bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Why Bayesian brains perform poorly on explicit probabilistic reasoning problems
Authors: Smith Ryan , Ramstead Maxwell James , Kiefer Alex
Published: February 2022

There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that the neural processes underlying perception, learning, and decision-making approximate Bayesian inference. Yet, humans perform poorly when asked to solve explicit probabilistic reasoning problems. In response, some have argued that certain brain processes are Bayesian while others are not; others have argued that reasoning errors can be explained by either inaccurate generative models or limitations of approximation algorithms. In this paper, we offer a complementary perspective by considering how a Bayesian brain would implement conscious reasoning processes more generally. These considerations require making two distinctions, each of which highlights a fundamental reason why Bayesian brains should not be expected to perform well at explicit inference. The first distinction is between inferring probability distributions over hidden states and representing probabilities as hidden states. The former assumes that the brain’s dynamics instantiate a form of approximate Bayesian inference, premised on a model of how observations are generated by hidden states of the world. In contrast, the latter assumes the brain represents probabilities themselves as hidden states – namely, hypotheses about the correct answers to explicit reasoning problems. In this latter case, correctly inferring the most likely probability to report would implausibly require the brain to possess a generative model encoding Bayes’ theorem itself. The second distinction is between inference and mental action. In addition to state inference, consciously solving Bayes’ theorem requires the selection of a particular sequence of goal-directed cognitive actions (e.g., mental multiplication and addition, followed by division). While Bayesian brains infer probability distributions over action sequences, the possible sequences themselves often need to be learned. These considerations show that, regardless of the specific generative model in question or approximation algorithm employed, and even if all brain processes were Bayesian, an innate proficiency at solving explicit probabilistic reasoning problems should not be expected.
Open Science in Human Electrophysiology
Authors: Clayson Peter E , Keil Andreas , Larson Michael J.
Published: February 2022

Open science practices are gaining momentum in psychophysiological research, but at the nascent stage of this special issue in the International Journal of Psychophysiology there was no systematic collection of resources to support the adoption of open science practices specific to studies of human electrophysiology (EEG). The purpose of this special issue was to gather and provide resources that identify the idiosyncratic considerations and implications of open science practices specifically for studies of human EEG and event-related potentials (ERPs). Papers also show the importance of promoting good scientific practices in the application of open science principles to EEG and ERPs. This introduction to the special issue provides a roadmap for identifying the resources necessary to begin and improve the application of open science principles to EEG and ERP research. We are optimistic that open science practices will help increase the robustness, rigor, and replicability of EEG research and ultimately become the norm in studies of EEG and ERPs.
Collective remembering and forecasting during the COVID-19 pandemic: How the impact of COVID-19 affected the themes and phenomenology of global and national memories across 15 countries.
Authors: Oner Sezin , Watson Lynn Ann , Adıgüzel Zeynep , Ergen Irem , Bilgin Ezgi , Barzykowski Krystian , Curci Antonietta , Cole Scott , de la Mata Manuel L. , Janssen Steve M. J. , LANCIANO TIZIANA , Markostamou Ioanna , Nourkova Veronika , Santamaría Andrés , Taylor Andrea , Díaz Miguel Jesús Bascón , Bermeitinger Christina , Cubero-Pérez Rosario , Dessenberger Steven , Garry Maryanne , Gulgoz Sami , Hackländer Ryan Patrick Mulvaney , Heux Lucrèce , Jin Zheng , Lojo María , Roediger Henry Lederer , Matias-Garcia Jose Antonio , Szpunar Karl , Tekin Eylul , Uner Oyku
Published: February 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic created a unique set of circumstances to investigate collective memory and future simulations of events reported during the onset of a potentially historic event. Between early April and late June, 2020, we asked over 4000 individuals from 15 countries across four continents to report on remarkable (a) national and (b) global events that (i) have happened since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, and (ii) they expect to happen in the future. Whereas themes of infections, lockdown, and politics dominated global and national past events in most countries, themes of economy, a second wave, and lockdown dominated future events. The themes and phenomenological characteristics of the events differed based on contextual group factors. First, across all conditions, the event themes differed to a small yet significant degree depending on the severity of the pandemic and stringency of governmental response at the national level. Second, participants reported national events as less negative and more vivid than global events, and group differences in emotional valence were largest for future events. This research demonstrates that even during the early stages of the pandemic, themes relating its onset and course were shared across many countries, thus, providing preliminary evidence for the emergence of collective memories of this event as it is occurring. Current findings provide a profile of past and future collective events from the early stages of the ongoing pandemic and factors accounting for the consistencies and differences in event representations across 15 countries are discussed.
From multiverse analysis to multiverse operationalisations: 262,143 ways of measuring well-being
Authors: Hanel Paul H. P. , Zarzeczna Natalia
Published: February 2022

