The effects of acoustic mismatch and selective listening on repetition deafness

Previous research (i.e., M. Miller & D. O. MacKay, 1994, 1996) has suggested that repetition deafness (RD), like repetition blindness, is robust to physical identity and that it consists in a failure to recall specifically the 2nd of the 2 critical targets (C1 and C2). However, some confounds due to memory load and response biases make available evidence inconclusive. Experiment 1 provided a strong test of RD between physically mismatching stimuli using a low memory load methodology. In Experiment 2, the same presentation method was combined with a selective recall task to find that RD is specific of C2. Experiments 3A and 3B showed, through an attentional manipulation, that RD is eliminated when people can successfully ignore C1 but not otherwise. It is argued that present data favor a perceptual interpretation of the RD. Furthermore, the present results support the hypothesis of recognition failure as opposed to the alternative token individuation failure hypothesis.     

Temporal performance in 4-8 year old children. The effect of chronometric information in task execution

The present study explores temporal performance in children between 4 and 11 years of age. In order to optimise the children's performance, verbal instructions and demonstrations were used to specify the temporal requirement of the task. Moreover, specific feedback was given, which indicated the success of a response, or, in case of a mistake, indicated the type of error made. The task was presented in two phases: training and experimental. In the first phase, the child practised until a learning criterion was reached. In the experimental phase, four conditions were defined according to the information provided to the children. In general, the results of the training phase showed an improvement in performance with advancing age. Significant differences were found in children between 7 and 8 years of age, which points to an important transition period. Results of the experimental phase showed a pronounced impact of instructions on the performance of the task and on the strategies used to control timing behaviour. Specifically, the instructions that contained chronometric information caused an impairment in task performance and a change in the strategy used.     

“Things that went well — No serious injuries or deaths”: Ethical reasoning in a normal engineering design process

We argue that considering only a few ‘big’ ethical decisions in any engineering design process — both in education and practice — only reinforces the mistaken idea of engineering design as a series of independent sub-problems. Using data collected in engineering design organisations over a seven year period, we show how an ethical component to engineering decisions is much more pervasive. We distinguish three types of ethical justification for engineering decisions: (1) consequential, (2) deontological or non-consequential, and (3) virtue-based. We find that although there is some evidence for engineering designers as ‘classic’ consequentialists, a more egocentric consequentialism would appear more fitting. We also explain how the idea of a ‘folk ethics’ — a justification in the second category that consciously weighs one thing with another — fits with the idea of the engineering design process as social negotiation rather than as technological progress.     

The effect of social network intervention for women with rheumatoid arthritis

A partially-controlled intervention study was performed. Female patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were allocated to three groups: the network intervention group (n = 104), the attention control group (n = 85), and the no-treatment control group (n = 75). The network intervention consisted of an assessment session and a network meeting. Patients were assessed at baseline and approximately 10 and 18 months after the intervention. The network intervention group reported an increase in network size. Daily emotional support increased for the intervention patients compared with patients in the attention control group. The degree of social dysfunction was reduced for patients in the intervention group compared to patients in the no-treatment control group. Furthermore, for single patients, the intervention significantly increased the social network size and improved both social functioning, and perceived overall health, compared to both control groups. The results suggest that the social needs of single patients should be given special attention in clinical settings.     

Measuring individual and cultural differences in implicit trait theories

A new measure of implicit theories or beliefs regarding the traitedness versus contextuality of behavior was developed and tested across cultures. In Studies 1 (N = 266) and 2 (N = 266), these implicit beliefs dimensions were reliably measured and replicated across U.S. college student samples and validity evidence was provided. In Study 3, their structure replicated well across an individualistic culture (the United States; N = 249) and a collectivistic culture (Mexico; N = 268). Implicit trait and contextual beliefs overlapped only modestly with implicit entity theory beliefs and were predicted by self-construals in ways that generally supported cultural psychology hypotheses. Implicit trait beliefs were fairly strongly endorsed in both cultures, suggesting that such beliefs may be universally held.     

