Intentional and automatic processing of numerical information in mathematical anxiety: testing the influence of emotional priming

ABSTRACT

Current theoretical approaches suggest that mathematical anxiety (MA) manifests itself as a weakness in quantity manipulations. This study is the first to examine automatic versus intentional processing of numerical information using the numerical Stroop paradigm in participants with high MA. To manipulate anxiety levels, we combined the numerical Stroop task with an affective priming paradigm. We took a group of college students with high MA and compared their performance to a group of participants with low MA. Under low anxiety conditions (neutral priming), participants with high MA showed relatively intact number processing abilities. However, under high anxiety conditions (mathematical priming), participants with high MA showed (1) higher processing of the non-numerical irrelevant information, which aligns with the theoretical view regarding deficits in selective attention in anxiety and (2) an abnormal numerical distance effect. These results demonstrate that abnormal, basic numerical processing in MA is context related.     

Comparative judgments of symbolic and non-symbolic stimuli yield different patterns of reaction times

Are different magnitudes, such as Arabic numerals, length and area, processed by the same system? Answering this question can shed light on the building blocks of our mathematical abilities. A shared representation theory suggested that discriminability of all magnitudes complies with Weber's law. The current work examined this suggestion. We employed comparative judgment tasks to investigate different types of comparisons — conceptual comparison of numbers, physical comparison of numbers and physical comparison of different shapes. We used 8 different size ratios and plotted reaction time as a function of these ratios. Our findings suggest that the relationship between discriminability and size ratio is not always linear, as previously suggested; rather, it is modulated by the type of comparison and the type of stimuli. Hence, we suggest that the representation of magnitude is not as rigid as previously suggested; it changes as a function of task demands and familiarity with the compared stimuli.     

Postulates for revising BDI structures

The process of rationally revising beliefs in the light of new information is a topic of great importance and long-standing interest in artificial intelligence. Moreover, significant progress has been made in understanding the philosophical, logical, and computational foundations of belief revision. However, very little research has been reported with respect to the revision of other mental states, most notably propositional attitudes such as desires and intentions. In this paper, we present a first attempt to formulate a general framework for understanding the revision of mental states. We develop an abstract belief-desire-intention model of agents, and introduce a notion of rationality for this model. We then present a series of formal postulates characterizing the processes of adding beliefs, desires, and intentions, updating costs and values, and removing beliefs, desires, and intentions. We also investigate the computational complexity of several problems involving the abstract model and comment on algorithms for revision.     

Victimization of Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual People in Childhood: Associations with Attempted Suicide

Higher rates of attempted suicide have been documented among people who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, and bisexual (LGB) compared with heterosexuals. This study sought to ascertain the association between childhood abuse and neglect and attempted suicide, comparing LGBs and heterosexuals. Childhood sexual abuse among men and childhood sexual and physical abuse among women were found to mediate the association between LGB identity and attempted suicide. The experience of childhood abuse likely plays a significant role in the relationship between LGB identity and attempted suicide, but other factors such as experience of discrimination are also important.     

The association between risky driver and pedestrian behaviors: The case of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish road users

This study examines associations between the risky behaviors of two types of road users: drivers and pedestrians. Whereas these behaviors have traditionally been investigated separately, the aim here was to examine the connection between them. The sample consisted of 518 drivers and non-drivers from the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel (a sector in which having a driver’s license is not the norm), who completed a series of questionnaires relating to their tendency to take risks as drivers and as pedestrians. Results indicate that individuals who have a driver’s license are more likely to take risks as pedestrians than those who do not. In addition, among those with a driver’s license, strong correlations were found between various driving measures and the inclination for risky behaviors as pedestrians, indicating that the riskier the individual’s driving behavior, the more he or she tended to report dangerous pedestrian behavior. The findings suggest that different kinds of road-use behaviors are not entirely distinct from each other in respect to the degree of risk involved. Thus, the tendency to cross the road dangerously and the tendency to drive dangerously may reflect a more general propensity to take risks, at least in the context of road use.     

Shifting attention among working memory representations: testing cue type, awareness, and strategic control

It is well known that visual working memory (VWM) performance is modulated by attentional cues presented during encoding. Interestingly, retrospective cues presented after encoding, but prior to the test phase also improve performance. This improvement in performance is termed the retro-cue benefit. We investigated whether the retro-cue benefit is sensitive to cue type, whether participants were aware of their improvement in performance due to the retro-cue, and whether the effect was under strategic control. Experiment 1 compared the potential cueing benefits of abrupt onset retro-cues relying on bottom-up attention, number retro-cues relying on top-down attention, and arrow retro-cues, relying on a mixture of both. We found a significant retro-cue effect only for arrow retro-cues. In Experiment 2, we tested participants' awareness of their use of the informative retro-cue and found that they were aware of their improved performance. In Experiment 3, we asked whether participants have strategic control over the retro-cue. The retro-cue was difficult to ignore, suggesting that strategic control is low. The retro-cue effect appears to be within conscious awareness but not under full strategic control.     

Manipulating Games by Sharing Information

We address the issue of manipulating games through communication. In the specific setting we consider (a variation of Boolean games), we assume there is some set of environment variables, the values of which are not directly accessible to players; the players have their own beliefs about these variables, and make decisions about what actions to perform based on these beliefs. The communication we consider takes the form of (truthful) announcements about the values of some environment variables; the effect of an announcement is the modification of the beliefs of the players who hear the announcement so that they accurately reflect the values of the announced variables. By choosing announcements appropriately, it is possible to perturb the game away from certain outcomes and towards others. We specifically focus on the issue of stabilisation: making announcements that transform a game from having no stable states to one that has stable configurations.     

Life events and internalizing problems among Chinese school children: An examination of the cognitive diathesis model

This study examined the cognitive diathesis model for child internalizing problems among 459 Chinese elementary school children in grades four to six. Life events were associated with beliefs about external control and threat perception bias, both of which were related to child internalizing problems. The relation of life events to internalizing problems was partially mediated by threat perception bias measured by ambiguous situation task. The main findings indicate that the cognitive diathesis theory for child internalizing problems might be applicable to Chinese children. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the internalizing problems of Chinese children, which can lead to use of more effective treatments.