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Background: The psychometric properties of an online test are not necessarily identical to its paper and pencil original. The aim of this study is to test whether the factor structure of the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) is measurement invariant with respect to online vs. paper and pencil assessment. Method: The factor structure of CAPE items assessed by paper and pencil (N = 796) was compared with the factor structure of CAPE items assessed by the Internet (N = 21,590) using formal tests for Measurement Invariance (MI). The effect size was calculated by estimating the Signed Item Difference in the Sample (SIDS) index and the Signed Test Difference in the Sample (STDS) for a hypothetical subject who scores 2 standard deviations above average on the latent dimensions. Results: The more restricted Metric Invariance model showed a significantly worse fit compared to the less restricted Configural Invariance model (χ2(23) = 152.75, p<0.001). However, the SIDS indices appear to be small, with an average of −0.11. A STDS of −4.80 indicates that Internet sample members who score 2 standard deviations above average would be expected to score 4.80 points lower on the CAPE total scale (ranging from 42 to 114 points) than would members of the Paper sample with the same latent trait score. Conclusions: Our findings did not support measurement invariance with respect to assessment method. Because of the small effect sizes, the measurement differences between the online assessed CAPE and its paper and pencil original can be neglected without major consequences for research purposes. However, a person with a high vulnerability for psychotic symptoms would score 4.80 points lower on the total scale if the CAPE is assessed online compared to paper and pencil assessment. Therefore, for clinical purposes, one should be cautious with online assessment of the CAPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informed consent is the cornerstone of human research subject protection. Many subjects sign consent documents without understanding the study purpose, procedures, risks, benefits, and their rights. Proof of comprehension is not required and rarely obtained. Understanding might improve by using an interactive system with multiple options for hearing, viewing and reading about the study and the consent form at the subject’s own pace with testing and immediate feedback. This prospective randomized study compared the IRB-approved paper ICF for an actual clinical research study with an interactive presentation of the same study and its associated consent form using an iPad device in two populations: clinical research professionals, and patients drawn from a variety of outpatient practice settings. Of the 90 participants, 69 completed the online test and survey questions the day after the session (maximum 36 hours post-session). Among research professionals (n = 14), there was a trend (p  = .07) in the direction of iPad subjects testing better on the online test (mean correct  =  77%) compared with paper subjects (mean correct  =  57%). Among patients (n = 55), iPad subjects had significantly higher test scores than standard paper consent subjects (mean correct  =  75% vs 58%, p < .001). For all subjects, the total time spent reviewing the paper consent was 13.2 minutes, significantly less than the average of 22.7 minutes total on the three components to be reviewed using the iPad (introductory video, consent form, interactive quiz). Overall satisfaction and overall enjoyment slightly favored the interactive iPad presentation. This study demonstrates that combining an introductory video, standard consent language, and an interactive quiz on a tablet-based system improves comprehension of research study procedures and risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been a growing emphasis on basic number processing competencies (such as the ability to judge which of two numbers is larger) and their role in predicting individual differences in school-relevant math achievement. Children’s ability to compare both symbolic (e.g. Arabic numerals) and nonsymbolic (e.g. dot arrays) magnitudes has been found to correlate with their math achievement. The available evidence, however, has focused on computerized paradigms, which may not always be suitable for universal, quick application in the classroom. Furthermore, it is currently unclear whether both symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude comparison are related to children’s performance on tests of arithmetic competence and whether either of these factors relate to arithmetic achievement over and above other factors such as working memory and reading ability. In order to address these outstanding issues, we designed a quick (2 minute) paper-and-pencil tool to assess children’s ability to compare symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical magnitudes and assessed the degree to which performance on this measure explains individual differences in achievement. Children were required to cross out the larger of two, single-digit numerical magnitudes under time constraints. Results from a group of 160 children from grades 1–3 revealed that both symbolic and nonsymbolic number comparison accuracy were related to individual differences in arithmetic achievement. However, only symbolic number comparison performance accounted for unique variance in arithmetic achievement. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed which include the use of this measure as a possible tool for identifying students at risk for future difficulties in mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mass digitization of books is changing the way information is created, disseminated and displayed. Electronic book readers (e-readers) generally refer to two main display technologies: the electronic ink (E-ink) and the liquid crystal display (LCD). Both technologies have advantages and disadvantages, but the question whether one or the other triggers less visual fatigue is still open. The aim of the present research was to study the effects of the display technology on visual fatigue. To this end, participants performed a longitudinal study in which two last generation e-readers (LCD, E-ink) and paper book were tested in three different prolonged reading sessions separated by - on average - ten days. Results from both objective (Blinks per second) and subjective (Visual Fatigue Scale) measures suggested that reading on the LCD (Kindle Fire HD) triggers higher visual fatigue with respect to both the E-ink (Kindle Paperwhite) and the paper book. The absence of differences between E-ink and paper suggests that, concerning visual fatigue, the E-ink is indeed very similar to the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) is widely used to screen for anxiety and depression. A large literature is citable in support of its validity, but difficulties are increasingly being identified, such as inexplicably discrepant optimal cutpoints and inconsistent factor-structures. This article examines whether these problems could be due to the construction of the HADS that poses difficulties for translation and cross-cultural use. Methods: Authors’ awareness of difficulties translating the HADS were identified by examining 20% of studies using the HADS, obtained by a systematic literature search in Pubmed and PsycINFO in May 2012. Reports of use of translations and validation studies were recorded for papers from non-English speaking countries. Narrative and systematic reviews were examined for how authors dealt with different translations. Results: Of 417 papers from non-English speaking countries, only 45% indicated whether a translation was used. Studies validating translations were cited in 54%. Seventeen reviews, incorporating data from diverse translated versions, were examined. Only seven mentioned issues of language and culture, and none indicated insurmountable problems in integrating results from different translations. Conclusion: Initial decisions concerning item content and response options likely leave the HADS difficult to translate, but we failed to find an acknowledgment of problems in articles involving its translation and cross-cultural use. Investigators’ lack of awareness of these issues can lead to anomalous results and difficulties in interpretation and integration of these results. Reviews tend to overlook these issues and most reviews indiscriminately integrate results from studies performed in different countries. Cross-culturally valid, but literally translated versions of the HADS may not be attainable, and specific cutpoints may not be valid across cultures and language. Claims about rates of anxiety and depression based on integrating cross-cultural data or using the same cutpoint across languages and culture should be subject to critical scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of