Researchers are increasingly noticing the value of multiverse analysis. While such analysis is important, they should not neglect the impact of multiverse operationalisations on the outcome – that is, multiple ways of operationalising or measuring constructs such as well-being or religiosity. The “Many Analysts Religion Projects” (2022) found that different operationalisations of well-being impacted its association with religiosity. Here, we expand on this by comparing how 262,143 ways of measuring well-being are associated with religiosity and 511 ways of measuring religiosity are associated with well-being. We found that especially short 1-2 item measures of well-being that aimed to capture it broadly resulted in a spread of associations ranging roughly between r = 0 - .25. This suggests that depending on the operationalisation of well-being, researchers might under- or overestimate the strengths of its association with religiosity. Thus, we recommend that different measures of the same construct are more routinely included in studies to gauge the robustness of the finding.
The Moralizing Effect: Self-Directed Emotions and their Impact on Culpability Attributions
Authors: Sirgiovanni Elisabetta , Smolenski Joanna , Abelson Ben , Webb Taylor
Published: February 2022

A general trend in the psychological literature suggests that guilt contributes to morality more than shame does. Unlike shame-prone individuals, guilt-prone individuals internalize the causality of negative events, attribute responsibility in the first person, and engage in responsible behavior. However, it is not known how guilt- and shame-proneness interact with the attribution of responsibility to others. In two Web-based experiments participants reported their attributions of moral culpability (i.e., responsibility, causality, punishment and decision-making) about morally ambiguous acts of killing in different conditions. In Study 1 the vignettes were presented in the 1st person, while in Study 2 in the 3rd person. To test proneness to guilt and shame, we utilized the GASP scale, which differentiates between the affective and behavioral components of each emotion. We found that guilt- and shame-proneness contributed to the severity of attributions in both the first and the third person, but the effect was strong only in the guilt case (both subtypes) and shame-affect case, and not in the shame-behavior case. We name this the Moralizing Effect. We wonder whether attributing a high degree of culpability to others is so obviously the path most consistent with morality. This echoes views expressed by Friedrich Nietzsche.
Asymmetric visual representation of sex from facial appearance
Authors: Gandolfo Marco , Downing Paul
Published: February 2022

We efficiently infer others’ traits from their facial appearance, and these inferences powerfully shape our social behaviour. Here, we investigated how sex is represented in facial appearance. Based on previous findings from sex-judgment tasks, we hypothesised that the perceptual encoding of sex is not balanced but rather polarised: for the processes that generate a sex percept, the default output is “male”, and the representation of female faces extends that of the male, engaging activity over unique detectors not shared by male faces. We tested this hypothesis with the logic of Treisman’s studies of visual search asymmetries, predicting that observers should more readily detect the presence of female faces amongst male distractors than vice versa. Across three experiments (N = 32 each) we confirmed this prediction in response time and sensitivity measures. These findings demonstrate a property of the coding that links facial appearance with a significant social trait: the female face is coded as an extension of a male default. We offer a mechanistic description of perceptual detectors to account for our findings, and consider possible origins of this polarised coding scheme in the shaping of face representations by biased early developmental experience.
Do people understand determinism? The tracking problem for measuring free will beliefs
Authors: Murray Samuel , Dykhuis Elise DM , Nadelhoffer Thomas
Published: February 2022

Experimental work on free will typically relies on using deterministic stimuli to elicit judgments of free will. We call this the Vignette-Judgment model. In this paper, we outline a problem with research based on this model. It seems that people either fail to respond to the deterministic aspects of vignettes when making judgments or that their understanding of determinism differs from researcher expectations. We provide some empirical evidence for a key assumption of the problem. In the end, we argue that people seem to lack facility with the concept of determinism, which calls into question the validity of experimental work operating under the Vignette-Judgment model. We also argue that alternative experimental paradigms are unlikely to elicit judgments that are philosophically relevant to questions about the metaphysics of free will.
EEG beta power increase indicates inhibition in motor memory
Authors: Tempel Tobias , Frings Christian , Pastötter Bernhard
Published: February 2022

