Caution! Warnings as a Useless Countermeasure to Reduce Overconfidence? An Experimental Evaluation in Light of Enhanced and Dynamic Warning Designs

People often display excessive overconfidence when providing interval estimates, which biases decision‐making. Research has investigated the various measures to effectively reduce overconfidence, and the use of warnings has subsequently been considered to have a negligible reduction effect. We demonstrate with two separate experiments that the impact of warnings has to be reviewed in light of dynamic warning designs and cognitive warning process models. In experiment 1, in contrast to previous studies that only used unstructured warnings, we implement a warning incorporating some core elements of a structured warning design based on research in the fields of human factors and ergonomics. Furthermore, accounting for recent developments in the warning literature, we distinguish between static and dynamic warning design. In experiment 2, we examine the effectiveness of different elements of dynamic warnings. We show that a significantly higher reduction of overconfidence can be achieved by combining a structured warning content with a dynamic stimulus change to increase the warning's noticeability. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

压力事件对初中生抑郁的影响:网络使用动机与网络使用强度的作用

为探讨压力事件对初中生抑郁的影响以及网络使用动机和网络使用强度在其中的作用,采用生活事件量表,网络使用动机量表,网络使用强度量表和流调中心用抑郁量表对武汉市内两所中学的913名初中生进行调查。结果发现：（1）压力事件与网络使用动机、网络使用强度和抑郁均呈显著正相关; （2）压力事件正向预测网络使用动机与网络使用强度,网络使用动机正向预测网络使用强度,网络使用强度正向预测抑郁; （3）网络使用动机中,社会补偿动机正向预测抑郁,而好友联系动机与休闲娱乐动机负向预测抑郁; （4）压力事件通过网络使用动机和网络使用强度的链式中介作用影响抑郁。研究结果强调压力事件不仅可以直接影响初中生抑郁,还可以通过网络使用动机和网络使用强度间接影响初中生抑郁。     

Effects of music on vocal stereotypy in children with autism

We examined the effects of manipulating the intensity (i.e., volume) of music on engagement in vocal stereotypy in 2 children with autism. Noncontingent access to music decreased immediate engagement in vocal stereotypy for each participant, but it produced only marginal effects on subsequent engagement in the behavior (i.e., after withdrawal). Manipulating the intensity of music did not produce differential effects on immediate engagement in vocal stereotypy. The implications of the results and applications for future research are discussed.     

Preference for the outcome that follows a relatively aversive event: Contrast or delay reduction?

Pigeons prefer a positive discriminative (S+) stimulus that follows a less preferred event (a large number of required responses, a longer delay, or the absence of food) over a different S+ with a similar history of reinforcement that follows a more preferred event (a single required response, no delay, or food). We proposed that this phenomenon results from contrast (referred to as within-trial contrast) between the less preferred initial event and the signal for reinforcement. Delay reduction theory (Fantino, 1969) can account for these results by proposing that the less preferred initial event lengthens the duration of the trial, thereby allowing the S+ stimulus to occur later in the trial and thus become a better predictor of reinforcement. In the present experiments, we further explored this effect. In Experiment 1, we controlled for trial duration by using a fixed ratio response (30 pecks) as one initial event and the absence of pecking for the same duration as the other initial event (0 pecks). The pigeons showed a reliable preference for the positive stimulus that followed the least preferred initial event. In Experiment 2, we controlled for trial duration by using 30 pecks as one initial event and 1 peck followed by a delay that matched the duration of the preceding 30-peck trial. (Group Time Same). For Group Time Different, there was no delay following the 1-peck initial event. For Group Time Same, preference for the initial event negatively predicted the pigeons’ preference for the S+ stimulus that followed, supporting the contrast account. A somewhat greater preference for the discriminative stimulus that followed the least preferred initial event was found for Group Time Different suggesting that in addition to contrast, delay reduction also may play a small role. However, the greater initial-event preference found for Group Time Different suggests that contrast can account for the group difference as well.     

