Compunction,Second-Personal Morality,and Moral Reasons

In The Second-Person Standpoint and subsequent essays, Stephen Darwall develops an account of morality that is “second-personal” in virtue of holding that what we are morally obligated to do is what others can legitimately demand that we do, i.e., what they can hold us accountable for doing through moral reactive attitudes like blame. Similarly, what it would be wrong for us to do is what others can legitimately demand that we abstain from doing. As part of this account, Darwall argues for the proposition that we have a distinctive “second-personal reason” to fulfill all of our obligations and to avoid all wrong-actions, an “authority-regarding” reason that derives from the legitimate demands the “moral community” makes of us. I show that Darwall offers an insufficient case for this proposition. My criticism of this aspect of Darwall’s account turns in part on the fact that we have compunction-based or “compunctive” reasons to fulfill all of our obligations and to avoid all wrong actions, a type of reason that Darwall seemingly overlooks.     

Detecting random responders with infrequency scales using an error-balancing threshold

Infrequency scales are becoming a popular mode of data screening, due to their availability and ease of implementation. Recent research has indicated that the interpretation and functioning of infrequency items may not be as straightforward as had previously been thought (Curran & Hauser, 2015), yet there are no empirically based guidelines for implementing cutoffs using these items. In the present study, we compared two methods of detecting random responding with infrequency items: a zero-tolerance threshold versus a threshold that balances classification error rates. The results showed that a traditional zero-tolerance approach, on average, screens data that are less indicative of careless responding than those screened by the error-balancing approach. Thus, the de facto standard of applying a “zero-tolerance” approach when screening participants with infrequency scales may be too stringent, so that meaningful responses may also be removed from analyses. Recommendations and future directions are discussed.     

Virtual conversation partner for adults with autism

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is notable for severely impaired reciprocal social interaction skills relative to language and intellectual abilities, presenting a major barrier to social integration and vocational success. Evidence-based interventions to address these needs are lacking. We report on the development of a small, prototype conversation simulation to teach conversational skills to adolescents and adults with ASD and average to superior intellectual abilities. We also report on a test of the feasibility and acceptability of the simulation approach with a sample of the target population. The simulation engages the user in a virtual conversation with an on-screen partner whose reactions provide naturalistic feedback geared to the appropriateness of the learner's response choices. The prototype simulation, which provides for up to 12 potentially unique multi-turn conversations, was used over a period of 2 weeks by 16 adolescents and adults who then rated statements about the system on a linear scale of 1 (disagreement) to 5 (high agreement). The participants highly endorsed the majority of positive statements about the quality and credibility of the interaction and the virtual conversation partner. In contrast, agreement with positive statements about instructional features external to the conversation was moderate. Unexpectedly, most participants strongly agreed that using the simulation had been helpful to them. Further development and testing in the context of a controlled study with randomized assignment to control and experimental groups are needed to determine whether this approach is effective in improving real-world pragmatic language behavior of high-functioning adults with ASD.     

Book reviews

Abstract

Oakhill, J. &; Garnham, A. (1988). Becoming a skilled reader, Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 206. ISBN 0-631-15244X £27.50 (hardback), ISBN 0-631-15776X £8.95 (paperback).

Brewin, C. R. (1988). Cognitive foundations of clinical psychology. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd. Pp. 224. ISBN 0-86377-098-3 £24.50 (hardback), ISBN 0-86377-099-1 £8.95 (paperback).     

On the relativity of relative frequencies

The most prominent models of numerical representation posit that numerical symbols are converted into a single internal, abstract representation prior to estimation and comparison processing. Here, we (1) provide a mathematical analysis of the predictions of the abstract-representation hypothesis, assuming the validity of the analog-representation hypothesis, (2) run a simulation to assess the patterns of data that result from our mathematical analysis, and (3) conduct two experiments to test the predictions of our model, using relative frequencies as inputs. We assess relative frequencies in a typical numerical distance task, whereby participants are presented with two relative frequencies and asked to identify the one that represents the larger quantity. Our data reveal that relative frequencies’ numerical representations (1) are analog and (2) are scale-specific (i.e., nonabstract).     

Investigating the stability of and relationships among global/local processing measures

Global/local stimuli have been used to estimate global processing biases in individuals and groups, as well as in response to various manipulations. Throughout the literature, multiple different versions of global/local stimuli have been used, such as traditional hierarchical letters and numbers (i.e., Navon letters), abstract hierarchical shapes, and high- and low-spatial-frequency gratings and faces. However, currently it is unclear how reliable or stable performance is on these measures within individuals over time, and whether these seemingly different measures are tapping into the same underlying process. As such, the purpose of the present study was to examine the stability of individual performance on three distinct global/local measures over time and to examine the relationships among the measures. In two studies, we examined the reliability of the biases within, and the relationships among, standard Navon letters in a traditional interference task, hierarchical shapes in a forced choice task, and superimposed high- and low-pass spatial frequency faces in a forced choice task. In both studies, participants completed all three of the tasks, and then returned 7–10 days later to again complete the same tasks. The degree of global/local bias within an individual was found to be highly reliable in the hierarchical shape task and the spatial frequency face task, but less reliable in the traditional Navon letter task. Interestingly, in both studies we found that none of the three measures of global bias were related to each other. Therefore, while these measures do appear to be reliable over time, they may be tapping into distinct aspects of global/local processing.     

Anxiety selectively disrupts visuospatial working memory

On the basis of a review of the extant literature describing emotion-cognition interactions, the authors propose 4 methodological desiderata for studying how task-irrelevant affect modulates cognition and present data from an experiment satisfying them. Consistent with accounts of the hemispheric asymmetries characterizing withdrawal-related negative affect and visuospatial working memory (WM) in prefrontal and parietal cortices, threat-induced anxiety selectively disrupted accuracy of spatial but not verbal WM performance. Furthermore, individual differences in physiological measures of anxiety statistically mediated the degree of disruption. A second experiment revealed that individuals characterized by high levels of behavioral inhibition exhibited more intense anxiety and relatively worse spatial WM performance in the absence of threat, solidifying the authors' inference that anxiety causally mediates disruption. These observations suggest a revision of extant models of how anxiety sculpts cognition and underscore the utility of the desiderata.     

Improving the 'how' and 'what' decisions of elite table tennis players

Training methods in sport usually focus on improving either technical or tactical aspects of performance, ignoring the fact that successful performance requires the athlete to simultaneously decide what movement to perform and how it should be executed. Young elite table tennis players were trained, in a first phase, to improve their forehand and backhand movements and, in a second phase, to make a tactical switch between forehand and backhand movements. Half of the players took part in behavioral training focusing on how to perform the required movements, whereas half received additional video feedback about their technical and tactical performance (decision training). The results indicate that improvements of how decisions (techniques) and what decisions (tactics) can occur as a consequence of combining technical and tactical training. These results were stable in delayed Post-test analyses of competitive matches. It was concluded that a combination of both technical and tactical training is beneficial to elite table tennis performers, particularly during early seasonal training programs.