Understanding Evaluations of Foreigners in Modern South Africa: The Relationship Between Subjective Wellbeing and Xenophobia

Recent and recurrent violence against immigrants in South Africa highlight the prevalence of xenophobia in the country. Is there a relationship between attitudes towards immigrant sentiment and life satisfaction at the individual level in that nation? Life satisfaction could be a proxy for anxiety, social alienation or insecurity which may be driving xenophobic sentiment. Using data from the 2013 South African Social Attitudes Survey, this paper examines the relationship between attitudes towards immigrants and life satisfaction (measured using the Personal Wellbeing Index). The study focuses exclusively on the attitudes of the country’s Black African majority. Bivariate and multivariate analysis found that life satisfaction did not have a strong relationship with pro-immigrant sentiments. Objective measures of socio-economic status (such as educational attainment) did not have a significant relationship with attitudes towards immigrants. Although improving subjective wellbeing among Black Africans is a worthwhile policy goal in of itself, the findings of this study suggest that addressing xenophobia among this group will require focus on other areas. Intergroup contact, interracial attitudes and perceptions about the consequences of immigration were found to be stronger predictors of pro-immigrant sentiment than life satisfaction. There was some evidence of `outsider solidarity ‘in the study—isiTsonga speakers and members of the ethnolinguistic Black African minority were more pro-immigrant in sentiment than other groups. The implications of this finding on the study of pro-immigration attitudes are discussed in the conclusion.     

Growth curve models in retrospective memory and prospective memory: the relationship between prediction and performance with task experience

Older adults commonly experience declines in episodic memory that affect their daily lives. The aim was to examine whether the acquired metacognitive awareness that comes with task experience, indexed by meta-retrospective memory (meta-RM)/meta-prospective memory (meta-PM), influences how older adults predict performance on later trials. Participants were 178 community-dwelling older adults. RM performance and predictions were measured using a multi-trial word-list learning task. Predictions and performance for PM were measured using a PM paradigm. Change in RM/PM performance and predictions over the trials/blocks were modelled using latent growth curve analyses. For RM, both predictions and performance increased with task experience. However, for PM, neither performance nor predictions changed with task experience. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that metacognitive awareness acquired during the RM and PM tasks influenced how older adults’ modified their predictions of subsequent task performance. Findings are consistent with [Toglia and Kirk’s (2000). Understanding awareness deficits following brain injury. NeuroRehabilitation, 15(1), 57–70] hypothesis that individuals compare ongoing performance to expectations based on metacognitive knowledge, such that a discrepancy between actual and expected performance may influence emergent awareness.     

The difficult mountain: enriched composition in adjective–noun phrases

When readers need to go beyond the straightforward compositional meaning of a sentence (i.e., when enriched composition is required), costly additional processing is the norm. However, this conclusion is based entirely on research that has looked at enriched composition between two phrases or within the verb phrase (e.g., the verb and its complement in . . . started the book . . .) where there is a discrepancy between the semantic expectations of the verb and the semantics of the noun. We carried out an eye-tracking experiment investigating enriched composition within a single noun phrase, as in the difficult mountain. As compared with adjective–noun phrases that allow a straightforward compositional interpretation (the difficult exercise), the coerced phrases were more difficult to process. These results indicate that coercion effects can be found in the absence of a typing violation and within a single noun phrase.     

Testing protects against proactive interference in face–name learning

Learning face–name pairings at a social function becomes increasingly more difficult the more individuals one meets. This phenomenon is attributable to proactive interference—the negative influence of prior learning on subsequent learning. Recent evidence suggests that taking a memory test can alleviate proactive interference in verbal list learning paradigms. We apply this technique to face–name pair learning. Participants studied four lists of 12 face–name pairings and either attempted to name the 12 faces just studied after every list or did not. Recall attempts after every list improved learning of the fourth list by over 100%. Moreover, no reduction in learning of face–name pairings occurred from list 1 to list 4 for participants who attempted to name studied faces between lists. These results suggest that testing oneself on the names of a group of new acquaintances before moving on to the next group is an effective mnemonic technique for social functions.     

