Experimental evidence for adaptive personalities in a wild passerine bird

PubMed Central

Nicolaus, Marion; Tinbergen, Joost M.; Bouwman, Karen M.; Michler, Stephanie P. M.; Ubels, Richard; Both, Christiaan; Kempenaers, Bart; Dingemanse, Niels J.

2012-01-01

Individuals of the same species differ consistently in risky actions. Such ‘animal personality’ variation is intriguing because behavioural flexibility is often assumed to be the norm. Recent theory predicts that between-individual differences in propensity to take risks should evolve if individuals differ in future fitness expectations: individuals with high long-term fitness expectations (i.e. that have much to lose) should behave consistently more cautious than individuals with lower expectations. Consequently, any manipulation of future fitness expectations should result in within-individual changes in risky behaviour in the direction predicted by this adaptive theory. We tested this prediction and confirmed experimentally that individuals indeed adjust their ‘exploration behaviour’, a proxy for risk-taking behaviour, to their future fitness expectations. We show for wild great tits (Parus major) that individuals with experimentally decreased survival probability become faster explorers (i.e. increase risk-taking behaviour) compared to individuals with increased survival probability. We also show, using quantitative genetics approaches, that non-genetic effects (i.e. permanent environment effects) underpin adaptive personality variation in this species. This study thereby confirms a key prediction of adaptive personality theory based on life-history trade-offs, and implies that selection may indeed favour the evolution of personalities in situations where individuals differ in future fitness expectations. PMID:23097506

Navigational Style Influences Eye Movement Pattern during Exploration and Learning of an Environmental Map

PubMed Central

Piccardi, Laura; De Luca, Maria; Nori, Raffaella; Palermo, Liana; Iachini, Fabiana; Guariglia, Cecilia

2016-01-01

During navigation people may adopt three different spatial styles (i.e., Landmark, Route, and Survey). Landmark style (LS) people are able to recall familiar landmarks but cannot combine them with directional information; Route style (RS) people connect landmarks to each other using egocentric information about direction; Survey style (SS) people use a map-like representation of the environment. SS individuals generally navigate better than LS and RS people. Fifty-one college students (20 LS; 17 RS, and 14 SS) took part in the experiment. The spatial cognitive style (SCS) was assessed by means of the SCS test; participants then had to learn a schematic map of a city, and after 5 min had to recall the path depicted on it. During the learning and delayed recall phases, eye-movements were recorded. Our intent was to investigate whether there is a peculiar way to explore an environmental map related to the individual’s spatial style. Results support the presence of differences in the strategy used by the three spatial styles for learning the path and its delayed recall. Specifically, LS individuals produced a greater number of fixations of short duration, while the opposite eye movement pattern characterized SS individuals. Moreover, SS individuals showed a more spread and comprehensive explorative pattern of the map, while LS individuals focused their exploration on the path and related targets. RS individuals showed a pattern of exploration at a level of proficiency between LS and SS individuals. We discuss the clinical and anatomical implications of our data. PMID:27445735

Conceiving "personality": Psychologist's challenges and basic fundamentals of the Transdisciplinary Philosophy-of-Science Paradigm for Research on Individuals.

PubMed

Uher, Jana

2015-09-01

Scientists exploring individuals, as such scientists are individuals themselves and thus not independent from their objects of research, encounter profound challenges; in particular, high risks for anthropo-, ethno- and ego-centric biases and various fallacies in reasoning. The Transdisciplinary Philosophy-of-Science Paradigm for Research on Individuals (TPS-Paradigm) aims to tackle these challenges by exploring and making explicit the philosophical presuppositions that are being made and the metatheories and methodologies that are used in the field. This article introduces basic fundamentals of the TPS-Paradigm including the epistemological principle of complementarity and metatheoretical concepts for exploring individuals as living organisms. Centrally, the TPS-Paradigm considers three metatheoretical properties (spatial location in relation to individuals' bodies, temporal extension, and physicality versus "non-physicality") that can be conceived in different forms for various kinds of phenomena explored in individuals (morphology, physiology, behaviour, the psyche, semiotic representations, artificially modified outer appearances and contexts). These properties, as they determine the phenomena's accessibility in everyday life and research, are used to elaborate philosophy-of-science foundations and to derive general methodological implications for the elementary problem of phenomenon-methodology matching and for scientific quantification of the various kinds of phenomena studied. On the basis of these foundations, the article explores the metatheories and methodologies that are used or needed to empirically study each given kind of phenomenon in individuals in general. Building on these general implications, the article derives special implications for exploring individuals' "personality", which the TPS-Paradigm conceives of as individual-specificity in all of the various kinds of phenomena studied in individuals.

Curious Eyes: Individual Differences in Personality Predict Eye Movement Behavior in Scene-Viewing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Risko, Evan F.; Anderson, Nicola C.; Lanthier, Sophie; Kingstone, Alan

2012-01-01

Visual exploration is driven by two main factors--the stimuli in our environment, and our own individual interests and intentions. Research investigating these two aspects of attentional guidance has focused almost exclusively on factors common across individuals. The present study took a different tack, and examined the role played by individual…

In the Eye of the Beholder: Exploring Variations in the Perceptions of Pornography.

PubMed

Willoughby, Brian J; Busby, Dean M

2016-01-01

While many studies have explored the correlates and outcomes associated with pornography use, the measurement of such use has relied heavily on self-definitions of pornography from research participants, and little is known regarding how individuals define pornography for themselves. Using a diverse sample of 2,089 individuals sampled from the online MTurk Web site, participants were asked to rate whether they felt 20 different examples of sexual media were pornography. Differences by gender, religious attendance, marital status, and pornography use patterns were explored. Results suggested significant variation across the sample in how specific examples of sexual media were perceived. In addition, response profiles significantly differed by gender, religious attendance, marital status, and use of pornography. Implications for the measurement of pornography are discussed.

Personality-dependent differences in problem-solving performance in a social context reflect foraging strategies.

PubMed

Zandberg, Lies; Quinn, John L; Naguib, Marc; van Oers, Kees

2017-01-01

Individuals develop innovative behaviours to solve foraging challenges in the face of changing environmental conditions. Little is known about how individuals differ in their tendency to solve problems and in their subsequent use of this solving behaviour in social contexts. Here we investigated whether individual variation in problem-solving performance could be explained by differences in the likelihood of solving the task, or if they reflect differences in foraging strategy. We tested this by studying the use of a novel foraging skill in groups of great tits (Parus major), consisting of three naive individuals with different personality, and one knowledgeable tutor. We presented them with multiple, identical foraging devices over eight trials. Though birds of different personality type did not differ in solving latency; fast and slow explorers showed a steeper increase over time in their solving rate, compared to intermediate explorers. Despite equal solving potential, personality influenced the subsequent use of the skill, as well as the pay-off received from solving. Thus, variation in the tendency to solve the task reflected differences in foraging strategy among individuals linked to their personality. These results emphasize the importance of considering the social context to fully understand the implications of learning novel skills. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Individual behavioral phenotypes: an integrative meta-theoretical framework. Why "behavioral syndromes" are not analogs of "personality".

PubMed

Uher, Jana

2011-09-01

Animal researchers are increasingly interested in individual differences in behavior. Their interpretation as meaningful differences in behavioral strategies stable over time and across contexts, adaptive, heritable, and acted upon by natural selection has triggered new theoretical developments. However, the analytical approaches used to explore behavioral data still address population-level phenomena, and statistical methods suitable to analyze individual behavior are rarely applied. I discuss fundamental investigative principles and analytical approaches to explore whether, in what ways, and under which conditions individual behavioral differences are actually meaningful. I elaborate the meta-theoretical ideas underlying common theoretical concepts and integrate them into an overarching meta-theoretical and methodological framework. This unravels commonalities and differences, and shows that assumptions of analogy to concepts of human personality are not always warranted and that some theoretical developments may be based on methodological artifacts. Yet, my results also highlight possible directions for new theoretical developments in animal behavior research. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Consistent inter-individual differences in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) in Boldness-Shyness, Stress-Activity, and Exploration-Avoidance.

PubMed

Šlipogor, Vedrana; Gunhold-de Oliveira, Tina; Tadić, Zoran; Massen, Jorg J M; Bugnyar, Thomas

2016-09-01

The study of animal personality, defined as consistent inter-individual differences in correlated behavioral traits stable throughout time and/or contexts, has recently become one of the fastest growing areas in animal biology, with study species ranging from insects to non-human primates. The latter have, however, only occasionally been tested with standardized experiments. Instead their personality has usually been assessed using questionnaires. Therefore, this study aimed to test 21 common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) living in three family groups, in five different experiments, and their corresponding controls. We found that behavioral differences between our animals were not only consistent over time, but also across different contexts. Moreover, the consistent behaviors formed a construct of four major non-social personality components: Boldness-Shyness in Foraging, Boldness-Shyness in Predation, Stress-Activity, and Exploration-Avoidance. We found no sex or age differences in these components, but our results did reveal differences in Exploration-Avoidance between the three family groups. As social environment can have a large influence on behavior of individuals, our results may suggest group-level similarity in personality (i.e., "group personality") in common marmosets, a species living in highly cohesive social groups. Am. J. Primatol. 78:961-973, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

An Exploration of Leader Conceptual Capability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Philip

Leadership researchers and theorists alike have come to recognize that the critical tasks of senior level leaders are quite different from the critical leadership tasks of individuals occupying lower level leadership positions. Departing from the bulk of prior research on individual differences in leadership effectiveness which focused on…

The Multilingual/Bilingual Dichotomy: An Exploration of Individual Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Amy S.

2009-01-01

Bilingualism (Sanz, 2000), motivation (Pintrich, 1989), and language aptitude (Grigorenko, Sternberg, and Ehrman, 2000) are crucial individual differences that contribute to successful adult language learning. Since Gardner's (1985) seminal work on motivation, many studies have shown that motivation is dynamic and that it affects language…

Malay Childhood, Temperament and Individuality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banks, Ellen

This study of children in a Malay community assesses the cross-cultural validity of one conceptualization of temperament, identifies cultural differences in child rearing practices and beliefs, and explores parents' recognition of individual differences emerging in early childhood. The community studied consisted of three villages located about 20…

Do Different Modalities of Reflection Matter? An Exploration of Adult Second-Language Learners' Reported Strategy Use and Oral Language Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Li-Shih

2010-01-01

This paper reports on a small-scale study that was the first to explore raising second-language (L2) learners' awareness of speaking strategies as mediated by three modalities of task-specific reflection--individual written reflection, individual spoken reflection, and group spoken reflection. Though research in such areas as L2 writing, teacher's…

Double Trouble at High Density: Cross-Level Test of Resource-Related Adaptive Plasticity and Crowding-Related Fitness

PubMed Central

Gergs, André; Preuss, Thomas G.; Palmqvist, Annemette

2014-01-01

Population size is often regulated by negative feedback between population density and individual fitness. At high population densities, animals run into double trouble: they might concurrently suffer from overexploitation of resources and also from negative interference among individuals regardless of resource availability, referred to as crowding. Animals are able to adapt to resource shortages by exhibiting a repertoire of life history and physiological plasticities. In addition to resource-related plasticity, crowding might lead to reduced fitness, with consequences for individual life history. We explored how different mechanisms behind resource-related plasticity and crowding-related fitness act independently or together, using the water flea Daphnia magna as a case study. For testing hypotheses related to mechanisms of plasticity and crowding stress across different biological levels, we used an individual-based population model that is based on dynamic energy budget theory. Each of the hypotheses, represented by a sub-model, is based on specific assumptions on how the uptake and allocation of energy are altered under conditions of resource shortage or crowding. For cross-level testing of different hypotheses, we explored how well the sub-models fit individual level data and also how well they predict population dynamics under different conditions of resource availability. Only operating resource-related and crowding-related hypotheses together enabled accurate model predictions of D. magna population dynamics and size structure. Whereas this study showed that various mechanisms might play a role in the negative feedback between population density and individual life history, it also indicated that different density levels might instigate the onset of the different mechanisms. This study provides an example of how the integration of dynamic energy budget theory and individual-based modelling can facilitate the exploration of mechanisms behind the regulation of population size. Such understanding is important for assessment, management and the conservation of populations and thereby biodiversity in ecosystems. PMID:24626228

The Role of Affective and Cognitive Individual Differences in Social Perception.

PubMed

Aquino, Antonio; Haddock, Geoffrey; Maio, Gregory R; Wolf, Lukas J; Alparone, Francesca R

2016-06-01

Three studies explored the connection between social perception processes and individual differences in the use of affective and cognitive information in relation to attitudes. Study 1 revealed that individuals high in need for affect (NFA) accentuated differences in evaluations of warm and cold traits, whereas individuals high in need for cognition (NFC) accentuated differences in evaluations of competent and incompetent traits. Study 2 revealed that individual differences in NFA predicted liking of warm or cold targets, whereas individual differences in NFC predicted perceptions of competent or incompetent targets. Furthermore, the effects of NFA and NFC were independent of structural bases and meta-bases of attitudes. Study 3 revealed that differences in the evaluation of warm and cold traits mediated the effects of NFA and NFC on liking of targets. The implications for social perception processes and for individual differences in affect-cognition are discussed. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Identifying Individual Differences among Doctoral Candidates: A Framework for Understanding Problematic Candidature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cantwell, Robert H.; Scevak, Jill J.; Bourke, Sid; Holbrook, Allyson

2012-01-01

Understanding how candidates cope with the demands of PhD candidature is important for institutions, supervisors and candidates. Individual differences in affective and metacognitive disposition were explored in 263 PhD candidates from two Australian universities. Several questionnaires relating to affective and metacognitive beliefs were…

Exploratory behaviour modulates the relationship between colony familiarity and helping in a cooperative bird.

PubMed

Expósito-Granados, Mónica; De La Cruz, Carlos; Parejo, Deseada; Valencia, Juliana; Alarcos, Susana; Avilés, Jesús M

2016-10-01

Individuals within animal groups may differ in personality and degree of familiarity raising the question of how this influences their social interactions. In Iberian magpies Cyanopica cooki, a portion of first-year males engage in cooperative behaviours and dispersal, allowing addressing this question. In this study, we first investigate the relationship between colony familiarity (native versus foreign) and reproductive status (breeding versus helping) of males during 21 years. Secondly, we measure the exploratory behaviour and monitor reproductive status of a sample of individuals with different colony familiarity during 2 years. Long-term monitoring revealed that foreign individuals were more likely breeders. The analysis on the subset of individuals in which exploratory behaviour was measured revealed a mediatory effect of exploratory behaviour in the association between colony familiarity and helping behaviour. Specifically, among foreign individuals, higher explorative males were more frequently involved in helping behaviour than lower explorative ones. Conversely, among native males, breeders were more explorative than helpers. Our results suggest that aspects of personality may mediate the value of familiarity in reproductive tasks in social species. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Personality matters: individual variation in reactions of naive bird predators to aposematic prey.

PubMed

Exnerová, Alice; Svádová, Katerina Hotová; Fucíková, Eva; Drent, Pieter; Stys, Pavel

2010-03-07

Variation in reactions to aposematic prey is common among conspecific individuals of bird predators. It may result from different individual experience but it also exists among naive birds. This variation may possibly be explained by the effect of personality--a complex of correlated, heritable behavioural traits consistent across contexts. In the great tit (Parus major), two extreme personality types have been defined. 'Fast' explorers are bold, aggressive and routine-forming; 'slow' explorers are shy, non-aggressive and innovative. Influence of personality type on unlearned reaction to aposematic prey, rate of avoidance learning and memory were tested in naive, hand-reared great tits from two opposite lines selected for exploration (slow against fast). The birds were subjected to a sequence of trials in which they were offered aposematic adult firebugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus). Slow birds showed a greater degree of unlearned wariness and learned to avoid the firebugs faster than fast birds. Although birds of both personality types remembered their experience, slow birds were more cautious in the memory test. We conclude that not only different species but also populations of predators that differ in proportions of personality types may have different impacts on survival of aposematic insects under natural conditions.

Children's Conceptions of Air Pressure: Exploring the Nature of Conceptual Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tytler, Russell

1998-01-01

Constructs case studies of individuals to explore the way conceptions change over time, and the difficulties presented by the concept of atmospheric pressure. Evaluates different structural theories of conceptual change. Contains 62 references. (DDR)

Individual Differences in Written Corrective Feedback: A Multi-Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Su; Li, Pengjing

2012-01-01

Written corrective feedback (WCF) has been a long time practice in L2 writing instruction. However, in many cases, the effects are not satisfactory. There have been controversies about it both theoretically and empirically. This paper reports a multi-case study exploring individual differences that impact learners' responses to WCF. Four students'…

Vacillating between Opposing Conceptions of Personhood: Individualism and Conformism in Turkish Educational Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ceyhan, Muge Ayan

2009-01-01

Based on one and a half years of participant observation at Bakis School, this article aims to explore two different sets of educational practices, one which seemingly promotes sameness, obedience and conformity, and the other difference, entrepreneurialism and individualism. By way of discussing the shifting cultural values, beliefs and…

Different Perspectives: Spatial Ability Influences Where Individuals Look on a Timed Spatial Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roach, Victoria A.; Fraser, Graham M.; Kryklywy, James H.; Mitchell, Derek G. V.; Wilson, Timothy D.

2017-01-01

Learning in anatomy can be both spatially and visually complex. Pedagogical investigations have begun exploration as to how spatial ability may mitigate learning. Emerging hypotheses suggests individuals with higher spatial reasoning may attend to images differently than those who are lacking. To elucidate attentional patterns associated with…

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Individual Differences in Printed Word Recognition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gayan, Javier; Olson, Richard K.

2003-01-01

Explored genetic and environmental etiologies of individual differences in printed word recognition and related skills in identical and fraternal twin 8- to 18-year-olds. Found evidence for moderate genetic influences common between IQ, phoneme awareness, and word-reading skills and for stronger IQ-independent genetic influences that were common…

Task Complexity, Focus on L2 Constructions, and Individual Differences: A Classroom-Based Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Revesz, Andrea

2011-01-01

Motivated by cognitive-interactionist frameworks for task-based learning, this study explores whether task complexity affects the extent to which learners focus on form-meaning connections during task-based work in a classroom setting, and whether this relationship is modulated by 3 individual difference factors--linguistic self-confidence,…

Curious eyes: individual differences in personality predict eye movement behavior in scene-viewing.

PubMed

Risko, Evan F; Anderson, Nicola C; Lanthier, Sophie; Kingstone, Alan

2012-01-01

Visual exploration is driven by two main factors - the stimuli in our environment, and our own individual interests and intentions. Research investigating these two aspects of attentional guidance has focused almost exclusively on factors common across individuals. The present study took a different tack, and examined the role played by individual differences in personality. Our findings reveal that trait curiosity is a robust and reliable predictor of an individual's eye movement behavior in scene-viewing. These findings demonstrate that who a person is relates to how they move their eyes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Essays on Crowdfunding: Exploring the Funding and Post-Funding Phases and Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fan-Osuala, Onochie

2017-01-01

In the recent years, crowdfunding (a phenomenon where individuals collectively contribute money to back different goals and projects through the internet) has been gaining a lot of attention especially for its socio-economic impact. This dissertation explores this phenomenon in three distinct but related essays. The first essay explores the nature…

Exploring Individual Differences among Novices Reading in a Specific Domain: The Case of Law.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deegan, Dorothy H.

1995-01-01

Explores reading strategies used by two groups of readers differentiated in terms of academic performance subsequent to their first year in law school. Finds that students in the top quartile used different strategies than students in the bottom quartile. Suggests that attention should be paid to literacy requirements and practices as students…

Music to the inner ears: exploring individual differences in musical imagery.

PubMed

Beaty, Roger E; Burgin, Chris J; Nusbaum, Emily C; Kwapil, Thomas R; Hodges, Donald A; Silvia, Paul J

2013-12-01

In two studies, we explored the frequency and phenomenology of musical imagery. Study 1 used retrospective reports of musical imagery to assess the contribution of individual differences to imagery characteristics. Study 2 used an experience sampling design to assess the phenomenology of musical imagery over the course of one week in a sample of musicians and non-musicians. Both studies found episodes of musical imagery to be common and positive: people rarely wanted such experiences to end and often heard music that was personally meaningful. Several variables predicted musical imagery, including personality, musical preferences, and positive mood. Musicians tended to hear musical imagery more often, but they reported less frequent episodes of deliberately-generated imagery. Taken together, the present research provides new insights into individual differences in musical imagery, and it supports the emerging view that such experiences are common, positive, and more voluntary than previously recognized. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A quantitative visual dashboard to explore exposures to consumer product ingredients

EPA Science Inventory

The Exposure Prioritization (Ex Priori) model features a simplified, quantitative visual dashboard to explore exposures across chemical space. Diverse data streams are integrated within the interface such that different exposure scenarios for “individual,” “pop...

Friendship Jealousy in Young Adolescents: Individual Differences and Links to Sex, Self-Esteem, Aggression, and Social Adjustment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Jeffrey G.; Low, Christine M.; Walker, Alisha R.; Gamm, Bridget K.

2005-01-01

Children's vulnerability to jealousy surrounding their best friends was explored in 2 studies. Study 1 involved 94 adolescents who reported on their friendship jealousy on a newly created measure. Results indicated that the jealousy measure had sound psychometric properties and produced individual differences that were robust over time and free…

Investigating the Individual Difference Antecedents of Perceived Enjoyment in Students' Use of Blogging

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Yi-Shun; Lin, Hsin-Hui; Liao, Yi-Wen

2012-01-01

With the proliferation of weblogs (blogs) used in educational contexts, gaining a better understanding of why students are willing to blog has become an important topic for practitioners and academics. The main purpose of this study is to explore the individual difference antecedents of perceived enjoyment and examine how they influence blogging…

Empathy, Theory of Mind, and Individual Differences in the Appropriation Bias among 4- and 5-Year-Olds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Ruth M.; Lobao, Sheila N.; Macaulay, Catrin; Herdman, Lynsey M.

2011-01-01

Evidence that young children often claim ownership of their partner's contributions to an earlier collaborative activity, the "appropriation bias", has been attributed to shared intentionality ("Cognitive Development" (1998) 13, 91-108). The current investigation explored this notion by examining individual differences in the bias among 4- and…

An Exploration of Differences in Cultural Values in Teacher Education Pedagogy: Chinese English Language Teacher Trainees' Perceptions of Effective Teaching Practice Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skinner, Barbara; Abbott, Lesley

2013-01-01

This study reports the impact of different cultural values on the teacher education of Chinese teacher trainees. By examining their perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching practice feedback, the study uses Hofstede's dimension of "individualism" (IDV) to explore the "culture bumps" which may occur between teacher educators…

The Work Experiences of Transgender Individuals: Negotiating the Transition and Career Decision-Making Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Budge, Stephanie L.; Tebbe, Esther N.; Howard, Kimberly A. S.

2010-01-01

This study explored the work experiences of individuals who have started transitioning from their biological sex to a different gender expression through 18 interviews of transgender-identified individuals. Thirteen of the participants identified as male-to-female transsexuals, 2 participants identified as female-to-male transsexuals, 2…

Exploring varieties of knowledge in safe work practices - an ethnographic study of surgical teams

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Within existing research in health and medicine, the nature of knowledge on how teams conduct safe work practices has yet to be properly explored. Methods We address this concern by exploring the varieties in which knowledge is expressed during interdisciplinary surgical operations. Specifically, the study was conducted in a surgical section of a Norwegian regional general hospital, between January and April of 2010, by means of an ethnographic design combining detailed non-participant observations, conversations and semi-structured interviews. Results Based on an analysis of the gathered data, we identify three particular themes in how knowledge is expressed by operating room personnel: (i) the ability and variety individuals demonstrate in handling multiple sources of information, before reaching a particular decision, (ii) the variety of ways awareness or anticipation of future events is expressed, and (iii) the different ways sudden and unexpected situations are handled by the individual team members. Conclusions We conclude that these facets of knowledge bring different insights into how safe work practices are achieved at an individual and team level in surgical operations, thus adding to the existing understanding of the nature of knowledge in safe work practices in surgical operations. Future research should focus on exploring and documenting the relationships between various elements of knowledge and safe work practices, in different surgical settings and countries. PMID:21914183

Exploration of Differences in Types of Sleep Disturbance and Severity of Sleep Problems between Individuals with Cri du Chat Syndrome, Down's Syndrome, and Jacobsen Syndrome: A Case Control Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maas, Anneke P. H. M.; Didden, Robert; Korzilius, Hubert; Curfs, Leopold M. G.

2012-01-01

The prevalence of sleep problems in individuals with intellectual disability (ID) seems to vary between genetic syndromes associated with ID. Different types of sleep disturbances may indicate underlying causes of sleep problems and these types of sleep disturbances may vary between different genetic syndromes. We examined and compared five types…

Personality traits and individual differences predict threat-induced changes in postural control.

PubMed

Zaback, Martin; Cleworth, Taylor W; Carpenter, Mark G; Adkin, Allan L

2015-04-01

This study explored whether specific personality traits and individual differences could predict changes in postural control when presented with a height-induced postural threat. Eighty-two healthy young adults completed questionnaires to assess trait anxiety, trait movement reinvestment (conscious motor processing, movement self-consciousness), physical risk-taking, and previous experience with height-related activities. Tests of static (quiet standing) and anticipatory (rise to toes) postural control were completed under low and high postural threat conditions. Personality traits and individual differences significantly predicted height-induced changes in static, but not anticipatory postural control. Individuals less prone to taking physical risks were more likely to lean further away from the platform edge and sway at higher frequencies and smaller amplitudes. Individuals more prone to conscious motor processing were more likely to lean further away from the platform edge and sway at larger amplitudes. Individuals more self-conscious about their movement appearance were more likely to sway at smaller amplitudes. Evidence is also provided that relationships between physical risk-taking and changes in static postural control are mediated through changes in fear of falling and physiological arousal. Results from this study may have indirect implications for balance assessment and treatment; however, further work exploring these factors in patient populations is necessary. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Inter-Generational Differences in Individualism/Collectivism Orientations: Implications for Outlook towards HRD/HRM Practices in India and the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghosh, Rajashi; Chaudhuri, Sanghamitra

2009-01-01

This article proposes a conceptual model to explore the effects of intergenerational transition in individualism/collectivism orientations on the outlook towards different human resource development (HRD) and management practices. It contributes to the existing cross-cultural research in HRD by defining three prominent generations in India and by…

Individual Differences in Auditory Sentence Comprehension in Children: An Exploratory Event-Related Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeatman, Jason D.; Ben-Shachar, Michal; Glover, Gary H.; Feldman, Heidi M.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore changes in activation of the cortical network that serves auditory sentence comprehension in children in response to increasing demands of complex sentences. A further goal is to study how individual differences in children's receptive language abilities are associated with such changes in cortical…

From Noncompetence to Exceptional Talent: Exploring the Range of Academic Achievement within and between Grade Levels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gagne, Francoys

2005-01-01

This article analyzes the magnitude of individual differences in academic achievement and their growth over the first 9 years of schooling. The author anchors the widening-gap phenomenon on the theoretical recognition of large individual differences in learning pace, which logically leads over time to an increasing gap in knowledge and skills…

Individual Differences in Dynamic Measures of Verbal Learning Abilities in Young Twin Pairs and Their Older Siblings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Soelen, Inge L. C.; van den Berg, Stephanie M.; Dekker, Peter H.; van Leeuwen, Marieke; Peper, Jiska S.; Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E.; Boomsma, Dorret I.

2009-01-01

We explored the genetic background of individual differences in dynamic measures of verbal learning ability in children, using a Dutch version of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). Nine-year-old twin pairs (N = 112 pairs) were recruited from the Netherlands Twin Register. When possible, an older sibling between 10 and 14 years old…

Crew systems: integrating human and technical subsystems for the exploration of space.

PubMed

Connors, M M; Harrison, A A; Summit, J

1994-07-01

Space exploration missions will require combining human and technical subsystems into overall "crew systems" capable of performing under the rigorous conditions of outer space. This report describes substantive and conceptual relationships among humans, intelligent machines, and communication systems, and explores how these components may be combined to complement and strengthen one another. We identify key research issues in the combination of humans and technology and examine the role of individual differences, group processes, and environmental conditions. We conclude that a crew system is, in effect, a social cyborg, a living system consisting of multiple individuals whose capabilities are extended by advanced technology.

Crew systems: integrating human and technical subsystems for the exploration of space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connors, M. M.; Harrison, A. A.; Summit, J.

1994-01-01

Space exploration missions will require combining human and technical subsystems into overall "crew systems" capable of performing under the rigorous conditions of outer space. This report describes substantive and conceptual relationships among humans, intelligent machines, and communication systems, and explores how these components may be combined to complement and strengthen one another. We identify key research issues in the combination of humans and technology and examine the role of individual differences, group processes, and environmental conditions. We conclude that a crew system is, in effect, a social cyborg, a living system consisting of multiple individuals whose capabilities are extended by advanced technology.

Exploring Possible Neural Mechanisms of Intelligence Differences Using Processing Speed and Working Memory Tasks: An fMRI Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waiter, Gordon D.; Deary, Ian J.; Staff, Roger T.; Murray, Alison D.; Fox, Helen C.; Starr, John M.; Whalley, Lawrence J.

2009-01-01

To explore the possible neural foundations of individual differences in intelligence test scores, we examined the associations between Raven's Matrices scores and two tasks that were administered in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) setting. The two tasks were an n-back working memory (N = 37) task and inspection time (N = 47). The…

Relationship between Prior Legal Involvement and Current Crisis for Adults with Intellectual Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lunsky, Yona; Raina, Poonam; Jones, Jessica

2012-01-01

Background: Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and legal involvement are a unique population with complex needs. To date, there has been limited research exploring the demographic and clinical profiles of individuals with ID and legal involvement that are in crisis and how they differ to individuals with ID without legal involvement.…

A Comparison of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Profiles of Individuals with and without Asperger Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petrides, K. V.; Hudry, Kristelle; Michalaria, Georgia; Swami, Viren; Sevdalis, Nick

2011-01-01

The extent to which the socioemotional impairments of Asperger syndrome (AS) might be extreme manifestations of individual differences within the general population remains under-explored. We compared the trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) profiles of 30 individuals with AS against the profiles of 43 group-matched controls using the Trait…

A two level mutation-selection model of cultural evolution and diversity.

PubMed

Salazar-Ciudad, Isaac

2010-11-21

Cultural evolution is a complex process that can happen at several levels. At the level of individuals in a population, each human bears a set of cultural traits that he or she can transmit to its offspring (vertical transmission) or to other members of his or her society (horizontal transmission). The relative frequency of a cultural trait in a population or society can thus increase or decrease with the relative reproductive success of its bearers (individual's level) or the relative success of transmission (called the idea's level). This article presents a mathematical model on the interplay between these two levels. The first aim of this article is to explore when cultural evolution is driven by the idea's level, when it is driven by the individual's level and when it is driven by both. These three possibilities are explored in relation to (a) the amount of interchange of cultural traits between individuals, (b) the selective pressure acting on individuals, (c) the rate of production of new cultural traits, (d) the individual's capacity to remember cultural traits and to the population size. The aim is to explore the conditions in which cultural evolution does not lead to a better adaptation of individuals to the environment. This is to contrast the spread of fitness-enhancing ideas, which make individual bearers better adapted to the environment, to the spread of "selfish" ideas, which spread well simply because they are easy to remember but do not help their individual bearers (and may even hurt them). At the same time this article explores in which conditions the adaptation of individuals is maximal. The second aim is to explore how these factors affect cultural diversity, or the amount of different cultural traits in a population. This study suggests that a larger interchange of cultural traits between populations could lead to cultural evolution not improving the adaptation of individuals to their environment and to a decrease of cultural diversity. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Decomposing decision components in the Stop-signal task: A model-based approach to individual differences in inhibitory control

PubMed Central

White, Corey N.; Congdon, Eliza; Mumford, Jeanette A.; Karlsgodt, Katherine H.; Sabb, Fred W.; Freimer, Nelson B.; London, Edythe D.; Cannon, Tyrone D.; Bilder, Robert M.; Poldrack, Russell A.

2014-01-01

The Stop-signal task (SST), in which participants must inhibit prepotent responses, has been used to identify neural systems that vary with individual differences in inhibitory control. To explore how these differences relate to other aspects of decision-making, a drift diffusion model of simple decisions was fitted to SST data from Go trials to extract measures of caution, motor execution time, and stimulus processing speed for each of 123 participants. These values were used to probe fMRI data to explore individual differences in neural activation. Faster processing of the Go stimulus correlated with greater activation in the right frontal pole for both Go and Stop trials. On Stop trials stimulus processing speed also correlated with regions implicated in inhibitory control, including the right inferior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, and basal ganglia. Individual differences in motor execution time correlated with activation of the right parietal cortex. These findings suggest a robust relationship between the speed of stimulus processing and inhibitory processing at the neural level. This model-based approach provides novel insight into the interrelationships among decision components involved in inhibitory control, and raises interesting questions about strategic adjustments in performance and inhibitory deficits associated with psychopathology. PMID:24405185

Brief Report: Patterns of Eye Movements in Face to Face Conversation are Associated with Autistic Traits: Evidence from a Student Sample.

PubMed

Vabalas, Andrius; Freeth, Megan

2016-01-01

The current study investigated whether the amount of autistic traits shown by an individual is associated with viewing behaviour during a face-to-face interaction. The eye movements of 36 neurotypical university students were recorded using a mobile eye-tracking device. High amounts of autistic traits were neither associated with reduced looking to the social partner overall, nor with reduced looking to the face. However, individuals who were high in autistic traits exhibited reduced visual exploration during the face-to-face interaction overall, as demonstrated by shorter and less frequent saccades. Visual exploration was not related to social anxiety. This study suggests that there are systematic individual differences in visual exploration during social interactions and these are related to amount of autistic traits.

Oral and Written Picture Description in Individuals with Aphasia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vandenborre, Dorien; Visch-Brink, Evy; van Dun, Kim; Verhoeven, Jo; Mariën, Peter

2018-01-01

Background: Aphasia is characterized by difficulties in connected speech/writing. Aims: To explore the differences between the oral and written description of a picture in individuals with chronic aphasia (IWA) and healthy controls. Descriptions were controlled for productivity, efficiency, grammatical organization, substitution behaviour and…

Experience with Malleable Objects Influences Shape-based Object Individuation by Infants

PubMed Central

Woods, Rebecca J.; Schuler, Jena

2014-01-01

Infants’ ability to accurately represent and later recognize previously viewed objects, and conversely, to discriminate novel objects from those previously seen improves remarkably over the first two years of life. During this time, infants acquire extensive experience viewing and manipulating objects and these experiences influence their physical reasoning. Here we posited that infants’ observations of object feature stability (rigid versus malleable) can influence use of those features to individuate two successively viewed objects. We showed 8.5-month-olds a series of objects that could or could not change shape then assessed their use of shape as a basis for object individuation. Infants who explored rigid objects later used shape differences to individuate objects; however, infants who explored malleable objects did not. This outcome suggests that the latter infants did not take into account shape differences during the physical reasoning task and provides further evidence that infants’ attention to object features can be readily modified based on recent experiences. PMID:24561541

Theories of change in therapeutic work.

PubMed

Stacey, Ralph

2006-04-01

This article explores how theories of personal change differ from each other according to the assumptions made about the nature of the individual, the relationship between the person and the social, and the nature of causality. Three different concepts of the individual person are distinguished, namely, the autonomous, the expressivist, and the social individual. Each of these implies different relationships between the individual and the social, and different theories of causality. From the perspective of the autonomous individual, change in a person is a rational reordering of individual thought processes. The cause of any personal change is rational effort of the individual. Clinical psychology and psychoanalysis reflect this perspective. From the expressivist perspective, each individual has an inner urge to self-actualize which is the cause of change. Humanistic psychology is based on this view. From the perspective of social individuals, the individual is a cultural being, necessarily dependent on others, who only develops a mind in interaction with others. From this perspective, individual change cannot be separated from change in the groups to which an individual belongs.

Individual Income, Area Deprivation, and Health: Do Income-Related Health Inequalities Vary by Small Area Deprivation?

