Binary Choice Reaction Time as a Function of the Relationship between Durations and Forms of Responses

In a choice between responding with the left or right hand, some kinds of differences between the movements increase RT (Reaction Time) while others do not. Of the first kind are differences in form, while differences in the finger used are of the latter kind. In previous experiments differences in form were confounded with differences in duration. Since there is some indication that a difference in duration is sufficient to lengthen RT, both characteristics were varied separately. It turned out that a difference in form (duration being constant) has essentially the same effects as a difference in duration (form being constant): Mean RT is longer, variability of RT and MT (movement time) is larger, and frequency of choice errors is smaller than in choice between identical movements. These effects, which seem to be associated with choice between movements of different temporal patterns, are interpreted in terms of advance specification of movement parameters. Additional results on the relationship between response duration and RT suggest that RT does not depend on duration (or velocity) per se, but on how much the duration deviates from quickest performance.     

Heart failure patients’ desires for spiritual care,perceived constraints,and unmet spiritual needs: relations with well-being and health-related quality of life

Little information is available about HF patients’ desires regarding having their healthcare providers address their spiritual concerns, feeling constrained in doing so, and the extent to which their spiritual needs go unmet. Nearly half of our sample reported high levels of unmet spiritual needs and reported moderately strong desires to have their doctor or other healthcare professional attend to their spiritual needs, and moderately strong feelings of constraint in doing so. Spiritual constraint and unmet spiritual needs were associated with poorer spiritual, psychological and physical well-being, but these effects varied, depending on patients’ desire to discuss spiritual needs. These findings have important implications for clinical management of HF patients.     

Personality and performance in real-world competitions: Testing trait activation of fear of negative evaluation,dispositional reinvestment,and athletic identity in the field

ObjectivesBased on the trait activation principle, researchers have tested whether personality traits are capable of predicting sport performance (under pressure). Typically, however, these investigations followed experimental approaches in the laboratory and only rarely in the field. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to test for the generalizability of findings gained in these experimental studies and to investigate potential trait activation for real-world performance in competitions. Based on prior studies on the prediction of performance under pressure, the selected personality traits involved fear of negative evaluation, dispositional reinvestment, and athletic identity.DesignPersonality traits were used as predictors for low-pressure and high-pressure basketball free-throw performance.MethodFirst, 53 basketball players completed trait questionnaires. Second, directly prior to performance assessments, participants reported on perceived importance, their somatic and cognitive state anxiety, and confidence. Third, free-throw performance was assessed in a low-pressure condition (i.e., successful free-throw percentage for 30 attempts) and repeatedly in 12 high-pressure conditions within real basketball matches (i.e., successful free-throw percentage for total attempts).ResultsTwo main findings were identified: First, none of the traits predicted performance under low pressure. Second, under high-pressure, only fear of negative evaluation as well as state anxiety were significantly negatively associated with performance in competitions.ConclusionThese results extend existing literature and add applied and ecologically valid empirical support for the relevance of anxiety-related traits (i.e., fear of negative evaluation) and states for performance under pressure in real-world competitions, emphasizing the importance of self-presentational considerations in athletes when the stakes are high.     

违实语义的加工机制

违实句(counterfactuals)是传递与事实相反意义的语句,广泛存在于人们的日常生活中并被用以表达对已知事实的另外假设。研究发现,相对于事实语义,违实语义能够激活双重心理表征/空间(虚拟vs.现实),需消耗更多的认知加工资源。本文分别从句法结构和语境制约两个层面详细探讨了违实语义的加工机制。语境方面,双重语义表征构建与消解的时间进程受到语境相关性的制约,充足的语境信息可以消解事实表征的干扰。句法方面,汉语违实标记的缺失使得汉语母语者更加依赖语境与语用来表达、理解违实义,但尚不明确其在线加工机制与印欧语违实义加工有何异同。后续研究应扩大语言研究范围,关注违实语义加工的个体差异,进一步厘清双重语义表征构建与消解的时间进程及其对语篇加工的影响。     

Ecological momentary assessment of bulimia nervosa: Does dietary restriction predict binge eating?

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between caloric restriction (CR) and binge eating (BE) using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Participants included 133 women with bulimia nervosa (BN) who completed an EMA protocol for 2 weeks. Logistic regression analyses tested whether CR increased the probability of BE episodes. The results revealed that the odds of BE increased on the day that restriction occurred as well as on the following day. In addition, both restriction and BE on one day predicted the likelihood of BE the subsequent day, but restriction for two days prior to the episode failed to add additional information for predicting BE. These findings support the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) model of BN, suggesting that self-reported dietary restriction is predictive of subsequent BE episodes, and that reducing dietary restriction in treatment may lead to improvements in bulimic symptoms.     

