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Environmental DNA (eDNA) is becoming an increasingly important tool in diverse scientific fields from ecological biomonitoring to wastewater surveillance of viruses. The fundamental challenge in eDNA analyses has been the bioinformatical assignment of reads to taxonomic groups. It has long been known that full probabilistic methods for phylogenetic assignment are preferable, but unfortunately, such methods are computationally intensive and are typically inapplicable to modern next-generation sequencing data. We present a fast approximate likelihood method for phylogenetic assignment of DNA sequences. Applying the new method to several mock communities and simulated datasets, we show that it identifies more reads at both high and low taxonomic levels more accurately than other leading methods. The advantage of the method is particularly apparent in the presence of polymorphisms and/or sequencing errors and when the true species is not represented in the reference database.

Cognitive science research has far-reaching implications, but many graduate students are trained solely for tenure-track faculty positions. Academic training develops a wide range of skills in behavioral research, literature reviewing, data analysis, scientific publishing, grant writing, teaching, and student mentorship. These skills have direct application in many other careers, but training within academia typically neglects to address how these skills translate to other work environments and career paths. As growth in the number of doctoral trainees continues to outpace permanent academic positions (Kolata, 2016; Larson et al., 2013; Lederman, 2016), more doctoral recipients have been seeking employment beyond faculty positions and academia (National Science Board, 2018). Those who are interested in exploring alternative career paths may not know where to turn for guidance. Our goal in this professional development workshop is to offer such guidance and an opportunity to network with scholars in similar situations.

We have a simple thesis: the relationship between academic and industry-based cognitive science is broken, but can be fixed. Over the last few decades, there has been a huge increase in the representation of cognitive science in industry. Beyond just machine learning, businesses are increasingly interested in human behavior and cognitive processes. Large proportions of our Ph.D. students, post-docs, and even faculty choose to go through a largely one-way door to corporate jobs in data science, behavioral experimentation, machine learning, user experience, and elsewhere. Currently, people who choose industry careers often lose their social and intellectual networks and their ability to return to tenure-track positions. Valuable insights from industry about memory, decision-making, learning, emotion, distributed cognition, and much more never return to the academic community. We believe that deep, theory driven, theory building work is being done in industry settings–and that the rift between communities makes all our work less effective

Cognitive processes underlie economic relations. In this paper, we develop a conceptual, mathematical, and computational framework for modeling market exchange as a series of dynamically interacting cognitive processes. Specifically, we show how advertisers can build trust and gain confidence in their pricing power to the point that they erode trust and undermine the efficacy of their advertising. Customers conversely orient towards advertisers seeking information or turn away from them as unreliable communicators. These behaviors and the patterns they generate occur inside a state space of unallocated perceived value. They constitute a small subset of the full range of possible strategic and adaptive responses that define cognitive microeconomics.

Philosophers have long been arguing the precise semantics of different deontic terms within normative statements. However, little research has been done on the human reasoning side of understanding such terms. In this paper, we propose a normative scheme with bitstring semantics that is expressive enough to cover the basic normative concepts in most mainstream schemes proposed in deontic logic research. Even though further confirmation is needed, our explorative experiments on human deontic reasoning have shown results that are consistent with our proposed scheme.

Studies of meaning in human and primate communication face, in principle, similar methodological problems. In both cases, meaning is not observable directly, but must be inferred from more indirect sources, such as directly observable behavior. Recent work in probabilistic cognitive modeling of language use has therefore developed methods of inferring latent se- mantic meaning through the lens of a probabilistic model of language use. In this paper, we explore how to adapt such an approach for insightful investigations of primate communication. Towards this end, we develop a suitable probabilistic model of processes that generate communicative behavior by making use of functionally specified latent meaning representations. As a proof of concept, we apply this model to a rich, annotated data set of orangutan communicative dyadic interaction and conclude that explicit probabilistic modeling can provide additional insights for the study of animal communication pertaining to the context-dependent nature of signals and the gradual evolution of human communication systems.

Languages tend to describe who is doing what to whom by placing subjects before objects. This bias for agents is reflected in event cognition: agents capture more attention than patients in human adults and infants. We investigated whether this agent preference is unique to humans. We presented Guinea baboons (Papio papio, N = 13) with a change detection paradigm with chasing animations. The baboons had to respond to a colour change which was applied to either the chaser/agent or the chasee/patient. They were faster to detect a change to the chaser than to the chasee, which cannot be explained by low-level features in our stimuli. Our study suggests that baboons show an agent preference similar to human infants and adults. This may be an evolutionarily old mechanism that is shared between humans and other primates, which could have become externalised in language as a tendency to place the subject first.