Beta power increase has been suggested to be an electrophysiological marker of response inhibition during voluntary action stopping. We examined whether beta power increase accompanies inhibition in human motor memory, focusing the phenomenon of retrieval-induced forgetting that has been assumed to be the consequence of inhibition in memory. Whereas most studies on this effect comprise word materials, a variant of the retrieval-induced-forgetting paradigm exists for examining motor memory. In the present study, we recorded scalp EEG during this motor-specific variant and examined EEG oscillatory correlates of retrieval-induced slowing of motor actions. Here, forgetting occurred in the form of significant slowing when executing motor sequences in a final recall test. Participants first learned to associate memory cues to sequential finger movements, half of which were performed with the left hand and half with the right hand. They then selectively retrieval-practiced half of the items of one hand before finally memory for all items was tested. On a behavioral level, selective retrieval practice induced slower execution of the non-retrieved items of the retrieval-practiced hand in a final memory test. On a physiological level, this retrieval-induced-slowing effect was predicted by an increase of EEG beta power during retrieval practice. The results suggest that motor retrieval-induced forgetting is a consequence of inhibition in human memory.
Inferring Signed Networks from Preschoolers' Observed Parallel and Social Play
Authors: Neal Jennifer Watling , Neal Zachary P. , Durbin C. Emily
Published: February 2022

Early childhood is an important developmental period for network formation. However, the observational methods used for measuring young children's networks present challenges for capturing both positive and negative ties. To overcome these challenges, we explored the use of a bipartite projection backbone model for inferring both negative and positive ties from observational data of children's play. Using observational data collected in one 3-year-old (N = 17) and one 4-year-old (N = 18) preschool classroom, we examined whether patterns of homophily, triadic closure, and balance in networks inferred using this method matched theoretical and empirical expectations from the early childhood literature. Consistent with this literature, we found that signed networks inferred using a backbone model exhibited gender homophily in positive ties and gender heterophily in negative ties. Additionally, networks inferred from social play exhibited more closed and balanced triads than networks inferred from parallel play. These findings offer evidence of the validity of bipartite projection backbone models for inferring signed networks from preschoolers' observed play.
An Ethics and Social Justice Approach to Collecting and Using Demographic Data for Psychological Researchers
Authors: Call Christine , Eckstrand Kristen , Kasparek Steven William , Boness Cassandra L. , Blatt Lorraine R. , Jamal-Orozco Nabila P. , Novacek Derek M. , Foti Dan , Diversity Scholars for Elevating Equity &
Published: February 2022

The collection and use of demographic data in psychological sciences has the potential to aid in transforming inequities brought about by unjust social conditions. However, current methods surrounding demographic data often accomplish the opposite: at best, reducing (but not eliminating) inequities and, at worst, perpetuating harmful stereotypes, invalidating marginalized identities, and excluding key groups from research participation or access to disseminated findings. As such, this paper aims to (1) review key ethical and social justice dilemmas inherent to working with demographic data in psychological research, and (2) introduce a framework positioned in ethics and social justice to help psychologists and researchers in aligned social science fields make thoughtful decisions about the collection and use of demographic data. Our overarching aim is to support key stakeholders in psychology (e.g., researchers, funding agencies, journal editors, peer reviewers) in making ethical and socially just decisions about the collection, analysis, reporting, and interpretation of demographic data.
Online Racism, Rumination, and Vigilance Impact on Distress, Loneliness, and Alcohol Use
Authors: Keum Brian , Li Xu
Published: February 2022

We examined the potential anticipatory response (rumination, vigilance) associated with online racism and its impact on psychological distress, loneliness, and alcohol use severity. With a sample of 407 racial minority adults (Mage = 34.12), we conducted a path analysis to examine the indirect relation of online racism on our outcome variables via online racism-related rumination and offline racism-related vigilance. Online racism was significantly linked to psychological distress, loneliness, and alcohol use severity. Rumination and vigilance explained significant indirect relations between online racism and psychological distress/loneliness. Only rumination explained significant indirect relation between online racism and alcohol use severity. Post-hoc multi-group analysis suggested that the path model estimates for the full sample applied equivalently to the African American/Black, Asian/Asian American, Latinx/Hispanic American groups. Online racism is likely an unjust burden for racial minority individuals that may give rise to prolonged rumination and anticipation about facing racial discrimination in their offline world.
Flourishing Aims of Art Museums: A Survey of Art Museum Professionals
Authors: Cotter Katherine N. , Crone Damien , Pawelski James
Published: February 2022

People visit art museums for many reasons—to see something beautiful or famous, to learn more about art, or to experience a sense of awe. Recently, there has been increased interest in how art museum engagement can promote flourishing. Little is known, however, how the professionals shaping these art museum experiences (e.g., curators, educators, front of house staff) view art museums as institutions that can promote flourishing outcomes. In the present research, we examined the perceptions of 208 art museum professionals regarding the aims of art museums and ability of art museums to impact both well-being (e.g., empathy, self-acceptance) and ill-being (e.g., anxiety, loneliness) factors. The findings suggest that art museum professionals feel that the well-being of visitors should be emphasized as a goal more strongly than it currently is, and that there are some well-being and ill-being components (e.g., empathy, helping, closed-mindedness) that should receive greater attention than others.
Similarities and differences in language and music: using Marr’s 3 levels of analysis
Authors: Drakoulaki Katerina
Published: February 2022

