Cognitive load effects on early visual perceptual processing

Contrast-based early visual processing has largely been considered to involve autonomous processes that do not need the support of cognitive resources. However, as spatial attention is known to modulate early visual perceptual processing, we explored whether cognitive load could similarly impact contrast-based perception. We used a dual-task paradigm to assess the impact of a concurrent working memory task on the performance of three different early visual tasks. The results from Experiment 1 suggest that cognitive load can modulate early visual processing. No effects of cognitive load were seen in Experiments 2 or 3. Together, the findings provide evidence that under some circumstances cognitive load effects can penetrate the early stages of visual processing and that higher cognitive function and early perceptual processing may not be as independent as was once thought.     

A single exposure to the American flag shifts support toward Republicanism up to 8 months later

There is scant evidence that incidental cues in the environment significantly alter people's political judgments and behavior in a durable way. We report that a brief exposure to the American flag led to a shift toward Republican beliefs, attitudes, and voting behavior among both Republican and Democratic participants, despite their overwhelming belief that exposure to the flag would not influence their behavior. In Experiment 1, which was conducted online during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants' Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months after the exposure to the prime. In Experiment 2, we replicated the findings more than a year into the current Democratic presidential term. These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.     

Spatial and temporal variability of movement parameters in individuals with Down syndrome

This investigation compared spatial and temporal gait movement parameters of a sample of individuals with Down syndrome (n=12) and one of individuals without disabilities (n=12). All participants were evaluated on responses to a preferred pace and fast walk with the GAITRite Electronic Walkway. Spatial outcomes included step and stride length, step and stride width, toe-in/toe-out, and base of support. Temporal outcomes included step time, velocity, single and double leg support time, stance, and swing time. There were significant group differences for step length, step width, stride length, and velocity in the preferred walk condition. Significant group differences for step length, step width, and stride length were observed in the fast walk condition. Percentage differences also indicated lower scores for all spatial and temporal variables in relation to the control group. The ability to control gait movements appears to reflect earlier movement experiences, so it may be possible to use variable sensory feedback and specific training to modify and adjust movement responses and improve gait performance in Down syndrome.     

A new maneuver against the epistemic relativist

Epistemic relativists often appeal to an epistemic incommensurability thesis. One notable example is the position advanced by Wittgenstein in On certainty (1969). However, Ian Hacking’s radical denial of the possibility of objective epistemic reasons for belief poses, we suggest, an even more forceful challenge to mainstream meta-epistemology. Our central objective will be to develop a novel strategy for defusing Hacking’s line of argument. Specifically, we show that the epistemic incommensurability thesis can be resisted even if we grant the very insights that lead Hacking to claim that epistemic reasons are always relative to a style of reasoning. Surprisingly, the key to defusing the argument is to be found in recent mainstream work on the epistemic state of objectual understanding.     

Networks,Space, and Residents’ Perception of Cohesion

Community scholars increasingly focus on the linkage between residents’ sense of cohesion with the neighborhood and their own social networks in the neighborhood. A challenge is that whereas some research only focuses on residents’ social ties with fellow neighbors, such an approach misses out on the larger constellation of individuals’ relationships and the spatial distribution of those relationships. Using data from the Twin Communities Network Study, the current project is one of the first studies to examine the actual spatial distribution of respondents’ networks for a variety of relationships and the consequences of these for neighborhood and city cohesion. We also examine how a perceived structural measure of cohesion—triangle degree—impacts their perceptions of neighborhood and city cohesion. Our findings suggest that perceptions of cohesion within the neighborhood and the city depend on the number of neighborhood safety contacts as well as on the types of people with which they discuss important matters. On the other hand, kin and social friendship ties do not impact cohesion. A key finding is that residents who report more spatially dispersed networks for certain types of ties report lower levels of neighborhood and city cohesion. Residents with higher triangle degree within their neighborhood safety networks perceived more neighborhood cohesion.     