PubMed

Siegel, Martin; Mielck, Andreas; Maier, Werner

2015-11-01

This paper aims to explore potential associations between health inequalities related to socioeconomic deprivation at the individual and the small area level. We use German cross-sectional survey data for the years 2002 and 2006, and measure small area deprivation via the German Index of Multiple Deprivation. We test the differences between concentration indices of income-related and small area deprivation related inequalities in obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Our results suggest that small area deprivation and individual income both yield inequalities in health favoring the better-off, where individual income-related inequalities are significantly more pronounced than those related to small area deprivation. We then apply a semiparametric extension of Wagstaff's corrected concentration index to explore how individual-level health inequalities vary with the degree of regional deprivation. We find that the concentration of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes among lower income groups also exists at the small area level. The degree of deprivation-specific income-related inequalities in the three health outcomes exhibits only little variations across different levels of multiple deprivation for both sexes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mental Toughness and Individual Differences in Learning, Educational and Work Performance, Psychological Well-being, and Personality: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Lin, Ying; Mutz, Julian; Clough, Peter J; Papageorgiou, Kostas A

2017-01-01

Mental toughness (MT) is an umbrella term that entails positive psychological resources, which are crucial across a wide range of achievement contexts and in the domain of mental health. We systematically review empirical studies that explored the associations between the concept of MT and individual differences in learning, educational and work performance, psychological well-being, personality, and other psychological attributes. Studies that explored the genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in MT are also reviewed. The findings suggest that MT is associated with various positive psychological traits, more efficient coping strategies and positive outcomes in education and mental health. Approximately 50% of the variation in MT can be accounted for by genetic factors. Furthermore, the associations between MT and psychological traits can be explained mainly by either common genetic or non-shared environmental factors. Taken together, our findings suggest a 'mental toughness advantage' with possible implications for developing interventions to facilitate achievement in a variety of settings.

Mental Toughness and Individual Differences in Learning, Educational and Work Performance, Psychological Well-being, and Personality: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Lin, Ying; Mutz, Julian; Clough, Peter J.; Papageorgiou, Kostas A.

2017-01-01

Mental toughness (MT) is an umbrella term that entails positive psychological resources, which are crucial across a wide range of achievement contexts and in the domain of mental health. We systematically review empirical studies that explored the associations between the concept of MT and individual differences in learning, educational and work performance, psychological well-being, personality, and other psychological attributes. Studies that explored the genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in MT are also reviewed. The findings suggest that MT is associated with various positive psychological traits, more efficient coping strategies and positive outcomes in education and mental health. Approximately 50% of the variation in MT can be accounted for by genetic factors. Furthermore, the associations between MT and psychological traits can be explained mainly by either common genetic or non-shared environmental factors. Taken together, our findings suggest a ‘mental toughness advantage’ with possible implications for developing interventions to facilitate achievement in a variety of settings. PMID:28848466

A learning perspective on individual differences in skilled reading: Exploring and exploiting orthographic and semantic discrimination cues.

PubMed

Milin, Petar; Divjak, Dagmar; Baayen, R Harald

2017-11-01

The goal of the present study is to understand the role orthographic and semantic information play in the behavior of skilled readers. Reading latencies from a self-paced sentence reading experiment in which Russian near-synonymous verbs were manipulated appear well-predicted by a combination of bottom-up sublexical letter triplets (trigraphs) and top-down semantic generalizations, modeled using the Naive Discrimination Learner. The results reveal a complex interplay of bottom-up and top-down support from orthography and semantics to the target verbs, whereby activations from orthography only are modulated by individual differences. Using performance on a serial reaction time (SRT) task for a novel operationalization of the mental speed hypothesis, we explain the observed individual differences in reading behavior in terms of the exploration/exploitation hypothesis from reinforcement learning, where initially slower and more variable behavior leads to better performance overall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The metaphysics of evolution.

PubMed

Dupré, John

2017-10-06

This paper briefly describes process metaphysics, and argues that it is better suited for describing life than the more standard thing, or substance, metaphysics. It then explores the implications of process metaphysics for conceptualizing evolution. After explaining what it is for an organism to be a process, the paper takes up the Hull/Ghiselin thesis of species as individuals and explores the conditions under which a species or lineage could constitute an individual process. It is argued that only sexual species satisfy these conditions, and that within sexual species the degree of organization varies. This, in turn, has important implications for species' evolvability. One important moral is that evolution will work differently in different biological domains.

The metaphysics of evolution

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

This paper briefly describes process metaphysics, and argues that it is better suited for describing life than the more standard thing, or substance, metaphysics. It then explores the implications of process metaphysics for conceptualizing evolution. After explaining what it is for an organism to be a process, the paper takes up the Hull/Ghiselin thesis of species as individuals and explores the conditions under which a species or lineage could constitute an individual process. It is argued that only sexual species satisfy these conditions, and that within sexual species the degree of organization varies. This, in turn, has important implications for species' evolvability. One important moral is that evolution will work differently in different biological domains. PMID:28839921

A Note on DeCaro, Thomas, and Beilock (2008): Further Data Demonstrate Complexities in the Assessment of Information-Integration Category Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tharp, Ian J.; Pickering, Alan D.

2009-01-01

DeCaro et al. [DeCaro, M. S., Thomas, R. D., & Beilock, S. L. (2008). "Individual differences in category learning: Sometimes less working memory capacity is better than more." "Cognition, 107"(1), 284-294] explored how individual differences in working memory capacity differentially mediate the learning of distinct category structures.…

Exploring Individual Differences in Irregular Word Recognition among Children with Early-Emerging and Late-Emerging Word Reading Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steacy, Laura M.; Kearns, Devin M.; Gilbert, Jennifer K.; Compton, Donald L.; Cho, Eunsoo; Lindstrom, Esther R.; Collins, Alyson A.

2017-01-01

Models of irregular word reading that take into account both child- and word-level predictors have not been evaluated in typically developing children and children with reading difficulty (RD). The purpose of the present study was to model individual differences in irregular word reading ability among 5th grade children (N = 170), oversampled for…

Individual Differences in the Acquisition of a Complex L2 Phonology: A Training Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanulikova, Adriana; Dediu, Dan; Fang, Zhou; Basnakova, Jana; Huettig, Falk

2012-01-01

Many learners of a foreign language (L2) struggle to correctly pronounce newly learned speech sounds, yet many others achieve this with apparent ease. Here we explored how a training study of learning complex consonant clusters at the very onset of L2 acquisition can inform us about L2 learning in general and individual differences in particular.…

Identifying the values and preferences of prosthetic users: a case study series using the repertory grid technique.

PubMed

Schaffalitzky, Elisabeth; NiMhurchadha, Sinead; Gallagher, Pamela; Hofkamp, Susan; MacLachlan, Malcolm; Wegener, Stephen T

2009-06-01

The matching of prosthetic devices to the needs of the individual is a challenge for providers and patients. The aims of this study are to explore the values and preferences that prosthetic users have of their prosthetic devices; to investigate users' perceptions of alternative prosthetic options and to demonstrate a novel method for exploring the values and preferences of prosthetic users. This study describes four case studies of upper limb and lower limb high tech and conventional prosthetic users. Participants were interviewed using the repertory grid technique (RGT), a qualitative technique to explore individual values and preferences regarding specific choices and events. The participants generated distinctive patterns of personal constructs and ratings regarding prosthetic use and different prosthetic options available. The RGT produced a unique profile of preferences regarding prosthetic technologies for each participant. User choice is an important factor when matching prosthetic technology to the user. The consumer's values regarding different prosthetic options are likely to be a critical factor in prosthetic acceptance and ultimate quality of life. The RGT offers a structured method of exploring these attitudes and values without imposing researcher or practitioner bias and identifies personalized dimensions for providers and users to evaluate the individuals' preferences in prosthetic technology.

Origins of individual differences in anxiety proneness: a twin/adoption study of the anxiety-related scales from the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP).

PubMed

Gustavsson, J P; Pedersen, N L; Asberg, M; Schalling, D

1996-06-01

The genetic and environmental origins of individual differences in scores on the anxiety-proneness scales from the Karolinska Scales of Personality were explored using a twin/adoption study design in a sample consisting of 15 monozygotic twin pairs reared apart, and 26 monozygotic and 29 dizygotic twin pairs reared together. The results showed that genetic factors accounted for individual differences in scores on the psychasthenia and somatic anxiety scales. The genetic determinants were not specific to each scale, but were common to both scales. Shared-rearing environmental determinants were important for individual differences in lack of assertiveness and psychic anxiety, and were common to both scales. Individual differences in muscular tension were found to be attributable to the effects of correlated environments. The most important factor explaining individual differences for all scales was the non-shared environment component. The evidence for an aetiologically heterogeneous anxiety-proneness construct emphasizes the appropriateness of a multi-dimensional approach to anxiety proneness.

What can individual differences reveal about face processing?

PubMed Central

Yovel, Galit; Wilmer, Jeremy B.; Duchaine, Brad

2014-01-01

Faces are probably the most widely studied visual stimulus. Most research on face processing has used a group-mean approach that averages behavioral or neural responses to faces across individuals and treats variance between individuals as noise. However, individual differences in face processing can provide valuable information that complements and extends findings from group-mean studies. Here we demonstrate that studies employing an individual differences approach—examining associations and dissociations across individuals—can answer fundamental questions about the way face processing operates. In particular these studies allow us to associate and dissociate the mechanisms involved in face processing, tie behavioral face processing mechanisms to neural mechanisms, link face processing to broader capacities and quantify developmental influences on face processing. The individual differences approach we illustrate here is a powerful method that should be further explored within the domain of face processing as well as fruitfully applied across the cognitive sciences. PMID:25191241

Narrative environments and the capacity of disability narratives to motivate leisure-time physical activity among individuals with spinal cord injury.

PubMed

Perrier, Marie-Josée; Smith, Brett M; Latimer-Cheung, Amy E

2013-01-01

Few individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) engage in the recommended amount of leisure time physical activity (LTPA). Yet little is known about how, and why, active individuals engage in specific types of LTPA. This study explored how a unique narrative environment and disability narratives motivated individuals with SCI to engage in LTPA. Fourteen individuals with SCI from a physical activity program participated in approximately hour-long interviews. Interviews were then subjected to a narrative analysis. Individuals who used a restitution narrative (n = 6) were motivated to engage in functional LTPA because of the desire to maintain the body and restore the past self. The individual who used the chaos narrative (n = 1) preferred solitary LTPA as exposure to others with SCI was a constant reminder of the lost, pre-injury self. Individuals who used a quest narrative (n = 7) explored LTPA options that fit with their interests; these individuals were open to new types of LTPA, such as sport and outdoor recreation. The plot of three disability narratives can all motivate the pursuit of LTPA; however, not all types of LTPA are seen as equal. LTPA interventions can be enhanced through the lessons learned from this unique type of environment. Despite individuals' views about their disability, they can still be motivated to engage in routine LTPA. Different theoretical determinants, such as health or social benefits, hold different relevance for LTPA among individuals with differing disability narratives. The environment provided by practitioners can therefore elicit some stories of SCI while stifling others. Open narrative environment will attract individuals to listen and maintain involvement in LTPA.

Plasticity varies with boldness in a weakly-electric fish.

PubMed

Kareklas, Kyriacos; Arnott, Gareth; Elwood, Robert W; Holland, Richard A

2016-01-01

The expression of animal personality is indicated by patterns of consistency in individual behaviour. Often, the differences exhibited between individuals are consistent across situations. However, between some situations, this can be biased by variable levels of individual plasticity. The interaction between individual plasticity and animal personality can be illustrated by examining situation-sensitive personality traits such as boldness (i.e. risk-taking and exploration tendency). For the weakly electric fish Gnathonemus petersii, light condition is a major factor influencing behaviour. Adapted to navigate in low-light conditions, this species chooses to be more active in dark environments where risk from visual predators is lower. However, G. petersii also exhibit individual differences in their degree of behavioural change from light to dark. The present study, therefore, aims to examine if an increase of motivation to explore in the safety of the dark, not only affects mean levels of boldness, but also the variation between individuals, as a result of differences in individual plasticity. Boldness was consistent between a novel-object and a novel-environment situation in bright light. However, no consistency in boldness was noted between a bright (risky) and a dark (safe) novel environment. Furthermore, there was a negative association between boldness and the degree of change across novel environments, with shier individuals exhibiting greater behavioural plasticity. This study highlights that individual plasticity can vary with personality. In addition, the effect of light suggests that variation in boldness is situation specific. Finally, there appears to be a trade-off between personality and individual plasticity with shy but plastic individuals minimizing costs when perceiving risk and bold but stable individuals consistently maximizing rewards, which can be maladaptive.

Consistency in boldness, activity and exploration at different stages of life

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Animals show consistent individual behavioural patterns over time and over situations. This phenomenon has been referred to as animal personality or behavioural syndromes. Little is known about consistency of animal personalities over entire life times. We investigated the repeatability of behaviour in common voles (Microtus arvalis) at different life stages, with different time intervals, and in different situations. Animals were tested using four behavioural tests in three experimental groups: 1. before and after maturation over three months, 2. twice as adults during one week, and 3. twice as adult animals over three months, which resembles a substantial part of their entire adult life span of several months. Results Different behaviours were correlated within and between tests and a cluster analysis showed three possible behavioural syndrome-axes, which we name boldness, exploration and activity. Activity and exploration behaviour in all tests was highly repeatable in adult animals tested over one week. In animals tested over maturation, exploration behaviour was consistent whereas activity was not. Voles that were tested as adults with a three-month interval showed the opposite pattern with stable activity but unstable exploration behaviour. Conclusions The consistency in behaviour over time suggests that common voles do express stable personality over short time. Over longer periods however, behaviour is more flexible and depending on life stage (i.e. tested before/after maturation or as adults) of the tested individual. Level of boldness or activity does not differ between tested groups and maintenance of variation in behavioural traits can therefore not be explained by expected future assets as reported in other studies. PMID:24314274

Consistency in boldness, activity and exploration at different stages of life.

PubMed

Herde, Antje; Eccard, Jana A

2013-12-07

Animals show consistent individual behavioural patterns over time and over situations. This phenomenon has been referred to as animal personality or behavioural syndromes. Little is known about consistency of animal personalities over entire life times. We investigated the repeatability of behaviour in common voles (Microtus arvalis) at different life stages, with different time intervals, and in different situations. Animals were tested using four behavioural tests in three experimental groups: 1. before and after maturation over three months, 2. twice as adults during one week, and 3. twice as adult animals over three months, which resembles a substantial part of their entire adult life span of several months. Different behaviours were correlated within and between tests and a cluster analysis showed three possible behavioural syndrome-axes, which we name boldness, exploration and activity. Activity and exploration behaviour in all tests was highly repeatable in adult animals tested over one week. In animals tested over maturation, exploration behaviour was consistent whereas activity was not. Voles that were tested as adults with a three-month interval showed the opposite pattern with stable activity but unstable exploration behaviour. The consistency in behaviour over time suggests that common voles do express stable personality over short time. Over longer periods however, behaviour is more flexible and depending on life stage (i.e. tested before/after maturation or as adults) of the tested individual. Level of boldness or activity does not differ between tested groups and maintenance of variation in behavioural traits can therefore not be explained by expected future assets as reported in other studies.

Laparoscopic Common Bile Duct Exploration Four-Task Training Model: Construct Validity

PubMed Central

Otaño, Natalia; Rodríguez, Omaira; Sánchez, Renata; Benítez, Gustavo; Schweitzer, Michael

2012-01-01

Background: Training models in laparoscopic surgery allow the surgical team to practice procedures in a safe environment. We have proposed the use of a 4-task, low-cost inert model to practice critical steps of laparoscopic common bile duct exploration. Methods: The performance of 3 groups with different levels of expertise in laparoscopic surgery, novices (A), intermediates (B), and experts (C), was evaluated using a low-cost inert model in the following tasks: (1) intraoperative cholangiography catheter insertion, (2) transcystic exploration, (3) T-tube placement, and (4) choledochoscope management. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to identify differences among the groups. Results: A total of 14 individuals were evaluated: 5 novices (A), 5 intermediates (B), and 4 experts (C). The results involving intraoperative cholangiography catheter insertion were similar among the 3 groups. As for the other tasks, the expert had better results than the other 2, in which no significant differences occurred. The proposed model is able to discriminate among individuals with different levels of expertise, indicating that the abilities that the model evaluates are relevant in the surgeon's performance in CBD exploration. Conclusions: Construct validity for tasks 2 and 3 was demonstrated. However, task 1 was no capable of distinguishing between groups, and task 4 was not statistically validated. PMID:22906323

Exploring Developmental Differences in Students' Sensemaking during the Transition to Graduate School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perez, Rosemary J.

2016-01-01

Historically, research examining graduate student socialization has attended to the structure of the socialization process, rather than how individuals interpret it. This qualitative study explored how 21 student affairs master's degree candidates made sense of surprises that emerged during their initial socialization experiences. The findings…

Children, Objects, and Relations: Constructivist Foundations in the Reggio Emilia Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swann, Annette C.

2008-01-01

This article examines how children's construction of relationships in exploring materials helps to explain the constructivist foundations of the Reggio Emilia approach. A quasi-naturalistic study of 12 preschool children, ages 3 and 4 years, individually exploring different kinds of collage papers reveals a range of constructivist categories…

Do individual differences in children's curiosity relate to their inquiry-based learning?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Schijndel, Tessa J. P.; Jansen, Brenda R. J.; Raijmakers, Maartje E. J.

2018-06-01

This study investigates how individual differences in 7- to 9-year-olds' curiosity relate to the inquiry-learning process and outcomes in environments differing in structure. The focus on curiosity as individual differences variable was motivated by the importance of curiosity in science education, and uncertainty being central to both the definition of curiosity and the inquiry-learning environment. Curiosity was assessed with the Underwater Exploration game (Jirout, J., & Klahr, D. (2012). Children's scientific curiosity: In search of an operational definition of an elusive concept. Developmental Review, 32, 125-160. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2012.04.002), and inquiry-based learning with the newly developed Scientific Discovery task, which focuses on the principle of designing informative experiments. Structure of the inquiry-learning environment was manipulated by explaining this principle or not. As intelligence relates to learning and possibly curiosity, it was taken into account. Results showed that children's curiosity was positively related to their knowledge acquisition, but not to their quality of exploration. For low intelligent children, environment structure positively affected their quality of exploration, but not their knowledge acquisition. There was no interaction between curiosity and environment structure. These results support the existence of two distinct inquiry-based learning processes - the designing of experiments, on the one hand, and the reflection on performed experiments, on the other - and link children's curiosity to the latter process.

Exploring the meaning of separation in second-generation young South Asian women in Britain.

PubMed

Gupta, Vineeta; Johnstone, Lucy; Gleeson, Kate

2007-12-01

To explore the experiences of young second-generation South Asian women living in Britain; to try and understand their experiences, deconstruct the term cultural conflict and understand it within a psychological framework. In particular, the aim was to explore issues of separation and individuation, and the meanings attributed to these concepts. An interview-based study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse the data. Interviews were conducted with six second-generation South Asian women aged 16-20, who had no prior contact with mental health services. Five main themes were identified from the analysis: differences in the meaning of adulthood, community policing, pressures and stressors, protective factors/coping and barriers to coping. The participants' perceived differences in the meaning of adulthood in Asian cultures in comparison with Western cultures. These differences, in conjunction with the community policing that they were exposed to, contributed to the pressures and stressors - in particular lack of control and a desire to make individual decisions. The results indicated that the differences in the meaning of adulthood in a collective culture challenged the assumptions of the separation-individuation model, and was a key element in cultural conflict. This highlighted the complexities of generalizing research findings across all social groups, and questioned the validity of applying existing psychological theory to this population. The clinical implications of coping/protective factors and barriers to coping were discussed.

Exploring Individual Differences in Preschoolers' Causal Stance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alvarez, Aubry; Booth, Amy E.

2016-01-01

Preschoolers, as a group, are highly attuned to causality, and this attunement is known to facilitate memory, learning, and problem solving. However, recent work reveals substantial individual variability in the strength of children's "causal stance," as demonstrated by their curiosity about and preference for new causal information. In…

Curve Appeal: Exploring Individual Differences in Preference for Curved Versus Angular Objects

PubMed Central

Cotter, Katherine N.; Bertamini, Marco; Palumbo, Letizia; Vartanian, Oshin

2017-01-01

A preference for smooth curvature, as opposed to angularity, is a well-established finding for lines, two-dimensional shapes, and complex objects, but little is known about individual differences. We used two-dimensional black-and-white shapes—randomly generated irregular polygons, and arrays of circles and hexagons—and measured many individual differences, including artistic expertise, personality, and cognitive style. As expected, people preferred curved over angular stimuli, and people’s degree of curvature preference correlated across the two sets of shapes. Multilevel models showed varying patterns of interaction between shape and individual differences. For the irregular polygons, people higher in artistic expertise or openness to experience showed a greater preference for curvature. This pattern was not evident for the arrays of circles and hexagons. We discuss the results in relation to the nature of the stimuli, and we conclude that individual differences do play a role in moderating the preference for smooth curvature. PMID:28491269

Diversity in action: exchange of perspectives and reflections on taxonomies of individual differences.

PubMed

Uher, Jana; Trofimova, Irina; Sulis, William; Netter, Petra; Pessoa, Luiz; Posner, Michael I; Rothbart, Mary K; Rusalov, Vladimir; Peterson, Isaac T; Schmidt, Louis A

2018-04-19

Throughout the last 2500 years, the classification of individual differences in healthy people and their extreme expressions in mental disorders has remained one of the most difficult challenges in science that affects our ability to explore individuals' functioning, underlying psychobiological processes and pathways of development. To facilitate analyses of the principles required for studying individual differences, this theme issue brought together prominent scholars from diverse backgrounds of which many bring unique combinations of cross-disciplinary experiences and perspectives that help establish connections and promote exchange across disciplines. This final paper presents brief commentaries of some of our authors and further scholars exchanging perspectives and reflecting on the contributions of this theme issue.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Personality and problem-solving performance explain competitive ability in the wild.

PubMed

Cole, Ella F; Quinn, John L

2012-03-22

Competitive ability is a major determinant of fitness, but why individuals vary so much in their competitiveness remains only partially understood. One increasingly prevalent view is that realized competitive ability varies because it represents alternative strategies that arise because of the costs associated with competitiveness. Here we use a population of great tits (Parus major) to explore whether individual differences in competitive ability when foraging can be explained by two traits that have previously been linked to alternative behavioural strategies: the personality trait 'exploration behaviour' and a simple cognitive trait, 'innovative problem-solving performance'. We assayed these traits under standardized conditions in captivity and then measured competitive ability at feeders with restricted access in the wild. Competitive ability was repeatable within individual males across days and correlated positively with exploration behaviour, representing the first such demonstration of a link between a personality trait and both competitive ability and food intake in the wild. Competitive ability was also simultaneously negatively correlated with problem-solving performance; individuals who were poor competitors were good at problem-solving. Rather than being the result of variation in 'individual quality', our results support the hypothesis that individual variation in competitive ability can be explained by alternative behavioural strategies.

Exploring individual differences in preschoolers' causal stance.

PubMed

Alvarez, Aubry; Booth, Amy E

2016-03-01

Preschoolers, as a group, are highly attuned to causality, and this attunement is known to facilitate memory, learning, and problem solving. However, recent work reveals substantial individual variability in the strength of children's "causal stance," as demonstrated by their curiosity about and preference for new causal information. In this study, we explored the coherence and short-term stability of individual differences in children's causal stance. We also began to investigate the origins of this variability, focusing particularly on the potential role of mothers' explanatory talk in shaping the causal stance of their children. Two measures of causal stance correlated with each other, as well as themselves across time. Both also revealed internal consistency of response. The strength of children's causal stance also correlated with mother's responses on the same tasks and the frequency with which mothers emphasized causality during naturalistic joint activities with their children. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A Complex Story: Universal Preference vs. Individual Differences Shaping Aesthetic Response to Fractals Patterns.

PubMed

Street, Nichola; Forsythe, Alexandra M; Reilly, Ronan; Taylor, Richard; Helmy, Mai S

2016-01-01

Fractal patterns offer one way to represent the rough complexity of the natural world. Whilst they dominate many of our visual experiences in nature, little large-scale perceptual research has been done to explore how we respond aesthetically to these patterns. Previous research (Taylor et al., 2011) suggests that the fractal patterns with mid-range fractal dimensions (FDs) have universal aesthetic appeal. Perceptual and aesthetic responses to visual complexity have been more varied with findings suggesting both linear (Forsythe et al., 2011) and curvilinear (Berlyne, 1970) relationships. Individual differences have been found to account for many of the differences we see in aesthetic responses but some, such as culture, have received little attention within the fractal and complexity research fields. This two-study article aims to test preference responses to FD and visual complexity, using a large cohort (N = 443) of participants from around the world to allow universality claims to be tested. It explores the extent to which age, culture and gender can predict our preferences for fractally complex patterns. Following exploratory analysis that found strong correlations between FD and visual complexity, a series of linear mixed-effect models were implemented to explore if each of the individual variables could predict preference. The first tested a linear complexity model (likelihood of selecting the more complex image from the pair of images) and the second a mid-range FD model (likelihood of selecting an image within mid-range). Results show that individual differences can reliably predict preferences for complexity across culture, gender and age. However, in fitting with current findings the mid-range models show greater consistency in preference not mediated by gender, age or culture. This article supports the established theory that the mid-range fractal patterns appear to be a universal construct underlying preference but also highlights the fragility of universal claims by demonstrating individual differences in preference for the interrelated concept of visual complexity. This highlights a current stalemate in the field of empirical aesthetics.

Economic and Social Political Ideology and Homophobia: The Mediating Role of Binding and Individualizing Moral Foundations.

PubMed

Barnett, Michael D; Öz, Haluk C M; Marsden, Arthur D

2018-05-01

Previous research has linked conservative political ideology with homophobia. Political ideology has also been linked to differences in moral decision-making, with research suggesting that conservatives and liberals may use different values in their moral decision-making processes. Moral foundations theory is a model of moral decision-making that proposes that individuals emphasize different domains in moral decision-making. Conservatives tend to emphasize binding foundations, while liberals tend to emphasize individualizing foundations. Utilizing large, ethnically diverse college samples, the purpose of these two cross-sectional studies (Study 1 N = 492; Study 2 N = 861) was to explore whether moral foundations mediate the relationship between political ideology and homophobia. These studies explored economic and social political ideology separately and utilized a two-factor model of moral foundations theory (individualizing and binding foundations). Results of both studies found that conservative economic and social political ideology was positively associated with homophobia. Study 1 found that both conservative economic and social political ideology had an indirect effect on homophobia through binding foundations. Study 2 found that both economic and social political ideology had an indirect effect on homophobia through both binding and individualizing foundations. Overall, the results were consistent with the notion that moral foundations may explain the relationship between political ideology and homophobia.

Attentional Control and Fear Extinction in Subclinical Fear: An Exploratory Study

PubMed Central

Forcadell, Eduard; Torrents-Rodas, David; Treen, Devi; Fullana, Miquel A.; Tortella-Feliu, Miquel

2017-01-01

Attentional control (AC) and fear extinction learning are known to be involved in pathological anxiety. In this study we explored whether individual differences in non-emotional AC were associated with individual differences in the magnitude and gradient of fear extinction (learning and recall). In 50 individuals with fear of spiders, we collected measures of non-emotional AC by means of self-report and by assessing the functioning of the major attention networks (executive control, orienting, and alerting). The participants then underwent a paradigm assessing fear extinction learning and extinction recall. The two components of the orienting network functioning (costs and benefits) were significantly associated with fear extinction gradient over and above the effects of trait anxiety. Specifically, participants with enhanced orienting costs (i.e., difficulties in disengaging attention from cues not relevant for the task) showed faster extinction learning, while those with enhanced orienting benefits (i.e., attention facilitated by valid cues) exhibited faster extinction recall as measured by fear-potentiated startle and Unconditioned Stimulus expectancies, respectively. Our findings suggest that, in non-emotional conditions, the orienting component of attention may be predictive of fear extinction. They also show that the use of fear extinction gradients and the exploration of individual differences in non-emotional AC (using performance-based measures of attentional network functioning) can provide a better understanding of individual differences in fear learning. Our findings also may help to understand differences in exposure therapy outcomes. PMID:29018384

Individual personality differences in Port Jackson sharks Heterodontus portusjacksoni.

PubMed

Byrnes, E E; Brown, C

2016-08-01

This study examined interindividual personality differences between Port Jackson sharks Heterodontus portusjacksoni utilizing a standard boldness assay. Additionally, the correlation between differences in individual boldness and stress reactivity was examined, exploring indications of individual coping styles. Heterodontus portusjacksoni demonstrated highly repeatable individual differences in boldness and stress reactivity. Individual boldness scores were highly repeatable across four trials such that individuals that were the fastest to emerge in the first trial were also the fastest to emerge in subsequent trials. Additionally, individuals that were the most reactive to a handling stressor in the first trial were also the most reactive in a second trial. The strong link between boldness and stress response commonly found in teleosts was also evident in this study, providing evidence of proactive-reactive coping styles in H. portusjacksoni. These results demonstrate the presence of individual personality differences in sharks for the first time. Understanding how personality influences variation in elasmobranch behaviour such as prey choice, habitat use and activity levels is critical to better managing these top predators which play important ecological roles in marine ecosystems. © 2016 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Individual differences in memory span: the contribution of rehearsal, access to lexical memory, and output speed.

PubMed

Tehan, G; Lalor, D M

2000-11-01

Rehearsal speed has traditionally been seen to be the prime determinant of individual differences in memory span. Recent studies, in the main using young children as the subject population, have suggested other contributors to span performance, notably contributions from long-term memory and forgetting and retrieval processes occurring during recall. In the current research we explore individual differences in span with respect to measures of rehearsal, output time, and access to lexical memory. We replicate standard short-term phenomena; we show that the variables that influence children's span performance influence adult performance in the same way; and we show that lexical memory access appears to be a more potent source of individual differences in span than either rehearsal speed or output factors.

Interactions among Future Study Abroad Students: Exploring Potential Intercultural Learning Sequences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borghetti, C.; Beaven, A.; Pugliese, R.

2015-01-01

The study presented in this article aims to explore if and how intercultural learning may take place in students' class interaction. It is grounded in the assumption that interculturality is not a clear-cut feature inherent to interactions occurring when individuals with presumed different linguistic and cultural/national backgrounds talk to each…

Dramaturgie et interculturel (Dramatics and the Intercultural).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feldhendler, Daniel

1990-01-01

The use of techniques from drama and psychodrama to explore intercultural differences and relations is described. The process used incorporates eight stages of discovery of perceptions, stereotypes, cultural identity, communication taboos, and bringing together individuals from different cultures. (MSE)

Personalized medicine in human space flight: using Omics based analyses to develop individualized countermeasures that enhance astronaut safety and performance.

PubMed

Schmidt, Michael A; Goodwin, Thomas J

2013-01-01

Space flight is one of the most extreme conditions encountered by humans. Advances in Omics methodologies (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) have revealed that unique differences exist between individuals. These differences can be amplified in extreme conditions, such as space flight. A better understanding of individual differences may allow us to develop personalized countermeasure packages that optimize the safety and performance of each astronaut. In this review, we explore the role of "Omics" in advancing our ability to: (1) more thoroughly describe the biological response of humans in space; (2) describe molecular attributes of individual astronauts that alter the risk profile prior to entering the space environment; (3) deploy Omics techniques in the development of personalized countermeasures; and (4) develop a comprehensive Omics-based assessment and countermeasure platform that will guide human space flight in the future. In this review, we advance the concept of personalized medicine in human space flight, with the goal of enhancing astronaut safety and performance. Because the field is vast, we explore selected examples where biochemical individuality might significantly impact countermeasure development. These include gene and small molecule variants associated with: (1) metabolism of therapeutic drugs used in space; (2) one carbon metabolism and DNA stability; (3) iron metabolism, oxidative stress and damage, and DNA stability; and (4) essential input (Mg and Zn) effects on DNA repair. From these examples, we advance the case that widespread Omics profiling should serve as the foundation for aerospace medicine and research, explore methodological considerations to advance the field, and suggest why personalized medicine may become the standard of care for humans in space.

The importance of understanding individual differences in Down syndrome

PubMed Central

Karmiloff-Smith, Annette; Al-Janabi, Tamara; D'Souza, Hana; Groet, Jurgen; Massand, Esha; Mok, Kin; Startin, Carla; Fisher, Elizabeth; Hardy, John; Nizetic, Dean; Tybulewicz, Victor; Strydom, Andre

2016-01-01

In this article, we first present a summary of the general assumptions about Down syndrome (DS) still to be found in the literature. We go on to show how new research has modified these assumptions, pointing to a wide range of individual differences at every level of description. We argue that, in the context of significant increases in DS life expectancy, a focus on individual differences in trisomy 21 at all levels—genetic, cellular, neural, cognitive, behavioral, and environmental—constitutes one of the best approaches for understanding genotype/phenotype relations in DS and for exploring risk and protective factors for Alzheimer’s disease in this high-risk population. PMID:27019699

Individual differences in human brain development.

PubMed

Brown, Timothy T

2017-01-01

This article discusses recent scientific advances in the study of individual differences in human brain development. Focusing on structural neuroimaging measures of brain morphology and tissue properties, two kinds of variability are related and explored: differences across individuals of the same age and differences across age as a result of development. A recent multidimensional modeling study is explained, which was able to use brain measures to predict an individual's chronological age within about one year on average, in children, adolescents, and young adults between 3 and 20 years old. These findings reveal great regularity in the sequence of the aggregate brain state across different ages and phases of development, despite the pronounced individual differences people show on any single brain measure at any given age. Future research is suggested, incorporating additional measures of brain activity and function. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1389. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1389 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. © 2016 The Authors. WIREs Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Collaborative learning in networks.

PubMed

Mason, Winter; Watts, Duncan J

2012-01-17

Complex problems in science, business, and engineering typically require some tradeoff between exploitation of known solutions and exploration for novel ones, where, in many cases, information about known solutions can also disseminate among individual problem solvers through formal or informal networks. Prior research on complex problem solving by collectives has found the counterintuitive result that inefficient networks, meaning networks that disseminate information relatively slowly, can perform better than efficient networks for problems that require extended exploration. In this paper, we report on a series of 256 Web-based experiments in which groups of 16 individuals collectively solved a complex problem and shared information through different communication networks. As expected, we found that collective exploration improved average success over independent exploration because good solutions could diffuse through the network. In contrast to prior work, however, we found that efficient networks outperformed inefficient networks, even in a problem space with qualitative properties thought to favor inefficient networks. We explain this result in terms of individual-level explore-exploit decisions, which we find were influenced by the network structure as well as by strategic considerations and the relative payoff between maxima. We conclude by discussing implications for real-world problem solving and possible extensions.

Collaborative learning in networks

PubMed Central

Mason, Winter; Watts, Duncan J.

2012-01-01

Complex problems in science, business, and engineering typically require some tradeoff between exploitation of known solutions and exploration for novel ones, where, in many cases, information about known solutions can also disseminate among individual problem solvers through formal or informal networks. Prior research on complex problem solving by collectives has found the counterintuitive result that inefficient networks, meaning networks that disseminate information relatively slowly, can perform better than efficient networks for problems that require extended exploration. In this paper, we report on a series of 256 Web-based experiments in which groups of 16 individuals collectively solved a complex problem and shared information through different communication networks. As expected, we found that collective exploration improved average success over independent exploration because good solutions could diffuse through the network. In contrast to prior work, however, we found that efficient networks outperformed inefficient networks, even in a problem space with qualitative properties thought to favor inefficient networks. We explain this result in terms of individual-level explore-exploit decisions, which we find were influenced by the network structure as well as by strategic considerations and the relative payoff between maxima. We conclude by discussing implications for real-world problem solving and possible extensions. PMID:22184216

Gender Identity and Adjustment: Understanding the Impact of Individual and Normative Differences in Sex Typing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lurye, Leah E.; Zosuls, Kristina M.; Ruble, Diane N.

2008-01-01

The relationship among gender identity, sex typing, and adjustment has attracted the attention of social and developmental psychologists for many years. However, they have explored this issue with different assumptions and different approaches. Generally the approaches differ regarding whether sex typing is considered adaptive versus maladaptive,…

Involuntary Mental Time Travel and Its Effect on Prospective Teachers' Situational Intrinsic Motivations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eren, Altay

2010-01-01

Recent cognitive psychological research has argued that involuntary mental time travel is an important individual difference variable that has the potential to affect an individual's motivation. However, this issue has not been empirically investigated in educational settings such as teacher education. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the…

Psychological foundations of xenophilia: the role of major personality traits in predicting favorable attitudes toward cross-cultural contact and exploration.

