Evaluation of a cognitive‐behavioral intervention for high‐ and medium‐risk probationers

Reducing recidivism is a central goal of treatment programs for offenders. Preliminary evidence suggests that cognitive‐behavioral group interventions based on the National Institute of Corrections curriculum (Bush, Glick, & Taymans, 1997) may be effective in reducing recidivism rates among adult probationers. We evaluated the effectiveness of a program based on this curriculum among 167 high‐ and medium‐risk probationers assigned to this program and a comparison group of 120 high‐ and medium‐risk probationers matched on age and number of prior criminal charges. Improvements over prior studies included use of survival analytic methods and propensity score matching, a longer follow‐up interval, and examination of treatment effectiveness within ethnic groups. Relative to the comparison group, treatment group probationers were more likely to complete probation satisfactorily and survive longer before rearrest. Moreover, supplementary analyses suggested that ethnicity was associated with differences in intervention effectiveness. Treatment was predictive of lower recidivism rates among European Americans and African Americans but was less effective among Latino American probationers.     

Atheism and Dialetheism; or, ‘Why I Am Not a (Paraconsistent) Christian’

In ‘Theism and Dialetheism’, Cotnoir explores the idea that dialetheism (true contradictions) can help with some puzzles about omnipotence in theology. In this note, I delineate another aspect of this project. Dialetheism cannot help with one big puzzle about another classic ‘omni’ property, omnibenevolence—the famous problem of evil. For someone (including a dialetheist) who thinks that the existence of evil is a knock-down argument against traditional theism, it is a knock-down argument against dialetheic theism, too.     

Rumfitt on truth-grounds,negation, and vagueness

In The Boundary Stones of Thought (2015), Rumfitt defends classical logic against challenges from intuitionistic mathematics and vagueness, using a semantics of pre-topologies on possibilities, and a topological semantics on predicates, respectively. These semantics are suggestive but the characterizations of negation face difficulties that may undermine their usefulness in Rumfitt’s project.     

Psychobiological Aspects of Infant Crying

This study addresses the relationship between the amount of infant crying and maternal responsiveness to the infant's facial communicative cues during distress and non-distress situations. From an evolutionary perspective, the interpretation of infant crying as a communicative signal is preferred over its distance-regulating function. This view implies a relation between the amount of infant crying and parameters describing interactional regulation. Maternal responsiveness is operationalized by (a) the contingent reactions in a latency time span which define the intuitive character of parental behaviours (200–800 ms) and by (b) an event-based coding system of maternal inappropriate behaviour. Infant states (crying, fussing, sleeping and waking hours) were assessed by means of diaries kept by the mothers. In two samples (N=10, N=13, respectively), married, middle-class mothers were videotaped in free play situations with their healthy, firstborn children in their family homes. Results show that there is a strong intersituational consistency of maternal behaviour, but context-sensitive components of maternal behaviour could also be found. The contingency of maternal reactions during the free play situation can be regarded as a predictor of the duration of the infant's crying measured by a maternal diary. The whole pattern of the results confirms the regulatory function of infant crying in the context of early caregiver–child interactions.     

Beyond social deviance: substance use disorders and the dimensions of psychopathy

High rates of comorbidity between psychopathy and substance use disorders (SUD) have long been recognized. However, the extent to which relationships between SUD and psychopathy extends beyond shared relationship with general antisociality remains undetermined. We examined zero-order and unique relationships between the elements of psychopathy and four categories of SUD; alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and opioid dependence. The sample consisted of 399 European American and African American male county jail inmates. The relationship between psychopathy and SUD extended beyond general antisociality to core features of the psychopathic personality. Relationships were relatively stable across ethnicity but were more generalized across SUD categories for European American inmates. The relationship between SUD and impulsive and irresponsible behavior was most consistent across categories of SUD; relationships with other elements of psychopathy varied according to category of SUD.     

Is working memory training effective?

Working memory (WM) is a cognitive system that strongly relates to a person's ability to reason with novel information and direct attention to goal-relevant information. Due to the central role that WM plays in general cognition, it has become the focus of a rapidly growing training literature that seeks to affect broad cognitive change through prolonged training on WM tasks. Recent work has suggested that the effects of WM training extend to general fluid intelligence, attentional control, and reductions in symptoms of ADHD. We present a theoretically motivated perspective of WM and subsequently review the WM training literature in light of several concerns. These include (a) the tendency for researchers to define change to abilities using single tasks, (b) inconsistent use of valid WM tasks, (c) no-contact control groups, and (d) subjective measurement of change. The literature review highlights several findings that warrant further research but ultimately concludes that there is a need to directly demonstrate that WM capacity increases in response to training. Specifically, we argue that transfer of training to WM must be demonstrated using a wider variety of tasks, thus eliminating the possibility that results can be explained by task specific learning. Additionally, we express concern that many of the most promising results (e.g., increased intelligence) cannot be readily attributed to changes in WM capacity. Thus, a critical goal for future research is to uncover the mechanisms that lead to transfer of training.     

Working memory capacity and visual attention: top-down and bottom-up guidance

Previous studies have indicated that working memory capacity (WMC) is related to visual attention when selection of critical information must be made in the face of distraction. The present study examines whether WMC-related differences in flanker task performance might be decreased by displays that are designed to support bottom-up guidance of attention. Participants were required to respond to a centrally located target while ignoring a peripheral flanker. In one condition, bottom-up support was provided by embedding the target in a row of zeros. In another condition, the zeros were removed, thus emphasizing the role of top-down attention in selecting spatially defined information. It was found that the inclusion of zeros led to the elimination of WMC-related flanker effects. We conclude that bottom-up attentional guidance can attenuate the role of WMC in selective attention.     

Explanation And Solution In The Inclosure Argument

In a recent article, Emil Badici contends that the inclosure schema substantially fails as an analysis of the paradoxes of self-reference because it is question-begging. The main purpose of this note is to show that Badici's critique highlights a necessity condition for the success of dialectic about paradoxes. The inclosure argument respects this condition and remains solvent.