The emerging fragile X premutation phenotype: evidence from the domain of social cognition

Fragile X syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is caused by large methylated expansions of a CGG repeat (>200) region upstream of the FMR1 gene that results in the lack of expression of the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). Affected individuals display a neurobehavioral phenotype that includes a significant impairment in social cognition alongside deficits in attentional control, inhibition and working memory. In contrast, relatively little is known about the trajectory and specificity of any cognitive impairment associated with the fragile X premutation ("carrier-status") (approximately 55-200 repeats). Here, we focus on one aspect of cognition that has been well documented in the fragile X full mutation, namely social cognition. The results suggest that premutation males display a pattern of deficit similar in profile, albeit milder in presentation, to that of the full mutation. However, little evidence emerged for a correlation between CGG repeat length and severity of phenotypic outcomes. The findings are discussed in the context of functional neuroimaging and brain-behaviour-molecular correlates. We speculate that the deficiencies in social cognition are attributable to impairment of neural pathways modulated by the cerebellum.     

A Dynamic Model for Rule Induction Tasks

In this paper, a model for performance on rule induction tasks (e.g., items on intelligence tests) is developed. The model simultaneously specifies distributions for response times and response accuracies on an item-by-item basis. It is dynamic in the sense that it can be used to specify and test different ways of learning throughout a test. Three versions of the general model (i.e., with three different learning rules) are described and the fit of these versions is investigated in two datasets on solving number series. The results indicate that one of these versions (one of the learning rules) is better at accounting for the data.     

Automatic stride interval extraction from long,highly variable and noisy gait timing signals

This paper presents a probabilistic algorithm for automatically extracting the stride interval time series from long, highly variable and noisy two-state timing signals. Long interstride temporal records are of particular interest in nonlinear dynamical analysis of gait. The proposed method consists of probabilistic estimation and extraction followed by post-extraction filtering. With noisy timing signals from 10 children with Spastic Diplegia, no statistical differences in the numbers of extracted strides (p=0.94), the mean stride intervals (p=0.55) and the scaling exponents (p=0.94) (a measure of temporal heterogeneity) were found between series extracted by hand and by the probabilistic algorithm. The method is robust to noise and violations of normality. Results support the use of probabilistic extraction as an alternative to laborious manual extraction.     

Not all triads are created equal: further support for the importance of visual and semantic proximity in object identification

Identification deficits were investigated in ELM, a temporal lobe stroke patient with category-specific deficits. We replicated previous work done on FS, a patient with category specific deficits as a result of herpes viral encephalitis. ELM was tested using novel, computer generated shapes that were paired with artifact labels. We paired semantically close or disparate labels to shapes and ELM attempted to learn these pairings. Overall, ELM's shape-label confusions were most detrimentally affected when we used labels that referred to objects that were visually and semantically close. However, as with FS, ELM had as many errors when shapes were paired with the labels "donut," "tire," and "washer" as he did when they were paired with visually and semantically close artifact labels. Two explanations are put forth to account for the anomalous performance by both patients on the triad of donut-tire-washer.     

Automatic integration of non-perceptual action effect features: the case of the associative affective Simon effect

In the first phase of Experiment 1, participants were instructed to move a response key up or down in response to a go signal. One of both responses was consistently followed by an aversive stimulus, whereas the other response was never followed by the aversive stimulus. In a subsequent test phase, the same responses had to be emitted according to the grammatical category (noun or adjective) of positive and negative target words. Results showed that the level of affective correspondence between the task-irrelevant positive or negative connotation of the target and the motivational significance of the effect of the correct response influenced performance. The results of Experiment 2 replicated those of Experiment 1, using alternating target-response assignment. These findings point to the integration of affective action effect feature codes in the cognitive representation of actions.     

Attention to primes modulates affective priming of pronunciation responses

In studies on affective priming of pronunciation responses, two words are presented on each trial and participants are asked to read the second word out loud. Whereas some studies revealed shorter reaction times when the two words had the same valence than when they had a different valence, other studies either found no effect of affective congruence or revealed a reversed effect. In the present experiments, a significant effect of affective congruence only emerged when filler trials were presented in which the prime and target were identical and participants were instructed to attend to the primes (Experiment 2). No effects were found when participants were merely instructed to attend to or ignore the primes (Experiment 1), or when affectively incongruent filler trials were presented and participants were instructed to ignore the primes (Experiment 2).     

Treatment of compulsive shoplifting by altering social contingencies

and (1968) described the successful treatment of a three-year-old child with chronic constipation by a simple rearrangement of social contingencies. It was felt therefore that it might be worthwhile briefly reporting a case of compulsive shoplifting, where treatment was effected by an alteration in social contingencies.     

Being good to look good: Self-reported moral character predicts moral double standards among reputation-seeking individuals

Moral character is widely expected to lead to moral judgements and practices. However, such expectations are often breached, especially when moral character is measured by self-report. We propose that because self-reported moral character partly reflects a desire to appear good, people who self-report a strong moral character will show moral harshness towards others and downplay their own transgressions—that is, they will show greater moral hypocrisy. This self-other discrepancy in moral judgements should be pronounced among individuals who are particularly motivated by reputation. Employing diverse methods including large-scale multination panel data (N = 34,323), and vignette and behavioural experiments (N = 700), four studies supported our proposition, showing that various indicators of moral character (Benevolence and Universalism values, justice sensitivity, and moral identity) predicted harsher judgements of others' more than own transgressions. Moreover, these double standards emerged particularly among individuals possessing strong reputation management motives. The findings highlight how reputational concerns moderate the link between moral character and moral judgement.