Hypothetical and certain inferences from conditional arguments read in texts

In 3 experiments, affirmative and hypothetical probes were presented after narrative texts containing conditional arguments. According to the data, readers represented modus ponens deductions as certain, except when it was only a weakly necessary cause of a given effect. They represented any logically invalid inferences resulting from affirming the conditional consequent as hypothetical, except when it was the effect of strongly sufficient cause. Accordingly, readers must be processing conditional syntax as an asymmetric constraint. However, the underlying causal knowledge can be sufficient either to discredit or warrant the inferences. Thus according to the theory of natural logic, readers can draw formal deductions and be convinced of their necessity. This provides further evidence that readers can represent their inferences as hypothetical (N. Campion, 2004).     

Mortality salience and the desire for offspring

Research on terror management theory (TMT) illustrates that following mortality salience (MS) people defend their cultural worldviews and bolster self-esteem to transcend death. Recently, research additionally showed that MS increased self-reports of the number of children desired in Dutch men but not in Dutch women. We conducted three studies to further investigate the role of desire for offspring in terror management. In Study 1, we conceptually replicated previous findings for Germany and found increased desire for offspring following MS in both men and women. Extending prior research Study 2 revealed that following MS not only was the accessibility of death-related thoughts increased, but also the accessibility of thoughts related to offspring. Finally, Study 3 suggested that the MS effect on ingroup bias was eliminated under conditions of offspring salience. Relating these findings to TMT, anticipated or actual offspring is discussed as a buffer against existential anxiety.     

The role of goal representation in preschoolers' flexibility and inhibition

This study addressed the role of goal representation in preschoolers’ inhibition and flexibility performance. A total of 56 4- and 5-year-olds were tested in an adapted version of the Shape School task where the difficulty of goal representation was manipulated by varying the degree of transparency of task cues. The findings showed that both age groups’ performance in the flexibility phase was increased when demands on goal representation were alleviated by using transparent cues instead of arbitrary cues. Furthermore, 4-year-olds performed more accurately on go trials in the inhibition phase with transparent cues than with arbitrary cues. These results confirm the critical role of goal representation in flexibility and reveal its influence in inhibition contexts. Altogether, this study suggests that goal representation is a key element for efficient executive function across a variety of settings involving different executive functions.     

A study in the cognition of individuals' identity: solving the problem of singular cognition in object and agent tracking

This article compares the ability to track individuals lacking mental states with the ability to track intentional agents. It explains why reference to individuals raises the problem of explaining how cognitive agents track unique individuals and in what sense reference is based on procedures of perceptual-motor and epistemic tracking. We suggest applying the notion of singular-files from theories in perception and semantics to the problem of tracking intentional agents. In order to elucidate the nature of agent-files, three views of the relation between object- and agent-tracking are distinguished: the Independence, Deflationary and Organism-Dependence Views. The correct view is argued to be the latter, which states that perceptual and epistemic tracking of a unique human organism requires tracking both its spatio-temporal object-properties and its agent-properties.     

Holding your flag: The effects of exposure to a regional symbol on people's behavior

Research has shown that exposure to the national flag alters people's behavior and political and intergroup judgments. In several field studies conducted in an area of France with a strong regional identity, we examined the effect of the presence of the regional flag versus the national flag versus no flag on behaviors. Various situations (e.g., money solicitation, implicit helping behavior, food tasting) were tested in Brittany, on the French west Atlantic coast. Car drivers, passersby in the street, and patrons in bakeries were exposed to no flag versus the French flag versus the Brittany flag held by requesters or presented on a product or on a car. Findings showed that the regional flag increased helping behavior dramatically. Other studies also revealed that the presence of the Brittany flag reduced aggressiveness and influenced preference for food products. The power of a flag as a symbol that could increase in‐group membership is discussed.     

Adult age differences in inhibitory processes and their predictive validity for fluid intelligence

According to the inhibition-deficit hypothesis age differences in working memory capacity and fluid intelligence have been attributed to a decline in inhibitory efficiency. Conceptualizing inhibition as multifaceted, 88 participants (49 younger and 39 elderly) completed two versions of the negative priming paradigm (identification and localization), and two variants of the directed forgetting paradigm (listwise and itemwise). Two tasks of the Wechsler Intelligence Test with high loadings on general fluid intelligence (Gf) served as validation criteria. Results revealed task-specific and speed-independent inhibitory deficits in the elderly (lower negative priming in both paradigms; more intrusions in the directed forgetting tasks), as well as higher levels of repetition priming. Significant correlations between measures of inhibition and the Wechsler scores were found in both age groups. Results support the view of multiple inhibitory-like capabilities that play a central role in the decline of higher-order cognitive functions in old age.     

