Intrinsic motivation and attentional capture from gamelike features in a visual search task

In psychology research studies, the goals of the experimenter and the goals of the participants often do not align. Researchers are interested in having participants who take the experimental task seriously, whereas participants are interested in earning their incentive (e.g., money or course credit) as quickly as possible. Creating experimental methods that are pleasant for participants and that reward them for effortful and accurate data generation, while not compromising the scientific integrity of the experiment, would benefit both experimenters and participants alike. Here, we explored a gamelike system of points and sound effects that rewarded participants for fast and accurate responses. We measured participant engagement at both cognitive and perceptual levels and found that the point system (which invoked subtle, anonymous social competition between participants) led to positive intrinsic motivation, while the sound effects (which were pleasant and arousing) led to attentional capture for rewarded colors. In a visual search task, points were awarded after each trial for fast and accurate responses, accompanied by short, pleasant sound effects. We adapted a paradigm from Anderson, Laurent, and Yantis (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(25):10367-10371, 2011b), in which participants completed a training phase during which red and green targets were probabilistically associated with reward (a point bonus multiplier). During a test phase, no points or sounds were delivered, color was irrelevant to the task, and previously rewarded targets were sometimes presented as distractors. Significantly longer response times on trials in which previously rewarded colors were present demonstrated attentional capture, and positive responses to a five-question intrinsic-motivation scale demonstrated participant engagement.     

Let Go of Your (Inflated) Ego: Caring more about Others Reduces Narcissistic Tendencies

Narcissists are known for having excessively positive self‐views, but an equally defining characteristic of narcissism may be a disregard of other people. Could encouraging people to care more about others, or feel more connected to them, reduce narcissism? We describe a series of studies demonstrating that a more communal focus on others reduces narcissistic tendencies. In particular, repeating communal self‐statements (i.e., “I am a caring person”), recalling a time when one was caring, feeling empathy, focusing on monetary expenditures (which increases a sense of dependence on others), and interdependent self‐construal all situationally reduce narcissism. These effects occur on a small scale but are significant because they establish that communal focus causes changes in narcissism. They also suggest that narcissism may have a state‐like or context‐dependent component, fluctuating across time and situations. Everyone may have the propensity to be narcissistic, but caring more about others may help to curb narcissism.     

Secret Agent Society: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Transdiagnostic Youth Social Skills Group Treatment

Group programs are key for targeting social skills (SS) for children with developmental disorders and/or mental illness. Despite promising evidence regarding efficacy of group treatments, there are several limitations to current research regarding generalizability and effectiveness across diagnoses. This randomized control trial assessed whether the Secret Agent Society (SAS) group program was superior to treatment as usual (TAU) in improving social-emotional functioning for children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and/or anxiety. Eighty-nine youth (8–12) with ADHD, ASD, and/or an anxiety disorder receiving treatment at hospital-based outpatient clinics were randomized to receive SAS (n?=?47) or TAU (n?=?42) over a three-month period, at which point TAU participants were offered the SAS intervention. Parent report showed significant improvement in Emotion Regulation (ER) and Social Skills (SS) for youth in SAS vs. TAU (Fs?≥?6.79, ps?≤?01). Gains for the SAS condition were maintained at 6-months. Intent-to-treat analysis of teacher report indicated youth in SAS had positive gains in SS (F?=?0.41, p?=?0.475) and ER (F?=?0.99, p?=?0.322), though not significantly better than youth in TAU. Clinically reliable improvement rates were significantly higher for SAS participants than TAU for parent and teacher reported SS and ER. Improvements were significant for youth with single and comorbid diagnoses. Results suggest that SAS was superior to TAU in improving SS and ER for youth aged 8–12 with ADHD, ASD, and/or anxiety. Gains maintained in the medium-term. Trial registration number NCT02574273, registered 10/12/2015.

