The time course of anticipatory constraint integration

Several studies have demonstrated that as listeners hear sentences describing events in a scene, their eye movements anticipate upcoming linguistic items predicted by the unfolding relationship between scene and sentence. While this may reflect active prediction based on structural or contextual expectations, the influence of local thematic priming between words has not been fully examined. In Experiment 1, we presented verbs (e.g., arrest) in active (Subject–Verb–Object) sentences with displays containing verb-related patients (e.g., crook) and agents (e.g., policeman). We examined patient and agent fixations following the verb, after the agent role had been filled by another entity, but prior to bottom-up specification of the object. Participants were nearly as likely to fixate agents “anticipatorily” as patients, even though the agent role was already filled. However, the patient advantage suggested simultaneous influences of both local priming and active prediction. In Experiment 2, using passive sentences (Object–Verb–Subject), we found stronger, but still graded influences of role prediction when more time elapsed between verb and target, and more syntactic cues were available. We interpret anticipatory fixations as emerging from constraint-based processes that involve both non-predictive thematic priming and active prediction.     

Social status,cognitive ability,and educational attainment as predictors of liberal social attitudes and political trust

We examined the prospective associations between family socio-economic background, childhood intelligence (g) at age 11, educational and occupational attainment, and social attitudes at age 33 in a large (N = 8804), representative sample of the British population born in 1958. Structural equation Modeling identified a latent trait of ‘liberal social attitudes’ underlying attitude factors that are antiracist, socially liberal, and in support of gender equality. Another attitude factor—‘political trust’—was relatively independent from the latent attitude trait and has somewhat different pathways in relation to the other variables included in the analysis. There was a direct association between higher g at age 11 and more liberal social attitudes and political trust at age 33. For both men and women the association between g and liberal social attitudes was partly mediated via educational qualifications, and to a much lesser extent via adult occupational attainment. For women the association between g and political trust was partly mediated through both educational qualification and occupational attainment, and for men it was mediated mainly via occupational attainment. Men and women who had higher educational qualifications and higher occupational status tend to be more socially liberal and more trusting of the democratic political system. In terms of socio-economic background, people from less privileged families showed less political trust, but did not differ much in liberal social attitudes from those born into relatively more privileged circumstances. This study shows that social background, cognitive ability, education, and own social status influence perceptions of society.     

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Severity and Depression: The Role of Secondary Beliefs

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a poorly understood illness that is characterized by profound and prolonged exhaustion and has no clear pathological marker. This study investigated the role of illness severity and secondary beliefs in depression among a CFS cohort, using the A–B–C framework of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy. Empirical research has consistently found that CFS patients tend to hold more negative cognitions about their illness, which could be associated with greater severity and emotional deficits. Specifically, secondary beliefs were explored as a mediating factor; as evidence suggests that secondary beliefs can result in dysfunctional emotions and/or behaviors, such as depression. Furthermore, it is estimated that up to 80% of CFS patients concurrently have depression. There were 156 participants with CFS who completed a questionnaire pack, which included the revised version of the Illness Perception Questionnaire, the Secondary Beliefs Scale (SBS), and the Cardiac Depression Scale. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that secondary beliefs mediated the relationship between illness severity and depression. Specifically, the approval and comfort subscales of the SBS were significantly associated with depression. The current findings indicated that secondary beliefs could be an important focus in treatment of depression in chronic illness. As the mediating role of secondary beliefs is a new research finding, it is advised that further exploratory research is required.     

Stop what you are not doing! Emotional pictures interfere with the task not to respond

Previous research has shown that emotional stimuli interfere with ongoing activities. One explanation is that these stimuli draw attention away from the primary task and thereby hamper the correct execution of the task. Another explanation is that emotional stimuli cause a temporary freezing of all ongoing activity. We used a go/ no-go task to differentiate between these accounts. According to the attention account, emotional distractors should impair performance on both go and no-go trials. According to the freezing account, the presentation of emotional stimuli should be detrimental to performance on go trials, but beneficial for performance on no-go trials. Our findings confirm the former prediction: Pictures high in emotional arousal impaired performance on no-go trials.     

“When Strangers Meet”: John Bowlby and Harry Harlow on Attachment Behavior

From 1957 through the mid-1970s, John Bowlby, one of the founders of attachment theory, was in close personal and scientific contact with Harry Harlow. In constructing his new theory on the nature of the bond between children and their caregivers, Bowlby profited highly from Harlow’s experimental work with rhesus monkeys. Harlow in his turn was influenced and inspired by Bowlby’s new thinking. On the basis of the correspondence between Harlow and Bowlby, their mutual participation in scientific meetings, archival materials, and an analysis of their scholarly writings, both the personal relationship between John Bowlby and Harry Harlow and the cross-fertilization of their work are described.

Harry Harlow: From the Other Side of the Desk

On the basis of her personal reminiscences the author provides a picture of Harry Harlow’s personality. Harlow emerges as an unassuming and witty person. Dr. Frank C.P. van der Horst (fhorst@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) of Leiden University stands as the person to address correspondence to.

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When can we say 'if'?

In this study, we focus on the conditions which permit people to assert a conditional statement of the form 'if p then q' with conversational relevance. In a broadly decision-theoretic approach, also drawing on hypothetical thinking theory [Evans, J. St. B. T. (2007). Hypothetical thinking: Dual processes in reasoning and judgement. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.], we predicted that conditional tips and promises would appear more useful and persuasive and be more likely to encourage an action p when (a) the conditional link from p to q was stronger, (b) the cost of the action p was lower and (c) the benefit of the consequence q was higher. Similarly, we predicted that conditional warnings and threats would be seen as more useful and persuasive and more likely to discourage an action p when (a) the conditional link from p to q was stronger, (b) the benefit of the action p was lower and (c) the cost of the consequence q was higher. All predictions were strongly confirmed, suggesting that such conditionals may best be asserted when they are of high relevance to the goals of the listener.     

Neurobiological correlates of autism: a review of recent research.

This review paper integrates recent structural and functional imaging, postmortem, animal lesion, and neurochemical research about the pathophysiology of autism. An understanding of the neurobiological correlates of autism is becoming increasingly important as more children are diagnosed with the condition and funding for well-targeted interventions increases. Converging evidence suggests that autism involves abnormalities in brain volume, neurotransmitter systems, and neuronal growth. In addition, evidence firmly links autism with abnormalities in the cerebellum, the medial temporal lobe, and the frontal lobe. Potential implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are reviewed.