Middle Response Scale Options are Inappropriate for Ideal Point Scales

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical rationale for the inappropriateness of middle response options on the response scales offered on ideal point scales, and to provide empirical support for this argument to assist ideal point scale development.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The same ideal point scale was administered in three quasi-experimental groups varying only in the response scale offered: the three groups received either a four-, five-, or six-option response scale. An ideal point Item Response Theory model, the Generalized Graded Unfolding Model (GGUM), was fit to the response data, and model-data fit was compared across conditions.

Findings

Responses from the four- and six-option conditions were fit well by the GGUM, but responses from the five-option condition were not fit well.

Implications

Despite the scale being constructed to follow the tenets of ideal point responding, the GGUM was unable to provide a reasonable probabilistic account of responding when the response scale contained a middle option. The authors find support for the argument that an odd-numbered response scale does not match the principles of ideal point responding, and can actually result in misspecifying the underlying response process.

Originality/Value

Although a growing body of research has suggested that attitude and personality measurement is best conceptualized under the assumptions of ideal point responding, little practical advice has been given to researchers or practitioners regarding scale creation. This was the first study to theoretically and empirically assess the response scale on ideal point scales, and offer guidance for constructing ideal point scales.     

Null Results in Assessing Survey Score Comparability: Illustrating Measurement Invariance Using Item Response Theory

In using organizational surveys for decision-making, it is essential to consider measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I), which addresses the questions of whether score differences are attributable to differences in the latent variable we intend to measure, or attributable to confounding differences in measurement properties. Due to the tendency for null results to remain unpublished, most articles have focused on findings of, and reasons for violations of ME/I. On the other hand, little is available to practitioners and researchers concerning situations where ME/I can be expected to uphold. This is especially disconcerting due to the fact that the null is the desired result in such analyses, and allows for unfettered observed-score comparisons. This special issue presents a unique opportunity to provide such a discussion using real-world examples from an organizational culture survey. In doing so we hope to clear up confusion surrounding the concept of ME/I, when it can be expected, and how it relates to actual differences in scores. First, we review the basic tenets and past findings focusing on ME/I, and discuss the item response theory differential item functioning framework used here. Next, we show ME/I being upheld using organizational survey data wherein violations of ME/I would reasonably not be expected (i.e., the null hypothesis was predicted and supported), and simulate the consequences of ignoring ME/I. Finally, we suggest a set of conditions wherein ME/I is likely to be upheld.     

“Part of the Very Concept”: Wittgensteinian Moral Philosophy1

X is “part of the very concept” of Y. This formulation recurs throughout Raimond Gaita's philosophy and informs Christopher Cordner's. I elucidate the formulation's meaning and the nature of the necessity posited, then conclude with a criticism. One cannot love evil. One cannot love cow dung. For Gaita, these claims differ in type. The first testifies to a conceptual relation, but the second to a “mere fact.” I see no clear basis for assigning to claims one type over another, which challenges the footing of Wittgensteinian moral philosophy. Why do no moral“mere facts” partly define our form of life?     

Parental emotion regulation and preschoolers’ prosocial behavior: The mediating roles of parental warmth and inductive discipline

The potential mediating roles of parental warmth and inductive discipline on the relations of parental emotion regulation strategies to children’s prosocial behavior were examined in this study. Sixty-four parents of preschoolers (50% girls) completed questionnaires assessing their own regulation practices (i.e., cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression), parenting behaviors (i.e., parental warmth/nurturance, inductive discipline), and children’s prosocial behavior (voluntary behavior intended to benefit another). The authors hypothesized that cognitive reappraisal would be positively and expressive suppression would be negatively related to parenting behaviors and children’s prosocial behavior. They further hypothesized that parental warmth and inductive discipline would mediate the relations between parents’ own regulation strategies and children’s prosocial behavior. Results demonstrated that parental cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with warmth, and expressive suppression was negatively associated with inductive discipline and children’s prosocial behavior. Parental warmth, but not inductive discipline, mediated the relations between cognitive reappraisal and children’s prosocial behavior. The results highlight adults’ own regulatory strategies as predictors of socialization behaviors and the potential processes for socialization of children’s moral emotions and positive social development.