Experience in integrative negotiations: What needs to be learned?

In this research we focus on the roles of experience and understanding in fostering integrative negotiation performance. We report on two experiments in which we distinguish between understanding opponents’ general priorities among issues versus understanding their specific gains for particular offers. Although experience enhanced integrative performance even in the absence of understanding, we found that understanding the specific gains had an incremental effect on performance. We conclude that while generally acknowledging opponents’ interests is not sufficient, the additional inferential step of assessing their specific gains throughout the negotiation process is advantageous.     

Comparison of automated procedures for ARMA model identification

This article evaluates the performance of three automated proceduresfor ARMA modelidentification commonly available in current versions of SAS for Windows: MINIC, SCAN, and ESACF. Monte Carlo experiments with different model structures, parameter values, and sample sizes were used to compare the methods. On average, the procedures either correctly identified the simulated structures or selected parsimonious nearly equivalent mathematical representations in at least 60% of the trials conducted. For autoregressive models, MINIC achieved the best results. SCAN was superior to the other two procedures for mixed structures. For moving-average processes, ESACF obtained the most correct selections. For all three methods, model identification was less accurate for low dependency than for medium or high dependency processes. The effect of sample size was more pronounced for MINIC than for SCAN and ESACE SCAN and ESACF tended to select higher-order mixed structures in larger samples. These findings are confined to stationary nonseasonal time series.     

Income Inequality and Subjective Wellbeing: Trends,Challenges, and Research Directions

Research findings on the consequences of income inequality for subjective wellbeing (i.e. life satisfaction and happiness) remain inconclusive. Some researchers report a positive spill-over from income inequality, others report negative effects, and still others find no significant outcomes whatsoever. Therefore, it remains unclear whether people living in areas of high income disparity feel better off or less well off than people living in environments where everyone is more equal. This paper provides a critical discussion of recent research on the inequality-wellbeing link and suggests strategies for social scientists seeking new insights into the consequences of income inequality for subjective welfare.     

A theory-based approach to teaching young children about health: A recipe for understanding

The theory-theory account of conceptual development posits that children's concepts are integrated into theories. Concept learning studies have documented the central role that theories play in children's learning of experimenter-defined categories, but have yet to extensively examine complex, real-world concepts such as health. The present study examined whether providing young children with coherent and causally-related information in a theory-based lesson would facilitate their learning about the concept of health. This study used a pre-test/lesson/post-test design, plus a five month follow-up. Children were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: theory (i.e., 20 children received a theory-based lesson); nontheory (i.e., 20 children received a nontheory-based lesson); and control (i.e., 20 children received no lesson). Overall, the results showed that children in the theory condition had a more accurate conception of health than children in the nontheory and control conditions, suggesting the importance of theories in children's learning of complex, real-world concepts.     

A Simon effect with stationary moving stimuli

To clarify whether motion information per se has a separable influence on action control, the authors investigated whether irrelevant direction of motion of stimuli whose overall position was constant over time would affect manual left-right responses (i.e., reveal a motion-based Simon effect). In Experiments 1 and 2, significant Simon effects were obtained for sine-wave gratings moving in a stationary Gaussian window. In Experiment 3, a direction-based Simon effect with random-dot patterns was replicated, except that the perceived direction of motion was based on the displacement of single elements. Experiments 4 and 5 studied motion-based Simon effects to point-light figures that walked in place--displays requiring high-level analysis of global shape and local motion. Motion-based Simon effects occurred when the displays could be interpreted as an upright human walker, showing that a high-level representation of motion direction mediated the effects. Thus, the present study establishes links between high-level motion perception and action.     

The subjective tempo difference between interaural and monaural sequences as a function of sequence length

Previous research has demonstrated that the subjective tempo of sequences of clicks that alternate between ears is slower than that of nonalternating sequences. Although the stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) between the clicks are the same in both conditions, their perceptual onset asynchronies (POAs) differ by 25 msec at all SOA values between 40 and 2,130 msec. It has been suggested that this subjective tempo difference originates only after a few clicks have been processed. The present study shows this not to be the case: The POA difference between interaural and monaural click sequences could also be established with sequences comprising only a few clicks.     

Exploring the role of primary and supplementary motor areas in simple motor tasks with fNIRS

Studies employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have highlighted a covariation between the amplitude of hemodynamic responses recorded in primary and supplementary motor areas (M1 and SMA) and the duration of a motor task. A subset of these studies have hinted to a possible functional dissociation between processing carried out in these areas, with SMA primarily involved in action preparation, while M1 involved in action execution. This proposed functional dissociation was explored in the present study using a different technique--functional near-infrared spectroscopy--which enabled a finer-grained monitoring of the temporal characteristics of the hemodynamic response compared to fMRI. Here, hemodynamic responses in M1 and SMA were recorded in 7 participants during a right-finger-tapping task of short (1 s) or long (3 s) duration. Hemodynamic responses of larger amplitude were recorded from both contralateral M1 and SMA during long-duration than short-duration tapping. Furthermore, the analysis of the temporal profiles of these responses revealed a more sustained and prolonged activity for long-duration versus short-duration tapping in M1, but not in SMA. Rather than functionally dissociable areas, the present results are more compatible with the hypothesis that M1 and SMA subserve different, though strongly interacting, functional subroutines subtended in motor task preparation and execution.