Children's consumption behavior in response to food product placements in movies

Almost all research on the effects of product placements on children has focused on brand attitudes or behavioral intentions. Drawing on the important difference between attitudes or behavioral intentions on the one hand and actual behavior on the other, this paper tests the effects of brand placements on children's food consumption. Children from 6 to 14 years old were exposed to an excerpt of the popular movie Alvin and the Chipmunks, including placements for the product Cheese Balls. Three versions were created: one without placements, one with moderate placement frequency, and one with high placement frequency. Results showed that exposure to high‐frequency product placements exerted a significant effect on snack consumption, but no effect on brand or product attitudes. These effects were independent of children's ages. The findings are of great importance to consumer behavior scholars, nutrition experts, and policy regulators. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the atomic structure of an asymmetrical near Σ = 27 grain boundary in copper

The atomic structure of an asymmetrical near Σ = 27 {525} tilt grain boundary (GB) in copper is determined by coupling high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and molecular dynamics simulation. The average GB plane is parallel to {414} in crystal (1) and {343} in crystal (2). The detailed GB structure shows that it is composed of facets always parallel to {101} and {111} in crystals (1) and (2), respectively. The atomic structure of one facet is described using the structural units model. Each facet is displaced with respect to its neighbours by a pure step, giving rise to the asymmetry of the GB plane orientation. The energy of this asymmetrical GB is significantly lower than that of both the {525} symmetrical and the {11,1,11}/{111} asymmetrical Σ = 27 GBs. One GB region displays another atomic structure with a dislocation that accounts for the misfit between interatomic distances in the {414} and {343} GB planes.     

Mental time travel into the past and the future in healthy aged adults: an fMRI study

Remembering the past and envisioning the future rely on episodic memory which enables mental time travel. Studies in young adults indicate that past and future thinking share common cognitive and neural underpinnings. No imaging data is yet available in healthy aged subjects. Using fMRI, we scanned older subjects while they remembered personal events (PP: last 12 months) or envisioned future plans (FP: next 12 months). Behaviorally, both time-periods were comparable in terms of visual search strategy, emotion, frequency of rehearsal and recency of the last evocation. However, PP were more episodic, engaged a higher state of autonoetic consciousness and mental visual images were clearer and more numerous than FP. Neuroimaging results revealed a common network of activation (posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus) reflecting the use of similar cognitive processes. Furthermore, the episodic nature of PP depended on hippocampal and visuo-spatial activations (occipital and angular gyri), while, for FP, it depended on the inferior frontal and lateral temporal gyri, involved in semantic memory retrieval. The common neural network and behavior suggests that healthy aged subjects thought about their future prospects in the past. The contribution of retrospective thinking into the future that engages the same network as the one recruited when remembering the past is discussed. Within this network, differential recruitment of specific areas highlights the episodic distinction between past and future mental time travel.     

Time and moral judgment

Do moral judgments hinge on the time available to render them? According to a recent dual-process model of moral judgment, moral dilemmas that engage emotional processes are likely to result in fast deontological gut reactions. In contrast, consequentialist responses that tot up lives saved and lost in response to such dilemmas would require cognitive control to override the initial response. Cognitive control, however, takes time. In two experiments, we manipulated the time available to arrive at moral judgments in two ways: by allotting a fixed short or large amount of time, and by nudging people to answer swiftly or to deliberate thoroughly. We found that faster responses indeed lead to more deontological responses among those moral dilemmas in which the killing of one to save many necessitates manhandling an innocent person and in which this action is depicted as a means to an end. Thus, our results are the first demonstration that inhibiting cognitive control through manipulations of time alters moral judgments.     

Insertion des femmes dans un métier « masculin » : transfert d’acquis d’expériences et stratégies identitaires

Entering a male-dominated occupation is favorable to the study of identity strategies. Based on a research among thirty female bus drivers, this article aims to demonstrate that the transfer – in the professional sphere – of knowledge, abilities, attitudes and values acquired in other spheres and times of socialization, is an important component of such strategies. Referred to the model of an active and plural socialization (Baubion-Broye & Hajjar, 1998 ; Almudever & al, 1999) and to Dubar’s distinction (2000) of a biographical and a relational transaction, the content analysis of the female bus drivers interviews allowed : a) to emphasize the relevance of using transfer of experiences acquisitions as an indicator of biographical transaction; b) to establish the links between transfer processes and gender positioning (as an indicator of relational transaction); c) to define three types of identity strategies distinguished by their level of transfer activation.     

