Context-dependent motor skill and the role of practice

Research has shown that retrieval of learned information is better when the original learning context is reinstated during testing than when this context is changed. Recently, such contextual dependencies have also been found for perceptual-motor behavior. The current study investigated the nature of context-dependent learning in the discrete sequence production task, and in addition examined whether the amount of practice affects the extent to which sequences are sensitive to contextual alterations. It was found that changing contextual cues-but not the removal of such cues-had a detrimental effect on performance. Moreover, this effect was observed only after limited practice, but not after extensive practice. Our findings support the notion of a novel type of context-dependent learning during initial motor skill acquisition and demonstrate that this context-dependence reduces with practice. It is proposed that a gradual development with practice from stimulus-driven to representation-driven sequence execution underlies this practice effect.     

The Role and Function of Criminologists within the Criminal Justice and Private Sector

Criminology gained prominence as an academic area of study because of the constant threat of crime and the social problems it highlights. Nonetheless, much doubt and criticism exists among professionals within social and human sciences regarding the role, application, value and contributions of criminologists. Criminology is informed by a combination of theory and empirical research enfolded into a body of knowledge on crime as a social phenomenon. In South Africa, criminologists have acquired a more practically oriented role in enhancing service delivery within the criminal justice and private sectors. This article aims to highlight the current (and potential) shift in practice for criminologists in South Africa.     

Memory for Movement in Blind Children

The author assessed the mechanisms underlying skilled production of keying sequences in the discrete sequence-production task by examining the effect of sequence length on mean element execution rate (i.e., the rate effect). To that end, participants (N = 9) practiced fixed movement sequences consisting of 2, 4, and 6 key presses for a total of 588 trials per sequence. In the subsequent test phase, the sequences were executed with and without a verbal short-term memory task in both simple and choice reaction time (RT) paradigms. The rate effect was obtained in the discrete sequence-production task—including the typical quadratic increase in sequence execution time (SET, which excludes RT) with sequence length. The rate effect resulted primarily from 6-key sequences that included 1 or 2 relatively slow elements at individually different serial positions. Slowing of the depression of the 2nd response key (R₂) in the 2-key sequence reduced the rate effect in the memory task condition, and faster execution of the 1st few elements in each sequence amplified the rate effect in simple RT. Last, the time to respond to random cues increased with position, suggesting that the mechanisms that underlie the rate effect in new sequences and in familiar sequences are different. The data were in line with the notion that coding of longer keying sequences involves motor chunks for the individual sequence segments and information on how those motor chunks are to be concatenated.     

Within‐Pair Consistency in Child Witnesses: The Diagnostic Value of Telling the Same Story

Judges and jurors often rely on consistency for assessing veracity. The present study examined the diagnostic value of within‐pair consistency to predict truth‐telling in pairs of children aged 8 to 10 years. Twenty‐three pairs were questioned about one experienced event and one imagined event (which they had discussed before questioning). Within‐pair consistency was significantly higher for experienced events than for imagined events. The diagnostic value of within‐pair consistency to predict truth‐telling was, however, modest: approximately one out of three judgments based on this cue would have been mistaken. Analyses of children's discussions of the imagined events revealed that interview questions about topics that had been discussed before questioning did not effectively discriminate experienced and imagined events, providing support for theoretical assumptions underlying the unanticipated‐question approach. Practical recommendations for police interviewers are provided. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Belief in conspiracy theories: The influence of uncertainty and perceived morality

In the present research, we examined people's tendency to endorse or question belief in conspiracy theories. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that the perceived morality of authorities influences conspiracy beliefs, particularly when people experience uncertainty. Study 1 revealed that information about the morality of oil companies influenced beliefs that these companies were involved in planning the war in Iraq, but only when uncertainty was made salient. Similar findings were obtained in Study 2, which focused on a bogus newspaper article about a fatal car accident of a political leader in an African country. It is concluded that uncertainty leads people to make inferences about the plausibility or implausibility of conspiracy theories by attending to morality information. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Classical Model of Science: a millennia-old model of scientific rationality