individual differences encompasses broad constructs including intelligence, creativity, and personality. However, substantially less research is devoted to the study of specific aptitudes in spite of their importance to educational, occupational, and avocational success. We sought to determine subcortical brain structural correlates of several broad aptitudes including Math, Vocabulary, Foresight, Paper Folding, and Inductive Reasoning in a large (N = 107), healthy, young (age range  = 16–29) cohort. Subcortical volumes were measured using an automated technique (FreeSurfer) across structures including bilateral caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, thalamus, nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, amygdala, and five equal regions of the corpus callosum. We found that performance on measures of each aptitude was predicted by different subcortical structures: Math – higher right nucleus accumbens volume; Vocabulary – higher left hippocampus volume; Paper Folding – higher right thalamus volume; Foresight – lower right thalamus and higher mid anterior corpus callosum volume; Inductive Reasoning – higher mid anterior corpus callosum volume. Our results support general findings, within the cognitive neurosciences, showing lateralization of structure-function relationships, as well as more specific relationships between individual structures (e.g., left hippocampus) and functions relevant to particular aptitudes (e.g., Vocabulary). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the rapidly changing circumstances of our increasingly digital world, reading is also becoming an increasingly digital experience: electronic books (e-books) are now outselling print books in the United States and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, many readers still view e-books as less readable than print books. The present study thus used combined EEG and eyetracking measures in order to test whether reading from digital media requires higher cognitive effort than reading conventional books. Young and elderly adults read short texts on three different reading devices: a paper page, an e-reader and a tablet computer and answered comprehension questions about them while their eye movements and EEG were recorded. The results of a debriefing questionnaire replicated previous findings in that participants overwhelmingly chose the paper page over the two electronic devices as their preferred reading medium. Online measures, by contrast, showed shorter mean fixation durations and lower EEG theta band voltage density – known to covary with memory encoding and retrieval – for the older adults when reading from a tablet computer in comparison to the other two devices. Young adults showed comparable fixation durations and theta activity for all three devices. Comprehension accuracy did not differ across the three media for either group. We argue that these results can be explained in terms of the better text discriminability (higher contrast) produced by the backlit display of the tablet computer. Contrast sensitivity decreases with age and degraded contrast conditions lead to longer reading times, thus supporting the conclusion that older readers may benefit particularly from the enhanced contrast of the tablet. Our findings thus indicate that people's subjective evaluation of digital reading media must be dissociated from the cognitive and neural effort expended in online information processing while reading from such devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the dynamics of research production and collaboration may reveal better strategies for scientific careers, academic institutions, and funding agencies. Here we propose the use of a large and multidisciplinary database of scientific curricula in Brazil, namely, the Lattes Platform, to study patterns of scientific production and collaboration. Detailed information about publications and researchers is available in this database. Individual curricula are submitted by the researchers themselves so that coauthorship is unambiguous. Researchers can be evaluated by scientific productivity, geographical location and field of expertise. Our results show that the collaboration network is growing exponentially for the last three decades, with a distribution of number of collaborators per researcher that approaches a power-law as the network gets older. Moreover, both the distributions of number of collaborators and production per researcher obey power-law behaviors, regardless of the geographical location or field, suggesting that the same universal mechanism might be responsible for network growth and productivity. We also show that the collaboration network under investigation displays a typical assortative mixing behavior, where teeming researchers (i.e., with high degree) tend to collaborate with others alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying metaphorical language-use (e.g., sweet child) is one of the challenges facing natural language processing. This paper describes three novel algorithms for automatic metaphor identification. The algorithms are variations of the same core algorithm. We evaluate the algorithms on two corpora of Reuters and the New York Times articles. The paper presents the most comprehensive study of metaphor identification in terms of scope of metaphorical phrases and annotated corpora size. Algorithms’ performance in identifying linguistic phrases as metaphorical or literal has been compared to human judgment. Overall, the algorithms outperform the state-of-the-art algorithm with 71% precision and 27% averaged improvement in prediction over the base-rate of metaphors in the corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Financial incentive interventions have been suggested as one method of promoting healthy behaviour change. Objectives: To conduct a systematic review of the effectiveness of financial incentive interventions for encouraging healthy behaviour change; to explore whether effects vary according to the type of behaviour incentivised, post-intervention follow-up time, or incentive value. Data Sources: Searches were of relevant electronic databases, research registers, www.google.com, and the reference lists of previous reviews; and requests for information sent to relevant mailing lists. Eligibility Criteria: Controlled evaluations of the effectiveness of financial incentive interventions, compared to no intervention or usual care, to encourage healthy behaviour change, in non-clinical adult populations, living in high-income countries, were included. Study Appraisal and Synthesis: The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used to assess all included studies. Meta-analysis was used to explore the effect of financial incentive interventions within groups of similar behaviours and overall. Meta-regression was used to determine if effect varied according to post-intervention follow up time, or incentive value. Results: Seventeen papers reporting on 16 studies on smoking cessation (n = 10), attendance for vaccination or screening (n = 5), and physical activity (n = 1) were included. In meta-analyses, the average effect of incentive interventions was greater than control for short-term (≤six months) smoking cessation (relative risk (95% confidence intervals): 2.48 (1.77 to 3.46); long-term (>six months) smoking cessation (1.50 (1.05 to 2.14)); attendance for vaccination or screening (1.92 (1.46 to 2.53)); and for all behaviours combined (1.62 (1.38 to 1.91)). There was not convincing evidence that effects were different between different groups of behaviours. Meta-regression found some, limited, evidence that effect sizes decreased as post-intervention follow-up period and incentive value increased. However, the latter effect may be confounded by the former. Conclusions: The available evidence suggests that financial incentive interventions are more effective than usual care or no intervention for encouraging healthy behaviour change. Trial Registration: PROSPERO CRD42012002393 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding effective solutions to manage marine resources is high on political and conservation agendas worldwide. This is made more urgent by the rate of increase in the human population and concomitant resource pressures in coastal areas. This paper links empirical socio-economic data about perceptions of marine resource health to the breaking of marine management rules, using fisheries as a case study. The relationship between perceived rule-breaking (non-compliance with regulations controlling fishing) and perceived health of inshore marine environments was investigated through face-to-face interviews with 299 heads of households in three Tanzanian coastal communities in November and December 2011. Awareness of rules controlling fishing activity was high among all respondents. Fishers were able to describe more specific rules controlling