A test of the diffusion model explanation for the worst performance rule using preregistration and blinding

People with higher IQ scores also tend to perform better on elementary cognitive-perceptual tasks, such as deciding quickly whether an arrow points to the left or the right Jensen (2006). The worst performance rule (WPR) finesses this relation by stating that the association between IQ and elementary-task performance is most pronounced when this performance is summarized by people’s slowest responses. Previous research has shown that the WPR can be accounted for in the Ratcliff diffusion model by assuming that the same ability parameter—drift rate—mediates performance in both elementary tasks and higher-level cognitive tasks. Here we aim to test four qualitative predictions concerning the WPR and its diffusion model explanation in terms of drift rate. In the first stage, the diffusion model was fit to data from 916 participants completing a perceptual two-choice task; crucially, the fitting happened after randomly shuffling the key variable, i.e., each participant’s score on a working memory capacity test. In the second stage, after all modeling decisions were made, the key variable was unshuffled and the adequacy of the predictions was evaluated by means of confirmatory Bayesian hypothesis tests. By temporarily withholding the mapping of the key predictor, we retain flexibility for proper modeling of the data (e.g., outlier exclusion) while preventing biases from unduly influencing the results. Our results provide evidence against the WPR and suggest that it may be less robust and less ubiquitous than is commonly believed.     

Towards a balanced social psychology: causes, consequences, and cures for the problem-seeking approach to social behavior and cognition

Mainstream social psychology focuses on how people characteristically violate norms of action through social misbehaviors such as conformity with false majority judgments, destructive obedience, and failures to help those in need. Likewise, they are seen to violate norms of reasoning through cognitive errors such as misuse of social information, self-enhancement, and an over-readiness to attribute dispositional characteristics. The causes of this negative research emphasis include the apparent informativeness of norm violation, the status of good behavior and judgment as unconfirmable null hypotheses, and the allure of counter-intuitive findings. The shortcomings of this orientation include frequently erroneous imputations of error, findings of mutually contradictory errors, incoherent interpretations of error, an inability to explain the sources of behavioral or cognitive achievement, and the inhibition of generalized theory. Possible remedies include increased attention to the complete range of behavior and judgmental accomplishment, analytic reforms emphasizing effect sizes and Bayesian inference, and a theoretical paradigm able to account for both the sources of accomplishment and of error. A more balanced social psychology would yield not only a more positive view of human nature, but also an improved understanding of the bases of good behavior and accurate judgment, coherent explanations of occasional lapses, and theoretically grounded suggestions for improvement.     

Acute stress facilitates trace eyeblink conditioning in C57BL/6 male mice and increases the excitability of their CA1 pyramidal neurons

The effects of stress (restraint plus tail shock) on hippocampus-dependent trace eyeblink conditioning and hippocampal excitability were examined in C57BL/6 male mice. The results indicate that the stressor significantly increased the concentration of circulating corticosterone, the amount and rate of learning relative to nonstressed conditioned mice, and the excitability of CA1 hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Behaviorally, there was no effect of the stressor on control mice that received unpaired presentations of the tone and periorbital shock, i.e., neither stressed nor nonstressed control mice showed an increase in conditioned responding that was above baseline levels. Biophysically, the stressor significantly decreased the amplitude of the post-burst afterhyperpolarization (AHP) and decreased spike frequency accommodation relative to cells from nonstressed control mice. The effect was significant for mice that were stressed either 1 h or 24 h earlier. The results suggest that the stressor increases the excitability of hippocampal pyramidal neurons and that the mechanism underlying this increase may contribute to the more rapid acquisition of hippocampally dependent eyeblink conditioning.     

Evidential reasoning in the prisoner's dilemma

Classic game theory considers defection to be the rational choice in the Prisoner's Dilemma. Although defection maximizes a player's gain regardless of the opponent's choice, many players cooperate. We suggest that cooperation can be explained in part by expectations of reciprocal behavior, that is, by the belief that players facing the same situation probably will come to the same decision. In Experiment 1, expectations of reciprocity were experimentally manipulated. As predicted, cooperation increased monotonically with these expectations. In Experiment 2, experimentally manipulated expectations of opponent cooperation were not associated with higher rates of cooperation. These findings are interpreted in light of a general model of payoff maximization, and implications for other models (e.g., social value orientation) are discussed.     

Briefe Deutscher Philosophen An Ernst Mach

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Factors Affecting the Use of Dimensional Prepositions in German and American English: Object Orientation, Social Context, and Prepositional Pattern

Spatial language and the use of spatial prepositions has recently been intensively investigated. We add two novel aspects to the question of which frame of reference, i.e., the deictic or the intrinsic frame, is used when communicating about dimensional relations between objects. We restrict ourselves to the use of prepositions that refer to the first horizontal axis, i.e., in front of and behind in English, and vor and hinter in German, respectively, and report on a series of 16 experiments on the connection between the use of these prepositions and the indication of particular subspaces adjacent to reference objects in a traffic environment. First, we will show that an interaction between the intrinsic orientation of the reference object, the type of social situation in which spatial communication occurs, and the used language's pattern of prepositional word forms for temporal and spatiodimensional relations contributes to the proper prediction of the use of spatial prepositions. Second, we systematically consider production as well as interpretation of prepositions in two different languages in the same experimental setting, which allows for the estimation of communicative success. Here, it turns out that in German as well as in American English there are conditions in which speakers and listeners either agree or disagree on the chosen frame of reference; however, these conditions are different in the two languages investigated.