Making the ineffable explicit: estimating the information employed for face classifications

When we look at a face, we readily perceive that person’s gender, expression, identity, age, and attractiveness. Perceivers as well as scientists have hitherto had little success in articulating just what information we are employing to achieve these subjectively immediate and effortless classifications. We describe here a method that estimates that information. Observers classified faces in high levels of visual noise as male or female (in a gender task), happy/unhappy (in an expression task), or Tom Cruise/John Travolta (in an individuation task). They were unaware that the underlying face (which was midway between each of the classes) was identical throughout a task, with only the noise rendering it more like one category value or the other. The difference between the average of noise patterns for each classification decision provided a linear estimate of the information mediating these classifications. When the noise was combined with the underlying face, the resultant images appeared to be excellent prototypes of their respective classes. Other methods of estimating the information employed in complex classification have relied on judgments of exemplars of a class or tests of experimenter-defined hypotheses about the class information. Our method allows an estimate, however subtle, of what is in the subject’s (rather than the experimenter’s) head.     

A Cross-Cultural Note on Durkheim's Theory of Suicide

ABSTRACT: A formulation of Durkheim's theory of suicide is tested using data from a sample of 55 societies covered by the Human Relations Area Files. The model predicts suicide rates in five “pure” conditions but only in one “mixed” condition. In addition, the rates differ in each of the four pure extreme conditions. It is concluded that “integration” may be more important than “regulation” in determining the suicide rate of societies, groups, or social conditions.     

Glycosylated Hemoglobin Level,Race/Ethnicity,and Cognition in Midlife and Early Old Age

Empirical evidence linking racial/ethnic differences in glycosylated hemoglobin levels (HbA1c) to cognitive function in midlife and early old age is limited. We use biomarker data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, 2006–2014), on adults 50–64 years at baseline (57–73 years by 2014), and fit multinomial logistic regression models to assess the association between baseline HbA1c, cognitive function (using Langa–Weir classifications) and mortality across 8 years. Additionally, we test for modification effects by race/ethnicity. In age- and sex-adjusted models high HbA1c level was associated with lower baseline cognition and higher relative risk ratios (RRR; vs. normal cognition) for cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND; RRR = 2.3; 95%CI = [1.38;3.84]; p < .01), and dementia (RRR = 4.00; 95%CI = [1.76;9.10]; p < .01). Adjusting for sociodemographic, behavioral risk factors, and other health conditions explained the higher RRR for CIND and attenuated the RRR for dementia by approximately 30%. HbA1c levels were not linked to the slope of cognitive decline, and we found no evidence of modification effects for HbA1c by race/ethnicity. Targeting interventions for glycemic control in the critical midlife period can protect baseline cognition and buffer against downstream development of cognitive impairment. This can yield important public health benefits and reductions in burdens associated with cognitive impairment, particularly among race/ethnic minorities who are at higher risk for metabolic diseases.