fishing practices than non-fishers (t = 3.5, df = 297, p<0.01). Perceived breaking of fishing regulations was reported by nearly half of all respondents, saying “some” (32% of responses) or “most” (15% of responses) people break fishing rules. Ordinal regression modelling revealed a significant linkage (z = −3.44, p<0.001) in the relationship between respondents' perceptions of deteriorating marine health and their perception of increased rule-breaking. In this paper, inferences from an empirical study are used to identify and argue the potential for using perceptions of ecosystem health and level of rule-breaking as a means to guide management measures. When considering different management options (e.g. Marine Protected Areas), policy makers are advised to take account of and utilise likely egoistic or altruistic decision-making factors used by fishers to determine their marine activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous metaphor studies have paid much attention to nominal metaphors and predicative metaphors, but little attention has been given to adjective metaphors. Although some studies have focused on adjective metaphors, they only examined differences in the acceptability of various types of adjective metaphors. This paper explores the cognitive effects evoked by adjective metaphors. Three psychological experiments revealed that (1) adjective metaphors, especially those modified by color adjectives, tend to evoke negative effect; (2) although the meanings of metaphors are basically affected by the meanings of their vehicles, when a vehicle has a neutral meaning, negative meanings are evoked most frequently for adjective metaphors compared to nominal and predicative metaphors; (3) negative meanings evoked by adjective metaphors are related to poeticness, and poetic metaphors evoke negative meanings more easily than less poetic metaphors. Our research sheds new light on studies of the use of metaphor, which is one of the most basic human cognitive abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the business context, concern for the environment began to develop when pressure from the public administration and environmental awareness groups raised the specific requirements for companies. The Theory of Planned Behavior considers that people's conduct is determined by the intention of carrying out a certain behavior. Thus, the individual's intent is determined by three factors related to the desired outcome of the behavior: the Personal Attitude toward the Results, the Perceived Social Norms, and the Perceived Behavioral Control over the action. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are to clarify the attitudes of the managers of Canarian small and medium-sized companies about taking environmental measures, and try to demonstrate whether there is a relationship between the proposed factors and the intention to take these measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The local neighborhood forms an integral part of our lives. It provides the context through which social networks are nurtured and the foundation from which a sense of attachment and cohesion with fellow residents can be established. Whereas much of the previous research has examined the role of social and demographic characteristic in relation to the level of neighboring and cohesion, this paper explores whether particular environmental features in the neighborhood affect social porosity. We define social porosity as the degree to which social ties flow over the surface of a neighborhood. The focus of our paper is to examine the extent to which a neighborhood's environmental features impede the level of social porosity present among residents. To do this, we integrate data from the census, topographic databases and a 2010 survey of 4,351 residents from 146 neighborhoods in Australia. The study introduces the concepts of wedges and social holes. The presence of two sources of wedges is measured: rivers and highways. The presence of two sources of social holes is measured: parks and industrial areas. Borrowing from the geography literature, several measures are constructed to capture how these features collectively carve up the physical environment of neighborhoods. We then consider how this influences residents' neighboring behavior, their level of attachment to the neighborhood and their sense of neighborhood cohesion. We find that the distance of a neighborhood to one form of social hole–industrial areas–has a particularly strong negative effect on all three dependent variables. The presence of the other form of social hole–parks–has a weaker negative effect. Neighborhood wedges also impact social interaction. Both the length of a river and the number of highway fragments in a neighborhood has a consistent negative effect on neighboring, attachment and cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Computerised therapies play an integral role in efforts to improve access to psychological treatment for patients with depression and anxiety. However, despite recognised problems with uptake, there has been a lack of investigation into the barriers and facilitators of engagement. We aimed to systematically review and synthesise findings from qualitative studies of computerised therapies, in order to identify factors impacting on engagement. Method: Systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies of user experiences of computer delivered therapy for depression and/or anxiety. Results: 8 studies were included in the review. All except one were of desktop based cognitive behavioural treatments. Black and minority ethnic and older participants were underrepresented, and only one study addressed users with a co-morbid physical health problem. Through synthesis, we identified two key overarching concepts, regarding the need for treatments to be sensitive to the individual, and the dialectal nature of user experience, with different degrees of support and anonymity experienced as both positive and negative. We propose that these factors can be conceptually understood as the ‘non-specific’ or ‘common’ factors of computerised therapy, analogous to but distinct from the common factors of traditional face-to-face therapies. Conclusion: Experience of computerised therapy could be improved through personalisation and sensitisation of content to individual users, recognising the need for users to experience a sense of ‘self’ in the treatment which is currently absent. Exploiting the common factors of computerised therapy, through enhancing perceived connection and collaboration, could offer a way of reconciling tensions due to the dialectal nature of user experience. Future research should explore whether the findings are generalisable to other patient groups, to other delivery formats (such as mobile technology) and other treatment modalities beyond cognitive behaviour therapy. The proposed model could aid the development of enhancements to current packages to improve uptake and support engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of studies examine instructional training and brain activity. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature regarding neuroimaging of reading intervention, with a particular focus on reading difficulties (RD). To locate relevant studies, searches of peer-reviewed literature were conducted using electronic databases to search for studies from the imaging modalities of fMRI and MEG (including MSI) that explored reading intervention. Of the 96 identified studies, 22 met the inclusion criteria for descriptive analysis. A subset of these (8 fMRI experiments with post-intervention data) was subjected to activation likelihood estimate (ALE) meta-analysis to investigate differences in functional activation following reading intervention. Findings from the literature review suggest differences in functional activation of numerous brain regions associated with reading intervention, including bilateral inferior frontal, superior temporal, middle temporal, middle frontal, superior frontal, and postcentral gyri, as well as bilateral occipital cortex, inferior parietal lobules, thalami, and insulae. Findings from the meta-analysis indicate change in functional activation following reading intervention in the left thalamus, right insula/inferior frontal, left inferior frontal, right posterior cingulate, and left middle occipital gyri. Though these findings should be interpreted with caution due to the small number of studies and the disparate methodologies used, this paper is an effort to synthesize across studies and to guide future exploration of neuroimaging and reading intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until recently, imaging the infant brain was very challenging. Functional Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a promising, relatively novel technique, whose use is rapidly expanding. As an emergent field, it is particularly important to