Privileged detection of conspecifics: Evidence from inversion effects during continuous flash suppression

The rapid visual detection of other people in our environment is an important first step in social cognition. Here we provide evidence for selective sensitivity of the human visual system to upright depictions of conspecifics. In a series of seven experiments, we assessed the impact of stimulus inversion on the detection of person silhouettes, headless bodies, faces and other objects from a wide range of animate and inanimate control categories. We used continuous flash suppression (CFS), a variant of binocular rivalry, to render stimuli invisible at the beginning of each trial and measured the time upright and inverted stimuli needed to overcome such interocular suppression. Inversion strongly interfered with access to awareness for human faces, headless human bodies, person silhouettes, and even highly variable body postures, while suppression durations for control objects were not (inanimate objects) or only mildly (animal faces and bodies) affected by inversion. Furthermore, inversion effects were eliminated when the normal body configuration was distorted. The absence of strong inversion effects in a binocular control condition not involving interocular suppression suggests that non-conscious mechanisms mediated the effect of inversion on body and face detection during CFS. These results indicate that perceptual mechanisms that govern access to visual awareness are highly sensitive to the presence of conspecifics.     

Sleep normalization and decrease in dissociative experiences: evaluation in an inpatient sample

We conducted a longitudinal study to investigate the relation between sleep experiences and dissociative symptoms in a mixed inpatient sample at a private clinic evaluated on arrival and at discharge 6 to 8 weeks later. Using hierarchical regression analyses and structural equation modeling, we found a link between sleep experiences and dissociative symptoms and determined that specifically decreases in narcoleptic experiences rather than insomnia accompany a reduction in dissociative symptoms. Although sleep improvements were associated with a general reduction in psychopathology, this reduction could not fully account for the substantial and specific effect that we found for dissociation. Our findings are consistent with Watson's (2001) hypothesis that disruptions in the sleep-wake cycle lead to intrusions of sleep phenomena into waking consciousness, resulting in dissociative experiences. Accordingly, sleep hygiene may contribute to the treatment or prevention of dissociative symptoms.     

It takes two: Honesty–Humility and Agreeableness differentially predict active versus reactive cooperation

Recently, similar six-factor solutions have emerged in lexical studies across languages, giving rise to the HEXACO model of personality. As a core extension of its most well-known predecessor, the five-factor model, the HEXACO model distinguishes between two factors predicting complimentary aspects of prosocial behavior or, more specifically, reciprocal altruism: Honesty–Humility (the tendency toward active cooperation, i.e. non-exploitation) and Agreeableness (the tendency toward reactive cooperation, i.e. non-retaliation). However, this dissociation has not yet been tested to its full extent. To this end, we herein present re-analyses of published studies (N = 1090), showing that Honesty–Humility, but not Agreeableness, indeed predicts active cooperation. More importantly, in a new experiment (N = 410), we found a pattern of two concurrent selective associations, supporting the theoretical distinction between the two factors: Honesty–Humility (but not Agreeableness) predicted active cooperation (non-exploitation in the dictator game), whereas Agreeableness (but not Honesty–Humility) was linked to reactive cooperation (non-retaliation in the ultimatum game).     

Gaze control and recollective experience in face recognition

In two experiments, we examined the relation between gaze control and recollective experience in the context of face recognition. In Experiment 1, participants studied a series of faces, while their eye movements were eliminated either during study or test, or both. Subsequently, they made remember/know judgements for each recognized test face. The preclusion of eye movements impaired explicit recollection without affecting familiarity-based recognition. In Experiment 2, participants examined unfamiliar faces under two study conditions (similarity vs. difference judgements), while their eye movements were registered. Similarity vs. difference judgements produced the opposite effects on remember/know responses, with no systematic effects on eye movements. However, face recollection was related to eye movements, so that remember responses were associated with more frequent refixations than know responses. These findings suggest that saccadic eye movements mediate the nature of recollective experience, and that explicit recollection reflects a greater consistency between study and test fixations than familiarity-based face recognition.     

A Swedish translation and validation of the Disgust Scale: a measure of disgust sensitivity

The psychometric properties of a Swedish version of Haidt, McCauley and Rozin's (1994) Disgust Scale were studied. Confirmatory factor analysis of the original model with eight factors (food, animals, body products, sex, body envelope violations, death, hygiene, and magic) provided satisfactory fit to the data (N= 280), significantly better than to the alternative one-factor and five-factor models. As in the US version women scored significantly higher than men. Positive correlations with measures of food neophobia (r= 0.30, p < 0.0001) and nausea frequency (rs= 0.28, p < 0.001) indicate convergent validity. In a separate study (N= 30) a behavioral measure of the willingness to touch, hold, and taste disgusting food objects correlated negatively with the Disgust Scale (r=-0.46, p < 0.01), indicating criterion-related validity.     

