Ambiguous pronoun resolution: contrasting the first-mention and subject-preference accounts

A visual-world eye-tracking experiment investigated the influence of order of mention and grammatical role on resolution of ambiguous pronouns in Finnish. According to the first-mention account, general cognitive structure-building processes make the first-mentioned noun phrase the preferred antecedent of an ambiguous pronoun. According to the subject-preference account, the preferred antecedent is the grammatical subject of the preceding clause or sentence. Participants listened to sentences in either subject-verb-object or object-verb-subject order; each was followed by a sentence containing an ambiguous pronoun that referred to either the subject or the object. Participants' eye movements were monitored while they looked at pictures representing the two possible antecedents of each pronoun. Analyses of the fixations on the pictures showed that listeners used both order-of-mention and grammatical-role information to resolve ambiguous pronouns.     

A role for Synapsin in associative learning: the Drosophila larva as a study case

Synapsins are evolutionarily conserved, highly abundant vesicular phosphoproteins in presynaptic terminals. They are thought to regulate the recruitment of synaptic vesicles from the reserve pool to the readily-releasable pool, in particular when vesicle release is to be maintained at high spiking rates. As regulation of transmitter release is a prerequisite for synaptic plasticity, we use the fruit fly Drosophila to ask whether Synapsin has a role in behavioral plasticity as well; in fruit flies, Synapsin is encoded by a single gene (syn). We tackled this question for associative olfactory learning in larval Drosophila by using the deletion mutant syn^97CS, which had been backcrossed to the Canton-S wild-type strain (CS) for 13 generations. We provide a molecular account of the genomic status of syn^97CS by PCR and show the absence of gene product on Western blots and nerve-muscle preparations. We found that olfactory associative learning in syn^97CS larvae is reduced to ~50% of wild-type CS levels; however, responsiveness to the to-be-associated stimuli and motor performance in untrained animals are normal. In addition, we introduce two novel behavioral control procedures to test stimulus responsiveness and motor performance after “sham training.” Wild-type CS and syn^97CS perform indistinguishably also in these tests. Thus, larval Drosophila can be used as a case study for a role of Synapsin in associative learning.     

A Strawsonian look at desert

P.F. Strawson famously argued that reactive attitudes and ordinary moral practices justify moral assessments of blame, praise, and punishment. Here we consider whether Strawson's approach can illuminate the concept of desert. After reviewing standard attempts to analyze this concept and finding them lacking, we suggest that to deserve something is to justifiably receive a moral assessment in light of certain criteria – in particular, eligibility criteria (a subject's properties that make the subject principally eligible for moral assessments) and assignment criteria (particulars about the subject, act, and circumstances that justify assessments such as blame in a particular case). Strawson's analysis of the ordinary attitudes and practices of moral assessment hints at these criteria but does not unequivocally ground a notion of desert. Following Strawson's general naturalistic approach, we show that recent psychological research on folk concepts and practices regarding freedom, moral responsibility, and blame illuminates how people actually arrive at moral assessments, thus revealing the very eligibility criteria and assignment criteria we suggest ground a concept of desert. By pushing the Strawsonian line even further than Strawson did, by empirically investigating actual moral practice and folk understandings, we can illuminate desert and lend credence to Strawson's general anti-metaphysical position.     

Separating multiple processes in implicit social cognition: the quad model of implicit task performance

The authors argue that implicit measures of social cognition do not reflect only automatic processes but rather the joint contributions of multiple, qualitatively different processes. The quadruple process model proposed and tested in the present article quantitatively disentangles the influences of 4 distinct processes on implicit task performance: the likelihood that automatic bias is activated by a stimulus; that a correct response can be determined; that automatic bias is overcome; and that, in the absence of other information, a guessing bias drives responses. The stochastic and construct validity of the model is confirmed in 5 studies. The model is shown to provide a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the interplay of multiple processes in implicit task performance, including implicit measures of attitudes, prejudice, and stereotyping.     

Word recognition with masking

At illuminances between .07 and 17 ft.-c, the word-recognition threshold was lower when a common word was preceded and followed by a homogenous field than by a noise pattern composed of a random array of bits of letters. Most of the difference is ascribed to the pattern’s interference with post-stimulatory processes. This interference may explain why with masking the threshold reached a minimum at 90 msec. and then did not decrease further despite increasing illuminance, whereas without masking the threshold continued to decrease down to 7 msec, the shortest duration tested.     

Course and form variations of cyclothymic phases in lithium therapy

The authors have attempted by means of a statistical survey to quantify changes in the course and, in particular the phase-related and non-phase-related form of cyclothymic phases during long-term lithium treatment.     

Photovoice: Fulfilling the Call for Advocacy in the Counseling Field

Counselors are bound by ethical code to advocate at individual, group, institutional, and societal levels to examine potential barriers and obstacles that inhibit the growth and development of clients. Photovoice is a participatory action research method that utilizes a specific photographic technique to capture an issue from the lens of those affected. The authors of this article propose that photovoice can be adapted to individual counseling with clients to fulfill our ethical call to advocate at the individual level to address barriers and promote growth. A case example is given to demonstrate how photovoice can be used in a counseling session to advocate for clients.     

Schizophrenia: The Narcissistic Retreat

A 27-item Fear of Success Scale (FOSS) was developed to assess individual differences in the motive to avoid success. Females scored significantly higher on the FOSS than did males; the FOSS was positively related to Horner's projective measure of fear of success, and negatively related to Mehrabian's measure of achievement motivation; subjects (both males and females) with high scores on the FOSS (a) performed less well on an anagram test, (b) attributed success more to external factors, and (c) attributed failure more to internal factors than subjects with low scores on the FOSS. These results supported the validity of the FOSS with regard to its use in future research.     

Using a taped intervention to improve kindergarten students' number identification

A multiple baseline design across students was used to evaluate the effects of a taped numbers (TN) intervention on the number‐identification accuracy of 4 kindergarten students. During TN, students attempted to name the numbers 0 through 9 on randomized lists before each number was provided via a tape player 2 s later. All 4 students showed immediate increases and reached 100% in number‐identification accuracy. One student reached 100% accuracy after TN was supplemented with performance feedback, reinforcement, and overcorrection.