share methodological knowledge to ensure replicable and robust results. In this paper, we present a community-augmented database which will facilitate precisely this exchange. We tabulated articles and theses reporting empirical fNIRS research carried out on infants below three years of age along several methodological variables. The resulting spreadsheet has been uploaded in a format allowing individuals to continue adding new results, and download the most recent version of the table. Thus, this database is ideal to carry out systematic reviews. We illustrate its academic utility by focusing on the factors affecting three key variables: infant attrition, the reliability of oxygenated and deoxygenated responses, and signal-to-noise ratios. We then discuss strengths and weaknesses of the DBIfNIRS, and conclude by suggesting a set of simple guidelines aimed to facilitate methodological convergence through the standardization of reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sample size calculations are an important part of research to balance the use of resources and to avoid undue harm to participants. Effect sizes are an integral part of these calculations and meaningful values are often unknown to the researcher. General recommendations for effect sizes have been proposed for several commonly used statistical procedures. For the analysis of tables, recommendations have been given for the correlation coefficient for binary data; however, it is well known that suffers from poor statistical properties. The odds ratio is not problematic, although recommendations based on objective reasoning do not exist. This paper proposes odds ratio recommendations that are anchored to for fixed marginal probabilities. It will further be demonstrated that the marginal assumptions can be relaxed resulting in more general results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is a common, recurrent, and debilitating problem and Internet delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT) could offer one solution. There are at least 25 controlled trials that demonstrate the efficacy of iCBT. The aim of the current paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of an iCBT Program in primary care that had been demonstrated to be efficacious in two randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Method: Quality assurance data from 359 patients prescribed the Sadness Program in Australia from October 2010 to November 2011 were included. Results: Intent-to-treat marginal model analyses demonstrated significant reductions in depressive symptoms (PHQ9), distress (K10), and impairment (WHODAS-II) with medium-large effect sizes (Cohen's d = .51–1.13.), even in severe and/or suicidal patients (Cohen's d = .50–1.49.) Secondary analyses on patients who completed all 6 lessons showed levels of clinically significant change as indexed by established criteria for remission, recovery, and reliable change. Conclusions: The Sadness Program is effective when prescribed by primary care practitioners and is consistent with a cost-effective stepped-care framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain-computer interaction (BCI) and physiological computing are terms that refer to using processed neural or physiological signals to influence human interaction with computers, environment, and each other. A major challenge in developing these systems arises from the large individual differences typically seen in the neural/physiological responses. As a result, many researchers use individually-trained recognition algorithms to process this data. In order to minimize time, cost, and barriers to use, there is a need to minimize the amount of individual training data required, or equivalently, to increase the recognition accuracy without increasing the number of user-specific training samples. One promising method for achieving this is collaborative filtering, which combines training data from the individual subject with additional training data from other, similar subjects. This paper describes a successful application of a collaborative filtering approach intended for a BCI system. This approach is based on transfer learning (TL), active class selection (ACS), and a mean squared difference user-similarity heuristic. The resulting BCI system uses neural and physiological signals for automatic task difficulty recognition. TL improves the learning performance by combining a small number of user-specific training samples with a large number of auxiliary training samples from other similar subjects. ACS optimally selects the classes to generate user-specific training samples. Experimental results on 18 subjects, using both nearest neighbors and support vector machine classifiers, demonstrate that the proposed approach can significantly reduce the number of user-specific training data samples. This collaborative filtering approach will also be generalizable to handling individual differences in many other applications that involve human neural or physiological data, such as affective computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent theories from complexity science argue that complex dynamics are ubiquitous in social and economic systems. These claims emerge from the analysis of individually simple agents whose collective behavior is surprisingly complicated. However, economists have argued that iterated reasoning–what you think I think you think–will suppress complex dynamics by stabilizing or accelerating convergence to Nash equilibrium. We report stable and efficient periodic behavior in human groups playing the Mod Game, a multi-player game similar to Rock-Paper-Scissors. The game rewards subjects for thinking exactly one step ahead of others in their group. Groups that play this game exhibit cycles that are inconsistent with any fixed-point solution concept. These cycles are driven by a “hopping” behavior that is consistent with other accounts of iterated reasoning: agents are constrained to about two steps of iterated reasoning and learn an additional one-half step with each session. If higher-order reasoning can be complicit in complex emergent dynamics, then cyclic and chaotic patterns may be endogenous features of real-world social and economic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the design process and implementation of the Carolina Automated Reading Evaluation (CARE). Designed to automate the process of screening for reading deficits, CARE is an interactive computer-based tool that helps eliminate the need for one-on-one evaluations of pupils to detect dyslexia and other reading deficits. While other tests collect specific data points in order to determine whether a pupil has dyslexia, they typically focus on only a few metrics for diagnosis, such as handwriting analysis or eye tracking. The CARE collects data across up to 16 different subtests, each built to test proficiency in various reading skills. These skills include reading fluency, phoneme manipulation, sound blending, and many other essential skills for reading. This wide variety of measurements allows for a more focused intervention to be created for the pupil. For this study, elementary school pupils were tested both with the CARE and with the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) test, a well-established screener for elementary school-level reading deficits. The data collected was used in a comparison of average scores, a gradient boosting tree classifier, and a convergence test to determine if there was any correlation between the CARE and DIBELS scores. Based on these comparisons, a correspondence was found between the two tests, showing that the CARE can detect reading deficits comparable to manually administered testing instruments. Based on these findings, the CARE could be used as a replacement for current tests, giving the users more detailed data at a faster rate. This paper reviews the technical development and preliminary analysis of the CARE. It also provides insights into key considerations when translating standard psychological screeners onto computerized platforms.

