Determinants of cumulative successive contrast in saltiness intensity judgments

When all stimuli elicit the same taste quality, solutions preceded by a high concentration level are judged to be significantly less intense than solutions preceded by a low concentration level. After repetitious stimulation with a different tasting stimulus, the intensity of the present stimulus is overestimated. This phenomenon is called “successive contrast.” In the present study, the cumulative effects of three identical stimuli on the saltiness ratings for a test stimulus are investigated. The preceding stimuli are manipulated with regard to taste quality, saltiness intensity, total taste intensity, and complexity. Whether the size of the cumulative contrast effect is associated with the degree of dissimilarity between preceding stimuli and test stimulus, or with the saltiness or total taste intensity of the preceding stimuli, is investigated. The size of the contrast effect depends on the type of preceding stimulus, its intensity, and the type of test stimulus. No association was found with judgments of the degree of dissimilarity between the preceding stimuli and the test stimulus. For nonsalty preceding stimuli, the contrast effects are independent of concentration level. When the preceding stimuli taste at least partly salty, the total intensity appears to determine the size of the contrast for an unmixed salty test stimulus.     

The redundancy of recursion and infinity for natural language

An influential line of thought claims that natural language and arithmetic processing require recursion, a putative hallmark of human cognitive processing (Chomsky in Evolution of human language: biolinguistic perspectives. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 45–61, 2010; Fitch et al. in Cognition 97(2):179–210, 2005; Hauser et al. in Science 298(5598):1569–1579, 2002). First, we question the need for recursion in human cognitive processing by arguing that a generally simpler and less resource demanding process—iteration—is sufficient to account for human natural language and arithmetic performance. We argue that the only motivation for recursion, the infinity in natural language and arithmetic competence, is equally approachable by iteration and recursion. Second, we submit that the infinity in natural language and arithmetic competence reduces to imagining infinite embedding or concatenation, which is completely independent from the ability to implement infinite processing, and thus, independent from both recursion and iteration. Furthermore, we claim that a property of natural language is physically uncountable finity and not discrete infinity.     

Combining Clickstream Analyses and Graph-Modeled Data Clustering for Identifying Common Response Processes

Psychometrika - Complex interactive test items are becoming more widely used in assessments. Being computer-administered, assessments using interactive items allow logging time-stamped action...     

Can I leave my hat on? A cross-level study of multiple team membership role separation

This article conceptualizes role separation in multiple team membership (MTM) (i.e., the extent to which a multiteamer's role within a focal team is different from his/her role in another team) as a key predictor of individual and team outcomes. Existing literature on MTM focuses primarily on the total number of concurrent teams that an individual contributes to, and thus largely ignores the potential diversity that may characterize MTM. In Study 1, we develop and validate a measure of MTM role separation that reflects differences in (a) expected work results; (b) team collaboration; (c) leader expectations; and (d) client and/or customer characteristics. In Study 2, we use field data to examine the cross-level implications of MTM role separation. As expected, we find that MTM role separation is positively related to a multiteamer's role ambiguity within a focal team and, by extension, harms the performance of the entire focal team. This indirect relationship is not observed when a focal team's teamwork quality (TWQ) is high. We discuss how these findings advance our understanding of the multifaceted and multi-level nature of MTM and help multiteamers, team leaders, and organizations deal with MTM's challenges.     

