Socio-cognitive,expertise-based and appearance-based accounts of the other-‘race’ effect in face perception: A label-based systematic review of neuroimaging results

Two competing theories explain the other-‘race’ effect (ORE) either by greater perceptual expertise to same-‘race’ (SR) faces or by social categorization of other-‘race’ (OR) faces at the expense of individuation. To assess expertise and categorization contributions to the ORE, a promising—yet overlooked—approach is comparing activations for different other-‘races’. We present a label-based systematic review of neuroimaging studies reporting increased activity in response to OR faces (African, Caucasian, or Asian) when compared with the SR of participants. Hypothetically, while common activations would reflect general aspects of OR perception, ‘race’-preferential ones would represent effects of ‘race’-specific visual appearance. We find that several studies report activation of occipito-temporal and midcingulate areas in response to faces across different other-‘races’, presumably due to high demand on the visual system and category processing. Another area reported in response to all OR faces, the caudate nucleus, suggests the involvement of socio-affective processes and behavioural regulation. Overall, our results support hybrid models—both expertise and social categorization contribute to the ORE, but they provide little evidence for reduced motivation to process OR faces. Additionally, we identify areas preferentially responding to specific OR faces, reflecting effects of visual appearance.     

Trait impressions from voices: Considering multiple ‘origin stories’ and the dynamic nature of trait-related cues

Experimental findings for trait impressions from voices are often discussed in relation to potential evolutionary origins. This commentary takes Sutherland and Young's (2022) account of the different potential origins of facial trait impressions to suggest that vocal trait impressions should also be viewed as having been shaped by cultural and individual learning.     

Enhancing Creativity With Combined Transcranial Direct Current and Random Noise Stimulation of the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex and Inferior Frontal Gyrus

Creativity is a fundamental human accomplishment from scientific advances to composing music. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) are important metacontrol hubs in flexibility and persistence brain states, respectively. Those hubs are related to divergent thinking, insight problem-solving, and convergent thinking. In this double-blind, between-subjects study, 81 healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups (n = 27) that received a combined transcranial direct current stimulation–transcranial random noise stimulation (tDCS-tRNS) protocol with the anode over the left DLPFC and cathode over the left IFG (+DLPFC−IFG), the opposite montage (−DLPFC+IFG), and a sham group (+DLPFC−IFG). Both active tDCS-tRNS groups received 20 min of 1 mA tDCS with 1 mA (100–500 Hz) tRNS. Creativity was assessed before (baseline) and during stimulation with the Unusual Uses, Picture Completion (PC), Remote Association test (RAT), Matchstick Arithmetic (MA), and Nine-dot (ND) problems. Only the +DLPFC−IFG group had significantly higher scores compared with sham in the RAT (p = .009), PC fluency (p = .018), PC originality (p = .007), ND (p = .007), and MA (p = .032). Overall, −DLPFC+IFG had greater scores in all creativity tests compared with sham. Implications from the metacontrol theory are discussed.     

Footsteps I would like to follow? How gender quotas affect the acceptance of women leaders as role models and inspirations for leadership

This research examines how the method of selecting women leaders affects other women's leadership interest. The results of three experiments (N = 1,015) indicated that only when women leaders were selected due to merit, not quota-based policies, did they boost female participants’ interest in a leadership position. These reactions were mediated by perceptions of the woman leader's deservingness of her position (Studies 1–3) and consequent acceptance as a role model (Studies 2 and 3). Accordingly, success information validating quota-based selected leaders’ competence provided a boost in leadership interest equal to that of merit-based selected leaders (Study 2). For male participants, quota but not merit-based selected women leaders lowered interest in leadership due to their pessimistic assessment of the probability of being selected (Study 1). These results suggest that a wise implementation of quota regulations includes validating women's competence so they are perceived as deserving of their leader roles and can thus serve as inspiring role models.     