The past few decades the relationship of music and language on a theoretical, a cognitive, and a neural level has been explored in depth, leading to many different approaches producing a plethora of divergent (and convergent) findings. Marr’s (1982) framework for describing information processing machines is briefly illustrated in order to present different examples of how current research on language and music could be mapped. Assumptions and questions for using Marr’s framework are presented, as well as steps for future endeavors.
An Investigation of Item, Examinee, and Country Correlates of Rapid Guessing in PISA
Authors: Rios Joseph , Soland Jim
Published: February 2022

The objective of the present study was to investigate item-, examinee-, and country-level correlates of rapid guessing (RG) in the context of the 2018 PISA science assessment. Analyzing data from 267,148 examinees across 71 countries showed that over 50% of examinees engaged in RG on an average proportion of one in 10 items. Descriptive differences were noted between countries on the mean number of RG responses per examinee with discrepancies as large as 500%. Country-level differences in the odds of engaging in RG were associated with mean performance and regional membership. Furthermore, based on a two-level cross-classified hierarchical linear model, both item- and examinee-level correlates were found to moderate the likelihood of RG. Specifically, the inclusion of items with multimedia content was associated with a decrease in RG. A number of demographic and attitudinal examinee-level variables were also significant moderators, including sex, linguistic background, SES, and self-rated reading comprehension, motivation mastery, and fear of failure. The findings from this study imply that select subgroup comparisons within and across nations may be biased by differential test-taking effort. To mitigate RG in international assessments, future test developers may look to leverage technology-enhanced items.
Assessing Unpredictability in Caregiver-Child Relationships: Insights from Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives
Authors: Ugarte Elisa , Hastings Paul
Published: February 2022

There has been significant interest and progress in understanding the role of caregiver unpredictability on brain maturation, cognitive and socioemotional development, and psychopathology. Theoretical consensus has emerged about the unique influence of unpredictability in shaping children’s experience, distinct from other adverse exposures or features of stress exposure. Nonetheless, the field still lacks theoretical and empirical common ground due to difficulties in accurately operationalizing and measuring unpredictability in the caregiver-child relationship. In this paper, we first provide an overview of the role of unpredictability in theories of caregiving and childhood adversity and present four issues that are currently under-discussed but are crucial to the field. Focusing on how moment-to-moment and day-to-day dynamics are at the heart of caregiver unpredictability, we review three approaches aiming to address some of these nuances: Environmental statistics, entropy and dynamic systems. Lastly, we conclude with a broad summary and suggest future research directions. Systematic progress in this field can inform interventions and policies aiming to increase stability in the lives of children.
Where you come from matters: Cultural differences in mobility perceptions and status judgments
Authors: Gobel Matthias S , Maddux William , Kim Heejung
Published: February 2022

The present research investigated how culture affects status-related judgments. We examined two Western cultures that, because of their differing socio-ecological histories, were predicted to vary in how information about a person’s familial social class background would affect judgments about this person’s status in a variety of domains. Study 1 demonstrated that, compared to American participants, French participants perceived a lesser likelihood of career success for a target described with a lower (versus higher) familial social class background. Study 2 demonstrated that lower status mobility perceptions in France than the U.S. mediated the role of familial social class background on perceived likelihood of getting ahead in life. Study 3 experimentally manipulated status mobility perceptions and conceptually replicated these cross-cultural effects. We discuss implications for how culturally-shared worldviews can affect and potentially perpetuate inequalities in society.
Teaching About Sex and Gender in Neuroscience: More than meets the "XY"
Authors: Casto Kathleen V , Leininger Elizabeth , Tan Taralyn
Published: February 2022

Offering courses on the neuroscience of sex and gender can help support an inclusive curriculum in neuroscience. At the same time, developing and teaching such courses can be daunting to even the most enthusiastic educators, given the subject’s complexities, nuances, and the difficult conversations that it invites. The authors of this article have all developed and taught such courses from different perspectives. Our aim is to provide educators with an overview of important conceptual topics as well as a comprehensive, but non-exhaustive, guide to resources for teaching about sex/gender in neuroscience based on our collective experience teaching courses on the topic. After defining vital terminology and briefly reviewing the biology of sex and sex determination, we describe some common topics within the field and contrast our current nuanced understandings from outdated misconceptions in the field. We review how (mis)representation of the neuroscience of sex/gender serves as a case study for how scientific results are communicated and disseminated. We consider how contextualization of sex/gender neuroscience research within a broader historical and societal framework can give students a wider perspective on the enterprise of science. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion on how to choose learning goals for your course and implementation notes.
A Chiral fNIRS Spotlight on Cerebellar Activation in a Finger Tapping Task
Authors: Rocco Giulia , Lebrun Jerome , MESTE Olivier , MAGNIE-MAURO Marie-Noële
Published: February 2022

