The changing psychology of culture in German‐speaking countries: A Google Ngram study

This article provides evidence for the long‐term affiliation between ecological and cultural changes in German‐speaking countries, based on the assumptions derived from social change and human development theory. Based on this theory, the increase in urbanisation, as a measure of ecological change, is associated with significant cultural changes of psychology. Whereas urbanisation is linked to greater individualistic values and materialistic attitudes, rural environments are strongly associated with collectivistic values like allegiance, prevalence of religion, and feelings of belonging and benevolence. Due to an increase in the German urbanisation rate over time, our study investigates whether Germany and the German‐speaking countries around show the presumed changes in psychology. By using Google Books Ngram Viewer, we find that word frequencies, signifying individualistic (collectivistic) values, are positively (negatively) related to the urbanisation rate of Germany. Our results indicate that predictions about implications of an urbanising population for the psychology of culture hold true, supporting international universality of the social change and human development theory. Furthermore, we provide evidence for a predicted reversal for the time during and after World War II, reflecting Nazi propaganda and influence.     

Spatial and temporal adaptations that accompany increasing catching performance during learning

The authors studied changes in performance and kinematics during the acquisition of a 1-handed catch. Participants were 8 women who took an intensive 2-week training program during which they evolved from poor catchers to subexpert catchers. An increased temporal consistency, shift in spatial location of ball-hand contact away from the body, and higher peak velocity of the transport of the hand toward the ball accompanied their improvement in catching performance. Moreover, novice catchers first adjusted spatial characteristics of the catch to the task constraints and fine-tuned temporal features only later during learning. A principal components analysis on a large set of kinematic variables indicated that a successful catch depends on (a) forward displacement of the hand and (b) the dynamics of the hand closure, thereby providing a kinematic underpinning for the traditional transport-manipulation dissociation in the grasping and catching literature.     

Place‐value understanding in number line estimation predicts future arithmetic performance

In multi‐digit numbers, the value of each digit is determined by its position within the digit string. Children's understanding of this place‐value structure constitutes a building block for later arithmetic skills. We investigated whether a number line estimation task can provide an assessment of place‐value understanding in first grade. We hypothesized that estimating the position of two‐digit numbers requires place‐value understanding. Therefore, we fitted a linear function to children's estimates of two‐digit numbers and considered the resulting slope as a measure of children's place‐value understanding. We observed a significant correlation between this slope and children's performance in a transcoding task known to require place‐value understanding. Additionally, the slope for two‐digit numbers assessed at the beginning of grade 1 predicted children's arithmetic performance at the end of grade 1. These results indicate that the number line estimation task may indeed constitute a valid measure for first‐graders' place‐value understanding. Moreover, these findings are hard to reconcile with the view that number line estimation directly assesses a spatial representation of numbers. Instead, our results suggest that numerical processes involved in performing the task (such as place‐value understanding) may drive the association between number line estimation and arithmetic performance.     

The integration of temporally shifted visual feedback in a synchronization task: The role of perceptual stability in a visuo-proprioceptive conflict situation

The present study examined whether the beneficial role of coherently grouped visual motion structures for performing complex (interlimb) coordination patterns can be generalized to synchronization behavior in a visuo-proprioceptive conflict situation. To achieve this goal, 17 participants had to synchronize a self-moved circle, representing the arm movement, with a visual target signal corresponding to five temporally shifted visual feedback conditions (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the target cycle duration) in three synchronization modes (in-phase, anti-phase, and intermediate). The results showed that the perception of a newly generated perceptual Gestalt between the visual feedback of the arm and the target signal facilitated the synchronization performance in the preferred in-phase synchronization mode in contrast to the less stable anti-phase and intermediate mode. Our findings suggest that the complexity of the synchronization mode defines to what extent the visual and/or proprioceptive information source affects the synchronization performance in the present unimanual synchronization task.     

Self-reported emotional intelligence and life satisfaction: Testing incremental predictive validity hypotheses via structural equation modeling (SEM) in a small sample

In a previous investigation, Palmer, Donaldson, and Stough (2002) examined the incremental predictive validity of the subscales from the TMMS and TAS-20 in predicting life satisfaction. To this effect, Palmer et al. (2002) used multiple regression and reported that only the Clarity (β = .20) subscale from the TMMS was uniquely related to SWLS. In this investigation, structural equation modeling was used for the purposes of modeling a general EI factor as a potential incrementally predictive predictor of life satisfaction. The results demonstrated that a general EI factor was associated with SWLS at β = .61 and that this effect was only partially mediated by PA and NA, such that the validity coefficient was reduced to β = .49. The results are discussed in light of the advantages of using structural equation modeling, even in cases where the sample size may not be considered particularly large (i.e., N = 100).     

Verbatim and Semantic Imitation in Indexing Resources on the Web: A Fuzzy‐trace Account of Social Tagging

Social tagging is a widespread phenomenon on the Web allowing users to tag resources, such as photos, by freely chosen labels. Imitation of other users' tagging behavior is deemed to increase the inter‐individual consistency of tag assignments. Both verbatim and semantic mechanisms have been proposed where the first case suggests reuse of the exact words and the second reuse of the concept without necessarily the word form. Here, we present a multinomial model of assigning tags that integrates these perspectives. On the basis of the fuzzy‐trace theory, the model includes separate parameters for the retrieval of verbatim and gist traces of encountered tags. Results of two experiments demonstrate that both types of memory traces contribute substantially and independently to tag productions. We conclude that the imitation of tags may be explained within one fuzzy‐trace framework that contributes to our understanding of emergent phenomena in social information systems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ADHD Symptoms in Middle Adolescence Predict Exposure to Person-Related Life Stressors in Late Adolescence in <Emphasis Type="Italic">5-HTTLPR</Emphasis> S-allele Homozygotes

Literature suggests that life stressors predict attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and that this relationship is moderated by the serotonin transporter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR). It is less clear whether, on reverse, ADHD symptoms may influence the risk of exposure to life stressors. Furthermore, the role of life stressors may vary across development depending on the type of life stressor. We used threewave longitudinal data of 1,306 adolescents from the general population and clinicreferred cohort of the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey. The 5-HTTLPR genotype (SS, LS, LL), parent-reported ADHD symptoms at three time points (T1: Mage?=?11.2; T2: Mage?=?13.5; T3: Mage?=?16.2 years), and the number of personrelated (‘dependent’) and environment-related (‘independent’) life stressors occurring between measurements (T1-T2, T2-T3) were assessed. Using path analyses, we examined bidirectional relations between exposure to these life stressors and ADHD symptoms between the separate waves moderated by 5-HTTLPR status. Exposure to life stressors did not predict ADHD symptoms. Rather, we found that in 5-HTTLPR Sallele homozygotes, ADHD symptoms in middle adolescence (T2) predicted exposure to the number of person-related life stressors later in adolescence (T2-T3, p?=?0.001). There was no relation with environment-related life stressors. Our study suggests that S-allele homozygotes with higher levels of ADHD symptoms in middle adolescence are more vulnerable to becoming exposed to person-related (‘dependent’) life stressors in late adolescence. Findings emphasize the need to be aware of social-emotional adversities that may occur in genetically vulnerable adolescents with ADHD symptoms in the transition into adulthood.     

Apathy and Depression as Predictors of Activities of Daily Living Following Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injuries in Adults: A Meta-Analysis

Neuropsychology Review - Apathy and depression are common sequelae of acquired brain injury (ABI). Apathy is a syndrome characterized by diminished motivation and purposeful behaviours. Depression...