PubMed

Stürmer, Stefan; Benbow, Alison E F; Siem, Birte; Barth, Markus; Bodansky, Alexander N; Lotz-Schmitt, Katharina

2013-11-01

Building on an integration of research findings on intergroup behavior from multiple fields of scientific inquiry (biological and cultural paleoanthropology, social psychology), as well as research on the HEXACO personality framework (e.g., Ashton & Lee, 2007), 3 independent studies (total N = 1,007) were conducted to introduce and test a fresh personality perspective on human xenophilia. Even though the studies focused on different criteria (Study 1: favorable attitudes toward contact with immigrants, Study 2: habitual cross-cultural exploration, Study 3: favorable attitudes toward contact with indigenous people) and employed different operationalizations of major personality traits (the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised [HEXACO-PI-R], the 10-item Big Five Inventory [BFI-10]) results were remarkably similar. First, path analyses confirmed that major personality traits were significant and direct predictors of xenophilia that were independent of the contributions of individual differences commonly predicting xenophobic reactions across studies. Second, and in line with the authors' more specific hypotheses, hierarchical regression analyses also corroborated that individual differences in the levels of endeavor-related personality traits (i.e., eXtraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness) had a substantially greater power in predicting individual differences in xenophilia than individual differences in levels of altruism/cooperation-related traits (i.e., Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, and Agreeableness). The implications of these findings for more general psychological theorizing on human sociality are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Birds reveal their personality when singing.

PubMed

Garamszegi, László Zsolt; Eens, Marcel; Török, János

2008-07-09

Individual differences in social behaviour may have consequences for mate choice and sexual signalling, because partners should develop preferences for personalities that maximize reproductive output. Here we propose that behavioural traits involved in sexual advertisement may serve as good indicators of personality, which is fundamental for sexual selection to operate on temperament. Bird song has a prominent and well-established role in sexual selection, and it displays considerable variation among individuals with a potentially strong personality component. Therefore, we predicted that features of song would correlate with estimates of personality. In a field study of free-living male collared flycatchers, Ficedula albicollis, we characterised personality based on the exploration of an altered breeding environment, and based on the risk taken when a potential predator was approaching during a simulated territorial interaction. We found that explorative and risk-taker individuals consistently sang at lower song posts than shy individuals in the presence of a human observer. Moreover, males from lower posts established pair-bonds relatively faster than males from higher posts. Our results may demonstrate that risk taking during singing correlates with risk taking during aggression and with exploration, thus personality may be manifested in different contexts involving sexual advertisement. These findings are in accordance with the hypothesis that the male's balance between investment in reproduction and risk taking is reflected in sexual displays, and it may be important information for choosy females that seek partners with personality traits enhancing breeding success.

Interactions between attention and visual short-term memory (VSTM): what can be learnt from individual and developmental differences?

PubMed

Astle, Duncan E; Scerif, Gaia

2011-05-01

An ever increasing amount of research in the fields of developmental psychology and adult cognitive neuroscience explores attentional control as a driver of visual short-term and working memory capacity limits ("VSTM" and "VWM", respectively). However, these literatures have thus far been disparate: they use different measures or different labels, and the constructs of interest often appear to be quite distinct. In the current review, we attempt to bridge these gaps across disciplines and explore the extent to which these two literatures might support one another. In order to do this, we explore five principal questions of interest to members of both communities: (1) To what extent are measures of VSTM, VWM and attentional control commensurate across the developmental and adult literatures? (2) To what extent do individual differences in attentional control account for why some children, just like some adults, show poorer VSTM and VWM capacity than others? (3) Can developmental improvements in VSTM and VWM capacity also be explained by differences in attentional control? (4) What novel insights can be gained by studying the developmental cognitive neuroscience of attention and VSTM and VWM? (5) Can visual short-term and working memory capacity be modulated by training and, if so, how can training effects inform the relationships between attention and VSTM? Throughout, we evaluate the central thesis that variability in attentional control, both between individuals and over development, is a driver of variability in VSTM and VWM capacity. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Shy birds play it safe: personality in captivity predicts risk responsiveness during reproduction in the wild

PubMed Central

Cole, Ella F.; Quinn, John L.

2014-01-01

Despite a growing body of evidence linking personality to life-history variation and fitness, the behavioural mechanisms underlying these relationships remain poorly understood. One mechanism thought to play a key role is how individuals respond to risk. Relatively reactive and proactive (or shy and bold) personality types are expected to differ in how they manage the inherent trade-off between productivity and survival, with bold individuals being more risk-prone with lower survival probability, and shy individuals adopting a more risk-averse strategy. In the great tit (Parus major), the shy–bold personality axis has been well characterized in captivity and linked to fitness. Here, we tested whether ‘exploration behaviour’, a captive assay of the shy–bold axis, can predict risk responsiveness during reproduction in wild great tits. Relatively slow-exploring (shy) females took longer than fast-exploring (bold) birds to resume incubation after a novel object, representing an unknown threat, was attached to their nest-box, with some shy individuals not returning within the 40 min trial period. Risk responsiveness was consistent within individuals over days. These findings provide rare, field-based experimental evidence that shy individuals prioritize survival over reproductive investment, supporting the hypothesis that personality reflects life-history variation through links with risk responsiveness. PMID:24829251

Personality and problem-solving performance explain competitive ability in the wild

PubMed Central

Cole, Ella F.; Quinn, John L.

2012-01-01

Competitive ability is a major determinant of fitness, but why individuals vary so much in their competitiveness remains only partially understood. One increasingly prevalent view is that realized competitive ability varies because it represents alternative strategies that arise because of the costs associated with competitiveness. Here we use a population of great tits (Parus major) to explore whether individual differences in competitive ability when foraging can be explained by two traits that have previously been linked to alternative behavioural strategies: the personality trait ‘exploration behaviour’ and a simple cognitive trait, ‘innovative problem-solving performance’. We assayed these traits under standardized conditions in captivity and then measured competitive ability at feeders with restricted access in the wild. Competitive ability was repeatable within individual males across days and correlated positively with exploration behaviour, representing the first such demonstration of a link between a personality trait and both competitive ability and food intake in the wild. Competitive ability was also simultaneously negatively correlated with problem-solving performance; individuals who were poor competitors were good at problem-solving. Rather than being the result of variation in ‘individual quality’, our results support the hypothesis that individual variation in competitive ability can be explained by alternative behavioural strategies. PMID:21937498

Exploration of Intimacy in Intercultural and Intracultural Romantic Relationships in College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reiter, Michael D.; Richmond, Katherine; Stirlen, Amber; Kompel, Natalia

2009-01-01

This study explores the area of intercultural dating relationships. An intercultural relationship is characterized by two individuals that come from different religions, cultures, and/or races and label their relationship as romantic. Such couples have been taboo for much of history, but have rapidly increased within the past thirty years (Crohn,…

Gulliver's Travels: Michael Moore the Explorer in "Who to Invade Next"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beck, Bernard

2016-01-01

America is identified as a nation of immigrants. These immigrants are thought to be the source of its subcultures. It is also a nation of individual explorers and inventors. Their activities are also a source of diverse subcultures. Many notable movies have made heroes of such innovators in different fields of endeavor. Michael Moore's movie…

Using Appreciative Inquiry to Explore the Professional Practice of a Midwife Lecturer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapman, Lynn; Giles, David

2009-01-01

This paper reports on an exploration into the professional practice of a lecturer using the appreciative inquiry (AI) approach. This facilitated inquiry intentionally sought to apply the AI approach to the practice of an individual, an application that is different to its predominant usage with groups. The context for this research was the…

You Got a Problem with That? Exploring Evaluators' Disagreements about Ethics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Michael; Jacobs, Lynette

Research has suggested that evaluators vary in the extent to which they interpret the challenges they face in ethical terms. The question of what accounts for these differences was explored through a survey completed by 391 individuals listed in the database of the American Evaluation Association. The first section of the questionnaire presented…

Work-Family Conflict: An Exploration of the Differential Effects of a Dependent Childs Age on Working Parents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darcy, Colette; McCarthy, Alma

2007-01-01

Purpose--The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of life cycle stage, specifically parenting stage, on work-family conflict among working parents to determine whether discernible differences are evident among those individuals at the early stage of their parenting cycle compared with those with older children.…

Extrapunitive and intropunitive individuals activate different parts of the prefrontal cortex under an ego-blocking frustration.

PubMed

Minamoto, Takehiro; Osaka, Mariko; Yaoi, Ken; Osaka, Naoyuki

2014-01-01

Different people make different responses when they face a frustrating situation: some punish others (extrapunitive), while others punish themselves (intropunitive). Few studies have investigated the neural structures that differentiate extrapunitive and intropunitive individuals. The present fMRI study explored these neural structures using two different frustrating situations: an ego-blocking situation which blocks a desire or goal, and a superego-blocking situation which blocks self-esteem. In the ego-blocking condition, the extrapunitive group (n = 9) showed greater activation in the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, indicating that these individuals prefer emotional processing. On the other hand, the intropunitive group (n = 9) showed greater activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, possibly reflecting an effortful control for anger reduction. Such patterns were not observed in the superego-blocking condition. These results indicate that the prefrontal cortex is the source of individual differences in aggression direction in the ego-blocking situation.

Genomic tools for behavioural ecologists to understand repeatable individual differences in behaviour.

PubMed

Bengston, Sarah E; Dahan, Romain A; Donaldson, Zoe; Phelps, Steven M; van Oers, Kees; Sih, Andrew; Bell, Alison M

2018-06-01

Behaviour is a key interface between an animal's genome and its environment. Repeatable individual differences in behaviour have been extensively documented in animals, but the molecular underpinnings of behavioural variation among individuals within natural populations remain largely unknown. Here, we offer a critical review of when molecular techniques may yield new insights, and we provide specific guidance on how and whether the latest tools available are appropriate given different resources, system and organismal constraints, and experimental designs. Integrating molecular genetic techniques with other strategies to study the proximal causes of behaviour provides opportunities to expand rapidly into new avenues of exploration. Such endeavours will enable us to better understand how repeatable individual differences in behaviour have evolved, how they are expressed and how they can be maintained within natural populations of animals.

Why People with More Emotion Regulation Difficulties Made a More Deontological Judgment: The Role of Deontological Inclinations

PubMed Central

Zhang, Lisong; Li, Zhongquan; Wu, Xiaoyuan; Zhang, Ziyuan

2017-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated the key role of emotion in moral judgment, and explored the relationship between emotion regulation and moral judgment. The present study investigated the influence of individual differences in emotion regulation difficulties on moral judgment. Study 1 examined whether individuals with high emotion regulation difficulties made a more deontological judgment. Study 2 explored the underlying mechanism using a process-dissociation approach, examining whether deontological inclinations and utilitarian inclinations separately or jointly accounted for the association. The results indicated that individuals with high emotion regulation difficulties rated the utilitarian actions less morally appropriate, and one’s deontological inclinations mediated the association between emotion regulation difficulties and moral judgment. PMID:29234299

Computational exploration of neuron and neural network models in neurobiology.

PubMed

Prinz, Astrid A

2007-01-01

The electrical activity of individual neurons and neuronal networks is shaped by the complex interplay of a large number of non-linear processes, including the voltage-dependent gating of ion channels and the activation of synaptic receptors. These complex dynamics make it difficult to understand how individual neuron or network parameters-such as the number of ion channels of a given type in a neuron's membrane or the strength of a particular synapse-influence neural system function. Systematic exploration of cellular or network model parameter spaces by computational brute force can overcome this difficulty and generate comprehensive data sets that contain information about neuron or network behavior for many different combinations of parameters. Searching such data sets for parameter combinations that produce functional neuron or network output provides insights into how narrowly different neural system parameters have to be tuned to produce a desired behavior. This chapter describes the construction and analysis of databases of neuron or neuronal network models and describes some of the advantages and downsides of such exploration methods.

Influence of implantable hearing aids and neuroprosthesison music perception.

PubMed

Rahne, Torsten; Böhme, Lars; Götze, Gerrit

2012-01-01

The identification and discrimination of timbre are essential features of music perception. One dominating parameter within the multidimensional timbre space is the spectral shape of complex sounds. As hearing loss interferes with the perception and enjoyment of music, we approach the individual timbre discrimination skills in individuals with severe to profound hearing loss using a cochlear implant (CI) and normal hearing individuals using a bone-anchored hearing aid (Baha). With a recent developed behavioral test relying on synthetically sounds forming a spectral continuum, the timbre difference was changed adaptively to measure the individual just noticeable difference (JND) in a forced-choice paradigm. To explore the differences in timbre perception abilities caused by the hearing mode, the sound stimuli were varied in their fundamental frequency, thus generating different spectra which are not completely covered by a CI or Baha system. The resulting JNDs demonstrate differences in timbre perception between normal hearing individuals, Baha users, and CI users. Beside the physiological reasons, also technical limitations appear as the main contributing factors.

Effect of changing driving conditions on driver behavior towards design of a safe and efficient traffic system.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-12-01

This simulation-based study explores the effects of different work zone configurations, varying distances : between traffic signs, traffic density and individual differences on drivers behavior. Conventional Lane : Merge (CLM) and Joint Lane Merge...

The effect of cultural interaction on cumulative cultural evolution.

PubMed

Nakahashi, Wataru

2014-07-07

Cultural transmission and cultural evolution are important for animals, especially for humans. I developed a new analytical model of cultural evolution, in which each newborn learns cultural traits from multiple individuals (exemplars) in parental generation, individually explores around learned cultural traits, judges the utility of known cultural traits, and adopts a mature cultural trait. Cultural evolutionary speed increases when individuals explore a wider range of cultural traits, accurately judge the skill level of cultural traits (strong direct bias), do not strongly conform to the population mean, increase the exploration range according to the variety of socially learned cultural traits (condition dependent exploration), and make smaller errors in social learning. Number of exemplars, population size, similarity of cultural traits between exemplars, and one-to-many transmission have little effect on cultural evolutionary speed. I also investigated how cultural interaction between two populations with different mean skill levels affects their cultural evolution. A population sometimes increases in skill level more if it encounters a less skilled population than if it does not encounter anyone. A less skilled population sometimes exceeds a more skilled population in skill level by cultural interaction between both populations. The appropriateness of this analytical method is confirmed by individual-based simulations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Curiosity Search: Producing Generalists by Encouraging Individuals to Continually Explore and Acquire Skills throughout Their Lifetime.

PubMed

Stanton, Christopher; Clune, Jeff

2016-01-01

Natural animals are renowned for their ability to acquire a diverse and general skill set over the course of their lifetime. However, research in artificial intelligence has yet to produce agents that acquire all or even most of the available skills in non-trivial environments. One candidate algorithm for encouraging the production of such individuals is Novelty Search, which pressures organisms to exhibit different behaviors from other individuals. However, we hypothesized that Novelty Search would produce sub-populations of specialists, in which each individual possesses a subset of skills, but no one organism acquires all or most of the skills. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm called Curiosity Search, which is designed to produce individuals that acquire as many skills as possible during their lifetime. We show that in a multiple-skill maze environment, Curiosity Search does produce individuals that explore their entire domain, while a traditional implementation of Novelty Search produces specialists. However, we reveal that when modified to encourage intra-life behavioral diversity, Novelty Search can produce organisms that explore almost as much of their environment as Curiosity Search, although Curiosity Search retains a significant performance edge. Finally, we show that Curiosity Search is a useful helper objective when combined with Novelty Search, producing individuals that acquire significantly more skills than either algorithm alone.

Curiosity Search: Producing Generalists by Encouraging Individuals to Continually Explore and Acquire Skills throughout Their Lifetime

PubMed Central

Clune, Jeff

2016-01-01

Natural animals are renowned for their ability to acquire a diverse and general skill set over the course of their lifetime. However, research in artificial intelligence has yet to produce agents that acquire all or even most of the available skills in non-trivial environments. One candidate algorithm for encouraging the production of such individuals is Novelty Search, which pressures organisms to exhibit different behaviors from other individuals. However, we hypothesized that Novelty Search would produce sub-populations of specialists, in which each individual possesses a subset of skills, but no one organism acquires all or most of the skills. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm called Curiosity Search, which is designed to produce individuals that acquire as many skills as possible during their lifetime. We show that in a multiple-skill maze environment, Curiosity Search does produce individuals that explore their entire domain, while a traditional implementation of Novelty Search produces specialists. However, we reveal that when modified to encourage intra-life behavioral diversity, Novelty Search can produce organisms that explore almost as much of their environment as Curiosity Search, although Curiosity Search retains a significant performance edge. Finally, we show that Curiosity Search is a useful helper objective when combined with Novelty Search, producing individuals that acquire significantly more skills than either algorithm alone. PMID:27589267

Complex phenomena in social and financial systems : from bird population growth to the dynamics of the mutual fund industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwarzkopf, Yonathan

2011-12-01

This dissertation explores the impact of gasoline prices and transportation policies on consumer behavior through three separate channels: (1) by affecting the relative operating costs of the vehicles in a household's garage, (2) through stimulation of vehicle purchases due to the Cash-for-Clunkers policy, and (3) due to the availability and accessibility of high quality public transportation. Each of these channels is explored in a separate chapter. The first chapter presents a discrete-continuous household vehicle bundle model, where the household's choice of vehicles and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is affected by gasoline prices and household and vehicle characteristics. I employ a revealed preference approach that allows for an unlimited choice set, within household vehicle substitution, vehicle specific fixed effects, and unobserved consumer heterogeneity. I use detailed micro-data from the National Household Transportation Survey (NHTS) 2001 and 2009 to explore how different research assumptions affect how elastic households appear to the researcher. The second chapter analyzes the impact of the Cash-for-Clunkers policy implemented in fall 2009 on vehicle demand, overall emissions, gasoline demand, and job creation. We employ a difference-in-difference estimation technique, using Canada as the control group, and find that the policy overpriced the reduction of emissions relative to other emissions reductions policies. Finally, the third chapter explores how the availability of public transportation affects how sensitive individuals are to gasoline prices. Through the use of regressions and the NHTS 2001 dataset, we find that living in a city with good public transportation allows individuals to substitute a portion of their VMT, specifically in commuting, from private to public transit options, thus increasing their sensitivity to gasoline prices. We find that a gasoline tax in conjunction with an improvement in public transportation infrastructure could significantly reduce gasoline demand more than just a gasoline tax alone. There are many factors that affect gasoline and vehicle demand- public policies, household heterogeneity, public transportation availability, and prices. This dissertation explores how different research assumptions and techniques can change how responsive individuals appear to gasoline prices, and analyzes the impact of different transportation policies on overall gasoline and vehicle demand.

Explorations of Individual Differences Relevant to High Level Skill.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-12-15

discrete pairs that were responded to in a set order. Many real life tasks are ongoing and the performer must interweave them in some manner. It is... life skill that might relate to the predictors? 18. Individual Differences in the Rate of Repetitive Activity Recently we have begun to investigate...22211 Ale..a.drla. VA 22333 1 Dr. Sesceinve Maddad Prcgrm Manager 1 DR. 8.1. Si.AFKOSIY I Dr. Renter Pletcher Life Sriencea Directorate SCIEMTIPIr ADVISOR

Variations of the Functional Brain Network Efficiency in a Young Clinical Sample within the Autism Spectrum: A fNIRS Investigation.

PubMed

Li, Yanwei; Yu, Dongchuan

2018-01-01

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with dimensional behavioral symptoms and various damages in the structural and functional brain. Previous neuroimaging studies focused on exploring the differences of brain development between individuals with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, few of them have attempted to investigate the individual differences of the brain features among subjects within the Autism spectrum. Our main goal was to explore the individual differences of neurodevelopment in young children with Autism by testing for the association between the functional network efficiency and levels of autistic behaviors, as well as the association between the functional network efficiency and age. Forty-six children with Autism (ages 2.0-8.9 years old) participated in the current study, with levels of autistic behaviors evaluated by their parents. The network efficiency (global and local network efficiency) were obtained from the functional networks based on the oxy-, deoxy-, and total-Hemoglobin series, respectively. Results indicated that the network efficiency decreased with age in young children with Autism in the deoxy- and total-Hemoglobin-based-networks, and children with a relatively higher level of autistic behaviors showed decreased network efficiency in the oxy-hemoglobin-based network. Results suggest individual differences of brain development in young children within the Autism spectrum, providing new insights into the psychopathology of ASD.

Are personality differences in a small iteroparous mammal maintained by a life-history trade-off?

PubMed Central

Dammhahn, Melanie

2012-01-01

Despite increasing interest, animal personality is still a puzzling phenomenon. Several theoretical models have been proposed to explain intraindividual consistency and interindividual variation in behaviour, which have been primarily supported by qualitative data and simulations. Using an empirical approach, I tested predictions of one main life-history hypothesis, which posits that consistent individual differences in behaviour are favoured by a trade-off between current and future reproduction. Data on life-history were collected for individuals of a natural population of grey mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus). Using open-field and novel-object tests, I quantified variation in activity, exploration and boldness for 117 individuals over 3 years. I found systematic variation in boldness between individuals of different residual reproductive value. Young males with low current but high expected future fitness were less bold than older males with high current fecundity, and males might increase in boldness with age. Females have low variation in assets and in boldness with age. Body condition was not related to boldness and only explained marginal variation in exploration. Overall, these data indicate that a trade-off between current and future reproduction might maintain personality variation in mouse lemurs, and thus provide empirical support of this life-history trade-off hypothesis. PMID:22398164

Individual Differences and Possible Effects from Outdoor Education: Long Time and Short Time Benefits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fiskum, Tove Anita; Jacobsen, Karl

2012-01-01

This study explores differences in the children's outcomes from outdoor education. The results revealed different outcomes within different subgroups: The children with an easy or a withdrawal temperament are good functioning both indoor and outdoor. Their outcomes from outdoor education are an increased vitality, which might be seen as a short…

Does boldness explain vulnerability to angling in Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis?

PubMed

Vainikka, Anssi; Tammela, Ilkka; Hyvärinen, Pekka

2016-04-01

Consistent individual differences (CIDs) in behavior are of interest to both basic and applied research, because any selection acting on them could induce evolution of animal behavior. It has been suggested that CIDs in the behavior of fish might explain individual differences in vulnerability to fishing. If so, fishing could impose selection on fish behavior. In this study, we assessed boldness-indicating behaviors of Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis using individually conducted experiments measuring the time taken to explore a novel arena containing predator (burbot, Lota lota ) cues. We studied if individual differences in boldness would explain vulnerability of individually tagged perch to experimental angling in outdoor ponds, or if fishing would impose selection on boldness-indicating behavior. Perch expressed repeatable individual differences in boldness-indicating behavior but the individual boldness-score (the first principal component) obtained using principal component analysis combining all the measured behavioral responses did not explain vulnerability to experimental angling. Instead, large body size appeared as the only statistically significant predictor of capture probability. Our results suggest that angling is selective for large size, but not always selective for high boldness.

Does boldness explain vulnerability to angling in Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis?

PubMed Central

Vainikka, Anssi; Tammela, Ilkka; Hyvärinen, Pekka

2016-01-01

Abstract Consistent individual differences (CIDs) in behavior are of interest to both basic and applied research, because any selection acting on them could induce evolution of animal behavior. It has been suggested that CIDs in the behavior of fish might explain individual differences in vulnerability to fishing. If so, fishing could impose selection on fish behavior. In this study, we assessed boldness-indicating behaviors of Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis using individually conducted experiments measuring the time taken to explore a novel arena containing predator (burbot, Lota lota) cues. We studied if individual differences in boldness would explain vulnerability of individually tagged perch to experimental angling in outdoor ponds, or if fishing would impose selection on boldness-indicating behavior. Perch expressed repeatable individual differences in boldness-indicating behavior but the individual boldness-score (the first principal component) obtained using principal component analysis combining all the measured behavioral responses did not explain vulnerability to experimental angling. Instead, large body size appeared as the only statistically significant predictor of capture probability. Our results suggest that angling is selective for large size, but not always selective for high boldness. PMID:29491897

The Role of Individual Interest and Future Goals during the First Years of University Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikkonen, Johanna; Ruohoniemi, Mirja; Lindblom-Ylanne, Sari

2013-01-01

In this study, 28 university students from two different fields--the humanities and veterinary medicine--were interviewed. The aim was to explore the role of individual interest and future goals during the first two years of university study through retrospective interviews. The results showed that, while support from the learning environment was…

Essays on the Digital Divide--Explorations through Global, National and Individual Lenses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skaletsky, Maria

2013-01-01

The Digital Divide has emerged as an important research and policy issue during the past thirty years. The divide exists at different levels, such as global, regional and individual levels. While extensive research already exists on this subject, the complexity of the issue presents opportunities for further research. In particular, there is ample…

Modeling Fear of Crime in Dallas Neighborhoods: A Test of Social Capital Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, Kristin M.; Mindel, Charles H.

2007-01-01

This study tested a model of the effects of different predictors on individuals' levels of fear of crime in Dallas neighborhoods. Given its dual focus on individual perceptions and community-level interactions, social capital theory was selected as the most appropriate framework to explore fear of crime within the neighborhood milieu. A structural…

Bidirectional Influence between African American Mothers' and Children's Racial Centrality from Elementary through High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffman, Adam J.; Kurtz-Costes, Beth; Rowley, Stephanie J.; Adams, Elizabeth A.

2017-01-01

For many African Americans, racial identity is an important aspect of their individual identity. We explored developmental change and stability of individual differences in the racial centrality of African American youths and their mothers as well as the relation between maternal and child racial centrality across time. African American youths (N…

Learning Style Differences in the Perceived Effectiveness of Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karns, Gary L.

2006-01-01

The learning style individual difference factor has long been a basis for understanding student preferences for various learning activities. Marketing educators have been advised to heavily invest in tailoring course design based on the learning style groups in their classes. A further exploration of the effects of learning style differences on…

A Complex Story: Universal Preference vs. Individual Differences Shaping Aesthetic Response to Fractals Patterns

PubMed Central

Street, Nichola; Forsythe, Alexandra M.; Reilly, Ronan; Taylor, Richard; Helmy, Mai S.

2016-01-01

Fractal patterns offer one way to represent the rough complexity of the natural world. Whilst they dominate many of our visual experiences in nature, little large-scale perceptual research has been done to explore how we respond aesthetically to these patterns. Previous research (Taylor et al., 2011) suggests that the fractal patterns with mid-range fractal dimensions (FDs) have universal aesthetic appeal. Perceptual and aesthetic responses to visual complexity have been more varied with findings suggesting both linear (Forsythe et al., 2011) and curvilinear (Berlyne, 1970) relationships. Individual differences have been found to account for many of the differences we see in aesthetic responses but some, such as culture, have received little attention within the fractal and complexity research fields. This two-study article aims to test preference responses to FD and visual complexity, using a large cohort (N = 443) of participants from around the world to allow universality claims to be tested. It explores the extent to which age, culture and gender can predict our preferences for fractally complex patterns. Following exploratory analysis that found strong correlations between FD and visual complexity, a series of linear mixed-effect models were implemented to explore if each of the individual variables could predict preference. The first tested a linear complexity model (likelihood of selecting the more complex image from the pair of images) and the second a mid-range FD model (likelihood of selecting an image within mid-range). Results show that individual differences can reliably predict preferences for complexity across culture, gender and age. However, in fitting with current findings the mid-range models show greater consistency in preference not mediated by gender, age or culture. This article supports the established theory that the mid-range fractal patterns appear to be a universal construct underlying preference but also highlights the fragility of universal claims by demonstrating individual differences in preference for the interrelated concept of visual complexity. This highlights a current stalemate in the field of empirical aesthetics. PMID:27252634

Exploring Children's Face-Space: A Multidimensional Scaling Analysis of the Mental Representation of Facial Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nishimura, Mayu; Maurer, Daphne; Gao, Xiaoqing

2009-01-01

We explored differences in the mental representation of facial identity between 8-year-olds and adults. The 8-year-olds and adults made similarity judgments of a homogeneous set of faces (individual hair cues removed) using an "odd-man-out" paradigm. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses were performed to represent perceived similarity of faces…

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Korean and American Social Network Sites: Exploring Cultural Differences in Social Relationships and Self-Presentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Seong Eun

2010-01-01

National culture is being challenged as societies evolve from their homogeneous origins. The theoretical base of this study uses two cultural dimensions, individualism-collectivism (Hofstede, 2001) and high-and low-context cultures (Hall, 1976), to unpack the effects of national culture on social network sites (SNSs). This study explores cultural…

The Relevance of Diversity in the Job Attribute Preferences of College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Angela J.; Collins, Jennifer M.

2015-01-01

The study explores the role of diversity in the underlying job attributes that college students use to evaluate careers and if there are differences in the individual job attributes based on the race, gender, and major of the participants. We use a factor analysis to explore the underlying factors associated with 16 job attributes. Findings reveal…

Factors Influencing Career Choice of Management Students in India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agarwala, Tanuja

2008-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the influence of a range of factors on the career choice of management students in India. The importance of different individuals in the family and at work in making career choices among these students is also to be explored. In addition, the study seeks to address the relationship of the cultural values of…

Temporal Stability of the Human Skin Microbiome.

PubMed

Oh, Julia; Byrd, Allyson L; Park, Morgan; Kong, Heidi H; Segre, Julia A

2016-05-05

Biogeography and individuality shape the structural and functional composition of the human skin microbiome. To explore these factors' contribution to skin microbial community stability, we generated metagenomic sequence data from longitudinal samples collected over months and years. Analyzing these samples using a multi-kingdom, reference-based approach, we found that despite the skin's exposure to the external environment, its bacterial, fungal, and viral communities were largely stable over time. Site, individuality, and phylogeny were all determinants of stability. Foot sites exhibited the most variability; individuals differed in stability; and transience was a particular characteristic of eukaryotic viruses, which showed little site-specificity in colonization. Strain and single-nucleotide variant-level analysis showed that individuals maintain, rather than reacquire, prevalent microbes from the environment. Longitudinal stability of skin microbial communities generates hypotheses about colonization resistance and empowers clinical studies exploring alterations observed in disease states. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gender Identity and Adjustment: Understanding the Impact of Individual and Normative Differences in Sex Typing

PubMed Central

Lurye, Leah E.; Zosuls, Kristina M.; Ruble, Diane N.

2009-01-01

The relationship among gender identity, sex typing, and adjustment has attracted the attention of social and developmental psychologists for many years. However, they have explored this issue with different assumptions and different approaches. Generally the approaches differ regarding whether sex typing is considered adaptive versus maladaptive, measured as an individual or normative difference, and whether gender identity is regarded as a unidimensional or multidimensional construct. In this chapter, we consider both perspectives and suggest that the developmental timing and degree of sex typing, as well as the multidimensionality of gender identity, be considered when examining their relationship to adjustment. PMID:18521861

Gender identity and adjustment: understanding the impact of individual and normative differences in sex typing.

PubMed

Lurye, Leah E; Zosuls, Kristina M; Ruble, Diane N

2008-01-01

The relationship among gender identity, sex typing, and adjustment has attracted the attention of social and developmental psychologists for many years. However, they have explored this issue with different assumptions and different approaches. Generally the approaches differ regarding whether sex typing is considered adaptive versus maladaptive, measured as an individual or normative difference, and whether gender identity is regarded as a unidimensional or multidimensional construct. In this chapter, we consider both perspectives and suggest that the developmental timing and degree of sex typing, as well as the multidimensionality of gender identity, be considered when examining their relationship to adjustment.

Individual Differences in Amygdala-Medial Prefrontal Anatomy Link Negative Affect, Impaired Social Functioning, and Polygenic Depression Risk

PubMed Central

Holmes, Avram J.; Lee, Phil H.; Hollinshead, Marisa O.; Bakst, Leah; Roffman, Joshua L.; Smoller, Jordan W.; Buckner, Randy L.

2013-01-01

Individual differences in affective and social processes may arise from variability in amygdala-medial prefrontal (mPFC) circuitry and related genetic heterogeneity. To explore this possibility in humans, we examined the structural correlates of trait negative affect in a sample of 1050 healthy young adults with no history of psychiatric illness. Analyses revealed that heightened negative affect was associated with increased amygdala volume and reduced thickness in a left mPFC region encompassing the subgenual and rostral anterior cingulate cortex. The most extreme individuals displayed an inverse correlation between amygdala volume and mPFC thickness, suggesting that imbalance between these structures is linked to negative affect in the general population. Subgroups of participants were further evaluated on social (n = 206) and emotional (n = 533) functions. Individuals with decreased mPFC thickness exhibited the poorest social cognition and were least able to correctly identify facial emotion. Given prior links between disrupted amygdala–mPFC circuitry and the presence of major depressive disorder (MDD), we explored whether the individual differences in anatomy observed here in healthy young adults were associated with polygenic risk for MDD (n = 438) using risk scores derived from a large genome-wide association analysis (n = 18,759). Analyses revealed associations between increasing polygenic burden for MDD and reduced cortical thickness in the left mPFC. These collective findings suggest that, within the healthy population, there is significant variability in amygdala–mPFC circuitry that is associated with poor functioning across affective and social domains. Individual differences in this circuitry may arise, in part, from common genetic variability that contributes to risk for MDD. PMID:23238724

Spontaneous individual differences in cognitive performances of young adult rats predict locomotor response to amphetamine.

PubMed

Dellu-Hagedorn, F

2005-01-01

Inter-individual differences in cognitive capacities of young adult rats have largely been ignored. To explore this variability and its neurobiological bases, the relationships between individual differences in working memory and locomotor responses to novelty and to amphetamine were investigated in SD rats. Groups of good and poor learners were isolated, the latter demonstrating a markedly slower learning of the task compared to performant rats, with more perseverations independently to motivational state. They also presented a much higher increase in amphetamine-induced locomotion that remained significant for more than 1h after the injection. These results provide evidence that variability in cognitive capacities can be used to reveal their neurobiological substrates. They open new perspectives to study a possible cognitive origin of addictive behaviors and to investigate the involvement of these inter-individual differences on those observed later in life.

Individual Differences in Social Anxiety Affect the Salience of Errors in Social Contexts

PubMed Central

Barker, Tyson V.; Troller-Renfree, Sonya; Pine, Daniel S.; Fox, Nathan A.

2015-01-01

The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related potential that occurs approximately 50 ms after an erroneous response. The magnitude of the ERN is influenced by contextual factors, such as when errors are made during social evaluation. The ERN is also influenced by individual differences in anxiety, and it is elevated amongst anxious individuals. However, little research has examined how individual differences in anxiety interact with contextual factors to impact the ERN. Social anxiety involves fear and apprehension of social evaluation. The current study explored how individual differences in social anxiety interact with social contexts to modulate the ERN. The ERN was measured in 43 young adults characterized as either high or low in social anxiety while they completed a flanker task in two contexts: alone and during social evaluation. Results revealed a significant interaction between social anxiety and context, such that the ERN was enhanced in a social relative to a non-social context only among high socially anxious individuals. Furthermore, the degree of such enhancement significantly correlated with individual differences in social anxiety. These findings demonstrate that social anxiety is characterized by enhanced neural activity to errors in social evaluative contexts. PMID:25967929

Working Memory Delay Activity Predicts Individual Differences in Cognitive Abilities

PubMed Central

Unsworth, Nash; Fukuda, Keisuke; Awh, Edward; Vogel, Edward K.

2015-01-01

A great deal of prior research has examined the relation between estimates of working memory and cognitive abilities. Yet, the neural mechanisms that account for these relations are still not very well understood. The current study explored whether individual differences in working memory delay activity would be a significant predictor of cognitive abilities. A large number of participants performed multiple measures of capacity, attention control, long-term memory, working memory span, and fluid intelligence, and latent variable analyses were used to examine the data. During two working memory change detection tasks, we acquired EEG data and examined the contra-lateral delay activity. The results demonstrated that the contralateral delay activity was significantly related to cognitive abilities, and importantly these relations were because of individual differences in both capacity and attention control. These results suggest that individual differences in working memory delay activity predict individual differences in a broad range of cognitive abilities, and this is because of both differences in the number of items that can be maintained and the ability to control access to working memory. PMID:25436671

Working memory delay activity predicts individual differences in cognitive abilities.

PubMed

Unsworth, Nash; Fukuda, Keisuke; Awh, Edward; Vogel, Edward K

2015-05-01

A great deal of prior research has examined the relation between estimates of working memory and cognitive abilities. Yet, the neural mechanisms that account for these relations are still not very well understood. The current study explored whether individual differences in working memory delay activity would be a significant predictor of cognitive abilities. A large number of participants performed multiple measures of capacity, attention control, long-term memory, working memory span, and fluid intelligence, and latent variable analyses were used to examine the data. During two working memory change detection tasks, we acquired EEG data and examined the contralateral delay activity. The results demonstrated that the contralateral delay activity was significantly related to cognitive abilities, and importantly these relations were because of individual differences in both capacity and attention control. These results suggest that individual differences in working memory delay activity predict individual differences in a broad range of cognitive abilities, and this is because of both differences in the number of items that can be maintained and the ability to control access to working memory.

