Multidimensional scaling of musical time estimations

The aim of this study was to identify the psycho-musical factors that govern time evaluation in Western music from baroque, classic, romantic, and modern repertoires. The excerpts were previously found to represent variability in musical properties and to induce four main categories of emotions. 48 participants (musicians and nonmusicians) freely listened to 16 musical excerpts (lasting 20 sec. each) and grouped those that seemed to have the same duration. Then, participants associated each group of excerpts to one of a set of sine wave tones varying in duration from 16 to 24 sec. Multidimensional scaling analysis generated a two-dimensional solution for these time judgments. Musical excerpts with high arousal produced an overestimation of time, and affective valence had little influence on time perception. The duration was also overestimated when tempo and loudness were higher, and to a lesser extent, timbre density. In contrast, musical tension had little influence.     

Modularity and hierarchical organization of action programs in children's acquisition of graphic skills

The organization of actions is based on modules in memory as a result of practice, easing the demand of performing more complex actions. If this modularization occurs, the elements of the module must remain invariant in new tasks. To test this hypothesis, 35 children, age 10 yr., practiced a graphic criterion task on a digital tablet and completed a complex graphic task enclosing the previous one. Total movement and pause times to draw the figure indicated skill acquisition. A module was identified by the variability of relative timing, pause time, and sequencing. Total movement to perform the criterion task did not increase significantly when it was embedded in the more complex task. Modularity was evidenced by the stability of relative timing and pause time and sequencing. The spatial position of new elements did not perturb the module, so the grammar of action may still have been forming.     

Metabolic costs of aggressive behaviour in the Siamese fighting fish,Betta splendens

Aggressive conflicts between males are often resolved by means of multiple ritualized agonistic displays without damaging escalation. Apparently, in such cases by using those displays opponents exchange important motivational and physical information on which they base a decision to stay or leave the interaction. In the Siamese fighting fish, the time spent spreading the dorsal fin and erecting the gill coverts predicts who will be the winner or loser of the interaction. Two experiments were carried out to study whether display performance might be costly. First, oxygen consumption was measured during mirror‐image stimulation. This experiment showed that oxygen consumption was positively correlated with gill cover erection and dorsal fin spread. In the second experiment, a fight between two opponents was simulated and the oxygen consumption of the expected winner and loser was compared. Metabolic rates were not different between winners and losers before and during the fight, but winners showed higher oxygen consumption in the night after the fight. These results are in accordance with costs of display performance and with long‐lasting physiological consequences of winning or losing a fight. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–7, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Self-reference is a fast-acting automatic mechanism on emotional word processing: evidence from a masked priming affective categorisation task

This study examined the impact of self-referential information at early stages of emotional word processing using an affective masked-priming paradigm in which positive (e.g, espetacular[awesome]) and negative (e.g., horrível[awful]) trait-adjectives were preceded by briefly primes that could be self-related (Eu sou[I am]), other-related (Ela é[She is]), or a control (%%%%%). Trait-adjectives were selected from female norms and only females participants were used to control for sex differences. Results showed that positive words were categorised faster when preceded by self-related primes than by other-related primes, though not control primes. Negative trait-adjectives were not modulated by the type of prime, even though participants were slower when they were preceded by other-related than by control primes. These findings demonstrate that taking the other-perspective entails a cost, and that the amount of priming produced by self-related and control primes was virtually the same, thus suggesting that assuming the self-perspective is a cognitively effortless process.     

Influences of handedness and gender on the grooved pegboard test

We studied performance on the Grooved Pegboard Test upon repeated trials and transfer of training between the hands in the first trial. The classification of handedness was based on the writing hand. We employed three trials for each hand and two different protocols for the order in which the hands started the test. For the three trials combined, women were faster than men. From the first to the second trial, there was an improvement in performance for both sexes. Within the first trial, sex differences reached significance and the protocol interacted with handedness. In this trial, only left-handed men were found to benefit from previous opposite-hand performance. It is speculated that a larger corpus callosum in left-handed men allows for the greater transfer of training between the hands.     

Mood changes after maximal exercise testing in subjects with symptoms of exercise dependence

Considering exercise has positive and negative reinforcing properties, the mood states of sedentary, nonexercise-dependent and exercise-dependent volunteers were compared after maximal exercise testing. Mood status was evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory, Trait-State Anxiety Inventory, and Profile of Mood States (POMS). No differences were detected before the test or after it, indicating little possibility of positive reinforcement. However, a significant reduction in the POMS Tension-Anxiety scores was observed in both exerciser groups (greater in the exercise-dependent group) but not in the sedentary group. Only in the exercise-dependent group were significant reductions in Anger and Total Mood Disorders scores observed compared with their pre-exercise scores. These data suggest that exercising has stronger negative reinforcement properties for exercise-dependent volunteers and is a factor which could increase the odds of their becoming dependent on exercise.     

