Are errors differentiable from deceptive responses when feigning memory impairment? An fMRI study

Previous neuroimaging studies have suggested that the neural activity associated with truthful recall, with false memory, and with feigned memory impairment are different from one another. Here, we report a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that addressed an important but yet unanswered question: Is the neural activity associated with intentional faked responses and with errors differentiable? Using a word list learning recognition paradigm, the findings of this mixed event-related fMRI study clearly indicated that the brain activity associated with intentional faked responses was different to the activity associated with errors committed unintentionally. For intentional faked responses, significant activation was found in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate region, and the precuneus. However, no significant activation was observed for unintentional errors. The results suggest that deception, in terms of feigning memory impairment, is not only more cognitively demanding than making unintentional errors but also utilizes different cognitive processes.     

A Qualitative and Quantitative Review of Antecedents of Counterproductive Behavior in Organizations

This paper presents a qualitative and quantitative review of the antecedents of counterproductive behaviors (CPB). The qualitative review organizes antecedents identified in past research into four broad categories: personal, organizational, work, and contextual factors. The quantitative review includes metaanalyses of 40 published studies with a combined sample size of 42,359. The results indicate that employees who are young or dissatisfied engage in more CPBs. In addition, absenteeism is more prevalent among employees who are young, female, have lower income, have lower job satisfaction, and who perceive a stronger absence norm, or a stronger ability to be on time.     

A graphic measure for game-theoretic robustness

Robustness has long been recognized as an important parameter for evaluating game-theoretic results, but talk of ‘robustness’ generally remains vague. What we offer here is a graphic measure for a particular kind of robustness (‘matrix robustness’), using a three-dimensional display of the universe of 2 ×  2 game theory. In such a measure specific games appear as specific volumes (Prisoner’s Dilemma, Stag Hunt, etc.), allowing a graphic image of the extent of particular game-theoretic effects in terms of those games. The measure also allows for an easy comparison between different effects in terms of matrix robustness. Here we use the measure to compare the robustness of Tit for Tat’s well-known success in spatialized games (Axelrod, R. (1984). The evolution of cooperation. New York: Basic Books; Grim, P. et al. (1998). The philosophical computer: Exploratory essays in philosophical computer modeling. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press) with the robustness of a recent game-theoretic model of the contact hypothesis regarding prejudice reduction (Grim et al. 2005. Public Affairs Quarterly, 19, 95–125).     

Human listeners provide insights into echo features used by dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) to discriminate among objects

Echolocating bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) discriminate between objects on the basis of the echoes reflected by the objects. However, it is not clear which echo features are important for object discrimination. To gain insight into the salient features, the authors had a dolphin perform a match-to-sample task and then presented human listeners with echoes from the same objects used in the dolphin's task. In 2 experiments, human listeners performed as well or better than the dolphin at discriminating objects, and they reported the salient acoustic cues. The error patterns of the humans and the dolphin were compared to determine which acoustic features were likely to have been used by the dolphin. The results indicate that the dolphin did not appear to use overall echo amplitude, but that it attended to the pattern of changes in the echoes across different object orientations. Human listeners can quickly identify salient combinations of echo features that permit object discrimination, which can be used to generate hypotheses that can be tested using dolphins as subjects.     

What children do on the Internet: domains visited and their relationship to socio-demographic characteristics and academic performance.

HomeNetToo is a longitudinal field study designed to examine the antecedents and consequences of home Internet use in low-income families. Participants included 140 children, mostly 13-year-old African American (83%) boys (58%), living in single-parent households (75%) where the median annual income was $15,000 (USD). This report focuses on children's Internet activities, socio-demographic characteristics related to their Internet activities, and the relationship between academic performance and Internet activities. Overall, findings indicate that low-income children initially use the Internet primarily for entertainment. As home Internet use loses its novelty children become more focused in their Internet activities, reducing the number of websites they visit and visiting more websites targeted to their specific interests. Pornography websites are popular initially, especially among boys, but their popularity decreases dramatically after 3 months. Age, race, and sex have little influence on which websites are most popular. Academic performance predicts subsequent Internet activities, and Internet activities predict subsequent academic performance. Directions for future research to identify mechanisms that mediate the relationship between Internet activities and academic performance and implications for the digital divide are discussed.     