Lost in the move? Secondary task performance impairs tactile change detection on the body

Change blindness, the surprising inability of people to detect significant changes between consecutively-presented visual displays, has recently been shown to affect tactile perception as well. Visual change blindness has been observed during saccades and eye blinks, conditions under which people’s awareness of visual information is temporarily suppressed. In the present study, we demonstrate change blindness for suprathreshold tactile stimuli resulting from the execution of a secondary task requiring bodily movement. In Experiment 1, the ability of participants to detect changes between two sequentially-presented vibrotactile patterns delivered on their arms and legs was compared while they performed a secondary task consisting of either the execution of a movement with the right arm toward a visual target or the verbal identification of the target side. The results demonstrated that a motor response gave rise to the largest drop in perceptual sensitivity (as measured by changes in d′) in detecting changes to the tactile display. In Experiment 2, we replicated these results under conditions in which the participants had to detect tactile changes while turning a steering wheel instead. These findings are discussed in terms of the role played by bodily movements, sensory suppression, and higher order information processing in modulating people’s awareness of tactile information across the body surface.     

Das Asperger-Syndrom bei Erwachsenen

Herr F., 35 Jahre alt, wendet sich per E-Mail an die Kinderklinik mit der Frage, ob eine diagnostische Abkl?rung bei uns m?glich sei, da er im Erwachsenenbereich keine Ansprechperson gefunden habe. Durch eine Internetrecherche sei er auf das Asperger-Syndrom gesto?en. Seit seiner Kindheit habe er sich bereits gefragt, was bei ihm nicht stimme, warum er ,,anders“ sei und warum es seinen Mitschülern immer so leicht gefallen sei auf andere zuzugehen, ,,Small Talk“ zu führen oder Kontakte aufrecht zu erhalten. Er hingegen habe damit immer massive Schwierigkeiten gehabt, habe soziale Zusammenh?nge oft nicht begriffen beziehungsweise die Gedanken, Absichten oder Gefühle anderer nicht entschlüsseln k?nnen. Obwohl er dies erkennt, konnte er es bisher nicht bewusst ?ndern, was in weiterer Folge zu einer depressiven Verstimmung mit Rückzug geführt hat. In der weiteren Exploration stellt sich heraus, dass Herr F. alleine wohnt, aber immer noch finanziell beziehungsweise im Alltag von seinen Eltern unterstützt wird. Derzeit hat er keine Beziehung, die vorangegangene Partnerschaft ging wegen Kommunikationsproblemen in die Brüche, worunter er sehr leidet. Aufgrund seiner speziellen Interessen studierte Herr F. Astrophysik und technische Mathematik und schloss beide Studien mit Auszeichnung ab. Seither hat er in etwa 20 verschiedenen Jobs gearbeitet, die meist nicht seiner Qualifikation entsprachen. Das Arbeitsverh?ltnis wurde jeweils beendet, da Herr F. von den sozialen Anforderungen massiv überfordert war. Seine Freizeit verbringt Herr F. alleine, bet?tigt sich im Internet in Chatrooms, liest Fachliteratur und hat eine vollst?ndige Sammlung an Sportfachzeitschriften seit dem Jahr 1995, die er in einer bestimmten Ordnung aufbewahrt und deren Inhalte er so gut wie auswendig kennt.     

The influence of prematurity,maternal anxiety,and infants' neurobiological risk on mother–infant interactions

In this study, we investigated how the birth of a very low birth weight preterm (VLBW) infant influences the mother–infant interaction at 3 months. We also focused on the impact of the infant's neurobiological risk and maternal anxiety, and their interaction. The comparison of the VLBW preterm sample (n = 79) with an external full‐term sample (n = 35) showed mother–infant interactions of the families with the preterm infant to be more vocally responsive during the interaction, but less facially responsive during the interaction. Additionally, higher levels of maternal anxiety were associated with preterm infants being less facially responsive in interaction with their mother. While neurobiological risk of the infant played a part in this association, with higher risk infants also being less facially responsive, the relationship with maternal anxiety and the mother–child interaction was stronger. How these findings may influence therapeutic interventions is discussed.     

Audiotactile temporal order judgments

We report a series of three experiments in which participants made unspeeded 'Which modality came first?' temporal order judgments (TOJs) to pairs of auditory and tactile stimuli presented at varying stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) using the method of constant stimuli. The stimuli were presented from either the same or different locations in order to explore the potential effect of redundant spatial information on audiotactile temporal perception. In Experiment 1, the auditory and tactile stimuli had to be separated by nearly 80 ms for inexperienced participants to be able to judge their temporal order accurately (i.e., for the just noticeable difference (JND) to be achieved), no matter whether the stimuli were presented from the same or different spatial positions. More experienced psychophysical observers (Experiment 2) also failed to show any effect of relative spatial position on audiotactile TOJ performance, despite having much lower JNDs (40 ms) overall. A similar pattern of results was found in Experiment 3 when silent electrocutaneous stimulation was used rather than vibrotactile stimulation. Thus, relative spatial position seems to be a less important factor in determining performance for audiotactile TOJ than for other modality pairings (e.g., audiovisual and visuotactile).