     

The Farage Quality of Life Measure for Consumer Products: Development and Initial Implementation

Despite the existence of numerous health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures, few if any are geared to evaluating the impact of consumer products. We describe the development and initial implementation of the Farage Quality of Life (FQoL™) general questionnaire, a self-administered questionnaire to assess the potential impact of a variety of consumer products on overall well-being and HRQoL. We developed the 27-item FQoL™ measure, scored on a Likert scale and covering Overall Quality of Life (1 item), Well-Being (12 items), and Energy and Vitality (14 items), and a 3-item Menstrual Module for use with menstruating women. We assessed test-retest reliability by administering the items twice to a sample of 20 women 3 days apart, calculating mean absolute differences in responses. Then, in a study of 119 women ages 18–55 years who were randomly assigned to use a new brand of menstrual pad vs. their usual menstrual pads for 1 menstrual period, we administered the FQoL™ questionnaire 5–7 days before their menstrual period and 5–7 days after the start of their period. We compared changes in responses within groups and between groups pre- vs. during menstruation. Overall, test-retest reliability was good, with a mean (SD) absolute difference for the 27 general items of 0.51 (0.31). In the menstrual pad study, the mean (SD) age of responders was 35.3 (7.9) years; 59 (50%) were age 18–35 and 60 (50%) were age 36–55. Relative to the intervention group, the usual pads group reported worse HRQoL during vs. pre-menstruation on items addressing self-confidence, managing stress, energy, and fatigue (P ≤ 0.05 for each comparison). In subgroup analyses, relative to intervention patients, women age 18-35 in the usual pads group reported greater changes for the worse during vs. pre-menstruation in managing stress; energy; and fatigue, but relatively better work or school attendance during vs. pre-menstruation, and women age 36–55 in the usual pads group reported greater changes for the worse in self-confidence and in desire to go out in public (P ≤ 0.03 for each comparison). The general FQoL™ is a new measure of HRQoL applicable to consumer product evaluation. It has good test-retest reliability. The FQoL™ menstrual module detects changes in HRQoL during vs. before the menstrual period associated with menstrual pad use. Further research is needed to assess the construct validity of the HRQoL.     

Epistemic Justice and a Role for Virtue in the Politics of Knowing

The dual aim of this article is to reveal and explain a certain phenomenon of epistemic injustice as manifested in testimonial practice, and to arrive at a characterisation of the anti–prejudicial intellectual virtue that is such as to counteract it. This sort of injustice occurs when prejudice on the part of the hearer leads to the speaker receiving less credibility than he or she deserves. It is suggested that where this phenomenon is systematic it constitutes an important form of oppression.     

The man who lost his body: Suboptimal multisensory integration yields body awareness problems after a right temporoparietal brain tumour

Reports on patients who lack ownership over their entire body are extremely rare. Here, we present patient SA who suffered from complete body disownership after a tumour resection in the right temporoparietal cortex. Neuropsychological assessment disclosed selective bilateral ownership problems, despite intact primary visual and somatosensory senses. SA's disownership seems to stem from a suboptimal multimodal integration, as shown by the rubber hand illusion and the beneficial effect during and after simple exercises aiming at multisensory recalibration.     

I—The Relativism of Blame and Williams's Relativism of Distance

Bernard Williams is a sceptic about the objectivity of moral value, embracing instead a qualified moral relativism—the 'relativism of distance'. His attitude to blame too is in part sceptical (he thought it often involved a certain 'fantasy'). I will argue that the relativism of distance is unconvincing, even incoherent; but also that it is detachable from the rest of Williams's moral philosophy. I will then go on to propose an entirely localized thesis I call the relativism of blame , which says that when an agent's moral shortcomings by our lights are a matter of their living according to the moral thinking of their day, judgements of blame are out of order. Finally, I will propose a form of moral judgement we may sometimes quite properly direct towards historically distant agents when blame is inappropriate— moral-epistemic disappointment. Together these two proposals may help release us from the grip of the idea that moral appraisal always involves the potential applicability of blame, and so from a key source of the relativist idea that moral appraisal is inappropriate over distance.