A FORMULA FOR THE USE OF SUPPRESSION VARIABLES IN CORRECTING INDIVIDUAL RATINGS

D unér , A. & M agnusson , D. A formula for the use of suppression variables in correcting individual ratings. Scand. J. Psychol , 1962, 3 , 226–232.—Ratings of aptitude, ability or performance used for selection and/or prediction or as criteria for the estimation of the validity of other methods are often influenced by irrelevant factors. Two correction formulas based on a suppression variable have been derived. The relation between the correlation formula derived and the partial correlation formula is discussed, as well as the effect of the application of the formula on the estimation of differential validity.     

Repeated interrogations: verbal and non‐verbal cues to deception

The major aim of this study was to investigate to what extent verbal and non‐verbal features of liars' and truth‐tellers' behaviour change during the course of repeated interrogations. After seeing a staged event, 24 suspects (12 liars and 12 truth‐tellers) were interrogated three times over a period of 11 days. In terms of the non‐verbal features, and in line with our prediction, we found that the liars displayed significantly fewer smiles, self‐manipulations, pauses, and less gaze aversion than truth‐tellers. Furthermore, over time the initial differences between liars' and truth‐tellers' non‐verbal behaviour increased for smiles, gaze aversion and pauses. In addition, we found that the cue ‘richness of detail’—the most indicative verbal marker for truth as given in previous research—had no discriminative power at any of the interrogation sessions. Finally, and in contrast to beliefs held by supposed expert lie‐catchers (e.g. judges and police officers), truthful and deceptive statements were found to be equally consistent over time. The psycho‐legal implications of the above findings are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What is embodiment? A psychometric approach

What is it like to have a body? The present study takes a psychometric approach to this question. We collected structured introspective reports of the rubber hand illusion, to systematically investigate the structure of bodily self-consciousness. Participants observed a rubber hand that was stroked either synchronously or asynchronously with their own hand and then made proprioceptive judgments of the location of their own hand and used Likert scales to rate their agreement or disagreement with 27 statements relating to their subjective experience of the illusion. Principal components analysis of this data revealed four major components of the experience across conditions, which we interpret as: embodiment of rubber hand, loss of own hand, movement, and affect. In the asynchronous condition, an additional fifth component, deafference, was found. Secondary analysis of the embodiment of runner hand component revealed three subcomponents in both conditions: ownership, location, and agency. The ownership and location components were independent significant predictors of proprioceptive biases induced by the illusion. These results suggest that psychometric tools may provide a rich method for studying the structure of conscious experience, and point the way towards an empirically rigorous phenomenology.     

The Variety of Lattice Effect Algebras Generated by MV-algebras and the Horizontal Sum of Two 3-element Chains

It has been recently shown [4] that the lattice effect algebras can be treated as a subvariety of the variety of so-called basic algebras. The open problem whether all subdirectly irreducible distributive lattice effect algebras are just subdirectly irreducible MV-chains and the horizontal sum rc="/content/273223h626674245/11225_2008_9115_Article_IEq1.gif" alt="$${\mathcal{H}}$$" align="middle" border="0"> of two 3-element chains is in the paper transferred into a more tractable one. We prove that modulo distributive lattice effect algebras, the variety generated by MV-algebras and rc="/content/273223h626674245/11225_2008_9115_Article_IEq2.gif" alt="$${\mathcal{H}}$$" align="middle" border="0"> is definable by three simple identities and the problem now is to check if these identities are satisfied by all distributive lattice effect algebras or not. Presented by Daniele Mundici     

The ‘elasticity’ of criminal evidence: a moderator of investigator bias

This study examined investigators' perceptions of the reliability of incriminating and exonerating evidence of different types. Police trainees in the role of investigators read the background of a homicide case and then received a piece of evidence that either confirmed or disconfirmed their prior suspicion against the suspect. Despite identical objective characteristics of the evidence, participants rated the disconfirming (vs. confirming) evidence as less reliable and generated more arguments to question its reliability. This asymmetrical scepticism was stronger for participants judging witness evidence, compared to DNA and photo evidence, supporting the hypothesis that different types of evidence vary in ‘elasticity’—the extent to which subjective interpretations can be justified. Interestingly, the observed effects were not limited to the specific evidence in the case, but also affected the ratings of the type of evidence in general, suggesting that reliability criteria for witness information are highly malleable and sensitive to contextual influences. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Internet‐initiated sexual abuse: adolescent victims' reports about On‐ and Off‐line sexual activities

