Comparing speed estimations from a moving vehicle in different traffic scenarios: absence versus presence of traffic flow

The aim of this research was to study the performance in a speed estimation task of a passenger travelling in a real car in different scenarios: a closed track used in previous experimental studies was compared with interurban traffic environment involving a secondary road and a highway. At the same time, the effect of sex and driving experience on speed estimation was analyzed. Thirty-six participants (18 male and 18 female, half of each group being drivers and half non-drivers) estimated the speed of the car in which they travelled as passengers. The actual speed values varied in the range of 40-100 km/h for the secondary road, 70-120 km/h for the highway condition, and 40-120 km/h for the track. The results obtained for the track in previous studies (Recarte and Nunes, 1996; Recarte, Conchillo, and Nunes, 2004, 2005) were replicated in the same condition and were also verified for the secondary road scenario. However, a different pattern of errors was found for the highway. From the viewpoint of psychophysics, the participants were more accurate on the without-traffic track than in real traffic conditions, considered as a whole. The differences found between road and highway are discussed. No effect was found for between- subject variables, sex, and driving experience.     

Importance of facial physical attractiveness of audiovisual models in descriptions and preferences of children and adolescents

We performed a cross-sectional study with three age groups (8, 14, and 17 years) to evaluate developmental differences in stereotyped beliefs about physical attractiveness and the value of this as perceived by the participants. Given the current importance of television in the development of social knowledge, television models were used. The children and adolescents were asked to evaluate, using bipolar open scales, the physical attractiveness, likeableness, generosity, intelligence, fun, and altruism of 12 television models of both sexes, previously selected by judges, as well as the desire to resemble or feel close to the models. Analysis showed developmental differences across age groups both in the concept of physical attractiveness and in stereotyped beliefs about this. As in other areas of social knowledge, the younger children's responses were bipolar, global, and much more stereotyped, while the adolescents introduced subtle distinctions and elaborated their responses. Nevertheless, physical attractiveness appeared a desirable characteristic for all age groups.     

Individual Breaches of Environmental Laws in Cases from Public Administration Files

The characteristics of environmental transgressions and transgressors involved in 1,505 files handled by 4 public administrations were assessed. These administrations were in charge of environmental law enforcement in a highly protected setting, across federal, state, island, and municipality jurisdictions. Special attention was given to the transgressors' written responses to administrative sanctions included in the files. These were analyzed integrating the approaches of neutralization techniques and of accounts as strategies of conflict management. Results suggest that most environmental transgressions under study were carried out by private individuals in the personal domain of everyday life, and that transgressors' accounts of environmental transgressions were short, straightforward, and questioned the legitimacy of the environmental law being broken.     

Some new features of interface roughening dynamics in paper-wetting experiments

Some new observations concerning the spatial-temporal dynamics of selfaffine interfaces formed in paper-wetting experiments are reported. We find that the motion of the wet front in a porous medium has a stepwise nature. The height of the wetted area, as a function of time, displays a Devil's-staircase-like behaviour with scaling exponent delta, whereas the front width oscillates erratically with time. These erratic oscillations possess a statistical self-affine invariance in time with the scaling exponent chi, which is found to be equal to the growth exponent beta. We also note that the values of chi, beta and delta, as well as the interface roughness (Hurst) exponent H vary from one experiment to another in wide ranges, and that their distributions obey a normal distribution. The mean values of all the exponents are dependent on the paper structure, but not on the environmental conditions. Furthermore, we find that the mean value of beta depends on the interface front orientation with respect to the fibre direction in the paper, whereas the mean values of H and delta do not depend on it.     

Diferencias individuales en autocontrol dentro del paradigma de tolerancia a la estimulación aversiva

