Analytic flexibility in laboratory aggression paradigms: Relations with personality traits vary (slightly) by operationalization of aggression

Competitive reaction time tasks (CRTTs) have been used widely in social science research, but recent criticism has been directed at the flexible quantification strategies used with this methodology. A recent review suggests that over 150 different quantification strategies have been used in this literature, and there is evidence to suggest that different operationalizations can affect the results and interpretations of experiments using CRTTs. In the current investigation, we reanalyze data from four existing samples from two different sites (total N = 600) to examine how the relations between a range of personality traits and aggression vary based on how aggression is operationalized. Our results suggest that there is a modest degree of heterogeneity in effect size and direction for these relations, and that effect size and direction were most consistent for traits more generally related to lab aggression (e.g., psychopathy, low Five-Factor Model agreeableness). In addition, profile matching analyses suggest that different operationalizations yield empirical correlates that are quite similar to one another, even when quantifying absolute rather than relative similarity. These results were consistent across site, methodology, and type of sample, suggesting that these issues are likely generalizable across most labs using CRTTs. We conclude with suggestions for future directions, particularly emphasizing the need for adequately-powered samples, and for researchers to preregister a plan for how CRTT data will be analyzed.     

Is Language Required to Represent Others’ Mental States? Evidence From Beliefs and Other Representations

An important part of our Theory of Mind—the ability to reason about other people's unobservable mental states—is the ability to attribute false beliefs to others. We investigated whether processing these false beliefs, as well as similar but nonmental representations, is reliant on language. Participants watched videos in which a protagonist hides a gift and either takes a photo of it or writes a text about its location before a second person inadvertently moves the present to a different location, thereby rendering the belief and either the photo or text false. At the same time, participants performed either a concurrent verbal interference task (rehearsing strings of digits) or a visual interference task (remembering a visual pattern). Results showed that performance on false belief trials did not decline under verbal interference relative to visual interference. We interpret these findings as further support for the view that language does not form an essential part of the process of reasoning online (“in the moment”) about false beliefs.     

Parameter Inference for Computational Cognitive Models with Approximate Bayesian Computation

This paper addresses a common challenge with computational cognitive models: identifying parameter values that are both theoretically plausible and generate predictions that match well with empirical data. While computational models can offer deep explanations of cognition, they are computationally complex and often out of reach of traditional parameter fitting methods. Weak methodology may lead to premature rejection of valid models or to acceptance of models that might otherwise be falsified. Mathematically robust fitting methods are, therefore, essential to the progress of computational modeling in cognitive science. In this article, we investigate the capability and role of modern fitting methods—including Bayesian optimization and approximate Bayesian computation—and contrast them to some more commonly used methods: grid search and Nelder–Mead optimization. Our investigation consists of a reanalysis of the fitting of two previous computational models: an Adaptive Control of Thought—Rational model of skill acquisition and a computational rationality model of visual search. The results contrast the efficiency and informativeness of the methods. A key advantage of the Bayesian methods is the ability to estimate the uncertainty of fitted parameter values. We conclude that approximate Bayesian computation is (a) efficient, (b) informative, and (c) offers a path to reproducible results.     

虚拟和真实金钱奖赏幅度对海洛因戒断者风险决策的影响

已有研究表明海洛因成瘾者风险决策能力受损, 但少有研究关注不同幅度金钱奖赏对戒断期海洛因成瘾者风险决策的影响以及这种影响是否会受到金钱奖赏类型的调节。因此, 本研究使用气球模拟风险任务(BART), 通过两个实验探究不同幅度虚拟和真实金钱奖赏对海洛因戒断者风险决策的影响。结果显示, 在虚拟奖赏情景下, 海洛因戒断者未爆破气球按键次数和爆破气球个数均显著大于正常组被试, 以及两组被试在25分奖赏条件下的未爆破气球按键次数和爆破气球个数均显著大于1分奖赏; 而在真实奖赏情景下, 海洛因戒断者未爆破气球按键次数和爆破气球个数均显著小于正常组被试, 以及两组被试在25分奖赏条件下的未爆破气球按键次数和爆破气球个数均显著小于1分奖赏。研究结果表明, 金钱奖赏类型和金钱奖赏幅度会影响被试的风险决策行为。在虚拟奖赏情景下, 两组被试的风险偏好水平随着奖赏幅度的增加显著升高, 但是戒断期海洛因成瘾者的风险偏好水平高于正常组被试; 而在真实奖赏情景下, 两组被试的风险偏好水平随着奖赏幅度的增加显著降低, 同时戒断期海洛因成瘾者的风险偏好水平低于正常组被试。     

