Rethinking parafoveal processing in reading: Serial-attention models can explain semantic preview benefit and N+2 preview effects

During reading, some information about the word to the right of fixation in the parafovea is typically acquired prior to that word being fixated. Although some degree parafoveal processing is uncontroversial, its precise nature and extent are unclear. For example, can it advance up to the level of semantic processing? Additionally, can it extend across more than two spatially adjacent words? Affirmative answers to either of these questions would seemingly be problematic for serial-attention models of eye-movement control in reading, which maintain that attention is allocated to only one word at a time (see Reichle, 2011). However, in this paper we report simulation results using one such model, E-Z Reader (Reichle, Pollatsek, Fisher, & Rayner, 1998), to examine the two preceding questions. These results suggest the existence of both semantic preview and N+2 preview effects, indicating that they are not incompatible with serial-attention models. We discuss the implications of these findings for models of eye-movement control in reading and provide a new theoretical framework for conceptualizing parafoveal processing during reading and its influence on eye movement behaviour.     

Scientific Research and Human Rights: A Response to Kitcher on the Limitations of Inquiry

In his recent work exploring the role of science in democratic societies Kitcher (Science in a democratic society. Prometheus Books, New York, 2011) claims that scientists ought to have a prominent role in setting the agenda for and limits to research. Against the backdrop of the claim that the proper limits of scientific inquiry is John Stuart Mill’s Harm Principle (Kitcher in Science, truth, and democracy. Oxford University Press, New York, 2001), he identifies the limits of inquiry as the point where the outcomes of research could cause harm to already vulnerable populations. Nonetheless, Kitcher argues against explicit limitations on unscrupulous research on the grounds that restrictions would exacerbate underlying social problems. I show that Kitcher’s argument in favor of dissuading inquiry through conventional standards is problematic and falls prey to the same critique he offers in opposition to official bans. I expand the conversation of limiting scientific research by recognizing that the actions that count as ‘science’ are located in the space between ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’. In this space, we often attempt to balance freedom of research, as scientific speech, against the disparate impact citizens might experience in light of such research. I end by exploring if such disparate impact justifies limiting research, within the context of the United States, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or under international human rights standards more generally.     

A Mixed‐Method Examination of Preschool Teacher Beliefs About Social–Emotional Learning and Relations to Observed Emotional Support

The connections between parents' socialization practices and beliefs about emotions, and children's emotional development have been well studied; however, teachers' impacts on children's social–emotional learning (SEL) remain widely understudied. In the present study, private preschool and Head Start teachers (N = 32) were observed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System. Comparison groups were created based on their observed emotional support and then compared on their qualitative responses in focus group discussions on beliefs about emotions and SEL strategies. Teachers acknowledged the importance of preparing children emotionally (as well as academically) for kindergarten, but substantial differences emerged between the highly emotionally supportive and moderately emotionally supportive teachers in three areas: (1) teachers' beliefs about emotions and the value of SEL; (2) teachers' socialization behaviours and SEL strategies; and (3) teachers' perceptions of their roles as emotion socializers. Understanding such differences can facilitate the development of intervention programs and in‐service training to help teachers better meet students' SEL needs. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building tasks from verbal instructions: An EEG study on practice trial exposure and task structure complexity during novel sequences of behavior

Configuring the mind to perform a novel task is an effortful process and one that is related to differences in general intelligence. Previous research has suggested that when participants are given instructions for a future task, representations of the rules contained in the instructions can influence subsequent behavior, even when the rules are not necessary to perform the upcoming task. One hypothesis for the continued activation of rule representations suggests that the practice trials participants perform before the experimental trials may instantiate the unnecessary task rules into participants’ mental model of the task (i.e., the task space). To test this hypothesis, EEGs were recorded as participants (N = 66) completed a multirule task designed to contrast the effects of increasing task structure complexity and practice trial exposure. The results showed that, as was predicted, performance is significantly poorer when more task rules are specified in the task instructions. Practice trials with the extra rule did not affect task performance, indicating that an unacted verbal instruction is sufficient to incorporate the rule into participants’ mental model of the task. The EEG results showed that instruction complexity was linked to a phasic increase in frontal theta synchronization but reduced posterior alpha and beta desynchronization. These changes in synchronization occurred during a time period of low intertrial phase coherence and suggest that participants were “checking the task rules” amidst a trial. This transient neural activity may reflect compensatory mechanisms for dealing with increased mind-wandering that is more likely to occur in complex tasks.     

