Detection of counting pseudoerrors: What helps children accept them?

This study examines children's comprehension of non‐essential counting features (conventional rules). The objective of the study was to determine whether the presence or absence of cardinal values in pseudoerrors and the type of conventional rule violated affects children's performance. A detection task with pseudoerrors was presented through a computer game to 146 primary school children in grades 2 through 4. The same pseudoerrors were presented both with and without cardinal values; the pseudoerrors violated conventional rules of spatial adjacency, temporal adjacency, spatial–temporal adjacency, and left‐to‐right direction. Half of the participants within each age group were randomly assigned to an experimental condition that included pseudoerrors with a cardinal value, and the other half were assigned to a condition that included pseudoerrors without a cardinal value. The results show that when presented with a cardinal value, children more easily recognize the optional nature of non‐essential counting features. Likewise, the type of conventional rule transgressed significantly affected the children's acceptance of pseudoerrors as valid counts. Participants penalized breaches of temporal and spatial–temporal adjacency to a greater degree than breaches of spatial adjacency and left‐to‐right direction.     

Step changes in the intertrial interval in the midsession reversal task: Predicting pigeons' performance with the learning-to-time model

Our goal was to assess the role of timing in pigeons' performance in the midsession reversal task. In discrete-trial sessions, pigeons learned to discriminate between 2 stimuli, S1 and S2. Choices of S1 were reinforced only in the first half of the session and choices of S2 were reinforced only in the second half. Typically, pigeons choose S2 before the contingency reverses (anticipatory errors) and S1 after (perseverative errors), suggesting that they time the interval from the beginning of the session to the contingency reversal. To test this hypothesis, we exposed pigeons to a midsession reversal task and, depending on the group, either increased or decreased the ITI duration. We then contrasted the pigeons' performance with the predictions of the Learning-to-Time (LeT) model: In both conditions, preference was expected to reverse at the same time as in the previous sessions. When the ITI was doubled, pigeons' preference reversal occurred at half the trial number but at the same time as in the previous sessions. When the ITI was halved, pigeons' preference reversal occurred at a later trial but at an earlier time than in the previous sessions. Hence, pigeons' performance was only partially consistent with the predictions of LeT, suggesting that besides timing, other sources of control, such as the outcome of previous trials, seem to influence choice.     

Effects of memory load on visual search

It remains unclear how memory load affects attentional processes in visual search (VS). No effects, as well as beneficial and detrimental effects of memory load, have been found in this type of task. The main goal of the present research was to explore whether memory load has a modulating effect on VS by means of a different attentional set induced by the order of trials (mixed vs. blocked) and by the time presentation of visual display (long vs. short). In Experiment 1, we randomized the order of type of trial (5, 10 and 15 items presented in the display) while it remained constant (10 items) in Experiments 2A and 2B. In the later experiments, we also changed time presentation of visual display (3000 vs. 1300 ms, respectively). Results showed no differential effects of memory load in Experiments 1 and 2A, but they showed up in Experiment 2B: RTs were longer in the attentional task for trials under high memory load conditions. Although our hypothesis of the attentional set is supported by the results, other theoretical implications are also worth discussing in order to better understand how memory load may modulate attentional processes in VS.     

Influence of Stimulus Salience and Attentional Demands on Visual Search Patterns in Hemispatial Neglect

Seventy-five left and right brain-damaged patients, with or without hemispatial neglect, and 40 age-matched control subjects were tested on cancellation tasks with two different visual textures modeled after Julesz (1981). In one condition (“preattentive”), target elements segregated easily from background elements and were perceived effortlessly. In the other (“attentive”), target elements did not segregate easily and could be detected only after prolonged focal scrutiny. Both controls and patients were more accurate and faster on the preattentive than attentive texture. However, only neglect patients were disproportionately impaired on the attentive texture, thus suggesting that unilateral neglect is exacerbated by the low visual salience of the stimuli and a higher engagement of focal attention. Thus, a simple bedside test may help to tell apart the level of visual information processing maximally impaired in neglect patients.     

Complex in memory,mind in matter: walking hand in hand

This paper aims to highlight four major points: first: a ‘Jungian attitude’ understood as a viewpoint which enables work with interconnectedness through various fields of knowledge. Second, that complexes are dynamic, as is memory, and that both are transformed by experience and develop hand in hand with each other i.e., the transformation of the complex occurs through the transformation of memory as embodied in internal working models, and vice versa. Third, complexes and archetypes are linked to each other in matrices of one form or another and lead to the complexity of the psyche, which is a developing system. Fourth, the analytical process provides an arena that enables and consolidates interconnections that foster a better intrapsychic transition. The analytic meeting promotes profound changes, redesigning our neural architecture as well as our psychic landscape.     

What messages can foster safer sex among young women? Experimental evidence concerning the role of emotions and moral norms

Through a 2 × 2 × 2 quasi experimental design (N = 254), this research investigated if a social campaign eliciting positive emotions and activating moral norms might enhance condom negotiation skills, intended and estimated condom among young women with or without past sexual experience with casual partners. Emotions had a main effect on one of the six condom negotiation strategies we considered; for most of the other variables an interaction effect with moral norms and/or past behaviour emerged. Concerning estimated condom use, positive emotions worked better than negative ones when moral norms were salient. With respect to negotiations skills, positive rather than negative emotions seemed more effective for women with past causal sexual experience. In women without this kind of experience, positive emotions seemed to work better when moral norms were salient. Moral norms had a main effect on negotiation self-efficacy, but not in the predicted direction: when moral norms were more salient women were found to be less confident about their negotiation ability. These results suggest that a message which makes moral norms salient should at the same time elicit positive emotions in order to be effective; moreover, messages should be carefully tailored according to women’s past behaviour.     

Stress in remote work: two studies testing the Demand-Control-Person model

The popularity of remote work continues to rise, but uncertainty remains about how it influences employee well-being. We extend the Demand-Control-Person (DCP) model to test both person and job factors as important considerations in remote work, suggesting that emotional stability influences the utility of autonomy as a job resource in protecting employees from strain. Additionally, we test self-determination theory (SDT), positioning need satisfaction for autonomy, relatedness, and competence as mechanisms explaining the relationship between remote work and strain. In two field studies, high–emotional stability employees reporting high levels of autonomy experienced the lowest levels of strain, with negative relationships between extent of remote work and strain. In contrast, low–emotional stability employees who also have high autonomy appear more susceptible to strain, and this may increase when they work remotely more often. Our multilevel structural equation modelling revealed that high–emotional stability employees with high autonomy appear best positioned to meet their needs for autonomy and relatedness, even when remote work is more frequent; these in turn reduced the likelihood of strain. Thus, our results support the DCP and SDT models, revealing theoretical and practical implications for designing and managing remote work arrangements.