“To‐be‐forgotten” statements become less true: Memory processes involved in selection and forgetting lead to truthfulness changes of ambiguous sentences

What happens when people try to forget something? What are the consequences of instructing people to intentionally forget a sentence? Recent studies employing the item‐method directed forgetting paradigm have shown that to‐be‐forgotten (TBF) items are, in a subsequent task, emotionally devaluated relative to to‐be‐remembered (TBR) items, an aftereffect of memory selection (Vivas, Marful, Panagiotidou & Bajo, 2016). As such, distractor devaluation by attentional selection generalizes to memory selection. In this study, we use the item‐method directed forgetting paradigm to test the effects of memory selection and inhibition on truth judgments of ambiguous sentences. We expected the relative standing of an item in the task (i.e., whether it was instructed to be remembered or forgotten) to affect the truthfulness value of that item, making TBF items less valid/truthful than TBR items. As predicted, ambiguous sentences associated with a “Forget” cue were subsequently judged as less true than sentences associated with a “Remember” cue, suggesting that instructions to intentionally forget a statement can produce changes in the validity/truthfulness of that statement. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show an influence of memory processes involved in selection and forgetting on the perceived truthfulness of sentences.     

Lifestyle traits as predictors of driving behaviour in urban areas of Greece

The aim of this study was to examine possible links between different lifestyle patterns and aberrant driver’s behaviour. Personal interviews were conducted in a representative sample of 324 adults (18–65), all residents of Crete. Aberrant driver’s behaviour was assessed by the ‘driver behaviour questionnaire’ (DBQ). Also to measure different dimensions of lifestyle, first, a 26-items questionnaire was used, and second, three questions measuring ‘driving without destination’, related in previous findings with road accident risk. Four lifestyle patterns: ‘religion/tradition’, ‘driving aimlessly’, ‘sports’ and ‘culture’ are significant predictors of ordinary violations. ‘Driving without destination’ has a significant effect all three DBQ factors (b positive). ‘Religion/tradition’ was related only to ordinary violations (b negative) and ‘sports’ has a positive impact on ordinary violations and a negative impact on ‘errors’. Two lifestyle factors are related to more dangerous driving: ‘Driving without destination’ and/or pursuing a more ‘athletic way of living’. Road safety campaigns must teach the first group to use other hobbies and activities to vent their feelings and the second, not to overestimate their abilities, while driving.     

Amniocentesis Due to Advanced Maternal Age: The Role of Marital Intimacy in Couples’ Decision-Making Process

Due to the risk of fetal anomaly, pregnant women of advanced maternal age are given the option to undergo amniocentesis. In our study we aimed to describe couples’ decision-making process regarding amniocentesis, and assess whether it is influenced by marital intimacy and men’s participation in genetic counseling. During pregnancy, 112 couples answered the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships questionnaire and scales regarding the decision to undergo amniocentesis. Most couples shared and reached an agreement regarding this decision. Higher levels of marital engagement and communication, but not men’s participation, were associated with higher agreement, influence, and decision-sharing. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Congruence of the Marital Relationship During Transition to Parenthood: A Study with Couples Who Conceived Spontaneously or Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies

In this study we examined the congruence between partners’ perceptions of their marital relationship during the transition to parenthood and the effect of depression during pregnancy on couples’ congruence during the early postpartum period. Thirty-one couples who conceived spontaneously, along with thirty-five who conceived through assisted reproductive technologies (ART), provided data on their marital relationship and depression at their 24th pregnancy week and four months after the partum. All couples reported a decrease in marital congruence. Couples who conceived through ART reported lower marital congruence. For these subjects, women’s depression was associated with lower congruence. Interventions that focus on strengthening the marital relationship across the transition to parenthood should assess and promote couples’ congruence.     

Territorial gain dynamics regulates success in attacking sub-phases of team sports

Background and objective

Field invasion games, such as rugby union, can be conceptualised as dynamic social systems in which the agents continuously interact to contest ball possession and territorial gain. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify the collective system dynamics of rugby union phases-of-play near the try line by investigating whether ball displacement trajectory on the playing field provides insights on successful team performance.