Investors rely on judgmental heuristics and comparative analysis for future stock price prediction based on specific components of information in hand. Information components are used as anchors for price estimation. Through an eye-tracking experiment, we aim to understand the perceived significance of various formats of information, particularly focusing on graphical and numerical components, and to explore the influence of complex time-varying patterns in stock price line plots. Results show that graphical components capture higher visual attention. Participants are not always loss-averse and prominently exhibit disposition effects for investment decisions in profitable scenarios. The 52-week high is allotted the highest fixation duration, signifying its perception as a strong reference point. Investment choices were found to be varying based on levels of prior knowledge and experience. The visual gaze analysis provides behavioural insights into complex decision-making processes.

Collective improvisation is remarkable. When peopleimprovise—whether dancing, making music, or conversing—they coordinate their behavior while exploring abstract spacesof movements, sounds, and ideas. How do improvisers navigatethese abstract spaces? One possibility is that improvisationbuilds on foraging strategies used to search the physicalworld. Here, we investigate the dynamics of an especiallycomplex and abstract form of collective improvisation: freejazz. We quantify how professional jazz ensembles navigatea space of sounds and show that it resembles a foraging strategyknown as Area Restricted Search. In particular, ensembleschange their playing dynamics in response to encounters withnovel ‘soundworlds.' Before encountering a new soundworld,ensembles engage in widespread exploration; immediately after,they shift to focused exploitation of the new sound. Whilecollective improvisation pushes at our cognitive limits and is aparadigm of human creativity, it may build on evolutionarilyancientstrategies for searching space.

Emergent communication (EC) is the field that seeks to understand the mechanisms behind the emergence and evolution of natural language. In EC, the de facto standard has been using sequential architectures that have not explicitly incorporated the "tree-structured hierarchy" inherent in human language. This study utilizes a stack-based model called RL-SPINN, which learns tree structures through reinforcement learning without ground-truth parsing data, and acquires sentence representations according to these structures. We use this model as the basis for the understanding agents and investigate the extent to which the inductive bias of an architecture that explicitly utilizes tree structures affects the emergent language. The experimental results show that the emergent language generated by our model exhibits higher communication accuracy than those generated by other baselines in some settings. This work is the first to focus on the tree-structured hierarchy of language and suggests new directions for future research in EC.

The sense of control (SoC) is the subjective feeling of being in control over an action, influenced by controllability, difficulty and feedback. However, it remains unclear how SoC is formed in multitasking scenarios. We conducted a study to analyze SoC and its impact on task-switching behavior in multitasking scenarios. Participants were required to perform two tasks in parallel while in control of one task at a time, requiring voluntary switching. We found that task-specific SoCs are influenced by the controllability and difficulty of each task. An overall SoC can be explained mainly by these task-specific SoCs. But, the overall SoC did not correlate with the frequency of task switches or the relative time spent on one task. Our analysis indicates that the SoC of a more control-demanding task has greater impact on the overall SoC and even affects the task-specific SoC of the other task, as well as task-switching behavior.

Prior literature shows that some mechanisms, e.g., commitment, could give rise to cooperation. However, participants' diverse propensities to cooperate may limit such mechanisms' effectiveness. Thus, we bring individual differences in their propensities to cooperate into the reasoning of long-term social dynamics of cooperation through an agent-based modeling approach. Our results suggest that commitment may still guarantee cooperation when individuals have different propensities to cooperate but has weaker effects, and the setups of commitment are also important. Our study highlights the importance of integrating individual preferences in analyzing collective dynamics of a population consisting of individuals of heterogeneous characteristics, thus offering implications to facilitate cooperation in rich real-world scenarios.

Speech production in aphasia is often described as “effortful”, though the consequences of consistent, high degrees of cognitive effort have not been explored. Using recent work on mental effort as a theoretical framework, the present study examined how effort-related fatigue produces decrements in performance in picture naming among participants with post-stroke aphasia. We analyzed three data sets from prior studies where participants completed a large picture naming test. Decreasing naming accuracy across trials was statistically significant in two of the three samples. There were also significant effects of practice (better performance on a second test administration), word frequency (better performance for more frequent words), and word length (better performance for shorter words). These results are the first concrete demonstration of fatigue affecting performance on a language task in post-stroke aphasia. They open a new avenue for research on mental effort/fatigue with potential implications for aphasia assessment, treatment, and management.

“Misfortunes never come singly” is a saying common in different languages and historical contexts. Could this proverb reflect more than irrational superstitions? We draw from two frameworks, the fast-and-frugal heuristics approach to decision making, and the rational analysis of cognition. The former prompts us to conceptualize the proverb as a simple but smart heuristic that may be adapted to statistical regularities in decision-making environments, and the latter offers a method for studying such environments. Analyzing the pattern of humanitarian disasters between 2000 and 2022, we find that the probability of observing a new disaster in a country increases with the frequency of new disasters observed in the previous 100 days in that country. We propose a research agenda to study the ecological rationality of proverbs. Our results are also potentially relevant to humanitarian analysts.

