Making the future memorable: The phenomenology of remembered future events

Although our ability to remember future simulations conveys an adaptive advantage, enabling us to better prepare for upcoming events, the factors influencing the memorability of future simulations are not clear. In this study, participants generated future simulations that combined specific people, places and objects from memory, and for each trial, made a series of phenomenological ratings about the event components and the simulation as a whole. Memory for simulations was later assessed using a cued-recall test. We used multilevel modelling to determine whether the phenomenological qualities of event components (familiarity, emotionality and significance) and simulations (detail, plausibility) were predictive of whether the simulation was successfully encoded and later accessible. Our results demonstrate that person familiarity, detail and plausibility were significant predictors of whether a given future simulation was encoded into memory and later accessible. These findings suggest that scaffolding future simulations with pre-existing episodic memories is the path to a memorable future.     

Strength Training Effects on Muscle Forces and Contributions to Whole-Body Movement in Cerebral Palsy

Strength training is often prescribed for children with cerebral palsy (CP); however, links between strength gains and mobility are unclear. Nine children (age 14?±?3?years; GMFCS I-III) with spastic CP completed a 6-week strength-training program. Musculoskeletal gait simulations were generated for four children to assess training effects on muscle forces and function. There were increases in isometric joint strength, but no statistical changes in fast-as-possible walking speed or endurance after training. The walking simulations revealed changes in muscle forces and contributions to body center of mass acceleration, with greater forces from the hip muscles during walking most commonly observed. A progressive strength-training program can result in isometric and dynamic strength gains in children with CP, associated with variable mobility outcomes.     

An Investigation of the Accuracy of Standardized Path Coefficients

The present study investigated potential sex differences in preferences for spicy, hot or unusual foods and in food aversions or neophobia. This study also reexamined the issue of a gender difference in preference for sweet foods. Questionnaires concerning past and current food use and preferences as well as food and condiment use in one actual meal were completed by 148 people between 17 and 32 years of age. Their responses clearly support the prediction that men tend to have a stronger preference than women for spicy, hot foods. The results also support the prediction that men are more likely than women to seek unusual and new foods. Both sexes showed the same degree of preference for condiment use.     

A brief intervention to increase physical activity behavior among adolescents using mental simulations and action planning

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a brief integrated theory-based intervention to increase physical activity (PA) among adolescents over a three-month follow-up period. A 2 (mental simulation: present vs. absent) × 2 (action planning: present vs. absent) × 4 (time: baseline vs. one-month vs. two-month vs. three-month follow-up) mixed-model randomized controlled design was adopted. Adolescents aged 14–15 years (N = 267) completed baseline psychological measures and self-reported PA followed by the relevant intervention manipulation, if appropriate, with follow-up measures collected one, two, and three months later. Results revealed no significant effects for the mental simulation and action planning strategies nor the interaction of the two strategies. However, among participants with low levels of baseline PA, participants in both mental simulation alone and action planning alone groups reported significantly higher levels of PA at one-month follow up than other groups, suggesting that individual intervention components may be effective in low-active adolescents.     

状态不确定独立否定句的加工机制

采用自定步速阅读方法与图片核证范式(picture verification paradigm)探讨状态不确定独立否定句(如“裙子不是红色的”)的动态表征过程, 包括3个实验。结果发现：(1)在否定加工的初期, 即250 ms间隔时间条件下, 读者表征事件的否定状态; 肯定句已经通达事件的实际状态。(2)在否定加工的中期, 即750 ms间隔时间条件下, 读者仍然表征事件的否定状态, 但已开始对事件的备择选项进行搜索; 肯定句仍然保持对事件实际状态的表征。(3)在否定加工的后期, 即1500 ms间隔时间条件下, 读者表征否定标记与事件的否定状态, 同时完成对备择选项的搜索; 肯定句依旧保持对事件实际状态的表征。据此, 本文提出的锚激活与限制满足模型(anchor-based activation and satisfaction constrained model)得到初步证明。     

Modality switching costs emerge in concept creation as well as retrieval

Theories of embodied cognition hold that the conceptual system uses perceptual simulations for the purposes of representation. A strong prediction is that perceptual phenomena should emerge in conceptual processing, and, in support, previous research has shown that switching modalities from one trial to the next incurs a processing cost during conceptual tasks. However, to date, such research has been limited by its reliance on the retrieval of familiar concepts. We therefore examined concept creation by asking participants to interpret modality-specific compound phrases (i.e., conceptual combinations). Results show that modality switching costs emerge during the creation of new conceptual entities: People are slower to simulate a novel concept (e.g., auditory jingling onion) when their attention has already been engaged by a different modality in simulating a familiar concept (e.g., visual shiny penny). Furthermore, these costs cannot be accounted for by linguistic factors alone. Rather, our findings support the embodied view that concept creation, as well as retrieval, requires situated perceptual simulation.     

