Constructive Logic, Truth and Warranted Assertability

Shapiro and Taschek have argued that simply using intuitionistic logic and its Heyting semantics, one can show that there are no gaps in warranted assertability. That is, given that a discourse is faithfully modelled using Heyting's semantics for the logical constants, then if a statement S is not warrantedly assertable, its negation ^∼ S is. Tennant has argued for this conclusion on similar grounds. I show that these arguments fail, albeit in illuminating ways. An appeal to constructive logic does not commit one to this strong epistemological thesis, but appeals to semantics of intuitionistic logic none the less do give us certain conclusions about the connections between warranted assertability and truth.     

Subjective shortening with filled and unfilled auditory and visual intervals in humans?

Two experiments tested humans on a memory for duration task based on the method of Wearden and Ferrara (1993), which had previously provided evidence for subjective shortening in memory for stimulus duration. Auditory stimuli were tones (filled) or click-defined intervals (unfilled). Filled visual stimuli were either squares or lines, with the unfilled interval being the time between two line presentations. In Experiment 1, good evidence for subjective shortening was found when filled and unfilled visual stimuli, or filled auditory stimuli, were used, but evidence for subjective shortening with unfilled auditory stimuli was more ambiguous. Experiment 2 used a simplified variant of the Wearden and Ferrara task, and evidence for subjective shortening was obtained from all four stimulus types.     

School readiness and later achievement

Using 6 longitudinal data sets, the authors estimate links between three key elements of school readiness--school-entry academic, attention, and socioemotional skills--and later school reading and math achievement. In an effort to isolate the effects of these school-entry skills, the authors ensured that most of their regression models control for cognitive, attention, and socioemotional skills measured prior to school entry, as well as a host of family background measures. Across all 6 studies, the strongest predictors of later achievement are school-entry math, reading, and attention skills. A meta-analysis of the results shows that early math skills have the greatest predictive power, followed by reading and then attention skills. By contrast, measures of socioemotional behaviors, including internalizing and externalizing problems and social skills, were generally insignificant predictors of later academic performance, even among children with relatively high levels of problem behavior. Patterns of association were similar for boys and girls and for children from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.     

Plea bargaining recommendations by criminal defense attorneys: evidence strength, potential sentence, and defendant preference

Although most criminal cases are disposed of through the process of plea bargaining, little research has focused on this process, and that research has focused on two variables: probability of conviction and potential sentence. This study examined the plea bargaining process from the perspective of the criminal defense attorney and expands prior research by including a third variable: defendant preference regarding plea. Attorney participants (N = 186) responded to a survey containing a vignette presented in a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects design, in which there was systematic manipulation of the following three variables in the context of criminal litigation: likelihood of conviction based on the strength of evidence, defendant preference regarding plea, and potential sentence if convicted. All of these variables were considered important to criminal defense attorneys, and how these variables significantly interacted with each other is explained. We discuss these findings in light of past research and theory that suggested attorneys make plea recommendations according only to probability of conviction and potential sentence, and we discuss implications and directions for future research.     

Postgraduate Clinical Psychology Placements in Victoria: The Experience of Students and Supervisors

In a recent study conducted at Swinburne University of Technology, researchers examined the challenges involved in coordinating, undertaking, and supervising clinical psychology placements within Victoria. The aim of the investigation was to develop and improve strategies ensuring the sustainable provision of university‐based postgraduate psychology programmes. Results provide detailed information about the components involved in this multifaceted problem. Findings indicate that those involved in clinical placements within university training programmes in Victoria are experiencing major difficulties and that these difficulties raise serious concerns regarding the future provision of clinical placements within the postgraduate system. This article focuses on student and supervisor experiences and perspectives. Implications are discussed.     

Evaluating information processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder: The case for Fuzzy Trace Theory

Literature on the developmental trajectory of cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) presents several inconsistent findings. In this review, we focus on information processing, and specifically, the use of gist and verbatim representations to guide memory, reasoning, and concept formation. The added perspective of Fuzzy Trace Theory may help to resolve mixed results regarding the frequency, nature, and effectiveness of gist processing in ASD by providing established process models and tasks suitable for use in individuals at all levels of functioning. In order to demonstrate the utility of FTT to the field of ASD research, we present evidence from three complementary theories–Weak Central Coherence (WCC), Executive Function (EF), and Theory of Mind (ToM)–which have dominated the landscape to date. We discuss the potential utility of FTT tasks and process models, proposing testable hypotheses that address ambiguous or conflicting results in the current literature. Applying a theory of typical development to the study of ASD may add value to past and future research.     

Unexpected downshifts in reward magnitude induce variation in human behavior

We investigated how changes in outcome magnitude affect behavioral variation in human volunteers. Our participants entered strings of characters using a computer keyboard, receiving feedback (gaining a number of points) for any string at least ten characters long. During a “surprise” phase in which the number of points awarded was changed, participants only increased their behavioral variability when the reward value was downshifted to a lower amount, and only when such a shift was novel. Upshifts in reward did not have a systematic effect on variability.