When the brain simulates stopping: Neural activity recorded during real and imagined stop-signal tasks

It has been suggested that mental rehearsal activates brain areas similar to those activated by real performance. Although inhibition is a key function of human behavior, there are no previous reports of brain activity during imagined response cancellation. We analyzed event-related potentials (ERPs) and time–frequency data associated with motor execution and inhibition during real and imagined performance of a stop-signal task. The ERPs characteristic of stop trials—that is, the stop-N2 and stop-P3—were also observed during covert performance of the task. Imagined stop (IS) trials yielded smaller stop-N2 amplitudes than did successful stop (SS) and unsuccessful stop (US) trials, but midfrontal theta power similar to that in SS trials. The stop-P3 amplitude for IS was intermediate between those observed for SS and US. The results may be explained by the absence of error-processing and correction processes during imagined performance. For go trials, real execution was associated with higher mu and beta desynchronization over motor areas, which confirms previous reports of lower motor activation during imagined execution and also with larger P3b amplitudes, probably indicating increased top-down attention to the real task. The similar patterns of activity observed for imagined and real performance suggest that imagination tasks may be useful for training inhibitory processes. Nevertheless, brain activation was generally weaker during mental rehearsal, probably as a result of the reduced engagement of top-down mechanisms and limited error processing.     

A multiple‐stimulus‐without‐replacement assessment for sexual partners: Purchase task validation

The current study developed and tested a multiple‐stimulus‐without‐replacement (MSWO) assessment for potential sexual partners for use in research on human immunodeficiency virus. College students (N = 41) first completed an MSWO assessment and then completed a hypothetical purchase task for encounters with partners identified by the MSWO as high, median, and low preference. Overall, hypothetical purchase task responding was consistent with that from the MSWO, in that the highest valuation was observed for the high‐preference partner and the lowest for the low‐preference partner. Potentially interesting individual differences in purchase task responding, however, were obtained; some subjects showed differentiated responding among the 3 preference levels (n = 15), whereas others similarly valued high‐ and median‐preference partners (n = 5), and others similarly valued low‐ and median‐preference partners (n = 18).     

Mission and Discipleship from the Perspective of Gender and Indigenous Culture

The presence and history of Indigenous Peoples present special problems for mission and missiology and requires some rethinking of basic concepts and the cultural location of mission. Because the next World Mission Conference will take place in Tanzania, this article looks more carefully at the basis of mission, the experience of Indigenous Peoples with missions, and the New Testament warrent for mission. In the latter we find, particularly in the gospel narratives of the resurrection appearances of Jesus and his sending of the disciples the particular and exemplary role of women. These narratives offer some guidance for framing mission with Indigenous Peoples and in relation to colonial legacies and global capitalism.     

Engagement,Flow, Self-Efficacy,and Eustress of University Students: A Cross-National Comparison Between the Philippines and Argentina

This study examined how self-efficacy, eustress, and flow interact with academic engagement. First, it aimed to test a theoretical model that proposes that self-efficacy and eustress promote both flow and engagement and that, in turn, the state of flow promotes academic engagement in undergraduate student. We hypothesized that the theoretical model would be invariant for two countries: the Philippines and Argentina. Secondly, this research aimed to compare the levels of self-efficacy, eustress, study-flow and academic engagement experiences in students from both countries. One hundred seventy-six Filipinos and 171 Argentinean students participated in the study by completing inventories using the Utrecht Student Engagement Scale (Schaufeli, Martínez, et al., 2002), Optimal Experience Survey (Mesurado, 2008), Self-efficacy Scale (O’Sullivan, 2011), and Eustress Scale (O’Sullivan, 2011). Results show that the theoretical model fits the data well in both countries and is invariant across the Philippines and Argentina. Self-efficacy has a positive effect on flow and engagement, whereas eustress has a significant positive relationship with flow but is not directly associated with engagement. However, eustress has an indirect effect, through flow, on student engagement. On the other hand, there are different levels of engagement, flow, self-efficacy, and eustress. Argentinean students scored higher on absorption, dedication, self-efficacy, and flow. Filipino students, meanwhile, scored higher on eustress.     

