When “different” means “worse”: In-group prototypicality in changing intergroup contexts

An experiment with 213 participants provided evidence for in-group projection—the generalization of distinctive in-group attributes to a superordinate category. The frame of reference for in-group (German) judgments was manipulated by presenting either Italians or the British as an out-group. Results showed that attributes on which Germans differed from each out-group were accentuated not only in in-group judgments but also when judging Europeans. By adapting features of the superordinate category to those of the in-group, the in-group's similarity to, and the out-group's deviation from, the prototype of the superordinate category were maintained, if not emphasized. Further, higher in-group prototypicality—compared to out-group prototypicality—for the superordinate category was related to negative out-group attitudes. In-group projection was reduced when a complex representation of the superordinate category was primed.     

Slow Cortical Potential Versus Live Z-score Neurofeedback in Children and Adolescents with ADHD: A Multi-arm Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial with Active and Passive Comparators

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Neurofeedback (NF) as a treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been evaluated in several trials, but the specificity...     

Effects of violent and nonviolent sexualized media on aggression-related thoughts,feelings, attitudes,and behaviors: A meta-analytic review

Women are often depicted as sex objects rather than as human beings in the media (e.g., magazines, television programs, films, and video games). Theoretically, media depictions of females as sex objects could lead to negative attitudes and even aggressive behavior toward them in the real world. Using the General Aggression Model (Anderson & Bushman, 2002) as a theoretical framework, this meta-analytic review synthesizes the literature on the effects of sexualized media (both violent and nonviolent) on aggression-related thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. Our sample includes 166 independent studies involving 124,236 participants, which yielded 321 independent effects. Overall, the effects were “small” to “moderate” in size (r = .16 [.14–.18]). Significant correlations were found in experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies, indicating a triangulation of evidence. Effects were stronger for violent sexualized media (r = .25 [.19–.31]) than for nonviolent sexualized media (r = .15 [.13–.17]), although the effects of nonviolent sexualized media were still significant and nontrivial in size. Moreover, the effects of violent sexualized media on aggression were greater than the effects of violent non-sexualized media on aggression obtained in previous meta-analyses. Effects were similar for male and female participants, for college students and non-students, and for participants of all ages. The effects were also stable over time. Sensitivity analyses found that effects were not unduly influenced by publication bias and/or outliers. In summary, exposure to sexualized media content, especially in combination with violence, has negative effects on women, particularly on what people think about them and how aggressively they treat them.     

The Modes of Value

Contrary to the received view, decision theory is not primarily devoted to instrumental (ends-to-means) reasoning. Instead, its major preoccupation is the derivation of ends from other ends. Given preferences over basic alternatives, it constructs preferences over alternatives that have been modified through the addition of value object modifiers (modes) that specify probability, uncertainty, distance in time etc. A typology of the decision-theoretical modes is offered. The modes do not have (even extrinsic) value, but they transform the value of objects to which they are applied. A rational agent's total set of preferences should be coherent, but from this it does not follow that her preferences over mode-containing objects have to be derivable from her preferences over mode-free objects.     

Objective Content

We conceive of many general terms we use as having satisfaction conditions that are objective in that the thought that something meets them neither entails nor is entailed by the thought that we are currently in a position in which we are ready, or warranted, to apply those terms to it. How do we manage to use a given term in such a way that it is thereby endowed, and conceived to be endowed, with satisfaction conditions that are objective in this sense? In the first half of the paper, I present a number of interrelated problems for some extant metasemantical accounts of how use determines objective satisfaction conditions. In the second half, I then propose a novel account that avoids all of these problems.     

Facing threat: infants' and adults' visual scanning of faces with neutral, happy, sad, angry, and fearful emotional expressions

Human faces are among the most important visual stimuli that we encounter at all ages. This importance partly stems from the face as a conveyer of information on the emotional state of other individuals. Previous research has demonstrated specific scanning patterns in response to threat-related compared to non-threat-related emotional expressions. This study investigated how visual scanning patterns toward faces which display different emotional expressions develop during infancy. The visual scanning patterns of 4-month-old and 7-month-old infants and adults when looking at threat-related (i.e., angry and fearful) versus non-threat-related (i.e., happy, sad, and neutral) emotional faces were examined. We found that infants as well as adults displayed an avoidant looking pattern in response to threat-related emotional expressions with reduced dwell times and relatively less fixations to the inner features of the face. In addition, adults showed a pattern of eye contact avoidance when looking at threat-related emotional expressions that was not yet present in infants. Thus, whereas a general avoidant reaction to threat-related facial expressions appears to be present from very early in life, the avoidance of eye contact might be a learned response toward others' anger and fear that emerges later during development.     

Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibition improves object recognition memory: indications for central and peripheral mechanisms

A promising target for memory improvement is phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5), which selectively hydrolyzes cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). In rodents, PDE5 inhibitors (PDE5-Is) have been shown to improve memory performance in many behavioral paradigms. However, it is questioned whether the positive effects in animal studies result from PDE5 inhibition in the central nervous system or the periphery. Therefore, we studied the effects of PDE5 inhibition on memory and determined whether compound penetration of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is required for this activity. Two selective PDE5-Is, vardenafil and UK-343,664, were tested in the object recognition task (ORT) in both a MK-801- and scopolamine-induced memory deficit model, and a time-delay model without pharmacological intervention. Compounds were dosed 30 min before the learning trial of the task. To determine if the PDE5-Is crossed the BBB, their concentrations were determined in plasma and brain tissue collected 30 min after oral administration. Vardenafil improved object recognition memory in all three variants of the ORT. UK-343,664 was ineffective at either preventing MK-801-induced memory disruption or time-dependent memory decay. However, UK-343,664 attenuated the memory impairment of scopolamine. Vardenafil crossed the BBB whereas UK-343,664 did not. Further, co-administration of UK-343,664 and scopolamine did not alter the brain partitioning of either molecule. This suggests that the positive effect of UK-343,664 on scopolamine-induced memory decay might arise from peripheral PDE5 inhibition. The results herein suggest that there may be multiple mechanisms that mediate the efficacy of PDE5 inhibition to improve memory performance in tasks such as the ORT and that these involve PDE5 located both within and outside of the brain. To further elucidate the underlying mechanisms, the cellular and subcellular localization of PDE5 needs to be determined.     

The language of landmarks: the role of background knowledge in indoor wayfinding

To effectively wayfind through unfamiliar buildings, humans infer their relative position to target locations not only by interpreting geometric layouts, especially length of line of sight, but also by using background knowledge to evaluate landmarks with respect to their probable spatial relation to a target. Questionnaire results revealed that participants have consistent background knowledge about the relative position of target locations. Landmarks were rated significantly differently with respect to their spatial relation to targets. In addition, results from a forced-choice task comparing snapshots of a virtual environment revealed that background knowledge influenced wayfinding decisions. We suggest that landmarks are interpreted semantically with respect to their function and spatial relation to the target location and thereby influence wayfinding decisions. This indicates that background knowledge plays a role in wayfinding.