Elementary school children’s attentional biases in physical and numerical space

Numbers are conceptualized spatially along a horizontal mental line. This view is supported by mounting evidence from healthy adults and patients with unilateral spatial neglect. Little is known about children's representation of numbers with respect to space. This study investigated elementary school children's directional biases in physical and numerical space to better understand the relation between space and number. We also examined the nature of spatial organization in numerical space. In two separate tasks, children (n = 57) were asked to bisect a physical line and verbally estimate the midpoint of number pairs. In general, results indicated leftward biases in both tasks, but the degree of deviation did not correlate between the tasks. In the number bisection task, leftward bias (underestimating the midpoint) increased as a function of numerical magnitude and interval between number pairs. In contrast, a rightward deviation was found for smaller number pairs. These findings suggest that different underlying spatial attentional mechanisms might be directed in physical and numerical space in young school children, which would be integrated in adulthood.     

Socioeconomic status as a moderator between social cognitions and physical activity: Systematic review and meta-analysis based on the Theory of Planned Behavior

BackgroundHealth inequalities are to a substantial degree due to socioeconomic status (SES) related differences in health behaviors such as physical activity. However, little is known about the role SES plays in the self-regulation of physical activity.PurposeThis systematic review with meta-analysis examines whether a comprehensive set of indicators of SES (income, education, occupational status) impacts on the behavioral self-regulation by moderating the relationships between social cognitions in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and physical activity.MethodsA systematic literature search identified 99 studies from 88 articles that provided information on sample SES and correlations between TPB variables and physical activity. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to pool correlations corrected for sampling and measurement error. Random-effects meta-regression was used to examine moderating effects of study-level SES on these correlations.ResultsEducation moderated the relationship between intentions and physical activity, such that studies with better educated samples reported stronger intention-physical activity relationships.ConclusionsThese results suggest that education might play a major role in the self-regulation of physical activity, with better educated samples more likely to translate intentions into behavior. This can both help to explain heterogeneity in the relation between intentions and physical activity as well as support the development of more effective interventions targeting intentions and physical activity.     

Cardiovascular reactions to psychological stress and abuse history: the role of occurrence,frequency, and type of abuse

Background and objectives: Extreme cardiovascular reactions to psychological stress have been associated with traumatic life experiences. Previous studies have focused on the occurrence or frequency of abuse rather than type of abuse. We examined how occurrence, frequency, and the type of abuse history are related to cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to acute psychological stress. Design: The study consisted of between group and continuous analyses to examine the association between occurrence, type, and frequency of abuse with cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress. Methods: Data from 64 participants were collected. Heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure were measured at baseline and during a standard mental arithmetic stress task. Results: Individuals who experienced abuse showed diminished CVR to acute psychological stress; this was driven specifically by the history of sexual abuse. Frequency of abuse did not relate to stress reactions. Conclusions: These findings accord with previous work suggesting a relationship between traumatic life experience and hypoarousal in physiological reactivity and extend previous findings by suggesting the relationship may be driven by sexual abuse.     

A technique based on trade‐off maps to visualise and analyse relationships between objectives in optimisation problems

Understanding the relationships between objectives in a multiobjective optimisation problem is important for developing tailored and efficient solving techniques. In particular, when tackling combinatorial optimisation problems with many objectives, that arise in real‐world logistic scenarios, better support for the decision maker can be achieved through better understanding of the often complex fitness landscape. This paper makes a contribution in this direction by presenting a technique that allows a visualisation and analysis of the local and global relationships between objectives in optimisation problems with many objectives. The proposed technique uses four steps: First, the global pairwise relationships are analysed using the Kendall correlation method; then, the ranges of the values found on the given Pareto front are estimated and assessed; next, these ranges are used to plot a map using Gray code, similar to Karnaugh maps, that has the ability to highlight the trade‐offs between multiple objectives; and finally, local relationships are identified using scatter plots. Experiments are presented for three combinatorial optimisation problems: multiobjective multidimensional knapsack problem, multiobjective nurse scheduling problem, and multiobjective vehicle routing problem with time windows . Results show that the proposed technique helps in the gaining of insights into the problem difficulty arising from the relationships between objectives.     