Pupil Diameter Tracks the Exploration-Exploitation Trade-off during Analogical Reasoning and Explains Individual Differences in Fluid Intelligence.

PubMed

Hayes, Taylor R; Petrov, Alexander A

2016-02-01

The ability to adaptively shift between exploration and exploitation control states is critical for optimizing behavioral performance. Converging evidence from primate electrophysiology and computational neural modeling has suggested that this ability may be mediated by the broad norepinephrine projections emanating from the locus coeruleus (LC) [Aston-Jones, G., & Cohen, J. D. An integrative theory of locus coeruleus-norepinephrine function: Adaptive gain and optimal performance. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 28, 403-450, 2005]. There is also evidence that pupil diameter covaries systematically with LC activity. Although imperfect and indirect, this link makes pupillometry a useful tool for studying the locus coeruleus norepinephrine system in humans and in high-level tasks. Here, we present a novel paradigm that examines how the pupillary response during exploration and exploitation covaries with individual differences in fluid intelligence during analogical reasoning on Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices. Pupillometry was used as a noninvasive proxy for LC activity, and concurrent think-aloud verbal protocols were used to identify exploratory and exploitative solution periods. This novel combination of pupillometry and verbal protocols from 40 participants revealed a decrease in pupil diameter during exploitation and an increase during exploration. The temporal dynamics of the pupillary response was characterized by a steep increase during the transition to exploratory periods, sustained dilation for many seconds afterward, and followed by gradual return to baseline. Moreover, the individual differences in the relative magnitude of pupillary dilation accounted for 16% of the variance in Advanced Progressive Matrices scores. Assuming that pupil diameter is a valid index of LC activity, these results establish promising preliminary connections between the literature on locus coeruleus norepinephrine-mediated cognitive control and the literature on analogical reasoning and fluid intelligence.

The Effect of Individual Differences in the Inner and Outer States of ICT on Engagement in Online Reading Activities and PISA 2009 Reading Literacy: Exploring the Relationship between the Old and New Reading Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Yuan-Hsuan; Wu, Jiun-Yu

2012-01-01

With the prevalence of ICT, the concept of reading literacy has evolved to encompass both online reading and printed texts. This study clarifies the relationship between reading printed texts and online electronic texts from the perspective of individual differences in the inner and outer phases of ICT in a partial mediation model. We used the…

Exploring Different Patterns of Love Attitudes among Chinese College Students.

PubMed

Zeng, Xianglong; Pan, Yiqin; Zhou, Han; Yu, Shi; Liu, Xiangping

2016-01-01

Individual differences in love attitudes and the relationship between love attitudes and other variables in Asian culture lack in-depth exploration. This study conducted cluster analysis with data regarding love attitudes obtained from 389 college students in mainland China. The result of cluster analysis based on love-attitude scales distinguished four types of students: game players, rational lovers, emotional lovers, and absence lovers. These four groups of students showed significant differences in sexual attitudes and personality traits of deliberation and dutifulness but not self-discipline. The study's implications for future studies on love attitudes in certain cultural groups were also discussed.

Post- and peritraumatic stress in disaster survivors: an explorative study about the influence of individual and event characteristics across different types of disasters.

PubMed

Grimm, Anna; Hulse, Lynn; Preiss, Marek; Schmidt, Silke

2012-01-01

Examination of existing research on posttraumatic adjustment after disasters suggests that survivors' posttraumatic stress levels might be better understood by investigating the influence of the characteristics of the event experienced on how people thought and felt, during the event as well as afterwards. To compare survivors' perceived post- and peritraumatic emotional and cognitive reactions across different types of disasters. Additionally, to investigate individual and event characteristics. In a European multi-centre study, 102 survivors of different disasters terror attack, flood, fire and collapse of a building were interviewed about their responses during the event. Survivors' perceived posttraumatic stress levels were assessed with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Peritraumatic emotional stress and risk perception were rated retrospectively. Influences of individual characteristics, such as socio-demographic data, and event characteristics, such as time and exposure factors, on post- and peritraumatic outcomes were analyzed. Levels of reported post- and peritraumatic outcomes differed significantly between types of disasters. Type of disaster was a significant predictor of all three outcome variables but the factors gender, education, time since event, injuries and fatalities were only significant for certain outcomes. Results support the hypothesis that there are differences in perceived post- and peritraumatic emotional and cognitive reactions after experiencing different types of disasters. However, it should be noted that these findings were not only explained by the type of disaster itself but also by individual and event characteristics. As the study followed an explorative approach, further research paths are discussed to better understand the relationships between variables.

Developing Competence at Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bound, Helen; Lin, Magdalene

2013-01-01

In this paper, we explore the relationship between differing conceptualisations of competence, and the implications of these differences for the enacted workplace curriculum and its pedagogical epistemologies. We argue that when competence is understood as a set of stand-alone attributes that reside within an individual, it limits and over…

Exploring the underlying structure of mental disorders: cross-diagnostic differences and similarities from a network perspective using both a top-down and a bottom-up approach.

PubMed

Wigman, J T W; van Os, J; Borsboom, D; Wardenaar, K J; Epskamp, S; Klippel, A; Viechtbauer, W; Myin-Germeys, I; Wichers, M

2015-08-01

It has been suggested that the structure of psychopathology is best described as a complex network of components that interact in dynamic ways. The goal of the present paper was to examine the concept of psychopathology from a network perspective, combining complementary top-down and bottom-up approaches using momentary assessment techniques. A pooled Experience Sampling Method (ESM) dataset of three groups (individuals with a diagnosis of depression, psychotic disorder or no diagnosis) was used (pooled N = 599). The top-down approach explored the network structure of mental states across different diagnostic categories. For this purpose, networks of five momentary mental states ('cheerful', 'content', 'down', 'insecure' and 'suspicious') were compared between the three groups. The complementary bottom-up approach used principal component analysis to explore whether empirically derived network structures yield meaningful higher order clusters. Individuals with a clinical diagnosis had more strongly connected moment-to-moment network structures, especially the depressed group. This group also showed more interconnections specifically between positive and negative mental states than the psychotic group. In the bottom-up approach, all possible connections between mental states were clustered into seven main components that together captured the main characteristics of the network dynamics. Our combination of (i) comparing network structure of mental states across three diagnostically different groups and (ii) searching for trans-diagnostic network components across all pooled individuals showed that these two approaches yield different, complementary perspectives in the field of psychopathology. The network paradigm therefore may be useful to map transdiagnostic processes.

Choke or thrive? The relation between salivary cortisol and math performance depends on individual differences in working memory and math-anxiety.

PubMed

Mattarella-Micke, Andrew; Mateo, Jill; Kozak, Megan N; Foster, Katherine; Beilock, Sian L

2011-08-01

In the current study, we explored how a person's physiological arousal relates to their performance in a challenging math situation as a function of individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity and math-anxiety. Participants completed demanding math problems before and after which salivary cortisol, an index of arousal, was measured. The performance of lower WM individuals did not depend on cortisol concentration or math-anxiety. For higher WM individuals high in math-anxiety, the higher their concentration of salivary cortisol following the math task, the worse their performance. In contrast, for higher WM individuals lower in math-anxiety, the higher their salivary cortisol concentrations, the better their performance. For individuals who have the capacity to perform at a high-level (higher WMs), whether physiological arousal will lead an individual to choke or thrive depends on math-anxiety. 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Collective decision making and social interaction rules in mixed-species flocks of songbirds

PubMed Central

Farine, Damien R.; Aplin, Lucy M.; Garroway, Colin J.; Mann, Richard P.; Sheldon, Ben C.

2014-01-01

Associations in mixed-species foraging groups are common in animals, yet have rarely been explored in the context of collective behaviour. Despite many investigations into the social and ecological conditions under which individuals should form groups, we still know little about the specific behavioural rules that individuals adopt in these contexts, or whether these can be generalized to heterospecifics. Here, we studied collective behaviour in flocks in a community of five species of woodland passerine birds. We adopted an automated data collection protocol, involving visits by RFID-tagged birds to feeding stations equipped with antennae, over two winters, recording 91 576 feeding events by 1904 individuals. We demonstrated highly synchronized feeding behaviour within patches, with birds moving towards areas of the patch with the largest proportion of the flock. Using a model of collective decision making, we then explored the underlying decision rule birds may be using when foraging in mixed-species flocks. The model tested whether birds used a different decision rule for conspecifics and heterospecifics, and whether the rules used by individuals of different species varied. We found that species differed in their response to the distribution of conspecifics and heterospecifics across foraging patches. However, simulating decisions using the different rules, which reproduced our data well, suggested that the outcome of using different decision rules by each species resulted in qualitatively similar overall patterns of movement. It is possible that the decision rules each species uses may be adjusted to variation in mean species abundance in order for individuals to maintain the same overall flock-level response. This is likely to be important for maintaining coordinated behaviour across species, and to result in quick and adaptive flock responses to food resources that are patchily distributed in space and time. PMID:25214653

PLAYERS' PERCEPTIONS OF HOME ADVANTAGE IN THE AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE COMPETITION.

PubMed

Mcguckin, Teneale A; Sinclair, Wade H; Sealey, Rebecca M; Bowman, Paul W

2015-12-01

This study was designed to pilot a survey to explore players' perception of home advantage in a rugby league. Twenty-seven players from one team with an identified home advantage believed a home advantage existed as a result of their home crowd (52%), family and friends' support (41%), normal travel (45%) and sleeping arrangements (37%), home weather conditions (48%), and familiarity with playing amenities (37%). However, the players were less definite about influences while playing away from home. The current sample of players identified differing influences, highlighting individual variations in perceived determinants. Individual interviews or focus groups will be required for further exploration.

A System Analysis for Determining Alternative Technological Issues for the Future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Magistrale, V. J.; Small, J.

1967-01-01

A systems engineering methodology is provided, by which future technological ventures may be examined utilizing particular national, corporate, or individual value judgments. Three matrix analyses are presented. The first matrix is concerned with the effect of technology on population increase, war, poverty, health, resources, and prejudice. The second matrix explores an analytical technique for determining the relative importance of different areas of technology. The third matrix explores how an individual or corporate entity may determine how its capability may be used for future technological opportunities. No conclusions are presented since primary effort has been placed on the methodology of determining future technological issues.

Cancer screening is not only about numbers.

PubMed

Knottnerus, B J

2017-05-01

In the cancer screening debate, arguments for and against screening are often based on statistics, whereas for individuals personal, non-statistical factors are at least as important when deciding whether to participate in screening. Health care professionals have a responsibility in helping individuals navigate in this complex field by identifying and clarifying the individuals' beliefs, fears and preferences while being aware of their own. Moreover, researchers should explore beliefs and motives that matter for individuals and not only report numbers that can be interpreted in different ways. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Exploring the Influence of Individual and Academic Differences on the Placement Participation Rate among International Students: A UK Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Ian; Wang, Zhiqi; Andrews, Georgina

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the low placement participation rate among international students compared with UK students, by examining the impact of individual factors such as gender and domicile and academic achievement such as prior academic qualification, prior academic results and subsequent academic results on…

The Advanced Learner's Sociolinguistic Profile: On Issues of Individual Differences, Second Language Exposure Conditions, and Type of Sociolinguistic Variable

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Martin

2012-01-01

Situated within the recent new wave of second language acquisition studies investigating the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation, this article draws on a longitudinal database of advanced French interlanguage to explore a number of issues that have not yet been extensively investigated. They concern the issue of individual variation in the…

Crafts and Craft Education as Expressions of Cultural Heritage: Individual Experiences and Collective Values among an International Group of Women University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kokko, Sirpa; Dillon, Patrick

2011-01-01

This paper explores relationships between crafts, craft education and cultural heritage as reflected in the individual experiences and collective values of fifteen female university students of different nationalities. The students (all trainee teachers) were following a course in crafts and craft education as part of an International Study…

The Role of Age on Multisensory Bodily Experience: An Experimental Study with a Virtual Reality Full-Body Illusion.

PubMed

Serino, Silvia; Scarpina, Federica; Dakanalis, Antonios; Keizer, Anouk; Pedroli, Elisa; Castelnuovo, Gianluca; Chirico, Alice; Catallo, Valentina; di Lernia, Daniele; Riva, Giuseppe

2018-05-01

A growing body of evidence demonstrated that it is feasible to induce ownership over an artificial body to alter bodily experience. However, several uncharted aspects about full-body illusion applications need to be tackled before a complete exploitation of these methods in clinical practice. This work is devoted to explore possible individual age-related differences in shaping changes in body representations induced with a full-body illusion. A total of 40 women were divided into two different age groups according to the median of the variable age. Participants estimated the width of three different body parts (i.e., shoulders, abdomen, and hips) before the entire illusion was induced (baseline), and after the synchronous and the asynchronous conditions. Results revealed that 26-to-55-year-old participants were more resistant to changes induced by the bodily illusion, whereas 19-to-25-year-old participants underestimated their bodies after both conditions. The findings were discussed in terms of the literature exploring age differences in responses to bodily illusion, which could suggest a Bayesian mechanism underlying these individual differences.

Developmental-genetic effects on level and change in childhood fears of twins during adolescence.

PubMed

Eaves, Lindon J; Silberg, Judy L

2008-11-01

If the adaptive significance of specific fears changes with age, the genetic contribution to individual differences may be lowest at the age of greatest salience. The roles of genes and environment in the developmental-genetic trajectory of five common childhood fears are explored in 1094 like-sex pairs of male and female monozygotic and dizygotic twins assessed on up to three occasions during adolescence (ages 8-18 years). Dichotomous self-ratings of a cluster of five correlated fears from Ollendick's schedule of fears (FSSC-R) were extracted for subjects at each occasion of assessment. The effects of genes and environment on overall level of fears and rates of adolescent decline were explored by fitting an item-response theory ('IRT') model that allowed for individual genetic and environmental differences in initial fear level ('intercept') and rates of adolescent change ('slope') across the repeated waves of measurement. Different forms of the model were explored using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to derive the posterior distribution of subject and item parameters from the raw responses. Additive genetic differences affect the common factor underlying the five fear-items. The same genes also affect rates of change with age, especially in boys. Male adolescents with higher overall genetic predisposition to childhood fears tended to show slower recovery with age than subjects with relatively low initial values. Thus, the genetic variance apparently increases with age. This finding is consistent with a prediction that the regulation of genetic differences will be strongest, and thus the additive genetic variance will be smallest, at the age when the particular stimulus is most salient. Items differed in the extent to which they were sensitive to underlying random differences in the rate of developmental change. Individual differences in rates of change with age were more marked in boys than girls.

Individual differences in fundamental social motives.

PubMed

Neel, Rebecca; Kenrick, Douglas T; White, Andrew Edward; Neuberg, Steven L

2016-06-01

Motivation has long been recognized as an important component of how people both differ from, and are similar to, each other. The current research applies the biologically grounded fundamental social motives framework, which assumes that human motivational systems are functionally shaped to manage the major costs and benefits of social life, to understand individual differences in social motives. Using the Fundamental Social Motives Inventory, we explore the relations among the different fundamental social motives of Self-Protection, Disease Avoidance, Affiliation, Status, Mate Seeking, Mate Retention, and Kin Care; the relationships of the fundamental social motives to other individual difference and personality measures including the Big Five personality traits; the extent to which fundamental social motives are linked to recent life experiences; and the extent to which life history variables (e.g., age, sex, childhood environment) predict individual differences in the fundamental social motives. Results suggest that the fundamental social motives are a powerful lens through which to examine individual differences: They are grounded in theory, have explanatory value beyond that of the Big Five personality traits, and vary meaningfully with a number of life history variables. A fundamental social motives approach provides a generative framework for considering the meaning and implications of individual differences in social motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Teachers' Cultural Differences: Case Studies Of Geography Teachers In Brisbane, Changchun and Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lam, Chi Chung; Lidstone, John

2007-01-01

The primary purpose of this exploratory study is to identify variations in the ways in which individual teachers in different educational contexts interpret their curriculum and plan their lessons and in particular to explore the possibility that cultural differences as identified by Hofstede (1991) may be a contributing factor to understanding…

The Effect of Union Type on Work-Life Conflict in Five European Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kasearu, Kairi

2009-01-01

This paper explores the strategies for reconciling family and work in different union types. The focus here is on investigating how cohabiting and married individuals perceive the work-life conflict in different European countries. To test the union type impact on work-life balance in the context of different societal conditions, this paper draws…

Student Engagement at a Large Suburban Community College: Gender and Race Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sontam, Varalakshmi; Gabriel, George

2012-01-01

Previous research shows that there are individual differences in academic achievement associated with gender and race. Research also suggests that student engagement is an important determinant of student outcomes/achievement. The present study explored student engagement at an extra-large community college. It specifically investigated possible…

Hispanic College Students' Perceptions of Members of Business Occupations: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cory, Suzanne N.; Mullen, Ellen Wall; Reeves, Thomas Edward

2010-01-01

The authors explored freshmen Hispanic and non-Hispanic White student perceptions of the members of three different business occupations: bankers, accountants, and marketing managers. Using "t" tests, some differences were found between the two ethnic groups regarding perceived individual characteristics of members of the occupations, but the…

Performances of survival, feeding behavior, and gene expression in aphids reveal their different fitness to host alteration

PubMed Central

Lu, Hong; Yang, Pengcheng; Xu, Yongyu; Luo, Lan; Zhu, Junjie; Cui, Na; Kang, Le; Cui, Feng

2016-01-01

Insect populations feeding on different plant species are under selection pressure to adapt to these differences. A study integrating elements of the ecology, behavior, and gene expression of aphids on different host plants has not yet been well-explored. The present study explores the relationship between host fitness and survival, feeding behavior, and salivary gland gene expression of a pea (Pisum sativum) host race of Acyrthosiphon pisum feeding on a common host Vicia faba and on three genetically-related hosts (Vicia villosa, Medicago truncatula, and Medicago sativa). Life table data indicated that aphids on non-favored hosts exhibited small size, low reproduction rate, slow population increase and individual development, and long lifespan. Electrical penetration graph results showed that the aphids spent significantly less time in passive ingestion of phloem sap on all non-preferred host plants before acclimation. After a period of acclimation on M. truncatula and V. villosa, pea host race individuals showed improved feeding behavior. No individuals of the pea host race completed its life history on M. sativa. Interestingly, the number of host-specific differentially-expressed salivary gland genes was negatively correlated with the fitness of aphids on this host plant. This study provided important cues in host plant specialization in aphids. PMID:26758247

The advantage of being oneself: The role of applicant self-verification in organizational hiring decisions.

PubMed

Moore, Celia; Lee, Sun Young; Kim, Kawon; Cable, Daniel M

2017-11-01

In this paper, we explore whether individuals who strive to self-verify flourish or flounder on the job market. Using placement data from 2 very different field samples, we found that individuals rated by the organization as being in the top 10% of candidates were significantly more likely to receive a job offer if they have a stronger drive to self-verify. A third study, using a quasi-experimental design, explored the mechanism behind this effect and tested whether individuals who are high and low on this disposition communicate differently in a structured mock job interview. Text analysis (LIWC) of interview transcripts revealed systematic differences in candidates' language use as a function of their self-verification drives. These differences led an expert rater to perceive candidates with a strong drive to self-verify as less inauthentic and less misrepresentative than their low self-verifying peers, making her more likely to recommend these candidates for a job. Taken together, our results suggest that authentic self-presentation is an unidentified route to success on the job market, amplifying the chances that high-quality candidates can convert organizations' positive evaluations into tangible job offers. We discuss implications for job applicants, organizations, and the labor market. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Contrasting diversity of testate amoebae communities in Sphagnum and brown-moss dominated patches in relation to shell counts.

PubMed

Lizoňová, Zuzana; Horsák, Michal

2017-04-01

Ecological studies of peatland testate amoebae are generally based on totals of 150 individuals per sample. However, the suitability of this standard has never been assessed for alkaline habitats such as spring fens. We explored the differences in testate amoeba diversity between Sphagnum and brown-moss microhabitats at a mire site with a highly diversified moss layer which reflects the small-scale heterogeneity in groundwater chemistry. Relationships between sampling efficiency and sample completeness were explored using individual-based species accumulation curves and the effort required to gain an extra species was assessed. Testate amoeba diversity differed substantially between microhabitats, with brown mosses hosting on average twice as many species and requiring greater shell totals to reach comparable sample analysis efficiency as for Sphagnum. Thus, for samples from alkaline conditions an increase in shell totals would be required and even an overall doubling up to 300 individuals might be considered for reliable community description. Our small-scale data are likely not robust enough to provide an ultimate solution for the optimization of shell totals. However, the results proved that testate amoebae communities from acidic and alkaline environments differ sharply in both species richness and composition and they might call for different methodological approaches. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Modeling the Etiology of Individual Differences in Early Reading Development: Evidence for Strong Genetic Influences

PubMed Central

Christopher, Micaela E.; Hulslander, Jacqueline; Byrne, Brian; Samuelsson, Stefan; Keenan, Janice M.; Pennington, Bruce; DeFries, John C.; Wadsworth, Sally J.; Willcutt, Erik; Olson, Richard K.

2012-01-01

We explored the etiology of individual differences in reading development from post-kindergarten to post-4th grade by analyzing data from 487 twin pairs tested in Colorado. Data from three reading measures and one spelling measure were fit to biometric latent growth curve models, allowing us to extend previous behavioral genetic studies of the etiology of early reading development at specific time points. We found primarily genetic influences on individual differences at post-1st grade for all measures. Genetic influences on variance in growth rates were also found, with evidence of small, nonsignificant, shared environmental influences for two measures. We discuss our results, including their implications for educational policy. PMID:24489459

Extrapunitive and Intropunitive Individuals Activate Different Parts of the Prefrontal Cortex under an Ego-Blocking Frustration

PubMed Central

Minamoto, Takehiro; Osaka, Mariko; Yaoi, Ken; Osaka, Naoyuki

2014-01-01

Different people make different responses when they face a frustrating situation: some punish others (extrapunitive), while others punish themselves (intropunitive). Few studies have investigated the neural structures that differentiate extrapunitive and intropunitive individuals. The present fMRI study explored these neural structures using two different frustrating situations: an ego-blocking situation which blocks a desire or goal, and a superego-blocking situation which blocks self-esteem. In the ego-blocking condition, the extrapunitive group (n = 9) showed greater activation in the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, indicating that these individuals prefer emotional processing. On the other hand, the intropunitive group (n = 9) showed greater activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, possibly reflecting an effortful control for anger reduction. Such patterns were not observed in the superego-blocking condition. These results indicate that the prefrontal cortex is the source of individual differences in aggression direction in the ego-blocking situation. PMID:24454951

Exploring bullying: Implications for nurse educators.

PubMed

Edwards, Sharon L; O'Connell, Claire Frances

2007-01-01

This article examines briefly the issue of workplace violence and bullying in the hospital environment, but more importantly how the same and different styles of bullying and intra-staff bullying are emerging in nurse education. The content describes the aetiology of violence and bullying and their place in the National Health Service (NHS) including nursing. It explores bullying as the principle form of intimidation in nurse education, the different types and subtle forms of bullying, why individuals become bullies, dealing with and the consequences of bullying. The legislation, guidelines, policies are part of the recommendations for practice.

Multirelational organization of large-scale social networks in an online world

PubMed Central

Szell, Michael; Lambiotte, Renaud; Thurner, Stefan

2010-01-01

The capacity to collect fingerprints of individuals in online media has revolutionized the way researchers explore human society. Social systems can be seen as a nonlinear superposition of a multitude of complex social networks, where nodes represent individuals and links capture a variety of different social relations. Much emphasis has been put on the network topology of social interactions, however, the multidimensional nature of these interactions has largely been ignored, mostly because of lack of data. Here, for the first time, we analyze a complete, multirelational, large social network of a society consisting of the 300,000 odd players of a massive multiplayer online game. We extract networks of six different types of one-to-one interactions between the players. Three of them carry a positive connotation (friendship, communication, trade), three a negative (enmity, armed aggression, punishment). We first analyze these types of networks as separate entities and find that negative interactions differ from positive interactions by their lower reciprocity, weaker clustering, and fatter-tail degree distribution. We then explore how the interdependence of different network types determines the organization of the social system. In particular, we study correlations and overlap between different types of links and demonstrate the tendency of individuals to play different roles in different networks. As a demonstration of the power of the approach, we present the first empirical large-scale verification of the long-standing structural balance theory, by focusing on the specific multiplex network of friendship and enmity relations. PMID:20643965

Multirelational organization of large-scale social networks in an online world.

PubMed

Szell, Michael; Lambiotte, Renaud; Thurner, Stefan

2010-08-03

The capacity to collect fingerprints of individuals in online media has revolutionized the way researchers explore human society. Social systems can be seen as a nonlinear superposition of a multitude of complex social networks, where nodes represent individuals and links capture a variety of different social relations. Much emphasis has been put on the network topology of social interactions, however, the multidimensional nature of these interactions has largely been ignored, mostly because of lack of data. Here, for the first time, we analyze a complete, multirelational, large social network of a society consisting of the 300,000 odd players of a massive multiplayer online game. We extract networks of six different types of one-to-one interactions between the players. Three of them carry a positive connotation (friendship, communication, trade), three a negative (enmity, armed aggression, punishment). We first analyze these types of networks as separate entities and find that negative interactions differ from positive interactions by their lower reciprocity, weaker clustering, and fatter-tail degree distribution. We then explore how the interdependence of different network types determines the organization of the social system. In particular, we study correlations and overlap between different types of links and demonstrate the tendency of individuals to play different roles in different networks. As a demonstration of the power of the approach, we present the first empirical large-scale verification of the long-standing structural balance theory, by focusing on the specific multiplex network of friendship and enmity relations.

The Influence of Head Motion on Intrinsic Functional Connectivity MRI

PubMed Central

Van Dijk, Koene R.A.; Sabuncu, Mert R.; Buckner, Randy L.

2011-01-01

Functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) has been widely applied to explore group and individual differences. A confounding factor is head motion. Children move more than adults, older adults more than younger adults, and patients more than controls. Head motion varies considerably among individuals within the same population. Here we explored the influence of head motion on fcMRI estimates. Mean head displacement, maximum head displacement, the number of micro movements (> 0.1 mm), and head rotation were estimated in 1000 healthy, young adult subjects each scanned for two resting-state runs on matched 3T scanners. The majority of fcMRI variation across subjects was not linked to estimated head motion. However, head motion had significant, systematic effects on fcMRI network measures. Head motion was associated with decreased functional coupling in the default and frontoparietal control networks – two networks characterized by coupling among distributed regions of association cortex. Other network measures increased with motion including estimates of local functional coupling and coupling between left and right motor regions – a region pair sometimes used as a control in studies to establish specificity. Comparisons between groups of individuals with subtly different levels of head motion yielded difference maps that could be mistaken for neuronal effects in other contexts. These effects are important to consider when interpreting variation between groups and across individuals. PMID:21810475

Consistent individual differences in haemolymph density reflect risk propensity in a marine invertebrate

PubMed Central

Fürtbauer, Ines

2015-01-01

While the literature on consistent individual differences in correlated suites of physiological and behavioural traits is steadily growing for vertebrates, invertebrates have received less attention. The few studies that do exist have measured temporary physiological states (or responses), rather than consistent individual physiological traits. Here, I explore the consistency of individual differences in physiology and behaviour of n=53 shore crabs (Carcinus maenas) by repeatedly measuring haemolymph density (HD) and the crabs' responses to a novel environment. In crustaceans, HD is directly proportional to protein concentrations, and thus indicative of physiological condition. HD was highly repeatable, and crabs showed consistent individual differences in their behavioural responses to a novel environment, thus indicating individual consistency in both physiology and behaviour. Furthermore, HD was significantly correlated with the crabs' risk propensity, i.e. individuals with higher HD spent more time near shelter. Overall, this provides the first evidence for consistency in an endogenous physiological trait in an invertebrate. The link between consistent physiology and behaviour, i.e. coping styles, analogous to those found in vertebrates, suggests metabolic and/or immunological correlates of personality which offer great potential for future studies. PMID:26543575

A Cross-Cultural Exploration of the Everyday Social Participation of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Australia and Taiwan: An Experience Sampling Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Yu-Wei; Bundy, Anita C.; Cordier, Reinie; Chien, Yi-Ling; Einfeld, Stewart L.

2017-01-01

Individuals with an autism spectrum disorder commonly have limited social participation. This study aimed to examine the similarities and differences of everyday participation among males and females with autism spectrum disorder in Australia and Taiwan, using an experience sampling methodology. A total of 14 Australians (4 males, aged 16-43…

A Psychological Exploration of Engagement in Geek Culture

PubMed Central

McCain, Jessica; Gentile, Brittany; Campbell, W. Keith

2015-01-01

Geek culture is a subculture of enthusiasts that is traditionally associated with obscure media (Japanese animation, science fiction, video games, etc.). However, geek culture is becoming increasingly mainstream; for example, in the past year alone, Dragon*Con, a major Geek convention in Atlanta, Georgia, attracted an attendance of over 57,000 members. The present article uses an individual differences approach to examine three theoretical accounts of geek culture. Seven studies (N = 2354) develop the Geek Culture Engagement Scale (GCES) to quantify geek engagement and assess its relationships to theoretically relevant personality and individual differences variables. These studies present evidence that individuals may engage in geek culture in order to maintain narcissistic self-views (the great fantasy migration hypothesis), to fulfill belongingness needs (the belongingness hypothesis), and to satisfy needs for creative expression (the need for engagement hypothesis). Geek engagement is found to be associated with elevated grandiose narcissism, extraversion, openness to experience, depression, and subjective well-being across multiple samples. These data lay the groundwork for further exploration of geek culture as well as provide a foundation for examining other forms of subculture participation. PMID:26580564

A Psychological Exploration of Engagement in Geek Culture.

PubMed

McCain, Jessica; Gentile, Brittany; Campbell, W Keith

2015-01-01

Geek culture is a subculture of enthusiasts that is traditionally associated with obscure media (Japanese animation, science fiction, video games, etc.). However, geek culture is becoming increasingly mainstream; for example, in the past year alone, Dragon*Con, a major Geek convention in Atlanta, Georgia, attracted an attendance of over 57,000 members. The present article uses an individual differences approach to examine three theoretical accounts of geek culture. Seven studies (N = 2354) develop the Geek Culture Engagement Scale (GCES) to quantify geek engagement and assess its relationships to theoretically relevant personality and individual differences variables. These studies present evidence that individuals may engage in geek culture in order to maintain narcissistic self-views (the great fantasy migration hypothesis), to fulfill belongingness needs (the belongingness hypothesis), and to satisfy needs for creative expression (the need for engagement hypothesis). Geek engagement is found to be associated with elevated grandiose narcissism, extraversion, openness to experience, depression, and subjective well-being across multiple samples. These data lay the groundwork for further exploration of geek culture as well as provide a foundation for examining other forms of subculture participation.

Exploring Different Patterns of Love Attitudes among Chinese College Students

PubMed Central

Zeng, Xianglong; Pan, Yiqin; Zhou, Han; Yu, Shi; Liu, Xiangping

2016-01-01

Individual differences in love attitudes and the relationship between love attitudes and other variables in Asian culture lack in-depth exploration. This study conducted cluster analysis with data regarding love attitudes obtained from 389 college students in mainland China. The result of cluster analysis based on love-attitude scales distinguished four types of students: game players, rational lovers, emotional lovers, and absence lovers. These four groups of students showed significant differences in sexual attitudes and personality traits of deliberation and dutifulness but not self-discipline. The study’s implications for future studies on love attitudes in certain cultural groups were also discussed. PMID:27851784

Neurovascular Network Explorer 2.0: A Simple Tool for Exploring and Sharing a Database of Optogenetically-evoked Vasomotion in Mouse Cortex In Vivo.

PubMed

Uhlirova, Hana; Tian, Peifang; Kılıç, Kıvılcım; Thunemann, Martin; Sridhar, Vishnu B; Chmelik, Radim; Bartsch, Hauke; Dale, Anders M; Devor, Anna; Saisan, Payam A

2018-05-04

The importance of sharing experimental data in neuroscience grows with the amount and complexity of data acquired and various techniques used to obtain and process these data. However, the majority of experimental data, especially from individual studies of regular-sized laboratories never reach wider research community. A graphical user interface (GUI) engine called Neurovascular Network Explorer 2.0 (NNE 2.0) has been created as a tool for simple and low-cost sharing and exploring of vascular imaging data. NNE 2.0 interacts with a database containing optogenetically-evoked dilation/constriction time-courses of individual vessels measured in mice somatosensory cortex in vivo by 2-photon microscopy. NNE 2.0 enables selection and display of the time-courses based on different criteria (subject, branching order, cortical depth, vessel diameter, arteriolar tree) as well as simple mathematical manipulation (e.g. averaging, peak-normalization) and data export. It supports visualization of the vascular network in 3D and enables localization of the individual functional vessel diameter measurements within vascular trees. NNE 2.0, its source code, and the corresponding database are freely downloadable from UCSD Neurovascular Imaging Laboratory website 1 . The source code can be utilized by the users to explore the associated database or as a template for databasing and sharing their own experimental results provided the appropriate format.

Angels and Demons: Using Behavioral Types in a Real-Effort Moral Dilemma to Identify Expert Traits.

PubMed

Bejarano, Hernán D; Green, Ellen P; Rassenti, Stephen J

2016-01-01

In this article, we explore how independently reported measures of subjects' cognitive capabilities, preferences, and sociodemographic characteristics relate to their behavior in a real-effort moral dilemma experiment. To do this, we use a unique dataset, the Chapman Preferences and Characteristics Instrument Set (CPCIS), which contains over 30 standardized measures of preferences and characteristics. We find that simple correlation analysis provides an incomplete picture of how individual measures relate to behavior. In contrast, clustering subjects into groups based on observed behavior in the real-effort task reveals important systematic differences in individual characteristics across groups. However, while we find more differences, these differences are not systematic and difficult to interpret. These results indicate a need for more comprehensive theory explaining how combinations of different individual characteristics impact behavior is needed.

Angels and Demons: Using Behavioral Types in a Real-Effort Moral Dilemma to Identify Expert Traits

PubMed Central

Bejarano, Hernán D.; Green, Ellen P.; Rassenti, Stephen J.

2016-01-01

In this article, we explore how independently reported measures of subjects' cognitive capabilities, preferences, and sociodemographic characteristics relate to their behavior in a real-effort moral dilemma experiment. To do this, we use a unique dataset, the Chapman Preferences and Characteristics Instrument Set (CPCIS), which contains over 30 standardized measures of preferences and characteristics. We find that simple correlation analysis provides an incomplete picture of how individual measures relate to behavior. In contrast, clustering subjects into groups based on observed behavior in the real-effort task reveals important systematic differences in individual characteristics across groups. However, while we find more differences, these differences are not systematic and difficult to interpret. These results indicate a need for more comprehensive theory explaining how combinations of different individual characteristics impact behavior is needed. PMID:27826258

Can individual health differences be explained by workplace characteristics?--A multilevel analysis.

PubMed

Marklund, Staffan; Bolin, Malin; von Essen, Jan

2008-02-01

Research on work-related health has mainly focused on individual factors. The present study expands the focus by exploring the role of organizational characteristics of workplaces for different individual health outcomes. The aim of the study was to look at differences in relative effect of workplace variations on five health outcomes, and to explain those differences in health outcomes by organizational characteristics. The sample encompassed 90 workplaces in Sweden and about 4300 individuals employed within these workplaces. Measurement of the workplace characteristics was carried out independently of the measurement of the individual's working conditions and health. Organizational data were collected by interviews with local managers at participating workplaces, and individual data were obtained by means of a survey of the employees. The results showed that a significant proportion of the variance in sickness absence, work ability, general health, and musculoskeletal disorders was attributed to the workplace. Of eight tested organizational characteristics, customer adaptation, lean production, and performance control could explain some of this workplace variance. The results also showed that only one organizational effect remained significant when controlled for the individual confounder of age and gender. High customer adaptation is associated with higher sickness absence. This association is not mediated via differences in mental and physical job strain.

