An enhanced experimental procedure to rationalize on the impairment of perception of action capabilities

It is well documented that changes in the physiological states of the perceiver–actor influence the perception of action capabilities. However, because experimental procedures of most studies involved a limitless availability for stimuli visual encoding and perceptual strategies, it remains difficult to adopt a single position among the large range of alternative interpretations for impaired perception. A reaching-to-grasp paradigm under breathing restriction was adapted from Graydon et al. (Cogn Emot 26:1301–1305, 2012) to standardize the time for encoding of stimuli information and narrowed the involvement of perceptual strategies. In the present study, we propose a highly controlled environment where the discrete information is presented during 300 ms, congruently with neurophysiological studies focused on visuomotor transformation. An underestimation of the perception of action capabilities is found under breath restriction, suggesting that 300 ms for stimuli encoding is sufficient to induce altered visuomotor brain transformations when limiting the involvement of perceptual strategies. This result suggests that such behavior could refer to an impaired brain potentiation of the perceptual occurrence, providing strong hypotheses on the brain dynamics of sensorimotor integration that underlie impaired perception of action capabilities in stressful situations.     

The time course of visual influences in letter recognition

This study builds on a specific characteristic of letters of the Roman alphabet—namely, that each letter name is associated with two visual formats, corresponding to their uppercase and lowercase versions. Participants had to read aloud the names of single letters, and event-related potentials (ERPs) for six pairs of visually dissimilar upper- and lowercase letters were recorded. Assuming that the end product of processing is the same for upper- and lowercase letters sharing the same vocal response, ERPs were compared backward, starting from the onset of articulatory responses, and the first significant divergence was observed 120 ms before response onset. Given that naming responses were produced at around 414 ms, on average, these results suggest that letter processing is influenced by visual information until 294 ms after stimulus onset. This therefore provides new empirical evidence regarding the time course and interactive nature of visual letter perception processes.     

Investigating the Links Between Cultural Values and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Key Roles of Collectivism and Masculinity

Research suggests that belief in conspiracy theories (CT) stems from basic psychological mechanisms and is linked to other belief systems (e.g., religious beliefs). While previous research has extensively examined individual and contextual variables associated with CT beliefs, it has not yet investigated the role of culture. In the current research, we tested, based on a situated cultural cognition perspective, the extent to which culture predicts CT beliefs. Using Hofstede's model of cultural values, three nation-level analyses of data from 25, 19, and 18 countries using different measures of CT beliefs (Study 1, N = 5323; Study 2a, N = 12,255; Study 2b, N = 30,994) revealed positive associations between masculinity, collectivism, and CT beliefs. A cross-sectional study among U.S. citizens (Study 3, N = 350), using individual-level measures of Hofstede's values, replicated these findings. A meta-analysis of correlations across studies corroborated the presence of positive links between CT beliefs, collectivism, r = .31, 95% CI = [.15; .47], and masculinity, r = .39, 95% CI = [.18; .59]. Our results suggest that in addition to individual differences and contextual variables, cultural factors also play an important role in shaping CT beliefs.     

How to map the affective semantic space of scents

The investigation of the semantic space associated with subjective affective experiences or feelings linked to odour perception has recently emerged. Because of the specificity of the emotional effects of odours, the terms derived from traditional models of emotion are unlikely to optimally account for odour-associated feelings. In this study, sets of terms derived from two traditional models, basic emotions and valence by arousal by dominance dimensional emotions, were compared with a recently elaborated olfaction-specific set of terms (Geneva Emotion and Odour Scale; GEOS). Three main criteria were considered: (1) the feeling's intensity reported in response to odours; (2) the inter-rater agreement concerning the reported feelings; and (3) the power to discriminate feelings evoked by various odorous substances. The evidence strongly suggested that the set of terms proposed by GEOS outperformed the terms derived from the two classical models in measuring the subjective affective experience elicited by odours. These results are interpreted with respect to a good correspondence between the functions of olfaction and the meaning conveyed by GEOS terms.     

