A Bizarre Property Equivalent to the -Fan Theorem

It is shown, with intuitionistic logic, that if every locallyconstant function from to has a property akinto constancy, then the fan theorem for -bars holds, and conversely.     

The impact of the wording of employment advertisements on students' inclination to apply for a job

Students' inclination to apply for a job was examined as a function of (1) the wording of the desired candidate's profile specified in the employment advertisement and (2) applicant gender. Previous research found that women are more inclined than men to apply for jobs that include a profile corresponding to their gender (i.e., a profile containing prototypically feminine instead of masculine personal characteristics). Based on Fiedler and Semin's (1996) Linguistic Category Model, we expected that this effect would decrease if the desired profile was worded in terms of behaviors/verbs instead of nouns/ adjectives. ANOVA supported this reasoning for women but not for men. We conclude that organizations may increase the number of women applying for particular jobs by changing the presentation form of the advertisement.     

Evaluative conditioning of high-novelty stimuli does not seem to be based on an automatic form of associative learning

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to the change in valence of initially neutral stimuli (conditioned stimuli, or CSs) as a result of their pairing with positive or negative stimuli (unconditioned stimuli, or USs). EC is critical to dual-attitudes models as it is often presented as an evaluative effect that results from a purely automatic form of associative learning. Although evidence suggests that EC does not occur without contingency awareness, Ruys, and Stapel (2009) recently argued that contingency awareness is unnecessary for high-novelty stimuli. Researchers may thus be tempted to conclude that EC rests on an automatic form of associative learning, at least for CSs associated with little prior evaluative knowledge. Taking issue with this claim, the present study reveals that EC of high-novelty stimuli is dependent on attentional resources. The role of contingency awareness in EC of high-novelty stimuli is also discussed.     

Keep the fire burning: Reciprocal gains of basic need satisfaction,intrinsic motivation and innovative work behaviour

Drawing on insights from self-determination theory, we explored the dynamic relationship between intrinsic motivation and innovative work behaviour (IWB) over time. Specifically, we investigated how basic need satisfaction influences IWB through its effect on intrinsic motivation and how IWB in turn affects basic need satisfaction as measured the next day (i.e., a reciprocal relationship). The current study used a longitudinal design comprising a 6-day period and relied on multi-source data from 76 students in industrial product design and electronic engineering who participated in an innovation boot camp. In general, results provided support for the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the relationship between basic need satisfaction and IWB, as well as the reciprocal relationship between basic need satisfaction and IWB.     

On the Relation Between Job Characteristics and Depression: A Longitudinal Study

The current study assumes that workers actively influence the characteristics of their work environment. Not only will one's work environment (job characteristics) affect personal characteristics, such as feelings of depression; depression in turn is expected to affect the characteristics of one's work environment as well. Using a sample of 593 young Dutch workers, a longitudinal model relating feelings of depression and job characteristics to each other was tested using structural equation modeling. The results largely supported our expectations. Depressive workers were less likely to experience a job transition than non-depressive workers. If depressive workers did experience a job transition, work outcomes were less positive than for nondepressive workers. Thus, it appears that the relation between job characteristics and depression can be construed as a reciprocal relation. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Recent Russian Pavloviana

In recent years three books have appeared which contribute greatly to our knowledge of Pavlov’s life and work, and of the development of the laboratory in Leningrad which bears his name and his intellectual imprint. These works are (1) A volume of brief, highly personal comments on I. P. Pavlov (Kreps, 1967); (2) A collection of short biographies, pictures, and selective bibliographies of individuals who had worked with Pavlov (Kvasov and Fedotova-Grot, 1967); and (3) An outline of the history of the I. P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology which grew from a most unprepossessing laboratory, taken over by I. P. Pavlov in 1907, into a giant institution with a staff currently exceeding 1,000 (Lange, 1968).     

Health anxiety and hypochondriasis in the light of DSM-5

Background: In the DSM-5, the diagnosis of hypochondriasis was replaced by two new diagnositic entities: somatic symptom disorder (SSD) and illness anxiety disorder (IAD). Both diagnoses share high health anxiety as a common criterion, but additonal somatic symptoms are only required for SSD but not IAD. Design: Our aim was to provide empirical evidence for the validity of these new diagnoses using data from a case–control study of highly health-anxious (n = 96), depressed (n = 52), and healthy (n = 52) individuals. Results: The individuals originally diagnosed as DSM-IV hypochondriasis predominantly met criteria for SSD (74%) and rarely for IAD (26%). Individuals with SSD were more impaired, had more often comorbid panic and generalized anxiety disorders, and had more medical consultations as those with IAD. Yet, no significant differences were found between SSD and IAD with regard to levels of health anxiety, other hypochondriacial characteristics, illness behavior, somatic symptom attributions, and physical concerns, whereas both groups differed significantly from clinical and healthy controls in all of these variables. Conclusion: These results do not support the proposed splitting of health anxiety/hypochondriasis into two diagnoses. Further validation studies with larger samples and additional control groups are warranted to prove the validity of the new diagnoses.     

Effects of environmental enrichment on cognitive performance of pigs in a spatial holeboard discrimination task

This study investigated the effects of environmental enrichment on the cognitive performance of female conventional farm (growing) pigs in a spatial holeboard task. Ten pairs of littermates matched for weight were used. From each litter, one piglet was randomly assigned to a barren environment; the other was assigned to an enriched environment from 4 weeks of age. The enriched environment was double the size of the barren environment, had a floor covered with straw, a rooting area filled with peat, and one of the four different enrichment toys which were exchanged daily. Starting at 11 weeks of age, all pigs were tested in a spatial holeboard discrimination task in which 4 out of 16 holes were baited. Furthermore, basal salivary cortisol levels of all pigs were determined after the end of all testing. All pigs were able to acquire the pattern of baited holes (acquisition phase, 40 trials) and the diagonally mirrored pattern (reversal phase, 20 trials). During the acquisition phase, the reference memory performance of the enriched-housed pigs was better than that of their barren-housed littermates, i.e. they reduced visits to the unbaited set of holes. During the reversal phase, enriched-housed pigs had a better general working memory performance than the barren-housed pigs as indicated by reduced revisits to holes already visited during a trial, irrespective of whether they were of the baited or the unbaited set. The enriched-housed pigs also searched for the hidden bait faster during both phases. The environments did not affect basal salivary cortisol levels. In conclusion, environmental enrichment slightly improved the cognitive performance of pigs in a spatial learning task. We hypothesise that the long period of habituation to and testing in the holeboard acted as enrichment that partially reduced the effects of barren housing.