Post- and peritraumatic stress in disaster survivors: an explorative study about the influence of individual and event characteristics across different types of disasters

PubMed Central

Grimm, Anna; Hulse, Lynn; Preiss, Marek; Schmidt, Silke

2012-01-01

Background Examination of existing research on posttraumatic adjustment after disasters suggests that survivors’ posttraumatic stress levels might be better understood by investigating the influence of the characteristics of the event experienced on how people thought and felt, during the event as well as afterwards. Objective To compare survivors’ perceived post- and peritraumatic emotional and cognitive reactions across different types of disasters. Additionally, to investigate individual and event characteristics. Design In a European multi-centre study, 102 survivors of different disasters terror attack, flood, fire and collapse of a building were interviewed about their responses during the event. Survivors’ perceived posttraumatic stress levels were assessed with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Peritraumatic emotional stress and risk perception were rated retrospectively. Influences of individual characteristics, such as socio-demographic data, and event characteristics, such as time and exposure factors, on post- and peritraumatic outcomes were analyzed. Results Levels of reported post- and peritraumatic outcomes differed significantly between types of disasters. Type of disaster was a significant predictor of all three outcome variables but the factors gender, education, time since event, injuries and fatalities were only significant for certain outcomes. Conclusion Results support the hypothesis that there are differences in perceived post- and peritraumatic emotional and cognitive reactions after experiencing different types of disasters. However, it should be noted that these findings were not only explained by the type of disaster itself but also by individual and event characteristics. As the study followed an explorative approach, further research paths are discussed to better understand the relationships between variables. PMID:22893839

Functional-anatomic correlates of individual differences in memory.

PubMed

Kirchhoff, Brenda A; Buckner, Randy L

2006-07-20

Memory abilities differ greatly across individuals. To explore a source of these differences, we characterized the varied strategies people adopt during unconstrained encoding. Participants intentionally encoded object pairs during functional MRI. Principal components analysis applied to a strategy questionnaire revealed that participants variably used four main strategies to aid learning. Individuals' use of verbal elaboration and visual inspection strategies independently correlated with their memory performance. Verbal elaboration correlated with activity in a network of regions that included prefrontal regions associated with controlled verbal processing, while visual inspection correlated with activity in a network of regions that included an extrastriate region associated with object processing. Activity in regions associated with use of these strategies was also correlated with memory performance. This study reveals functional-anatomic correlates of verbal and perceptual strategies that are variably used by individuals during encoding. These strategies engage distinct brain regions and may separately influence memory performance.

How do people with different attachment styles balance work and family? A personality perspective on work-family linkage.

PubMed

Sumer, H C; Knight, P A

2001-08-01

This study explored whether different models of work-family relationship were possible for individuals with different attachment styles. A mail survey was conducted using employees (N = 481) at a midwestern university in the United States. Results suggested that (a) individuals with a preoccupied attachment pattern were more likely to experience negative spillover from the family/home to the work domain than those with a secure or dismissing style, (b) securely attached individuals experienced positive spillover in both work and family domains more than those in the other groups, and (c) preoccupied individuals were much less likely to use a segmentation strategy than the other 3 attachment groups. However, when the conventional job satisfaction life satisfaction relationship was examined, the data provided unique support for the spillover model. Implications of the findings for both attachment and work family relationship literatures are discussed.

Interactions between Attention and Visual Short-Term Memory (VSTM): What Can Be Learnt from Individual and Developmental Differences?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Astle, Duncan E.; Scerif, Gaia

2011-01-01

An ever increasing amount of research in the fields of developmental psychology and adult cognitive neuroscience explores attentional control as a driver of visual short-term and working memory capacity limits ("VSTM" and "VWM", respectively). However, these literatures have thus far been disparate: they use different measures or different labels,…

Smoking and Adolescence: Exploring Tobacco Consumption and Related Attitudes in Three Different Adolescent Groups in Switzerland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bosson, Marlene; Maggiori, Christian; Gygax, Pascal Mark; Gay, Christelle

2012-01-01

The present study constitutes an investigation of tobacco consumption, related attitudes and individual differences in smoking or non-smoking behaviors in a sample of adolescents of different ages in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. We investigated three school-age groups (7th-grade, 9th-grade, and the second-year of high school) for…

Do Perceptions of Hiring Criteria Differ for Sales Managers and Sales Representatives? Implications for Marketing Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raymond, Mary Anne; Carlson, Les; Hopkins, Christopher D.

2006-01-01

Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this study explores whether perceptions of critical hiring criteria for entry-level sales positions differ across sales managers and sales representatives. This research also examines which classroom activities and skills these individuals perceive to be most important for strengthening the desired…

Psychopathology: Differences among Adults with Intellectually Disabled, Comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorders and Epilepsy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Kimberly R. M.; Matson, Johnny L.

2010-01-01

The goal of this study was to systematically examine group differences among adults with intellectual disabilities (ID), comorbid autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and epilepsy through a detailed exploration of the characteristics that these disorders present in the area of psychopathology. Previous studies indicating that individuals with ID have…

Temperamental Differences and Classroom Incivility: Exploring the Role of Individual Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spadafora, Natalie; Farrell, Ann H.; Provenzano, Daniel A.; Marini, Zopito A.; Volk, Anthony A.

2018-01-01

Incivility involves rude, discourteous, and disrespectful attitudes and behaviours. The present study examined how various temperament traits were related to beliefs of classroom incivility among adolescents. The sample comprised of 222 adolescents (120 boys) between the ages of 12 and 17 (M[superscript age] = 14.07, SD = 1.54) who were recruited…

"I Am [Not Always] a Maths Hater": Shifting Students' Identity Narratives in Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andersson, Annica; Valero, Paola; Meaney, Tamsin

2015-01-01

In this study, individual students' engagement in learning mathematics in different contexts was explored. The students' narrated identities during their first compulsory upper secondary mathematics course provided a way to understand students' shifts in participation and why these shifts occurred in different contexts at particular times.…

On the Links between Aggressive Behaviour, Loneliness, and Patterns of Close Relationships among Non-Clinical School-Age Boys

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Yagon, Michal

2008-01-01

This study explored multifaceted associations between children's aggressive behaviours and loneliness feelings by identifying sub-groups of children with different individual profiles, and also examined whether profiles associated differently with children's quality of close relationships with mothers and peers. Participants were 145 non-clinical…

Performance Standards and Domains of College Students' Personal Accomplishments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaeddert, William P.; And Others

A number of researchers have described individual differences in achievement goals and performance standards. To explore similarities and differences in these theories, and to provide an instrument to measure them, 273 female and 88 male college students responded to items designed to measure each of the dimensions defined by these theories. The…

What's in Your Name? Exploring Name Awareness with Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chakraborty, Basanti; Stone, Basanti

2007-01-01

When children come to school, they bring with them a common thread they all have their individual names. Children from minority cultures, however, often encounter difficulties for being different; one obvious difference can be their given names. Names that are unfamiliar to other children may cause social tension or ridicule when a teacher calls…

Trajectories of Participation in Athletics and Positive Youth Development: The Influence of Sport Type

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agans, Jennifer P.; Geldhof, G. John

2012-01-01

In order to examine youth experiences in athletic activities with different characteristics, the present study explored the developmental outcomes associated with participation in three different types of sport (individual sports, team sports, and dance-type sports) as well as across six identified patterns of participation (no participation,…

Predicting Word Reading and Comprehension with Executive Function and Speed Measures across Development: A Latent Variable Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christopher, Micaela E.; Miyake, Akira; Keenan, Janice M.; Pennington, Bruce; DeFries, John C.; Wadsworth, Sally J.; Willcutt, Erik; Olson, Richard K.

2012-01-01

The present study explored whether different executive control and speed measures (working memory, inhibition, processing speed, and naming speed) independently predict individual differences in word reading and reading comprehension. Although previous studies suggest these cognitive constructs are important for reading, the authors analyze the…

"I Know What I Like": Stability of Aesthetic Preference in Alzheimer's Patients

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halpern, Andrea R.; Ly, Jenny; Elkin-Frankston, Seth; O'Connor, Margaret G.

2008-01-01

Two studies explored the stability of art preference in patients with Alzheimer's disease and age-matched control participants. Preferences for three different styles of paintings, displayed on art postcards, were examined over two sessions. Preference for specific paintings differed among individuals but AD and non-AD groups maintained about the…

Grade Differences in Reading Motivation among Hong Kong Primary and Secondary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lau, Kit-Ling

2009-01-01

Background: Most previous studies in Western societies have demonstrated a general decline in school motivation. However, it is not clear whether motivational decline occurs uniformly for all students. The moderating effects of individual and cultural differences on students' motivational decline need to be further explored. Aims: This study aimed…

Group-based strategy diffusion in multiplex networks with weighted values

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Jianyong; Jiang, J. C.; Xiang, Leijun

2017-03-01

The information diffusion of multiplex social networks has received increasing interests in recent years. Actually, the multiplex networks are made of many communities, and it should be gotten more attention for the influences of community level diffusion, besides of individual level interactions. In view of this, this work explores strategy interactions and diffusion processes in multiplex networks with weighted values from a new perspective. Two different groups consisting of some agents with different influential strength are firstly built in each layer network, the authority and non-authority groups. The strategy interactions between different groups in intralayer and interlayer networks are performed to explore community level diffusion, by playing two classical strategy games, Prisoner's Dilemma and Snowdrift Game. The impact forces from the different groups and the reactive forces from individual agents are simultaneously taken into account in intralayer and interlayer interactions. This paper reveals and explains the evolutions of cooperation diffusion and the influences of interlayer interaction tight degrees in multiplex networks with weighted values. Some thresholds of critical parameters of interaction degrees and games parameters settings are also discussed in group-based strategy diffusion.

Exploring individual differences in children's mathematical skills: a correlational and dimensional approach.

PubMed

Sigmundsson, H; Polman, R C J; Lorås, H

2013-08-01

Individual differences in mathematical skills are typically explained by an innate capability to solve mathematical tasks. At the behavioural level this implies a consistent level of mathematical achievement that can be captured by strong relationships between tasks, as well as by a single statistical dimension that underlies performance on all mathematical tasks. To investigate this general assumption, the present study explored interrelations and dimensions of mathematical skills. For this purpose, 68 ten-year-old children from two schools were tested using nine mathematics tasks from the Basic Knowledge in Mathematics Test. Relatively low-to-moderate correlations between the mathematics tasks indicated most tasks shared less than 25% of their variance. There were four principal components, accounting for 70% of the variance in mathematical skill across tasks and participants. The high specificity in mathematical skills was discussed in relation to the principle of task specificity of learning.

All individuals are not created equal; accounting for interindividual variation in fitting life-history responses to toxicants.

PubMed

Jager, Tjalling

2013-02-05

The individuals of a species are not equal. These differences frustrate experimental biologists and ecotoxicologists who wish to study the response of a species (in general) to a treatment. In the analysis of data, differences between model predictions and observations on individual animals are usually treated as random measurement error around the true response. These deviations, however, are mainly caused by real differences between the individuals (e.g., differences in physiology and in initial conditions). Understanding these intraspecies differences, and accounting for them in the data analysis, will improve our understanding of the response to the treatment we are investigating and allow for a more powerful, less biased, statistical analysis. Here, I explore a basic scheme for statistical inference to estimate parameters governing stress that allows individuals to differ in their basic physiology. This scheme is illustrated using a simple toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic model and a data set for growth of the springtail Folsomia candida exposed to cadmium in food. This article should be seen as proof of concept; a first step in bringing more realism into the statistical inference for process-based models in ecotoxicology.

Personality and innate immune defenses in a wild bird: Evidence for the pace-of-life hypothesis.

PubMed

Jacques-Hamilton, Rowan; Hall, Michelle L; Buttemer, William A; Matson, Kevin D; Gonҫalves da Silva, Anders; Mulder, Raoul A; Peters, Anne

2017-02-01

We tested the two main evolutionary hypotheses for an association between immunity and personality. The risk-of-parasitism hypothesis predicts that more proactive (bold, exploratory, risk-taking) individuals have more vigorous immune defenses because of increased risk of parasite exposure. In contrast, the pace-of-life hypothesis argues that proactive behavioral styles are associated with shorter lifespans and reduced investment in immune function. Mechanistically, associations between immunity and personality can arise because personality differences are often associated with differences in condition and stress responsiveness, both of which are intricately linked with immunity. Here we investigate the association between personality (measured as proactive exploration of a novel environment) and three indices of innate immune function (the non-specific first line of defense against parasites) in wild superb fairy-wrens Malurus cyaneus. We also quantified body condition, hemoparasites (none detected), chronic stress (heterophil:lymphocyte ratio) and circulating corticosterone levels at the end of the behavioral test (CORT, in a subset of birds). We found that fast explorers had lower titers of natural antibodies. This result is consistent with the pace-of-life hypothesis, and with the previously documented higher mortality of fast explorers in this species. There was no interactive effect of exploration score and duration in captivity on immune indices. This suggests that personality-related differences in stress responsiveness did not underlie differences in immunity, even though behavioral style did modulate the effect of captivity on CORT. Taken together these results suggest reduced constitutive investment in innate immune function in more proactive individuals. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Discriminative latent models for recognizing contextual group activities.

PubMed

Lan, Tian; Wang, Yang; Yang, Weilong; Robinovitch, Stephen N; Mori, Greg

2012-08-01

In this paper, we go beyond recognizing the actions of individuals and focus on group activities. This is motivated from the observation that human actions are rarely performed in isolation; the contextual information of what other people in the scene are doing provides a useful cue for understanding high-level activities. We propose a novel framework for recognizing group activities which jointly captures the group activity, the individual person actions, and the interactions among them. Two types of contextual information, group-person interaction and person-person interaction, are explored in a latent variable framework. In particular, we propose three different approaches to model the person-person interaction. One approach is to explore the structures of person-person interaction. Differently from most of the previous latent structured models, which assume a predefined structure for the hidden layer, e.g., a tree structure, we treat the structure of the hidden layer as a latent variable and implicitly infer it during learning and inference. The second approach explores person-person interaction in the feature level. We introduce a new feature representation called the action context (AC) descriptor. The AC descriptor encodes information about not only the action of an individual person in the video, but also the behavior of other people nearby. The third approach combines the above two. Our experimental results demonstrate the benefit of using contextual information for disambiguating group activities.

Discriminative Latent Models for Recognizing Contextual Group Activities

PubMed Central

Lan, Tian; Wang, Yang; Yang, Weilong; Robinovitch, Stephen N.; Mori, Greg

2012-01-01

In this paper, we go beyond recognizing the actions of individuals and focus on group activities. This is motivated from the observation that human actions are rarely performed in isolation; the contextual information of what other people in the scene are doing provides a useful cue for understanding high-level activities. We propose a novel framework for recognizing group activities which jointly captures the group activity, the individual person actions, and the interactions among them. Two types of contextual information, group-person interaction and person-person interaction, are explored in a latent variable framework. In particular, we propose three different approaches to model the person-person interaction. One approach is to explore the structures of person-person interaction. Differently from most of the previous latent structured models, which assume a predefined structure for the hidden layer, e.g., a tree structure, we treat the structure of the hidden layer as a latent variable and implicitly infer it during learning and inference. The second approach explores person-person interaction in the feature level. We introduce a new feature representation called the action context (AC) descriptor. The AC descriptor encodes information about not only the action of an individual person in the video, but also the behavior of other people nearby. The third approach combines the above two. Our experimental results demonstrate the benefit of using contextual information for disambiguating group activities. PMID:22144516

Exploring the relationship between hypoplasia and odontometric asymmetry in Isola Sacra, an imperial Roman necropolis.

PubMed

Hoover, Kara C; Corruccini, Robert S; Bondioli, Luca; Macchiarelli, Roberto

2005-01-01

Anthropological studies reporting odontometric asymmetry values or dental enamel hypoplasia frequencies use these markers as a record of physiological perturbations occurring during dental development. While both markers indirectly suggest the amount of relative stress a population might have experienced, a relationship between the two has been explored only recently in the literature. In this study, we address the possibility of such a relationship in two ways. First, Kendall's tau B correlations test the degree of relationship on the level of the individual between hypoplasia presence/absence (P/A) and severity of hypoplasia appearance (PS) data for the anterior dentition and directional (DA) and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) data for concurrently developing molars pairs. Second, an F-test explores between-group (ranked hypoplastic individuals and non-hypoplastic individuals) variance about the mean, expecting the hypoplastic individuals to be more variable. The sample consists of 72 individuals from the Isola Sacra necropolis, which is associated with Portus, the port city of ancient Rome. Results indicated only a very weak predictive relationship between some variables and few significant differences in variation. However, variance follows trends in published literature. Possible explanations for the lack of interaction on the level of the individual include both etiological and genetic susceptibility factors that are significant in and of themselves as they suggest a more complex reading of the hard tissue evidence for stress in archaeological populations. Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Risk, individual differences, and environment: an Agent-Based Modeling approach to sexual risk-taking.

PubMed

Nagoski, Emily; Janssen, Erick; Lohrmann, David; Nichols, Eric

2012-08-01

Risky sexual behaviors, including the decision to have unprotected sex, result from interactions between individuals and their environment. The current study explored the use of Agent-Based Modeling (ABM)-a methodological approach in which computer-generated artificial societies simulate human sexual networks-to assess the influence of heterogeneity of sexual motivation on the risk of contracting HIV. The models successfully simulated some characteristics of human sexual systems, such as the relationship between individual differences in sexual motivation (sexual excitation and inhibition) and sexual risk, but failed to reproduce the scale-free distribution of number of partners observed in the real world. ABM has the potential to inform intervention strategies that target the interaction between an individual and his or her social environment.

Accounting for individual differences in human associative learning

PubMed Central

Byrom, Nicola C.

2013-01-01

Associative learning has provided fundamental insights to understanding psychopathology. However, psychopathology occurs along a continuum and as such, identification of disruptions in processes of associative learning associated with aspects of psychopathology illustrates a general flexibility in human associative learning. A handful of studies have looked specifically at individual differences in human associative learning, but while much work has concentrated on accounting for flexibility in learning caused by external factors, there has been limited work considering how to model the influence of dispositional factors. This review looks at the range of individual differences in human associative learning that have been explored and the attempts to account for, and model, this flexibility. To fully understand human associative learning, further research needs to attend to the causes of variation in human learning. PMID:24027551

Accounting for individual differences in human associative learning.

PubMed

Byrom, Nicola C

2013-09-04

Associative learning has provided fundamental insights to understanding psychopathology. However, psychopathology occurs along a continuum and as such, identification of disruptions in processes of associative learning associated with aspects of psychopathology illustrates a general flexibility in human associative learning. A handful of studies have looked specifically at individual differences in human associative learning, but while much work has concentrated on accounting for flexibility in learning caused by external factors, there has been limited work considering how to model the influence of dispositional factors. This review looks at the range of individual differences in human associative learning that have been explored and the attempts to account for, and model, this flexibility. To fully understand human associative learning, further research needs to attend to the causes of variation in human learning.

Tiwanaku influence and social inequality: A bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and contextual analysis of the Larache cemetery, San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile.

PubMed

Torres-Rouff, Christina; Knudson, Kelly J; Pestle, William J; Stovel, Emily M

2015-12-01

To assess the relationship between the Tiwanaku polity and the individuals buried at the Middle Horizon (∼AD500-1000) cemetery of Larache in northern Chile, a site that has been singled out as a potential elite foreign enclave. We explore this association through the skeletal remains of 48 individuals interred at the cemetery of Larache using bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and artifactual evidence. Data from cranial modification practices, violent injury, and the mortuary assemblage are used to explore culturally constructed elements of status and identity, radiogenic strontium isotope analyses provide us with a perspective on the geographic origins of these individuals, and stable carbon and nitrogen analyses allow discussion of paleodiet and access to resources. Radiogenic strontium isotope values show the presence of multiple first generation migrants at Larache. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data reveal significant differences among individuals. The mortuary context reveals a standard pattern for the oases but also includes a series of unusual burials with abundant gold and few other objects. Interestingly, both local and nonlocal individuals with different head shapes had access to the differentiated burial context; however nonlocal individuals appear to be the only ones with a heavily maize-based diet. Our evidence shows that Larache served as a burial place for a diverse, yet culturally integrated and potentially elite segment of the Atacameño population, but not a foreign enclave as had been postulated. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Representation of numerical magnitude in math-anxious individuals.

PubMed

Colomé, Àngels

2018-01-01

Larger distance effects in high math-anxious individuals (HMA) performing comparison tasks have previously been interpreted as indicating less precise magnitude representation in this population. A recent study by Dietrich, Huber, Moeller, and Klein limited the effects of math anxiety to symbolic comparison, in which they found larger distance effects for HMA, despite equivalent size effects. However, the question of whether distance effects in symbolic comparison reflect the properties of the magnitude representation or decisional processes is currently under debate. This study was designed to further explore the relation between math anxiety and magnitude representation through three different tasks. HMA and low math-anxious individuals (LMA) performed a non-symbolic comparison, in which no group differences were found. Furthermore, we did not replicate previous findings in an Arabic digit comparison, in which HMA individuals showed equivalent distance effects to their LMA peers. Lastly, there were no group differences in a counting Stroop task. Altogether, an explanation of math anxiety differences in terms of less precise magnitude representation is not supported.

Multiple coloured ornaments in male common kestrels: different mechanisms to convey quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vergara, Pablo; Fargallo, Juan A.

2011-04-01

The simultaneous exhibition of more than one secondary sexual trait is a widespread phenomenon in nature, though it has rarely been explored. It has been proposed that different ornaments may convey complementary or back-up information about a single aspect of individual quality (redundancy hypothesis) or that each ornament may convey unique information (multiple-messages hypothesis). During a 5-year period, we measured several carotenoid-based (eye ring, bill cere and tarsi skin) and melanin-based (head, back, rump and tail feathers) potential ornamental colours in male common kestrels. We analysed whether multiple ornaments can convey different or related information about individual quality. We explored whether different ornaments can express different information depending on the pigment (carotenoids or melanins), the time-scale over which the ornament can change (dynamic vs. static) and the season of the year when the ornament is formed. We found that both melanin- and carotenoid- based traits correlated with indexes of quality, including body condition, body condition of their partners and laying date. However, not all ornaments correlated with the same measures of quality. In addition, some ornaments were intercorrelated within the same individuals while others were not. These results suggest that different ornaments can convey information about different qualities, as predicted by the multiple-messages hypothesis. In addition, this study suggests that the predominant pigment (e.g. carotenoid vs. melanin, eumelanin vs. pheomelanin), the time-scale over which the trait is developed (static feathers vs. dynamic skin) and the season of the year at which the ornament is produced can be potential mechanisms to convey different messages in male common kestrels.

Screening in the Dark: Ethical Considerations of Providing Screening Tests to Individuals When Evidence is Insufficient to Support Screening Populations

PubMed Central

Burger, Ingrid M.; Kass, Nancy E.

2011-01-01

During the past decade, screening tests using computed tomography (CT) have disseminated into practice and been marketed to patients despite neither conclusive evidence nor professional agreement about their efficacy and cost-effectiveness at the population level. This phenomenon raises questions about physicians’ professional roles and responsibilities within the setting of medical innovation, as well as the appropriate scope of patient autonomy and access to unproven screening technology. This article explores how physicians ought to respond when new screening examinations that lack conclusive evidence of overall population benefit emerge in the marketplace and are requested by individual patients. To this end, the article considers the nature of evidence and how it influences decision-making for screening at both the public policy and individual patient levels. We distinguish medical and ethical differences between screening recommended for a population and screening considered on an individual patient basis. Finally, we discuss specific cases to explore how evidence, patient risk factors and preferences, and physician judgment ought to balance when making individual patient screening decisions. PMID:19326299

Can individual cognitions, self-regulation and environmental variables explain educational differences in vegetable consumption?: a cross-sectional study among Dutch adults.

PubMed

Springvloet, Linda; Lechner, Lilian; Oenema, Anke

2014-12-06

Educational differences in health-related behaviors, where low- and moderate-educated individuals have poorer outcomes than high-educated individuals, are persistent. The reasons for these differences remain poorly understood. This study explored whether individual cognitions, self-regulation and environmental-level factors may explain educational differences in vegetable consumption. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,342 Dutch adults, of whom 54.5% were low/moderate-educated. Individuals completed an online questionnaire, assessing education, vegetable consumption, demographics, individual cognitions (attitude towards consuming 200 grams of vegetables a day, self-efficacy, subjective norm, intention, perception of vegetables as being expensive), self-regulation (general self-regulation, vegetable-specific action- and coping planning) and environmental-level factors (perception of availability of vegetables in the supermarket and availability of vegetables at home). The joint-significance test was used to determine significant mediation effects. Low/moderate-educated individuals consumed less vegetables (M = 151.2) than high-educated individuals (M = 168.1, β = -0.15, P < .001). Attitude and availability of vegetables at home were found to partially mediate the association between education and vegetable consumption (percentage mediated effect: 24.46%). Since attitude and availability of vegetables at home partially explain the difference in vegetable consumption between low/moderate- and high-educated individuals, these variables may be good target points for interventions to promote vegetable consumption among low/moderate-educated individuals.

[Assessment of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity in substance-addicted patients by means of Dickman's Inventory].

PubMed

Pedrero Pérez, Eduardo J

2009-11-01

Impulsivity is a dispositional trait consistently linked to addiction. Nevertheless, Dickman proposed two different types of impulsivity, a functional variant and another, dysfunctional one. Almost all studies in addiction have exclusively explored the dysfunctional facet of impulsivity. The main purpose of this study was to check the applicability of the Dickman Impulsivity Inventory to explore both types of impulsivity in addicted individuals. We applied a Spanish version of the inventory and studied its psychometric properties. We found adequate internal consistency, construct validity and convergence of measures with related instruments, both in non-clinical (N = 398) and in treated substance-addicted (diacetylmorphine, cocaine, alcohol and cannabis; N = 140) samples. Addicted individuals did not differ from the non-clinical population in their functional impulsivity, but we found a great effect size (eta2p = 0.35) in the differences when exploring the dysfunctional type, with higher scores in addicts. Dysfunctional impulsivity was related to dysexecutive symptoms (r2 = 0.39), and personality traits such as Novelty Seeking (r2 = 0.57), but not with the Exploratory Excitability subdimension (r2 = 0.01), this latter being more closely related to functional impulsivity (r2 = 0.16). Data support the usefulness of this inventory to estimate types of impulsivity related to the prevention and treatment of addictive behaviors.

Sex-differences and temporal consistency in stickleback fish boldness.

PubMed

King, Andrew J; Fürtbauer, Ines; Mamuneas, Diamanto; James, Charlotte; Manica, Andrea

2013-01-01

Behavioural traits that co-vary across contexts or situations often reflect fundamental trade-offs which individuals experience in different contexts (e.g. fitness trade-offs between exploration and predation risk). Since males tend to experience greater variance in reproductive success than females, there may be considerable fitness benefits associated with "bolder" behavioural types, but only recently have researchers begun to consider sex-specific and life-history strategies associated with these. Here we test the hypothesis that male three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) show high risk but potentially high return behaviours compared to females. According to this hypothesis we predicted that male fish would show greater exploration of their environment in a foraging context, and be caught sooner by an experimenter than females. We found that the time fish spent out of cover exploring their environment was correlated over two days, and males spent significantly more time out of cover than females. Also, the order in which fish were net-caught from their holding aquarium by an experimenter prior to experiments was negatively correlated with the time spent out of cover during tests, and males tended to be caught sooner than females. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between the catch number prior to our experiments and nine months after, pointing towards consistent, long-term individual differences in behaviour.

European green lizard (Lacerta viridis) personalities: Linking behavioural types to ecologically relevant traits at different ontogenetic stages.

PubMed

Bajer, Katalin; Horváth, Gergely; Molnár, Orsolya; Török, János; Garamszegi, László Zsolt; Herczeg, Gábor

2015-02-01

Consistent individual differences within (animal personality) and across (behavioural syndrome) behaviours became well recognized during the past decade. Nevertheless, our knowledge about the evolutionary and developmental mechanisms behind the phenomena is still incomplete. Here, we explored if risk-taking and exploration were consistent and linked to different ecologically relevant traits in wild-caught adult male European green lizards (Lacerta viridis) and in their 2-3 weeks old laboratory-reared offspring. Both adults and juveniles displayed animal personality, consistency being higher in juveniles. We found correlation between risk-taking and exploration (suggestive of a behavioural syndrome) only in adults. Juveniles were more explorative than adults. Large or ectoparasite-free adult males were more explorative than small or parasitized males. Juvenile females tended to be more risk-taking than males. Behaviour of fathers and their offspring did not correlate. We conclude that European green lizards show high behavioural consistency and age is an important determinant of its strength and links to traits likely affecting fitness. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neurochemical factors underlying individual differences in locomotor activity and anxiety-like behavioral responses in zebrafish.

PubMed

Tran, Steven; Nowicki, Magda; Muraleetharan, Arrujyan; Chatterjee, Diptendu; Gerlai, Robert

2016-02-04

Variation among individuals may arise for several reasons, and may have diverse underlying mechanisms. Individual differences have been studied in a variety of species, but recently a new model organism has emerged in this field that offers both sophistication in phenotypical characterization and powerful mechanistic analysis. Recently, zebrafish, one of the favorites of geneticists, have been shown to exhibit consistent individual differences in baseline locomotor activity. In the current study, we further explore this finding and examine whether individual differences in locomotor activity correlate with anxiety-like behavioral measures and with levels of dopamine, serotonin and the metabolites of these neurotransmitters. In addition, we examine whether individual differences in locomotor activity are also associated with reactivity to the locomotor stimulant effects of and neurochemical responses to acute ethanol exposure (30min long, 1% v/v ethanol bath application). Principal component analyses revealed a strong association among anxiety-like responses, locomotor activity, serotonin and dopamine levels. Furthermore, ethanol exposure was found to abolish the locomotion-dependent anxiety-like behavioral and serotonergic responses suggesting that this drug also engages a common underlying pathway. Overall, our results provide support for an important role of the serotonergic system in mediating individual differences in anxiety-like responses and locomotor activity in zebrafish and for a minor modulatory role of the dopaminergic system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Metabolic rate associates with, but does not generate covariation between, behaviours in western stutter-trilling crickets, Gryllus integer.

PubMed

Krams, Indrikis A; Niemelä, Petri T; Trakimas, Giedrius; Krams, Ronalds; Burghardt, Gordon M; Krama, Tatjana; Kuusik, Aare; Mänd, Marika; Rantala, Markus J; Mänd, Raivo; Kekäläinen, Jukka; Sirkka, Ilkka; Luoto, Severi; Kortet, Raine

2017-03-29

The causes and consequences of among-individual variation and covariation in behaviours are of substantial interest to behavioural ecology, but the proximate mechanisms underpinning this (co)variation are still unclear. Previous research suggests metabolic rate as a potential proximate mechanism to explain behavioural covariation. We measured the resting metabolic rate (RMR), boldness and exploration in western stutter-trilling crickets, Gryllus integer , selected differentially for short and fast development over two generations. After applying mixed-effects models to reveal the sign of the covariation, we applied structural equation models to an individual-level covariance matrix to examine whether the RMR generates covariation between the measured behaviours. All traits showed among-individual variation and covariation: RMR and boldness were positively correlated, RMR and exploration were negatively correlated, and boldness and exploration were negatively correlated. However, the RMR was not a causal factor generating covariation between boldness and exploration. Instead, the covariation between all three traits was explained by another, unmeasured mechanism. The selection lines differed from each other in all measured traits and significantly affected the covariance matrix structure between the traits, suggesting that there is a genetic component in the trait integration. Our results emphasize that interpretations made solely from the correlation matrix might be misleading. © 2017 The Author(s).

Metabolic rate associates with, but does not generate covariation between, behaviours in western stutter-trilling crickets, Gryllus integer

PubMed Central

Trakimas, Giedrius; Krams, Ronalds; Burghardt, Gordon M.; Krama, Tatjana; Kuusik, Aare; Mänd, Marika; Rantala, Markus J.; Mänd, Raivo; Sirkka, Ilkka; Luoto, Severi; Kortet, Raine

2017-01-01

The causes and consequences of among-individual variation and covariation in behaviours are of substantial interest to behavioural ecology, but the proximate mechanisms underpinning this (co)variation are still unclear. Previous research suggests metabolic rate as a potential proximate mechanism to explain behavioural covariation. We measured the resting metabolic rate (RMR), boldness and exploration in western stutter-trilling crickets, Gryllus integer, selected differentially for short and fast development over two generations. After applying mixed-effects models to reveal the sign of the covariation, we applied structural equation models to an individual-level covariance matrix to examine whether the RMR generates covariation between the measured behaviours. All traits showed among-individual variation and covariation: RMR and boldness were positively correlated, RMR and exploration were negatively correlated, and boldness and exploration were negatively correlated. However, the RMR was not a causal factor generating covariation between boldness and exploration. Instead, the covariation between all three traits was explained by another, unmeasured mechanism. The selection lines differed from each other in all measured traits and significantly affected the covariance matrix structure between the traits, suggesting that there is a genetic component in the trait integration. Our results emphasize that interpretations made solely from the correlation matrix might be misleading. PMID:28330918

Personality and problem-solving in common mynas (Acridotheres tristis).

PubMed

Lermite, Françoise; Peneaux, Chloé; Griffin, Andrea S

2017-01-01

Animals show consistent individual differences in behaviour across time and/or contexts. Recently, it has been suggested that proactive personality types might also exhibit fast cognitive styles. The speed with which individuals sample environmental cues is one way in which correlations between personality and cognition might arise. Here, we measured a collection of behavioural traits (competitiveness, neophobia, neophilia, task-directed motivation and exploration) in common mynas (Acridotheres tristis) and measured their relationship with problem solving. We predicted that fast solving mynas would interact with (i.e. sample) the problem solving task at higher rates, but also be more competitive, less neophobic, more neophilic, and more exploratory. Mynas that were faster to solve a novel foraging problem were no more competitive around food and no more inclined to take risks. Unexpectedly, these fast-solving mynas had higher rates of interactions with the task, but also displayed lower levels of exploration. It is possible that a negative relation between problem solving and spatial exploration arose as a consequence of how inter-individual variation in exploration was quantified. We discuss the need for greater consensus on how to measure exploratory behaviour before we can advance our understanding of relationships between cognition and personality more effectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Are fast explorers slow reactors? Linking personality type and anti-predator behaviour

PubMed Central

Jones, Katherine A.; Godin, Jean-Guy J.

2010-01-01

Response delays to predator attack may be adaptive, suggesting that latency to respond does not always reflect predator detection time, but can be a decision based on starvation–predation risk trade-offs. In birds, some anti-predator behaviours have been shown to be correlated with personality traits such as activity level and exploration. Here, we tested for a correlation between exploration behaviour and response latency time to a simulated fish predator attack in a fish species, juvenile convict cichlids (Amatitlania nigrofasciata). Individual focal fish were subjected to a standardized attack by a robotic fish predator while foraging, and separately given two repeated trials of exploration of a novel environment. We found a strong positive correlation between exploration and time taken to respond to the predator model. Fish that were fast to explore the novel environment were slower to respond to the predator. Our study therefore provides some of the first experimental evidence for a link between exploration behaviour and predator-escape behaviour. We suggest that different behavioural types may differ in how they partition their attention between foraging and anti-predator vigilance. PMID:19864291

Behavioural plasticity across social contexts is regulated by the directionality of inter-individual differences.

PubMed

Guayasamin, Olivia L; Couzin, Iain D; Miller, Noam Y

2017-08-01

An individual's behavioural phenotype is a combination of its unique behavioural propensities and its responsiveness to environmental variation, also known as behavioural plasticity. In social species, we must not only explore how individuals respond to variations in the physical environment but also how they react to changes in their social environment. A growing body of work has demonstrated that the behavioural heterogeneity of a group can alter its responsiveness, decision making, and fitness. Whether an individual is more or less extreme than a partner - what we term its 'relative personality' - may also alter individual behavioural responses. We determined exploratory tendencies of individual zebrafish (Danio rerio) and then constructed pairs with varying differences in 'relative personality' to determine the effect of differences between partners on behavioural plasticity. We find that relative personality, but not the magnitude of the difference between partners, is the most important determinant of behavioural plasticity across social treatments. Despite this overall effect, pairs of fish exhibited no predictable leader-follower interactions, suggesting that details of the experimental paradigm may be important in shaping social dynamics. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perception of Leitmotives in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

PubMed

Baker, David J; Müllensiefen, Daniel

2017-01-01

The music of Richard Wagner tends to generate very diverse judgments indicative of the complex relationship between listeners and the sophisticated musical structures in Wagner's music. This paper presents findings from two listening experiments using the music from Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen that explores musical as well as individual listener parameters to better understand how listeners are able to hear leitmotives, a compositional device closely associated with Wagner's music. Results confirm findings from a previous experiment showing that specific expertise with Wagner's music can account for a greater portion of the variance in an individual's ability to recognize and remember musical material compared to measures of generic musical training. Results also explore how acoustical distance of the leitmotives affects memory recognition using a chroma similarity measure. In addition, we show how characteristics of the compositional structure of the leitmotives contributes to their salience and memorability. A final model is then presented that accounts for the aforementioned individual differences factors, as well as parameters of musical surface and structure. Our results suggest that that future work in music perception may consider both individual differences variables beyond musical training, as well as symbolic features and audio commonly used in music information retrieval in order to build robust models of musical perception and cognition.

