Hypothetico-Deductivism: Incomplete But Not Hopeless

Alleged counter-examples deployed in Park (2004) [Erkenntnis 60: 229–240] against the account of selective hypothetico-deductive confirmation offered in Gemes (1998) [Erkenntnis 49: 1–20] are shown to be ineffective. Furthermore, the reservations expressed in Gemes (1998) [ibid] and (1993) [Philosophy of Science 62: 477–487] about hypothetico-deductivism (H-D) are retracted and replaced with the conclusion that H-D is a viable account of confirmation that captures much of the practice of working scientists. However, because it cannot capture cases of inference to the best explanation and cases of the observational confirmation of statistical hypotheses, it is concluded that H-D cannot supply a complete theory of confirmation.     

Good for All? Hardly! Attending Church Does Not Benefit Religiously Unaffiliated

The existing literature addressing Religion and Spirituality supports the idea that attending church is positively associated with health outcomes. However, within this literature there has been an impoverished effort to determine whether the Religiously Unaffiliated will report these positive relationships. Using representative data from Ontario (N = 3620), the relationships between Religious/Spiritual variables (Attendance, Prayer/Meditation, and Religiosity) and health outcomes (Happiness, Self-Rated Health, and Satisfaction with Life) were assessed. Results focused on three recurring trends: the Religiously Unaffiliated experienced attending church less positively than Christians; when compared at the highest level of Attendance, the Religiously Unaffiliated were less healthy than Christians; and when only considering the Religiously Unaffiliated, Religious/Spiritual variables were not significant and positive predictors of health outcomes. The discussion focused on the need to delineate between how Christians and the Religiously Unaffiliated experience Religious/Spiritual variables, and the need to stop over-generalizing the positive relationship between Religious/Spiritual variables and health.     

First interactions between hydrogen and stress-induced reverse transformation of Ni–Ti superelastic alloy

The first dynamic interactions between hydrogen and the stress-induced reverse transformation have been investigated by performing an unloading test on a Ni–Ti superelastic alloy subjected to hydrogen charging under a constant applied strain in the elastic deformation region of the martensite phase. Upon unloading the specimen, charged with a small amount of hydrogen, no change in the behaviour of the stress-induced reverse transformation is observed in the stress-strain curve, although the behaviour of the stress-induced martensite transformation changes. With increasing amount of hydrogen charging, the critical stress for the reverse transformation markedly decreases. Eventually, for a larger amount of hydrogen charging, the reverse transformation does not occur, i.e. there is no recovery of the superelastic strain. The residual martensite phase on the side surface of the unloaded specimen is confirmed by X-ray diffraction. Upon training before the unloading test, the properties of the reverse transformation slightly recover after ageing in air at room temperature. The present study indicates that to change the behaviour of the reverse transformation a larger amount of hydrogen than that for the martensite transformation is necessary. In addition, it is likely that a substantial amount of hydrogen in solid solution more strongly suppresses the reverse transformation than hydrogen trapped at defects, thereby stabilising the martensite phase.     

Examining Parents’ Preferences for Group Parent Training for ADHD When Individual Parent Training is Unavailable

Parent training programs are considered well-established interventions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children as they reduce behavioral impairment, but limited parent engagement decreases service effectiveness. We used a discrete choice experiment to examine how parent preferences for group vs. individual format might influence their participation in Parent training. Parents (N?=?260) seeking mental health services for children with elevated symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Ontario, Canada were participants. They preferred Individual parent training in another study and completed a discrete choice experiment composed of 30 choice tasks measuring Parent training format preference. In this paper, parents’ preferences for alternatives to Individual Parent training, specifically Group Parent training and Minimal Information options, were estimated. Specifically, this study asked “if first choice is unavailable, what is the second choice?” This question is important as many clinics may not be able to offer both group and individual therapy given state funding cuts for youth mental health services. Simulations predicted that 85.8?% of parents who initially preferred Individual Parent training would switch to Group Parent training that included step-by-step solutions to children’s emotional and behavior problems, and the possibility of feeling informed and confident. The remaining 14.2?% of parents preferred Minimal Information; these parents preferred internet services offered conveniently and timely. Findings highlight consideration of less appealing factors that families might trade for more desirable service elements in a cost-restrictive environment.     

Super-recognizers: People with extraordinary face recognition ability

We tested 4 people who claimed to have significantly better than ordinary face recognition ability. Exceptional ability was confirmed in each case. On two very different tests of face recognition, all 4 experimental subjects performed beyond the range of control subject performance. They also scored significantly better than average on a perceptual discrimination test with faces. This effect was larger with upright than with inverted faces, and the 4 subjects showed a larger “inversion effect” than did control subjects, who in turn showed a larger inversion effect than did developmental prosopagnosics. This result indicates an association between face recognition ability and the magnitude of the inversion effect. Overall, these “super-recognizers” are about as good at face recognition and perception as developmental prosopagnosics are bad. Our findings demonstrate the existence of people with exceptionally good face recognition ability and show that the range of face recognition and face perception ability is wider than has been previously acknowledged.     

The information content of panoramic images I: The rotational errors and the similarity of views in rectangular experimental arenas

Animals relocating a target corner in a rectangular space often make rotational errors searching not only at the target corner but also at the diagonally opposite corner. The authors tested whether view-based navigation can explain rotational errors by recording panoramic snapshots at regularly spaced locations in a rectangular box. The authors calculated the global image difference between the image at each location and the image recorded at a target location in 1 of the corners, thus creating a 2-dimensional map of image differences. The authors found the most pronounced minima of image differences at the target corner and the diagonally opposite corner--conditions favoring rotational errors. The authors confirmed these results in virtual reality simulations and showed that the relative salience of different visual cues determines whether image differences are dominated by geometry or by features. The geometry of space is thus implicitly contained in panoramic images and does not require explicit computation by a dedicated module. A testable prediction is that animals making rotational errors in rectangular spaces are guided by remembered views.     

Common language effect size for correlations

The Pearson correlation coefficient can be translated to a common language effect size, which shows the probability of obtaining a certain value on one variable, given the value on the other variable. This common language effect size makes the size of a correlation coefficient understandable to laypeople. Three examples are provided to demonstrate the application of the common language effect size in interpreting Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple correlation coefficients.     

Salience and temporal sequencing of time-related actions in boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Twenty-four 8- to 12-year-old boys with ADHD and 24 non-ADHD boys matched on age and IQ viewed an edited, nondialogue portion of a humorous television program to examine performance on a task requiring attention to and recall of temporal information. Participants were required to retell the story as closely as possible, to complete a picture-prompted sequencing task taken from the story, and to identify time-saving actions taken by the central character. Measures were also obtained of the number of prospective, retrospective, or present time-related references made and whether participants correctly identified the overarching time theme of the story. Significant group differences in favor of the comparison boys were evident in the total number of actions recalled and the number of events recalled in sequence. When controlling for poorer memory performance in boys with ADHD, however, there was no significant main effect of diagnostic group. A logistic regression analysis controlled for poorer memory performance indicated no significant differences between the number of boys with and without ADHD who correctly identified the overarching time theme of the story.