Promoting positive parenting practices in primary pare: outcomes and mechanisms of change in a randomized controlled risk reduction trial

The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether a short parent-training program (PT) reduces risk factors related to development of childhood socio-emotional and behavior problems in a non-clinical community sample. Data were obtained from parents in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on PT for children aged 2 to 8 years (N=186) at pre-intervention, post-intervention and one-year-follow up. There were significant differences in the changes in the two groups, with reductions in harsh parenting and child behavior problems, an enhancement of positive parenting and of the parents' sense of competence in the intervention group. The effects on parenting and parents' satisfaction all lasted through one-year follow up. Our findings suggests that a shortened version of a well-structured parenting intervention, The Incredible Years program, implemented in primary care at community level, reduces harsh parenting and strengthens positive parenting and parents' sense of competence, as reported by the parents. Issues related to a public health approach to promote positive parenting are discussed.     

What a Rational Parser Would Do

This article examines cognitive process models of human sentence comprehension based on the idea of informed search. These models are rational in the sense that they strive to find a good syntactic analysis quickly. Informed search derives a new account of garden pathing that handles traditional counterexamples. It supports a symbolic explanation for local coherence as well as an algorithmic account of entropy reduction. The models are expressed in a broad framework for theories of human sentence comprehension.     

Reductive and Emergent Views on Motor Learning in Rehabilitation Practice

To allow different views on motor learning to inform rehabilitation research, the authors aimed to explicate a frequently missed yet fundamental difference in starting point of such views. By considering how rehabilitation in practice answers the question of what parts an activity consists of, reductive and emergent approaches to motor learning are identified and traced throughout rehabilitation practice. The authors show that when a task is cut up along reductive dimensions while also apparently relying on emergent components, this unequally favors the reductive approach and acts to limit the views on motor learning available. By showing the approaches in practice, the authors hope to inspire an awareness that brings both approaches the opportunity to independently inform research so that new theories and practices can proliferate.     

When shared group membership signifies shared subjective experience: I-sharing and the minimal group paradigm

Ingroup favoritism is pervasive. It emerges even in the minimal group paradigm, where participants are assigned to novel groups based on seemingly insignificant characteristics. Yet many of the grouping schemes used in minimal group research may imply something significant: namely, that ingroup members will share in-the-moment subjective experience, or I-share. Two studies examine the role of inferred I-sharing in the minimal group paradigm. We found that (1) people inferred that they would I-share with ingroup members more than outgroup members; (2) inferred I-sharing increased ingroup favoritism; and (3) inferred I-sharing accounted for this ingroup favoritism. Moreover, expecting to I-share with the outgroup improved participants’ attitudes toward the outgroup. These results converge with other research suggesting that people favor ingroup members, in part, because they expect to I-share with them.     

Positive effects of low intensity recorded maternal voice on physiologic reactions in premature infants

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of low intensity recorded maternal voice on the physiologic reactions of healthy premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).MethodsPhysiologic responses of 20 healthy preterm infants in the NICU of Shariati Hospital, Tehran, were obtained during a 15 min intervention including three 5 min periods (no-sound control, audio recorded playback of mother’s voice, no-sound post-voice). The intervention was presented three times a day for three consecutive days. During each intervention, oxygen saturation (%, OSPR), heart rate (HR), and respiratory rate (RR) were recorded at 1 min intervals over the 15 min and then averaged over each 5 min period, resulting in 3 averages for each variable for each intervention.ResultsRepeated Measures Analysis of Variance were employed to examine each variable separately. Over the three days, comparison of oxygen saturation over each of the three periods (before, during voice, after) revealed an increase in oxygen saturation during the voice period, compared to the pre-voice period, which persisted over the post-voice period; there were no differences between the voice and post-voice periods. Analyses of the HR and RR data showed a decrease in both variables during the voice period compared to the pre-voice period which persisted over the post-voice period. Again, there were no differences between the voice and post-voice periods.ConclusionExposure to low intensity recorded maternal voice has positive effects on the preterm infants ‘physiologic responses.