The tail-elicited tail withdrawal reflex of Aplysia is mediated centrally at tail sensory-motor synapses and exhibits sensitization across multiple temporal domains

The defensive withdrawal reflexes of Aplysia californica have provided powerful behavioral systems for studying the cellular and molecular basis of memory formation. Among these reflexes the tail-elicited tail withdrawal reflex (T-TWR) has been especially useful. In vitro studies examining the monosynaptic circuit for the T-TWR, the tail sensory-motor (SN-MN) synapses, have identified the induction requirements and molecular basis of different temporal phases of synaptic facilitation that underlie sensitization in this system. They have also permitted more recent studies elucidating the role of synaptic and nuclear signaling during synaptic facilitation. Here we report the development of a novel, compartmentalized semi-intact T-TWR preparation that allows examination of the unique contributions of processing in the SN somatic compartment (the pleural ganglion) and the SN-MN synaptic compartment (the pedal ganglion) during the induction of sensitization. Using this preparation we find that the T-TWR is mediated entirely by central connections in the synaptic compartment. Moreover, the reflex is stably expressed for at least 24 h, and can be modified by tail shocks that induce sensitization across multiple temporal domains, as well as direct application of the modulatory neurotransmitter serotonin. This preparation now provides an experimentally powerful system in which to directly examine the unique and combined roles of synaptic and nuclear signaling in different temporal domains of memory formation.     

Frontal pole cortex: encoding ends at the end of the endbrain

Considerable neuroimaging research in humans indicates that the frontal pole cortex (FPC), also known as Brodmann area 10, contributes to many aspects of cognition. Despite these findings, however, its fundamental function and mechanism remain unclear. Recent neurophysiological results from the FPC of monkeys have implications about both. Neurons in the FPC seem to encode chosen goals at feedback time and nothing else. Goals, the places and objects that serve as targets for action, come in many forms and arise from many cognitive processes. The FPC's signal, although surprisingly simple for neurons at the apex of a prefrontal hierarchy, could promote learning about which kinds of goals and goal-generating processes produce particular costs and benefits, thereby improving future choices.     

The influence of phoneme position overlap on the phonemic similarity effect in nonword recall

The current research examined the predictions that short-term memory models generate for the phonological similarity effect, when similarity was defined in different ways. Three serial recall experiments with consonant–vowel–consonant (CVC) nonwords are reported, where the position of the phonemes that list items shared was manipulated (i.e., shared vowel and final consonant [_VC; Experiment 1], initial consonant and vowel [CV_; Experiment 2], or the two consonants [C_C; Experiment 3]. The results show that the position of common phonemes in nonwords has differential effects on order and item information. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research into the effect of phonemic similarity on nonword recall, and modifications to current short-term memory models are proposed.     

The impact of aerobic activity on cognitive function in older adults: A new synthesis based on the concept of executive control

Numerous reaction time studies have suggested that age-related declines in cognitive function might be ameliorated by lifestyles involving aerobic activity or by interventionist programmes of aerobic exercise. These studies are far from conclusive, however, reflecting a failure to factor out cognitive from sensory and motor processes. Following a critical review of the literature, we report on recent developments that differentiate cognitive processes involving executive vs non-executive control, the former being associated with frontal lobe function. Three key studies suggest that aerobic exercise primarily improves executive control.     

Oculomotor and cognitive control of eye movements in reading: Evidence from mindless reading

In the present study, we investigated the influence of cognitive factors on eye-movement behaviors in reading. Participants performed two tasks: a normal-reading task, as well as a mindless-reading task in which letters were replaced with unreadable block shapes. This mindless-reading task served as an oculomotor control condition, simulating the visual aspects of reading but removing higher-level linguistic processing. Fixation durations, word skipping, and some regressions were influenced by cognitive factors, whereas eye movements within words appeared to be less open to cognitive control. Implications for models of eye-movement control in reading are discussed.