Interference produces different forgetting rates for implicit and explicit knowledge

Exposure to a repeating set of target strings generated by an artificial grammar in a speeded matching task generates both explicit and implicit knowledge. Previous research has shown that implicit knowledge (assessed via a priming measure) is preserved after a retention interval of one week but explicit knowledge (assessed via recognition) is significantly reduced. In two experiments, we replicated and extended Tunney's findings. Experiment 1 was a partial replication of the experiment conducted by Tunney, and demonstrated that the decline in recognition shown by Tunney was not due to a repetition of test items at the pre and post times of assessment. In addition, Experiment 1 lends credibility to Tunney's assumption that recognition scores assess explicit rather than implicit knowledge. Experiment 2 extended Tunney's findings theoretically by demonstrating that interference can produce the pattern of findings demonstrated in the present Experiment 1 as well as in Tunney.     

Perpetuating Gender Inequality via the Internet? An Analysis of Women’s Presence in Spanish Online Newspapers

This study examines women’s representation in Spanish national online newspapers. For this purpose, we developed an automatic content analysis method to analyze an extensive sample of 34,235 news articles gathered from March to May 2006. Our general objective was to investigate possible gender bias in Spanish online news. To do so we focused on three journalistic routines, one at the individual level of the reporter (gender) and two at the media routine level (sections, publication day, and article length). The results of the estimated multivariate models revealed that women are still linked to traditionally “female” sections, such as people, society, and culture. Analysis of article length and publication day showed that women appear more frequently in shorter news items and in the Sunday news, which we interpreted as indicators of male association with newsworthiness. We also found differences in gender reporting since female journalists tend to include more women in the news they report than their male peers. These results provide evidence that online newspapers continue to perpetuate underrepresentation, stereotyping, and discrimination of women in web news thereby reinforcing gender inequality.     

Knowing your audience affects male–male interactions in Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens)

Aggressive interactions between animals often occur in the presence of third parties. By observing aggressive signalling interactions, bystanders may eavesdrop and gain relevant information about conspecifics without the costs of interacting. On the other hand, interactants may also adjust their behaviour when an audience is present. This study aimed to test how knowledge about fighting ability of an audience affects aggressive interactions in male Siamese fighting fish. Subjects were positioned between two dyads of non-interacting males and allowed to observe both dyads shortly before the view to one of the dyads was blocked, and the dyads were allowed to interact. Subjects were subsequently exposed to an unknown opponent in the presence of either the winner or the loser of the seen or unseen interaction. The results suggest a complex role of the characteristic of an audience in the agonistic behaviours of a subject engaged in an interaction. The presence of a seen audience elicited more aggressive displays towards the opponent if the audience was a loser. This response was different in the presence of an unseen audience. Subjects then directed a higher aggressiveness against their opponent if the audience was a winner. These results also suggest a potentially more complex and interesting process allowing individuals to gain information about the quality and threat level of an unknown audience while it is interacting with a third party. The importance of information acquisition for an individual to adapt its behaviour and the role of communication networks in shaping social interactions are discussed.     

What kind of discipline is psychoanalysis?

Current controversies involving clinical, conceptual and empirical research shed light on how psychoanalysis confronts its nature and its future. Some relevant debates in which Wallerstein, Green, Hoffman, Eagle and Wolitzky, Safran, Stern, Blass and Carmeli, and Panksepp have participated are examined regarding the characteristics of their argumentation. Agreements and disagreements are explored to find ways that could have allowed the discussion to progress. Two foci are highlighted in these debates: (a) whether a clinical common ground exists in psychoanalysis and what kind of procedure could contribute to further clarification; (b) complementation of in‐clinical and extra‐clinical evidence. Both aspects are scrutinized: the possibility of complementing diverse methodologies, and the nature of the shared clinical evidence examined in clinical discussion groups such as those promoted by the IPA Clinical Observation Committee. The importance of triangulation and consilience is brought to bear regarding their contribution to the robustness of psychoanalysis. So as to strengthen a critical perspective that enhances the discipline's argumentative field, psychoanalysis should take into account arguments from different sources according to their specific merits. By doing this, psychoanalysis increases its relevance within the current interdisciplinary dialogue.     

