Distributional learning has immediate and long-lasting effects

Evidence of distributional learning, a statistical learning mechanism centered on relative frequency of exposure to different tokens, has mainly come from short-term learning and therefore does not ostensibly address the development of important learning processes. The present longitudinal study examines both short- and long-term effects of distributional learning of phonetic categories on non-native sound discrimination over a 12-month period. Two groups of listeners were exposed to a two-minute distribution of auditory stimuli in which the most frequently presented tokens either approximated or exaggerated the natural production of the speech sounds, whereas a control group listened to a piece of classical music for the same length of time. Discrimination by listeners in the two distribution groups improved immediately after the short exposure, replicating previous results. Crucially, this improvement was maintained after six and 12 months, demonstrating that distributional learning has long-lasting effects.     

Legal and Ethical Implications of Using Religious Beliefs as the Basis for Refusing to Counsel Certain Clients

This article addresses potential legal and ethical implications of lawsuits that have been brought when counselors and counseling students have used their religious beliefs as the basis for refusing to counsel lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transexual clients. Four lawsuits are reviewed, issues relevant to the cases are identified, and implications for counselor educators and counseling students are discussed.     

Oculomotion mediates attentional guidance toward temporarily close objects

Previous research has identified multiple features of individual objects that are capable of guiding visual attention. However, in dynamic multi-element displays not only individual object features but also changing spatial relations between two or more objects might signal relevance. Here we report a series of experiments that investigated the hypothesis that reduced inter-object spacing guides visual attention toward the corresponding objects. Our participants discriminated between different probes that appeared on moving objects while we manipulated spatial proximity between the objects at the moment of probe onset. Indeed, our results confirm that there is a bias toward temporarily close objects, which persists even when such a bias is harmful for the actual task (Experiments 1a and 1b). Remarkably, this bias is mediated by oculomotor processes. Controlling for eye-movements reverses the pattern of results (Experiment 2a), whereas the location of the gaze tends toward the temporarily close objects under free viewing conditions (Experiment 2b). Taken together, our results provide insights into the interplay of attentional and oculomotor processes during dynamic scene processing. Thereby, they also add to the growing body of evidence showing that within dynamic perception, attentional and oculomotor processes act conjointly and are hardly separable.     

汉字刺激质量和频率在N400上的交互

采用事件相关电位,运用无启动的同一字判断（靶字延迟反应）范式,以大学生为被试探讨汉字刺激质量和频率是否具有交互作用。行为结果显示,刺激质量和频率在反应时上存在交互作用。脑电结果显示,重度模糊诱发了更大的N250和N400,且刺激质量和频率在N400上存在交互作用。结论是,汉字刺激质量和频率在反应时和N400上存在交互作用,表明在汉字识别中存在串级加工,支持IA模型。     

Intersectional experiences of discrimination in a low‐resource urban community: An exploratory latent class analysis

There have been increasing calls for the application of an intersectionality framework to understand and address discrimination and health inequities among diverse communities. Yet there have been theoretical debates regarding to whom intersectionality applies and how intersectional experiences of discrimination are associated with health outcomes. The current study aimed to contribute to these theoretical debates and inform practical applications to reduce health inequities. Data were drawn from a community health survey in New Haven, CT (N = 1,293 adults) and analysed using latent class analysis. Results yielded 4 classes. Members of the 4 classes were similar sociodemographically. Three classes of participants reported experiencing discrimination, and members of these classes had greater stress, higher rates of smoking and sleep disruption, and worse overall health than members of the class reporting no discrimination. Members of 2 classes made multiple, or intersectional, attributions for discrimination, and members of these classes reported the most frequent discrimination. Findings suggest that community members who are sociodemographically similar may have diverse discrimination experiences. Multilevel interventions that address multiple forms of discrimination (e.g., racism and sexism) may hold promise for reducing discrimination and, ultimately, health inequities within low‐resource urban community settings.