Methods

Five rugby union matches were videotaped involving teams at a national league performance level. From these matches, 22 second phases-of-play were selected and digitized for analysis. The variable “distance gained” was investigated as a potential coordination variable describing functional coordination between players and teams. This variable concerned the distance between ball initial position and ball current position over time and was used to define the degree of territory gained by an attacking team.

Results

Analysis of distance gained dynamics in attacking sub-phases demonstrated the intermittent character of rugby union performers displacement trajectories on the playing field. Amplitude of ball movements was revealed as a distinguishing feature related to attacking effectiveness. Successful attacking phases displayed lower distances of positional retreat, with the maximum retreat distance achieved sooner in successful compared to unsuccessful phases-of-play. Autocorrelation and ApEn analyses suggested low system variability within time series data concerning both performance outcomes. However, evidence of less regularity and more complexity was found in unsuccessful phases-of-play.

Conclusion

Results suggested that distance gained dynamics manifests a characteristic collective behaviour pattern that captures the macroscopic functional order of multi-player attack–defence systems in team sports like rugby union.     

Training and transfer effects of executive functions in preschool children

Executive functions, including working memory and inhibition, are of central importance to much of human behavior. Interventions intended to improve executive functions might therefore serve an important purpose. Previous studies show that working memory can be improved by training, but it is unknown if this also holds for inhibition, and whether it is possible to train executive functions in preschoolers. In the present study, preschool children received computerized training of either visuo‐spatial working memory or inhibition for 5 weeks. An active control group played commercially available computer games, and a passive control group took part in only pre‐ and posttesting. Children trained on working memory improved significantly on trained tasks; they showed training effects on non‐trained tests of spatial and verbal working memory, as well as transfer effects to attention. Children trained on inhibition showed a significant improvement over time on two out of three trained task paradigms, but no significant improvements relative to the control groups on tasks measuring working memory or attention. In neither of the two interventions were there effects on non‐trained inhibitory tasks. The results suggest that working memory training can have significant effects also among preschool children. The finding that inhibition could not be improved by either one of the two training programs might be due to the particular training program used in the present study or possibly indicate that executive functions differ in how easily they can be improved by training, which in turn might relate to differences in their underlying psychological and neural processes.     

A computerized test for the assessment of mild cognitive impairment subtypes in sentence processing

This study examines thesentence processing ability of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subtypes. In addition to standard MCI neuropsychological tests, an experimental approach was applied to assess language. 133 people (93 MCI/40 controls) participated in novel computerized sentence processing tasks. Results presented statistically significant differences between MCI/controls andMCI subtypes (ANOVA):(a) duration F(2,92) = 19.259,p < .001) in sentence construction; (b) correct answers (F(2, 89) = 8.560,p < .001) and duration (F2,89) = 15.525,p < .001)in text comprehension; (c) correct answers (F(2, 92) = 8.975,p < .001) andduration (F(2, 92) = 4.360,p = .016) in metaphoric sentences comprehension; (d) correct answers (F(2, 92) = 12.836,p < .001) andduration (F(2, 92) = 10.974,p < .001) in verb form generation. Subtle changes in MCIsubtypes could affect sentence processing and provide useful information for cognitive decline risk estimation and screening purposes.     

Irrational Option Exclusion

In this paper, I describe a hitherto overlooked kind of practical irrationality, which I call irrational option exclusion. An agent who suffers from this problem does not merely fail to act on her best judgement – she fails to realize that the superior action is even an option for her. I furthermore argue that this kind of irrationality is serious enough to undermine moral responsibility. I show that an agent suffering from this problem has compromised reasons-responsiveness, does not really express her will through action, and has a hard time doing otherwise; thus, from the standpoint of several popular moral responsibility theories, we ought to conclude that her responsibility is at the very least diminished.