Multiple sclerosis,emotion perception and social functioning

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) can experience problems in interpreting others’ emotions from faces or voices. However, to date little is known about whether difficulties in emotion perception in MS are related to broader aspects of social functioning. Also, there are few studies reporting the effect of MS on more ecologically valid assessments of emotion perception using multimodal videos. The current study looks at (1) the effect of MS on perceiving emotions from faces, voices and multimodal videos; (2) the possible role of slowed processing and executive dysfunction in emotion perception problems in MS and (3) the relationship between emotion perception and broader social functioning in MS. 53 people with MS and 31 healthy controls completed tasks of emotion perception and cognition, and assessed their levels of social support and social participation. Participants with MS performed worse than demographically matched controls on all measures of emotion perception. Emotion perception performance was related to cognitive measures in those with MS. Also, significant associations were found between emotion perception difficulties in MS and poorer social function. In particular, people with MS who had poorer emotion perception also reported lower levels of social support from their friends, and regression analysis showed that this prediction was maintained even when disease severity and cognitive function were taken into account. These results show that problems with emotion perception in MS extend to more realistic tasks and may predict key aspects of social functioning.     

Critical geographies of love and loss: Relational responses to the death of a spouse in Senegal

Marriage practices in the Majority world may differ considerably from dominant cultural ideals in the Minority world of ‘romantic love’ and ‘companionate marriage’ based on monogamous relationships. Similarly, mourning in the ‘Rest’ of the world often diverges from assumptions within Anglophone bereavement studies of a ‘grieving journey’. This paper provides a gendered, spatial, relational analysis of responses to the death of a spouse in Senegal, based on in-depth interviews with Serer women and men in rural and urban communities. A heightened sense of relationality with the deceased surrounded widows' bodies, with permeable boundaries that needed to be contained and “purified” through widowhood-mourning practices in order to restore social cohesion. For men, the space of the home was transformed, sometimes unbearably, by the loss of a wife and mother due to their central role in home-making practices, transforming men's relational being. ‘Embodied relationality’, alongside material constraints, also shaped perspectives on remarriage. The paper reveals the diverse material, embodied, spatial, and often explicitly gendered, ways that the effects of the death of a spouse may be manifested in the experience of the living person and draws attention to the permeable embodied boundaries of ‘relational being’ that encompass the living and the dead.     

How representations of number and numeracy predict decision paradoxes: A fuzzy-trace theory approach

Higher numeracy has been associated with decision biases in some numerical judgment-and-decision problems. According to fuzzy-trace theory, understanding such paradoxes involves broadening the concept of numeracy to include processing the gist of numbers—their categorical and ordinal relations—in addition to objective (verbatim) knowledge about numbers. We assess multiple representations of gist, as well as numeracy, and use them to better understand and predict systematic paradoxes in judgment and decision-making. In two samples (Ns = 978 and 957), we assessed categorical (some vs. none) and ordinal gist representations of numbers (higher vs. lower, as in relative magnitude judgment, estimation, approximation, and simple ratio comparison), objective numeracy, and a nonverbal, nonnumeric measure of fluid intelligence in predicting: (a) decision preferences exhibiting the Allais paradox and (b) attractiveness ratings of bets with and without a small loss in which the loss bet is rated higher than the objectively superior no-loss bet. Categorical and ordinal gist tasks predicted unique variance in paradoxical decisions and judgments, beyond objective numeracy and intelligence. Whereas objective numeracy predicted choosing or rating according to literal numerical superiority, appreciating the categorical and ordinal gist of numbers was pivotal in predicting paradoxes. These results bring important paradoxes under the same explanatory umbrella, which assumes three types of representations of numbers—categorical gist, ordinal gist, and objective (verbatim)—that vary in their strength across individuals.     

儿童青少年时期加工速度和执行功能在流体智力发展中的作用

以7~15岁儿童青少年为研究对象,考察加工速度和执行功能对流体智力的影响。研究结果表明,随着年龄的增长,感觉运动加工速度、知觉加工速度对流体智力从具有直接影响到只通过执行功能中的记忆更新成分产生间接影响,但这种影响存在年龄间的差异。在童年中期（7~9岁）,知觉加工速度对流体智力不仅具有直接的预测作用,还通过记忆更新对其产生间接的影响。童年晚期（10~12岁）,感觉运动加工速度和知觉加工速度不再对流体智力具有直接预测作用,都是通过记忆更新和抑制/转换合成成分间接对流体智力起作用。青春期（13~15岁）,知觉加工速度对流体智力只通过记忆更新产生间接影响。     

