Semantic Processing in Children and Adults: Incongruity and the N400

Semantic processing in 10-year-old children and adults was examined using event related potentials (ERPs). The N400 component, an index of semantic processing, was studied in relation to sentences that ended with congruent, moderately incongruent, or strongly incongruent words. N400 amplitude in adults corresponded to levels of semantic incongruity with the greatest amplitude occurring to strongly incongruent sentences at all midline electrodes. In contrast, children’s N400s were greater for both moderately and strongly incongruent sentences but did not differ between these levels of incongruity. This finding suggests that semantic processing may differ in adults and children.     

How Exposure to the Confederate Flag Affects Willingness to Vote for Barack Obama

Leading up to the 2008 U.S. election, pundits wondered whether Whites, particularly in Southern states, were ready to vote for a Black president. The present paper explores how a common Southern symbol—the Confederate flag—impacted willingness to vote for Barack Obama. We predicted that exposure to the Confederate flag would activate negativity toward Blacks and result in lowered willingness to vote for Obama. As predicted, participants primed with the Confederate flag reported less willingness to vote for Obama than those primed with a neutral symbol. The flag did not affect willingness to vote for White candidates. In a second study, participants primed with the Confederate flag evaluated a hypothetical Black target more negatively than controls. These results suggest that exposure to the Confederate flag results in more negative judgments of Black targets. As such, the prevalence of this flag in the South may have contributed to a reticence for some to vote for Obama because of his race.     

Understanding social motor coordination

Recently there has been much interest in social coordination of motor movements, or as it is referred to by some researchers, joint action. This paper reviews the cognitive perspective’s common coding/mirror neuron theory of joint action, describes some of its limitations and then presents the behavioral dynamics perspective as an alternative way of understanding social motor coordination. In particular, behavioral dynamics’ ability to explain the temporal coordination of interacting individuals is detailed. Two experiments are then described that demonstrate how dynamical processes of synchronization are apparent in the coordination underlying everyday joint actions such as martial art exercises, hand-clapping games, and conversations. The import of this evidence is that emergent dynamic patterns such as synchronization are the behavioral order that any neural substrate supporting joint action (e.g., mirror systems) would have to sustain.     

A multidisciplinary treatment for encopresis in children with developmental disabilities

Achieving continence of one's bowel movements is a key step in development and failure to do so leads to many negative consequences. Treatments for encopresis appearing in the literature have employed behavioral strategies; medications such as suppositories, laxatives, or enemas; and in some studies a combination of these approaches. To date, attempts to extend successful treatments for encopresis in typically developing children to those with developmental disabilities have been limited. The current study included three participants diagnosed with developmental disabilities who had a history of encopresis. None of the participants had a continent bowel movement under baseline conditions. Continent bowel movements increased during treatment that included the addition of suppositories to elicit continent bowel movements. Two participants began having independent continent bowel movements (i.e., without requiring suppositories) and medication was successfully faded out for the remaining participant. Treatment took between 13 and 21 days.     

The Spatiality of Cognition in the Zhuangzi

In this paper I explore the conception of cognition and action found in the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi. More specifically, I focus on the role of explicit and implicit spatial imagery in the context of this complex problem. Spatial imagery suggests that cognition is understood as fundamentally bimodal in the text: (1) the default modality, which is informed by an entrenched distinction pattern, is cast in terms of fullness and bulk; and (2) the auxiliary modality, which is free from this kind of constraint, is imagined in terms of emptiness and lack of bulk, as an axis or point. The latter is the preferred mode of engagement with the environment, according to the Zhuangzi. Spatial imagery brings out the crucial characteristics of this cognitive modality: its radical openness and infinite fecundity in the context of distinction–drawing and action. It also connects with other metaphorical schemata at work in the text, including organic imagery. Interestingly, the notion of emptiness and the figure of an axis do not mark an experience of undifferentiated oneness but the state of heightened sensitivity to the makeup of one’s environment. Such sensitivity allows the agent to entertain the situation at hand without bias and to move around (relatively) conflict–free.     

Leszek Kołakowski,My Correct Views on Everything. Ed. Zbigniew Janowski

The Journal of Value Inquiry -     

The effects of variable-time delivery of food items and praise on problem behavior reinforced by escape

Prior research indicates that reinforcement of an appropriate response (e.g., compliance) can produce concomitant reductions in problem behavior reinforced by escape when problem behavior continues to produce negative reinforcement (e.g., Lalli et al., 1999). These effects may be due to a preference for positive over negative reinforcement or to positive reinforcement acting as an abolishing operation, rendering demands less aversive and escape from demands less effective as negative reinforcement. In the current investigation, we delivered a preferred food item and praise on a variable-time 15-s schedule while providing escape for problem behavior on a fixed-ratio 1 schedule in a demand condition for 3 participants with problem behavior maintained by negative reinforcement. Results for all 3 participants showed that variable-time delivery of preferred edible items reduced problem behavior even though escape continued to be available for these responses. These findings are discussed in the context of motivating operations.     

A quick measure to guide allocation of chaplains' time with hospitalized veterans

Assessing veterans' desire to see a chaplain can be difficult. Due to alleged personal weakness associated with seeing a chaplain while on active duty, veterans may still be reluctant to admit a need. Additionally chaplains may be challenged with multiple time demands. We devised and correlated with known instruments a single item containing four graded responses. One correlation was strong, suggesting the question's potential for serving as a useful tool for allocation of chaplains' time.     

Not too ‘shy’ to help catch a thief: Recall memory of shy versus non-shy witnesses

Witness shyness was examined to determine its impact on recall accuracy in two experiments. It was hypothesized that shyness would facilitate witness accuracy, under some conditions. In Experiment 1, witnesses were asked to respond to directed recall questions probing crime event and culprit details. Non-shy and shy witnesses produced comparable accuracy rates when describing the culprit. In contrast, non-shy witnesses were more accurate when describing crime environment details than shy witnesses. In Experiment 2, arousal was manipulated and a free recall approach was used to assess recall accuracy. Under low arousal, shy witnesses were more accurate at describing the culprit than non-shy witnesses, whereas, non-shy witnesses were more accurate at describing crime details than shy witnesses. Under high arousal, differences in accuracy were not observed across shy and non-shy witnesses.