Nietzsche’s Questioning

Abstract

When Nietzsche is called a radical philosopher, it is (among other reasons) because he claims to call into question what other thinkers take for granted. In the article I concentrate on the way in which Nietzsche asks his questions, and how his questions (and the vocabulary which he uses to express his questions) develop through his writings. The article points out how Nietzsche gradually discovers his guiding question and how this search reaches its climax around 1886. This guiding question turns out to be a practical or existential one: ‘To what extent can truth endure incorporation?’ (FW/GC 110 KSA 3.471).     

Launching a Dream to Foster a New Consciousness

I had an unexpected encounter on a far island off the coast of Australia with a group of young people. These young people wanted to escape from the modern world and they inspired my conviction: that we must do our best to reshape our world and make it a place acceptable for the younger generation. I realized that it is the dominant consciousness of an epoch that creates the structures and the practices of an epoch. We must now address the task of evolving or co-evolving our world's dominant consciousness. The fear and insecurity produced by this current dominant consciousness has created humanity's current sad condition. The Giordano Bruno GlobalShift University declares its mission to be a “state of the art” global institution. It has the clear-cut objective of fostering a new consciousness, defeating ignorance, and providing an affordable world-class education that permits economically less privileged people to take an active part in the construction of a better world. Our first tenet is the bio-epistemological “non- subordinate” horizontal model of education. This tenet is joined with our commitment to a cross-cultural social, interdisciplinary, and stereo-cognitive interaction-based academic platform. It is a platform that can empower young people to attain an innovative holistic view of the world and of themselves.     

Temporal preparation,response inhibition and impulsivity

Temporal preparation and impulsivity involve overlapping neural structures (prefrontal cortex) and cognitive functions (response inhibition and time perception), however, their interrelations had not been investigated. We studied such interrelations by comparing the performance of groups with low vs. high non-clinical trait impulsivity during a temporal preparation go no-go task. This task measured, in less than 10 min, how response inhibition was influenced both by temporal orienting of attention (guided by predictive temporal cues) and by sequential effects (produced by repetition/alternation of the duration of preparatory intervals in consecutive trials). The results showed that sequential effects produced dissociable patterns of temporal preparation as a function of impulsivity. Sequential effects facilitated both response speed (reaction times – RTs – to the go condition) and response inhibition (false alarms to the no-go condition) selectively in the low impulsivity group. In the high impulsivity group, in contrast, sequential effects only improved RTs but not response inhibition. We concluded that both excitatory and inhibitory processing may be enhanced concurrently by sequential effects, which enables the temporal preparation of fast and controlled responses. Impulsivity could hence be related to less efficient temporal preparation of that inhibitory processing.     

Distinct neural correlates for two types of inhibition in bilinguals: response inhibition versus interference suppression

To examine the effects of bilingualism on cognitive control, we studied monolingual and bilingual young adults performing a flanker task with functional MRI. The trial types of primary interest for this report were incongruent and no-go trials, representing interference suppression and response inhibition, respectively. Response times were similar between groups. Brain data were analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) to identify brain regions where activity covaried across conditions. Monolinguals and bilinguals activated different sets of brain regions for congruent and incongruent trials, but showed activation in the same regions for no-go trials. During the incongruent trials, monolinguals activated the left temporal pole and left superior parietal regions. In contrast, an extensive network including bilateral frontal, temporal and subcortical regions was active in bilinguals during the incongruent trials and in both groups for the no-go trials. Correlations between brain activity and reaction time difference relative to neutral trials revealed that monolinguals and bilinguals showed increased activation in different brain regions to achieve less interference from incongruent flankers. Results indicate that bilingualism selectively affects neural correlates for suppressing interference, but not response inhibition. Moreover, the neural correlates associated with more efficient suppression of interference were different in bilinguals than in monolinguals, suggesting a bilingual-specific network for cognitive control.