Cognitive procedural learning in patients with fronto-striatal lesions

Previous studies on the role of prefronto-striatal loop systems for cognitive procedural learning (PL) brought inconsistent results. To examine whether the integrity of the dorsolateral prefrontal loop is indispensable for normal cognitive PL, we examined the acquisition of cognitive skills in 35 patients with focal prefrontal lesions, focal caudate lesions, and Huntington's Disease (HD), and compared it with a control group. To examine the potential role of the processing demands made by the cognitive tasks, a set of tasks was applied whose acquisition places demand either on reasoning and problem solving, or on the establishment of fast and repetitive processing routines. The Pursuit Rotor task was also studied with the aim to re-examine earlier findings of a functional segregation of motor and complex prefronto-striatal loops. Deficits of cognitive and motor PL were found to be limited to certain tasks and groups. PL of one task, which demanded rapid, repetitive processing of visuo-spatial stimuli, was impaired in all patient groups. PL of two problem-solving tasks was impaired in patients with focal and degenerative caudate lesions only. None of the groups was impaired at PL of Mirror Reading, another task demanding rapid and repetitive visuo-spatial processing, and none was impaired in a fifth task of language skill. Deficits of motor learning were only observed in patients in whom the motor loop was affected. These results suggest that the dorsolateral prefronto-striatal loop is involved in the establishment of cognitive processing routines. The comparison of patients with and without caudate lesions suggests that disconnection of this circuit is critical. However, the normal acquisition of two cognitive tasks even in this group indicates that the integrity of the dorsolateral prefrontal loop is not mandatory for normal cognitive PL. We discuss these dissociations with regard to the demand profiles of the applied tasks and the locations of the lesions.     

Ethnic Pride and Cardiovascular Health Among Mexican American Adults Along the U.S.-Mexico Border

This study addressed the association between items from the General Acculturation Index (GAI) and cardiovascular health. Specifically, we assessed whether ethnic pride was associated with health outcomes after controlling for items regarding language, place where the childhood was spent and ethnic interaction. The study was a cross sectional analysis of demographic and clinical data from a border population of Mexican American adults (n=316) at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Outcomes included smoking and diabetes status, Framingham risk, and metabolic syndrome. Ethnic pride was associated with lower diabetes prevalence, lower Framingham risk, and fewer risk factors for metabolic syndrome, but was not associated with smoking status. Ethnic pride was not associated with the other acculturation items of the GAI. Among an at-risk border population, ethnic pride functioned independently of other acculturation indicators. Ethnic pride may act as a protective factor for diabetes, metabolic syndrome and CVD risk status.     

Psychologische Interventionen bei Personen mit erhöhtem Psychoserisiko

Indicated prevention in individuals at clinical high risk for first episode psychosis is hoped to delay the onset of the disorder or even prevent the transition to full-blown psychosis. Remission of at-risk symptoms, psychosocial functioning and quality of life are secondary outcomes. According to current evidence cognitive behavioral therapy can be considered the best evaluated stand alone therapy approach for the prevention of psychosis. The treatment of persons at risk for first episode psychosis is associated with the risk of exposing falsely identified persons to potential side effects; therefore, treatment with the best risk-benefit ratio should be chosen. Consequently, monitoring within specialized early recognition centers should be considered first, followed by a customized psychoeducation. The data on psychoeducation of people at risk for psychosis are encouraging but still not sufficient. Methodological issues and differences of the evaluated approaches are discussed.     

Visualising fragrances through colours: the mediating role of emotions

To facilitate communication about fragrances, one can use the colours people tend to associate with their smells. We investigated to what extent odour-colour correspondences for fine fragrances can be accounted for by underlying emotional associations. Odour-colour matches and degree-of-fit judgments revealed that odours were matched to colours non-randomly. Matching colours differed mainly on blackness (brightness), and less on chromaticness (saturation) and hue. Furthermore, we found a consistent negative relationship between odour-colour degree-of-fit ratings and the difference between the odour scores and the colour scores on one of the emotion dimensions (pleasure). This suggests that emotional associations may partly underlie odour-colour correspondences.     

The perceived importance of sensory modalities in product usage: a study of self-reports

Although popular belief holds that vision dominates human experience, this does not necessarily imply that people regard vision as the most important sensory modality during the interaction with every product. Instead, the relative importance of the different modalities is likely to depend on the type of product and on the task performed. In Study 1, respondents reported how important they found vision, audition, touch, taste, and smell during the use of 45 different products. In Study 2, the respondents answered a similar question for the evaluation of the safety, ease of use, and enjoyment experienced for 15 products. Importance ratings for the sensory modalities differed considerably between the products. Differences due to the types of evaluations were smaller. Averaged over products and evaluation types, vision was the most important sensory modality for product evaluations, followed by touch, smell, audition, and taste. However, for about half of the individual products, the importance ratings for vision were lower than for one of the other modalities. These findings are in line with the view that vision is regarded the dominant modality, because it plays an important part in many and an irrelevant part in virtually no product experiences.