Body weight, not facial width-to-height ratio, predicts aggression in pro hockey players

Studies indicate that facial characteristics may predict behavior, but it is unclear if this will hold within highly selective populations. One relevant characteristic is the face’s width-to-height ratio (FWHR), a sexually dimorphic trait that has been shown to predict aggression. That FWHR may predict aggression within highly selective populations was suggested by Carré and McCormick’s (2008) finding that professional hockey players with greater FWHRs accrued more penalties. We attempted to replicate this result using all NHL players. We also explored fighting penalties as another aggression measure and height and weight as additional aggression predictors. We found that body weight predicted substantial variance in aggression but FWHR did not. Thus, in highly selective populations, inferences based on faces may be inaccurate.     

Empathic accuracy: age differences from adolescence into middle adulthood

ABSTRACT

This study investigated age differences in empathic accuracy, the ability to correctly perceive others’ emotions, in a sample of 151 boys and men from three age groups: adolescents (M_age?=?16 years, SD?=?1.04), young adults (M_age?=?29 years, SD?=?2.78), and middle-aged adults (M_age?=?50 years, SD?=?3.07). All participants viewed nine newly developed film clips, each depicting a boy or a man reliving one of three emotions (anger, sadness, or happiness), while talking about an autobiographical memory. Adolescents and middle-aged men were less accurate than young men, and these age differences were associated with parallel age differences in fluid-mechanical abilities. In addition, age differences in vocabulary, one indicator of crystallized-pragmatic intelligence, were associated with age differences in empathic accuracy in adolescent and young, but not middle-aged, men. Within the limitations of cross-sectional data, this study provides evidence for the idea that empathic accuracy is an effortful task that requires cognitive resources and, thus, may show a normative increase until young adulthood followed by periods of stability and decline in subsequent decades.     

Differentiation of 13 positive emotions by appraisals

This research examined how strongly appraisals can differentiate positive emotions and how they differentiate positive emotions. Thirteen positive emotions were examined, namely, amusement, awe, challenge, compassion, contentment, gratitude, hope, interest, joy, pride, relief, romantic love and serenity. Participants from Singapore and the USA recalled an experience of each emotion and thereafter rated their appraisals of the experience. In general, the appraisals accurately classified the positive emotions at rates above chance levels, and the appraisal–emotion relationships conformed to predictions. Also, the appraisals were largely judged by participants as relevant to their positive emotion experiences, and the appraisal–emotion relationships were largely consistent across the two countries.     

How women's sexual orientation guides accuracy of interpersonal judgements of other women

This research examines how women's sexual orientation guides the accuracy of judgements of other women. One hundred ten judges (67 straight and 43 lesbian women) watched videotapes of 9 targets (4 straight and 5 lesbian) and made judgements about the targets' thoughts, emotions, personality, and sexual orientation. Accuracy scores were created for each judge by comparing judgements to criterion data gathered about targets. Straight judges were significantly more accurate at judging thoughts and marginally more accurate at judging emotions compared to lesbian judges. There were no significant differences in judging personality. Straight targets' thoughts and personality were more easily assessed than lesbian targets' while lesbians' emotions were more easily judged than straight targets'. Lesbian judges were more accurate at judging sexual orientation regardless of their tendency to categorize women as lesbian compared to straight judges. Findings support past research on the accurate perception of sexual orientation and contribute to understanding how sexual orientation guides person perception.     

认知诊断CAT中项目曝光控制方法的比较

项目曝光率关系到题库建设和测验安全,是计算机化自适应测验(Computerized Adaptive Testing, CAT)需要考虑的重要问题。在认知诊断 CAT 情形下,首先基于传统 CAT 中 a-分层方法的思想提出按项目信息量对题库分层的分层多阶段(Stratified Multistage, SM)选题方法;然后将 SM 方法与项目合格(Item Eligibility, IE)方法相结合得到SMIE方法。在此基础上,开展模拟研究比较SM、IE、SMIE、最大修正优先指标(Maximum Modified Priority Index, MMPI)方法、限制阈值(Restrictive Threshold, RT)方法和限制进度(Restrictive Progressive, RPG)方法的选题表现。总体上,它们的测量精度从高到低依次为IE、SM、SMIE、RT、RPG和MMPI方法;项目曝光分布均匀性的优劣次序为MMPI、RPG、SMIE、RT、SM和IE方法;SMIE和RT方法能较好地平衡测量精度和项目曝光均匀性要求。     

Change detection inflates confidence on a subsequent recognition task

A face viewed under good encoding conditions is more likely to be remembered than a face viewed under poor encoding conditions. In four experiments we investigated how encoding conditions affected confidence in recognising faces from line-ups. Participants performed a change detection task followed by a recognition task and then rated how confident they were in their recognition accuracy. In the first two experiments the same faces were repeated across trials. In the final two experiments novel faces were used on each trial. Target-present and target-absent line-ups were utilised. In each experiment participants had greater recognition confidence after change detection than after change blindness. The finding that change detection inflates confidence, even for inaccurate recognitions, indicates recognition certainty can be a product of perceived encoding conditions rather than authentic memory strength.     

Event familiarity influences memory detection using the aIAT

The developers of the autobiographical Implicit Association Test (aIAT) describe it as a possible memory detection tool. This claim rests on the assumption the aIAT can reliably and automatically detect the accuracy of autobiographical events. However, the aIAT may be susceptible to factors that affect the assessment of truth vs. falseness, such as the relative familiarity of those events. We compared aIAT performance when participants reported recent vs. childhood autobiographical events, and when participants imagined vs. did not imagine a fabricated autobiographical event. The aIAT was less effective at distinguishing between real and fabricated events from childhood, compared to recent real and fabricated events. Imagining a fabricated event did not affect aIAT performance; however, there was a trend in the data suggesting imagination may have reduced the effect of event recency. Our results provide further evidence that reducing or enhancing source confusion—via familiarity—can influence the predictive value of the aIAT.     

Narrative organisation at encoding facilitated children's long-term episodic memory

This study examined the effect of narrative organisation at encoding on long-term episodic memory in a sample of five- to seven-year-old children (N = 113). At an initial interview, children were asked to narrate a story from a picture book. Six months later, they were interviewed again and asked to recall the story and answer a series of direct questions about the story. Children who initially encoded more information in narrative and produced more complete, complex, cohesive and coherent narratives remembered the story in greater detail and accuracy following the six-month interval, independent of age and verbal skills. The relation between narrative organisation and memory was consistent across culture and gender. These findings provide new insight into the critical role of narrative in episodic memory.     

More of myself: Manipulating interoceptive awareness by heightened attention to bodily and narrative aspects of the self

Psychology distinguishes between a bodily and a narrative self. Within neuroscience, models of the bodily self are based on exteroceptive sensorimotor processes or on the integration of interoceptive sensations. Recent research has revealed interactions between interoceptive and exteroceptive processing of self-related information, for example that mirror self-observation can improve interoceptive awareness. Using heartbeat perception, we measured the effect on interoceptive awareness of two experimental manipulations, designed to heighten attention to bodily and narrative aspects of the self. Participants gazed at a photograph of their own face or at self-relevant words. In both experimental conditions interoceptive awareness was significantly increased, compared to baseline. Results show that attention to narrative aspects of self, previously regarded as relying on higher-order processes, has an effect similar to self-face stimuli in improving interoceptive awareness. Our findings extend the previously observed interaction between the bodily self and interoception to more abstract amodal representations of the self.