Intelligent systems that record, analyze, and respond to events have become major parts of our lives. They are available as Decision Support (DS) for many tasks and can enhance the information on which decision-makers can base their decisions. Decision makers need to evaluate the available information, and they also have to decide whether to seek information from additional information sources. The information is often costly, and its costs and benefits must be weighted. Also, integrating information from multiple sources can complicate the decision task. Here, we study the combined decision process that chooses information sources and integrates them, if chosen, in a classification decision.In an online experiment with 75 engineering students, we manipulated the redundancy level of information received from DS with already existing information. Participants' task in two between-subjects conditions was to classify binary events with the option to access up to two DS systems. In one of the conditions, the two DSs provided non-redundant information, and in the second condition, one of them provided fully redundant information, and the other provided non-redundant information. We found that the decision to access information was not affected by whether some information was redundant (strongly correlated with already available information). Participants used the information to improve classification performance, and the improvement was significantly higher when they used non-redundant information. However, the benefits gained were smaller than predicted from a normative model. Moreover, the use of information from multiple non-correlated sources can increase mental workload, as was evident in our results, possibly because of conflicting information from different sources.

Latin American dancing relies heavily on Cuban Motion (CM) to captivate audiences with its powerful, enchanting, and beautiful expressions. We researched how skilled dancers' CM movements influence audience perceptions. We compared CM movement and evaluations between different skill levels. From previous research, we hypothesize that expert's CM is symmetrical and involves whole-body coordination. Result showed that the heel and other body parts were coordinated in the R-L direction and that the hip trajectory in the horizontal plane was highly circular. However, contrary to the hypothesis, the symmetrical feature of the CM's hip trajectories of experts was divided into two groups: symmetrical / asymmetrical expert. In the evaluation results, the symmetrical group was evaluated higher for factor of Aesthetics and Dynamism, while the asymmetrical group was lower.

Texts available on the Web have been generated by human minds. We observe that simple patterns are over-represented: abcdef is more frequent than arfbxg and 1000 appears more often than 1282. We suggest that word frequency patterns can be predicted by cognitive models based on complexity minimization. Conversely, the observation of word frequencies offers an opportunity to infer particular cognitive mechanisms involved in their generation.

In Experiment 1, we conducted a survey in which we asked a sample of N = 762 participants explicitly about their preferences regarding reimbursement and experimental duration of web-based experiments. Participants significantly prefer donations and raffles over other forms of reimbursement in 5-minute experiments. When experiments take 30 minutes or longer, participants significantly prefer direct payment. This finding applies to 15-minute experiments, too, if only data of PayPal account holders is analyzed (75.23% of our sample). In Experiment 2, we implicitly measured the preferences of N = 189 participants by letting them choose between experiments with different durations and forms of reimbursements. As in Experiment 1, direct payment was the preferred reimbursement in longer studies. The most popular choice of duration and reimbursement was to receive direct payment for an experiment of 60 minutes, which was selected by 57% of all participants.

This paper presents prevalence norms collected from a representative sample of Singapore English speakers for a set of 240 concepts unique to Singapore English. Prevalence refers to the proportion of people who know or recognize a particular concept. Because large-scale, diachronic language corpora are scarce for non-standard varieties of English, the present study aims to establish the collection of prevalence norms from a cross-sectional sample as a potential alternative for tracking changes in word usage patterns over time. Preliminary analyses indicate that lexical knowledge of Singapore English concepts differs across gender, age, and ethnic groups. In particular, while most concepts are generally well known, some concepts are better known by younger participants and others are better known by older participants. These results underline the dynamic nature of Singapore English vocabulary and demonstrate how simple psycholinguistic tasks could be used to study lexical change in under-resourced languages and varieties.

Cognitive science has historically been introduced as a multidisciplinary and, sometimes, an interdisciplinary study of the mind. Recent critical views of the field have questioned the foundational core and its multidisciplinary nature by suggesting that psychology has come to dominate cognitive science. As these are actively debated issues, we need further investigations. This study examines the degree of overlap between cognitive science and psychological science by comparing article keywords and departmental affiliations of authors extracted from flagship journals over the past decade (2012-2022). The results reveal that over 50% of published authors stem from psychology departments. The topics of study between the two remain quite similar as well. However, network analyses found fragmentation in terms of the methodological approaches and a considerable focus by the community of cognitive scientists on formal modeling. Based on the topics and socio-institutional analysis, we suggest that cognitive science is largely (cognitive) psychology. Implications for the field of cognitive science and its claims of multidisciplinarity are discussed.

In sign languages, gazing towards one's interlocutor is necessary to perceive the language visually. Proficient signers have been found to look at their interlocutor's face, rather than hands, while communicating in ASL. We investigated signers' looks to the face vs. hands while perceiving ASL signs, fingerspelled words, pseudo signs, and fingerspelled pseudowords. Participants' gaze was monitored as they viewed a picture followed by a short, isolated video clip of the corresponding sign or fingerspelled word. We found that participants tended to look at the face more than the hands when perceiving signs vs. pseudosigns, and when perceiving signs vs. fingerspelled words. Age of acquisition did not significantly impact gaze patterns. Results suggest that sign perceivers actively adjust their allocation of gaze based on the perceptual demands of the input.