Bayesian analysis of longitudinal multitrait–multimethod data with ordinal response variables

A new multilevel latent state graded response model for longitudinal multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) measurement designs combining structurally different and interchangeable methods is proposed. The model allows researchers to examine construct validity over time and to study the change and stability of constructs and method effects based on ordinal response variables. We show how Bayesian estimation techniques can address a number of important issues that typically arise in longitudinal multilevel MTMM studies and facilitates the estimation of the model presented. Estimation accuracy and the impact of between‐ and within‐level sample sizes as well as different prior specifications on parameter recovery were investigated in a Monte Carlo simulation study. Findings indicate that the parameters of the model presented can be accurately estimated with Bayesian estimation methods in the case of low convergent validity with as few as 250 clusters and more than two observations within each cluster. The model was applied to well‐being data from a longitudinal MTMM study, assessing the change and stability of life satisfaction and subjective happiness in young adults after high‐school graduation. Guidelines for empirical applications are provided and advantages and limitations of a Bayesian approach to estimating longitudinal multilevel MTMM models are discussed.     

Population models and simulation methods: The case of the Spearman rank correlation

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a population model in guiding the design and interpretation of simulation studies used to investigate the Spearman rank correlation. The Spearman rank correlation has been known for over a hundred years to applied researchers and methodologists alike and is one of the most widely used non‐parametric statistics. Still, certain misconceptions can be found, either explicitly or implicitly, in the published literature because a population definition for this statistic is rarely discussed within the social and behavioural sciences. By relying on copula distribution theory, a population model is presented for the Spearman rank correlation, and its properties are explored both theoretically and in a simulation study. Through the use of the Iman–Conover algorithm (which allows the user to specify the rank correlation as a population parameter), simulation studies from previously published articles are explored, and it is found that many of the conclusions purported in them regarding the nature of the Spearman correlation would change if the data‐generation mechanism better matched the simulation design. More specifically, issues such as small sample bias and lack of power of the t‐test and r‐to‐z Fisher transformation disappear when the rank correlation is calculated from data sampled where the rank correlation is the population parameter. A proof for the consistency of the sample estimate of the rank correlation is shown as well as the flexibility of the copula model to encompass results previously published in the mathematical literature.     

强弱语义语境下的否定句加工机制

2个眼动实验分别探讨强弱语义语境下的否定句加工机制, 以便考察语言理解是命题表征的过程还是经验模拟的过程, 抑或是二者兼具。在实验中, 被试首先听句子(强语义语境：如“胳膊不是弯曲的”的备择选项为“伸直的胳膊”, 其中“弯曲−伸直”为具有反义关系的强语义连接关系; 弱语义语境：如加工“裙子不是蓝色的”的备择选项为“黑色的裙子”, “蓝色−黑色”为弱语义连接关系), 然后会看到4张同时呈现的图片, 被试的任务是按键选择与句子描述匹配的图片。结果发现, 在强语义语境条件下, 被试在早期(201~600 ms时窗)对描述事件否定状态的图片(弯曲的胳膊)与描述事件实际状态的图片(伸直的胳膊)的注视概率没有差别, 晚期(601 ms后)仅对描述事件实际状态的图片的注视概率更高; 弱语义语境条件下, 被试在早期(401~600 ms)仅对描述事件否定状态的图片(蓝裙子)注视概率更高, 晚期(801 ms后)仅对描述事件实际状态的图片(黑色裙子)注视概率更高; 并且, 都对描述事件否定状态的图片的注视概率低于随机水平。结果支持符号依存假设和抑制假设。     

Debiasing the hindsight bias: The role of accessibility experiences and (mis)attributions

Two studies tested the role of accessibility experiences and attributions in debiasing the hindsight bias. Participants listed 4 or 12 thoughts about how a college football game, or the 2000 US Presidential election, might have turned out differently. Listing 12 thoughts was experienced as difficult, suggesting to participants that there were few ways in which the event could have turned out otherwise. Hindsight biases increased under this condition, unless participants attributed the difficulty of the thought generation to their own lack of knowledge, which resulted in a trend in the opposite direction. The interplay of accessible content, accessibility experiences and attribution in mental simulation is discussed.