Perception of Leitmotives in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

PubMed Central

Baker, David J.; Müllensiefen, Daniel

2017-01-01

The music of Richard Wagner tends to generate very diverse judgments indicative of the complex relationship between listeners and the sophisticated musical structures in Wagner's music. This paper presents findings from two listening experiments using the music from Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen that explores musical as well as individual listener parameters to better understand how listeners are able to hear leitmotives, a compositional device closely associated with Wagner's music. Results confirm findings from a previous experiment showing that specific expertise with Wagner's music can account for a greater portion of the variance in an individual's ability to recognize and remember musical material compared to measures of generic musical training. Results also explore how acoustical distance of the leitmotives affects memory recognition using a chroma similarity measure. In addition, we show how characteristics of the compositional structure of the leitmotives contributes to their salience and memorability. A final model is then presented that accounts for the aforementioned individual differences factors, as well as parameters of musical surface and structure. Our results suggest that that future work in music perception may consider both individual differences variables beyond musical training, as well as symbolic features and audio commonly used in music information retrieval in order to build robust models of musical perception and cognition. PMID:28522981

Cancer Treatment Side Effects: A Meta-analysis of the Relationship Between Response Expectancies and Experience.

PubMed

Devlin, Elise J; Denson, Linley A; Whitford, Hayley S

2017-08-01

Although previous research has, overall, suggested a moderate relationship between response expectancies (REs) and cancer treatment-related side effects, empirical results have been mixed. We aimed to further explore these relationships, hypothesizing that REs would predict subsequent toxicities with the inclusion of more recent studies, across a broader range of side effects, while incorporating the impact of potential moderators including patients' experience with treatment and measurement methods. We further investigated the impact of REs across individual toxicities. A systematic search and analysis were conducted across four databases (PsychInfo, PubMed, CINAHL, and Embase) and reference lists, from 1985 to February 2016. This provided 27 eligible studies with 4474 participants, through which the main analysis, moderator analyses, and individual side-effect analyses were explored. REs were moderately related to side effects overall (r = 0.26), and effect sizes were significantly influenced by sample diagnostic homogeneity, whereas differences between type and timing of measurement showed trends. Of the 16 toxicities examined, 15 demonstrated significant relationships between REs and side-effect experience, with hair loss (r = 0.48) the strongest. No clear difference emerged between objective and subjective side effects; however, significant differences across individual toxicities were revealed. Findings support a relationship between REs and a wide range of subsequent side effects, yet differences between individual RE-toxicity associations emerged. These findings provide direction for the measurement of side effects and REs and support REs as potential targets for intervention during the informed consent process. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Meanings and Functions of Money in Different Cultural Milieus.

PubMed

Cohen, Dov; Shin, Faith; Liu, Xi

2018-06-27

We explore the psychological meanings of money that parallel its economic functions. We explore money's ability to ascribe value, give autonomy, and provide security for the future, and we show how each of these functions may play out differently in different cultural milieus. In particular, we explore the meanings and uses of money across ethnic groups and at different positions on the socioeconomic ladder, highlighting changes over the last 50 years.We examine the dynamics of redistribution between the individual, the family, and the state in different cultures, and we analyze the gendering of money in the world of high finance and in contexts of economic need. The field of behavioral economics has illustrated how human psychology complicates the process of moving from normative to descriptive models of human behavior; such complexity increases as we incorporate the great diversity within human psychology. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology Volume 70 is January 4, 2019. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Associations Among Vocabulary, Executive Function Skills and Empathy in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Cascia, JoAnne; Barr, Jason J

2017-07-01

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been characterized as having deficits in social communication and empathy which present difficulties in the areas of social reciprocity, sharing of emotions and developing and maintaining relationships. This study explores the associations between vocabulary, executive function skills and empathy in individuals with ASD. A survey study with a purposive sample was used. Twenty adolescents with ASD completed receptive and expressive vocabulary assessments while their parent and teacher completed executive function and empathy scales. Results indicated that higher vocabulary and executive function skills were associated with higher empathy. Nonparametric analyses also showed that executive function mediated the association between empathy and vocabulary. Differences between parent and teacher responses were also explored. The results suggest that targeting vocabulary and executive function skills prior to, or in conjunction with, social skills in educational and therapeutic settings may prove beneficial. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The influence of age on wild rhesus macaques' affiliative social interactions.

PubMed

Liao, Zhijie; Sosa, Sebastian; Wu, Chengfeng; Zhang, Peng

2018-02-01

The social relationships that individuals experience at different life stages have a non-negligible influence on their lives, and this is particularly true for group living animals. The long lifespan of many primates makes it likely that these animals have various tactics of social interaction to adapt to complex changes in environmental or physical conditions. The different strategies used in social interaction by individuals at different life stages, and whether the position (central or peripheral) or role (initiator or recipient) of an individual in the group social network changes with age, are intriguing questions that remain to be investigated. We used social network analysis to examine age-related differences in social interaction patterns, social roles, and social positions in three affiliative social networks (approach, allogrooming, and social play) in a group of wild rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Our results showed that social interaction patterns of rhesus macaques differ between age classes in the following ways: i) young individuals tend to allocate social time to a high number of groupmates, older individuals prefer to focus on fewer, specific partners; ii) as they grow older, individuals tend to be recipients in approach interactions and initiators in grooming interactions; and iii) regardless of the different social interaction strategies, individuals of all ages occupy a central position in the group. These results reveal a possible key role played by immature individuals in group social communication, a little-explored issue which deserves closer investigation in future research. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Moderators of wellbeing interventions: Why do some people respond more positively than others?

PubMed

Wang, R Adele H; Nelson-Coffey, S Katherine; Layous, Kristin; Jacobs Bao, Katherine; Davis, Oliver S P; Haworth, Claire M A

2017-01-01

Interventions rarely have a universal effect on all individuals. Reasons ranging from participant characteristics, context and fidelity of intervention completion could cause some people to respond more positively than others. Understanding these individual differences in intervention response may provide clues to the mechanisms behind the intervention, as well as inform future designs to make interventions maximally beneficial for all. Here we focus on an intervention designed to improve adolescent wellbeing, and explore potential moderators using a representative and well-powered sample. 16-year old participants (N = 932) in the Twins Wellbeing Intervention Study logged online once a week to complete control and wellbeing-enhancing activities consecutively. Throughout the study participants also provided information about a range of potential moderators of intervention response including demographics, seasonality, personality, baseline characteristics, activity fit, and effort. As expected, some individuals gained more from the intervention than others; we used multi-level modelling to test for moderation effects that could explain these individual differences. Of the 15 moderators tested, none significantly explained individual differences in intervention response in the intervention and follow-up phases. Self-reported effort and baseline positive affect had a notable effect in moderating response in the control phase, during which there was no overall improvement in wellbeing and mental health. Our results did not replicate the moderation effects that have been suggested by previous literature and future work needs to reconcile these differences. They also show that factors that have previously been shown to influence baseline wellbeing do not also influence an individual's ability to benefit from a wellbeing intervention. Although future research should continue to explore potential moderators of intervention efficacy, our results suggest that the beneficial effect of positive activities in adolescents were universal across such factors as sex and socioeconomic status, bolstering claims of the scalability of positive activities to increase adolescent wellbeing.

Biracial Japanese American identity: an evolving process.

PubMed

Collins, J F

2000-05-01

This qualitative study explored the complexity of biracial identity development in Japanese Americans. It is based on the constant comparable method of analysis, or grounded theory. The study focused on how Japanese Americans perceived themselves in relation to other individuals, groups, and their environment. The data consisted of 15 extensive semistructured interviews with 8 men and 7 women (ages 20 to 40 years), each with 1 Japanese parent and 1 non-Asian parent. Findings relate to participants' initiating explorations of identity and perseverance in pursuing a biracial identity, which depended on the degree of support or negative experience within their social networks. Participants explored identity options attempting to develop their own meaning of identity, to develop a confident sense of themselves, and to secure a positive ethnic identity. Identity development among participants varied. It was a long-term process involving changes in the individual-environment relationship, which differed in the way individual participants influenced or selected from environmental opportunities, even creating or recreating some aspects. Within a given setting, as youths, the potential for social experiences were relatively fixed and changed only gradually. As adults, there were opportunities for participants to select their own social and geographic settings, providing opportunity for change. In their new environments, participants were exposed to new contacts and role models, acquired new behavioral repertoire, and underwent role transitions. Depending on this, new and different aspects of biracial identity developed. Participants indicated it was an emotional and conflictual process to positive assertion of identity. Before reaching this, all of the participants experienced periods of confusion. Most asserted biracial identity gradually, through a process of racial identity development consisting of the individual's changing or maintaining certain reference group perspectives, identifications, and allegiances as they passed through a series of life experiences. Instead of staying marginalized, they integrated both cultures, recognizing positive values of both, thus developing an integrated identity. Although the participants' experiences and perceptions were varied, the overarching themes of self-evaluation, confusion of categorization, belonging, infusion/exploration, situational use of identity, and resolution/acceptance/self-verification were presented. On the basis of the research, a model of ethnic identity for biracial individuals is proposed.

Early and late brain signatures of emotional prosody among individuals with high versus low power.

PubMed

Paulmann, Silke; Uskul, Ayse K

2017-04-01

Using ERPs, we explored the relationship between social power and emotional prosody processing. In particular, we investigated differences at early and late processing stages between individuals primed with high or low power. Comparable to previously published findings from nonprimed participants, individuals primed with low power displayed differentially modulated P2 amplitudes in response to different emotional prosodies, whereas participants primed with high power failed to do so. Similarly, participants primed with low power showed differentially modulated amplitudes in response to different emotional prosodies at a later processing stage (late ERP component), whereas participants primed with high power did not. These ERP results suggest that high versus low power leads to emotional prosody processing differences at the early stage associated with emotional salience detection and at a later stage associated with more in-depth processing of emotional stimuli. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Genetic Influences on Anxiety in Children: What We've Learned and where We're Heading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gregory, Alice M.; Eley, Thalia C.

2007-01-01

Anxiety is a common problem, typically beginning early in life. This article explores reasons for individual differences in levels of anxiety among children, by reviewing the genetic literature. The plethora of research to date has demonstrated clearly that both genes and environmental influences play important roles in explaining differences in…

Exploring Formative Assessment as a Tool for Learning: Students' Experiences of Different Methods of Formative Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weurlander, Maria; Soderberg, Magnus; Scheja, Max; Hult, Hakan; Wernerson, Annika

2012-01-01

This study aims to provide a greater insight into how formative assessments are experienced and understood by students. Two different formative assessment methods, an individual, written assessment and an oral group assessment, were components of a pathology course within a medical curriculum. In a cohort of 70 students, written accounts were…

Early Adolescent Age and Gender Differences in Patterns of Emotional Self-Disclosure to Parents and Friends.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papini, Dennis R.; And Others

This study explored adolescent age and gender differences in patterns of emotional self-disclosure to parents and friends. An additional purpose was to describe how familial and individual developmental characteristics influence patterns of adolescent emotional disclosure. The sample consisted of 174 junior high school students between 12 and 15…

Effects of Computer Skill on Mouse Move and Click Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Panagiotakopoulos, Chris; Sarris, Menelaos

2008-01-01

This study focuses on the use of computers in the field of education. It reports a series of experimental mouse move and click tasks on constant and moving stimuli. These experiments attempt to explore the efficiency with which individuals of different skill level and age group perform using a mouse. Differences in performance between high-skill…

Choosing Play Materials for Primary School Children (Ages 6-8)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bronson, Martha

2003-01-01

Providing children with a variety of play materials at different levels of challenge and in a variety of interest areas responds to children's individual differences and needs in the classroom. In this book excerpt, the author lists materials for play in the categories social and fantasy; exploration and mastery; music, art, and movement; and…

In-Between Fatalism and Leverage: The Different Effects of Socioeconomic Variables on Students' Civic and Political Experiences and Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malafaia, Carla; Neves, Tiago; Menezes, Isabel

2017-01-01

Purpose: This article explores the classical relationship between socioeconomic status and political domains, and the need to include different variables (contextual and individual) to measure the effect of economic and cultural capitals on youth participation and knowledge. Method: A multivariate analysis of covariance was performed on a sample…

Coping with an Insecure Employment Environment: The Differing Roles of Protean and Boundaryless Career Orientations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Briscoe, Jon P.; Henagan, Stephanie C.; Burton, James P.; Murphy, Wendy M.

2012-01-01

In this paper, we utilize a sample of working adults (N = 362) in the context of the recent economic recession to explore the coping mechanisms associated with different career attitudes and their subsequent impact on important individual work outcomes. Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that boundaryless mindset and…

Attitudes to Diversity: A Cross-Cultural Study of Education Students in Spain, England and the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molto, M. Cristina Cardona; Florian, Lani; Rouse, Martyn; Stough, Laura M.

2010-01-01

This study explores the beliefs and attitudes that university students enrolled in teacher education programmes in Spain, England and the US (Texas) hold about individuals who differ. A beliefs and attitudes toward difference scale (BATD) was constructed using nine dimensions of diversity; culture, language, socioeconomic status/social class,…

Mining Properties in Oregon that were Involved in the DMA, DMEA, OME Mineral Exploration Programs, 1950-1974

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kiilsgaard, Thor H.

1998-01-01

Introduction This report and accompanying map (Plate 1) presents information on the Defense Minerals Administration (DMA), Defense Minerals Exploration Administration (DMEA), and Office of Minerals Exploration (OME) mineral exploration programs in Oregon. Under these programs, the federal government participated in the exploration costs for certain strategic and critical minerals. Federal funds for mineral exploration under the programs were available from 1950 to 1974, although limited funds for OME administrative work were continued until 1979. The report reviews the three programs, associated regulations, administrative procedures, and operational techniques. It also describes the various types of informative reports on individual mining properties generated by the programs, lists properties in Oregon that were involved in the different exploration programs, and advises on the location of compiled information that resulted from the work.

Epidemics spread in heterogeneous populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capała, Karol; Dybiec, Bartłomiej

2017-05-01

Individuals building populations are subject to variability. This variability affects progress of epidemic outbreaks, because individuals tend to be more or less resistant. Individuals also differ with respect to their recovery rate. Here, properties of the SIR model in inhomogeneous populations are studied. It is shown that a small change in model's parameters, e.g. recovery or infection rate, can substantially change properties of final states which is especially well-visible in distributions of the epidemic size. In addition to the epidemic size and radii distributions, the paper explores first passage time properties of epidemic outbreaks.

Exploring the Unknown: International Service and Individual Transformation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Wei-Wen; Chen, Cheng-Hui Lucy; Huang, Yu-Fu; Yuan, Yu-Hsi

2012-01-01

Empirical studies have found that participation in international service increases learners' intercultural competence, language skills, appreciation of cultural differences, and tolerance for ambiguity. While previous studies suggest that international service experience is potentially transformative in nature, the present study examined…

Are Happiness and Life Satisfaction Different Across Religious Groups? Exploring Determinants of Happiness and Life Satisfaction.

PubMed

Ngamaba, Kayonda Hubert; Soni, Debbie

2017-09-26

This study explores whether different religions experience different levels of happiness and life satisfaction and in case this is affected by country economic and cultural environment. Using World Value Survey (from 1981 to 2014), this study found that individual religiosity and country level of development play a significant role in shaping people's subjective well-being (SWB). Protestants, Buddhists and Roman Catholic were happier and most satisfied with their lives compared to other religious groups. Orthodox has the lowest SWB. Health status, household's financial satisfaction and freedom of choice are means by which religious groups and governments across the globe can improve the SWB of their citizens.

Not Everybody Sees the Ness in the Darkness: Individual Differences in Masked Suffix Priming

PubMed Central

Medeiros, Joyse; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni

2016-01-01

The present study explores the role of individual differences in polymorphemic word recognition. Participants completed a masked priming lexical decision experiment on suffixed words in which targets could be preceded by suffix-related words (words sharing the same suffix) or by affixed primes with a different suffix. Participants also completed a monomorphemic word lexical decision and were divided in two groups (fast and slow readers) according to their performance in this task. When the suffix priming data were analyzed taking into consideration participants' reading speed as a proxy for their greater reliance on orthography or on semantics, a significant interaction between reading speed and the magnitude of the masked suffix priming effects emerged. Only slow participants showed significant priming effects, whereas faster participants showed negligible masked suffix priming effects. These results demonstrate that different reading profiles modulate the access to morphological information in a qualitatively different manner and that individual differences in reading determine the manner in which polymorphemic words are processed. PMID:27790180

Statistical learning as an individual ability: Theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence

PubMed Central

Siegelman, Noam; Frost, Ram

2015-01-01

Although the power of statistical learning (SL) in explaining a wide range of linguistic functions is gaining increasing support, relatively little research has focused on this theoretical construct from the perspective of individual differences. However, to be able to reliably link individual differences in a given ability such as language learning to individual differences in SL, three critical theoretical questions should be posed: Is SL a componential or unified ability? Is it nested within other general cognitive abilities? Is it a stable capacity of an individual? Following an initial mapping sentence outlining the possible dimensions of SL, we employed a battery of SL tasks in the visual and auditory modalities, using verbal and non-verbal stimuli, with adjacent and non-adjacent contingencies. SL tasks were administered along with general cognitive tasks in a within-subject design at two time points to explore our theoretical questions. We found that SL, as measured by some tasks, is a stable and reliable capacity of an individual. Moreover, we found SL to be independent of general cognitive abilities such as intelligence or working memory. However, SL is not a unified capacity, so that individual sensitivity to conditional probabilities is not uniform across modalities and stimuli. PMID:25821343

School Collective Efficacy and Bullying Behaviour: A Multilevel Study.

PubMed

Olsson, Gabriella; Låftman, Sara Brolin; Modin, Bitte

2017-12-20

As with other forms of violent behaviour, bullying is the result of multiple influences acting on different societal levels. Yet the majority of studies on bullying focus primarily on the characteristics of individual bullies and bullied. Fewer studies have explored how the characteristics of central contexts in young people's lives are related to bullying behaviour over and above the influence of individual-level characteristics. This study explores how teacher-rated school collective efficacy is related to student-reported bullying behaviour (traditional and cyberbullying victimization and perpetration). A central focus is to explore if school collective efficacy is related similarly to both traditional bullying and cyberbullying. Analyses are based on combined information from two independent data collections conducted in 2016 among 11th grade students ( n = 6067) and teachers ( n = 1251) in 58 upper secondary schools in Stockholm. The statistical method used is multilevel modelling, estimating two-level binary logistic regression models. The results demonstrate statistically significant between-school differences in all outcomes, except traditional bullying perpetration. Strong school collective efficacy is related to less traditional bullying perpetration and less cyberbullying victimization and perpetration, indicating that collective norm regulation and school social cohesion may contribute to reducing the occurrence of bullying.

School Collective Efficacy and Bullying Behaviour: A Multilevel Study

PubMed Central

Olsson, Gabriella; Låftman, Sara Brolin; Modin, Bitte

2017-01-01

As with other forms of violent behaviour, bullying is the result of multiple influences acting on different societal levels. Yet the majority of studies on bullying focus primarily on the characteristics of individual bullies and bullied. Fewer studies have explored how the characteristics of central contexts in young people’s lives are related to bullying behaviour over and above the influence of individual-level characteristics. This study explores how teacher-rated school collective efficacy is related to student-reported bullying behaviour (traditional and cyberbullying victimization and perpetration). A central focus is to explore if school collective efficacy is related similarly to both traditional bullying and cyberbullying. Analyses are based on combined information from two independent data collections conducted in 2016 among 11th grade students (n = 6067) and teachers (n = 1251) in 58 upper secondary schools in Stockholm. The statistical method used is multilevel modelling, estimating two-level binary logistic regression models. The results demonstrate statistically significant between-school differences in all outcomes, except traditional bullying perpetration. Strong school collective efficacy is related to less traditional bullying perpetration and less cyberbullying victimization and perpetration, indicating that collective norm regulation and school social cohesion may contribute to reducing the occurrence of bullying. PMID:29261114

Polistes metricus queens exhibit personality variation and behavioral syndromes

PubMed Central

Hyland, Trevor D; Izzo, Amanda S; McDermott, Donna R; Tibbetts, Elizabeth A; Pruitt, Jonathan N

2018-01-01

Abstract Consistent differences in behavior between individuals, otherwise known as animal personalities, have become a staple in behavioral ecology due to their ability to explain a wide range of phenomena. Social organisms are especially serviceable to animal personality techniques because they can be used to explore behavioral variation at both the individual and group level. Despite the success of personality research in social organisms generally, and social Hymenoptera in particular, social wasps (Vespidae) have received little to no attention in the personality literature. In the present study, we test Polistes metricus (Vespidae; Polistinae) paper wasp queens for the presence of repeatable variation in, and correlations (“behavioral syndromes”) between, several commonly used personality metrics: boldness, aggressiveness, exploration, and activity. Our results indicate that P. metricus queens exhibit personalities for all measured traits and correlations between different behavioral measures. Given that paper wasps have served as a model organism for a wide range of phenomena such as kin selection, dominance hierarchies, mate choice, facial recognition, social parasitism, and chemical recognition, we hope that our results will motivate researchers to explore whether, or to what degree, queen personality is important in their research programs. PMID:29492037

On the application of semantic technologies to the domain of forensic investigations in financial crimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheidat, Tobias; Merkel, Ronny; Krummel, Volker; Gerlach, Andreas; Weisensee, Michala; Zeihe, Jana; Dittmann, Jana

2017-10-01

In daily police practice, forensic investigation of criminal cases is mainly based on manual work and the experience of individual forensic experts, using basic storage and data processing technologies. However, an individual criminal case does not only consist of the actual offence, but also of a variety of different aspects involved. For example, in order to solve a financial criminal case, an investigator has to find interrelations between different case entities as well as to other cases. The required information about these different entities is often stored in various databases and mostly requires to be manually requested and processed by forensic investigators. We propose the application of semantic technologies to the domain of forensic investigations at the example of financial crimes. Such combination allows for modelling specific case entities and their interrelations within and between cases. As a result, an explorative search of connections between case entities in the scope of an investigation as well as an automated derivation of conclusions from an established fact base is enabled. The proposed model is presented in the form of a crime field ontology, based on different types of knowledge obtained from three individual sources: open source intelligence, forensic investigators and captive interviews of detained criminals. The modelled crime field ontology is illustrated at two examples using the well known crime type of explosive attack on ATM and the potentially upcoming crime type data theft by NFC crowd skimming. Of these criminal modi operandi, anonymized fictional are modelled, visualized and exploratively searched. Modelled case entities include modi operandi, events, actors, resources, exploited weaknesses as well as flows of money, data and know how. The potential exploration of interrelations between the different case entities of such examples is illustrated in the scope of a fictitious investigation, highlighting the potential of the approach.

A Matrix Based Integrated Framework for Multi Disciplinary Exploration of Cyber-International Relations

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

infrastructures, the information can now be dynamically "personalized" and made available on demand, thus blurring the boundaries between storage and...It is also the first truly global media carrier. It has enabled multi-directional communication between different individuals (or group of individuals...terms. Such common terms refer to the objects, and relations that may exist between those objects/terms, as applied to the phenomenon of cyberspace, which

Deriving estimates of individual variability in genetic potentials of performance traits for 3 dairy breeds, using a model of lifetime nutrient partitioning.

PubMed

Phuong, H N; Martin, O; de Boer, I J M; Ingvartsen, K L; Schmidely, Ph; Friggens, N C

2015-01-01

This study explored the ability of an existing lifetime nutrient partitioning model for simulating individual variability in genetic potentials of dairy cows. Generally, the model assumes a universal trajectory of dynamic partitioning of priority between life functions and genetic scaling parameters are then incorporated to simulate individual difference in performance. Data of 102 cows including 180 lactations of 3 breeds: Danish Red, Danish Holstein, and Jersey, which were completely independent from those used previously for model development, were used. Individual cow performance records through sequential lactations were used to derive genetic scaling parameters for each animal by calibrating the model to achieve best fit, cow by cow. The model was able to fit individual curves of body weight, and milk fat, milk protein, and milk lactose concentrations with a high degree of accuracy. Daily milk yield and dry matter intake were satisfactorily predicted in early and mid lactation, but underpredictions were found in late lactation. Breeds and parities did not significantly affect the prediction accuracy. The means of genetic scaling parameters between Danish Red and Danish Holstein were similar but significantly different from those of Jersey. The extent of correlations between the genetic scaling parameters was consistent with that reported in the literature. In conclusion, this model is of value as a tool to derive estimates of genetic potentials of milk yield, milk composition, body reserve usage, and growth for different genotypes of cow. Moreover, it can be used to separate genetic variability in performance between individual cows from environmental noise. The model enables simulation of the effects of a genetic selection strategy on lifetime efficiency of individual cows, which has a main advantage of including the rearing costs, and thus, can be used to explore the impact of future selection on animal performance and efficiency. Copyright © 2015 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Chinese path to individualization.

PubMed

Yan, Yunxiang

2010-09-01

This article explores the rise of the individual and the consequential individualization of society which should be viewed as a reflexive part of China's state-sponsored quest for modernity. It traces the origin of the individualization process to the Maoist era, arguing that some collectivist programmes of social engineering and the socialist path of modernization under Maoism ironically resulted in a partial individualization of Chinese society. Examining profound social changes during the three decades of the post-Mao reforms, the article reveals a number of similarities with the individualization process in Western Europe but also demonstrates some important differences. In the last section, the theoretical implications of the Chinese case in light of Ulrich Beck's theory of individualization and second modernity are discussed. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2010.

Energy Reserves, Information Need and a Pinch of Personality Determine Decision-Making on Route in Partially Migratory Blue Tits.

PubMed

Nilsson, Anna L K; Nilsson, Jan-Åke; Mettke-Hofmann, Claudia

2016-01-01

In facultative partial migrants some individuals in a population are migratory and others are resident and individuals decide each year anew which strategy to choose. While the proportion of birds migrating is in part determined by environmental conditions and competitive abilities, the timing of individual departure and behaviours on route are little understood. Individuals encounter different environmental conditions when migrating earlier or later. Based on cost/ benefit considerations we tested whether behaviours on route were affected by time constraints, personality and/or age in a partially migrating population of Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). We captured female Blue tits on migration at the Southern tip of Sweden during early, peak and late migration and measured latency to feed in an unfamiliar environment, exploration of a novel object and hesitation to feed beside a novel object (neophobia). Lean birds and birds with long wings started feeding earlier when released into the cage indicating that foraging decisions were mainly determined by energetic needs (lean and large birds). However, juveniles commenced feeding later with progression of the migratory season in concordance with predictions about personality effects. Furthermore, lean birds started to explore earlier than birds with larger fat reserves again indicating an effect of maintaining threshold energy reserves. Moreover, late migrating juveniles, started to explore earlier than early migrating juveniles possibly due to time constraints to find high-quality foraging patches or a suitable winter home. Finally, neophobia did not change over the migratory season indicating that this behaviour is not compromised by time constraints. The results overall indicate that decisions on route are mainly governed by energetic requirements and current needs to learn about the environment and only to a small extent by differences in personality.

Energy Reserves, Information Need and a Pinch of Personality Determine Decision-Making on Route in Partially Migratory Blue Tits

PubMed Central

Nilsson, Jan-Åke; Mettke-Hofmann, Claudia

2016-01-01

In facultative partial migrants some individuals in a population are migratory and others are resident and individuals decide each year anew which strategy to choose. While the proportion of birds migrating is in part determined by environmental conditions and competitive abilities, the timing of individual departure and behaviours on route are little understood. Individuals encounter different environmental conditions when migrating earlier or later. Based on cost/ benefit considerations we tested whether behaviours on route were affected by time constraints, personality and/or age in a partially migrating population of Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). We captured female Blue tits on migration at the Southern tip of Sweden during early, peak and late migration and measured latency to feed in an unfamiliar environment, exploration of a novel object and hesitation to feed beside a novel object (neophobia). Lean birds and birds with long wings started feeding earlier when released into the cage indicating that foraging decisions were mainly determined by energetic needs (lean and large birds). However, juveniles commenced feeding later with progression of the migratory season in concordance with predictions about personality effects. Furthermore, lean birds started to explore earlier than birds with larger fat reserves again indicating an effect of maintaining threshold energy reserves. Moreover, late migrating juveniles, started to explore earlier than early migrating juveniles possibly due to time constraints to find high-quality foraging patches or a suitable winter home. Finally, neophobia did not change over the migratory season indicating that this behaviour is not compromised by time constraints. The results overall indicate that decisions on route are mainly governed by energetic requirements and current needs to learn about the environment and only to a small extent by differences in personality. PMID:27732602

A selfish genetic element influencing longevity correlates with reactive behavioural traits in female house mice (Mus domesticus).

PubMed

Auclair, Yannick; König, Barbara; Lindholm, Anna K

2013-01-01

According to theory in life-history and animal personality, individuals with high fitness expectations should be risk-averse, while individuals with low fitness expectations should be more bold. In female house mice, a selfish genetic element, the t haplotype, is associated with increased longevity under natural conditions, representing an appropriate case study to investigate this recent theory empirically. Following theory, females heterozygous for the t haplotype (+/t) are hypothesised to express more reactive personality traits and be more shy, less explorative and less active compared to the shorter-lived homozygous wildtype females (+/+). As males of different haplotype do not differ in survival, no similar pattern is expected. We tested these predictions by quantifying boldness, exploration, activity, and energetic intake in both +/t and +/+ mice. +/t females, unlike +/+ ones, expressed some reactive-like personality traits: +/t females were less active, less prone to form an exploratory routine and tended to ingest less food. Taken together these results suggest that differences in animal personality may contribute to the survival advantage observed in +/t females but fail to provide full empirical support for recent theory.

Exploring the Power of Heterogeneous Information Sources

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

Individual movies are classified as being of one or more of 18 genres , such as Comedy and Thriller , which can be treated as binary vectors. 2) User... genres , from different sources, in different formats, and with different types of representation. Many interesting patterns cannot be extracted from a...provide better web services or help film distributors in decision making, we need to conduct integrative analysis of all the information sources. For

Intellectual Capital: Comparison and Contrast.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madsen, Susan R.

2001-01-01

Suggests that one of the most important keys for improving individual and organizational performance is in developing and strengthening intellectual capital (IC) and explores the similarities and differences between the concepts of intellectual capital, human capital, and knowledge management. Presents four IC characteristics and addresses the…

Multicultural Leadership Development through Experiential Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overstreet, Michelle; Okiror, Linda; Weber, Margaret J.; McCray, Jacquelyn

1998-01-01

The Multicultural Leadership Development Program provided for the exploration into the culture of the individual and others for undergraduates from two different universities. Students reported changes in their perspectives on diversity, leadership, and citizenship and felt these changes could potentially influence awareness and sensitivity in…

Children's Conflict-Related Emotions: Implications for Morality and Autonomy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arsenio, William; Cooperman, Sharon

1996-01-01

Investigates the influence of children's affective dispositions and knowledge of emotions on their ability to use nonaggressive conflict resolution strategies, exploring connections between autonomy and socioemotional development. Finds that individual differences in affective dispositions and emotional knowledge influence children's abilities to…

Facilitating telecommuting : exploring the role of telecommuting intensity and differences between telecommuters and non-telecommuters.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-06-01

Walls, Safirova and Jiang (2007) note the paucity of studies that examine telecommuting among individuals across organizations and studies that compare telecommuters with non-telecommuters. This study responds to this call by gaining a deeper underst...

Dental disease and dietary isotopes of individuals from St Gertrude Church cemetery, Riga, Latvia.

PubMed

Petersone-Gordina, Elina; Roberts, Charlotte; Millard, Andrew R; Montgomery, Janet; Gerhards, Guntis

2018-01-01

This research explores oral health indicators and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data to explore diet, and differences in diet, between people buried in the four different contexts of the St Gertrude Church cemetery (15th- 17th centuries AD): the general cemetery, two mass graves, and a collective mass burial pit within the general cemetery. The main aim is to assess whether people buried in the mass graves were rural immigrants, or if they were more likely to be the victims of plague (or another epidemic) who lived in Riga and its suburbs. The data produced (from dental disease assessments and isotope analyses) were compared within, as well as between, the contexts. Most differences emerged when comparing the prevalence rates of dental diseases and other oral health indicators in males and females between the contexts, while isotope analysis revealed more individual, rather than context-specific, differences. The data suggested that the populations buried in the mass graves were different from those buried in the general cemetery, and support the theory that rural immigrants were buried in both mass graves. Significant differences were observed in some aspects of the data between the mass graves, however, possibly indicating that the people buried in them do not represent the same community.

Dental disease and dietary isotopes of individuals from St Gertrude Church cemetery, Riga, Latvia

PubMed Central

Roberts, Charlotte; Millard, Andrew R.; Montgomery, Janet; Gerhards, Guntis

2018-01-01

This research explores oral health indicators and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data to explore diet, and differences in diet, between people buried in the four different contexts of the St Gertrude Church cemetery (15th– 17th centuries AD): the general cemetery, two mass graves, and a collective mass burial pit within the general cemetery. The main aim is to assess whether people buried in the mass graves were rural immigrants, or if they were more likely to be the victims of plague (or another epidemic) who lived in Riga and its suburbs. The data produced (from dental disease assessments and isotope analyses) were compared within, as well as between, the contexts. Most differences emerged when comparing the prevalence rates of dental diseases and other oral health indicators in males and females between the contexts, while isotope analysis revealed more individual, rather than context-specific, differences. The data suggested that the populations buried in the mass graves were different from those buried in the general cemetery, and support the theory that rural immigrants were buried in both mass graves. Significant differences were observed in some aspects of the data between the mass graves, however, possibly indicating that the people buried in them do not represent the same community. PMID:29364968

Different type 2 diabetes risk assessments predict dissimilar numbers at ‘high risk’: a retrospective analysis of diabetes risk-assessment tools

PubMed Central

Gray, Benjamin J; Bracken, Richard M; Turner, Daniel; Morgan, Kerry; Thomas, Michael; Williams, Sally P; Williams, Meurig; Rice, Sam; Stephens, Jeffrey W

2015-01-01

Background Use of a validated risk-assessment tool to identify individuals at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes is currently recommended. It is under-reported, however, whether a different risk tool alters the predicted risk of an individual. Aim This study explored any differences between commonly used validated risk-assessment tools for type 2 diabetes. Design and setting Cross-sectional analysis of individuals who participated in a workplace-based risk assessment in Carmarthenshire, South Wales. Method Retrospective analysis of 676 individuals (389 females and 287 males) who participated in a workplace-based diabetes risk-assessment initiative. Ten-year risk of type 2 diabetes was predicted using the validated QDiabetes®, Leicester Risk Assessment (LRA), FINDRISC, and Cambridge Risk Score (CRS) algorithms. Results Differences between the risk-assessment tools were apparent following retrospective analysis of individuals. CRS categorised the highest proportion (13.6%) of individuals at ‘high risk’ followed by FINDRISC (6.6%), QDiabetes (6.1%), and, finally, the LRA was the most conservative risk tool (3.1%). Following further analysis by sex, over one-quarter of males were categorised at high risk using CRS (25.4%), whereas a greater percentage of females were categorised as high risk using FINDRISC (7.8%). Conclusion The adoption of a different valid risk-assessment tool can alter the predicted risk of an individual and caution should be used to identify those individuals who really are at high risk of type 2 diabetes. PMID:26541180

Different type 2 diabetes risk assessments predict dissimilar numbers at 'high risk': a retrospective analysis of diabetes risk-assessment tools.

PubMed

Gray, Benjamin J; Bracken, Richard M; Turner, Daniel; Morgan, Kerry; Thomas, Michael; Williams, Sally P; Williams, Meurig; Rice, Sam; Stephens, Jeffrey W

2015-12-01

Use of a validated risk-assessment tool to identify individuals at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes is currently recommended. It is under-reported, however, whether a different risk tool alters the predicted risk of an individual. This study explored any differences between commonly used validated risk-assessment tools for type 2 diabetes. Cross-sectional analysis of individuals who participated in a workplace-based risk assessment in Carmarthenshire, South Wales. Retrospective analysis of 676 individuals (389 females and 287 males) who participated in a workplace-based diabetes risk-assessment initiative. Ten-year risk of type 2 diabetes was predicted using the validated QDiabetes(®), Leicester Risk Assessment (LRA), FINDRISC, and Cambridge Risk Score (CRS) algorithms. Differences between the risk-assessment tools were apparent following retrospective analysis of individuals. CRS categorised the highest proportion (13.6%) of individuals at 'high risk' followed by FINDRISC (6.6%), QDiabetes (6.1%), and, finally, the LRA was the most conservative risk tool (3.1%). Following further analysis by sex, over one-quarter of males were categorised at high risk using CRS (25.4%), whereas a greater percentage of females were categorised as high risk using FINDRISC (7.8%). The adoption of a different valid risk-assessment tool can alter the predicted risk of an individual and caution should be used to identify those individuals who really are at high risk of type 2 diabetes. © British Journal of General Practice 2015.

