The Quality of Response Time Data Inference: A Blinded,Collaborative Assessment of the Validity of Cognitive Models

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Most data analyses rely on models. To complement statistical models, psychologists have developed cognitive models, which translate observed variables into...     

Shape‐ and Trait‐Congruency: Using Appearance‐based Cues as a Basis for Product Recommendations

This research demonstrates that a consumer's physical appearance—and, more specifically, his or her body size—predictably influences the product(s) that the consumer is recommended. Four studies conducted in both field and lab settings show that agents more frequently recommend round (vs. angular) shaped products to heavier targets, notably for products and categories in which body size is irrelevant (e.g., lamps and perfume). We attribute this to a combination of shape‐congruency and trait‐congruency, whereby individuals choose products for others based on shared dimensions of the person and product.     

Appreciation as Audience Response: Exploring Entertainment Gratifications Beyond Hedonism

This article elaborates upon the notion of media enjoyment in the context of film viewing by proposing a complementary type of gratification that we conceptualize as appreciation. Three studies were conducted to tap into the multidimensionality of viewers' entertainment gratifications with a special focus on the domain of more serious, poignant, and pensive media experiences typically associated with genres such as drama, history, documentary, or art films. These studies provide evidence of and measurement for gratifications related to fun and suspense, but also gratifications related to moving and thought‐provoking entertainment experiences, with all three gratifications leading to perceptions of entertainment having a more long‐lasting or enduring effect. The results are discussed with regard to the theoretical conceptualization of entertainment gratification.     

Early Maternal Spatial Support for Toddlers and Math Skills in Second Grade

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to investigate whether maternal spatial support during two types of joint manipulative toy play tasks with 2-year-old children was longitudinally associated with math screening test scores in second grade. The interaction between spatial support and maternal education was explored as well. We also investigated predictions of a teacher rating of math performance at second grade, although these effects were less robust. Data were drawn from BONDS (The Behavior Outlook Norwegian Developmental Study), a longitudinal study of Norwegian children and their families. Participants were a subsample of 932 mothers and their 2-year-olds. Mothers were asked to help their children solve both a puzzle task and a shape-color sorting task. Mothers’ spatial support included spatial language, gestures, and placement of objects. Results showed that higher levels of spatial support during mother-child interaction tasks at 2 years of age was significantly associated with fewer math difficulties in second grade. This was the case for a puzzle task (a task associated with spatial visualization skills), but not for a shape-color sorting task (a task associated with shape and color feature discriminations). Conclusions are drawn with respect to the importance of identifying optimal parental spatial strategies associated with better math outcomes. These findings on parental facilitation of spatial skills during joint early play may be useful for future training interventions directed at parents of children at risk for poor math skills.     

Possible novel features of synaptic regulation during long-term facilitation in Aplysia

Most studies of molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity have focused on the sequence of changes either at individual synapses or in the cell nucleus. However, studies of long-term facilitation at Aplysia sensory neuron–motor neuron synapses in isolated cell culture suggest two additional features of facilitation. First, that there is also regulation of the number of synaptic contacts between two neurons, which may occur at the level of cell pair-specific branch points in the neuronal arbor. Branch points contain many molecules that are involved in protein synthesis-dependent long-term facilitation including neurotrophins and the RNA binding protein CPEB. Second, the regulation involves homeostatic feedback and tends to keep the total number of contacts between two neurons at a fairly constant level both at rest and following facilitation. That raises the question of how facilitation and homeostasis can coexist. A possible answer is suggested by the findings that they both involve spontaneous transmission and postsynaptic Ca²⁺, which can have bidirectional effects similar to LTP and LTD in hippocampus. In addition, long-term facilitation can involve a change in the set point of homeostasis, which could be encoded by plasticity molecules such as CPEB and/or PKM. A computational model based on these ideas can qualitatively simulate the basic features of both facilitation and homeostasis of the number of contacts.

Synaptic plasticity is a change in strength of the synaptic connection (postsynaptic potential or PSP) between neurons and includes increases during facilitation and decreases during depression. Plasticity is thought to underlie circuit formation during development and learning and memory in adults, and correspondingly to be defective in neurodevelopmental disorders including autism, ADHD, and schizophrenia as well as learning and memory disorders including Alzheimer''s, age-related memory loss, and drug addiction (Hawkins 2013; Hawkins et al. 2017). Most studies of molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity have focused on either changes at individual synapses or gene regulation in the cell nucleus. However, studies of long-term facilitation at Aplysia sensory neuron–motor neuron (SN–MN) synapses in isolated cell culture (Glanzman et al. 1990), sensitization in the intact animal (Wainwright et al. 2004), and long-term potentiation in hippocampal neurons (Antonova et al. 2001, 2009) have shown that there are also changes in the number of contacts between presynaptic varicosities and the postsynaptic neuron. We refer to these as synaptic contacts although not all of them are functional synapses (Kim et al. 2003). The number of contacts is thought to be an important determinant of the strength of the PSP (Zhang et al. 2003) and to be different for different neuron pairs. It also increases during long-term facilitation of the PSP and is thought to be a major determinant of the time course of the facilitation (Bailey and Chen 1989).As in other systems (Antonova et al. 2001, 2009; Holtmaat and Svoboda 2009), the contacts are dynamic and are continually being formed and eliminated, but the total number and the PSP remain fairly constant both at rest and during long-term facilitation (Miniaci et al. 2008; Chen et al. 2014). Furthermore, the number of contacts and the PSP return to baseline when maintenance of the facilitation is blocked, but the individual contacts are not all the same as they were before facilitation. These results have led some to suggest that memories are not stored at individual synaptic contacts, as is often supposed, but rather are stored in the nucleus (Chen et al. 2014). However, most of the previous experiments have involved a single SN and a single MN, so it has not been possible to examine the synapse specificity of the effects. Experiments with one SN and two MNs (Martin et al. 1997) or two SNs and 1 MN (Schacher et al. 1997) have shown that facilitation of the number of synaptic contacts and the PSP is specific to the stimulated synaptic pair (e.g., SN–MN1) and does not occur for the other pair (e.g., SN–MN2). These results should generalize to multiple pre- and postsynaptic partners and suggest two novel features of synaptic regulation during plasticity: (1) that the number of synaptic contacts between two neurons is regulated, and (2) that the regulation is homeostatic. We first describe those features and some of the evidence supporting them, then propose a model that could account for them and present computational modeling to illustrate the plausibility of the model.     

PASSAGE INDEPENDENCY AND QUESTION CHARACTERISTICS: AN ANALYSIS OF THREE INFORMAL READING INVENTORIES

ABSTRACT

Three informal reading inventories were examined to identify passage independent test questions, questions which could be answered correctly without reading the corresponding passages. Fourth grade students of good and poor reading ability were administered the test questions orally without access to the passages. The percentage of questions answered correctly was calculated for each test. An analysis of variance procedure revealed that the Classroom Reading Inventory was the most passage independent followed by the Analytical Reading Inventory and Ginn 720 inventory respectively. However the two reader groups did not differ significantly in their performance across the three tests. An analysis of children's responses to the questions revealed that three question categories in particular tended to be passage independent in nature. These categories were: a) general information b) vocabulary meaning and c) affective. The investigation also examined the literal and inferential characteristics of the test questions. Suggestions were made for evaluating the validity of reading comprehension questions