Trading off switch costs and stimulus availability benefits: An investigation of voluntary task-switching behavior in a predictable dynamic multitasking environment

In the present study, we introduce a novel, self-organized task-switching paradigm that can be used to study more directly the determinants of switching. Instead of instructing participants to randomly switch between tasks, as in the classic voluntary task-switching paradigm (Arrington & Logan, 2004), we instructed participants to optimize their task performance in a voluntary task-switching environment in which the stimulus associated with the previously selected task appeared in each trial after a delay. Importantly, the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) increased further with each additional repetition of this task, whereas the stimulus needed for a task switch was always immediately available. We conducted two experiments with different SOA increments (i.e., Exp. 1a = 50 ms, Exp. 1b = 33 ms) to see whether this procedure would induce switching behavior, and we explored how people trade off switch costs against the increasing availability of the stimulus needed for a task repetition. We observed that participants adapted their behavior to the different task environments (i.e., SOA increments) and that participants switched tasks when the SOA in task switches approximately matched the switch costs. Moreover, correlational analyses indicated relations between individual switch costs and individual switch rates across participants. Together, these results demonstrate that participants were sensitive to the increased availability of switch stimuli in deciding whether to switch or to repeat, which in turn demonstrates flexible adaptive task selection behavior. We suggest that performance limitations in task switching interact with the task environment to influence switching behavior.     

Sated but Thirsty: A Prolegomenon to Multidimensional Measures of Need-Based Justice

Axiomathes - In attempts to compare different distributions with regards to need, so-called “measures of need-based distributive justice” have emerged in recent years. Each of the...     

Acceptance of Illness Among Patients Pursuing Transplantation or Left Ventricular Assist Device

Acceptance of illness is related to better mental health among patients with chronic illness; however, this construct has not been evaluated as part of routine transplantation evaluations. The purpose of this study was to create a brief measure of acceptance of illness for patients pursuing organ transplantation and examine how acceptance is related to distress. Retrospective medical record reviews were conducted for 290 patients who completed a routine psychosocial evaluation prior to transplant listing which included the Illness Acceptance Scale (IAS). Internal consistency for the IAS was excellent (Cronbach’s alpha?=?.92). Illness acceptance was negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, and catastrophizing and was not related to health literacy or health numeracy. The IAS is a reliable and valid measure for patients who are pursuing thoracic transplant or left ventricular assist device. Clinicians may want to screen transplant candidates for illness acceptance and refer those with lower levels to psychological interventions.

     

Three Sibling Survivors’ Perspectives of their Father’s Suicide: Implications for Postvention Support

Journal of Child and Family Studies - This qualitative case study describes three adult siblings’ experiences and their perceptions of support connected with the time before and after their...     

Active hippocampus during nonconscious memories

The hippocampal formation is known for its importance in conscious, declarative memory. Here, we report neuroimaging evidence in humans for an additional role of the hippocampal formation in nonconscious memory. We maskedly presented combinations of faces and written professions such that subjects were not aware of them. Nevertheless, the masked presentations activated many of the brain regions that unmasked presentations of these stimuli did. To induce a nonconscious retrieval of the faces and face-associated occupational information, subjects were instructed to view the previously masked faces and to guess the professional category of each person--academic, artist, and workman. Guessing the professional category of previously masked versus new faces activated the left and right hippocampal formation and right perirhinal cortex as well as bilateral fusiform areas and fronto-temporal areas known to mediate the retrieval of semantic information. These activations within the semantic processing system suggest that conceptual knowledge acquired during masking was nonconsciously retrieved. Our data provide clues to an analogous role of the hippocampus in conscious and nonconscious memory.     

Understanding the Adoptive Family within the Context of Christian Hospitality

Abstract : Adoptive families can take many forms, yet there are similarities across adoptive family types that can be studied. Relevant research regarding the adoptive kinship network, openness and contact in adoption, family communication about adoption, adoption‐related curiosity and information‐seeking, and adoptive identity is reviewed. Christian hospitality is provided as a context within which adoptive families are formed and understood.     

Auditory disturbances promote temporal clustering of yawning and stretching in small groups of budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)

Yawning may serve both social and nonsocial functions. When budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) are briefly held, simulating capture by a predator, the temporal pattern of yawning changes. When this species is observed in a naturalistic setting (undisturbed flock), yawning and also stretching, a related behavior, are mildly contagious. On the basis of these findings, we hypothesized that a stressful event would be followed by the clustering of these behaviors in a group of birds, which may be facilitated both by a standard pattern of responding to a startling stressor and also contagion. In this study, we measured yawning and stretching in 4-bird groups following a nonspecific stressor (loud white noise) for a period of 1 hr, determining whether auditory disturbances alter the timing and frequency of these behaviors. Our results show that stretching, and to a lesser degree yawning, were nonrandomly clumped in time following the auditory disturbances, indicating that the temporal clustering is sensitive to, and enhanced by, environmental stressors while in small groups. No decrease in yawning such as found after handling stress was observed immediately after the loud noise but a similar increase in yawning 20 min after was observed. Future research is required to tease apart the roles of behavioral contagion and a time-setting effect following a startle in this species. This research is of interest because of the potential role that temporal clumping of yawning and stretching could play in both the collective detection of, and response to, local disturbances or predation threats.     

Juvenile Competency and Responsibility: Public Perceptions

The current study examined the relationship between knowledge of adolescent brain development and attitudes about juvenile competency, responsibility, likelihood to recidivate, and rehabilitative capacity. In addition, it examined what factors—a juvenile's age, the type of crime committed, or the immediacy of the crime—influenced participants' perceptions. Participants displayed some knowledge of adolescent brain development and social maturity, and tended to see adolescents as not ready, emotionally or psychologically, to handle the proceedings of adult court or a jury trial. However, a delay in criminal behavior (immediate vs. next morning) and type of victim (targeted vs. random) heavily influenced ratings of responsibility, likelihood to recidivate, and rehabilitative capacity. Implications for jury decision making and public policy are discussed.     

Mangy mutt or furry friend? Anthropomorphism promotes animal welfare

Recent research has demonstrated that people have an affinity for non-human entities that appear to have human qualities. The current studies build on this research, examining whether anthropomorphism can be used to promote animal welfare. In Study 1 (n = 42), participants read scenarios about dogs and reported more willingness to help the ones described with anthropomorphic language relative to those described with non-anthropomorphic language. In Study 2 (n = 57), participants rated dogs on either human or canine characteristics (e.g., good listener vs. good at listing to commands). Relative to the non-anthropomorphism condition, participants in the anthropomorphism condition reported more willingness to adopt dogs from a shelter, and more support for animal rights, animal welfare, and vegetarian and vegan attitudes. Moreover, these pro-animal attitudes fully mediated the effect of the anthropomorphism manipulation on willingness to adopt the dogs.