Intelligence tests are used in various scenarios in order to assess individuals' cognitive abilities. As these tests are typically resource-intensive and quite lengthy, we propose a predictive analysis paradigm with the aim of most effectively predicting IQ scores and thus shortening and optimising tests by identifying the most predictive test components. Using the Berlin Intelligence Structure Test for Adolescents (BIS-HB) as an example, we apply machine learning models and successfully predict IQ scores at the individual level. In addition, we identify non-significant and potentially redundant tasks and items and exclude them from the analyses, while maintaining the same satisfactory predictive results. A new direction of research in this area will allow not only the inductive optimisation of intelligence tests, but also the improvement of knowledge and understanding of intelligence in general.

This research studies how 24 experts in sport, music, and business were able to make successful and repeated career transitions to senior levels in their field. It examined – among other aspects – the roles of cognitive flexibility, personal intelligence, generative thinking, motivation, and contextual intelligence in career transitions. It also examined how identity changes and adapts during a career transition and how self concept evolves over the course of a career.In-depth interviews were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively and served as the basis for evaluating several theories of expertise, cognition, motivation, and intelligence. Key findings include: deliberate practice was rarely mentioned as a contributor to transitions; the early development of expertise in multiple domains contributed to its generalizability; transition expertise evolved over the course of a career; and self concept did not unfold in a linear progression of sequential stages as predicted by many theories in the field.

The paper presents a model and a discussion of the computational representation of virtue ethics in autonomous devices. One of the key problems in formal modeling of virtue ethics is the computational representation of the concept of virtue. In our model, the virtue is represented by a set of minimal extents to which a set of values, relevant to the virtue, should be satisfied. A device will be moral if any decision made satisfies all relevant values above the declared thresholds.

Prior research has shown that many elementary school students hold misconceptions about mathematical equivalence, interpreting the equal sign operationally as an indicator to give an answer or the total. They often fail to correctly solve missing operand problems such as 1+5= ___ + 2. The present study extends the research on mathematical equivalence to examine pre-service teachers' performance on equivalence tasks. Results show that some participants failed to correctly solve missing operand problems and chose an operational definition of the equal sign over the correct relational definition. Many participants failed to recognize statements that violate equality and failed to correctly identify equations and operations. These findings suggest that misconceptions of mathematical equivalence can involve confusion about the definition of equation and the meaning of mathematical operation.

The research focus on adaptivity in complex systems has propelled an exploration of diverse interactions characterized by state transition processes. However, the investigation of functional variances among processes, rooted in fundamental operands, remains insufficient. Recognizing this gap is crucial for unveiling the constituents of state transitions and their functional boundaries during ongoing adaptivity. To address this, our central focus is on quantifying the functional variance in the interactions of fundamental operands. This approach enables a systematic study of complex adaptive networks grounded in the dynamics of cognitive abilities, where elements adapt and evolve based on cognitive processes. To underscore this point, we emphasize translating ontologically irreducible networks into functionally representable ones at the meso-level, which is essential for assessing their effectiveness. Our active investigation during state transitions explores external interventions, aiming to shed light on mutual influences.

This study examines how mental models of the Human-Nature Relationship (HNR) predict pro-environmental behavioral intentions directly and mediated through anthropocentric and biocentric environmental attitudes. We found that behavioral intentions relevant to environmental protection were directly predicted by two aspects of HNR: human superiority beliefs (negatively) and perceived human impact on nature (positively). Protection intentions were also indirectly predicted by these variables, as well as perceived impact of nature on humans (positively) via their association with biocentric attitudes (SRMR= 0.040). In contrast, no component of HNR directly predicted behavioral intentions relevant to environmental investment, although all three showed the same pattern of indirect association via biocentric attitudes (SRMR= 0.036). Results suggest that mental models of the human-nature relationship provide a cognitive foundation for environmental behavioral intentions both directly and through their association with environmental attitudes. These findings have implications for pro-environmental interventions that deal with conceptual and attitudinal change.

Human cognition significantly influences expressed behavior and is intrinsically tied to authentic personality traits. Personality assessment plays a pivotal role in various fields, including psychology, education, social media, etc. However, traditional self-report questionnaires can only provide data based on what individuals are willing and able to disclose, thereby lacking objective. Moreover, automated measurements and peer assessments demand significant human effort and resources. In this paper, given the advantages of the Virtual Reality (VR) technique, we develop a VR simulator --- PersonalityScanner, to stimulate cognitive processes and simulate daily behaviors based on an immersive and interactive simulation environment, in which participants carry out a battery of engaging tasks that formulate a natural story of first-day at work. Through this simulator, we collect a synchronous multi-modal dataset with ten modalities, including first/third-person video, audio, text, eye tracking, facial microexpression, pose, depth data, log, and inertial measurement unit. By systematically examining the contributions of different modalities on revealing personality, we demonstrate the superior performance and effectiveness of PersonalityScanner.

