Two-dimensional reward evaluation in mice

Animal Cognition - When choosing among multi-attribute options, integrating the full information may be computationally costly and time-consuming. So-called non-compensatory decision rules only...     

More Royalist Than the King? Immigration Policy Attitudes Among Naturalized Citizens

Social psychological research has analyzed immigration attitudes mostly from the perspective of natives without an immigrant background. Nevertheless, an increasing number of migrants obtain national citizenship and take a stance towards immigration policies. By studying immigration policy attitudes reported by naturalized citizens, this article develops a dual-pathway model of immigrant political incorporation featuring pathways of either absorption or transformation. Based on a unique sample of immigrants who just accomplished the naturalization procedure (N = 566), we investigate participants' preferences for permissive or restrictive immigration policies as a function of their naturalization motives and expectations about how immigrants should acculturate in the receiving society (i.e., acculturation orientations). Our findings provide evidence for both processes of political absorption and transformation. On the one hand, belongingness motives underlying naturalization were connected to orientations towards host culture adoption, which in turn predicted support for restrictive immigration policies. On the other hand, instrumental motives were connected to orientations towards heritage culture maintenance, which in turn predicted support for permissive immigration policies. To conclude, we discuss the social psychological dynamics involved in the transition from national outsiders to national insiders and highlight the effects of naturalization on power relations between national majority and immigrant minority groups.     

Changing the guard: new leadership for an established group

When the leader of an established therapy group decides to leave, the group may wish to continue with a new leader. This decision deserves careful exploration. The transfer of leadership to a new leader is a powerful event in a group. New leaders often experience strong countertransference reactions. Specific recommendations for new leaders include meeting individually with each continuing member, helping the group stabilize and process the meaning of the change, and developing ownership of the leader role. When managed successfully, a leadership transition can strengthen the group cohesion and offer important therapeutic opportunity.     

Evaluating fidelity: predictive validity for a measure of competent adherence to the Oregon model of parent management training

When efficacious interventions are implemented in real-world conditions, it is important to evaluate whether or not the programs are practiced as intended. This article presents the Fidelity of Implementation Rating System (FIMP), an observation-based measure assessing competent adherence to the Oregon model of Parent Management Training (PMTO). FIMP evaluates 5 dimensions of competent adherence to PMTO (i.e., knowledge, structure, teaching skill, clinical skill, and overall effectiveness) specified in the intervention model. Predictive validity for FIMP was evaluated with a subsample of stepfamilies participating in a preventive PMTO intervention. As hypothesized, high FIMP ratings predicted change in observed parenting practices from baseline to 12 months. The rigor and scope of adherence measures are discussed.     

An fMRI study on conceptual, grammatical, and morpho-phonological processing

The aim of the present study was to determine whether processing of syntactic word information (lemma) is subserved by the same neural substrate as processing of conceptual or word form information (lexeme). We measured BOLD responses in 14 native speakers of German in three different decision tasks, each focussing specifically on one level of lexical processing (conceptual, syntactic, and morpho-phonological). The test parameters were natural gender, grammatical gender, and word form derivation, respectively. Discrimination between words played backwards and complex sounds served as control task. Complex contrasts revealed a functional fractionation of the left inferior frontal gyrus for each level of lexical processing.     

The role of contextual cues in the haptic perception of orientations and the oblique effect

Blindfolded right-handed participants were asked to position, with the right hand, a frontoparallel rod to one of three orientations: vertical (0°) and left 45° and right 45° obliques. Simultaneously, three different backgrounds were explored with the left hand: smooth, congruent stripes (parallel to the orientation to be produced), or incongruent stripes (tilted relative to the orientation to be produced). The analysis of variable errors showed that the oblique effect (higher precision for the vertical orientation than for the oblique orientations) was weakened in the presence of contextual cues, because of an improvement in oblique precision. Moreover, the analysis of constant errors revealed that the perception of orientations erred in the direction of the stripes, similar to the effect that has been found with vision, where visual contextual cues (tilted frame or lines) divert the perception of the vertical. These results are discussed in relation to a patterncentric frame of reference hypothesis or as a congruency effect.     

An analysis of initial acquisition and maintenance of sight words following picture matching and copy cover, and compare teaching methods

This study compared the copy, cover, and compare method to a picture-word matching method for teaching sight word recognition. Participants were 5 kindergarten students with less than preprimer sight word vocabularies who were enrolled in a public school in the Pacific Northwest. A multielement design was used to evaluate the effects of the two interventions. Outcomes suggested that sight words taught using the copy, cover, and compare method resulted in better maintenance of word recognition when compared to the picture-matching intervention. Benefits to students and the practicality of employing the word-level teaching methods are discussed.     

Predicting risk sensitivity in humans and lower animals: risk as variance or coefficient of variation

This article examines the statistical determinants of risk preference. In a meta-analysis of animal risk preference (foraging birds and insects), the coefficient of variation (CV), a measure of risk per unit of return, predicts choices far better than outcome variance, the risk measure of normative models. In a meta-analysis of human risk preference, the superiority of the CV over variance in predicting risk taking is not as strong. Two experiments show that people's risk sensitivity becomes strongly proportional to the CV when they learn about choice alternatives like other animals, by experiential sampling over time. Experience-based choices differ from choices when outcomes and probabilities are numerically described. Zipf's law as an ecological regularity and Weber's law as a psychological regularity may give rise to the CV as a measure of risk.     

African American college women's suicide buffers

African American women have lower suicide rates than other women and men in the United States They may possess suicide buffers including social support, religiosity, negative attitudes regarding suicide acceptability, and African American culture. To examine the relationships buffers may have with suicide ideation, 300 African American female college students completed measures of suicide ideation and buffers. Three variables accounted for a significant and unique portion of the variance in suicide ideation: family support, a view that suicide is unacceptable, and a collaborative religious problem-solving style. The identification of these factors may help in the assessment, prevention, and intervention of suicide for African American women and other women and men.