Development of attentional and oculomotor control

The present study was conducted to examine the development of attentional and oculomotor control. More specifically, the authors were interested in the development of the ability to inhibit an incorrect but prepotent response to a salient distractor. Participants, who ranged in age from 8 to 25 years, performed 3 different eye movement tasks: a prosaccade, an antisaccade, and an oculomotor capture task. The time required to initiate a saccade decreased with age across all 3 tasks. Consistent with previous reports, accuracy was relatively age invariant in the prosaccade task. Performance improved with age, asymptoting at 16 years in the antisaccade task. It is interesting to note that despite the superficial similarity of the antisaccade and oculomotor capture tasks, performance was relatively age invariant in the latter. These results are discussed in terms of developmental differences in the interaction of goal-directed and stimulus-driven processes in the control of attention and action.     

Apraxia differs in corticobasal degeneration and left-parietal stroke: A case study.

Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) is a progressive disorder characterized by both cortical and basal ganglia dysfunction such as asymmetrical apraxia, and akinetic rigidity, involuntary movements, and cortical sensory loss. Although apraxia is a key finding for the differential diagnosis of CBD, it has not been determined whether the features of apraxia seen in subjects with CBD are similar to those features exhibited by subjects with left-hemisphere damage from stroke. Therefore, for both clinical purposes and in order to better understand the brain mechanisms that lead to apraxia in CBD, we studied praxis in a patient with CBD and compared him to patients who are apraxic from left-parietal strokes. We used three-dimensional movement analyses to compare the features of apraxic movement. This subject with CBD was a dentist whose initial complaint had been that he "forgot" how to use his tools in the mouths of his patients. Analyses were performed on the trajectories made when using a knife to actually slice bread, and when repetitively gesturing slicing made to verbal command. Movements of the left hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder were digitized in 3-D space. Although the CBD subject was clearly apraxic, the features of his apraxia differed markedly from those of the subjects with lesions in the left parietal lobe. For movements to command, the CBD subject showed joint coordination deficits, but his wrist trajectories were produced in the appropriate spatial plane, were correctly restricted to a single plane, and, like control subjects, were linear in path shape. However, when he was actually manipulating the tool and object, all of these aspects of his trajectories became impaired. In contrast, the deficits of the apraxic subjects with left-parietal damage were most pronounced to verbal command with their movements improving slightly although remaining impaired during actual tool and object manipulation. Unlike patients with parietal strokes, patients with CBD have degeneration in several systems and perhaps deficits in these other areas may account for the differences in praxic behavior.     

On the shape of the probability weighting function

Empirical studies have shown that decision makers do not usually treat probabilities linearly. Instead, people tend to overweight small probabilities and underweight large probabilities. One way to model such distortions in decision making under risk is through a probability weighting function. We present a nonparametric estimation procedure for assessing the probability weighting function and value function at the level of the individual subject. The evidence in the domain of gains supports a two-parameter weighting function, where each parameter is given a psychological interpretation: one parameter measures how the decision maker discriminates probabilities, and the other parameter measures how attractive the decision maker views gambling. These findings are consistent with a growing body of empirical and theoretical work attempting to establish a psychological rationale for the probability weighting function.     

Simulations of schedule-controlled behavior

A computer model that simulates the patterns of responding of infrahuman subjects under several schedules of reinforcement is described. The model is dynamic in that it continuously assesses the values of several interacting variables that are, in turn, affected by simulated environ-mental events that are scheduled by a procedure program. The data generated by the computer model, including cumulative records, closely conform to reported experimental data. The results indicate that computer simulations are a very useful tool for developing quantitative theories of operant behavior.     

Predictors of relationship satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic

Prior work and theory suggest many vulnerabilities, stressors, and adaptive processes shape relationship satisfaction. In the current research, we used machine learning to understand which constructs have greater predictive importance for perceived changes in satisfaction since the pandemic began and satisfaction over the prior week. In a large sample collected at the beginning of the pandemic (N = 1873; Study 1), relationship processes were most predictive, explaining up to 70% of variance in satisfaction. Feeling appreciative of one's partner and being satisfied with quality time spent with one's partner were consistently top predictors of satisfaction. We also examined whether these important predictors were associated with changes in relationship satisfaction across the first year of the pandemic in a longitudinal subsample (N = 618; Study 2). Appreciation and satisfaction with quality time were associated with high and relatively stable relationship satisfaction over time.     

The Spanish version of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire: factor structure and internal consistency reliability

We examined the factor structure and internal consistency reliability of the Spanish version of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire which was applied to a sample of 850 secondary school students. Factor structure investigated by principal components analysis, followed by varimax orthogonal rotation, indicated that a single factor explained 37% of the variance. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was good (Cronbach alpha=.88). We conclude that the Spanish version of the questionnaire, like the English version, has a single factor and high internal consistency reliability.     

Chances and frequencies in probabilistic reasoning: rejoinder to Hoffrage,Gigerenzer, Krauss,and Martignon

Do individuals unfamiliar with probability and statistics need a specific type of data in order to draw correct inferences about uncertain events? Girotto and Gonzalez (Cognition 78 (2001) 247) showed that naive individuals solve frequency as well as probability problems, when they reason extensionally, in particular when probabilities are represented by numbers of chances. Hoffrage, Gigerenzer, Krauss, and Martignon (Cognition 84 (2002) 343) argued that numbers of chances are natural frequencies disguised as probabilities, though lacking the properties of true probabilities. They concluded that we failed to demonstrate that naive individuals can deal with true probabilities as opposed to natural frequencies. In this paper, we demonstrate that numbers of chances do represent probabilities, and that naive individuals do not confuse numbers of chances with frequencies. We conclude that there is no evidence for the claim that natural frequencies have a special cognitive status, and the evolutionary argument that the human mind is unable to deal with probabilities.     

Evolving judgments of terror risks: foresight, hindsight, and emotion

The authors examined the evolution of cognitive and emotional responses to terror risks for a nationally representative sample of Americans between late 2001 and late 2002. Respondents' risk judgments changed in ways consistent with their reported personal experiences. However, they did not recognize these changes, producing hindsight bias in memories for their judgments. An intensive debiasing procedure failed to restore a foresightful perspective. A fear-inducing manipulation increased risk estimates, whereas an anger-inducing manipulation reduced them-both in predictions (as previously observed) and in memories and judgments of past risks. Thus, priming emotions shaped not only perceptions of an abstract future but also perceptions of a concrete past. These results suggest how psychological research can help to ensure an informed public.