Reliable and Valid Coding of Thin Slices of Video Footage: Applicability to the Assessment of Mother-Child Interactions

When using behavioral-observation methods for coding video footage, it is unknown how much time of an interaction needs to be coded to gain results that are representative for the behavior of interest. The current study examined this problem using the INTAKT, a standardized observational measure for assessing the quality of mother-child interactions. Results from coding only 10 min of each video (i.e., thin slices) were compared with results from coding the remaining parts (averaging about 40 min) of the interaction. Inter-rater agreement for the short versions taken from the beginning or the middle, but not the end of the interactions indicated satisfactory observer accuracy. Coding results did not differ between short and long video sequences, when sequences were taken from the middle of the interactions. Importantly, characteristic differences between different interactive situations were equally well represented in the short and long video sequences. Therefore, our results show that coding only 10 min of an interaction is as reliable and valid as coding full-length videos, if those short sequences are taken from the middle of an interaction. Our findings support the idea that for every method, it is necessary to individually determine the window duration that is long enough to gain results that are reliable and valid.     

Age differences in verbal and visuo-spatial working memory updating: evidence from analysis of serial position curves

Memory updating is the ability to select and update relevant information and suppress no-longer-relevant data. The few studies in this area, targeting mainly the verbal domain, have investigated and confirmed an age-related decline in working memory updating ability (De Beni & Palladino, 2004; Van der Linden, Bredart, & Beerten, 1994). The present research examines the ability of younger and older adults to update information in verbal and visuo-spatial running memory tasks. Results showed that the participants' performance was higher in the verbal than in the visuo-spatial task. Nonetheless, independently of the task domain, an age-related decline in updating performance was found. Moreover, analysis of serial positions suggested that, in the updating procedure, the participants were not attempting to actively maintain items, preferring to adopt a low-effort, "recency-based" strategy. The use of this type of strategy is more evident in older participants, as shown in both the accuracy performance and the proportion of intrusion errors.     

Leader mistreatment,employee hostility,and deviant behaviors: Integrating self-uncertainty and thwarted needs perspectives on deviance

Integrating self-uncertainty management and thwarted needs perspectives on leader mistreatment and workplace deviance, we examine when and why leader mistreatment is associated with workplace deviance. We propose that competence uncertainty strengthens the relationship between leader mistreatment and workplace deviance and that hostility mediates this interactive effect. Four field studies and one experiment support the hypotheses. The first two studies provide evidence for the predicted interaction between leader mistreatment and competence uncertainty, and the next three studies demonstrate that hostility mediates this interactive effect. We discuss an extended social exchange explanation of workplace deviance and highlight the psychological interplay between motives, cognition, and affect in reciprocating leader mistreatment.     

Quantitative autism traits in first degree relatives: evidence for the broader autism phenotype in fathers, but not in mothers and siblings

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms are present in unaffected relatives and individuals from the general population. Results are inconclusive, however, on whether unaffected relatives have higher levels of quantitative autism traits (QAT) or not. This might be due to differences in research populations, because behavioral data and molecular genetic research suggest that the genetic etiology of ASD is different in multiplex and simplex families. We compared 117 unaffected siblings and 276 parents of at least one child with ASD with 280 children and 595 adults from the general population on the presence of QAT using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Mean SRS scores for siblings, control children, parents and control adults were 25.4, 26.6, 33.7 and 32.9. Fathers of children with ASD showed significantly higher levels of QAT than controls, but siblings and mothers did not. We could not detect a statistically significant difference in SRS scores between relatives from simplex and multiplex families. These results do not support the theory of differential (genetic) etiology in multiplex and simplex families and suggest that a carried genetic risk is generally not expressed phenotypically in most relatives, except in fathers.     

How do spatial representations enhance cognitive numerical processing?

Several philosophical theories attempt to explain how actions performed in the world enhance cognitive processing: internalism, active externalism, and cognitive integration. The aim of this paper is to examine whether the use of spatial representations in arithmetic can shed light on this debate. Relying on philosophical analysis, on a discussion of empirical work in the cognitive neuroscience of number, and on a historical case study, I will show that spatial representations of number indicate an integration between internal and external cognitive processes.     

Spatial working memory for clustered and linear configurations of sites in a virtual reality foraging task

Two experiments using an immersive virtual reality foraging environment determined the spatial strategies spontaneously deployed by people in a foraging task and the effects on immediate serial recall of trajectories though the foraging space, which could conform or violate specific organisational constraints. People benefitted from the use of organised search patterns when attempting to monitor their travel though either a clustered "patchy" space or a matrix of locations. The results are discussed within a comparative framework.     

When up-words meet down-sentences: evidence for word- or sentence-based compatibility effects?

Participants were presented with sentences mentioning an entity with a typical location in the upper or lower vertical space (e.g., roof vs. root). Sentences supported or reversed the typical location of the target entity. Sensibility judgments requiring upwards or downwards responses were faster when the response matched rather than mismatched the target entity's typical location. This compatibility effect was independent of whether the sentence context supported or reversed the target entity's typical location. The results, therefore, provide clear evidence for word-based but no evidence for sentence-based simulation processes.     

In competitive interaction displays of red increase actors' competitive approach and perceivers' withdrawal

Colors carry meaningful psychological signals. We hypothesized that the color red serves as a powerful cue in competition, affecting both actors and perceivers. Using simplified poker games we investigated the psychological meaning of color in competitive interaction, by examining how the color of chips (red vs. blue or white) used by participants or their competitors affected behavior. Although chip color was objectively unrelated to the chips' value or competitors' strength, perceiving competitors using red chips renders competitors more intimidating, which leads perceivers to withdraw. Furthermore, actors who used red chips felt more dominant, which led them to enhanced competitive approach. Displaying red thus makes actors feel stronger and increases competitive approach; perceivers of displays of red in competitors feel intimidated and withdraw from competing.     

Cross-national differences in older adult loneliness

Loneliness concerns the subjective evaluation that the number of relationships is smaller than the individual considers desirable or that the intimacy that the individual wishes for has not been realized. The aim of this study was to assess variations in levels of late-life loneliness and its determinants across Europe. Data came from the SHARE surveys, Wave 2 (Borsch-Supan et al., 2008), encompassing adults aged 50 years and over in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland (N = 12,248). Loneliness was measured by a single item derived from the CES-D (depression) scale. Using logistic models, the present authors tested several types of explanations for country differences: differences in demographic characteristics, wealth and health, and social networks. Older adults in the southern and central European countries were generally lonelier than their peers in the northern and western European countries. In the southern and central European countries, loneliness was largely attributable to not being married, economic deprivation, and poor health. Frequent contacts with parents and adult children, social participation, and providing support to family members were important in preventing and alleviating loneliness in almost all countries. To combat loneliness among older adults, the findings suggest both (a) generic approaches aimed at improving social embeddedness and (b) country-tailored approaches aimed at improving health and wealth.     

Evolved cognitive biases and the epistemic status of scientific beliefs

Our ability for scientific reasoning is a byproduct of cognitive faculties that evolved in response to problems related to survival and reproduction. Does this observation increase the epistemic standing of science, or should we treat scientific knowledge with suspicion? The conclusions one draws from applying evolutionary theory to scientific beliefs depend to an important extent on the validity of evolutionary arguments (EAs) or evolutionary debunking arguments (EDAs). In this paper we show through an analytical model that cultural transmission of scientific knowledge can lead toward representations that are more truth-approximating or more efficient at solving science-related problems under a broad range of circumstances, even under conditions where human cognitive faculties would be further off the mark than they actually are.