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has been so far the golden standard to study the functional aspects of the cerebellum. In this paper, a low-cost alternative imaging, i.e. functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is demonstrated to achieve successful measurements of the cerebellar hemodynamics towards the challenging observation of motor and cognitive processes at the cerebellar level. The excitation and reception optodes need to be properly placed to circumvent a major hindering from the shielding by the neck muscles. A simple experimental protocol, i.e. finger tapping task, was implemented to observe the subject’s engagement and the presence of functional asymmetries. Marked differences among subjects with different levels of lateralization were clearly noticed in terms of activation and latencies, together with peaks in the hemodynamic response following neural activation. These preliminary results suggest also differences in the hemodynamic behavior between the brain and the cerebellum and encourage future and extended analysis in this direction.
Modeling and leveraging intuitive theories to improve vaccine attitudes
Authors: Powell Derek , Weisman Kara , Markman Ellen
Published: February 2022

Much of the richness of human thought is supported by people’s intuitive theories---mental frameworks capturing the perceived structure of the world. But intuitive theories can also contain and reinforce dangerous misconceptions. In this paper, we take up the case of misconceptions about vaccine safety that discourage vaccination. These misconceptions constitute a major public health risk that predates the coronavirus pandemic but that has become all the more dire in recent years. We argue that addressing such misconceptions requires awareness of the broader conceptual contexts in which they are embedded. To build this understanding, we examined the structure and revision of people’s intuitive theories of vaccination in five large survey studies (total N = 3196). Based on these data, we present a cognitive model of the intuitive theory surrounding people’s decisions about whether to vaccinate young children against diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). Using this model, we were able to make accurate predictions about how people’s beliefs would be revised in light of educational interventions, design an effective new intervention encouraging vaccination, and understand how these beliefs were affected by real-world events (the measles outbreaks of 2019). In addition to presenting a promising way forward for promoting the MMR vaccine, this approach has clear implications for encouraging the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines, especially among parents of young children. At the same time, this work provides the foundation for richer understandings of intuitive theories and belief revision more broadly.
Corporate Insecthood
Authors: Strohminger Nina , Jordan Matthew
Published: February 2022

Whether the corporation should be considered a person is a matter of active academic and public debate. Here, we examine whether, and in what ways, ordinary citizens conceptualize the corporation as a person. We present evidence that corporations are anthropomorphized, but only to a certain degree. Compared with other entities, the average corporation is considered about as similar to a person as an ant. Corporations differ in the extent to which people are willing to grant them personhood however, and this pattern is predicted by how salient the organization's mental and moral traits are. This process of anthropomorphization has important downstream consequences, increasing support for granting legal rights and responsibilities to corporations. Because our studies show that this relationship also obtains for animals, we conclude that perceptions of corporate personhood draw on a more general set of rules for assessing an entity's personhood.
Word-meaning Priming Extends Beyond Homonyms
Authors: Curtis Adam James , Mak Matthew HC , Chen Shuang , Rodd Jennifer M , Gaskell M. Gareth
Published: February 2022

When a homonym (e.g., bark) is encountered in a sentential context that biases its interpretation towards a less frequent meaning, subsequent interpretations of the word are more likely to favour that subordinate meaning. Such word-meaning priming effects have been shown to be maintained via sleep-related consolidation, leading some to suggest that declarative memory systems play a crucial role in language comprehension, providing a relatively enduring contextually bound memory trace for the ambiguous word. By this account, word-meaning priming effects should be observable for all words, not just homonyms. In three experiments, participants were exposed to non-homonym targets (e.g., “balloon”) in sentences that biased interpretation toward a specific aspect of the word’s meaning (e.g., balloon-helium vs. balloon-float). After a ~10-30 min delay, the targets were presented in relatedness judgement and associate production tasks to assess whether the sentential contexts enhanced access to the primed aspect of the word’s meaning. The results reveal that word-meaning priming effects do extend to non-homonyms. Indeed, there was also some evidence of a more generalized priming that did not rely on prior presentation of the non-homonym itself. We argue that context-specific interpretations of words are maintained during recognition in order to facilitate comprehension over longer periods.
Predicting Lifetime Suicide Attempts in a Community Sample of Adolescents Using Machine Learning Algorithms
Authors: Jankowsky Kristin , Steger Diana , Schroeders Ulrich
Published: February 2022