The present study examines distinct inhibitory processes as adults make inferences about others' true and false beliefs while the movement of their finger is tracked in 3D space over time. This reach tracking method allows us to isolate distinct inhibitory control processes while participants make an inference. Adult participants were asked to make inferences about others' true and false belief states, as well as two control trials that differed in the use of inhibitory control. Adults showed a difference in accuracy in responding to others' true and false beliefs, suggesting that even though young children can recognize others' belief states, such performance is not at ceiling in adulthood. Moreover, adults showed a difference in the inhibitory resources necessary to make a response selection processes to accurately infer a false belief as opposed to a true one. Such differences were not present for other inferences that required different inhibitory control. This suggests that adults need specific inhibitory systems to infer others' false (as opposed to true) beliefs, and those systems are not involved in other inferences that require inhibition.

Prior research on the effects of acoustic music on stress reduction and cognitive performance has produced inconsistent results. This study investigated this relationship by conducting a within-subject experiment involving fifty five college students. The experiment involved playing acoustic music during assessment tasks and measuring changes in perceived stress levels and cognitive performance in music and non-music conditions. Results showed no significant one-way impacts of acoustic music on stress levels or cognitive performance. However, the effect of music on stress levels mediated the relationship between perceived pleasantness of the music and change in cognitive performance in response to music. Listening to liked music may reduce stress, improving performance, while disliked music may increase stress to an optimal level, facilitating performance. Thus, the effect of music on performance depends on individual perceived pleasantness of the music. This study has implications for selecting music for specific purposes, such as relaxation or cognitive enhancement.

Navigating social situations is complex due to others' hidden intentions and evolving strategies, requiring learning from past experiences. Anxiety complicates adaptation to uncertainty, especially in non-social settings. However, research on the anxiety's impact on learning within social uncertainty remains scarce. In a preregistered study (N = 190), we investigated whether individuals with higher trait anxiety struggled to adjust learning rates in a social context with stable or volatile outcomes utilizing various learning models (e.g., additive, multiplicative, betrayal). Participants engaged in a modified trust game with stable and volatile players, alongside a non-social task with slot machines. Participants showed higher learning rates in social than non-social contexts, with notably elevated social learning rates in individuals with heightened fear of negative evaluation (FNE)—a crucial trait linked to anxiety, especially social anxiety. This suggests individuals with increased FNE might be more sensitive to learning under social uncertainty.

Throughout evolutionary history, and in everyday lives, it has been a crucial task to identify good and reliable cooperation partners. A good way of assessing potential partners' quality and willingness is to engage in conversation with them. We investigated if non-verbal behaviours during such conversations can be reliable indicators of interactants' cooperativeness – in contrast to the semantic content of utterances that can be easily faked. Specifically, we predicted that interactants who align in their use of non-verbal behaviours would also act more cooperatively in other tasks beyond the conversation. To test this, we analyzed gestures in the British TV game show Golden Balls, where contestants discussed and faced a game-theoretic decision to split or steal a monetary prize. Results suggest that individuals choosing to split indeed align their non-verbal behaviours more than those choosing to steal. This implies that subtle movements can serve as reliable indicators of trustworthy cooperation partners.

Age-related differences in autobiographical memory recall studies focused on the differences between young and elderly adults. Episodic details and phenomenological experiences in young and middle-aged adults were less studied. To obtain a trajectory, it is important to depict the changes in episodic and phenomenological details in middle-aged adults. The present study aimed to fill this gap by comparing young (ages 18 - 30 in Study 1, 20 - 30 in Study 2) and middle-aged (ages 30 - 60 in Study 1, 40 - 50 in Study 2) adults on early and recent memories. We collected data from 303 participants and asked questions about their phenomenological experiences. We coded episodic details based on the episodic richness scheme (Levine et al., 2002). We found that younger adults recollected more detailed memories than middle-aged adults. Also, young adults recollected events that were more important to their identity. Findings are discussed regarding retrieval/encoding-related advantages and their change across the lifespan.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are quickly replacing internal combustion cars, which will soon become obsolete. Nonetheless, how drivers' perception and cognition deal with certain features of EVs remains largely unknown. In this study we focus on the role of in-car sound, specifically the artificial engine sounds, on drivers' speed perception and control. Previous studies indicate that removing or reducing engine sound leads drivers to underestimate speed and, consequently, to drive faster. Furthermore, evidence suggests that specific sound frequencies could play a role in this process, highlighting the importance of in-car sound features. We consider benefits and limitations of different research paradigms used in the field (mostly video based technique and driving simulation) and we propose an experimental protocol to systematically investigate the phenomenon. Finally, we suggest that the wider use of psychophysical methods on video recordings would benefit the research in the field and overcome some limitations of simulation studies.