Throughout more than two millennia philosophers adhered massively to ideal standards of scientific rationality going back ultimately to Aristotle’s Analytica posteriora. These standards got progressively shaped by and adapted to new scientific needs and tendencies. Nevertheless, a core of conditions capturing the fundamentals of what a proper science should look like remained remarkably constant all along. Call this cluster of conditions the Classical Model of Science. In this paper we will do two things. First of all, we will propose a general and systematized account of the Classical Model of Science. Secondly, we will offer an analysis of the philosophical significance of this model at different historical junctures by giving an overview of the connections it has had with a number of important topics. The latter include the analytic-synthetic distinction, the axiomatic method, the hierarchical order of sciences and the status of logic as a science. Our claim is that particularly fruitful insights are gained by seeing themes such as these against the background of the Classical Model of Science. In an appendix we deal with the historiographical background of this model by considering the systematizations of Aristotle’s theory of science offered by Heinrich Scholz, and in his footsteps by Evert W. Beth.     

Retributive versus compensatory justice: Observers' preference for punishing in response to criminal offenses

In the current paper, the author examines whether independent observers of criminal offenses have a relative preference for either retributive justice (i.e., punishing the offender) or compensatory justice (i.e., compensating the victim for the harm done). In Study 1, results revealed that participants recommended higher sums of money if a financial transaction was framed as offender punishment (i.e., the offender would pay money to the victim) than if it was framed as victim compensation (i.e., the victim would receive money from the offender). In Study 2, participants were asked to gather information about court trials following three severe offenses to evaluate whether justice had been done in these cases. Results revealed that participants gathered more information about offender punishment than about victim compensation. In Study 3 these findings were extended by investigating whether observers' relative preference for punishing is moderated by emotional proximity to the victim. Results revealed that the relative preference for punishing only occurred among participants who did not experience emotional proximity to the victim. It is concluded that observers prefer retributive over compensatory justice, provided that they do not feel emotionally close to the victim. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contributions from associative and explicit sequence knowledge to the execution of discrete keying sequences

Research has provided many indications that highly practiced 6-key sequences are carried out in a chunking mode in which key-specific stimuli past the first are largely ignored. When in such sequences a deviating stimulus occasionally occurs at an unpredictable location, participants fall back to responding to individual stimuli (Verwey & Abrahamse, 2012). The observation that in such a situation execution still benefits from prior practice has been attributed to the possibility to operate in an associative mode. To better understand the contribution to the execution of keying sequences of motor chunks, associative sequence knowledge and also of explicit sequence knowledge, the present study tested three alternative accounts for the earlier finding of an execution rate increase at the end of 6-key sequences performed in the associative mode. The results provide evidence that the earlier observed execution rate increase can be attributed to the use of explicit sequence knowledge. In the present experiment this benefit was limited to sequences that are executed at the moderately fast rates of the associative mode, and occurred at both the earlier and final elements of the sequences.     

FROM AUTHORITY TO AUTHENTICITY: IRAS AND ZYGON IN NEW CONTEXTS

In the 60 years since IRAS was founded, and the 50 years since Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science started, science has developed enormously. More important, though less obvious, the character of religion has changed, at least in Western countries. Church membership has gone down considerably. This is not due to arguments, for example, about science and atheism, but reflects a change in sources of authority. Rather than the traditional and communal authority, an individualism that emphasizes “authenticity” characterizes religion and spirituality in our time. Less extensive but similar is the loss of authority with respect to science. As a consequence, “religion and science” might seek to provide attractive constructive proposals for visions that integrate an ethos and a worldview. IRAS might contribute by providing a platform for information and the exchange of proposals for a particular audience, while Zygon serves a global and diverse audience with well‐researched articles.     

Multidimensional Unfolding by Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling of Spearman Distances in the Extended Permutation Polytope

A multidimensional unfolding technique that is not prone to degenerate solutions and is based on multidimensional scaling of a complete data matrix is proposed: distance information about the unfolding data and about the distances both among judges and among objects is included in the complete matrix. The latter information is derived from the permutation polytope supplemented with the objects, called the preference sphere. In this sphere, distances are measured that are closely related to Spearman's rank correlation and that are comparable among each other so that an unconditional approach is reasonable. In two simulation studies, it is shown that the proposed technique leads to acceptable recovery of given preference structures. A major practical advantage of this unfolding technique is its relatively easy implementation in existing software for multidimensional scaling.