TENI: A comprehensive battery for cognitive assessment based on games and technology

TENI (Test de Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil) is an instrument developed to assess cognitive abilities in children between 3 and 9 years of age. It is based on a model that incorporates games and technology as tools to improve the assessment of children’s capacities. The test was standardized with two Chilean samples of 524 and 82 children living in urban zones. Evidence of reliability and validity based on current standards is presented. Data show good levels of reliability for all subtests. Some evidence of validity in terms of content, test structure, and association with other variables is presented. This instrument represents a novel approach and a new frontier in cognitive assessment. Further studies with clinical, rural, and cross-cultural populations are required.     

Emotional Valence Precedes Semantic Maturation of Words: A Longitudinal Computational Study of Early Verbal Emotional Anchoring

We present a longitudinal computational study on the connection between emotional and amodal word representations from a developmental perspective. In this study, children's and adult word representations were generated using the latent semantic analysis (LSA) vector space model and Word Maturity methodology. Some children's word representations were used to set a mapping function between amodal and emotional word representations with a neural network model using ratings from 9-year-old children. The neural network was trained and validated in the child semantic space. Then, the resulting neural network was tested with adult word representations using ratings from an adult data set. Samples of 1210 and 5315 words were used in the child and the adult semantic spaces, respectively. Results suggested that the emotional valence of words can be predicted from amodal vector representations even at the child stage, and accurate emotional propagation was found in the adult word vector representations. In this way, different propagative processes were observed in the adult semantic space. These findings highlight a potential mechanism for early verbal emotional anchoring. Moreover, different multiple linear regression and mixed-effect models revealed moderation effects for the performance of the longitudinal computational model. First, words with early maturation and subsequent semantic definition promoted emotional propagation. Second, an interaction effect between age of acquisition and abstractness was found to explain model performance. The theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.     

Socio-technical communication: The hybrid space and the OLB model for science-based cyber education

Lessons from safety-critical sociotechnical systems, such as aviation and acute medical care, demonstrate the importance of the human factor and highlight the crucial role of efficient communication between human agents. Although a large proportion of fatal incidents in aviation have been linked to failures in communication, cognitive engineering provides the theoretical framework to mitigate risks and increase performance in sociotechnical systems not only in the civil sector, but also in the military domain. Conducting cyber operations in multidomain battles presents new challenges for military training and education as the increased importance of psychological factors such as metacognitive skills and perspective-taking both in lower and higher ranking staff, becomes more apparent. The Hybrid Space framework (Jøsok et al., 2016) provides a blueprint for describing the cognitive and behavioral constraints for maneuvering between socio-technical and cyber-physical systems whilst cooperating, coordinating or competing with accompanying cognitive styles in the chain of command. We apply the Hybrid Space framework to communicative challenges in the military cyber domain and suggest a three-phase Orienting, Locating, Bridging model for safe and efficient communication between partners. Based on the educational principles of the Norwegian Defence Cyber Academy, we discuss the required skill-sets and knowledge in which cyber officer cadets are trained and taught early in their education, and how these refer to the theoretical framework of the Hybrid Space and the key principles of communication as defined in cognitive engineering.     

Culture and the distinctiveness motive: constructing identity in individualistic and collectivistic contexts

The motive to attain a distinctive identity is sometimes thought to be stronger in, or even specific to, those socialized into individualistic cultures. Using data from 4,751 participants in 21 cultural groups (18 nations and 3 regions), we tested this prediction against our alternative view that culture would moderate the ways in which people achieve feelings of distinctiveness, rather than influence the strength of their motivation to do so. We measured the distinctiveness motive using an indirect technique to avoid cultural response biases. Analyses showed that the distinctiveness motive was not weaker-and, if anything, was stronger-in more collectivistic nations. However, individualism-collectivism was found to moderate the ways in which feelings of distinctiveness were constructed: Distinctiveness was associated more closely with difference and separateness in more individualistic cultures and was associated more closely with social position in more collectivistic cultures. Multilevel analysis confirmed that it is the prevailing beliefs and values in an individual's context, rather than the individual's own beliefs and values, that account for these differences.