Background: There is rapidly-emerging evidence on the harmful health effects of sedentary behaviors. The aim of this paper was to quantify time in sedentary behaviors and document socio-demographic variations in different life domains among adults. Methods: A population-based survey was carried out in 2012 through face-to-face interviews with Brazilian adults aged 20+ years (N = 2,927). Information about time spent sedentary in a typical weekday was collected for five different domains (workplace, commuting, school/university, watching TV, and computer use at home). Descriptive and bivariate analyses examined variations in overall and domain-specific sedentary time by gender, age, educational attainment and socioeconomic position. Results: On average, participants reported spending 5.8 (SD 4.5) hours per day sitting. The median value was 4.5 (interquartile range: 2.5–8) hours. Men, younger adults, those with higher schooling and from the wealthiest socioeconomic groups had higher overall sedentary scores. TV time was higher in women, older adults and among those with low schooling and socioeconomic position. Sedentary time in transport was higher in men, younger adults, and participants with high schooling and high socioeconomic position. Computer use at home was more frequent among young adults and those from high socioeconomic groups. Sitting at work was higher in those with higher schooling and from the wealthiest socioeconomic groups. Sedentary behavior at school was related inversely to age and directly to schooling. Conclusion: Patterns of sedentary behavior are different by life domains. Initiatives to reduce prolonged sitting among Brazilian adults will be required on multiple levels for different life domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On hearing a novel voice, listeners readily form personality impressions of that speaker. Accurate or not, these impressions are known to affect subsequent interactions; yet the underlying psychological and acoustical bases remain poorly understood. Furthermore, hitherto studies have focussed on extended speech as opposed to analysing the instantaneous impressions we obtain from first experience. In this paper, through a mass online rating experiment, 320 participants rated 64 sub-second vocal utterances of the word ‘hello’ on one of 10 personality traits. We show that: (1) personality judgements of brief utterances from unfamiliar speakers are consistent across listeners; (2) a two-dimensional ‘social voice space’ with axes mapping Valence (Trust, Likeability) and Dominance, each driven by differing combinations of vocal acoustics, adequately summarises ratings in both male and female voices; and (3) a positive combination of Valence and Dominance results in increased perceived male vocal Attractiveness, whereas perceived female vocal Attractiveness is largely controlled by increasing Valence. Results are discussed in relation to the rapid evaluation of personality and, in turn, the intent of others, as being driven by survival mechanisms via approach or avoidance behaviours. These findings provide empirical bases for predicting personality impressions from acoustical analyses of short utterances and for generating desired personality impressions in artificial voices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Doctors, lawyers and criminal justice agencies need methods to assess vulnerability to violent radicalization. In synergy, public health interventions aim to prevent the emergence of risk behaviours as well as prevent and treat new illness events. This paper describes a new method of assessing vulnerability to violent radicalization, and then investigates the role of previously reported causes, including poor self-reported health, anxiety and depression, adverse life events, poverty, and migration and socio-political factors. The aim is to identify foci for preventive intervention. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of a representative population sample of men and women aged 18–45, of Muslim heritage and recruited by quota sampling by age, gender, working status, in two English cities. The main outcomes include self-reported health, symptoms of anxiety and depression (common mental disorders), and vulnerability to violent radicalization assessed by sympathies for violent protest and terrorist acts. Results: 2.4% of people showed some sympathy for violent protest and terrorist acts. Sympathy was more likely to be articulated by the under 20s, those in full time education rather than employment, those born in the UK, those speaking English at home, and high earners (>£75,000 a year). People with poor self-reported health were less likely to show sympathies for violent protest and terrorism. Anxiety and depressive symptoms, adverse life events and socio-political attitudes showed no associations. Conclusions: Sympathies for violent protest and terrorism were uncommon among men and women, aged 18–45, of Muslim heritage living in two English cities. Youth, wealth, and being in education rather than employment were risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Color is one of the most powerful aspects of a psychological counseling environment. Little scientific research has been conducted on color design and much of the existing literature is based on observational studies. Using design of experiments and response surface methodology, this paper proposes an optimal color design approach for transforming patients’ perception into color elements. Six indices, pleasant-unpleasant, interesting-uninteresting, exciting-boring, relaxing-distressing, safe-fearful, and active-inactive, were used to assess patients’ impression. A total of 75 patients participated, including 42 for Experiment 1 and 33 for Experiment 2. 27 representative color samples were designed in Experiment 1, and the color sample (L = 75, a = 0, b = -60) was the most preferred one. In Experiment 2, this color sample was set as the ‘central point’, and three color attributes were optimized to maximize the patients’ satisfaction. The experimental results show that the proposed method can get the optimal solution for color design of a counseling room. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The institutionalization of community mobilization is not well understood in literature. This paper aims to understand the role of the community-to-community learning strategy in the institutionalization of community mobilization among sex workers communities across eight districts of Andhra Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods: Data collected during baseline (March, 2010) and endline (June, 2012) under an HIV prevention project (SAKSHAM project) was used to investigate the strength (as score) of community mobilization based on two learning strategies: non-government organization (NGO)-to-community-based organization (CBO) strategy, and community-to-CBO strategy. The strength of community mobilization was assessed based on different parameters. The change in scores were computed as a percentage of the improvement to the total potential improvement from baseline to endline on specific indicators and overall. Results: Most of the CBOs considered in the pre-post assessment had been registered during 2004–2008. At baseline, the community ownership and preparedness index scores for the eight CBOs under the community-to-CBO strategy ranged between 21.5 and 27.7 while the scores for the three CBOs under the NGO-to-CBO strategy ranged between 16.3 and 21.5. By endline, the strength of community mobilization among CBOs under the community-to-CBO strategy increased 18 points (equivalent to 23% potential improvement) whereas the strength of community mobilization among CBOs under the NGO-to-CBO strategy increased only 10 points (equivalent to 13% potential improvement). The average percentage difference in improvement between the strategies was 10% (p = 0.102). Further analyses indicate that a greater improvement in community-to-CBO learning strategy was noted around managerial capacities and engagement with stakeholders than other parameters. Conclusion: The community –to- CBO learning strategy presents promising results for HIV prevention with regard to institutionalization of community mobilization among sex workers communities. Findings support the scaling-up of community mobilization initiatives within HIV prevention interventions using well trained community members in India and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The risk of incidents involving mass decontamination in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear release has increased in recent years, due to technological advances, and the willingness of terrorists to use unconventional weapons. Planning for such incidents has focused on the technical issues involved, rather than on psychosocial concerns. This paper presents a novel experimental study, examining the effect of three different responder communication strategies on public experiences and behaviour during a mass decontamination field experiment. Specifically, the research examined the impact of social identity processes on the relationship between effective responder communication, and relevant outcome variables (e.g. public compliance, public anxiety, and co-operative public behaviour). All participants (n = 111) were asked to visualise that they had been involved in an incident involving mass decontamination, before undergoing the decontamination process, and receiving one of three different communication strategies: 1) ‘Theory-based communication’: Health-focused explanations about decontamination, and sufficient practical information; 2) ‘Standard practice communication’: No health-focused explanations about decontamination, sufficient practical information; 