Study of behavioural and neural bases of visuo‐spatial working memory with an fMRI paradigm based on an n‐back task

The goal of this study was to propose a new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm using a language‐free adaptation of a 2‐back working memory task to avoid cultural and educational bias. We additionally provide an index of the validity of the proposed paradigm and test whether the experimental task discriminates the behavioural performances of healthy participants from those of individuals with working memory deficits. Ten healthy participants and nine patients presenting working memory (WM) deficits due to acquired brain injury (ABI) performed the developed task. To inspect whether the paradigm activates brain areas typically involved in visual working memory (VWM), brain activation of the healthy participants was assessed with fMRIs. To examine the task's capacity to discriminate behavioural data, performances of the healthy participants in the task were compared with those of ABI patients. Data were analysed with GLM‐based random effects procedures and t‐tests. We found an increase of the BOLD signal in the specialized areas of VWM. Concerning behavioural performances, healthy participants showed the predicted pattern of more hits, less omissions and a tendency for fewer false alarms, more self‐corrected responses, and faster reaction times, when compared with subjects presenting WM impairments. The results suggest that this task activates brain areas involved in VWM and discriminates behavioural performances of clinical and non‐clinical groups. It can thus be used as a research methodology for behavioural and neuroimaging studies of VWM in block‐design paradigms.     

Who Knows? Knowledge Activation,Belief in Certainty of Knowledge,Maximization Tendencies and Need for Cognition in Answerability Judgments

In this study, investigating answerability judgments, 123 participants judged whether each of 46 general knowledge questions could currently be answered by themselves, by someone else, or by no one. There were 26 consensus questions (high expected consensus about their answerability) and 20 non-consensus questions. Before each question, half of the participants rated the extent of their knowledge related to the question. Results showed that answering consensus questions compared with non-consensus led to a lower proportion of “No one knows” answers. Moreover, in the knowledge rating condition compared with the control condition, participants choose “No one knows” proportionally less. Participants’ ratings of belief in certainty of knowledge were associated with more “Someone else knows” for the non-consensus questions. Moreover, tendency to maximization led to a higher proportion of “Someone else knows” options for the non-consensus questions. Finally, high need for cognition was associated with fewer choices of “Someone else knows.”     

The influence of natural contour and face size on the spatial frequency tuning for identifying upright and inverted faces

Psychological Research - It has previously been proposed that holistic face processing is based on low spatial frequencies (SFs) whereas featural processing relies on higher SFs, a hypothesis still...     

Reaffirming the poverty of the stimulus argument: a reply to the replies

Lidz, Waxman, and Freedman [Lidz, J., Waxman, S., & Freedman, J. (2003). What infants know about syntax but couldn’t have learned: Evidence for syntactic structure at 18-months. Cognition, 89, B65-B73.] argue that acquisition of the syntactic and semantic properties of anaphoric one in English relies on innate knowledge within the learner. Several commentaries have now been published questioning this finding. We defend the original finding by identifying both empirical and logical flaws in the critiques.     

A Structural Equation Model for the School Reinforcement Survey Schedule: Italian and American Early Adolescents

The School Reinforcement Survey Schedule (SRSS) was administered to 2,828 boys and girls in middle schools in the United States and an Italian translation was administered to 342 boys and girls in middle schools in Northern Italy. An exploratory factor analysis using half the American data set was performed using maximum likelihood estimation with a promax rotation. This analysis produced a structural equation model with six interpretable latent variables. This analysis was confirmed by results demonstrating a good fit with the other half of the American sample and separately with the Italian sample. Scores for the six latent variables were constructed and information about the distribution of scores was obtained. Multiple comparisons of the means were performed by gender, within each national sample, for each of the six latent variables. American and Italian girls report obtaining greater enjoyment from a wider variety of school activities compared to American and Italian boys.     

The Relationship Quality Interview: evidence of reliability, convergent and divergent validity, and incremental utility

Relationship satisfaction and adjustment have been the target outcome variables for almost all couple research and therapies. In contrast, far less attention has been paid to the assessment of relationship quality. The present study introduces the Relationship Quality Interview (RQI), a semistructured, behaviorally anchored individual interview. The RQI was designed to provide a more objective assessment of relationship quality as a dynamic, dyadic construct across 5 dimensions: (a) quality of emotional intimacy in the relationship, (b) quality of the couple's sexual relationship, (c) quality of support transactions in the relationship, (d) quality of the couple's ability to share power in the relationship, and (e) quality of conflict/problem-solving interactions in the relationship. Psychometric properties of RQI ratings were examined through scores obtained from self-report questionnaires and behavioral observation data collected cross-sectionally from a sample of 91 dating participants and longitudinally from a sample of 101 married couples. RQI ratings demonstrated strong reliability (internal consistency, interrater agreement, interpartner agreement, and correlations among scales), convergent validity (correlations between RQI scale ratings and questionnaire scores assessing similar domains of relationship quality), and divergent validity (correlations between RQI scale ratings and (a) behavioral observation codes assessing related constructs, (b) global relationship satisfaction scores, and (c) scores on individual difference measures of related constructs). Clinical implications of the RQI for improving couple assessment and interventions are discussed.