Constraint Respecters, Constraint Challengers, and Crisis Decision Making in Democracies: A Case Study Analysis of Kennedy versus Reagan

Models linking domestic political constraints (audience costs, pressures for the diversionary use of force, democratic norms and institutions) to foreign policy behavior generally assume that leaders simply recognize and submit to constraints in their domestic environments—a strong structural argument. In contrast, research on political leadership and decision making suggests that leaders vary systematically in their orientations toward constraints: "constraint respecters" tend to internalize potential constraints, while "constraint challengers" are more likely to view them as obstacles to be overcome. This article develops an integrative theoretical framework that explicitly incorporates these insights and applies them to the domain of crisis decision making. After identifying leaders' expected orientations toward constraints via at-a-distance methods, the plausibility of hypotheses derived from this framework is examined through case studies that explore the decision-making processes employed by President Kennedy (a "constraint respecter") and President Reagan (a "constraint challenger") during international crises. The results suggest that there is important variation in how leaders perceive and respond to domestic constraints, and that leadership style is one—though not the only—important source of this variation.     

Deductive databases for computing certain and consistent answers from mediated data integration systems

We address the problem of retrieving certain and consistent answers to queries posed to a mediated data integration system under the local-as-view paradigm with open sources and conjunctive and disjunctive view definitions. For obtaining certain answers a query program is run under the cautious stable model semantics on top of a normal deductive database with choice operator that specifies the class of minimal legal instances of the integration system. This methodology works for all monotone Datalog queries. To compute answers to queries that are consistent with respect to given global integrity constraints, the specification of minimal legal instances is combined with another disjunctive deductive database that specifies the repairs of those legal instances. This allows to retrieve the answers to any Datalog^¬ query that are consistent with respect to global universal and referential integrity constraints.     

How Financial Constraints Influence Consumer Behavior: An Integrative Framework

Financial constraints are economic limitations on behavior. Given that millions of people experience chronic or episodic financial constraints, we sought to review research that provides insight into how they affect consumer behavior. We propose an integrative framework that draws insights from multiple literatures that have examined financial constraints from different perspectives. The framework distinguishes between four perspectives, which are rooted in literatures on resource scarcity, choice restriction, social comparison, and environmental uncertainty and highlights different temporal stages of responding to financial constraints, distinguishing between reacting, coping, and adapting. Beyond the obvious negative effects of financial constraints, our framework emphasizes consumer resilience, highlighting that consumers often successfully cope with and devise adaptive strategies to deal with financial constraints. By broadening the behavioral and temporal scope of financial constraints considered within consumer psychology, this framework helps us to understand the often strong and sometimes counterintuitive effects of financial constraints on consumer behavior.     

Cultural difference in maladaptive functions of perfectionistic self‐presentation

Perfectionistic self‐presentation (PSP), which describes an expressive aspect of perfectionism in the interpersonal domain, is a defensive form of perfectionism that has been relatively understudied. Although existing evidence obtained from Western societies has consistently shown maladaptive functions of PSP, the question of whether these patterns are universal remains unanswered. The current research explored the potential moderating effect of culture by evaluating whether the negative influence of PSP is weaker in Asian societies that encourage the use of defensive interpersonal strategies than in Western societies. Two studies recruiting Chinese and North American participants were conducted. In Study 1 (n = 302), the results showed that the relation between PSP and personal mastery was positive among Chinese participants and was negative among North American participants. In contrast, a positive relation between PSP and perceived constraints was observed in both cultures. Study 2 (n = 295) replicated the findings obtained in Study 1. In addition, the findings showed that the relation between PSP and self‐esteem, but not that between PSP and depression, was moderated by participants’ cultural backgrounds. Taken together, these results indicate both universal and culturally specific patterns regarding the influence of PSP, suggesting that PSP is a complex construct.     

Non-Compliance Shouldn't Be Better

Agent-relative consequentialism is thought attractive because it can secure agent-centred constraints while retaining consequentialism's compelling idea—the idea that it is always permissible to bring about the best available outcome. We argue, however, that the commitments of agent-relative consequentialism lead it to run afoul of a plausibility requirement on moral theories. A moral theory must not be such that, in any possible circumstance, were every agent to act impermissibly, each would have more reason (by the lights of the very same theory) to prefer the world thereby actualized over the world that would have been actualized if every agent had instead acted permissibly.