood disturbance in adolescents

The combined perception of affective information provided by seeing a facial expression and hearing a tone of voice presents us with a phenomenon that has received little systematic attention in the laboratory. We argue that although the FLMP appears good at modelling the presently available data, more complex theoretical questions must be raised. We discuss the theoretical shortcomings of the FLMP and envisage two other theoretical frameworks that could guide future research.