Individual differences and repeatability in vocal production: stress-induced calling exposes a songbird's personality.

PubMed

Guillette, Lauren M; Sturdy, Christopher B

2011-11-01

Recent research in songbirds has demonstrated that male singing behavior varies systematically with personality traits such as exploration and risk taking. Here we examine whether the production of bird calls, in addition to bird songs, is repeatable and related to exploratory behavior, using the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) as a model. We assessed the exploratory behavior of individual birds in a novel environment task. We then recorded the vocalizations and accompanying motor behavior of both male and female chickadees, over the course of several days, in two different contexts: a control condition with no playback and a stressful condition where chick-a-dee mobbing calls were played to individual birds. We found that several vocalizations and behaviors were repeatable within both a control and a stressful context, and across contexts. While there was no relationship between vocal output and exploratory behavior in the control context, production of alarm and chick-a-dee calls in the stressful condition was positively associated with exploratory behavior. These findings are important because they show that bird calls, in addition to bird song, are an aspect of personality, in that calls are consistent both within and across contexts, and covary with other personality measures (exploration).

Individual differences and repeatability in vocal production: stress-induced calling exposes a songbird's personality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guillette, Lauren M.; Sturdy, Christopher B.

2011-11-01

Recent research in songbirds has demonstrated that male singing behavior varies systematically with personality traits such as exploration and risk taking. Here we examine whether the production of bird calls, in addition to bird songs, is repeatable and related to exploratory behavior, using the black-capped chickadee ( Poecile atricapillus) as a model. We assessed the exploratory behavior of individual birds in a novel environment task. We then recorded the vocalizations and accompanying motor behavior of both male and female chickadees, over the course of several days, in two different contexts: a control condition with no playback and a stressful condition where chick-a-dee mobbing calls were played to individual birds. We found that several vocalizations and behaviors were repeatable within both a control and a stressful context, and across contexts. While there was no relationship between vocal output and exploratory behavior in the control context, production of alarm and chick-a-dee calls in the stressful condition was positively associated with exploratory behavior. These findings are important because they show that bird calls, in addition to bird song, are an aspect of personality, in that calls are consistent both within and across contexts, and covary with other personality measures (exploration).

Examining the "evolution of increased competitive ability" hypothesis in response to parasites and pathogens in the invasive paper wasp Polistes dominula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manfredini, Fabio; Grozinger, Christina M.; Beani, Laura

2013-03-01

Successful invaders often become established in new ranges by outcompeting native species. The "evolution of increased competitive ability" hypothesis predicts that invasive species are subjected to less predation and parasitization than sympatric native species, and thus can allocate resources from defence and immunity to growth and fecundity, thereby achieving higher fitness. In this study, we examined whether American invasive Polistes dominula paper wasps have reduced immunocompetence. To explore this scenario, we tested their susceptibility towards parasites and pathogens at both the individual (immune defence) and colony levels, i.e. hygienic behaviour (removal of diseased individuals by nestmates). First, we examined the response to the specific coevolved parasite Xenos vesparum (lost after invasion) in terms of individual host susceptibility and hygienic behaviour. Second, we explored the response against general pathogens by quantifying the bacterial clearance in individual wasps after a challenge with Escherichia coli and hygienic behaviour after a challenge with the fungus Beauveria bassiana. Our results show that American invasive P. dominula have a higher response against X. vesparum at the colony level, but at the individual level their susceptibility is not significantly different from conspecifics of the native range. On the other hand, invasive P. dominula display lower response after a challenge with general pathogens at both the individual and colony levels. While supporting the hypothesis of a reduction of immunocompetence towards general pathogens in invasive species, these findings also suggest that the response against coevolved parasites might follow different evolutionary pathways which are not always easily predictable.

Examining the "evolution of increased competitive ability" hypothesis in response to parasites and pathogens in the invasive paper wasp Polistes dominula.

PubMed

Manfredini, Fabio; Beani, Laura; Grozinger, Christina M

2013-03-01

Successful invaders often become established in new ranges by outcompeting native species. The "evolution of increased competitive ability" hypothesis predicts that invasive species are subjected to less predation and parasitization than sympatric native species, and thus can allocate resources from defence and immunity to growth and fecundity, thereby achieving higher fitness. In this study, we examined whether American invasive Polistes dominula paper wasps have reduced immunocompetence. To explore this scenario, we tested their susceptibility towards parasites and pathogens at both the individual (immune defence) and colony levels, i.e. hygienic behaviour (removal of diseased individuals by nestmates). First, we examined the response to the specific coevolved parasite Xenos vesparum (lost after invasion) in terms of individual host susceptibility and hygienic behaviour. Second, we explored the response against general pathogens by quantifying the bacterial clearance in individual wasps after a challenge with Escherichia coli and hygienic behaviour after a challenge with the fungus Beauveria bassiana. Our results show that American invasive P. dominula have a higher response against X. vesparum at the colony level, but at the individual level their susceptibility is not significantly different from conspecifics of the native range. On the other hand, invasive P. dominula display lower response after a challenge with general pathogens at both the individual and colony levels. While supporting the hypothesis of a reduction of immunocompetence towards general pathogens in invasive species, these findings also suggest that the response against coevolved parasites might follow different evolutionary pathways which are not always easily predictable.

When he is "tied": power, vulnerability, and embodied masculinity in Egypt.

PubMed

Ghannam, Farha

2017-10-01

This paper looks at the notion of rabt [tying], the inability of the groom to engage in penetrative intercourse on the wedding night, to explore the relationship between masculinity, embodiment, and sexual performance. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Egypt between 1993 and 2015, this paper explores the notion of groom rabt, how it is socially defined and managed. After presenting my conceptual framework for the study of sexuality and embodiment, the paper moves to discuss the meaning of the wedding night; the social clues people draw on when they identify rabt; how these clues relate different events to the (in)abilities of the groom; and how women, particularly mothers, work to protect and heal their male relatives from this affliction. To understand moments when individuals are unable, or "fail," to produce desirable physical and social effects, it is important that we do not exclusively consider the individual sexed body - the body that is clearly defined, bounded, and invested with unique desires and feelings. We must also consider the broader configurations that connect different bodies, endow them with certain meanings, and produce their materiality. My discussion shows that our understanding of sexuality and reproductive health will continue to be limited if we consider only men or women as separate individuals or as autonomous couples. Exploring moments of biological-social vulnerability, such as rabt, and how they relate to broader projects of gendering helps us understand issues linked to reproductive health and sexual rights in a deeper sense.

Dynamics of foraging trails in the Neotropical termite Velocitermes heteropterus (Isoptera: Termitidae).

PubMed

Haifig, Ives; Jost, Christian; Fourcassié, Vincent; Zana, Yossi; Costa-Leonardo, Ana Maria

2015-09-01

Foraging behavior in termites varies with the feeding habits of each species but often occurs through the formation of well-defined trails that connect the nest to food sources in species that build structured nests. We studied the formation of foraging trails and the change in caste ratio during foraging in the termite Velocitermes heteropterus. This species is widespread in Cerrado vegetation where it builds epigeal nests and forages in open-air at night. Our aim was to understand the processes involved in the formation of foraging trails, from the exploration of new unmarked areas to the recruitment of individuals to food and the stabilization of traffic on the trails, as well as the participation of the different castes during these processes. Foraging trails were videotaped in the laboratory and the videos were then analyzed both manually and automatically to assess the flow of individuals and the caste ratio on the trails as well as to examine the spatial organization of traffic over time. Foraging trails were composed of minor workers, major workers, and soldiers. The flow of individuals on the trails gradually increased from the beginning of the exploration of new areas up to the discovery of the food. The caste ratio remained constant throughout the foraging excursion: major workers, minor workers and soldiers forage in a ratio of 8:1:1, respectively. The speed of individuals was significantly different among castes, with major workers and soldiers being significantly faster than minor workers. Overall, our results show that foraging excursions in V. heteropterus may be divided in three different phases, characterized by individual speeds, differential flows and lane segregation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Competence and Quality in Real-Life Decision Making.

PubMed

Geisler, Martin; Allwood, Carl Martin

2015-01-01

What distinguishes a competent decision maker and how should the issue of decision quality be approached in a real-life context? These questions were explored in three studies. In Study 1, using a web-based questionnaire and targeting a community sample, we investigated the relationships between objective and subjective indicators of real-life decision-making success. In Study 2 and 3, targeting two different samples of professionals, we explored if the prevalent cognitively oriented definition of decision-making competence could be beneficially expanded by adding aspects of competence in terms of social skills and time-approach. The predictive power for each of these three aspects of decision-making competence was explored for different indicators of real-life decision-making success. Overall, our results suggest that research on decision-making competence would benefit by expanding the definition of competence, by including decision-related abilities in terms of social skills and time-approach. Finally, the results also indicate that individual differences in real-life decision-making success profitably can be approached and measured by different criteria.

Modeling Polymorphemic Word Recognition: Exploring Differences among Children with Early-Emerging and Late- Emerging Word Reading Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kearns, Devin M.; Steacy, Laura M.; Compton, Donald L.; Gilbert, Jennifer K.; Goodwin, Amanda P.; Cho, Eunsoo; Lindstrom, Esther R.; Collins, Alyson A.

2016-01-01

Comprehensive models of derived polymorphemic word recognition skill in developing readers, with an emphasis on children with reading difficulty (RD), have not been developed. The purpose of the present study was to model individual differences in polymorphemic word recognition ability at the item level among 5th-grade children (N = 173)…

Working memory is related to perceptual processing: a case from color perception.

PubMed

Allen, Elizabeth C; Beilock, Sian L; Shevell, Steven K

2011-07-01

We explored the relation between individual differences in working memory (WM) and color constancy, the phenomenon of color perception that allows us to perceive the color of an object as relatively stable under changes in illumination. Successive color constancy (measured by first viewing a colored surface under a particular illumination and later recalling it under a new illumination) was better for higher WM individuals than for lower WM individuals. Moreover, the magnitude of this WM difference depended on how much contextual information was available in the scene, which typically improves color constancy. By contrast, simple color memory, measured by viewing and recalling a colored surface under the same illumination, showed no significant relation to WM. This study reveals a relation between WM and a low-level perceptual process not previously thought to operate within the confines of attentional control, and it provides a first account of the individual differences in color constancy known about for decades.

Working memory is related to perceptual processing: A case from color perception

PubMed Central

Allen, Elizabeth C.; Beilock, Sian L.; Shevell, Steven K.

2011-01-01

We explored the relation between individual differences in working memory (WM) and color constancy, the phenomenon of color perception that allows us to perceive the color of an object as relatively stable under changes in illumination. Successive color constancy (measured by first viewing a colored surface under a particular illumination and later recalling it under a new illumination) was better for higher-WM individuals than for lower-WM individuals. Moreover, the magnitude of this WM difference depended on how much contextual information was available in the scene, which typically improves color constancy. By contrast, simple color memory, measured by viewing and recalling a colored surface under the same illumination, showed no significant relation to WM. This study reveals a relation between WM and a low-level perceptual process not previously thought to operate within the confines of attentional control, and provides a first account of the individual differences in color constancy known about for decades. PMID:21480748

Individuality in nutritional preferences: a multi-level approach in field crickets.

PubMed

Han, Chang S; Jäger, Heidi Y; Dingemanse, Niels J

2016-06-30

Selection may favour individuals of the same population to differ consistently in nutritional preference, for example, because optimal diets covary with morphology or personality. We provided Southern field crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus) with two synthetic food sources (carbohydrates and proteins) and quantified repeatedly how much of each macronutrient was consumed by each individual. We then quantified (i) whether individuals were repeatable in carbohydrate and protein intake rate, (ii) whether an individual's average daily intake of carbohydrates was correlated with its average daily intake of protein, and (iii) whether short-term changes in intake of carbohydrates coincided with changes in intake of protein within individuals. Intake rates were individually repeatable for both macronutrients. However, individuals differed in their relative daily intake of carbohydrates versus proteins (i.e., 'nutritional preference'). By contrast, total consumption varied plastically as a function of body weight within individuals. Body weight-but not personality (i.e., aggression, exploration behaviour)-positively predicted nutritional preference at the individual level as large crickets repeatedly consumed a higher carbohydrate to protein ratio compared to small ones. Our finding of level-specific associations between the consumption of distinct nutritional components demonstrates the merit of applying multivariate and multi-level viewpoints to the study of nutritional preference.

Salience network dynamics underlying successful resistance of temptation

PubMed Central

Nomi, Jason S; Calhoun, Vince D; Stelzel, Christine; Paschke, Lena M; Gaschler, Robert; Goschke, Thomas; Walter, Henrik; Uddin, Lucina Q

2017-01-01

Abstract Self-control and the ability to resist temptation are critical for successful completion of long-term goals. Contemporary models in cognitive neuroscience emphasize the primary role of prefrontal cognitive control networks in aligning behavior with such goals. Here, we use gaze pattern analysis and dynamic functional connectivity fMRI data to explore how individual differences in the ability to resist temptation are related to intrinsic brain dynamics of the cognitive control and salience networks. Behaviorally, individuals exhibit greater gaze distance from target location (e.g. higher distractibility) during presentation of tempting erotic images compared with neutral images. Individuals whose intrinsic dynamic functional connectivity patterns gravitate toward configurations in which salience detection systems are less strongly coupled with visual systems resist tempting distractors more effectively. The ability to resist tempting distractors was not significantly related to intrinsic dynamics of the cognitive control network. These results suggest that susceptibility to temptation is governed in part by individual differences in salience network dynamics and provide novel evidence for involvement of brain systems outside canonical cognitive control networks in contributing to individual differences in self-control. PMID:29048582

Modular Software Interfaces for Revolutionary Flexibility in Space Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glass, Brian; Braham, Stephen; Pollack, Jay

2005-01-01

To make revolutionary improvements in exploration, space systems need to be flexible, realtime reconfigurable, and able to trade data transparently among themselves and mission operations. Onboard operations systems, space assembly coordination and EVA systems in exploration and construction all require real-time modular reconfigurability and data sharing. But NASA's current exploration systems are still largely legacies from hastily-developed, one-off Apollo-era practices. Today's rovers, vehicles, spacesuits, space stations, and instruments are not able to plug-and-play, Lego-like: into different combinations. Point-to-point dominates - individual suit to individual vehicle, individual instrument to rover. All are locally optimized, all unique, each of the data interfaces has been recoded for each possible combination. This will be an operations and maintenance nightmare in the much larger Project Constellation system of systems. This legacy approach does not scale to the hundreds of networked space components needed for space construction and for new, space-based approaches to Earth-Moon operations. By comparison, battlefield information management systems, which are considered critical to military force projection, have long since abandoned a point-to-point approach to systems integration. From a system-of-systems viewpoint, a clean-sheet redesign of the interfaces of all exploration systems is a necessary prerequisite before designing the interfaces of the individual exploration systems. Existing communications and Global Information Grid and middleware technologies are probably sufficient for command and control and information interfaces, with some hardware and time-delay modifications for space environments. NASA's future advanced space operations must also be information and data compatible with aerospace operations and surveillance systems being developed by other US Government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense. This paper discusses fundamental system-of-systems infrastructure: approaches and architectures for modular plug-and-play software interfaces for revolutionary improvements in flexibility, modularity, robustness, ease of maintenance, reconfigurability, safety and productivity. Starting with middleware, databases, and mobile communications technologies, our technical challenges will be to apply these ideas to the requirements of constellations of space systems and to implement them initially on prototype space hardware. This is necessary to demonstrate an integrated information sharing architecture and services. It is a bottom-up approach, one that solves the problem of space operations data integration. Exploration demands uniform software mechanisms for application information interchange, and the corresponding uniformly available software services to enhance these mechanisms. We will examine the issues in plug-and-play, real-time-configurable systems, including common definition and management and tracking of data and information among many different space systems. Different field test approaches are discussed, including the use of the International Space Station and terrestrial analog mission operations at field sites.

The Role of Musical Experience in Hemispheric Lateralization of Global and Local Auditory Processing.

PubMed

Black, Emily; Stevenson, Jennifer L; Bish, Joel P

2017-08-01

The global precedence effect is a phenomenon in which global aspects of visual and auditory stimuli are processed before local aspects. Individuals with musical experience perform better on all aspects of auditory tasks compared with individuals with less musical experience. The hemispheric lateralization of this auditory processing is less well-defined. The present study aimed to replicate the global precedence effect with auditory stimuli and to explore the lateralization of global and local auditory processing in individuals with differing levels of musical experience. A total of 38 college students completed an auditory-directed attention task while electroencephalography was recorded. Individuals with low musical experience responded significantly faster and more accurately in global trials than in local trials regardless of condition, and significantly faster and more accurately when pitches traveled in the same direction (compatible condition) than when pitches traveled in two different directions (incompatible condition) consistent with a global precedence effect. In contrast, individuals with high musical experience showed less of a global precedence effect with regards to accuracy, but not in terms of reaction time, suggesting an increased ability to overcome global bias. Further, a difference in P300 latency between hemispheres was observed. These findings provide a preliminary neurological framework for auditory processing of individuals with differing degrees of musical experience.

Differences in the Theory of Mind profiles of patients with anorexia nervosa and individuals on the autism spectrum: A meta-analytic review.

PubMed

Leppanen, Jenni; Sedgewick, Felicity; Treasure, Janet; Tchanturia, Kate

2018-07-01

This meta-analytic review examines the theory of mind profiles in both patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and autistic individuals. The studies examining theory of mind were divided into the following categories: emotional theory of mind, understanding simple social situations, understanding complex social interactions, and implicit social attribution. All included studies investigated differences between healthy control (HCs) individuals and people with AN or autistic people. Differences in theory of mind profile between people with AN and autistic people were explored by conducting moderator analyses. People with AN and autistic people showed a similar theory of mind profile, but autistic individuals showed greater difficulties, particularly in emotional theory of mind. Although both people with AN and autistic people have significant difficulties in all aspects of theory of mind relative to the HCs, some differences in the underlying profile may be present. However, due to relative paucity of theory of mind research among people with AN, further research is still needed before firm conclusion can be drawn. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Entrepreneurial Motivations and Intentions: Investigating the Role of Education Major

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solesvik, Marina Z.

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the difference in entrepreneurial intentions, perceived entrepreneurial motivation, and cognitive profiles (attitudes towards entrepreneurship, perceived behaviour control, and subjective norms) between individuals who have participated in enterprise education programmes in the universities and…

Value and Performance in the IT Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryson, Jo

This paper discusses valuing information and its supporting technologies in the global environment. Different value propositions are explored from a financial, social, cultural, political, economic, corporate, and personal values perspective. Various means of measuring the relevancy of these value propositions to the individual, organization or…

Temporal structure of motor variability is dynamically regulated and predicts motor learning ability.

PubMed

Wu, Howard G; Miyamoto, Yohsuke R; Gonzalez Castro, Luis Nicolas; Ölveczky, Bence P; Smith, Maurice A

2014-02-01

Individual differences in motor learning ability are widely acknowledged, yet little is known about the factors that underlie them. Here we explore whether movement-to-movement variability in motor output, a ubiquitous if often unwanted characteristic of motor performance, predicts motor learning ability. Surprisingly, we found that higher levels of task-relevant motor variability predicted faster learning both across individuals and across tasks in two different paradigms, one relying on reward-based learning to shape specific arm movement trajectories and the other relying on error-based learning to adapt movements in novel physical environments. We proceeded to show that training can reshape the temporal structure of motor variability, aligning it with the trained task to improve learning. These results provide experimental support for the importance of action exploration, a key idea from reinforcement learning theory, showing that motor variability facilitates motor learning in humans and that our nervous systems actively regulate it to improve learning.

Temporal structure of motor variability is dynamically regulated and predicts motor learning ability

PubMed Central

Wu, Howard G; Miyamoto, Yohsuke R; Castro, Luis Nicolas Gonzalez; Ölveczky, Bence P; Smith, Maurice A

2015-01-01

Individual differences in motor learning ability are widely acknowledged, yet little is known about the factors that underlie them. Here we explore whether movement-to-movement variability in motor output, a ubiquitous if often unwanted characteristic of motor performance, predicts motor learning ability. Surprisingly, we found that higher levels of task-relevant motor variability predicted faster learning both across individuals and across tasks in two different paradigms, one relying on reward-based learning to shape specific arm movement trajectories and the other relying on error-based learning to adapt movements in novel physical environments. We proceeded to show that training can reshape the temporal structure of motor variability, aligning it with the trained task to improve learning. These results provide experimental support for the importance of action exploration, a key idea from reinforcement learning theory, showing that motor variability facilitates motor learning in humans and that our nervous systems actively regulate it to improve learning. PMID:24413700

Modelling nutrition across organizational levels: from individuals to superorganisms.

PubMed

Lihoreau, Mathieu; Buhl, Jerome; Charleston, Michael A; Sword, Gregory A; Raubenheimer, David; Simpson, Stephen J

2014-10-01

The Geometric Framework for nutrition has been increasingly used to describe how individual animals regulate their intake of multiple nutrients to maintain target physiological states maximizing growth and reproduction. However, only a few studies have considered the potential influences of the social context in which these nutritional decisions are made. Social insects, for instance, have evolved extreme levels of nutritional interdependence in which food collection, processing, storage and disposal are performed by different individuals with different nutritional needs. These social interactions considerably complicate nutrition and raise the question of how nutrient regulation is achieved at multiple organizational levels, by individuals and groups. Here, we explore the connections between individual- and collective-level nutrition by developing a modelling framework integrating concepts of nutritional geometry into individual-based models. Using this approach, we investigate how simple nutritional interactions between individuals can mediate a range of emergent collective-level phenomena in social arthropods (insects and spiders) and provide examples of novel and empirically testable predictions. We discuss how our approach could be expanded to a wider range of species and social systems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of Ethical Climate and Research Pressures in Different Faculties of a University: Cross-Sectional Study at the University of Split, Croatia.

PubMed

Malički, Mario; Katavić, Vedran; Marković, Domagoj; Marušić, Matko; Marušić, Ana

2017-10-25

We determined the prevailing ethical climate at three different schools of a single university, in order to explore possible differences in the ethical climate related to different research fields: the School of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Naval Architecture; the School of Humanities and Social Sciences; and the School of Medicine. We used the Ethical Climate Questionnaire to survey the staff (teachers and administration) at the three schools, and used the research integrity and organizational climate (RIOC) survey for early-stage researchers at the three schools. The dominant ethical climate type perceived collectively at the three university schools (response rate 49%, n = 294) was Laws and professional codes, which is associated with the cosmopolitan level of analysis and the ethical construct of principle. Individually, the same climate predominated at the schools for engineering and humanities, but the School of Medicine had the Self-interest ethical climate, which is associated with the individual level of analysis and the egoism ethical construct. In the RIOC survey (response rate 85%; n = 70), early-stage researchers from the three university schools did not differ in their perceptions of the organizational research integrity climate, or in their perceived individual, group or organizational pressures. Our study is the first, to the best of our knowledge, to show differences in perceived ethical climate at a medical school compared to other schools at a university. Further studies are needed to explore the reasons for these differences and how they translate to organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction, commitment to the institution and dysfunctional behaviour, including research misconduct.

Play in two societies: pervasiveness of process, specificity of structure.

PubMed

Bornstein, M H; Haynes, O M; Pascual, L; Painter, K M; Galperín, C

1999-01-01

The present study compared Argentine (N = 39) and U.S. (N = 43) children and their mothers on exploratory, symbolic, and social play and interaction when children were 20 months of age. Patterns of cultural similarity and difference emerged. In both cultures, boys engaged in more exploratory play than girls, and girls engaged in more symbolic play than boys; mothers of boys engaged in more exploratory play than mothers of girls, and mothers of girls engaged in more symbolic play than mothers of boys. Moreover, in both cultures, individual variation in children's exploratory and symbolic play was specifically associated with individual variation in mothers' exploratory and symbolic play, respectively. Between cultures, U.S. children and their mothers engaged in more exploratory play, whereas Argentine children and their mothers engaged in more symbolic play. Moreover, Argentine mothers exceeded U.S. mothers in social play and verbal praise of their children. During an early period of mental and social growth, general developmental processes in play may be pervasive, but dyadic and cultural structures are apparently specific. Overall, Argentine and U.S. dyads utilized different modes of exploration, representation, and interaction--emphasizing "other-directed" acts of pretense versus "functional" and "combinatorial" exploration, for example--and these individual and dyadic allocentric versus idiocentric stresses accord with larger cultural concerns of collectivism versus individualism in the two societies.

Give Me a Hand: Adult Involvement During Object Exploration Affects Object Individuation in Infancy

PubMed Central

Johnson, Kristin M.; Woods, Rebecca J.

2015-01-01

The development of object individuation, a fundamental ability that supports identification and discrimination of objects across discrete encounters, has been examined extensively by researchers. There are significant advancements in infants’ ability to individuate objects during the first year-and-a-half. Experimental work has established a timeline of object individuation abilities and revealed some mechanisms underlying this ability, however, the influence of adult assistance during object exploration has not yet been explored. The current study investigates the effect of adult involvement during object exploration on infants’ object individuation abilities. In Experiment 1a and 1b, we examined 9.5-month-old infants’ colour-based object individuation following adult-assisted multisensory object exploration. Two components of adult interaction were of particular interest: facilitation of object manipulation (grasping, rotating, and attention-getting behaviours) and social engagement (smiling, pointing, attention-getting verbalizations, and object-directed gaze). Experiment 2a and 2b assessed these components with 4.5-month-olds to examine their impact across development. The results showed that after adult-guided object exploration, both 9.5- and 4.5-month-old infants successfully individuated previously undifferentiated objects. Results of Experiments 1b and 2b provide implications for the mechanisms underlying the scaffolding influence of adult interaction during infant behaviours. PMID:28082834

Auditory Multi-Stability: Idiosyncratic Perceptual Switching Patterns, Executive Functions and Personality Traits

PubMed Central

Farkas, Dávid; Denham, Susan L.; Bendixen, Alexandra; Tóth, Dénes; Kondo, Hirohito M.; Winkler, István

2016-01-01

Multi-stability refers to the phenomenon of perception stochastically switching between possible interpretations of an unchanging stimulus. Despite considerable variability, individuals show stable idiosyncratic patterns of switching between alternative perceptions in the auditory streaming paradigm. We explored correlates of the individual switching patterns with executive functions, personality traits, and creativity. The main dimensions on which individual switching patterns differed from each other were identified using multidimensional scaling. Individuals with high scores on the dimension explaining the largest portion of the inter-individual variance switched more often between the alternative perceptions than those with low scores. They also perceived the most unusual interpretation more often, and experienced all perceptual alternatives with a shorter delay from stimulus onset. The ego-resiliency personality trait, which reflects a tendency for adaptive flexibility and experience seeking, was significantly positively related to this dimension. Taking these results together we suggest that this dimension may reflect the individual’s tendency for exploring the auditory environment. Executive functions were significantly related to some of the variables describing global properties of the switching patterns, such as the average number of switches. Thus individual patterns of perceptual switching in the auditory streaming paradigm are related to some personality traits and executive functions. PMID:27135945

Understanding how animal groups achieve coordinated movement

PubMed Central

Herbert-Read, J. E.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Moving animal groups display remarkable feats of coordination. This coordination is largely achieved when individuals adjust their movement in response to their neighbours' movements and positions. Recent advancements in automated tracking technologies, including computer vision and GPS, now allow researchers to gather large amounts of data on the movements and positions of individuals in groups. Furthermore, analytical techniques from fields such as statistical physics now allow us to identify the precise interaction rules used by animals on the move. These interaction rules differ not only between species, but also between individuals in the same group. These differences have wide-ranging implications, affecting how groups make collective decisions and driving the evolution of collective motion. Here, I describe how trajectory data can be used to infer how animals interact in moving groups. I give examples of the similarities and differences in the spatial and directional organisations of animal groups between species, and discuss the rules that animals use to achieve this organisation. I then explore how groups of the same species can exhibit different structures, and ask whether this results from individuals adapting their interaction rules. I then examine how the interaction rules between individuals in the same groups can also differ, and discuss how this can affect ecological and evolutionary processes. Finally, I suggest areas of future research. PMID:27707862

Effects of personalized colorectal cancer risk information on laypersons' interest in colorectal cancer screening: The importance of individual differences.

PubMed

Han, Paul K J; Duarte, Christine W; Daggett, Susannah; Siewers, Andrea; Killam, Bill; Smith, Kahsi A; Freedman, Andrew N

2015-10-01

To evaluate how personalized quantitative colorectal cancer (CRC) risk information affects laypersons' interest in CRC screening, and to explore factors influencing these effects. An online pre-post experiment was conducted in which a convenience sample (N=578) of laypersons, aged >50, were provided quantitative personalized estimates of lifetime CRC risk, calculated by the National Cancer Institute Colorectal Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (CCRAT). Self-reported interest in CRC screening was measured immediately before and after CCRAT use; sociodemographic characteristics and prior CRC screening history were also assessed. Multivariable analyses assessed participants' change in interest in screening, and subgroup differences in this change. Personalized CRC risk information had no overall effect on CRC screening interest, but significant subgroup differences were observed. Change in screening interest was greater among individuals with recent screening (p=.015), higher model-estimated cancer risk (p=.0002), and lower baseline interest (p<.0001), with individuals at highest baseline interest demonstrating negative (not neutral) change in interest. Effects of quantitative personalized CRC risk information on laypersons' interest in CRC screening differ among individuals depending on prior screening history, estimated cancer risk, and baseline screening interest. Personalized cancer risk information has personalized effects-increasing and decreasing screening interest in different individuals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sex and boldness explain individual differences in spatial learning in a lizard.

PubMed

Carazo, Pau; Noble, Daniel W A; Chandrasoma, Dani; Whiting, Martin J

2014-05-07

Understanding individual differences in cognitive performance is a major challenge to animal behaviour and cognition studies. We used the Eastern water skink (Eulamprus quoyii) to examine associations between exploration, boldness and individual variability in spatial learning, a dimension of lizard cognition with important bearing on fitness. We show that males perform better than females in a biologically relevant spatial learning task. This is the first evidence for sex differences in learning in a reptile, and we argue that it is probably owing to sex-specific selective pressures that may be widespread in lizards. Across the sexes, we found a clear association between boldness after a simulated predatory attack and the probability of learning the spatial task. In contrast to previous studies, we found a nonlinear association between boldness and learning: both 'bold' and 'shy' behavioural types were more successful learners than intermediate males. Our results do not fit with recent predictions suggesting that individual differences in learning may be linked with behavioural types via high-low-risk/reward trade-offs. We suggest the possibility that differences in spatial cognitive performance may arise in lizards as a consequence of the distinct environmental variability and complexity experienced by individuals as a result of their sex and social tactics.

Assessing Individual Differences in Adaptation to Extreme Environments: A 36-Hour Sleep Deprivation Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martinez, Jacqueline; Cowings, Patricia S.; Toscano, William B.

2012-01-01

In space, astronauts may experience effects of cumulative sleep loss due to demanding work schedules that can result in cognitive performance impairments, mood state deteriorations, and sleep-wake cycle disruption. Individuals who experience sleep deprivation of six hours beyond normal sleep times experience detrimental changes in their mood and performance states. Hence, the potential for life threatening errors increases exponentially with sleep deprivation. We explored the effects of 36-hours of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance, mood states, and physiological responses to identify which metrics may best predict fatigue induced performance decrements of individuals.

Working to reduce the effects of discrimination: Identity management strategies in organizations.

PubMed

Shih, Margaret; Young, Maia J; Bucher, Amy

2013-04-01

Despite efforts to dispel discrimination, workplace discrimination still occurs. We introduce two classes of identity management strategies individuals use to mitigate the negative consequences of discrimination: identity switching (i.e., deemphasizing target identities and recategorizing to a more positively valued identity) and identity redefinition (i.e., stereotype reassociation and regeneration). Organizations adopting a color-blind approach may make it more difficult for individuals to use identity switching because the policies deemphasize differences in social identities. In contrast, organizations adopting a multicultural approach may make it more difficult for individuals to use identity redefinition. Multicultural approaches, applied superficially, may celebrate group differences that might actually reinforce culturally dominant stereotypes. We explore the likelihood that individuals will adopt each strategy given these organizational approaches to diversity. We outline steps organizations can take to reduce the need for identity management strategies and to facilitate identity management when necessary.

Shyness and boldness in pumpkinseed sunfish: individual differences are context-specific.

PubMed

Coleman; Wilson

1998-10-01

Natural selection often promotes a mix of behavioural phenotypes in a population. Adaptive variation in the propensity to take risks might explain individual differences in shyness and boldness in humans and other species. It is often implicitly assumed that shyness and boldness are general personality traits expressed across many situations. From the evolutionary standpoint, however, individual differences that are adaptive in one context (e.g. predator defence) may not be adaptive in other contexts (e.g. exploration of the physical environment or intraspecific social interactions). We measured the context specificity of shyness and boldness in a natural population of juvenile pumpkinseed sunfish, Lepomis gibbosus, by exposing the fish to a potentially threatening stimulus (a red-tipped metrestick extended towards the individual) and a nonthreatening stimulus (a novel food source). We also related these measures of shyness and boldness to behaviours observed during focal observations, both before and after the introduction of a predator (largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides). Consistent individual differences were found within both contexts, but individual differences did not correlate across contexts. Furthermore, fish that were scored as intermediate in their response to the metrestick behaved most boldly as foragers and in response to the bass predators. These results suggest that shyness and boldness are context-specific and may not exist as a one-dimensional behavioural continuum even within a single context. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

The contribution to immediate serial recall of rehearsal, search speed, access to lexical memory, and phonological coding: an investigation at the construct level.

PubMed

Tehan, Gerald; Fogarty, Gerard; Ryan, Katherine

2004-07-01

Rehearsal speed has traditionally been seen to be the prime determinant of individual differences in memory span. Recent studies, in the main using young children as the participant population, have suggested other contributors to span performance. In the present research, we used structural equation modeling to explore, at the construct level, individual differences in immediate serial recall with respect to rehearsal, search, phonological coding, and speed of access to lexical memory. We replicated standard short-term phenomena; we showed that the variables that influence children's span performance influence adult performance in the same way; and we showed that speed of access to lexical memory and facility with phonological codes appear to be more potent sources of individual differences in immediate memory than is either rehearsal speed or search factors.

Culture and vocational interests: the moderating role of collectivism and gender egalitarianism.

PubMed

Ott-Holland, Catherine J; Huang, Jason L; Ryan, Ann Marie; Elizondo, Fabian; Wadlington, Patrick L

2013-10-01

In some cultures, individuals are free to pursue careers that match their personalities. In others, familial and societal expectations regarding career paths may restrict the links between individual personality and interests. Gender role expectations also may vary across cultures and may be associated with gender differences in interests. Past meta-analytic research has shown some career interests are related to personality traits (Barrick, Mount, & Gupta, 2003; Larson, Rottinghaus, & Borgen, 2002), but the cross-cultural variation of these relationships has not been sufficiently explored. Interest and personality data were obtained from an archival data set of 391,485 individuals from 20 countries. Results indicated that in cultures with high in-group collectivism, connections between personality traits and occupational interests may be less pronounced. Cultural gender egalitarianism moderated the level of gender differences in interests, unexpectedly demonstrating that gender differences may be wider in egalitarian cultures. Implications for career guidance in multicultural settings are discussed.

Fusion of smartphone motion sensors for physical activity recognition.