Educational Leadership Reconsidered: Arendt,Agamben, and Bauman

In this paper we claim educational leadership as an autonomous discipline whose goals and strategies should not mirror those typical of business and political leadership. In order to define the aims proper to educational leadership we question three common assumptions of what it is supposed to carry out. First, we turn to Hannah Arendt and her contemporary critics to maintain that education aims at opening up exceptions within the normal course of events rather than simply preserving it. This way, education is not reduced to an instrument at the service of the reinforcement of a given social and economic system. This leads us to ask what should exactly educational leadership oppose by means of these exceptions. According to Tyson E. Lewis’s wise application to education of Giorgio Agamben’s ontology of impotentiality, the apparently reasonable idea that education must help the subject to develop his potentials is precisely an instrumentalization of education which brings about a desubjectification of the learner. Education should actually make the pupil aware of his right not to carry his potentiality to its actualization and dwell instead in a state of impotentiality. Third and last, we complicate this picture by alluding to Zygmunt Bauman’s critique of the rejection of Western individuals to realize certain possibilities, which they deem too costly. By analysing in conjunction Agamben’s encouragement to suspend one’s potential and Bauman’s insistence on the need of not suspending it, we conclude by defining what, in our opinion, defines the raison d’être of educational leadership.     

Foucauldian Imprints in the Early Works of Ian Hacking

Ian Hacking has defined himself as a philosopher in the analytic tradition. However, he has also recognized the profound influence that Michel Foucault had on much of his work. In this article I analyse the specific imprint of certain works by Foucault—in particular Les mots et les choses—in two of Hacking’s early works: Why Does Language Matter to Philosophy? and The Emergence of Probability. I propose that these texts not only share a debt of Foucauldian thought, but also are part of what I believe is Hacking’s central project: the analysis of the historical and situated conditions of possibility for the emergence of concepts and of objects, inspired also by the French philosopher’s thought.     

The governance of religious diversity in stateless nations: the case of Catalonia

Academic literature dealing with the governance of religious diversity in Europe has gained saliency in recent years. However, most existing research is based on state-level policies, while the role of regional government is receiving far less attention. To address this lacuna, this article focuses attention on the role of the regional government in the regulation of religious diversity in Catalonia. The article reflects on the increasing relevance of religious affairs in the Catalan policy agenda and examines the emergence and configuration of a specific, distinct and prominent regional policy programme on religious diversity. The case of Catalonia is especially relevant since its ongoing nation-building project bestows additional complexity and strategic relevance on the policy approach towards religious issues.     

Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence: Relationship with Personality,Prosociality and Well-Being

Appreciation of beauty and excellence (ABE) is one of the least studied character strengths. Therefore, this study aims at advancing the knowledge in this area by (1) developing a scale that measures the three categories of appreciation (i.e., beauty, moral excellence, and non-moral excellence), (2) assessing many of its psychometric properties, and (3) examining the relationship of ABE with personality, prosociality, and well-being. In Study 1, we create and assess an initial set of items measuring ABE. In Study 2, we examine the dimensionality of ABE, and test the internal consistency and validity of the scale. Moreover, we assess the relationships between ABE and personality, prosociality and well-being. In Study 3, we test the temporal stability of the scale. Results revealed that a three-dimensional model of ABE showed the best fit to the data. The scale showed good validity (construct, factorial, incremental) and reliability (internal and temporal). Finally, ABE yielded positive associations with prosociality and well-being, and demonstrated to be more than a linear combination of the Big Five factors of personality.     

Should we rely on the Kenward–Roger approximation when using linear mixed models if the groups have different distributions?

The study explores the robustness to violations of normality and sphericity of linear mixed models when they are used with the Kenward–Roger procedure (KR) in split‐plot designs in which the groups have different distributions and sample sizes are small. The focus is on examining the effect of skewness and kurtosis. To this end, a Monte Carlo simulation study was carried out, involving a split‐plot design with three levels of the between‐subjects grouping factor and four levels of the within‐subjects factor. The results show that: (1) the violation of the sphericity assumption did not affect KR robustness when the assumption of normality was not fulfilled; (2) the robustness of the KR procedure decreased as skewness in the distributions increased, there being no strong effect of kurtosis; and (3) the type of pairing between kurtosis and group size was shown to be a relevant variable to consider when using this procedure, especially when pairing is positive (i.e., when the largest group is associated with the largest value of the kurtosis coefficient and the smallest group with its smallest value). The KR procedure can be a good option for analysing repeated‐measures data when the groups have different distributions, provided the total sample sizes are 45 or larger and the data are not highly or extremely skewed.     

Patterns of engagement: the relationship between efficacy beliefs and task engagement at the individual versus collective level

This study examines the relationship between efficacy beliefs and task engagement in and over time, at both the individual and collective levels. We conducted latent growth curve analyses using data from 372 university students (individual level) who were assigned to one of 79 e‐work groups (collective level). The participants carried out three collaborative tasks in a laboratory setting. Results reveal, at both levels, that the level of task engagement of participants and groups with high initial levels of efficacy beliefs remained stable, whereas the level of task engagement of participants and groups with low initial levels of efficacy beliefs decreased significantly over time. Moreover, the relationships linking the parallel constructs were functionally equivalent across levels. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed from the perspective of Bandura's social cognitive theory.