Genetic Counseling Graduate Student Debt: Impact on Program,Career and Life Choices

The cost of education is rising, increasing student financial aid and debt for students pursuing higher education. A few studies have assessed the impact of student debt in medicine, physical therapy and social work, but little is known about the impact of student debt on genetic counseling students and graduates. To address this gap in knowledge, a web-based study of 408 recent alumni of genetic counseling programs in North America was conducted to assess the impact of student debt on program, career and life choices. Over half (63 %; n?=?256/408) of the participants reported that loans were extremely important in their ability to attend their training program, with most using subsidized loans no longer available to current graduate students. While participants were generally satisfied with their genetic counseling education, 83 % (n?=?282/342) of participants with student debt reported feeling burdened by their debt, which had a median of $40,000–$50,000. This debt is relatively close to the median starting salary reported by survey participants ($45,000–$50,000), breaching the “20-10 rule” that states student debt should not exceed 20 % of annual net income. In response to this critical issue, we propose recommendations for the genetic counseling field that may help alleviate student debt impact and burden.     

Does the human odometer use an extrinsic or intrinsic metric?

It is commonly assumed that path integration is based on an extrinsic measure of the objective distance traversed during locomotion. In contrast, biological odometers may rely on embodied intrinsic measures, such as idiothetic information specific to an action mode. We investigated this question using a distance reproduction task in which participants traveled an outbound distance and then reproduced that distance using the same or a different action mode. The extrinsic model predicted that distance reproduction should be invariant across action modes, whereas the intrinsic model predicted invariance only within an action mode. In Experiment 1, we held the outbound mode constant while varying the response mode (walk–walk, walk–throw) and corrected for response production error (view–walk, view–throw). In Experiment 2, we crossed different gaits in the outbound and response modes (walk, gallop). In both cases, we found that distance reproduction was significantly more accurate when the outbound and response modes matched, consistent with the intrinsic model. The results indicate that the human odometer preferentially relies on an intrinsic, rather than an extrinsic, metric. This solution is sufficient to support successful path integration within an action mode (but not across action modes), without the difficulties of objective distance estimation.     

Becoming a high‐fidelity – super – imitator: what are the contributions of social and individual learning?

In contrast to other primates, human children's imitation performance goes from low to high fidelity soon after infancy. Are such changes associated with the development of other forms of learning? We addressed this question by testing 215 children (26–59 months) on two social conditions (imitation, emulation) – involving a demonstration – and two asocial conditions (trial‐and‐error, recall) – involving individual learning – using two touchscreen tasks. The tasks required responding to either three different pictures in a specific picture order (Cognitive: Airplane→Ball→Cow) or three identical pictures in a specific spatial order (Motor‐Spatial: Up→Down→Right). There were age‐related improvements across all conditions and imitation, emulation and recall performance were significantly better than trial‐and‐error learning. Generalized linear models demonstrated that motor‐spatial imitation fidelity was associated with age and motor‐spatial emulation performance, but cognitive imitation fidelity was only associated with age. While this study provides evidence for multiple imitation mechanisms, the development of one of those mechanisms – motor‐spatial imitation – may be bootstrapped by the development of another social learning skill – motor‐spatial emulation. Together, these findings provide important clues about the development of imitation, which is arguably a distinctive feature of the human species.     

Exploring the meaning in meaningful coincidences: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of synchronicity in therapy

Synchronicity experiences (SEs) are defined as psychologically meaningful connections between inner events (e.g. thought, dream or vision) and one or more external events occurring simultaneously or at a future point in time. There has been limited systematic research that has investigated the phenomenology of SEs in therapy. This study aimed to redress this by exploring the process and nature of such experiences from the perspective of the practitioner. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of nine practitioners who reported SEs in their therapeutic sessions (three counsellors, three psychologists and three psychotherapists), and focused on how participants make sense of their experiences of synchronicity in therapy. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify three superordinate themes: sense of connectedness, therapeutic process, and professional issues. Findings suggest that SEs can serve to strengthen the therapeutic relationship and are perceived as useful harbingers of information about the therapeutic process, as well as being a means of overcoming communication difficulties, as they are seen to provide insights into the client’s experiencing of themselves and others, regardless of whether or not the SE is acknowledged by the client or disclosed by the therapist.