The threshold model of scientific change and the continuity of scientific knowledge

The continuity thesis of the Pozna school threshold model of the growth of scientific knowledge is considered in the light of the example of Van der Waals' and Boyle-Mariotte's laws. It is argued — using both traditional logical means and the structuralist reconstruction of the example — that the continuity thesis does not hold.A distinction between a historical and a systematic point of view is introduced and it is argued that the continuity thesis of the threshold model presupposes the systematic point of view. However, looking at matters from the systematic point of view need not yield the original theory, looked at from the historical point of view. Applied to the case of Van der Waals/Boyle-Mariotte laws, it turns out that the latter law is not a true idealizing special case of the former, contrary to the continuity thesis.     

The theory of the organism-environment system: III. Role of efferent influences on receptors in the formation of knowledge

The present article is an attempt to give—in the frame of the theory of the organism-environment system (jarvilehto, 1998a)—a new interpretation to the role of efferent influences on receptor activity and to the functions of senses in the formation of knowledge. It is argued, on the basis of experimental evidence and theoretical considerations, that the senses are not transmitters of environmental information, but create a direct connection between the organism and the environment, which makes the development of a dynamic living system, the organism-environment system, possible. In this connection process, the efferent influences on receptor activity are of particular significance because, with their help, the receptors may be adjusted in relation to the parts of the environment that are most important in achieving behavioral results. Perception is the process of joining of new parts of the environment to the organism-environment system; thus, the formation of knowledge by perception is based on reorganization (widening and differentiation) of the organism-environment system, and not on transmission of information from the environment. With the help of the efferent influences of receptors, each organism creates its own peculiar world that is simultaneously subjective and objective. The present considerations have far-reaching influences as well on experimental work in neurophysiology and psychology of perception as on philosophical consideration of knowledge formation.     

Anchor Point Selection: Scale Alignment Based on an Inequality Criterion

For detecting differential item functioning (DIF) between two or more groups of test takers in the Rasch model, their item parameters need to be placed on the same scale. Typically this is done by means of choosing a set of so-called anchor items based on statistical tests or heuristics. Here the authors suggest an alternative strategy: By means of an inequality criterion from economics, the Gini Index, the item parameters are shifted to an optimal position where the item parameter estimates of the groups best overlap. Several toy examples, extensive simulation studies, and two empirical application examples are presented to illustrate the properties of the Gini Index as an anchor point selection criterion and compare its properties to those of the criterion used in the alignment approach of Asparouhov and Muthén. In particular, the authors show that—in addition to the globally optimal position for the anchor point—the criterion plot contains valuable additional information and may help discover unaccounted DIF-inducing multidimensionality. They further provide mathematical results that enable an efficient sparse grid optimization and make it feasible to extend the approach, for example, to multiple group scenarios.     

Opinion leadership types or continuous opinion leadership traits?

Opinion leadership is typically conceptualised as a continuous personality trait. However, many authors adhere to the view of qualitatively different opinion leadership types and apply arbitrary criteria to split continuous trait scores into two groups (i.e., opinion leaders vs. non‐leaders). The present study is the first to empirically evaluate this approach. A sample of N = 3812 adults (67% women) was administered a validated opinion leadership scale. Finite mixture models examined whether the latent trait distribution can be represented by a set of discrete trait levels that reflected distinct opinion leadership types. The results did not give support to a discrete typology that distinguished leaders from non‐leaders. Rather, opinion leadership was best characterised as a continuous trait.     

Unraveling the Aging Skein: Disentangling Sensory and Cognitive Predictors of Age‐related Differences in Decision Making

Age‐related differences in sensory functioning, processing speed, and working memory have been identified as three significant predictors of the age‐related performance decline observed in complex cognitive tasks. Yet, the assessment of their relative predictive capacity and interrelations is still an open issue in decision making and cognitive aging research. Indeed, no previous investigation has examined the relationships of all these three predictors with decision making. In an individual‐differences study, we therefore disentangled the relative contribution of sensory functioning, processing speed, and working memory to the prediction of the age‐related decline in cognitively demanding judgment and decision‐making tasks. Structural equation modeling showed that the age‐related decline in working memory plays an important predictive role, even when controlling for sensory functioning, processing speed, and education. Implications for research on decision making and cognitive aging are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.