Consequences of Ethical Relativism

The aim of this paper is to investigate the temporal content of perceptual experience. I argue for a view according to which we must recognize the existence of perceptions the content of which cannot be spelled out simply by looking at what is the case at an isolated instant. Acts of apprehension can cover a succession of events. Howev er, a subject who has such perceptions can still fall short of having a concept of time. I compare this with arguments which have been put forward to show that a subject who has spatial perceptions can fall short of having a concept of space. In both cases, it is the fact that perception is from a point of view which stands in the way of it constituting an exercise of a concept of how things are objectively. However, I also show that the way in which perception is perspectival takes a different form in each of the two cases.     

Reviews

A.W. Moore, Points of View
Monique Canto-Sperber, Jonathan Barnes, Luc Brisson, Jacques Brunschwig, and Gregory Vlastos, Philosophie grecque
Nancy Sherman, Making a Necessity of Virtue: Aristotle and Kant on Virtue
Robin Le Poidevin, Arguing for Atheism: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion
Paul Griffiths, What Emotions Really Are
Quassim Cassam, Self and World     

Behavioral Microanalysis of Helping Interactions Between Mothers and Adult Children with Mental Retardation

Although direct observation has provided much information regarding caregiver-care recipient interactions, our understanding of the applications of this technique remains incomplete. This study expands upon earlier observational work by examining adults with mental retardation (MR) and their family caregivers in the home setting. Specialized computer software was used to conduct real-time observation and recording of interactional styles of maternal caregivers of eight younger (M = 23 years old) and eight older (M = 49 years old) MR adults during two cognitive tasks: block design and card sorting. Differences in the amount and type of assistance provided by the caregiver were examined by coding the occurrence and duration of seven interactional behaviors. The results demonstrated that the caregivers of the younger adults used more positive statements and modeling/gestural prompts, whereas the caregivers of the older adults provided more physical assistance and performed more of the tasks themselves. More importantly, this project provided information regarding interactions between MR adults and their maternal caregivers and demonstrated the utility of computer-assisted data collection technology with a community-based, nondemented population.     

Reinforcer efficacy in a delayed matching-to-sample task.

Five domestic hens were exposed to a delayed matching-to-sample task. Conditions 1, 5, and 8 were variable-delay conditions in which five delays (0.25, 1, 2, 4, and 8 s) from the red or green sample to the presentation of the red and green comparison stimuli were presented a number of times during each session. In the fixed-delay condition (Condition 3), each delay was presented for 15 sessions under a Latin square design across birds. When improvements in accuracy across the variable-delay conditions are taken into account, the data were similar under both the variable and fixed delays. In Conditions 2, 4, 6, and 7 sample-reinforcer intervals were held at 8, 8, 4, and 2 s, respectively, while sample-choice intervals were varied within these during each session. With increasing sample-reinforcer interval, both initial discriminability (i.e., with sample-choice delay = 0) and rate of decrement in discriminability decreased. Although the former would be predicted if accuracy depends of the average sample-reinforcer interval, the latter would not. These data show that increasing the sample-choice interval had less effect on matching accuracy than increasing the sample-reinforcer interval did.     

拓扑性质知觉的大脑半球功能不对称性研究

本文以视觉的拓扑知觉理论为指导进行大脑半球功能不对称性的研究。全文共有三个实验,考察了辨别扭扑性质差异和其它几何性质差异时大脑半球的功能不对称性．拓扑性质差异包括洞（封闭性）的差异和内外关系的差异．实验结果显示：对于右利手被试,辨别拓扑性质差异时,左半球有优势。辨别距离和朝向等几何性质差异时,右半球有优势或没有统计显著的大脑半球功能不对称性。     

Effects of spatial rearrangement of object components on picture recognition in pigeons.

Five pigeons were first trained to discriminate among line drawings of four objects: a watering can, an iron, a desk lamp, and a sailboat. The birds were then tested with eight versions of each object, in which the object's components were vertically and horizontally rearranged. The pigeons displayed different degrees of generalization decrement to the different scrambled versions of the objects. Two analyses helped to clarify the nature of the varied accuracy scores. First, cluster analyses disclosed subsets of components that were related to test performance. Second, although the clusters varied somewhat across birds for a given object, there was reliable concordance among the subjects in their rankings of the individual scramblings, suggesting that the pigeons may have attended to common aspects of the drawings.