Non-Inferential Aspects of Ad Hominem and Ad Baculum

The aim of the paper is to explore the interrelation between persuasion tactics and properties of speech acts. We investigate two types of arguments ad: ad hominem and ad baculum. We show that with both of these tactics, the structures that play a key role are not inferential, but rather ethotic, i.e., related to the speaker’s character and trust. We use the concepts of illocutionary force and constitutive conditions related to the character or status of the speaker in order to explain the dynamics of these two techniques. In keeping with the research focus of the Polish School of Argumentation, we examine how the pragmatic and rhetorical aspects of the force of ad hominem and ad baculum arguments exploit trust in the speaker’s status to influence the audience’s cognition.     

Patients’ and Parents’ Perceptions of Appearance in Scoliosis Treated with a Brace: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

The perspective of trunk deformity is a matter of special concern for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients. No research group has ever reported interviewing patients and their parents regarding differences in perception of body appearance in the course of Cheneau brace treatment. We aimed to investigate the level of agreement in the field of concerns and perceptions of spinal appearance in relation to brace- and scoliosis-related data between parents and female patients with AIS, treated with a Cheneau brace, by means of the Spinal Appearance Questionnaire-pl (SAQ-pl). In this cross-sectional study forty-one pairs of parents and female patients with AIS were asked to separately complete the Polish versions of the Spinal Appearance Questionnaire-pl patient form (SAQ-pl patient form) and the SAQ-pl parent form. Age of patients was 13.60 years SD 1.60 (range 10–17). Patients scored 2.70 (SD 0.60) and parents scored 2.70 SD 0.60 in the total score of the SAQ-pl. The study groups do not differ significantly in regards to the SAQ-pl results. The percentage of consistent answers on SAQ-pl items ranges from 34.10 % (item 20) to 78 % (item 8). Height, age and brace-wearing time per day, were significantly related to the differences in the patient-parent General perception of body shape (r _s  = ?0.51, r _s  = ?0.34, r _s  = 0.36, respectively). Parents and female patients with AIS have similar concerns and perceptions of spinal appearance. The discrepancies in General perception of spinal appearance between parents and AIS females decrease with age of patient. Parental emotional support may contribute to minimizing the risk factors of psychological impairment, especially in late adolescents with AIS.     

How to rapidly construct a spatial–numerical representation in preliterate children (at least temporarily)

Spatial processing of numbers has emerged as one of the basic properties of humans’ mathematical thinking. However, how and when number–space relations develop is a highly contested issue. One dominant view has been that a link between numbers and left/right spatial directions is constructed based on directional experience associated with reading and writing. However, some early forms of a number–space link have been observed in preschool children who cannot yet read and write. As literacy experience is evidently not necessary for number–space effects, we are searching for other potential sources of this association. Here we propose and test a hypothesis that the number–space link can be quickly constructed in preschool children's cognition on the basis of spatially oriented visuo‐motor activities. We trained 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children with a non‐numerical spatial movement task (left‐to‐right or right‐to‐left), where via touch screen children had to move a frog across a pond. After the training, children had to perform a numerosity comparison task. After left‐to‐right training, we observed a SNARC‐like effect (reactions to smaller numbers were faster on the left side, and reactions to larger numbers on the right side), and after right‐to‐left training a reverse effect. These results are the first to show a causal link between visuo‐motor activities and number–space associations in children before they learn to read and write. We argue that simple activities, such as manual games, dominant in a given society, might shape number–space associations in children in a way similar to lifelong reading training.     

Affective forecasting in an orangutan: predicting the hedonic outcome of novel juice mixes

Affective forecasting is an ability that allows the prediction of the hedonic outcome of never-before experienced situations, by mentally recombining elements of prior experiences into possible scenarios, and pre-experiencing what these might feel like. It has been hypothesised that this ability is uniquely human. For example, given prior experience with the ingredients, but in the absence of direct experience with the mixture, only humans are said to be able to predict that lemonade tastes better with sugar than without it. Non-human animals, on the other hand, are claimed to be confined to predicting—exclusively and inflexibly—the outcome of previously experienced situations. Relying on gustatory stimuli, we devised a non-verbal method for assessing affective forecasting and tested comparatively one Sumatran orangutan and ten human participants. Administered as binary choices, the test required the participants to mentally construct novel juice blends from familiar ingredients and to make hedonic predictions concerning the ensuing mixes. The orangutan’s performance was within the range of that shown by the humans. Both species made consistent choices that reflected independently measured taste preferences for the stimuli. Statistical models fitted to the data confirmed the predictive accuracy of such a relationship. The orangutan, just like humans, thus seems to have been able to make hedonic predictions concerning never-before experienced events.     