Interfacial strengthening of β phase in a fully lamellar structure of TiAl alloy containing W

The strengthening of the β phase in two fully lamellar structures with different lamellar spacing of a Ti–48?at.%?Al–2?W?at.% alloy during creep deformation has been investigated. It was found that the β phase precipitates during aging treatments only within regions of α₂ lamellae following their dissolution. The strengthening of the β phase is more effective in the coarser lamellar structure, because the wider β precipitation zones, which replace the prior coarser α₂ lamellae, hinders dislocation motion stronger than the narrower ones.     

THE EFFECT OF PRINT ACCESS ON READING FREQUENCY

Studies on reading motivation have found that access to reading materials has an important influence on the amount students choose to read. There are few studies, however, that have examined print access in a comprehensive way to include home, school, and community resources. In this study, surveys and reading tests were administered to a class of eleventh-grade students (N = 24). Consistent with previous research, convenient access to reading material, regardless of a student's reading ability, was associated with more frequent reading. In addition, more voluntary or "free" reading was associated with higher levels of reading proficiency. Implications for providing students with easier access to reading materials are discussed.     

A potential inflating effect in estimation models: Cautionary evidence from comparing performance enhancing drug and herbal hormonal supplement use estimates

ObjectivesThis paper compares two indirect prevalence estimation methods that offer protection beyond anonymity and are suitable for self-administration, for investigating the epidemiology of transgressive or socially sensitive behaviours.DesignIn this self-report study, 513 participants (58.7% male) from sports clubs across the UK and southern Ireland were asked to complete an anonymous survey containing the recently developed Single Sample Count (SSC), along with a comparative method Unrelated Question Model (UQM), using prohibited performance-enhancing drugs/substances (PED) as sensitive and hormone-boosting herbal supplements (HS) as non-sensitive control questions.MethodThe survey comprised of sections of SSC, UQM, social projection and simple network scale up methods. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they preferred the SSC or UQM for more protection and ease of completion.ResultsA large discrepancy was observed in prevalence estimates for PED using the UQM (58.4%) and SSC (19.8%), but not for HS (54.9% and 54.0%, respectively). The SSC prevalence estimate for PED was in keeping with the results from social projection (13.8% in own sport; 26.1% in all sports) and network scale up (19.3% for known and suspected doping combined). A clear preference was logged for SSC.ConclusionSSC, but not UQM, showed good concurrent validity with social projection and personal networks for PED; and good discriminant validity with HS. The observed discrepancy could be explained by strategic responding which can inflate the proportion of ‘yes’ answers in the UQM. Adaptation of the UQM for self-administration may lead to an unwanted upward response distortion via strategic responding.     

Retrospective perceptual distortion of position representation does not lead to delayed localization

Previous studies have reported retrospective influences of visual events that occur after target events. In the attentional attraction effect, a position cue presented after a target stimulus distorts the target’s position towards that of the cue. The present study explored the temporal relationship between stimulus presentation and reaction time (RT) in this effect in two experiments. Participants performed a speeded localization task on two vertical lines, the positions of which were to be distorted by an additional attentional cue. No significant difference in RTs was found between the conditions with simultaneous and delayed cues. RTRT was modulated by the perceived (rather than physical) alignment of the lines. In Experiment 2, we manipulated the strength of attentional capture by modulating the color relevance of the cue to the target. Trials with cues producing stronger attentional capture (with cues of a different color from the targets) were found to induce apparently stronger distortion effects. This result favors the notion that the observed repulsion and attraction effects are driven by attentional mechanisms. Overall, the results imply that the attentional shift induced by the cue might occur rapidly and complete before the establishment of conscious location representation of the cue and the target without affecting overall response time.     

Predictors of Parental Communication and Cooperation Among Divorcing Spouses

The present study seeks to identify parental communication and cooperation as predictors of successful co-parenting in Israel during the divorce process. Self-report questionnaires assessing three types of predictors (parent personality characteristics, social and contextual factors and child characteristics) were completed by 123 divorcing mothers and 94 divorcing fathers. Two stepwise hierarchical regressions, one for parental communication and one for cooperation, showed that gender (female) and use of negotiation to resolve conflicts were the major predictors of both. These variables affected co-parenting both independently and in interaction with the personality characteristics of defense mechanism use and optimism. The differential contributions support the hypothesis of communication and cooperation as separate components of successful co-parenting, and the value of studying both. Clinically, these findings may be used to help improve co-parenting during divorce.