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The majority of current developmental models prioritise a pedagogical approach to knowledge acquisition in infancy, in which infants play a relatively passive role as recipients of information. In view of recent evidence, demonstrating that infants use pointing to express interest and solicit information from adults, we set out to test whether giving the child the leading role in deciding what information to receive leads to better learning. Sixteen-month-olds were introduced to pairs of novel objects and, once they had pointed to an object, were shown a function for either the object they had chosen, or the object they had ignored. Ten minutes later, infants replicated the functions of chosen objects significantly more than those of un-chosen objects, despite having been equally visually attentive during demonstrations on both types of objects. These results show that offering information in response to infants’ communicative gestures leads to superior learning (Experiment 1) and that this difference in performance is due to learning being facilitated when infants’ pointing was responded to, not hindered when their pointing was ignored (Experiment 2), highlighting the importance of infants’ own active engagement in acquiring information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human overt attention under natural conditions is guided by stimulus features as well as by higher cognitive components, such as task and emotional context. In contrast to the considerable progress regarding the former, insight into the interaction of emotions and attention is limited. Here we investigate the influence of the current emotional context on viewing behavior under natural conditions. In two eye-tracking studies participants freely viewed complex scenes embedded in sequences of emotion-laden images. The latter primes constituted specific emotional contexts for neutral target images. Viewing behavior toward target images embedded into sets of primes was affected by the current emotional context, revealing the intensity of the emotional context as a significant moderator. The primes themselves were not scanned in different ways when presented within a block (Study 1), but when presented individually, negative primes were more actively scanned than positive primes (Study 2). These divergent results suggest an interaction between emotional priming and further context factors. Additionally, in most cases primes were scanned more actively than target images. Interestingly, the mere presence of emotion-laden stimuli in a set of images of different categories slowed down viewing activity overall, but the known effect of image category was not affected. Finally, viewing behavior remained largely constant on single images as well as across the targets' post-prime positions (Study 2). We conclude that the emotional context significantly influences the exploration of complex scenes and the emotional context has to be considered in predictions of eye-movement patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NS5B is pivotal RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of HCV and NS5B function interfering halts the virus infective cycle. This work aimed to produce cell penetrable humanized single domain antibodies (SdAb; VH/VHH) that interfere with the RdRp activity. Recombinant NS5BD55 of genotype 3a HCV with de novo RNA synthetic activity was produced and used in phage biopanning for selecting phage clones that displayed NS5BD55 bound VH/VHH from a humanized-camel VH/VHH display library. VH/VHH from E. coli transfected with four selected phage clones inhibited RdRp activity when tested by ELISA inhibition using 39di-cytidylate 25 nucleotide directed in vitro RNA synthesis. Deduced amino acid sequences of two clones showed VHH hallmark and were designated VHH6 and VHH24; other clones were conventional VH, designated VH9 and VH13. All VH/VHH were linked molecularly to a cell penetrating peptide, penetratin. The cell penetrable VH9, VH13, VHH6 and VHH24 added to culture of Huh7 cells transfected with JHF-1 RNA of genotype 2a HCV reduced the amounts of RNA intracellularly and in culture medium implying that they inhibited the virus replication. VH/VHH mimotopes matched with residues scattered on the polymerase fingers, palm and thumb which were likely juxtaposed to form conformational epitopes. Molecular docking revealed that the antibodies covered the RdRp catalytic groove. The transbodies await further studies for in vivo role in inhibiting HCV replication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific behavior, interest, talent, and achievement can be and have been investigated from each of the fundamental subdisciplines in psychology. Simply put, there is a psychology behind science. I review and summarize the major empirical findings from different subdisciplines—namely, cognitive, developmental, personality, social, and clinical. For the last 10 years, the discipline of the psychology of science has shown some real promise in becoming a new psychological subdiscipline in its own right. I review some of the evidence for such a claim. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A brief visual cue that attracts attention repels the perceived location of a subsequent visual stimulus away from the focus of attention (attentional repulsion). In the first experiment reported here, we presented a visual cue after a visual target and found that the perceived location of the target stimulus shifted toward the location of the cue (attentional attraction). The subsequent experiments ruled out nonattentional hypotheses and indicated that the mislocalization effect is attributable to the attentional shift. The results of this study suggest that preceding and succeeding contexts differentially modulate the perceived location of a briefly presented stimulus. Our findings also underscore the importance of retrospective processes in visual attention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Curiosity has been described as a desire for learning and knowledge, but its underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We scanned subjects with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they read trivia questions. The level of curiosity when reading questions was correlated with activity in caudate regions previously suggested to be involved in anticipated reward. This finding led to a behavioral study, which showed that subjects spent more scarce resources (either limited tokens or waiting time) to find out answers when they were more curious. The functional imaging also showed that curiosity increased activity in memory areas when subjects guessed incorrectly, which suggests that curiosity may enhance memory for surprising new information. This prediction about memory enhancement was confirmed in a behavioral study: Higher curiosity in an initial session was correlated with better recall of surprising answers 1 to 2 weeks later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined visual search for color singleton targets, whose shape was discriminated. Critically, we varied the reward priority of singleton colors (correct fast performance was worth more bonus points for red singletons than for green singletons, or vice versa) to test whether event-related potential signatures of visual selection can be affected by distinct reward priorities for different target types, even when every target has to be selected for report. The N2pc component was earlier and larger for high- than for low-reward targets. This influence of reward on the N2pc correlated with the subject-by-subject impact of reward level on efficiency of behavioral performance. Later postselection processing was also affected by reward level. These results demonstrate that visual selection of task-relevant items is rapidly modulated by reward-related priorities, even when every target has to be selected for response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has found that positive affect broadens attention. However, these studies have manipulated positive affect that is low in approach motivation. Positive affect that is high in approach motivation should reduce the breadth of attention, as organisms shut out irrelevant stimuli as they approach desired objects. Four studies examined the attentional consequences of approach-motivated positive-affect states. Results were consistent with predictions. Participants showed less global attentional focus after viewing high-approach-motivating positive stimuli than after viewing low-approach-motivating positive stimuli (Study 1) or neutral stimuli (Study 2). Study 3 found that greater trait approach motivation resulted in less global attentional focus after participants viewed approach-motivating positive stimuli. Study 4 manipulated affect and approach motivation independently. Greater approach-motivated positive affect caused lower global focus. High-approach-motivated positive affect reduces global attentional focus, whereas low-approach-motivated positive affect increases global attentional focus. Incorporating the intensity of approach motivation into models of positive affect broadens understanding of the consequences of positive affect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We hypothesized that college major persistence would be predicted by first-year academic performance and an interest-major composite score that is derived from a student’s entering major and two work task scores. Using a large data set representing 25 four-year institutions and nearly 50,000 students, we randomly split the sample into an estimation sample and a validation sample. Using the estimation sample, we found major-specific coefficients corresponding to the two work task scores that optimized the prediction of major persistence. Then, we applied the estimated coefficients to the validation sample to form an interest-major composite score representing the likelihood of persisting in entering major. Using the validation sample, we then tested a theoretical model for major persistence that incorporated academic preparation, the interest-major composite score, and first-year academic performance. The results suggest that (1) interest-major fit and first-year academic performance work to independently predict whether a student will stay in their entering major and (2) the relative importance of two work task scores in predicting major persistence depends on the entering major. The results support Holland’s theory of person-environment fit and suggest that academic performance and interest-major fit are key constructs for understanding major persistence behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis of the Child Language Data Exchange System database concerning the issues surrounding the study of childrens' questions. The areas of inquiry are the identity of the conversation partner of the child, social class variation in the persistence and frequency of the child's questions, the method by which children reply to answers to their inquiries, and the cognitive of replying to children's questions. The analysis shows that children ask questions to gather information. Also, children obtain the information they request, and are motivated to obtain the information they request. Lastly, children gather questions specifically to attain an objective, and utilize the information they have obtained to reach that objective and realize a change in knowledge state.