There is debate regarding the role of number words in numerical cognition, especially for understanding exact large numbers. Studies of languages with number words for only small numbers suggest those languages do not provide symbolic scaffolding for exact large numerical cognition. This study investigates numerical cognition in speakers of the Amazonian language Awet√Ω which has twenty number words. In experimental tasks with numbers/objects up to 20, Awet√Ω participants demonstrated high accuracy in counting, verbal number comprehension, verbal and non-verbal one-to-one matching, and exact subtraction. Awet√Ω speakers also performed with high accuracy on approximate non-symbolic number comparison with more than 20 items, i.e. beyond their number word range. Awet√Ω participants performed as well as Portuguese speaking control participants across tasks. These findings demonstrate that knowledge and use of a system of twenty numeral words is sufficient for understanding exact numerical equivalence, at least up to 20, and basic arithmetic proficiency.

Sentence completion studies have shown that L1 English readers use verbal aspect (VA) as a cue to disambiguate pronouns in the context of sentences with transfer of possession verbs. Specifically, in the context of a sentence like “Mary gave/was giving a book to Bill”, a subsequent pronoun is more likely to refer to the source referent (“Mary”) when the aspect is imperfective (“was giving”) than when it is perfective (“gave”). L2 studies have shown mixed results on whether L2 speakers, living within an L2 country or outside, can utilise VA as a discourse cue. The current study tested L2 English speakers using an online Maze task, where a pronoun (“He” or “She”) referring to either the source or goal referent had to be chosen at the critical point in the sentence. The results showed that both L1 speakers and L2 speakers, regardless of location, used VA as a disambiguation cue.

Social identity and situational information guide how people morally judge others. A journalist is judged differently than a doctor if they expose private information, which may also depend on whether the reason was to prevent a public health crisis vs. for monetary gain. What is less known, is how people decide how much and what type of information (identity vs. situation) is more relevant for them to make a moral judgment. To investigate this, participants received limited information about a case with a potential moral violation. Then, they could get new pieces of information about the case (varying in importance as normed in our pre-study) incrementally, or stop collecting information and instead judge the violation. This study elucidates how people accumulate and use evidence to judge others. Our findings can reveal underlying biases in decision-making and be used to inform legal and criminal proceedings, news coverage strategies, and others.

Our senses receive a continuous stream of complex information. According to Event Segmentation Theory (EST), we parse this information into meaningful events, allowing us to extract relevant information, remember it, and act upon it. Previous research has related these events to so-called ‘neural states': temporally and regionally specific stable patterns of brain activity, which tend to coincide with events in the stimulus. Here we show that these neural states additionally align with stable features in a movie stimulus that are relevant to a specific brain region. This supports the idea that many brain areas across the cortex apply event segmentation in a hierarchical manner. Using intracranial measurements, we further investigate whether neural states are present at a much smaller timescale and how their characteristics correspond to EST. Our findings provide support for the idea that neural states could underlie the cognitive skill of event segmentation.

Round numbers are often interpreted approximately (Krifka, 2002), with "pragmatic halos" (Lasersohn, 1999) that encompass multiple permissible values. For example, stating "there were 200 people at the meeting" would be acceptable even if the exact count were 197 or 204. In line with the idea that larger numbers have more approximate representations (e.g., Cheyette & Piantadosi, 2020), we demonstrate that rounding and pragmatic halos are magnitude-dependent. First, an analysis of every single number in two large corpora (COCA, BNC) shows that indicators of rounding predict frequency (cf. Woodin et al., 2023), but crucially in interaction with magnitude, with round numbers over-represented for larger magnitudes. Second, we show that jigsaw puzzles often systematically deviate from what is advertised on the box in a way that depends on magnitude, e.g., a 1,000-piece puzzle may contain 1,024 pieces, whereas a 50-piece puzzle is more likely to contain the stated value exactly.