The unbearable articulatory nature of naming: on the reliability of word naming responses at the item level

Single-word naming is one of the most widely used experimental paradigms for studying how we read words. Following the seminal study by Spieler and Balota (Psychological Science 8:411–416, 1997), accounting for variance in item-level naming databases has become a major challenge for computational models of word reading. Using a new large-scale database of naming responses, we first provided a precise estimate of the amount of reproducible variance that models should try to account for with such databases. Second, by using an item-level measure of delayed naming, we showed that it captures not only the variance usually explained by onset phonetic properties, but also an additional part of the variance related to output processes. Finally, by comparing the item means from this new database with the ones reported in a previous study, we found that the two sets of item response times were highly reliable (r = .94) when the variance related to onset phonetic properties and voice-key sensitivity was factored out. Overall, the present results provide new guidelines for testing computational models of word naming with item-level databases.     

Implantation des messageries électroniques en Gendarmerie Nationale : quelles incidences sur la communication et l’information ?

This research is conduced a full year after the implementation of numerous instant messaging services within National Gendarmerie. The objective is to study their use and impact on communication and information management, considering the specificities of this military institution. Our methodology confronts semi-directive interviews with gendarmes and commanders, with observations of real-life, work situations. Results show a rapid integration of messaging systems by those agents. They facilitate a quick circulation of information that can sometimes be seen as too dense, easier communication with colleagues and civilians, a more accessible and much relied-upon command, and eventually transparency that is sometimes perceived as a feeling of control.     

Songs as an aid for language acquisition

In previous research, Saffran and colleagues [Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274, 1926-1928; Saffran, J. R., Newport, E. L., & Aslin, R. N. (1996). Word segmentation: The role of distributional cues. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 606-621.] have shown that adults and infants can use the statistical properties of syllable sequences to extract words from continuous speech. They also showed that a similar learning mechanism operates with musical stimuli [Saffran, J. R., Johnson, R. E. K., Aslin, N., & Newport, E. L. (1999). Abstract Statistical learning of tone sequences by human infants and adults. Cognition, 70, 27-52.]. In this work we combined linguistic and musical information and we compared language learning based on speech sequences to language learning based on sung sequences. We hypothesized that, compared to speech sequences, a consistent mapping of linguistic and musical information would enhance learning. Results confirmed the hypothesis showing a strong learning facilitation of song compared to speech. Most importantly, the present results show that learning a new language, especially in the first learning phase wherein one needs to segment new words, may largely benefit of the motivational and structuring properties of music in song.     

Infant cognition: going full factorial with pupil dilation

The violation‐of‐expectation (VOE) paradigm and related methods are the main tools used to study high‐level cognition in preverbal infants. Infants’ differential looking to conceptually implausible/impossible events has been used as an index of early cognitive competence in many areas, including object knowledge, physics, language, and number. However, an event's plausibility is commonly confounded with its perceptual novelty or familiarity, leading to a variety of interpretations for looking time data ( Bogartz, Shinskey & Speaker, 1997 ). This illustrative study demonstrates the value of factorial designs, in which perceptual (novelty–familiarity) and conceptual (possible–impossible) variables are independently and jointly explored. It also introduces pupil dilation as a viable and complementary dependent measure to study infant cognition. We show that pupil data can assist in the interpretation of otherwise equivocal looking time data. The discussion focuses on methodological considerations in infancy research.     

Early Huntington's disease affects movements in transformed sensorimotor mappings

This study examined the effect of transformed visual feedback on movement control in Huntington's disease (HD). Patients in the early stages of HD and controls performed aiming movements towards peripheral targets on a digitizing tablet and emphasizing precision. In a baseline condition, HD patients were slower but showed few precision problems in aiming. When visual feedback was inverted in both vertical and horizontal axes, patients showed problems in initial and terminal phases of movement where feedback is most critical. When visual feedback was inverted along a single axis as in a mirror-inversion, HD patients showed large deviations and over-corrections before adaptation. Adaptation was similar in both groups. These results suggest that HD impairs on-line error correction in novel movements.