L’impact du leadership participatif sur la réduction de l’incertitude et la satisfaction des besoins psychologiques des conseillers de Pôle Emploi

This study examines the extent to which the impact of participative leadership on emotions and on the satisfaction of psychological needs is mediated by a reduction in uncertainty among its collaborators. Among counsellors at Pôle Emploi, 108 were questioned on their perceptions of leadership, their uncertainties (i.e. role ambiguity, need for closure) and on indicators of psychological functioning at work (i.e. emotions and satisfaction/frustration of needs). The results reveal that only participative leadership is positively associated with our indicators of good psychological functioning and that this relationship is mediated by the ability of this type of leadership to regulate the uncertainty usually associated with organizational change. These results are discussed in relation to recent approaches to leadership in times of uncertainty.     

Argumentation Analytics for Treatment Deliberations in Multimorbidity Cases: An Introduction to Two Artificial Intelligence Approaches

Multimorbidity, the presence of multiple health conditions that must be addressed, is a particularly difficult situation in patient management raising issues such as the use of multiple drugs and drug-disease interactions. Clinical Guidelines are evidence-based statements which provide recommendations for specific health conditions but are unfit for the management of multiple co-occurring health situations. To leverage these evidence-based documents, it becomes necessary to combine them. In this paper, using a case example, we explore the use of argumentation schemes to reason and combine evidence-based recommendations from clinical guidelines, expected effects, conflicts stemming from said recommendations, and preferences regarding treatment goals. We compare the results of reasoning using the schemes for practical reasoning and argument from negative consequences in the Carneades Argumentation System with those of ASPIC-G, an extension of the artificial intelligence system ASPIC+.

     

Effective use of the blank comparison procedure in simple discrimination by infant capuchin monkeys: A methodological note

In studies of simple and conditional discrimination, procedures are needed to measure those aspects of stimuli that control behavior. The blank comparison procedure is one such procedure. It was designed explicitly for assessing S+ and S- functions when discriminative stimuli are presented simultaneously. In this procedure, a neutral stimulus serves sometimes as S+ and sometimes as S-. Its discriminative function is defined in relation to other stimuli in the display. The present study aimed to prepare 2 infant female capuchin monkeys for the effective use of the blank comparison procedure in a simple discrimination task. First, simple discrimination training was applied up to a stable accuracy criterion of ≥90%. This training was followed by the replacement of S+ and then of S- stimuli with new stimuli. Ultimately, trials with the blank comparison were introduced. Following this sequence, both monkeys immediately displayed highly accurate blank-comparison performances without the need for stimulus control shaping or other preparatory discrimination training. Thus, this procedure sequence may be an efficient, effective method for establishing blank-comparison baselines for experimental analyses of S+/S- discriminative functions and perhaps for other applications in teaching simple and conditional discrimination performances to this species and others.     

Mental Health of Parents of Children with Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome in Brazil

This study aims to analyze the potential impact of taking care of a child with congenital Zika virus syndrome (CZS) on the mental health of parents. Specifically, three objectives were formulated: (a) to assess the level of mental health of the parents; (b) to examine the influence of subjective well-being and fatigue as predictors of parents’ mental health; and (c) to identify the impact of sociodemographic variables on parents’ mental health. Sixty-nine mothers (M_age?=?26.38; SD?=?6.23) and 17 fathers (M_age?=?31.41; SD?=?7.57) of children diagnosed with CZS took part in this study. They answered a questionnaire containing measures of positive and negative affects, life satisfaction, fatigue, mental health, as well as sociodemographic questions. The results indicated that approximately 7% of the participants had low levels of mental health and probable emotional disorder. In addition, higher levels of fatigue and negative affects and lower levels of life satisfaction significantly predict a lower level of mental health. Finally, comparative analysis showed significant differences between fathers and mothers: mothers reported experiencing fewer positive and more negative affects, a lower level of satisfaction with life, a higher level of fatigue and worse mental health. In summary, this article presents an overview of the mental health of mothers and fathers of children with CZS and points the way to devising strategies for psychological intervention that promote the adaptation of parents to this kind of developmental disability in the family.