3) ‘Brief communication’: No health-focused explanations about decontamination, insufficient practical information. Four types of data were collected: timings of the decontamination process; observational data; and quantitative and qualitative self-report data. The communication strategy which resulted in the most efficient progression of participants through the decontamination process, as well as the fewest observations of non-compliance and confusion, was that which included both health-focused explanations about decontamination and sufficient practical information. Further, this strategy resulted in increased perceptions of responder legitimacy and increased identification with responders, which in turn resulted in higher levels of expected compliance during a real incident, and increased willingness to help other members of the public. This study shows that an understanding of the social identity approach facilitates the development of effective responder communication strategies for incidents involving mass decontamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Musical skills and expertise vary greatly in Western societies. Individuals can differ in their repertoire of musical behaviours as well as in the level of skill they display for any single musical behaviour. The types of musical behaviours we refer to here are broad, ranging from performance on an instrument and listening expertise, to the ability to employ music in functional settings or to communicate about music. In this paper, we first describe the concept of ‘musical sophistication’ which can be used to describe the multi-faceted nature of musical expertise. Next, we develop a novel measurement instrument, the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) to assess self-reported musical skills and behaviours on multiple dimensions in the general population using a large Internet sample (n = 147,636). Thirdly, we report results from several lab studies, demonstrating that the Gold-MSI possesses good psychometric properties, and that self-reported musical sophistication is associated with performance on two listening tasks. Finally, we identify occupation, occupational status, age, gender, and wealth as the main socio-demographic factors associated with musical sophistication. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical accounts of implicit and statistical music learning and with regard to social conditions of sophisticated musical engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personality plays a role in human behavior, and thus can influence consumer decisions on environmental goods and services. This paper analyses the influence of the big five personality dimensions (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness) in a discrete choice experiment dealing with preferences for the development of an environmental program for forest management in Spain. For this purpose, a reduced version of the Big Five Inventory survey (the BFI-10) is implemented. Results show a positive effect of openness and extraversion and a negative effect of agreeableness and neuroticism in consumers' preferences for this environmental program. Moreover, results from a latent class model show that personal traits help to explain preference heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A recent paper reported the outcomes of a study examining a new self-guided internet-delivered treatment, the Wellbeing Course, for symptoms of anxiety or depression. This study found the intervention resulted in significant symptom reductions. It also found that automated emails increased treatment completion and clinical improvements in a subsample with elevated anxiety and depression. Aims: To examine the clinical outcomes and the effect of automated emails at 12 months post-treatment. Method: Participants, who were randomly allocated to a Treatment Plus Automated Emails Group (TEG; n = 100), a standard Treatment Group (TG; n = 106) or delayed-treatment Waitlist Control Group (Control; n = 51), were followed up at 12 months post-treatment. Eighty-one percent, 78% and 87% of participants in the TEG, TG and treated Waitlist Control Group provided symptom data at 12-month follow-up, respectively. The primary outcome measures were the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Item Scale (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Item Scale (GAD-7). Results: Significant improvements in symptoms of anxiety and depression were observed over time in both the TEG and TG (Fs >69, ps <.001) these were sustained from post-treatment to 12-month follow-up (ps >.05), and were associated with large effect sizes. No statistically significant differences in symptoms were found between the TEG and TG at post-treatment, 3-month or 12-month follow-up. Previously reported symptom differences between TEG and TG participants with comorbid symptoms were no longer present at 12-month follow-up (ps >.70). Conclusions: The overall benefits of the Wellbeing Course were sustained at 12-month follow-up. Although automated emails facilitated Course completion and reductions in symptoms for participants with comorbid anxiety and depression from pre-post treatment, these differences were no longer observed at 12-month follow-up. The results indicate that automated emails promote more rapid treatment response for people with elevated and comorbid symptoms, but may not improve longer term outcomes. Trial Registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12610001058066 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychometric measures of appearance salience and valence, CARSAL and CARVAL, have been previously demonstrated to be key factors underpinning appearance related self-consciousness and negative affect in the general population. However, the extent to which the scales are appropriate for people with a visibly different appearance has not previously been reported. Neither has the moderating effect of appearance salience (CARSAL) on the relationship between appearance valence (CARVAL) and appearance self-consciousness, previously shown in a general population sample, been replicated with people who are visibly different. Twelve hundred and sixty five participants with a visible difference in either secondary care (n = 651) or the community (n = 614) provided data. Analysis confirmed the psychometric qualities of both CARSAL and CARVAL, and the conceptual independence of each scale. The scales also demonstrated independent and interdependent relationships with social anxiety and avoidance in relation to appearance, depression and anxiety. Appearance salience moderated the relationship with valence on these psychosocial measures. In summary, this paper corroborates the use of CARSAL and CARVAL with both visibly different and general adult populations for the measurement of appearance salience and valence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about how to tailor implementation of mental health services in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to the diverse settings encountered within and between countries. In this paper we compare the baseline context, challenges and opportunities in districts in five LMICs (Ethiopia, India, Nepal, South Africa and Uganda) participating in the PRogramme for Improving Mental health carE (PRIME). The purpose was to inform development and implementation of a comprehensive district plan to integrate mental health into primary care. Methods: A situation analysis tool was developed for the study, drawing on existing tools and expert consensus. Cross-sectional information obtained was largely in the public domain in all five districts. Results: The PRIME study districts face substantial contextual and health system challenges many of which are common across sites. Reliable information on existing treatment coverage for mental disorders was unavailable. Particularly in the low-income countries, many health service organisational requirements for mental health care were absent, including specialist mental health professionals to support the service and reliable supplies of medication. Across all sites, community mental health literacy was low and there were no models of multi-sectoral working or collaborations with traditional or religious healers. Nonetheless health system opportunities were apparent. In each district there was potential to apply existing models of care for tuberculosis and HIV or non-communicable disorders, which have established mechanisms for detection of drop-out from care, outreach and adherence support. The extensive networks of community-based health workers and volunteers in most districts provide further opportunities to expand mental health care. Conclusions: The low level of baseline health system preparedness across sites underlines that interventions at the levels of health care organisation, health facility and community will all be essential for sustainable