Self-perceived clinical competence,gender and workplace setting predict burnout among psychotherapists

Work-related stress, or burnout, is elevated among healthcare staff but the specific risk factors for psychotherapists are not clear, which makes it difficult to design interventions to target this population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate a set of background variables and work-related risk factors for burnout among psychotherapists. Potential protective factors such as level of education, number of years in the profession and access to clinical supervision were investigated. Symptoms of burnout were measured with the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, and data were collected from 327 psychotherapists. In this group, 62% reported moderate or high levels of burnout symptoms, with significantly higher levels of personal- and work-related burnout than client-related burnout. Being female, having low self-perceived competence and working in the public sector were associated with higher levels of burnout. Other factors, such as age, work experience, level of education or having clinical supervision, were not associated with burnout after controlling for gender, perceived competence and workplace setting. These results confirm previous research that underlines the importance of perceived competence and control over one's work environment, and that women are at higher risk of burnout, possibly because of factors outside of work. The importance of perceived competence as a protective factor suggests that methods that increase therapeutic competence may play an important role in countering work-related stress. In conclusion, there may be a need to continue to develop and integrate specific burnout prevention interventions for psychotherapists.     

Psychological impact of coronavirus-related social isolation in Colombia after a year of lockdown

Several repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent isolation period have been reported worldwide. In this paper, we analyze the behavioral and emotional effects of 1 year of coronavirus-related lockdown in Colombia. A cross-sectional correlational design was used on a sample of 1853 participants from different regions, and with different levels of education, income, and employment situations. We applied the fear of coronavirus scale, the use of preventive behaviors scale, and a scale to measure pleasant and unpleasant emotions based on the circumplex model of affect. Our data shows that women, participants who were unemployed during the lockdown, and participants that study or work in legal, computational, or related fields, have been more affected in terms of unpleasant emotions. In addition, we observed a trend towards a relation between higher income and educational levels with lower degrees of fear, higher degrees of pleasant emotions, and a greater use of preventive behaviors related to the pandemic.     

Corrections to first-order fuzzy logic

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Corrections to first-order fuzzy logic     

DU DEDANS AU DEHORS: TRANSFORMATION DE LA POSSESSION-MALADIE EN POSSESSION RITUELLE

The conjunction of possession and sacrifice in the same therapeutic ritual evidences a paradox in that the spirit or divinity to whom the sacrifice is made is being embodied by the sacrificer whose aim it is to expel this spirit from the patient's body. The ritual process by which the Wolof of Senegal solve this paradox is described and analyzed. In the ritual, the internal and inclusive relationship with an anonymous rab (a body-within-a-body) is transformed into an external and exclusive relationship with a named rab (a body-to-a-body). The conversion of the possession-as-illness into a ritual possession entails both a spatial and temporal inversion of the bodily symptom-symbol. The diffusely and continuously acting agency from the inside is and must become an external agency of circumscribed and recurrent action. The patient's temporary decoration with internal parts of the immolated animal (such as a cap made of the paunch or peritoneum, a necklace or tulband of intestines, or anointing with blood) - typical of the initiatory sacrifices in many ‘possession-cults’ - acts as the symbolic operator of this inversion, i.e., of the amoeboid eversion of the body of the possessed. The analysis of some comparative data suggests that the metonymic assimilation between the possessed and the sacrificed is only a ritual artifact linked to the above-mentioned paradox. The cultic possession, which necessarily entails the reproduction of the ritual trance, is a specific form of the sacrificial mode of thinking and practice. The time and periodicity of the trance and of the sacrifice are comparable. Possession can be analyzed as a metonymic figuration of the sacrifice in that it re-inserts the bodily experience within the sacrificial communication. Possession gives bodily form to the symbolic efficacy and is, therefore, frequently associated with therapy.     

The effect of situation familiarity on the establishment of co-references between mother and infant

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the familiarity or the novelty of play objects available during mother-infant interaction has an effect on the mother's ability to capture and maintain the infant's attention. Twelve mother-infant dyads with 5- and 9-month-old infants were filmed during two 5-minute sessions with familiar or unfamiliar toys. Changes in the infant's visual orientation preceded by a maternal behaviour within a 3-sec interval were studied. In the familiar toy situation, the infants focused more frequently on the maternal referent than with the unfamiliar toys. The mother's verbal and non-verbal interventions were more effective at initiating and maintaining co-reference, because the infant was more frequently in an receptive state. Conversely, when the toys were unfamiliar, the baby was often the initiator. Unfamiliar objects, which appear more attractive, may compete with the mother's attempts to gain the child's attention.