The article presents a study on the nature of childrens' questions. A total of 68 children aged 1 to 5 from the Bing Nursery School comprised the respondents. A total of 81% asked information-seeking questions, 67% on facts, and 14% on explanation. The younger children asked for facts while the older children gravitated toward question which required explanation. Also, children ask both isolated queries and questions that take place in a series that build on one another. Thus, the building questions act as the bridge between the information-seeking questions and exploratory questions.

The article discusses whether the questions children ask within a sole domain have the potential of helping them learn about that domain. The analysis was centered on the questions children ask regarding animals. The objectives are to examine inquiries that are specialized to the field of biological knowledge, find out how stimulus type affects the inquiries that children ask regarding biological knowledge. The findings show that children inquire on more biological information when in the presence of animals than in other settings.

Prediction of future motion is necessary in order to successfully deal with moving objects. Implicit measures have been used to evaluate the sources of information used in this task. For instance, observers may be asked to localize the final position of a moving target. Judgments have been found to be displaced in the direction of motion (forward displacement), suggesting that observers have internalized a mental analogue of physical momentum. However, more recent studies have shown that forward displacement may not be caused by cognitive mechanisms alone. Rather, predictive mechanisms at the perceptual and motor levels may contribute to the forward error. Supporting the notion that mechanisms of anticipation may be embodied, the forward error was found to depend on the execution of eye and pointing movements. Also, forward displacement depended on the motion type that was presented (smooth vs. jerky or implied), which suggests that attention moves to the next expected target position to facilitate responses to this position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment explored the hypothesis that inhibitory ability helps people stop themselves from engaging in socially inappropriate behavior. All participants completed a Stroop color-naming task, after which half of the participants were asked to remember an eight-digit number (inducing divided attention). Participants were then offered an unfamiliar and visually unappetizing food product (a chicken foot) under conditions of either low or high social pressure to pretend that it was appealing. Participants who had full attention available and were under pressure to pretend the food was appealing were least likely to emit a negative response, and performance on the Stroop task predicted the degree to which they successfully restrained negative responses. These results suggest that the cognitive ability to inhibit unwanted information facilitates socially appropriate behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situation awareness, and how systems can be designed to support it appropriately, have been a focus of study in dynamic, safety critical contexts such as aviation. The work reported here extends the study of situation awareness into the domain of emergency medical dispatch (EMD). The study was conducted in one of the largest ambulance services in the world. In this study, we encountered development and exploitation of situation awareness, particularly among the more senior EMD operators called allocators. In this paper we describe the notion of a ‘mental picture’ as an outcome of situation awareness, how an awareness of the situation is developed and maintained, the cues allocators attend to, and the difficulties they face in doing so. One of the key characteristics of ambulance control is that relatively routine behaviour is periodically interspersed with incidents that demand much higher levels of attention, but that the routine work must still be completed; operators exhibit contrasting levels of situation awareness for the different kinds of incidents. Our findings on situation awareness are related to those of others, particularly Endsley and Wickens. The observations and interviews enable us to propose high-level requirements for systems to support appropriate situation awareness, to enable EMD staff to complete their work effectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Reinforcers lose their effectiveness when they are presented repeatedly. Traditionally, this loss of effectiveness has been labeled satiation. However, recent evidence suggests that habituation provides a more accurate and useful description. The characteristics of behavior undergoing satiation differ for different stimuli (e.g., food, water), and these characteristics have not been identified for the noningestive reinforcers often used by applied behavior analysts (e.g., praise, attention). As a result, the term satiation provides little guidance for either maintaining or reducing the effectiveness of reinforcer. In contrast, the characteristics of behavior undergoing habituation are well known and are relatively general across species and stimuli. These characteristics provide specific and novel guidance about how to maintain or reduce the effectiveness of a reinforcer. In addition, habituation may lead to a better understanding of several puzzling phenomena in the conditioning literature (e.g., extinction, behavioral contrast), and it may provide a more precise and accurate description of the dynamics of many different types of behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translational research often begins when findings from the laboratory are replicated with and extended to clinical populations' and problems. If these initial extensions yield promising results, additional research typically is needed to further explore basic process and to develop and refine effective technologies. Basic findings directly inform methodologies, interventions, and data analysis at this stage of translational research, and one or more of the key distinguishing features of applied work usually are absent from these studies. For example, the study may be conducted in a laboratory-type setting instead of the usual social context to obtain a high degree of control over variables of interest, or it may focus on responses that are convenient to study rather than on behavior that would be the target of treatment.

I consider the problem of characterizing the optimal plastic response when there are large-scale fluctuations in the environment affecting all population members. Individuals differ in their state, and each makes a reproductive decision before the environmental conditions are known. An individual's state, its decision, and environmental conditions together determine the number of descendants left at the next decision epoch. I restrict attention to the simple problem in which the state of the descendants left at this epoch does not depend on these three factors. Because the environment is fluctuating, there is no individual optimization; instead the best action in one state implicitly depends on the best action in other states. I characterize an optimal state-dependent strategy, give a method of computation, and show how behavior of each individual following the optimal strategy may be reinterpreted as a form of 'individual optimization'. Concepts are illustrated with an example of optimal clutch size as a function of territory quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the benefit of life books to the developmental process of adoptable children. According to the North American Council on Adoptable Children there were 500,000 children in substitute family care in the U.S. in 1983. The normal developmental process of each of these children has been interrupted. Child welfare working are well aware of children in care who exhibit bizarre or antisocial behavior, but little treatment is provided for the hundreds of thousands of children in placement who do not call attention to themselves. A Life Book is an Individually made book covering the child's life from birth to present written in the child's own words. It generally includes a narrative describing what has happened to the child, when, and why, as well as what the child's feelings are about what has happened. Most of the literature about Life Books deals with adoption. Literature on foster care has emphasized the importance of dealing with the same feelings and issues but, with a few exceptions, does not offer Life Books as a tool.

The article focuses on morality and law. People ought to see morality as the source of law rather than its content. It is argued that people should not be fooled by moral-sounding words, which mean something different from what they seem to say, because that may lull people into a foolish complacency. People should fix their attention on the purposes of law and spend their energy on a study of the ends sought to be attained and the reasons for desiring them and on the extent to which they are actually being served. The conclusion there is that law is something entirely separate from morals, and that to see law truly people must look at it the way a bad man does.