Preschoolers search for hidden objects

The issue of whether young children use spatio-temporal information (e.g., movement of objects through time and space) and/or contact-mechanical information (e.g., interaction between objects) to search for a hidden object was investigated. To determine whether one cue can have priority over the other, a dynamic event that put these cues into conflict was created, with only spatio-temporal information being valid. The 3-year-olds used in the study were found to use the valid spatio-temporal cue exclusively and seemed to ignore the contact-mechanical cue. Both search behavior and eye tracking during the event support the view of a sophisticated sensitivity to the validity of a cue in indicating a target’s hidden location.     

Intelligence and physical attractiveness

This brief research note aims to estimate the magnitude of the association between general intelligence and physical attractiveness with large nationally representative samples from two nations. In the United Kingdom, attractive children are more intelligent by 12.4 IQ points (r = .381), whereas in the United States, the correlation between intelligence and physical attractiveness is somewhat smaller (r = .126). The association between intelligence and physical attractiveness is stronger among men than among women in both nations. The association remains significant net of a large number of control variables for social class, body size, and health.     

The traumatic memory debate: A failure in scientific communication and cooperation

Perhaps no other topic in recent history has generated such emotionality as the ongoing traumatic memory debate involving alleged reports of physical and sexual abuse. The literature on this topic is replete with reliance on anecdotal statements, unwarranted and grossly overstated generalizations, emotionally laden conclusions, attacks and counterattacks. This state of affairs has resulted in creating a polarization between cognitive memory researchers and clinical researchers who are attempting to resolve the debate through scientific inquiry. Unfortunately, the databases on both sides of the issue are weak. The purpose of this article is to highlight the key issues at the center of this debate in an attempt to move the debate forward. It is argued that resolution of this debate can only be achieved by conducting appropriately designed clinical research with a population of traumatically abused subjects. To achieve this objective, both sides need to suppress their emotional rhetoric, open lines of communication, and engage in cooperative research efforts. This issue is too important for both the field of psychology and society as a whole to remain polarized and unresolved.     

A priori causal laws

Sober and Elgin defend the claim that there are a priori causal laws in biology. Lange and Rosenberg take issue with this on Humean grounds, among others. I will argue that Sober and Elgin don’t go far enough – there are a priori causal laws in many sciences. Furthermore, I will argue that this thesis is compatible with a Humean metaphysics and an empiricist epistemology.     

Within- and between individual variability of personality characteristics and physical exercise

Using two independent samples, the study investigated links of within- and between-individual variability in personality states in three personality domains—Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness—with physical activity. Activity was defined as self-reported quantity of exercising or walking/cycling. More physical activity was associated with people reporting higher levels of Extraversion and Conscientiousness than they usually did, with the associations clearly replicating across samples and generalizing to all items of these domains. This pattern tended to reflect associations at the level of between-individual differences. When the three domains simultaneously predicted activity, within-individual variance in Neuroticism also emerged as a positive predictor, whereas between-individual level associations waned. The findings are consistent with within-individual differences in personality ratings reflecting meaningful, context-relevant variability.     

权力相关词语的判断的大小效应及其可控性

采用Stroop干扰实验范式,证实权力词语判断的大小效应,并探索采用意识性干预和试次偏差分布策略是否会使大小效应得到控制。实验1中试次类型变量主效应极其显著。实验2中试次类型变量与提示条件变量的交互作用边缘显著。实验3中试次类型变量与提示条件变量的交互作用显著;试次类型变量与试次分布变量的交互作用显著。结果表明,权力相关词语的判断中存在大小效应,提示信息使大小效应得到控制,试次偏差分布使大小效应发生反转。