Interfacial strengthening of β phase in a fully lamellar structure of TiAl alloy containing W

The strengthening of the β phase in two fully lamellar structures with different lamellar spacing of a Ti–48?at.%?Al–2?W?at.% alloy during creep deformation has been investigated. It was found that the β phase precipitates during aging treatments only within regions of α₂ lamellae following their dissolution. The strengthening of the β phase is more effective in the coarser lamellar structure, because the wider β precipitation zones, which replace the prior coarser α₂ lamellae, hinders dislocation motion stronger than the narrower ones.     

THE EFFECT OF PRINT ACCESS ON READING FREQUENCY

Studies on reading motivation have found that access to reading materials has an important influence on the amount students choose to read. There are few studies, however, that have examined print access in a comprehensive way to include home, school, and community resources. In this study, surveys and reading tests were administered to a class of eleventh-grade students (N = 24). Consistent with previous research, convenient access to reading material, regardless of a student's reading ability, was associated with more frequent reading. In addition, more voluntary or "free" reading was associated with higher levels of reading proficiency. Implications for providing students with easier access to reading materials are discussed.     

Retrospective perceptual distortion of position representation does not lead to delayed localization

Previous studies have reported retrospective influences of visual events that occur after target events. In the attentional attraction effect, a position cue presented after a target stimulus distorts the target’s position towards that of the cue. The present study explored the temporal relationship between stimulus presentation and reaction time (RT) in this effect in two experiments. Participants performed a speeded localization task on two vertical lines, the positions of which were to be distorted by an additional attentional cue. No significant difference in RTs was found between the conditions with simultaneous and delayed cues. RTRT was modulated by the perceived (rather than physical) alignment of the lines. In Experiment 2, we manipulated the strength of attentional capture by modulating the color relevance of the cue to the target. Trials with cues producing stronger attentional capture (with cues of a different color from the targets) were found to induce apparently stronger distortion effects. This result favors the notion that the observed repulsion and attraction effects are driven by attentional mechanisms. Overall, the results imply that the attentional shift induced by the cue might occur rapidly and complete before the establishment of conscious location representation of the cue and the target without affecting overall response time.     

Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate

Negotiable fate refers to the idea that one can negotiate with fate for control, and that people can exercise personal agency within the limits that fate has determined. Research on negotiable fate has found greater prevalence of related beliefs in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Eastern Europe than in Western Europe and English-speaking countries. The present research extends previous findings by exploring the cognitive consequences of the belief in negotiable fate. It was hypothesized that this belief enables individuals to maintain faith in the potency of their personal actions and to remain optimistic in their goal pursuits despite the immutable constraints. The belief in negotiable fate was predicted to (a) facilitate sense-making of surprising outcomes; (b) increase persistence in goal pursuits despite early unfavorable outcomes; and (c) increase risky choices when individuals have confidence in their luck. Using multiple methods (e.g., crosscultural comparisons, culture priming, experimental induction of fate beliefs), we found supporting evidence for our hypotheses in three studies. Furthermore, as expected, the cognitive effects of negotiable fate are observed only in cultural contexts where the fate belief is relatively prevalent. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the intersubjective approach to understanding the influence of culture on cognitive processes (e.g., Chiu, Gelfand, Yamagishi, Shteynberg, & Wan, 2010), the sociocultural foundations that foster the development of a belief in negotiable fate, and an alternative perspective for understanding the nature of agency in contexts where constraints are severe. Future research avenues are also discussed.     

The effects of feelings of guilt on the behaviour of uncooperative individuals in repeated social bargaining games: An affect-as-information interpretation of the role of emotion in social interaction

In two studies we found that feelings of guilt provoke individuals to cooperate in repeated social bargaining games (a prisoner's dilemma in Study 1 and an ultimatum game in Study 2). Feelings of guilt were either experimentally manipulated (Study 1) or assessed via self-report (Study 2) after participants had played one round of a social bargaining game. As predicted, individuals who experienced feelings of guilt (compared to individuals who felt no guilt) after pursuing a non-cooperative strategy in the first round of play, displayed higher levels of cooperation in the subsequent round of play (even one week later). Results are discussed in terms of an “affect-as-information” model, which suggests that non-cooperating individuals who experience the negative affective state associated with guilt in a social bargaining game may be using this feeling state as “information” about the future costs of pursuing an uncooperative strategy. Because in guilt the focus is on the specific, individuals are capable of ridding themselves of this emotional state through action (Lewis, 1993, p. 570)     

Suicide on Railroad Rights‐of‐Way: A Psychological Autopsy Study

Findings from 55 psychological autopsies of decedents who perished on U.S. railroad rights‐of‐way between October 1, 2007, and September 30, 2010 are reported. Described are distal, proximal, and contextual factors of risk; understandings of why these suicides occurred on railroad rights‐of‐way; and opportunities for prevention of similar suicides. International comparisons of suicides on railroad rights‐of‐way are made to highlight distinct findings regarding U.S. cases. Decedents studied exhibited considerable predisposing risk for suicide, with a high prevalence of severe mental disorders and substance abuse. In addition, a number of acute risk factors were commonly observed, notably suicide ideation, hopelessness, anxiety, and anger. In the context of that acute risk, associated situational variables and a relative absence of protective factors are described.     

The role of attention level in the attentional boost effect

ABSTRACT

Previous studies reported a memory facilitation effect in which increased attention to one task facilitates the memory performance on another. Here we examined the characteristics of this “attentional boost effect” (ABE), and demonstrated how attention level during memory encoding influences the ABE strength by changing the occurring frequency of the attention-engaging target signal relative to the non-attention-engaging distractor signal (Experiment 1), and the physical salience of colour of the target signal (Experiment 2). The results indicated stronger ABE in conditions with a low ratio of target signal trials and with a salient target signal. Experiment 3 examined the role of spatial attention, which sought to measure how the distance between the target signal and the to-be-encoded item would influence the ABE strength. The results showed that the ABE strength was not influenced by the distance between the two. Overall, these findings suggest ABE may be mainly based on temporal attention.