Adapting to the Challenges of Chronic Non-communicable Diseases: Evidence from Russia

Applied Research in Quality of Life - As life expectancies increase and healthcare improves, increasing numbers of the population can expect to live with combinations of two or more chronic...     

Laboratory vs. naturalistic prospective memory task predictions: young adults are overconfident outside of the laboratory

ABSTRACT

This study investigated whether individuals can predict their future prospective memory (PM) performance in a lab-based task and in a naturalistic task. Metacognitive awareness was assessed by asking participants to give judgments-of-learning (JOLs) on an item-level for the prospective (that something has to be done) and retrospective (what to do) PM component. In addition, to explore whether giving predictions influences PM performance, we compared a control group (without predictions) to a prediction group. Results revealed that giving predictions did not change PM performance. Moreover, participants were underconfident in their PM performance in the lab-based task, while they were overconfident in the naturalistic task. In addition, item-level JOLs indicated that they were inaccurate in predicting what items they will recall or not, but only for the prospective component of the PM task. As for the retrospective component, they were equally accurate in both task settings. This study suggests a dissociation of metacognitive awareness for PM according to both task setting and processing component.     

Assessing potential reinforcement-like effects of brief stimuli unrelated to food reinforcers

It is widely assumed that reinforcers are biologically relevant stimuli, or stimuli that have been associated with biologically relevant stimuli. However, brief, arbitrary stimuli have also been reported to have reinforcement-like effects, despite being unrelated to biologically relevant stimuli like food. The present study explored the potential reinforcement-like effects of brief stimuli across 5 experiments. In Experiments 1 through 4, pigeon subjects responded for food reinforcement and brief stimulus presentations in a 2-component multiple schedule. Neither baseline response rates nor resistance to change during disruption tests were systematically greater in a component with versus without brief stimulus presentations. Increasing the rate and duration of brief stimulus presentations in Experiment 4 did not reveal reinforcement-like effects when compared directly with food. In Experiment 5, pigeons chose between independent terminal links in a concurrent-chains procedure. Across conditions, varying the location, duration, and rate of brief stimulus presentations in the terminal links had no systematic effects on preference. In contrast, varying rates of food reinforcers resulted in large and reliable shifts in preference. Therefore, the present study found no systematic evidence that brief stimuli unrelated to food reliably increase response rates, resistance to change, or preference. These data demonstrate the value of systematic replication, and a behavioral momentum approach to assessing potential reinforcement-like effects.     

Retracted: The Three-Step Theory of Suicide: An Independent Replication and Conceptual Extension

Retraction: Christopher R. Hagan PhD, Jennifer J. Muehlenkamp PhD, “The Three-Step Theory of Suicide: An Independent Replication and Conceptual Extension,” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Wiley, © American Association of Suicidology The above article, published online on 30 September 2019 in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editor in Chief, Thomas Joiner, PhD, and John Wiley and Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed due to errors in variable calculation and a post-publication reviewer's concerns that some analyses did not accurately test the theoretical model. An updated version of this article will soon undergo review for publication at Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, and if accepted for publication, will be accompanied by an editorial from the Editor-in-Chief.