ObjectiveSuicide is a major global health concern and a prominent cause of death in adolescents. Previous research on suicide prediction has mainly focused on clinical or adult samples. To prevent suicides at an early stage, however, it is important to screen for risk factors in a community sample of adolescents. MethodWe compared the accuracy of logistic regressions, elastic net regressions and gradient boosting machines in predicting suicide attempts by 17-year-olds in the Millennium Cohort Study (N = 7,347 of which 48.6% were male), combining a large set of self- and other-reported variables from different categories (e.g., demographics, health, drug use, personality, sexuality). ResultsBoth machine learning algorithms outperformed logistic regressions and achieved quite similar predictive accuracies: Balanced accuracy was .76 for predicting suicide attempts three years in advance and even higher when using data from the same measurement wave (.85). The most important predictor of future suicide attempts was previous self-harm, followed by variables of mental health, emotion and motivation, drug use, sexuality, demography, and victimization. ConclusionSuicide attempts in adolescence can be accurately predicted using panel data of community samples. However, suicide prevention should be tailored to specific phases in the development of adolescents. Our results additionally show that more complex models that allow for nonlinear and interaction effects do not lead to better performance in comparison to linear regularized models.
Psychosocial, economic, and mental health predictors of COVID-19 vaccine intent
Authors: Nicastri Casey , Kumar Poornima
Published: February 2022

Introduction: Coronavirus vaccines remain the most effective protection against COVID-19. However, many people are hesitant to be vaccinated. It is necessary to understand factors that lead to unwillingness to be vaccinated to ensure most Americans receive the vaccine. Methods: Participants completed a series of online surveys asking about the vaccine and the physical, social, economic, and mental health effects of COVID-19. Baseline responses were entered into a logistic regression model to identify psychosocial, economic and physical factors that had an impact on vaccine intent. Results: The model revealed participants were more willing to be vaccinated if they spent time reading or talking about COVID, feared COVID infection, had health insurance or had a family member suffer a COVID-19 infection.Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccine intent is closely connected to one’s personal experience of the pandemic. It is crucial to disseminate factual information about the benefits and risks of both COVID-19 and vaccination.
Highly variable breathing rate, regardless of sleep quality, is a marker of neuropsychophysiological stress
Authors: Pal Amrita , Kuhn Taylor
Published: February 2022

Introduction Differences in breathing patterns, even with similar sleep quality, may reflect a neurophysiological state indicating the importance of attention to the breath. Breathing rate variability (BRV) is known to be higher during psychophysically stressed states and is often associated with high BMI, high blood pressure (BP), higher attention-anxiety-aggression problems. It is also known that spontaneous neuronal activity estimated with fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) is higher in the occipital cortex, correlated with sleep deprivation; and fALFF is lower in the frontoparietal cortex associated with poor attention/emotion control. Thus, we predicted that BRV would correlate with fALFF and the fALFF activity would be worse in a group with higher BRV.Methods: In this study, we estimated fALFF during rest in groups showing deep breath [(n=21, 5 males) age 29±4 years, BMI 26±5 kg/m2] vs. a serial, rhythmic set of tapers in breathing (burst) [(n=21, 14 males) 30±4 years, 28±6 kg/m2]. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Blood Pressure (BP), Adult Self Report (ASR) raw scores for anxiety-attention-aggression problems as found in the HCP data are reported for the burst and deep-breath groups. BRV was estimated in the two groups from respiration belt data at 15 minutes of rest. fALFF was calculated from resting-state fMRI data. Then, BRV was correlated with fALFF, followed by group differences in fALFF with BRV as a co-variate. Results: Burst group showed higher BRV (4±3 breaths per minute or bpm) compared to the deep-breath group (3±3 bpm). PSQI in both groups was 5±3. Systolic BP in the burst group was higher by 7 mmHg. ASR raw scores showed higher (by 2 points) anxiety-attention-aggression problems in the burst group. Only in the burst group, BRV positively correlated with BMI (r = 0.5, p<0.05). fALFF correlated with BRV in both groups in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) areas (strongest in lateral ventricles), p<0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons. With BRV as co-variate, the burst group showed higher fALFF activity compared to the deep-breath at the visual and somatosensory regions, p<0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons.Discussion: Although PSQI scores in both groups did not differ, the burst compared to the deep breath group showed higher stress in terms of psychophysiological variables. BRV correlated with fALFF. Keeping BRV as co-variate, higher fALFF was observed in burst compared to deep breath group at the visual and somatosensory regions, a finding common in the sleep-deprived population. Overall, our results indicate that irrespective of sleep quality, individuals showing the tendency to take deep breaths during resting state have improved neuropsychophysiological states.
shinyRGT: An R-Shiny application for extraction and visualization of Rat Gambling Task data
Authors: Li Andrew , Karamanis Georgios , hynes Tristan , Winstanley Catharine
Published: February 2022