delivery of quality mental health care integrated into primary care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The P300 component of the event-related potential is a large positive waveform that can be extracted from the ongoing electroencephalogram using a two-stimuli oddball paradigm, and has been associated with cognitive information processing (e.g. memory, attention, executive function). This paper reviews the development of the auditory P300 across the lifespan. Methodology/Principal Findings: A systematic review and meta-analysis on the P300 was performed including 75 studies (n = 2,811). Scopus was searched for studies using healthy subjects and that reported means of P300 latency and amplitude measured at Pz and mean age. These findings were validated in an independent, existing cross-sectional dataset including 1,572 participants from ages 6–87. Curve-fitting procedures were applied to obtain a model of P300 development across the lifespan. In both studies logarithmic Gaussian models fitted the latency and amplitude data best. The P300 latency and amplitude follow a maturational path from childhood to adolescence, resulting in a period that marks a plateau, after which degenerative effects begin. We were able to determine ages that mark a maximum (in P300 amplitude) or trough (in P300 latency) segregating maturational from degenerative stages. We found these points of deflection occurred at different ages. Conclusions/Significance: It is hypothesized that latency and amplitude index different aspects of brain maturation. The P300 latency possibly indexes neural speed or brain efficiency. The P300 amplitude might index neural power or cognitive resources, which increase with maturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent component and canonical correlation analysis are two general-purpose statistical methods with wide applicability. In neuroscience, independent component analysis of chromatic natural images explains the spatio-chromatic structure of primary cortical receptive fields in terms of properties of the visual environment. Canonical correlation analysis explains similarly chromatic adaptation to different illuminations. But, as we show in this paper, neither of the two methods generalizes well to explain both spatio-chromatic processing and adaptation at the same time. We propose a statistical method which combines the desirable properties of independent component and canonical correlation analysis: It finds independent components in each data set which, across the two data sets, are related to each other via linear or higher-order correlations. The new method is as widely applicable as canonical correlation analysis, and also to more than two data sets. We call it higher-order canonical correlation analysis. When applied to chromatic natural images, we found that it provides a single (unified) statistical framework which accounts for both spatio-chromatic processing and adaptation. Filters with spatio-chromatic tuning properties as in the primary visual cortex emerged and corresponding-colors psychophysics was reproduced reasonably well. We used the new method to make a theory-driven testable prediction on how the neural response to colored patterns should change when the illumination changes. We predict shifts in the responses which are comparable to the shifts reported for chromatic contrast habituation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: Prediction and classification techniques have been well studied by machine learning researchers and developed for several real-word problems. However, the level of acceptance and success of prediction models are still below expectation due to some difficulties such as the low performance of prediction models when they are applied in different environments. Such a problem has been addressed by many researchers, mainly from the machine learning community. A second problem, principally raised by model users in different communities, such as managers, economists, engineers, biologists, and medical practitioners, etc., is the prediction models’ interpretability. The latter is the ability of a model to explain its predictions and exhibit the causality relationships between the inputs and the outputs. In the case of classification, a successful way to alleviate the low performance is to use ensemble classiers. It is an intuitive strategy to activate collaboration between different classifiers towards a better performance than individual classier. Unfortunately, ensemble classifiers method do not take into account the interpretability of the final classification outcome. It even worsens the original interpretability of the individual classifiers. In this paper we propose a novel implementation of classifiers combination approach that does not only promote the overall performance but also preserves the interpretability of the resulting model. We propose a solution based on Ant Colony Optimization and tailored for the case of Bayesian classifiers. We validate our proposed solution with case studies from medical domain namely, heart disease and Cardiotography-based predictions, problems where interpretability is critical to make appropriate clinical decisions. Availability: The datasets, Prediction Models and software tool together with supplementary materials are available at http://faculty.uaeu.ac.ae/salahb/ACO4BC.htm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we conduct a study about differences between female and male discursive strategies when posting in the microblogging service Twitter, with a particular focus on the hashtag designation process during political debate. The fact that men and women use language in distinct ways, reverberating practices linked to their expected roles in the social groups, is a linguistic phenomenon known to happen in several cultures and that can now be studied on the Web and on online social networks in a large scale enabled by computing power. Here, for instance, after analyzing tweets with political content posted during Brazilian presidential campaign,we found out that male Twitter users, when expressing their attitude toward a given candidate, are more prone to use imperative verbal forms in hashtags, while female users tend to employ declarative forms. This difference can be interpreted as a sign of distinct approaches in relation to other network members: for example, if political hashtags are seen as strategies of persuasion in Twitter, imperative tags could be understood as more overt ways of persuading and declarative tags as more indirect ones. Our findings help to understand human gendered behavior in social networks and contribute to research on the new fields of computer-enabled Internet linguistics and social computing, besides being useful for several computational tasks such as developing tag recommendation systems based on users' collective preferences and tailoring targeted advertising strategies, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to contribute to knowledge about classroom assessment by identifying profiles of teachers’ assessment of their students’ understanding of mathematics. For carrying out this study we used data of a nationwide teacher survey (N = 960) in the Netherlands. The data were collected by an online questionnaire. Through exploratory factor analyses the underlying structure of what is measured by this questionnaire was uncovered as consisting of five factors: Goal centeredness of assessment, Authentic nature of assessment, Perceived usefulness of assessment, Diversity of assessment problem format, and Allocated importance of assessing skills and knowledge. By using a latent class analysis four different assessment profiles of teachers were identified: Enthusiastic assessors, Mainstream assessors, Non-enthusiastic assessors, and Alternative assessors. The findings suggest that teachers with particular assessment profiles have qualitatively different assessment practices. The paper concludes with discussing theoretical implications of these assessment profiles and indications these profiles can offer both for designing material for professional development in classroom assessment and for evaluating changes in teachers’ classroom assessment practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Noncompliance with scheduled ambulatory saliva sampling is common and has been associated with biased cortisol estimates in nonpregnant subjects. This study is the first to investigate in pregnant women strategies to improve ambulatory saliva-sampling compliance, and the association between sampling noncompliance and saliva cortisol estimates. Methods: We instructed 64 pregnant women to collect eight scheduled saliva samples on two consecutive days each. Objective compliance with scheduled sampling times was assessed with a Medication Event Monitoring System and self-reported compliance with a paper-and-pencil diary. In a randomized controlled study, we