SNARC for numerosities is modulated by comparative instruction (and resembles some non-numerical effects)

The spatial–numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect is observed for both numerical (Arabic digits) and non-numerical stimuli (size, duration, height). However, in a context of comparative judgment, Arabic numbers are mapped onto space differently from sizes and heights: SNARC for Arabic digits is formed consistently in a certain cultural reading direction, whereas SNARC for sizes and heights is additionally modulated by comparative instruction (it reverses when participants choose larger magnitudes). In the present study, we test whether the spatial characteristic of magnitude processing revealed in a context of comparison is determined by a presence or lack of numerical content of the processed information, or it depends on specific directional experience (e.g., left-to-right ordering) associated with the processed magnitude format. We examine the SNARC effect with the pairwise comparison design, by using non-symbolic numerical stimuli (objects’ collections), for which the left-to-right spatial structure is not as exceedingly overlearned as for Arabic numbers. We asked participants from two reading cultures (left-to-right vs. mixed reading culture) to compare numerosities of two sets, choosing either a larger or smaller one. SNARC emerged in both groups. Additionally, it was modulated by comparative instruction: It appeared in a left-to-right direction when participants selected a smaller set, but it tended to reverse when participants selected a larger set. We conclude that spatial processing of numerosities is dissociated from spatial processing of Arabic numbers, at least in a context of comparative judgment. This dissociation could reflect differences in spatial ordering experience specific to a certain numerical input.     

Gender differences in the mean level,variability, and profile shape of student achievement: Results from 41 countries

A domain-specific hierarchical conceptualization of mathematics achievement can be represented by the standard psychometric model in which a single latent dimension accounts for observed individual differences in scores on the respective subdomains (e.g., quantity). Alternatively, a fully hierarchical conceptualization of achievement can be represented by a nested-factor model in which individual differences in subdomain-specific scores are explained by both general student achievement and specific mathematics achievement. The authors applied both models to study the gender similarity hypothesis, the greater male variability hypothesis, and the masking hypothesis, which predicts that gender differences in general student achievement mask gender differences in both the means and the variability of specific mathematics achievement. Representative data were obtained from 275,369 15-year-old students in 41 countries. The results supported these hypotheses in most countries, demonstrating that a fully hierarchical conceptualization of achievement in terms of the nested-factor model significantly contributes to a better understanding of gender differences in the mean level, variability, and shape of students' achievement profiles.     

Leveraging Fourth and Sixth Graders’ Experiences to Reveal Understanding of the Forms and Features of Distributed Causality

Research has focused on students’ difficulties understanding phenomena in which agency is distributed across actors whose individual-level behaviors converge to result in collective outcomes. Building on Levy and Wilensky (2008 Levy, S. T., &; Wilensky, U. (2008). Inventing a "mid-level" to make ends meet: Reasoning through the levels of complexity. Cognition &; Instruction, 26(1), 1–47. [Google Scholar]), this study identified features of distributed causality students understand and that may offer affordances for instruction. Students displayed more distributed reasoning than anticipated, used hybrid and flexible reasoning, and reasoned about additive effects of collections of agents and their interactions, even when intent was unaligned.     

Low is large: spatial location and pitch interact in voice-based body size estimation

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - The binding of incongruent cues poses a challenge for multimodal perception. Indeed, although taller objects emit sounds from higher elevations,...     

Frontal EEG alpha band asymmetry as a predictor of reasoning deficiency in depressed people

Cognitive deficits in depression are mostly apparent in executive functions, especially when integration of information and reasoning is required. In parallel, there are also numerous studies pointing to the frontal alpha band asymmetry as a psychophysiological marker of depression. In this study, we explored the role of frontal alpha asymmetry as a potential factor explaining the cognitive problems accompanying depression. Twenty-six depressed and 26 control participants completed a reasoning task and underwent 5 minutes of electroencephalography recording. In line with the previous studies, depressed people showed difficulties with reasoning but we did not observe the relationship between frontal asymmetry in the alpha band and depression. However, we found that in the depressed group the frontal alpha asymmetry index was characterised by larger variance than in the control group, and it was also a strong predictor of cognitive functioning exclusively in the depressed group. Our results point to the disruption of a psychophysiological balance, reflected in changed frontal alpha asymmetry (into more left-sided frontal asymmetry in the alpha band, reflecting more right-sided cortical activity) as a possible brain correlate of cognitive disturbances present in depressive disorders.