The Rat Gambling Task (RGT) is a well validated rodent model of addiction-like behaviour. It is based on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) - a commonly used clinical assay to measure gambling-like behaviour. Rats choose between 4 options to earn as many sugar pellets as possible within 30 min. Each option is associated with dif- ferent reward sizes, but also the probability and duration of the time out punishment. The task is designed such that the optimal strategy for earning sugar pellets is to favour the low risk, low reward options. Consistently selecting the high risk, high reward options results in longer and more frequent time-out penalties. Currently, there is no specialized graphical user interface (GUI) designed to extract, clean, and process RGT data. The installation and use of existing tools are challenging for users lacking coding experience and can be extremely time consuming. To address these issues, we developed a free and open source R-Shiny application called shinyRGT, as a GUI for RGT data extraction, wrangling, and visualization. Clean and usable data can be easily extracted. As well, publication ready plots can be readily generated and annotated from user input. All generated tables can be downloaded as CSV files and generated graphs can be saved to local machines. shinyRGT is deployed at https://andrewcli.shinyapps.io/shinyRGT/for online use. The repository is available at https://github.com/andr3wli/ shinyapps.
Parental socioeconomic status is linked to cortical microstructure and language abilities in children and adolescents
Authors: Norbom Linn B. , Hanson Jamie Lars , van der Meer Dennis , Ferschmann Lia , Røysamb Espen , von Soest Tilmann , Andreassen Ole A. , Agartz Ingrid , Westlye Lars T. , Tamnes Christian K.
Published: February 2022

Gradients in parental socioeconomic status (SES) are closely linked to important life outcomes in children and adolescents, such as cognitive abilities, school achievement, and mental health. Parental SES may also influence brain development, with several magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies reporting associations with youth brain morphometry. However, MRI signal intensity metrics have not been assessed, but could offer a microstructural correlate, thereby increasing our understanding of SES influences on neurobiology. We computed a parental SES score from family income, parental education and parental occupation, and assessed relations with cortical microstructure as measured by T1w/T2w ratio (n= 504, age=3-21 years). We found negative age-stabile relations between parental SES and T1w/T2w ratio, indicating that youths from lower SES families have higher ratio in widespread frontal, temporal, medial parietal and occipital regions, possibly indicating a more developed cortex. Effect sizes were small, but larger than for conventional morphometric properties i.e. cortical surface area and thickness, which were not significantly associated with parental SES. Youths from lower SES families had poorer language related abilities, but microstructural differences did not mediate these relations. T1w/T2w ratio appears to be a sensitive imaging marker for further exploring the association between parental SES and child brain development.
Syntax through the looking glass: A review on two-word linguistic processing across behavioral, neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies
Authors: Maran Matteo , Friederici Angela D. , Zaccarella Emiliano
Published: February 2022

In recent years a growing number of studies on syntactic processing has employed basic two-word constructions (e.g., “the tree”) to characterize the fundamental aspects of linguistic composition. This large body of evidence allows, for the first time, to closely examine which cognitive processes and neural substrates support the combination of two syntactic units into a more complex one, mirroring the nature of combinatory operations described in theoretical linguistics. The present review comprehensively examines behavioural, neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies investigating basic syntactic composition, covering more than 40 years of psycho- and neuro-linguistic research. Across several paradigms, four key features of syntactic composition have emerged: (1) the rule-based and (2) automatic nature of the combinatorial process, (3) a central role of Broca’s area and the posterior temporal lobe in representing and combining syntactic features, and (4) the reliance on efficient bottom-up integration rather than top-down prediction.
Prevalence and Salience of Problematic Microtransactions in Top-Grossing Mobile and PC Games: A Content Analysis of User Reviews
Authors: Petrovskaya Elena , Deterding Sebastian , Zendle David
Published: February 2022

Microtransactions have become a major monetisation model in digital games, shaping their design, impacting their player experience, and raising ethical concerns. Research in this area has chiefly focused on loot boxes. This begs the question whether other microtransactions might actually be more relevant and problematic for players. We therefore conducted a content analysis of negative player reviews (n=801) of top-grossing mobile and desktop games to determine which problematic microtransactions are most prevalent and salient for players. We found that problematic microtransactions with mobile games featuring more frequent and different techniques compared to desktop games. Across both, players minded issues related to fairness, transparency, and degraded user experience, supporting prior theoretical work, and importantly take issue with monetisation-driven design as such. We identify future research needs on why microtransactions in particular spark this critique, and which player communities it may be more or less representative of.
A million is more than a thousand: Children’s acquisition of very large number words
Authors: Cheung Pierina , Ansari Daniel
Published: February 2022