estimated whether a disclosure intervention (informing women about objective compliance monitoring) and a reminder intervention (use of acoustical reminders) improved compliance. A mixed model analysis was used to estimate associations between women's objective compliance and their diurnal cortisol profiles, and between deviation from scheduled sampling and the cortisol concentration measured in the related sample. Results: Self-reported compliance with a saliva-sampling protocol was 91%, and objective compliance was 70%. The disclosure intervention was associated with improved objective compliance (informed: 81%, noninformed: 60%), F(1,60)  = 17.64, p<0.001, but not the reminder intervention (reminders: 68%, without reminders: 72%), F(1,60)  = 0.78, p = 0.379. Furthermore, a woman's increased objective compliance was associated with a higher diurnal cortisol profile, F(2,64) = 8.22, p<0.001. Altered cortisol levels were observed in less objective compliant samples, F(1,705) = 7.38, p = 0.007, with delayed sampling associated with lower cortisol levels. Conclusions: The results suggest that in pregnant women, objective noncompliance with scheduled ambulatory saliva sampling is common and is associated with biased cortisol estimates. To improve sampling compliance, results suggest informing women about objective compliance monitoring but discourage use of acoustical reminders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence about relevant outcomes is required in the evaluation of clinical interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, to date, the variety of outcome measurement tools being used, and lack of knowledge about the measurement properties of some, compromise conclusions regarding the most effective interventions. Objectives: This two-stage systematic review aimed to identify the tools used in studies evaluating interventions for anxiety for high-functioning children with ASD in middle childhood, and then to evaluate the tools for their appropriateness and measurement properties. Methods: Electronic databases including Medline, PsychInfo, Embase, and the Cochrane database and registers were searched for anxiety intervention studies for children with ASD in middle childhood. Articles examining the measurement properties of the tools used were then searched for using a methodological filter in PubMed, and the quality of the papers evaluated using the COSMIN checklist. Results: Ten intervention studies were identified in which six tools measuring anxiety and one of overall symptom change were used as primary outcomes. One further tool was included as it is recommended for standard use in UK children's mental health services. Sixty three articles on the properties of the tools were evaluated for the quality of evidence, and the quality of the measurement properties of each tool was summarised. Conclusions: Overall three questionnaires were found robust in their measurement properties, the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, its revised version – the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale, and also the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders. Crucially the articles on measurement properties provided almost no evidence on responsiveness to change, nor on the validity of use of the tools for evaluation of interventions for children with ASD. PROSPERO Registration number: CRD42012002684. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women experiencing greater childhood adversity exhibit faster reproductive trajectories. One possible psychological mechanism underlying this phenomenon is an increased interest in infants. Interest in infants is thought to be an adaptation important for successful rearing as it motivates the acquisition of caretaking skills. We investigated the relationships between childhood adversity, intended reproductive timing and interest in infants in a sample of English adolescent girls. Specifically we sought to investigate the relationship between 1) childhood adversity and intended reproductive timing; 2) childhood adversity and interest in infants; and 3) intended reproductive timing and interest in infants. Additionally we explored different methods of measuring interest in infants using self-reported fondness for babies, a forced choice adult versus infant paper-based preference task and a novel computer based attention task using adult and infant stimuli. In total 357 girls aged nine to 14 years participated in the study, which took place in schools. Participants completed the two interest in infants tasks before moving on to a childhood adversity questionnaire. Girls with more childhood adversity reported earlier ideal ages at parenthood. We found some evidence that, contrary to our predictions, girls with less childhood adversity were more interested in infants. There was no relationship between intended reproductive timing and interest in infants. The different measurements for interest in infants were only weakly related, if at all, highlighting the complexity of measuring this construct. Our findings suggest that rather than interest in infants being a mechanism for the effect of childhood adversity on early reproductive timing it might instead be an indicator of future reproductive strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of its richness and availability, micro-blogging has become an ideal platform for conducting psychological research. In this paper, we proposed to predict active users' personality traits through micro-blogging behaviors. 547 Chinese active users of micro-blogging participated in this study. Their personality traits were measured by the Big Five Inventory, and digital records of micro-blogging behaviors were collected via web crawlers. After extracting 845 micro-blogging behavioral features, we first trained classification models utilizing Support Vector Machine (SVM), differentiating participants with high and low scores on each dimension of the Big Five Inventory. The classification accuracy ranged from 84% to 92%. We also built regression models utilizing PaceRegression methods, predicting participants' scores on each dimension of the Big Five Inventory. The Pearson correlation coefficients between predicted scores and actual scores ranged from 0.48 to 0.54. Results indicated that active users' personality traits could be predicted by micro-blogging behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has suggested that the perception of time is influenced by concurrent magnitude information (e.g., numerical magnitude in digits, spatial distance), but the locus of the effect is unclear, with some findings suggesting that concurrent magnitudes such as space affect temporal memories and others suggesting that numerical magnitudes in digits affect the clock speed during time encoding. The current paper reports 6 experiments in which participants perceived a stimulus duration and then reproduced it. We showed that though a digit of a large magnitude (e.g., 9), relative to a digit of a small magnitude (e.g., 2), led to a longer reproduced duration when the digits were presented during the perception of the stimulus duration, such a magnitude effect disappeared when the digits were presented during the reproduction of the stimulus duration. These findings disconfirm the account that large numerical magnitudes accelerate the speed of an internal clock during time encoding, as such an account incorrectly predicts that a large numerical magnitude should lead to a shorter reproduced duration when presented during reproduction. Instead, the findings suggest that numerical magnitudes, like other magnitudes such as space, affect temporal memories when numerical magnitudes and temporal durations are concurrently held in memory. Under this account, concurrent numerical magnitudes have the chance to influence the memory of the perceived duration when they are presented during perception but not when they are presented at the reproduction stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-way selection is a common phenomenon in nature and society. It appears in the processes like choosing a mate between men and women, making contracts between job hunters and recruiters, and trading between buyers and sellers. In this paper, we propose a model of two-way selection system, and present its analytical solution for the expectation of successful matching total and the regular pattern that the matching rate trends toward an inverse proportion to either the ratio between the two sides or the ratio of the state total to the smaller group's people number. The proposed model is verified by empirical data of the matchmaking fairs. Results indicate that the model well predicts this typical real-world two-way selection behavior to the bounded error extent, thus it is helpful for understanding the dynamics mechanism of the real-world two-way selection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]