In evidence-based medicine, systematic review continues to carry the highest weight in terms of quality and reliability, synthesizing robust information from previously published cohort studies to provide a comprehensive overview of a topic. Meta-analysis provides further depth by allowing for comparative analysis between the studied intervention and the control group, providing the most up-to-date evidence on their characteristics and efficacy. We discuss the principles and methodology of meta-analysis, and its applicability to the field of surgical research. The clinical question is defined using PICO framework (Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome). Then a systematic article search is performed across multiple medical databases using relevant search terms, which are then filtered out based on appropriate screening tools. Pertinent data from the selected articles are collected and undergo critical appraisal by at least two independent reviewers. Additional statistical tests may be performed to identify the presence of any significant bias. The data are then synthesized to perform comparative analysis between the intervention and comparison groups. In this article, we discuss specifically the usage of R software (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria) for data analysis and visualization. Meta-analysis results of the pooled data are presented using forest plots. Concerns for potential bias may be addressed through the creation of funnel plots. Meta-analysis is a powerful tool to provide highly reliable medical evidence. It may be readily performed by independent researchers with minimal need for funding or institutional approval. The ability to conduct such studies is an asset to budding medical scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tech media giants are no strangers to controversy in relation to the payment of corporate tax, such as the cases of Apple and Facebook (Meta) in Ireland, Alphabet (Google) in the UK and Amazon in Luxembourg. While the tech media giants are not the only global corporations that take advantage of international tax avoidance opportunities, this paper argues that their hypermobility and unprecedented cash assets place them especially well to take advantage of these practices. Moreover, the nature of some of the commodities, such as information, software or intellectual property that can be moved at the touch of a button; or even a simple re-conception of where the property resides can mean a state gaining or losing billions of dollars. This paper will explore how tech media giants are redefining property and commodity forms and how this allows for creative tax policies. Moreover, the conception of where immaterial commodities, such as pure information, is located (or not located) challenges tax collection strategies for the state. To explore these conceptions, this paper discusses the ideology surrounding the tech media industry, a particular brand of liberalism coined the 'Californian Ideology': An ideology that can sometimes be described as transgressive, but also one that may legitimise tax avoidance. The ideology gives a somewhat nebulous definition of what property is (and isn't) and its location or non-location, thereby negating justification for taxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Medical professionals use social media for career development, education, clinical outreach, or advocacy. Prior studies estimate that 25% to 65% of health care providers use social media professionally; however, the number of users and platforms are rapidly changing. Therefore, as part of a broader study, we set out to assess platform preferences and social media usage among neurologists. Methods: This was a multisite cross-sectional analysis consisting of a REDCap survey of clinicians, residents, and medical students. Faculty, trainees, or clinical year medical students interested in child neurology or adult neurology residency or fellowship programs within the United States were eligible to participate. Recruitment methods were broad to encompass as diverse and extensive participation as possible. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Data are presented according to the STROBE guidelines. Results: Of the 226 neurology respondents, 55% (n = 124) were child neurology and 45% (n = 102) were adult neurology across all career stages, including students. Of the 70% who reported using social media in a professional capacity, the most commonly reported reasons were for networking and collaboration (n = 95, 60%), self-directed medical learning (n = 90, 57%), and brand building and reputation (n = 62, 39%). Twitter and Facebook were the most common and versatile platforms used by neurologists. Medical students had the highest documentation of social media scholarships on their curriculum vitae (37%, P =.016) and the most interest (33%, P =.016) in learning how to document social media scholarships if they were not already. Early faculty shared this interest more than residents, fellows, or mid–late career faculty. In all groups except for mid–late career faculty, a majority of respondents (>75%) showed interest in learning how to leverage social media for career development. Discussion: Social media is used professionally by a majority of neurologists, most commonly for networking, self-directed learning, and building individual brands. Opportunities exist to better understand platform preferences and ways to optimize their use for various professional activities as well as to provide education on effective professional use of social media including documentation for promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only in the past decade have skeletal stem cells (SSCs), a cell type displaying formal evidence of stemness and serving as the ultimate origin of mature skeletal cell types such as osteoblasts, been defined. Here, we discuss a pair of recent reports that identify that SSCs do not represent a single cell type, but rather a family of related cells that each have characteristic anatomic locations and distinct functions tailored to the physiology of those sites. The distinct functional properties of these SSCs in turn provide a basis for the diseases of their respective locations. This concept emerges from one report identifying a distinct vertebral skeletal stem cell driving the high rate of breast cancer metastasis to the spine over other skeletal sites and a report identifying 2 SSCs in the calvaria that interact to mediate both physiologic calvarial mineralization and pathologic calvarial suture fusion in craniosynostosis. Despite displaying functional differences, these SSCs are each united by shared features including a shared series of surface markers and parallel differentiation hierarchies. We propose that this diversity at the level of SSCs in turn translates into a similar diversity at the level of mature skeletal cell types, including osteoblasts, with osteoblasts derived from different SSCs each displaying different functional and transcriptional characteristics reflecting their cell of origin. In this model, osteoblasts would represent not a single cell type, but rather a family of related cells each with distinct functions, paralleling the functional diversity in SSCs. Lay Summary: Only in the past decade have the stem cells in the skeleton been identified. Here, we discuss a pair of recent reports that identify that skeletal stem cells are actually a family of related cells that each have distinct locations and functions. These site-specific skeletal stem cells account for the signature diseases occurring in different regions of the skeleton. Specifically, one of these stem cells forms the spine