Phonological priming in auditory word recognition: when both controlled and automatic processes are responsible for the effects.

The phonological priming paradigm provides an interesting methodological tool for studying various components of the speech recognition process. However, concerns about response biases distorting the effects have been repeatedly voiced. This article reviews the main studies on priming and aims to distinguish effects under automatic processes from those under some level of strategic control. Both controlled and automatic processes appear to be responsible for the effects observed in phonological priming experiments. Nonetheless, with careful procedures, it is possible to separate them.     

Intertemporal choice--toward an integrative framework

Intertemporal choices are decisions with consequences that play out over time. These choices range from the prosaic--how much food to eat at a meal--to life-changing decisions about education, marriage, fertility, health behaviors and savings. Intertemporal preferences also affect policy debates about long-run challenges, such as global warming. Historically, it was assumed that delayed rewards were discounted at a constant rate over time. Recent theoretical and empirical advances from economic, psychological and neuroscience perspectives, however, have revealed a more complex account of how individuals make intertemporal decisions. We review and integrate these advances. We emphasize three different, occasionally competing, mechanisms that are implemented in the brain: representation, anticipation and self-control.     

Decomposing self‐estimates of intelligence: Structure and sex differences across 12 nations

This study examines the structure of self‐estimates of intelligence (SEI) across 12 nations (Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Iran, Israel, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, UK and US). Participants rated themselves on general and specific abilities from three popular models of intelligence: Gardner's multiple intelligences, Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence, and Goleman's emotional intelligence. The results showed that (a) laypeople across nations have similar and invariant concepts of intelligence, (b) concepts of intelligence are cross‐culturally closely related to academic notions of intellectual ability and (c) sex differences in general and specific SEI favouring men are consistent across countries. Male hubris and female humility in SEI seem independent of sex differences in actual cognitive ability and national levels of masculinity‐femininity. Furthermore, international mean differences in general SEI could not be attributed to discrepancies in national intelligence quotient (IQ) levels or to cultural variations.     

Determinants of Flu Vaccination among Nurses: The Effects of Group Identification and Professional Responsibility

Five hundred and thirty-one nurses completed a questionnaire assessing knowledge about the flu and flu vaccination, professional group identification, perception of the flu vaccination as a professional duty, previous year's vaccination status, intention to receive vaccination in the following year, and the extent to which motivation to accept vaccination is primarily for self-protection or for patient protection. Results showed that knowledge about the flu and flu vaccination constitutes a major reason for rejecting immunisation. Group identification also constitutes an independent predictor of vaccination. Furthermore, the effect of identification on willingness to receive the vaccination was partially mediated by perceived professional responsibility: the more nurses identified with their group, the more they perceived vaccination as a professional duty and, as a consequence, the more likely that they (a) had been vaccinated the previous year, (b) intended to be vaccinated in the following year, and (c) were motivated to be vaccinated for patient protection (but not for self-protection).     

Left gaze bias in humans, rhesus monkeys and domestic dogs

While viewing faces, human adults often demonstrate a natural gaze bias towards the left visual field, that is, the right side of the viewee’s face is often inspected first and for longer periods. Using a preferential looking paradigm, we demonstrate that this bias is neither uniquely human nor limited to primates, and provide evidence to help elucidate its biological function within a broader social cognitive framework. We observed that 6-month-old infants showed a wider tendency for left gaze preference towards objects and faces of different species and orientation, while in adults the bias appears only towards upright human faces. Rhesus monkeys showed a left gaze bias towards upright human and monkey faces, but not towards inverted faces. Domestic dogs, however, only demonstrated a left gaze bias towards human faces, but not towards monkey or dog faces, nor to inanimate object images. Our findings suggest that face- and species-sensitive gaze asymmetry is more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously recognised, is not constrained by attentional or scanning bias, and could be shaped by experience to develop adaptive behavioural significance.     

Misremembering colostomies? Former patients give lower utility ratings than do current patients.

Community members often evaluate health conditions more negatively than do the patients who have them. The authors investigated whether experience with a health condition reduces this discrepancy by surveying colostomy patients by mail (n = 195), some of whom (n = 100) had their colostomies reversed and normal bowel function restored. The authors also surveyed a community sample recruited via the Internet (n = 567). They then compared all 3 groups' utility value for life with a colostomy by using the time trade-off utility measure and by examining ratings of current quality of life. Despite having direct experience with the health condition, former colostomy patients provided much lower utility valuations than did current patients. In fact, their valuations were similar to those given by a community sample. Rather than accurately remembering their actual experiences with colostomies, the former patients may have applied a theory of how colostomies had influenced their lives; this is consistent with other research on theory driven recall bias.