参照依赖和损失规避对个体收入分配公平判断的影响

收入分配公平判断是人们对自己收入所得公平与否的主观评价。通过对参照点和收入金额的控制,探讨参照依赖和损失规避对收入分配公平判断的共同影响。结果发现,(1)民众的收入公平判断受参照点的影响,在有参照点的情景下比无参照点情景下更感觉不公平;(2)不同工资水平下,民众的公平判断具有显著差异,而且民众对低于平均工资的“受损”比高于平均工资同等金额的“受益”赋予的公平感的权重更大,即存在得失感受的不对称;(3)不同的工资参照点、多得和少得的分配结果共同影响民众的公平判断,即损失规避在参照依赖对公平判断的影响中起调节作用。     

Efficacy of a 7-week dance (RCT) PE curriculum with different teaching pedagogies and levels of cognitive challenge to improve working memory capacity and motor competence in 8–10 years old children

ObjectivesThis study examined how learning a dance choreography with different teaching pedagogies and different cognitive challenge influenced the development of working memory capacity and motor competence in primary school children.DesignRandomised-controlled trial.MethodsEighty primary school children (8.8 ± 0.7 years old; 61% females) were recruited and randomly assigned to two experimental groups – a high-cognitive and a low-cognitive group – and a control group. The two experimental groups practiced dance for 7 weeks, twice a week, learning a choreography, while the control group participated in the school standard PE curriculum. In the high-cognitive group, the dance teachers limited visual demonstrations and encouraged children to memorise and recall movement sequences to increase the cognitive challenge.ResultsWhile the pre-to post-test improvements did not statistically differ between experimental groups, the analysis showed that the high-cognitive group statistically improved their working memory capacity (p < 0.01; d = 0.51), while the low-cognitive (p = 0.04; d = 0.48) and control groups did not (p = 0.32; d = 0.17). All three groups improved their motor competence from pre-to post-test, and there was a significant group*time effect (p < 0.01, η_p² = 0.13) with the high-cognitive group showing larger improvement than the control.ConclusionsThe results of this study provide initial support that dance practice coupled with a high cognitive challenge could improve working memory capacity and motor competence in children; however, the difference between groups was not statistically significant, and future research is necessary to examine the generalization of this finding.     

Overweight and obese men’s experiences in a sport-based weight loss intervention for men

In Western countries, such as Australia and the UK, a significantly greater proportion of men (relative to women) are overweight and obese, yet relatively few weight loss interventions have been developed that sufficiently target men. This lack of male-focused programming may be in part because ‘traditional’ weight loss programs are unappealing for what is considered a ‘hard-to-reach’ population. One program that appears to have such appeal for men is the MAN v FAT Football (MVFF) program, based out of the United Kingdom, which is designed for men with a body mass index of (or greater than) 27.5. MVFF encourages men’s participation in a community-based weight loss program that incentivizes weight loss through participation in a football league, and since 2016 MVFF has supported the weight loss efforts of several thousand men. Using MVFF as an exemplar, our aim was to derive insight into how men experience a male-only competitive, sport-based weight loss program. We recruited twenty-seven players (Mage = 41.13, SD = 9.93), and ten coaches (Mage = 31.8, SD = 11.55) from program locations throughout the United Kingdom. Using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, we identified several appraisal aspects of the program that players and coaches considered important, including the appeal of sport, competition on a level playing field, being part of a team, camaraderie, accountability, men sharing issues with other men, gender-sensitized environment, likeminded and similar men, and perceptions that traditional weight loss programs are tailored towards women. Player experiences (i.e., competence and enjoyment) and functional supports in the program (e.g., player handbook, weight loss coach) were reported to drive outcomes of effective weight loss and program retention. Interventions aiming to target men may be more successful working with rather than against formulations of identity such as masculinities, and this can be achieved by tailoring program content (e.g., messaging), settings (e.g., among men sharing similar characteristics such as body-type or goals), and mode of delivery (e.g., through organized sports, and leveraging competition to drive healthy behaviours).     

公安民警的创伤后应激症状对执行功能的影响—基于Stroop范式的探究

公安民警常常身临应激和危险情境中,是创伤事件的易感人群,但其创伤后应激症状对执行功能的影响研究尚且缺乏。已有研究发现,具有创伤后应激症状的个体的执行功能存在缺陷,表现在对冲突信息的抑制能力受损以及对创伤相关信息的注意偏向和情绪唤起。本研究以公安民警为实验组被试,据其创伤后应激症状分为高低两组,在校大学生为对照组被试,采用Stroop范式探究创伤后应激症状对公安民警“冷”、“热”执行功能的影响。结果表明,具有创伤后应激症状的公安民警在“冷”、“热”执行功能上不存在缺陷,但仍在一定程度上受到创伤后应激症状的影响。启示对具有创伤后应激症状的公安民警进行干预时,应关注其症状的严重程度,在“热”执行功能上寻求更有效的干预方式。