Why 2 + 2 = 5 looks so wrong: On the odd-even rule in sum verification

The odd-even status of a sum depends on the odd-even status of its addends. A sum must be odd if an odd number of its addends are odd; else it must be even. A proposed sum that violates the required odd-even status of the sum—that is, deviates from the correct sum, whether odd or even, by an odd value (e.g., splits of ±1, ±3, ±5)—can be rejected immediately as false. Subjects in the present study did indeed use the odd-even rule in sum verification, because they were as fast and accurate in rejecting a split of ±1 as one of ±2, and a split of ±3 as one of ±4, even though a larger split generally is easier to reject (symbolic distance effect), and splits of ±3 and ±4 were rejected faster and more accurately than those of ±1 and ±2. Performance on separate odd-even tasks indicated that the odd-even properties of numbers and sums are readily available for use by adults, and that persons who do well on such tasks are especially likely to use the odd-even rule in sum verification.     

Depressed mood and environmental mastery as potential pathways linking family relationship quality and disease self-management for African Americans with hypertension

African Americans are at significantly greater risk of hypertension and worse cardiovascular outcomes than other racialized groups, yet hypertension intervention effects remain limited. Thus, it is necessary to understand the potential mechanisms whereby interventions may be more effectively targeted to improve health. Supported by prior research evidence and guided by the Biobehavioral Family Model, this study examined associations between family relationship quality, psychological wellbeing, and self-management behaviors for African Americans with hypertension. Data were pooled from three Midlife Development in the U.S. projects, resulting in a sample of 317 African Americans (63.4% female, M_age = 53.32) with self-reported high blood pressure in the past 12 months. We tested four cross-sectional multiple mediator models, with depressed mood and environmental mastery mediating associations between family strain and exercise, smoking, problematic alcohol use, and stress-eating. Environmental mastery mediated the association between greater family strain and decreased odds of achieving recommended exercise levels; greater odds of reporting problematic alcohol use; and greater stress-eating. Though family strain was associated with depressed mood in each model, this variable did not serve as an indirect pathway to self-management behaviors. Family strain, and the potential pathway identified via environmental mastery, may be a meaningful predictor of disease self-management for African Americans with hypertension. Longitudinal studies are needed to examine directionality and to support intervention trials for improving self-management and hypertension outcomes.     

Analysis of Religious Bias among Christian Students in Science

Christians are notably underrepresented in science in part due to long-standing public perceptions of science-religion incompatibility and antireligious bias in science. This research explores whether undergraduates at a Christian university perceive and impose anti-Christian cultural stigma in science. Survey results from 126 biology students revealed that though students generally perceived the culture of science to be anti-Christian, they perceived Christians to have equal opportunities for scientific achievement. Results from a quasi-experimental audit study, in which students evaluated one of two profiles for mock prospective Ph.D. applicants (Christian or undisclosed faith) showed that students did not project anti-Christian stereotypes in terms of competence, hireability, or likeability, but showed some evidence of pro-Christian favorability. Together, this study suggests that the affirmational community of a Christian University may alleviate some negative impacts of anti-Christian stereotypes in academic biology, even as students perceive discrimination against Christians in science and atheists as more scientifically competent.     

On the role of experience versus motivation in predicting the own-race effect

The other-race effect (ORE) is a longstanding phenomenon in experimental psychology, where recognition for same-race faces is superior than for other-race faces. The present research pits two competing theories of perceptual expertise and social motivation against each other to see which is the more robust predictor of the ORE. In Study 1, we measured Black and White participants' prior contact with individuals from the other-race (i.e. expertise) as well as their expected level of future interaction with other-race individuals (i.e. motivation). Of the two theories, anticipated interaction (i.e. motivation) emerged as a significant predictor of the ORE. Study 2 followed the same design, measuring motivation with a self-report assessment of how much participants are willing to have cross-race friendships. Here, neither experience nor motivation predicted the ORE, though an ORE was established. Differences in measures that assess motivation and the experience versus motivation debate are discussed.     

Further evaluation of prompt density,rate of reinforcement,and the persistence of manding

Previous research has evaluated the effects of prompt rates on the rate of communicative behavior. More recent research has suggested that dense prompting can result in communicative behavior that is more resistant to change. However, existing research has not considered the impact that higher response rates had on reinforcement rate, a variable known to impact response persistence. The current study systematically replicated previous research by evaluating communicative responding in contexts associated with dense- and lean-prompt schedules and extended existing research by (a) holding reinforcement rates similar across the two prompting schedules (lean and dense), and (b) evaluating the persistence of communicative responding in the contexts associated with each prompting schedule. The results for Experiment 1 clearly replicated and extended previous research. The results for Experiment 2 were equivocal and suggested that previous reinforcement history and response class size impacted outcomes.     

Evaluating public posting,goal setting,and rewards to increase physical activity in children

In this study, we evaluated several components of a pedometer-based intervention with children in an elementary-school-aged classroom, across 24-h sessions. The intervention included combinations of self-monitoring, goal setting, feedback, and reinforcement, and data were analyzed at both the classroom level (i.e., average daily step totals) and the individual level (i.e., daily step totals), across phases. The highest levels of physical activity were observed when components of self-monitoring, public posting, goal setting, and feedback with reward were applied concurrently.     

How infant-directed actions enhance infants’ attention,learning, and exploration: Evidence from EEG and computational modeling

When teaching infants new actions, parents tend to modify their movements. Infants prefer these infant-directed actions (IDAs) over adult-directed actions and learn well from them. Yet, it remains unclear how parents’ action modulations capture infants’ attention. Typically, making movements larger than usual is thought to draw attention. Recent findings, however, suggest that parents might exploit movement variability to highlight actions. We hypothesized that variability in movement amplitude rather than higher amplitude is capturing infants’ attention during IDAs. Using EEG, we measured 15-month-olds’ brain activity while they were observing action demonstrations with normal, high, or variable amplitude movements. Infants’ theta power (4–5 Hz) in fronto-central channels was compared between conditions. Frontal theta was significantly higher, indicating stronger attentional engagement, in the variable compared to the other conditions. Computational modelling showed that infants’ frontal theta power was predicted best by how surprising each movement was. Thus, surprise induced by variability in movements rather than large movements alone engages infants’ attention during IDAs. Infants with higher theta power for variable movements were more likely to perform actions successfully and to explore objects novel in the context of the given goal. This highlights the brain mechanisms by which IDAs enhance infants’ attention, learning, and exploration.