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how adolescent girls, who had been sexually (on‐ and off‐line) deceived and abused by an Internet hebephile, reported about these acts. As we had access to documentation of 68 girls' conversations (i.e. chat logs) and involvement with the perpetrator, we were able to gauge what the victims reported during the police interview against this detailed documentation. In contrast with findings from previous research, the majority of victims reported about the off‐line activities (real‐life meetings) with the perpetrator. However, the victims omitted and/or denied more of the on‐line activities, specifically the more severe sexual on‐line acts (sending nude photos and participating in sexual web shows). There is probably a gap between what the victims reported and what they presumably remembered about the on‐line activities. Factors that might have affected the victims' pattern of reports are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On L-decomposability of random orderings

In the setting of random orderings, we study conditional independence properties related to L-decomposability. We show that if a random ordering satisfies L-decomposability for any labelling of the ranks, then it is quasi-independent, provided the number of alternatives is at least 4, and each ordering has a positive probability.     

Self awareness and the body image

What mental representations give us the sense of our body as a unique object in the world? We investigated this issue in the context of the rubber hand illusion (RHI), an illusion of body image in which a prosthetic hand brushed synchronously, but not asynchronously, with one’s own hand is perceived as actually being one’s hand. We conducted a large-scale study of the RHI, and used psychometric analysis to reveal the structure of the subjective experience of embodiment [Longo et al. (2008). What is embodiment? A psychometric approach. Cognition,107, 978-998]. Here, we use this dataset to investigate the relation between incorporation of a rubber hand into the body image and the perceived similarity between the participant’s hand and the rubber hand. Objective similarity (as measured by skin luminance, hand shape, and third-person similarity ratings) did not appear to influence participants’ experience of the RHI. Conversely, incorporation of the rubber hand into the body image did affect the similarity that participants perceived between their own hand and the rubber hand. Participants who had experienced the RHI perceived their hand and the rubber hand as significantly more similar than participants who had not experienced the illusion. That is, embodiment leads to perceived similarity, but perceived similarity does not lead to embodiment. Furthermore, similarity ratings following the illusion were selectively correlated with some components of embodiment, but not with others. These results suggest an important role of a mental body image in the perception of the relation between the self and others.     

Margin for error and the transparency of knowledge

In chapter 5 of Knowledge and its Limits, T. Williamson formulates an argument against the principle (KK) of epistemic transparency, or luminosity of knowledge, namely “that if one knows something, then one knows that one knows it”. Williamson’s argument proceeds by reductio: from the description of a situation of approximate knowledge, he shows that a contradiction can be derived on the basis of principle (KK) and additional epistemic principles that he claims are better grounded. One of them is a reflective form of the margin for error principle defended by Williamson in his account of knowledge. We argue that Williamson’s reductio rests on the inappropriate identification of distinct forms of knowledge. More specifically, an important distinction between perceptual knowledge and non-perceptual knowledge is wanting in his statement and analysis of the puzzle. We present an alternative account of this puzzle, based on a modular conception of knowledge: the (KK) principle and the margin for error principle can coexist, provided their domain of application is referred to the right sort of knowledge.     

The diagnostic role of serum inflammatory and soluble proteins on dementia subtypes: correlation with cognitive and functional decline

In the past years, the possible involvement of inflammation in the pathogenesis of dementia has been the subject of several investigations. However there are restricted data about the profile of the inflammatory and soluble proteins in well evaluated Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia (VD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy controls. There are also no reliable data regarding the relationship between the overlapping protein levels and cognitive or functional decline. We measured levels of IL-1beta, IL-2, IL-6, IL-18, TNF-alpha, beta-Amlyloid 1-40 and alpha1-antichymotrypsin levels in plasma in groups of total 82 subjects with AD, MCI, VD and controls using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Our study samples showed high levels of proinflammatory cytokine levels (especially IL-18) in all patient groups but only high levels of alpha1-antichymotrypsine in VD patients compared to controls. There is no significant correlation between the laboratory and clinical variables except for a link between IL-1beta and NPI scores of AD. In conclusion, this study yielded evidence of some shared mechanisms underlying AD and VD and thus motivates further studies of inflammatory markers in various types of dementia and MCI.