Inter-word eye behaviour during reading is not invariant to character size: Evidence against systematic saccadic range error in reading

The present study re-investigated the effect of character size on eye behaviour during reading, in order to test McConkie, Kerr, Reddix, and Zola's (1988 McConkie, G. W., Kerr, P. W., Reddix, M. D., & Zola, D. (1988). Eye movement control during reading: I. The location of initial eye fixations on words. Vision Research, 28(10), 1107–1118. doi:10.1016/0042-6989(88)90137-X[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) Saccadic Range Error (SRE) hypothesis. This assumes that saccades are biased to move the eyes a constant, optimal distance in the task (i.e., range error), while aiming at the centre of peripherally selected target words. Results showed in contradiction with this hypothesis, (1) that the linear relationship between the eye launch site and the mean landing sites in words is not invariant to character size, and (2) that the optimal launch-site distance to the centre of words varies depending on the spatial extent of the words, and differs from the mean length of saccades in the task. We propose an alternative, Center-of-Gravity hypothesis, which a priori accounts for the launch-site effect and its variations with character size, and suggests that research in reading may benefit from reconsidering the role of character size.     

Not using the obvious: desert ants, Melophorus bagoti, learn local vectors but not beacons in an arena

Many ant species travel large distances to find food, sometimes covering distances that are up to one million times their body length. Even when these foraging trips follow convoluted paths, the ants usually find their way back to their nest with precision (Wehner et al. in J Exp Biol 199:129–140, 1996). Ants have been shown to use both compass cues in the sky (pattern of polarised light) and landmarks on Earth to return to their nest. We present two experiments conducted on a solitary foraging ant: Melophorus bagoti in their natural habitat in the central Australian desert. Ants were trained and tested in situ. We tested foragers’ ability to exit a circular arena which provided an undifferentiated panorama. Artificial visual landmarks were located near a small exit. On tests in which path integration information was not available, foragers did not use artificial landmarks as beacons. Instead, they oriented in the learned exit direction, whether or not it pointed to the nest. We suggest that M. bagoti foragers learned a context-specific local vector when cued by the context of the circular arena. Our findings present the first evidence that M. bagoti foragers learn context-specific compass directions to chart their initial path home.     

Rape and sexual assault in investigative psychology: the contribution of sex offenders' research to offender profiling

Research on sex offenders has mainly guided clinical practice for risk assessment and therapeutic intervention. However, the current scientific knowledge on these offenders and their crimes is, in many aspects, of great importance to criminal investigations. Consequently, there is a need to build bridges between investigative psychology and the research being conducted on sex offenders. Four areas of research on sex offenders that have clear implications to investigative psychology can be identified: (1) the consistency or ‘crime‐switching’ patterns of sex offenders; (2) the recidivism patterns of different types of sex offenders; (3) the police response to specific victim characteristics; and (4) the A → C equation of sexual assaults. This paper argues for a need to establish a dialogue between these two fields of research so that knowledge about sex offenders keeps growing whilst being able to inform policing practices in investigative psychology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Blindness to alternative scenarios in evidence evaluation

In order to prevent miscarriages of justice, police, prosecution, and judges must remain open to alternative scenarios in which the suspect is in fact innocent. In recent years, however, several studies have delivered results suggesting that open‐mindedness is not always standard in criminal procedures. For example, Ask and Granhag (2005) found that police officers' estimation of the incriminating power of investigation findings was not affected by knowledge of an alternative suspect. The current first study replicated these findings in a mixed sample of police officers, district attorneys, and judges. In Study 2, this blindness to alternative scenarios did not emerge in a sample of university students. However, the estimation of the incriminating power of the evidence and the willingness to convict the primary suspect were predicted with the participants' confirmation proneness. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ductus: A software package for the study of handwriting production

Ductus is a software tool designed to analyze and aid understanding of the processes underlying handwriting production. Ductus is a digitizer-based device that provides online information on the handwriting process. It consists of two distinct modules that operate independently. The first module concerns stimulus presentation. It is particularly suited to experiments with children and patients presenting handwriting pathologies. The second module is devoted to data analysis. Apart from the geometrical aspects of handwriting, such as trajectory formation, Ductus provides a wide range of kinematic information, such as velocity, duration, fluency, and pauses, linked to the mastery of the movement itself. Ductus is available free from the authors. It works on a Windows platform with Wacom digitizers.     

How evaluation and need for structure affect motivation and creativity

Research has shown that evaluation can have negative effects when it is perceived as controlling rather than informational. We hypothesized that Personal Need for Structure (PNS) would moderate the effects of (perceptions of) evaluative situations. Specifically, we expected that informational evaluative situations would be associated with higher motivation and higher creative performance than controlling evaluative situations, but only when PNS is low. In a field study (N = 53) and an experiment (N = 72), we showed consistently across samples, methods, and outcomes that the positive effects ofinformational evaluation only existed for individuals who were low in PNS. These findings support the reasoning that high PNS individuals tend to welcome any type of feedback because of its disambiguating potential.     

Life events and internalizing problems among Chinese school children: An examination of the cognitive diathesis model

This study examined the cognitive diathesis model for child internalizing problems among 459 Chinese elementary school children in grades four to six. Life events were associated with beliefs about external control and threat perception bias, both of which were related to child internalizing problems. The relation of life events to internalizing problems was partially mediated by threat perception bias measured by ambiguous situation task. The main findings indicate that the cognitive diathesis theory for child internalizing problems might be applicable to Chinese children. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the internalizing problems of Chinese children, which can lead to use of more effective treatments.     

Interdependent self‐construal moderates coping with (but not the initial pain of) ostracism

Ostracism – being excluded and ignored – can cause psychological distress. There has been little research examining how a person's concept of self might influence the effects of ostracism. In the current study, we sought to examine the effect of self‐construal on the distress created by ostracism. Specifically, we assessed the potential moderating effects of self‐construal on both the initial distress of ostracism and the coping process. Participants, recruited in China, completed a self‐construal measure and were either included or ostracized in an online ball‐tossing game. They then reported need‐satisfaction both immediately following the game and after a filler task. Interdependent self‐construal facilitated participants' recovery from some of the negative effects of ostracism, but did not have an impact on the initial pain.     

The influence of motivational priority on younger and older adults’ positive gaze preferences

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated whether manipulating emotional goal priority within a series of divided attention tasks influenced the presence or absence of age-related positive gaze preferences. Across two experiments, participants viewed image pairs while performing an auditory version of a 3-back n-back task. In Experiment 1, four conditions were presented: full attention viewing, emotion regulation priority, n-back task priority, and equal priority. The same conditions were included for Experiment 2, with the addition of a “no priority” divided attention condition and full attention n-back condition. Both age groups demonstrated greater positive relative to negative preferences when emotion regulation goals were prioritized, in spite of the challenge presented by a secondary task in divided attention. The present findings are discussed in terms of how positive emotional processing preferences may emerge despite cognitive control constraints in old age. Implications for the role of explicit motivations for older adults’ positivity preferences are discussed.