A kinematic and dynamic comparison of surface and underwater displacement in high level monofin swimming

Fin swimming performance can be divided into underwater and surface water races. World records are about 10% faster for underwater swimming vs. surface swimming, but little is known about the advantage of underwater swimming for monofin swimming. Some authors reported that the air–water interface influences the kinematics and leads to a narrow vertical amplitude of the fin. On the one hand, surface swimming is expected to affect drag parameters (cross-sectional area (S) and active drag (AD)) when compared to underwater swimming. On the other hand, the surface swimming technique may also affect efficiency (η_F). The aim of this study is therefore to evaluate and compare drag parameters and efficiency during underwater and surface swimming. To this end, 12 international level monofin swimmers were measured during both underwater and surface swimming. Kinematic parameters (both dimensional and non-dimensional), η_F (calculated according to the Elongated-Body Theory), and AD (computed with Velocity Perturbation Method) were calculated for an underwater and a surface fin swimming trial, performed at maximal speed. As expected, results showed significantly lower velocities during surface swimming vs. underwater  = 2.5 m s⁻¹ vs.  = 2.36 m s⁻¹, p < .01). Velocities during underwater and surface swimming were strongly correlated (r = .97, p < .01). Underwater swimming was also associated with higher vertical amplitudes of the fin compared to surface swimming ( = 0.55 m vs. ) = 0.46 m, p < .01). Length-specific amplitudes (A_under/L_b) were in the order of 20% during underwater swimming as for undulating fish, and significantly higher than during surface swimming (A_surf/L_b = 17%, p < .01). Efficiency for surface swimming was about 6% lower than for underwater swimming ( = 0.79 vs.  = 0.74, p < .01). This decrease could be associated with an increase in swimming frequency for surface swimming ( = 2.15 Hz vs.  = 2.08 Hz, p < .01). Active drag during surface swimming was about 7% higher than for underwater swimming ( = 78.9 N vs.  = 84.7 N, p < .01). A significantly smaller cross-sectional area for surface swimming ( = 0.053 m² vs.  = 0.044 m², p < .01) and higher drag coefficient for surface swimming ( = 0.47 vs.  = 0.69, p < .01) were measured. Finally, correlation between cross-sectional area and vertical amplitude of the fin was reported for both underwater and surface swimming. These results suggest that the performance improvement during underwater swimming is not only linked to a wave drag reduction effect but also to a specific swimming technique due to the free surface.     

Why does social dominance orientation decrease with university exposure to the social sciences? The impact of institutional socialization and the mediating role of “geneticism”

Why does university exposure to a hierarchy‐attenuating (HA) academic major (e.g., social science) lead to a decrease in anti‐egalitarianism and group domination (social dominance orientation, SDO)? The reason for this well‐documented phenomenon remains unclear. In the social sciences, the origins of differences in both behavior and personality are attributed more to social and environmental factors than to genetic ones. We hypothesized that the normative and informational influences of this academic major would lead to perceptions that genes have a less important role than nurture in the shaping of human behavior and personality. Our main hypothesis was confirmed. Decreased SDO among psychology students was mediated significantly by a decrease in belief in genetic determinism, the factor we called “geneticism.” Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-reported adjustment of teenagers at soccer training centers: the Soccer Trainee Adjustment Scale

The aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire to measure adjustment of teenagers at soccer training centers, particularly newcomers. The Soccer Trainee Adjustment Scale was adapted from the Institutional Integration Scale and assesses the trainee's adjustment to operating and social activities. The scale was tested on a sample of 136 trainees from four soccer centers. Exploratory analysis indicated that the 13 items formed five factors: peer adjustment, boarding supervisor adjustment, soccer adjustment, scholastic adjustment, and boarding adjustment. These factors had internal consistency reliability ranging from .76 to .94.     

Influence of suggestion in the DRM paradigm: what state of consciousness is associated with false memory?

We assessed the effect of suggestion on the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm and associated it with the Remember–Know–Guess paradigm. Undergraduate students were given either lists of semantically related words or texts containing these words. After the recall task, if participants did not produce the critical lure, the experimenter suggested that the word had been present, using either a question (moderate suggestion) or an assertion (strong suggestion); these conditions were compared to a condition without suggestion. Afterwards, participants took a recognition test. The results showed that strong suggestions lead to more false recognitions than other conditions and the state of consciousness associated with false recognitions tends to be a feeling of knowing rather than remembering, regardless of the verbal version (list or text). Therefore moderate suggestions did not lead to more false recognitions compare to no suggestion. We discuss the impact of suggestion on consciousness associated with false memories.