Death Qualification as Systematic Exclusion of Jurors With Certain Religious and Other Characteristics

The death‐qualification process has been criticized because it tends to eliminate certain groups of individuals at a higher rate than others. This study examined whether the process systematically excludes jurors based on religious characteristics, justice philosophy, cognitive processing, and demographics. Results indicated that death qualification can be predicted by religious affiliation, devotionalism, fundamentalism, and Biblical interpretism; but not evangelism. Death qualification is predicted by the belief that murderers deserved to die, but not by beliefs that criminals deserve mercy, forgiveness, or payback. Cognitive processing had no impact on death qualification. Finally, gender and race predicted death qualification, while age and prior jury duty did not. These results are discussed in terms of implications for perceived legitimacy of the system.     

Training and testing music skills in a boy with autism using a matching‐to‐sample format

A 16‐year old boy with autism was taught music skills using a matching to sample procedure. He was trained and subsequently tested for the formation of four 4‐member classes, including different visual music stimuli, and Norwegian and Vietnamese labels for different major and minor chords. Four different stimuli sets were trained both in one‐to‐many (OTM) and many‐to‐one (MTO) training structures. Further, we explored if the reaction times to comparison stimuli increased from training to testing. Results showed that the participant formed equivalence classes with music relations. Furthermore, there were small differences only between OTM and MTO with respect to stimulus equivalence responding. The reaction times to comparison stimuli increased from training to testing, and were most pronounced for the equivalence trials. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Are there limits to collectivism? Culture and children's reasoning about lying to conceal a group transgression

This study explored the effects of collectivism on lying to conceal a group transgression. Seven‐, 9‐, and 11‐year‐old US and Chinese children (N=374) were asked to evaluate stories in which protagonists either lied or told the truth about their group's transgression and were then asked about either the protagonist's motivations or justification for their own evaluations. Previous research suggests that children in collectivist societies such as China find lying for one's group to be more acceptable than do children from individualistic societies such as the United States. The current study provides evidence that this is not always the case: Chinese children in this study viewed lies told to conceal a group's transgressions less favourably than did US children. An examination of children's reasoning about protagonists' motivations for lying indicated that children in both countries focused on an impact to self when discussing motivations for protagonists to lie for their group. Overall, results suggest that children living in collectivist societies do not always focus on the needs of the group. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toward an integrative approach of cognitive neuroscientific and evolutionary psychological studies of art

This paper examines explanations for human artistic behavior in two reductionist research programs, cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary psychology. Despite their different methodological outlooks, both approaches converge on an explanation of art production and appreciation as byproducts of normal perceptual and motivational cognitive skills that evolved in response to problems originally not related to art, such as the discrimination of salient visual stimuli and speech sounds. The explanatory power of this reductionist framework does not obviate the need for higher-level accounts of art from the humanities, such as aesthetics, art history or anthropology of art.     

What the eyes already ‘know’: using eye movement measurement to tap into children's implicit numerical magnitude representations

To date, a number of studies have demonstrated the existence of mismatches between children's implicit and explicit knowledge at certain points in development that become manifest by their gestures and gaze orientation in different problem solving contexts. Stimulated by this research, we used eye movement measurement to investigate the development of basic knowledge about numerical magnitude in primary school children. Sixty‐six children from grades one to three (i.e. 6–9 years) were presented with two parallel versions of a number line estimation task of which one was restricted to behavioural measures, whereas the other included the recording of eye movement data. The results of the eye movement experiment indicate a quantitative increase as well as a qualitative change in children's implicit knowledge about numerical magnitudes in this age group that precedes the overt, that is, behavioural, demonstration of explicit numerical knowledge. The finding that children's eye movements reveal substantially more about the presence of implicit precursors of later explicit knowledge in the numerical domain than classical approaches suggests further exploration of eye movement measurement as a potential early assessment tool of individual achievement levels in numerical processing. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

延迟时间与反应设置对任务切换的影响

采用任务线索范式,探讨了在不同反应设置条件下,延迟时间对任务切换的影响,以揭示在延迟时间内之前任务设置延迟的认知加工。以切换代价为主要测量指标,结果表明,反应设置和延迟时间的主效应均不显著,但是二者的交互作用显著。简单效应分析发现,在双向设置条件下,切换代价随着延迟时间的延长而显著减少,但是在单向设置条件下无显著差异。这说明,在任务切换中反应设置对延迟时间的影响效应具有调节作用。由此可见,在延迟时间内之前任务设置延迟的是反应设置。     

A general framework and an R package for the detection of dichotomous differential item functioning

Differential item functioning (DIF) is an important issue of interest in psychometrics and educational measurement. Several methods have been proposed in recent decades for identifying items that function differently between two or more groups of examinees. Starting from a framework for classifying DIF detection methods and from a comparative overview of the most traditional methods, an R package for nine methods, called difR, is presented. The commands and options are briefly described, and the package is illustrated through the analysis of a data set on verbal aggression.     

Virtual-reality distraction and cold-pressor pain tolerance: does avatar point of view matter?

This study tested the effects of distraction using virtual-reality (VR) technology on acute pain tolerance in young adults. Forty-one undergraduate students, aged 18-23 years, used a VR head-mounted display helmet, steering wheel, and foot pedal to play an auto racing video game while undergoing exposure to very cold water (cold pressor set at 1 °C). Two different game views were tested that were hypothesized to affect the degree to which participants felt "present" in the virtual environment: a first-person view, in which the participant saw the virtual environment through the eyes of the game character being manipulated; and a third-person view, in which the participant viewed the game character from a distance. The length of time participants tolerated the cold-water exposure (pain tolerance) under each distraction condition was compared to a baseline (no distraction) trial. Subjects also rated the degree to which they felt "present" in the virtual environment after each distraction trial. Results demonstrated that participants had significantly higher pain tolerance during both VR-distraction conditions relative to baseline (no distraction) trials. Although participants reported a greater sense of presence during the first-person condition than the third-person condition, pain-tolerance scores associated with the two distraction conditions did not differ. The types of VR applications in which presence may be more or less important are discussed.     

The Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire: Development and Preliminary Validation of a Community Version1

This paper describes 2 studies that evaluated a new instrument, the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire‐Community Version (PEDQ‐CV). The PEDQ‐CV can be used across ethnic groups to assess perceived racism or ethnic discrimination. The scales measure several subdimensions of racism, permitting the examination of different forms of this race‐related stressor. The first study evaluated the psychometric properties of the PEDQ‐CV in a large sample of community‐dwelling adults. The second evaluated psychometric properties of a brief version of the PEDQ‐CV, developed for research protocols requiring a shorter administration time. Tests were made of reliability and several forms of construct validity. Both versions of the PEDQ‐CV have good reliability and construct validity. The PEDQ‐CV can facilitate the development of an integrative body of knowledge across different ethnic groups regarding the existence, determinants, and consequences of discrimination.