and establishes that this stem cell drives the high rate of breast cancer metastasis to the spine over other skeletal sites. There are also at least 2 skeletal stem cells in the flat bones of the skull, with mutations alerting how these 2 stem cells "talk" to each other serving as a cause for disorders of premature skull fusion. Despite displaying differences in their function, these stem cells are each united by shared features including a partially shared series marker genes. We also here propose that this diversity at the level of skeletal stem cells translates into a similar diversity in mature skeletal cell types, including osteoblasts. In this model, osteoblasts are not a single cell type, but rather a family of related cells each with distinct functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hermeneutic phenomenology's aim is to bring forth that which needs to be thought about. It is an invitation to think. To articulate thinking, one needs to listen in the corners and the shadows of the lived experience(s) of the phenomenon being investigated. The method simultaneously holds numerous perspectives and adopts an embodied approach to embracing experiential knowledge. This paper explores the power of hermeneutical phenomenology, as a methodological approach for understanding what it means to be intersex. Intersex people have bodies that are born different to typical male-female ones. Intersex is an umbrella term that includes more than thirty ways the human body may differ according to its sex characteristics (i.e., genitalia, hormones, chromosomes, sex organs). From interviews with intersex people, we confirm that employing a hermeneutic phenomenological approach did not just answer our research questions, but also became a powerful and empowering means through which some participants were effectively able to navigate, share and 'own' their personal story. Indeed, the method's person-centred and ethical underpinnings permitted some to engage in the research in ways that became empowering and transformational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palliative care (PC) underutilization stems from provider conflicts and the belief that PC involvement may confuse patients. We hypothesized medical students, less exposed to these barriers and misconceptions, would be more likely to consult PC than residents/fellows. A survey of 88 medical students, residents, and fellows was conducted, querying the appropriateness of PC utilization in clinical scenarios. Students were more likely to consult PC than trainees when PC was not indicated (47.2% vs 22.9%, P =.02). In the two cases where PC was indicated, there was no difference in PC utilization among students and trainees (92.5% vs 91.4%, P =.86; 90.6% vs 100%, P =.06). When stratifying participants into medical and surgical specialties, or career interests regarding students, there was no difference in rates of PC consultation. This suggests medical education advancements are producing physicians adept at identifying patients needing PC and willing to integrate a PC service into patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platelet inhibition correlates with severity of traumatic brain injury and may be associated with mortality. Adenosine diphosphate participates in platelet aggregation via the activation of the ADP receptors, P2Y1 and P2Y12. Prior work suggests this ADP pathway is significant in managing patients with head injuries. This study aimed to measure the influence of ADP inhibition on outcomes after a traumatic brain injury (TBI), as measured by thromboelastography with platelet mapping (TEG-PM). Outcomes were defined as (a) hospital length of stay; (b) ICU length of stay, (c) mortality, and (d) progression of hemorrhage on CT. The resulting cohort was split into quartiles to compare the effect of increasingly inhibited ADP values on the identified outcomes. Comparisons of 2 groups of patients were also conducted, one defined by ADP inhibition less than or equal to 60% and the other group by ADP inhibition of greater than 60%. 98 patients were included in final analysis, with 72.4% having ADP inhibition less than 60%. These patients were significantly older and had lower global injury severity scores (ISSs), although their head-specific ISS was equivalent. Compared to the group with ADP inhibition over 60%, there was no significant difference in mortality, hospital or ICU length of stay, or progression of lesion on CT. Patients with ADP less than 60% inhibited had smaller ISS and higher GCS, indicating they were less injured than those with greater ADP inhibition, consistent with prior literature. The equivalent ICU and hospital length of stay and mortality suggests that ADP inhibition plays a smaller role in outcomes. Additional study with a larger sample size and guideline-based assessments is necessary to further define the impact of ADP inhibition and to determine the role of platelet transfusion in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urology has considerable gender disparity with just 10.3% of UK consultant posts held by women and lower than the 13.2% average across all surgical specialties. Medicine is no longer a male-dominated vocation, with women making up the majority of medical graduates for almost 30 years. To recruit the highest calibre doctors, urology needs to appeal and be accessible to all talented individuals. Objective: In this paper we explore barriers to workforce diversity and propose solutions to the current problems. Methods: A literature review was conducted and authors' opinions explored. Results: Reasons for women avoiding a career in urology include perceptions of urology as a 'male' specialty, lack of female role models, less mentoring and sponsorship of female medical students and trainees, and the use of derogatory and devaluing language. We suggest solutions to overcome these barriers for the benefit of profession. Conclusions: While there is a way to go to reach gender parity, there are reasons to be optimistic. We propose to see more women supported through mentoring programmes, more female representation on panels and in leadership positions to raise the profile of women in urology. We need to create a workplace culture and flexible working patterns that encourages all genders to excel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Emmanuel Levinas proposes that, beyond its central component of trauma and alienation, the experience of exile contains epistemological and ethical dimensions that have a paramount significance to the individual that is subject to the experience of exile. Exile offers new ways of approaching the world and the relations of the self with the other. The article explores this version of exile in two authors that, as a consequence of the Spanish Civil war, went into exile in Mexico: Luis Cernuda and María Zambrano. Cernuda’s exilic work focuses on the tension between his unequivocal rejection of the abandoned country, Spain, and his adoption of a new subliminal cultural fatherland that is composed of and defined by the great texts of international literature and art. Zambrano asserts the need for the reinsertion in the cultural discourse of the category of divinity that had been lost in modern philosophy and thought after Nietzsche. Both authors engage in a renovated compromise with an integrative vision of humanity that includes all human beings who, regardless of their differences, partake of a common archive of cultural referents. In accordance with Levinas’s seminal proposal, both Cernuda and Zambrano adopt this shared archive as their new abode which replaces the original one that they had tragically lost as a consequence of the Spanish Civil war.