Very large number words such as “hundred”, “thousand”, “million”, “billion”, and “trillion” pose a learning problem for children because they are sparse in everyday speech and children’s experience with extremely large quantities is scarce. In this study, we examine when children acquire the relative ordering of very large number words as a first step towards understanding their acquisition. In Study 1, 125 5- to 8-year-olds participated in a verbal number comparison task involving very large number words. We found that children can judge which of two very large numbers is more as early as age 6, prior to entering first grade. In Study 2, we provided a descriptive analysis on the usage of very large number words using the CHILDES database. We found that the relative frequency of large number words does not change across the years, with “hundred” uttered more frequently than others by an order of magnitude. We also found that adults were more likely to use large number words to reference units of quantification for money, weight, and time, than for discrete, physical entities. Together, these results show that children construct a numerical scale for large number words prior to learning their precise cardinal meanings, and highlight how frequency and context may support their acquisition. Our results have pedagogical implications and highlight a need to investigate how children acquire meanings for number words that reference quantities beyond our everyday experience.
Is it worth it to personalize the treatment of PTSD? - A variance-ratio meta-analysis and estimation of treatment effect heterogeneity in RCTs of PTSD
Authors: Herzog Philipp , Kaiser Tim
Published: February 2022

Several evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are recommended by international guidelines (e.g., APA, NICE). While their average effects are in general high, non-response rates indicate differential treatment effects. Here, we used a large database of RCTs on psychotherapy for PTSD to determine a reliable estimate of this heterogeneity in treatment effects by (1) applying Bayesian variance ratio meta-analysis, and (2) estimating the treatment effect heterogeneity (TEH). In total, 66 studies with a total of 8,803 patients were included in our study. TEH was found for all psychological treatments, with varying degrees of certainty, only slight differences between psychological treatments, and active control groups yielding a smaller variance ratio compared to waiting list control groups. Across all psychological treatment and control group types, the estimate for the intercept was 0.12, indicating a 12% higher variance of endpoint values in the intervention groups after controlling for the endpoint ratio. This study is the first to determine the extent of increase in treatment effects of psychological treatments for PTSD by personalization. The results indicate that there is sufficient heterogeneity in treatment effects across all psychological treatment and control groups, which in turn allow personalizing psychological treatments by using treatment selection approaches.
Immature vocalizations simplify the speech of Tseltal Mayan and US caregivers
Authors: Elmlinger Steven Laine , Goldstein Michael , Casillas Marisa
Published: February 2022

What is the function of immature vocalizing in early learning environments? Previous work on infants in the US indicates that prelinguistic vocalizations elicit caregiver speech which is simplified in its linguistic structure. However, there is strong cross-cultural variation in the extent to which children’s vocalizations elicit responses from caregivers. While reports indicate that children in several non-Western communities may hear less adult speech which is tailored for their learning, the extent to which children’s vocalizations elicit changes in their immediate caregivers’ speech structure is presently unknown. Here we compare Tseltal Mayan and US caregivers’ verbal responses to their children’s vocalizations. Similar to findings from US dyads, we found that children in a subsistence farming community regulate the statistical structure of caregivers’ speech simply by vocalizing. Following the _interaction burst hypothesis_, where clusters of child-adult contingent response alternations facilitate learning from limited input, we reveal a stable source of information facilitating language learning within ongoing interaction.
Selected anomalies or overlooked variability? Modernization is associated with secularization in countries with high historical wealth but is associated with increasing religiosity in post-communist or Christian-minority countries
Authors: Kusano Kodai
Published: February 2022

One prominent theory of social change predicts secularization—when societies prosper, people rely less on religion for ensuring survival, social order, and meaning of life. While some researchers claimed that secularization is universal, critics contended that it does not explain patterns of religious change in non-Western societies. To settle this debate, we applied multilevel modeling to analyze historical, socio-economic factors that moderated the process of secularization around the world. We predicted that secularization occurs as a result of modernization in societies where historical wealth and democratic institutions were established to ensure social, political, and ecological stability for citizens. We also used the cultural evolutionary account of religion to predict that modernization strengthens people’s need for religiosity in societies without well-functioning institutions to mitigate increased social complexity. We used GDP and infant mortality as indices of modernization, the Gini index as an indicator of social complexity, and communist history (non-communist vs. post-communist) and the proportion of Christianity as historical contexts to explain variability in the within-society processes of secularization. Analyzing religiosity data with over 100 countries over 30 years, we found support for the secularization hypothesis primarily among formerly wealthy countries: in years when economic wealth increased, religiosity declined. However, an increase in GDP predicted increasing religiosity among formerly poor countries. We also found that increased economic inequality was linked with greater religiosity only among post-communist countries or Christian-minority countries: when economic inequality increased in those countries, religiosity increased. We integrate these findings and the present analytical approach to discuss implications for cross-cultural research and the study of cultural change.