Do Programmers Prefer Predictable Expressions in Code?

Source code is a form of human communication, albeit one where the information shared between the programmers reading and writing the code is constrained by the requirement that the code executes correctly. Programming languages are more syntactically constrained than natural languages, but they are also very expressive, allowing a great many different ways to express even very simple computations. Still, code written by developers is highly predictable, and many programming tools have taken advantage of this phenomenon, relying on language model surprisal as a guiding mechanism. While surprisal has been validated as a measure of cognitive load in natural language, its relation to human cognitive processes in code is still poorly understood. In this paper, we explore the relationship between surprisal and programmer preference at a small granularity—do programmers prefer more predictable expressions in code? Using meaning-preserving transformations, we produce equivalent alternatives to developer-written code expressions and run a corpus study on Java and Python projects. In general, language models rate the code expressions developers choose to write as more predictable than these transformed alternatives. Then, we perform two human subject studies asking participants to choose between two equivalent snippets of Java code with different surprisal scores (one original and transformed). We find that programmers do prefer more predictable variants, and that stronger language models like the transformer align more often and more consistently with these preferences.     

Motor learning of cue-dependent pull-force changes during an isometric precision grip task

The “raspberry task” represents a precision grip task that requires continuous adjustment of grip and pull forces. During this task subjects grip a specialized grip rod and have to increase the pull force linearly while the rod is locked. The aim of this study was to determine whether an associated, initially neutral cue is able to evoke pull-force changes in the raspberry task. A standard delay paradigm was used to study cued pull-force changes during an ongoing movement resulting in unloading. Pull force and EMG activity of hand and arm muscles were recorded from 13 healthy, young subjects. The cue was associated with a complex change in motor behavior.In this task, cued force changes take place more rapidly than in protective reflex systems (in median after the second presentation of the cueing stimulus). A cued force change was detectable in two-thirds of paired trials. Although the force change is produced by a decrease of the EMG activity in several grip- and pull-force-producing muscles, the most significant effect in the majority of the subjects was an increase of the activity of the flexor carpi ulnaris muscle which antagonises corresponding pull-force-producing muscles. Cued force changes require adequately and precisely controlled activation of the muscle groups involved in the movement.     

The development of sex typing: Themes from recent research

A conceptual framework for organizing the constructs and content areas included in research on sex typing is presented in this review of recent research on the development of sex typing. Two major themes are discussed. First, sex-typed play activities and interests emerge clearly in the first few years of life. Both play activities and peer preferences are sex typed earlier and more definitely than are personality traits and social behaviors such as aggression or dependency. It is suggested that researchers have underemphasized the importance of interests, activities, and peer associations while overemphasizing personality attributes as the core of sex typing. The second theme is that cognitions and concepts about sex typing are important in the acquisition of gender typing, but they are not sufficient by themselves for understanding the process by which sex-typed behavior is acquired. Children's sex-role concepts are sometimes related to their behavioral preferences, but other factors are also important influences on behavior.     

Ego development in perspective: Structural stage,functional phase,and cultural age-period models

Ego development is emerging as one of the more important areas of research in developmental psychology. This paper presents a structural stage approach to ego development and distinguishes it from two other models of ego development, which are termed functional phases and cultural ages. Two subtypes are also delineated within the structural stage approach—a monodomain and a multisubdomain—and the latter is argued for. These concepts are then illustrated through an analysis of four prominent ego development theories—those of Robert Selman, Robert Kegan, Jane Loevinger, and Erik Erikson. The important similarities and critical differences of the theories are clarified, which enables the authors to present a summary integration.     

Introduction: symposium on Brooke Ackerly’s Just Responsibility: A Human Rights Theory of Global Justice

ABSTRACT

This symposium brings together normative and empirical scholars in dialogue on Brooke Ackerly’s innovative and compelling recent monograph, Just Responsibility. Contributors discuss the book’s distinctive grounded normative theory methodology, its arguments for how individuals can take appropriate responsibility for global structural injustices, and its potential for practical impact.     

ETHICAL SELF-MAKING,MORAL EXPERIMENTATION,AND HUMANITARIAN ENCOUNTER: Interdisciplinary Engagement with the Anthropology of Ethics

The interdisciplinary group of authors featured in this focus issue contribute to conversations at the intersection of anthropology and ethics by exploring ethical self-making and moral experimentation among faith-based actors in a range of humanitarian settings. Kari Henquinet describes the genealogies of American evangelical humanitarianism by focusing on the ethical self-formation of early World Vision leaders. Rachel Schneider and Sara Williams each explore practices by which relatively privileged individuals seek to cultivate virtue by engaging with those on the margins, in poor, urban neighborhoods in South Africa, and through packaged tours in Israel/Palestine, respectively. Sarah Tobin describes projects of Islamic self-making among displaced refugee women in Jordan. Although they examine a wide range of subjects and settings, they explore a common set of themes, two of which I discuss here: moral experimentation, and engagements with suffering, poverty, and inequality.     

Connections Between Family Communication Patterns,Person‐Centered Message Evaluations,and Emotion Regulation Strategies

In this study, we theorize that family communication patterns (FCPs) and 2 emotion regulation strategies (reappraisal and suppression) explain variations in person‐centered (PC) supportive message evaluations. Specifically, we forward an emotion regulation model that predicts reappraisal and suppression will mediate the relation between FCPs and PC message evaluations. Results (N = 361) suggest that conversation orientation positively predicted reappraisal and negatively predicted suppression; conformity orientation positively predicted suppression only. Reappraisal positively and suppression negatively predicted the extent to which people discriminated among PC message evaluations. Reappraisal also mediated the relation between conversation orientation and PC message evaluations. These results have implications for how capable people are to evaluate and ultimately profit from beneficial support when coping with negative emotions.     

The Evolution of a Scientific Concept

A philosophically comprehended account is given of the genesis and evolution of the concept of protein. Characteristic of this development were not shifts in theory in response to new experimental data, but shifts in the range of questions that the available experimental resources were fit to cope with effectively. Apart from explanatory success with regard to its own range of questions, various other selecting factors acted on a conceptual variant, some stemming from a competing set of research questions, others from an altogether different field of inquiry, and still others from the external environment. These results are best explained on, hence support, an evolutionary model of the progress of experimental investigation, whose outlines are briefly discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Gesture offers insight into problem‐solving in adults and children

When asked to explain their solutions to a problem, both adults and children gesture as they talk. These gestures at times convey information that is not conveyed in speech and thus reveal thoughts that are distinct from those revealed in speech. In this study, we use the classic Tower of Hanoi puzzle to validate the claim that gesture and speech taken together can reflect the activation of two cognitive strategies within a single response. The Tower of Hanoi is a well‐studied puzzle, known to be most efficiently solved by activating subroutines at theoretically defined choice points. When asked to explain how they solved the Tower of Hanoi puzzle, both adults and children produced significantly more gesture‐speech mismatches—explanations in which speech conveyed one path and gesture another—at these theoretically defined choice points than they produced at non‐choice points. Even when the participants did not solve the problem efficiently, gesture could be used to indicate where the participants were deciding between alternative paths. Gesture can, thus, serve as a useful adjunct to speech when attempting to discover cognitive processes in problem‐solving.