Resumen

En esta investigación se evaluó el papel que juegan las diferencias individuales en una situación de tolerancia a la estimulación aversiva. Ochenta sujetos divididos en alto-autocontroladores y bajo-autocontroladores, según la puntuación obtenida en la Escala de Autocontrol de Rosenbaum, fueron sometidos a una prueba de presión por frío. Los objetivos fundamentales del estudio fueron: (1) comprobar si sujetos altos y bajos en autocontrol presentan diferencias al enfrentarse al cold-pressor en tolerancia y malestar percibido; (2) comprobar el tipo de estrategias que utilizan los sujetos altos y bajos para enfrentarse a la estimulación aversiva, y su eficacia; (3) comprobar si la utilización de una estrategia distractiva-agradable o de una estrategia que resalta la propia competencia del sujeto frente a la situación aversiva afecta diferencialmente a los sujetos altos y bajos en autocontrol en las medidas de tolerancia del sujeto frente a la situación aversiva afecta diferencialmente a los sujetos altos y bajos en autocontrol en las medidas de tolerancia y malestar percibido. Los resultados de los análisis de covarianza realizados no mostraron diferencias significativas entre los sujetos altos y bajos en autocontrol en el tiempo de tolerancia al agua helada, ni en el malestar percibido durante la prueba, aunque en esta última variable se encontró una interacción significativa entre grupos experimentales y niveles de autocontrol. Se discuten estos resultados.     

La cara y la emoción: datos para una réplica

Resumen

Este artículo es una réplica a los límites que pone Valle-Inclán a la universalidad de ciertas expresiones faciales de las emociones. Se rebate que el empleo de expresiones espontáneas, la falta de entrenamiento de los jueces y la técnica de recogida de los datos sean variables relevantes en los estudios de juicios. Además, se aportan datos de trabajos omitidos en el artículo objeto de la réplica que apoyan la tesis de la universalidad de diferentes expresiones faciales de las emociones.     

Overt head movements moderate the effect of depressive symptoms on mood regulation

A dysfunction in the regulation of negative mood states is one of the core symptoms of depression. Research has found that levels of depression are associated with the intensity of the mood-regulation deficit. The present study aimed to explore the role the body plays in mood-regulation processes. More specifically, we studied whether head movements can influence mood persistence in dysphoric states. Subsequent to a sad-mood induction, participants were presented with a set of positive pictures immediately after performing either vertical (i.e., nodding) or lateral (i.e., shaking) head movements. We considered changes in mood from before to after the experimental task as an index of the effectiveness of mood regulation. As expected, the results showed that higher initial levels of depressive symptoms were associated with greater persistence of sad mood. More importantly, this association was present in participants who shook their heads, but not in those who nodded. These results show that body movements can contribute to mood-regulation processes, thus expanding our knowledge of the psychopathology of mood disorders.     

Identity Construction as a Mother: A Comparative Study Between Adopted and Nonadopted Women

From a constructivist perspective we studied the experience of motherhood in a comparative study with 15 adopted women and 15 nonadopted women, all of them also biological mothers. We used the social self grid, and it was analyzed by means of the program RECORD 5.0 and also through content analysis. Results show similarities and differences between the two groups in the construction of identity as a mother. Although in both samples the self as a mother is constructed similarly to the self in their couple relationship, this is more evident in the case of adoptive daughters, and the difference is statistically significant. The meanings attributed to their own motherhood are similar in both samples and have to do with enjoying motherhood. Nonetheless, in the adoptive sample there are more constructs related to control and doing things right, and in the biological sample there are more constructs referring to naturalness and devotion. Moreover, in the adoptive sample there appears a higher presence of cognitive conflicts and lower self-esteem, and both results tend to significance.     

Using Arduino microcontroller boards to measure response latencies

Latencies of buttonpresses are a staple of cognitive science paradigms. Often keyboards are employed to collect buttonpresses, but their imprecision and variability decreases test power and increases the risk of false positives. Response boxes and data acquisition cards are precise, but expensive and inflexible, alternatives. We propose using open-source Arduino microcontroller boards as an inexpensive and flexible alternative. These boards connect to standard experimental software using a USB connection and a virtual serial port, or by emulating a keyboard. In our solution, an Arduino measures response latencies after being signaled the start of a trial, and communicates the latency and response back to the PC over a USB connection. We demonstrated the reliability, robustness, and precision of this communication in six studies. Test measures confirmed that the error added to the measurement had an SD of less than 1 ms. Alternatively, emulation of a keyboard results in similarly precise measurement. The Arduino performs as well as a serial response box, and better than a keyboard. In addition, our setup allows for the flexible integration of other sensors, and even actuators, to extend the cognitive science toolbox.     

A Function Acquisition Speed Test for Equivalence relations (Faster)

The Psychological Record - The current study employed a stimulus equivalence paradigm to assess the ability of the recently developed Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST) to measure the existence...