PubMed

Shoaib, Muhammad; Bosch, Stephan; Incel, Ozlem Durmaz; Scholten, Hans; Havinga, Paul J M

2014-06-10

For physical activity recognition, smartphone sensors, such as an accelerometer and a gyroscope, are being utilized in many research studies. So far, particularly, the accelerometer has been extensively studied. In a few recent studies, a combination of a gyroscope, a magnetometer (in a supporting role) and an accelerometer (in a lead role) has been used with the aim to improve the recognition performance. How and when are various motion sensors, which are available on a smartphone, best used for better recognition performance, either individually or in combination? This is yet to be explored. In order to investigate this question, in this paper, we explore how these various motion sensors behave in different situations in the activity recognition process. For this purpose, we designed a data collection experiment where ten participants performed seven different activities carrying smart phones at different positions. Based on the analysis of this data set, we show that these sensors, except the magnetometer, are each capable of taking the lead roles individually, depending on the type of activity being recognized, the body position, the used data features and the classification method employed (personalized or generalized). We also show that their combination only improves the overall recognition performance when their individual performances are not very high, so that there is room for performance improvement. We have made our data set and our data collection application publicly available, thereby making our experiments reproducible.

Moderators of wellbeing interventions: Why do some people respond more positively than others?

PubMed Central

Nelson-Coffey, S. Katherine; Layous, Kristin; Jacobs Bao, Katherine; Davis, Oliver S. P.; Haworth, Claire M. A.

2017-01-01

Interventions rarely have a universal effect on all individuals. Reasons ranging from participant characteristics, context and fidelity of intervention completion could cause some people to respond more positively than others. Understanding these individual differences in intervention response may provide clues to the mechanisms behind the intervention, as well as inform future designs to make interventions maximally beneficial for all. Here we focus on an intervention designed to improve adolescent wellbeing, and explore potential moderators using a representative and well-powered sample. 16-year old participants (N = 932) in the Twins Wellbeing Intervention Study logged online once a week to complete control and wellbeing-enhancing activities consecutively. Throughout the study participants also provided information about a range of potential moderators of intervention response including demographics, seasonality, personality, baseline characteristics, activity fit, and effort. As expected, some individuals gained more from the intervention than others; we used multi-level modelling to test for moderation effects that could explain these individual differences. Of the 15 moderators tested, none significantly explained individual differences in intervention response in the intervention and follow-up phases. Self-reported effort and baseline positive affect had a notable effect in moderating response in the control phase, during which there was no overall improvement in wellbeing and mental health. Our results did not replicate the moderation effects that have been suggested by previous literature and future work needs to reconcile these differences. They also show that factors that have previously been shown to influence baseline wellbeing do not also influence an individual’s ability to benefit from a wellbeing intervention. Although future research should continue to explore potential moderators of intervention efficacy, our results suggest that the beneficial effect of positive activities in adolescents were universal across such factors as sex and socioeconomic status, bolstering claims of the scalability of positive activities to increase adolescent wellbeing. PMID:29107994

When the Plus Sign is a Negative: Challenging and Reinforcing Embodied Stigmas Through Outliers and Counter-Narratives.

PubMed

Lippert, Alexandra

2017-11-30

When individuals become aware of their stigma, they attempt to manage their identity through discourses that both challenge and reinforce power. Identity management is fraught with tensions between the desire to fit normative social constructions and counter the same discourse. This essay explores identity management in the midst of the embodied stigmas concerning unplanned pregnancy during college and raising a biracial son. In doing so, this essay points to the difference between outlier narratives and counter-narratives. The author encourages health communication scholars to explore conditions under which storytelling moves beyond the personal to the political. Emancipatory intent does not guarantee emancipatory outcomes. Storytelling can function therapeutically for individuals while failing to redress forces that constrain human potential and agency.

Pharmacologic modulation of protein kinase C isozymes: the role of RACKs and subcellular localisation.

PubMed

Csukai, M; Mochly-Rosen, D

1999-04-01

Protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes are highly homologous kinases and several different isozymes can be present in a cell. Each isozyme is likely to mediate unique functions, but pharmacological tools to explore their isozyme-specific roles have not been available until recently. In this review, we describe the development and application of isozyme-selective inhibitors of PKC. The identification of these inhibitors stems from the observation that PKC isozymes are each localised to unique subcellular locations following activation. Inhibitors of this isozyme-unique localisation have been shown to act as selective inhibitors of the functions of individual isozymes. The identification of isozyme-specific inhibitors should allow the exploration of individual PKC isozyme function in a wide range of cell systems. Copyright 1999 The Italian Pharmacological Society.

Exploring Cognitive Relations Between Prediction in Language and Music.

PubMed

Patel, Aniruddh D; Morgan, Emily

2017-03-01

The online processing of both music and language involves making predictions about upcoming material, but the relationship between prediction in these two domains is not well understood. Electrophysiological methods for studying individual differences in prediction in language processing have opened the door to new questions. Specifically, we ask whether individuals with musical training predict upcoming linguistic material more strongly and/or more accurately than non-musicians. We propose two reasons why prediction in these two domains might be linked: (a) Musicians may have greater verbal short-term/working memory; (b) music may specifically reward predictions based on hierarchical structure. We provide suggestions as to how to expand upon recent work on individual differences in language processing to test these hypotheses. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Usable Multi-factor Authentication and Risk-based Authorization

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

acceptance. In the previous section we described user studies that explored risks perceived by individuals using online banking and credit card purchases... iTunes purchases. We note that the fingerprint scanners in the current experiment are very different from what would be available in future. However

The Many Faces of Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Werdmann, Anne M.

In a sixth-grade unit, students learned about people's facial expressions through careful observation, recording, reporting, and generalizing. The students studied the faces of people of various ages; explored "masks" that people wear in different situations; learned about the use of ritual masks; made case studies of individuals to show…

Bridging Skill and Task-Oriented Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgs, Karyn; Magliano, Joseph P.; Vidal-Abarca, Eduardo; Martínez, Tomas; McNamara, Danielle S.

2017-01-01

Some individual difference factors are more strongly correlated with performance on postreading questions when the text is not available than when it is. The present study explores if similar interactions occur with bridging skill, which refers to a reader's propensity to establish connections between explicit text during reading. Undergraduates…

Bridging Skill and Task Oriented Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgs, Karyn; Magliano, Joseph P.; Vidal-Abarca, Eduardo; Martínez, Tomas; McNamara, Danielle S.

2015-01-01

Some individual difference factors are more strongly correlated with performance on postreading questions when the text is not available than when it is. The present study explores if similar interactions occur with bridging skill, which refers to a reader's propensity to establish connections between explicit text during reading. Undergraduates…

Family Transitions during the Adolescent Transition: Implications for Parenting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Harry S.; Newland, Lisa A.

2002-01-01

Explores how family transitions affect parenting practices in a sample of adolescents. Adolescents from all family types reported significant declines in behavioral control, but not parental responsiveness. Findings suggest that adolescent individuation may overshadow family-type differences during middle adolescence. (Contains 50 references and 3…

The Impact of Generational Differences on Organizational Relationships: A Communication Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salahuddin, Mecca M.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was to investigate the relationship between an individual's generation and the communication styles used with other generations, and explore the influence of intergenerational communication styles on organizational relationships. The study utilized the Global Perceptions of…

Leadership Experiences of Students of Color.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arminio, Jan L.; Carter, Sandra; Jones, Steven E.; Kruger, Kevin; Lucas, Nance; Washington, Jamie; Young, Nancy; Scott, Angela

2000-01-01

Study uses phenomenological interviews to explore the experiences of student leaders of color. Themes of their experiences include: disdain for the label of leader; the personal costs of holding leadership positions; the different experiences in predominantly White, multiracial, or same-race groups; group loyalty over individual needs; gender…

Toward Differentiated Assessment in a Public College in Oman

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ali, Holi Ibrahim Holi

2015-01-01

Differentiated assessment (DA) seeks to address the individual differences between students and provides them with the appropriate assessment strategy. This paper looks into the possibility of implementing differentiated assessment in a public college in Oman. Additionally, it attempts to explore teachers' views about the possibility of…

Suicide: The Psychosocial Dimension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendin, Herbert

1978-01-01

Explores relationships among culture, character, and suicide, drawing on author's research in Scandinavia and his studies of suicide among United States urban blacks and college students. Varying psychodynamic ways suicidal individuals in differing cultures and subcultures conceive of, use, and absorb death tell us much about how we live. (Author)

Eye-Movement Analysis Demonstrates Strategic Influences on Intelligence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vigneau, Francois; Caissie, Andre F.; Bors, Douglas A.

2006-01-01

Taking into account various models and findings pertaining to the nature of analogical reasoning, this study explored quantitative and qualitative individual differences in intelligence using latency and eye-movement data. Fifty-five university students were administered 14 selected items of the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices test. Results…

Toward an Open-Ended BCI: A User-Centered Coadaptive Design.

PubMed

Dhindsa, Kiret; Carcone, Dean; Becker, Suzanna

2017-10-01

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow users to control a device by interpreting their brain activity. For simplicity, these devices are designed to be operated by purposefully modulating specific predetermined neurophysiological signals, such as the sensorimotor rhythm. However, the ability to modulate a given neurophysiological signal is highly variable across individuals, contributing to the inconsistent performance of BCIs for different users. These differences suggest that individuals who experience poor BCI performance with one class of brain signals might have good results with another. In order to take advantage of individual abilities as they relate to BCI control, we need to move beyond the current approaches. In this letter, we explore a new BCI design aimed at a more individualized and user-focused experience, which we call open-ended BCI. Individual users were given the freedom to discover their own mental strategies as opposed to being trained to modulate a given brain signal. They then underwent multiple coadaptive training sessions with the BCI. Our first open-ended BCI performed similarly to comparable BCIs while accommodating a wider variety of mental strategies without a priori knowledge of the specific brain signals any individual might use. Post hoc analysis revealed individual differences in terms of which sensory modality yielded optimal performance. We found a large and significant effect of individual differences in background training and expertise, such as in musical training, on BCI performance. Future research should be focused on finding more generalized solutions to user training and brain state decoding methods to fully utilize the abilities of different individuals in an open-ended BCI. Accounting for each individual's areas of expertise could have important implications on BCI training and BCI application design.

Multiracial Children's and Adults' Categorizations of Multiracial Individuals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Steven O.; Gelman, Susan A.

2017-01-01

Research has explored how multiracial individuals are categorized by monoracial individuals, but it has not yet explored how they are categorized by multiracial individuals themselves. We examined how multiracial children (aged 4-9 years old) and adults categorized multiracial targets (presented with and without parentage information). When…

Are New Hampshire "natives" different? A study of New Hampshire natives and three cohorts of in-migrants to New Hampshire

Treesearch

Robert A. Robertson

2003-01-01

Social science research is often used by resource management agencies to "obtain a balanced view of the preferences and needs of individuals, communities, and special interest publics potentially affected by agency activities." This study explores the extent that those people who are born in New Hampshire (i.e., natives) are different from persons who moved...

The Signer and the Sign: Cortical Correlates of Person Identity and Language Processing from Point-Light Displays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Ruth; Capek, Cheryl M.; Gazarian, Karine; MacSweeney, Mairead; Woll, Bencie; David, Anthony S.; McGuire, Philip K.; Brammer, Michael J.

2011-01-01

In this study, the first to explore the cortical correlates of signed language (SL) processing under point-light display conditions, the observer identified either a signer or a lexical sign from a display in which different signers were seen producing a number of different individual signs. Many of the regions activated by point-light under these…

Do Experts and Novices Direct Attention Differently in Examining Physics Diagrams? A Study of Change Detection Using the Flicker Technique

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morphew, Jason W.; Mestre, Jose P.; Ross, Brian H.; Strand, Natalie E.

2015-01-01

It is known that experts identify or perceive meaningful patterns in visual stimuli related to their domain of expertise. This study explores the speed with which experts and novices detect changes in physics diagrams. Since change detection depends on where individuals direct their attention, differences in the speed with which experts and…

Personal Capacity Building for the Human Services: The Roles of Curriculum and Individual Differences in Predicting Self-Concept in College/University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Philip D.; Martin, Andrew J.

2008-01-01

While much research has outlined the importance of intra-psychic factors in predicting workplace success, it is rare that attention is given to the development of these factors in training for human service professions (e.g. psychology, clergy, nursing). Accordingly, the present study explores differences in self-concept, a key intra-psychic…

The Relationship between Florida's Traditional Schools, Education Management Organization Charters, and Hometown Charters Fiscal Revenues and Instructional Expenditures on Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larkin, Brittany

2016-01-01

This research explores the differences in revenue reported after accounting for charter funds passing through district budgets between Florida's traditional schools and charter schools at both the state level and the individual district level. Differences in the percentage of the revenues the schools are expending on instructional services are…

Encoding Strategies in Primary School Children: Insights from an Eye-Tracking Approach and the Role of Individual Differences in Attentional Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roebers, Claudia M.; Schmid, Corinne; Roderer, Thomas

2010-01-01

The authors explored different aspects of encoding strategy use in primary school children by including (a) an encoding strategy task in which children's encoding strategy use was recorded through a remote eye-tracking device and, later, free recall and recognition for target items was assessed; and (b) tasks measuring resistance to interference…

Linking Mother-Father Differences in Parenting to a Typology of Family Parenting Styles and Adolescent Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simons, Leslie Gordon; Conger, Rand D.

2007-01-01

Using longitudinal data from a sample of 451 families with a child in eighth grade at the time of study, three research questions have been addressed: First, the study explored the ways in which mothers and fathers differ with regard to four parenting styles. Second, the study examined the manner in which individual parenting styles combine to…

Alternative research funding to improve clinical outcomes: model of prediction and prevention of sudden cardiac death.

PubMed

Myerburg, Robert J; Ullmann, Steven G

2015-04-01

Although identification and management of cardiovascular risk markers have provided important population risk insights and public health benefits, individual risk prediction remains challenging. Using sudden cardiac death risk as a base case, the complex epidemiology of sudden cardiac death risk and the substantial new funding required to study individual risk are explored. Complex epidemiology derives from the multiple subgroups having different denominators and risk profiles, while funding limitations emerge from saturation of conventional sources of research funding without foreseeable opportunities for increases. A resolution to this problem would have to emerge from new sources of funding targeted to individual risk prediction. In this analysis, we explore the possibility of a research funding strategy that would offer business incentives to the insurance industries, while providing support for unresolved research goals. The model is developed for the case of sudden cardiac death risk, but the concept is applicable to other areas of the medical enterprise. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

A Mission Concept Based on the ISECG Human Lunar Surface Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gruener, J. E.; Lawrence, S. J.

2017-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), working together with 13 other space agencies to advance a long-range human space exploration strategy. The ISECG has developed a Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) that reflects the coordinated international dialog and continued preparation for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit - beginning with the International Space Station (ISS) and continuing to the Moon, near-Earth asteroids, and Mars [1]. The roadmap demonstrates how initial capabilities can enable a variety of missions in the lunar vicinity, responding to individual and common goals and objectives, while contributing to building partnerships required for sustainable human space exploration that delivers value to the public. The current GER includes three different near-term themes: exploration of a near-Earth asteroid, extended duration crew missions in cis-lunar space, and humans to the lunar surface.

Testing the effects of expression, intensity and age on emotional face processing in ASD.

PubMed

Luyster, Rhiannon J; Bick, Johanna; Westerlund, Alissa; Nelson, Charles A

2017-06-21

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly show global deficits in the processing of facial emotion, including impairments in emotion recognition and slowed processing of emotional faces. Growing evidence has suggested that these challenges may increase with age, perhaps due to minimal improvement with age in individuals with ASD. In the present study, we explored the role of age, emotion type and emotion intensity in face processing for individuals with and without ASD. Twelve- and 18-22- year-old children with and without ASD participated. No significant diagnostic group differences were observed on behavioral measures of emotion processing for younger versus older individuals with and without ASD. However, there were significant group differences in neural responses to emotional faces. Relative to TD, at 12 years of age and during adulthood, individuals with ASD showed slower N170 to emotional faces. While the TD groups' P1 latency was significantly shorter in adults when compared to 12 year olds, there was no significant age-related difference in P1 latency among individuals with ASD. Findings point to potential differences in the maturation of cortical networks that support visual processing (whether of faces or stimuli more broadly), among individuals with and without ASD between late childhood and adulthood. Finally, associations between ERP amplitudes and behavioral responses on emotion processing tasks suggest possible neural markers for emotional and behavioral deficits among individuals with ASD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Negative emotion differentiation: its personality and well-being correlates and a comparison of different assessment methods.

PubMed

Erbas, Yasemin; Ceulemans, Eva; Lee Pe, Madeline; Koval, Peter; Kuppens, Peter

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown that individual differences in negative emotion differentiation may play a prominent role in well-being. Yet, many basic questions about negative emotion differentiation remain unanswered, including how it relates and overlaps with related and known dimensions of individual differences and what its possible underlying processes are. To answer these questions, in the current article we present three correlational studies that chart the nomological network of individual differences in negative emotion differentiation in terms of personality, difficulties in identifying and describing feelings, and several indicators of well-being, propose a novel paradigm to assess it in the lab, and explore relationships with a possible underlying mechanism in terms of the motivation to approach or avoid emotions. The results affirm consistent relations between negative emotion differentiation and indicators of adjustment like negative affect, self-esteem, neuroticism, depression and meta-knowledge about one's emotions, and show how it is related to the motivation to experience affective states.

Rivaling paradigms in psychiatric neurosurgery: adjustability versus quick fix versus minimal-invasiveness.

PubMed

Müller, Sabine; Riedmüller, Rita; van Oosterhout, Ansel

2015-01-01

In the wake of deep brain stimulation (DBS) development, ablative neurosurgical procedures are seeing a comeback, although they had been discredited and nearly completely abandoned in the 1970s because of their unethical practice. Modern stereotactic ablative procedures as thermal or radiofrequency ablation, and particularly radiosurgery (e.g., Gamma Knife) are much safer than the historical procedures, so that a re-evaluation of this technique is required. The different approaches of modern psychiatric neurosurgery refer to different paradigms: microsurgical ablative procedures is based on the paradigm 'quick fix,' radiosurgery on the paradigm 'minimal-invasiveness,' and DBS on the paradigm 'adjustability.' From a mere medical perspective, none of the procedures is absolutely superior; rather, they have different profiles of advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, individual factors are crucial in decision-making, particularly the patients' social situation, individual preferences, and individual attitudes. The different approaches are not only rivals, but also enriching mutually. DBS is preferable for exploring new targets, which may become candidates for ablative microsurgery or radiosurgery.

Concurrently examining unrealistic absolute and comparative optimism: Temporal shifts, individual-difference and event-specific correlates, and behavioural outcomes.

PubMed

Ruthig, Joelle C; Gamblin, Bradlee W; Jones, Kelly; Vanderzanden, Karen; Kehn, Andre

2017-02-01

Researchers have spent considerable effort examining unrealistic absolute optimism and unrealistic comparative optimism, yet there is a lack of research exploring them concurrently. This longitudinal study repeatedly assessed unrealistic absolute and comparative optimism within a performance context over several months to identify the degree to which they shift as a function of proximity to performance and performance feedback, their associations with global individual difference and event-specific factors, and their link to subsequent behavioural outcomes. Results showed similar shifts in unrealistic absolute and comparative optimism based on proximity to performance and performance feedback. Moreover, increases in both types of unrealistic optimism were associated with better subsequent performance beyond the effect of prior performance. However, several differences were found between the two forms of unrealistic optimism in their associations with global individual difference factors and event-specific factors, highlighting the distinctiveness of the two constructs. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Alternative neural circuitry that might be impaired in the development of Alzheimer disease.

PubMed

Avila, Jesus; Perry, George; Strange, Bryan A; Hernandez, Felix

2015-01-01

It is well established that some individuals with normal cognitive capacity have abundant senile plaques in their brains. It has been proposed that those individuals are resilient or have compensation factors to prevent cognitive decline. In this comment, we explore an alternative mechanism through which cognitive capacity is maintained. This mechanism could involve the impairment of alternative neural circuitry. Also, the proportion of molecules such as Aβ or tau protein present in different areas of the brain could be important.

Why children differ in motivation to learn: Insights from over 13,000 twins from 6 countries.

PubMed

Kovas, Yulia; Garon-Carrier, Gabrielle; Boivin, Michel; Petrill, Stephen A; Plomin, Robert; Malykh, Sergey B; Spinath, Frank; Murayama, Kou; Ando, Juko; Bogdanova, Olga Y; Brendgen, Mara; Dionne, Ginette; Forget-Dubois, Nadine; Galajinsky, Eduard V; Gottschling, Juliana; Guay, Frédéric; Lemelin, Jean-Pascal; Logan, Jessica A R; Yamagata, Shinji; Shikishima, Chizuru; Spinath, Birgit; Thompson, Lee A; Tikhomirova, Tatiana N; Tosto, Maria G; Tremblay, Richard; Vitaro, Frank

2015-07-01

Little is known about why people differ in their levels of academic motivation. This study explored the etiology of individual differences in enjoyment and self-perceived ability for several school subjects in nearly 13,000 twins aged 9-16 from 6 countries. The results showed a striking consistency across ages, school subjects, and cultures. Contrary to common belief, enjoyment of learning and children's perceptions of their competence were no less heritable than cognitive ability. Genetic factors explained approximately 40% of the variance and all of the observed twins' similarity in academic motivation. Shared environmental factors, such as home or classroom, did not contribute to the twin's similarity in academic motivation. Environmental influences stemmed entirely from individual specific experiences.

Addiction in Extreme Sports: An Exploration of Withdrawal States in Rock Climbers

PubMed Central

Heirene, Robert M.; Shearer, David; Roderique-Davies, Gareth; Mellalieu, Stephen D.

2016-01-01

Background and aims Extreme sports athletes are often labeled “adrenaline junkies” by the media, implying they are addicted to their sport. Research suggests during abstinence these athletes may experience withdrawal states characteristic of individuals with an addiction (Celsi, Rose, & Leigh, 1993; Franken, Zijlstra, & Muris, 2006; Willig, 2008). Despite this notion, no research has directly explored withdrawal experiences of extreme sports athletes. Methods Using semi-structured interviews, we explored withdrawal experiences of high (n = 4) and average-ability (n = 4) male rock climbers during periods of abstinence. We investigated the psychological and behavioral aspects of withdrawal, including craving, anhedonia, and negative affect; and differences in the frequency and intensity of these states between groups. Results Deductive content analysis indicated support for each of the three categories of anhedonia, craving, and negative affect. Consistent with existing substance addiction literature, high-ability climbers recalled more frequent and intense craving states and negative affect during abstinence compared with average-ability climbers. No differences in anhedonic symptoms between high and average-ability participants were found. Conclusions Rock climbing athletes appear to experience withdrawal symptoms when abstinent from their sport comparable to individuals with substance and behavioral addictions. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. PMID:27348554

'A different world' individuals' experience of an integrated family intervention for psychosis and its contribution to recovery.

PubMed

Allen, Jo; Burbach, Frank; Reibstein, Janet

2013-06-01

The aim of this study is to explore the meaning and significance of family interventions (FI) for the individual who experiences psychosis, and its significance for recovery. A qualitative in-depth interview design was used to explore individuals' experience of FI and its meaning to them. Seven individuals recovering from psychosis attending integrated FI sessions were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule developed with service user input. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and explored using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three central themes highlighted the participants' experience: (1) They welcomed the shared experience with their families and felt contained and valued by the therapists; (2) They felt the sessions contributed to changed patterns of relating within the family and the creation of new meaning through the validation of multiple perspectives; and (3) They described how the family sessions supported a new positioning in the world, a sense of their own empowerment and personal responsibility, greater self-acceptance, an increased ability to manage emotions, and hope for the future. Conditions in the family sessions provided an environment for changes in patterns of relating, personal meaning, and emotions to take place. Recovery, for these individuals, appeared to be about repositioning themselves in the world. The shared experience of sessions and the recognition of multiple perspectives within a containing environment may be related to recovery via the development of new perspectives and a more robust sense of self. This has clinical implications for the focus of FI sessions. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

How Communication Context Impacts Judgments of a Potential Peer Mentor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christofides, Emily; Wood, Eileen; Benn, Amanda Catherine; Desmarais, Serge; Westfall, Krista

2017-01-01

Disclosure is a critical element of interpersonal relationships and individuals are often evaluated on what they share with others, whether in personal, professional, or learning contexts. Technology now allows for many different outlets for communicating with other people. We used experimental methods to explore the impact of communication medium…

Who Benefits from Early Intervention in Autism Spectrum Disorders?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Itzchak, Esther Ben; Zachor, Ditza A.

2011-01-01

Research in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) described individual differences in response to intervention. This study explored child and parental characteristics at baseline that predict outcomes in adaptive skills and acquisition of cognitive gains. Seventy-eight children aged 15-35 months diagnosed with ASD by standardized diagnostic tools were…

Teacher Styles in Questioning and Explaining. Technical Report No. 39.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Carol Ann

The primary purpose of this study was to identify and describe individual differences in teaching style (i.e., teachers' patterns of questioning and explaining) in a standardized teaching situation. The secondary purpose was to explore relationships between teaching behavior and other teacher characteristics: teaching experience; sex and selected…

Teachers' Explanations of a Key Developmental Understanding of Multiplicative Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhee, Katherine L.

2012-01-01

This qualitative research study explores teachers' understandings of multiplicative reasoning as a key developmental understanding (KDU). A KDU entails knowingly applying the same mathematical concepts within different contexts. A KDU supports an individual to build a connected understanding of mathematics as opposed to only understanding…

Circadian Activity Rhythms, Time Urgency, and Achievement Concerns.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watts, Barbara L.

Many physiological and psychological processes fluctuate throughout the day in fairly stable, rhythmic patterns. The relationship between individual differences in circadian activity rhythms and a sense of time urgency were explored as well as a number of achievement-related variables. Undergraduates (N=308), whose circadian activity rhythms were…

Spatial Representation in Blind Children. 3: Effects of Individual Differences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fletcher, Janet F.

1981-01-01

Data from a study of spatial representation in blind children were subjected to two stepwise regression analyses to determine the relationships between several subject related variables and responses to "map" (cognitive map) and "route" (sequential memory) questions about the position of furniture in a recently explored room. (Author/SBH)

Exploring the Meta-Pragmatic Realm in English Language Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConachy, Troy

2013-01-01

As the speakership of English worldwide continues to grow, English language teachers are required to devise ways to prepare their learners for communicating successfully across cultures. As pragmatics is particularly tied up with culture, the ways in which individuals from different cultures will orient to pragmatic phenomena in their interaction…

The Institution of Advertising: Predictors of Cross-National Differences in Consumer Confidence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zinkhan, George M.; Balazs, Anne L.

1998-01-01

Contributes to scholarship on advertising and cross-cultural studies by exploring cultural factors affecting customer confidence in advertising. Uses a sample of 16 European nations to test G. Hofstede's theory of cross-national values. Finds that Hofstede's dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and individualism are important…

Ambiguity Tolerance and Perceptual Learning Styles of Chinese EFL Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Haishan; He, Qingshun

2016-01-01

Ambiguity tolerance and perceptual learning styles are the two influential elements showing individual differences in EFL learning. This research is intended to explore the relationship between Chinese EFL learners' ambiguity tolerance and their preferred perceptual learning styles. The findings include (1) the learners are sensitive to English…

Working with Difference in Online Collaborative Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Regina O.

2005-01-01

This qualitative cross-case study explored the experiences that learners describe within online collaborative groups. The study context was a fully online graduate course on adult learning. The findings suggest that the small online groups demonstrated dynamics and process that are characteristic of individual growth and development and group…

Transformation of the US bread wheat Butte 86 and silencing of omega-5 gliadin genes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Complex groups of proteins determine the unique functional properties of wheat flour and are sometimes responsible for food intolerances and allergies in individuals that consume wheat products. Transgenic approaches can be used to explore the functions of different flour proteins, but are limited t...

Students Individual Engagement in GIS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madsen, Lene Møller; Christiansen, Frederik; Rump, Camilla

2014-01-01

This paper develops two sets of concepts to theorize why students engage differently in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). These theoretical concepts are used as an analytical lens to explore empirical data on the experiences and engagement of students enrolled in an undergraduate GIS course in planning and management. The analysis shows that…

Holidays in the Public School Kindergarten: An Avenue for Emerging Religious and Spiritual Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Michal Elaine; Myers, Barbara Kimes

2002-01-01

Addresses holidays in the curriculum and concerns raised for educators about how to be inclusive and recognize students' different cultures. Presents a sample approach to exploring holidays in the classroom, including techniques for brainstorming, celebration activities, children's individual experiences, expanding experiences, engaging families,…

Contextual Antecedents of Informal Feedback in the Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Rijt, Janine; van de Wiel, Margje W. J.; Van den Bossche, Piet; Segers, Mien S. R.; Gijselaers, Wim H.

2012-01-01

This study brings together findings from different research angles on informal feedback in the workplace. We explore the individual and joint influences of three contextual antecedents of seeking feedback: support for learning, psychological safety, and work pressure. Based on our survey of 138 employees from various organizations, hierarchical…

Perceptions of Resiliency and Coping: Homeless Young Adults Speak Out

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Sanna J.; Ryan, Tiffany N.; Montgomery, Katherine L.; Lippman, Angie Del Prado; Bender, Kimberly; Ferguson, Kristin

2016-01-01

This study explored the perceptions of resilience and coping among homeless young adults, a focus that differs from previous research by considering the unconventional resilience and coping of this high-risk population. Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 45 homeless young adults. Individual interviews were audio recorded,…

Parent Involvement in Early Childhood Special Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Cordelia C.; And Others

Part of a volume which explores current issues in service delivery to infants and toddlers with handicapping conditions, this chapter discusses the nature of parent involvement in early childhood special education. Acceptance of the basic axiom of parent involvement needs to be accompanied by an understanding of individual differences in family…

Conceptualization and Exploration of Composite Career Anchors: An Analysis of Information Systems Personnel.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramakrishna, Hindupur V.; Potosky, Denise

2003-01-01

Information systems professionals (n=163) completed measures of career anchors and outcomes (career/job satisfaction, job performance, perceived advancement prospects); 46% had multiple dominant anchors and these individuals did not have significantly different career outcomes than those with single dominant anchors. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

Practice First: Flipped Training for Gallery Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palamara, Andrew

2017-01-01

In recent years, museum educators have urgently explored more dynamic ways to train gallery educators, paid or volunteer, that account for different types of learning styles and teaching practices. This article demonstrates how utilizing a flipped learning model, with online webinars as the basic instructional content, can foster individual and…

Individual Differences Related to College Students' Course Performance in Calculus II

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hart, Sara A.; Daucourt, Mia; Ganley, Colleen M.

2017-01-01

In this study, we explore student achievement in a semester-long flipped Calculus II course, combining various predictor measures related to student attitudes (math anxiety, math confidence, math interest, math importance) and cognitive skills (spatial skills, approximate number system), as well as student engagement with the online system…

A Lifespan Perspective on Adults' Achievement and Life Quality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steel, Lauri; Wise, Lauress L.

This paper explores how life course organization influences overall life quality and achievement, with emphasis on achievement differences between men and women. Life course organization refers to the level, timing, sequencing, and continuity of educational, occupational, marital, childbearing, and other commitments made by an individual over a…

Social Understanding of High-Ability Children in Middle and Late Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boor-Klip, Henrike J.; Cillessen, Antonius H. N.; van Hell, Janet G.

2014-01-01

Despite its importance in social development, social understanding has hardly been studied in high-ability children. This study explores differences in social understanding between children in high-ability and regular classrooms, specifically theory of mind (ToM) and perception accuracy, as well as associations between individual characteristics…

Exploring Iconic Interpretation and Mathematics Teacher Development through Clinical Simulations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dotger, Benjamin; Masingila, Joanna; Bearkland, Mary; Dotger, Sharon

2015-01-01

Field placements serve as the traditional "clinical" experience for prospective mathematics teachers to immerse themselves in the mathematical challenges of students. This article reports data from a different type of learning experience, that of a clinical simulation with a standardized individual. We begin with a brief background on…

Exploring Cognitive Relations between Prediction in Language and Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patel, Aniruddh D.; Morgan, Emily

2017-01-01

The online processing of both music and language involves making predictions about upcoming material, but the relationship between prediction in these two domains is not well understood. Electrophysiological methods for studying individual differences in prediction in language processing have opened the door to new questions. Specifically, we ask…

Analyzing Number Composition and Decomposition Activities in Kindergarten from a Numeracy Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsamir, Pessia; Tirosh, Dina; Levenson, Esther; Tabach, Michal; Barkai, Ruthi

2015-01-01

This study explores two number composition and decomposition activities from a numeracy perspective. Both activities have the same mathematical structure but each employs different tools and contexts. Twenty kindergarten children engaged individually with these activities. Verbal utterances as well as actions of the child and interviewer were…

Exploring Higher Education Financing Options

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nkrumah-Young, Kofi K.; Powell, Philip

2011-01-01

Higher education can be financed privately, financed by governments, or shared. Given that the benefits of education accrue to the individual and the state, many governments opt for shared financing. This article examines the underpinnings of different options for financing higher education and develops a model to compare conditions to choices and…

A MEG Investigation of Single-Word Auditory Comprehension in Aphasia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zipse, Lauryn; Kearns, Kevin; Nicholas, Marjorie; Marantz, Alec

2011-01-01

Purpose: To explore whether individuals with aphasia exhibit differences in the M350, an electrophysiological marker of lexical activation, compared with healthy controls. Method: Seven people with aphasia, 9 age-matched controls, and 10 younger controls completed an auditory lexical decision task while cortical activity was recorded with…

Energy state affects exploratory behavior of tree sparrows in a group context under differential food-patch distributions.

PubMed

Lee, Ya-Fu; Kuo, Yen-Min; Chu, Wen-Chen

2016-01-01

When facing a novel situation, animals can retreat or leave to avoid risks, but will miss potential resources and opportunities. Alternatively they may reduce environmental uncertainty by exploration, while risking no energy rewards and exposure to hazards, and use the information retrieved for subsequent decision making. When exploring, however, animals may adopt different tactics according to individual states. We tested that energy states will affect exploratory behavior by experimenting with wild-caught untrained Eurasian tree sparrows ( Passer montanus ) in fasted or fed states exploring in a novel space with hidden food supply in different patch distribution patterns. Our data revealed that fasted sparrows risked being earlier explorers more often, initiated more exploratory bouts before patches were found, and stayed longer on the ground under both patch patterns. Fasted sparrows discovered more patches and consumed more food than fed sparrows in dispersed, but not necessary so in clumped, patch patterns; whereas fed birds also increased patch finding to a certain level in dispersed patterns. Sparrows of both energy states, however, did not differ in feeding rates in either patch pattern. Exploratory behavior of tree sparrows is state-dependent, which supports our prediction that birds with an energy shortage will be risk-prone and explore more readily. Our study also indicates a game nature of tree sparrow exploratory behavior in a group context when explorers are in different energy states and are exposed to different patch distributions. Birds of lower energy state adopting an active exploring tactic may be favored by obtaining higher energy gains in dispersed patch patterns with lower patch richness. More satiated birds, however, achieved a similar feeding rate by lowered exposure time.

Do People Agree on What Makes One Feel Loved? A Cognitive Psychometric Approach to the Consensus on Felt Love.

PubMed

Oravecz, Zita; Muth, Chelsea; Vandekerckhove, Joachim

2016-01-01

This pragmatic study examines love as a mode of communication. Our focus is on the receiver side: what makes an individual feel loved and how felt love is defined through daily interactions. Our aim is to explore everyday life scenarios in which people might experience love, and to consider people's converging and diverging judgments about which scenarios indicate felt love. We apply a cognitive psychometric approach to quantify a receiver's ability to detect, understand, and know that they are loved. Through crowd-sourcing, we surveyed lay participants about whether various scenarios were indicators of felt love. We thus quantify these responses to make inference about consensus judgments of felt love, measure individual levels of agreement with consensus, and assess individual response styles. More specifically, we (1) derive consensus judgments on felt love; (2) describe its characteristics in qualitative and quantitative terms, (3) explore individual differences in both (a) participant agreement with consensus, and (b) participant judgment when uncertain about shared knowledge, and (4) test whether individual differences can be meaningfully linked to explanatory variables. Results indicate that people converge towards a shared cognitive model of felt love. Conversely, respondents showed heterogeneity in knowledge of consensus, and in dealing with uncertainty. We found that, when facing uncertainty, female respondents and people in relationships more frequently judge scenarios as indicators of felt love. Moreover, respondents from smaller households tend to know more about consensus judgments of felt love, while respondents from larger households are more willing to guess when unsure of consensus.

Do People Agree on What Makes One Feel Loved? A Cognitive Psychometric Approach to the Consensus on Felt Love

PubMed Central

Oravecz, Zita; Muth, Chelsea; Vandekerckhove, Joachim

2016-01-01

This pragmatic study examines love as a mode of communication. Our focus is on the receiver side: what makes an individual feel loved and how felt love is defined through daily interactions. Our aim is to explore everyday life scenarios in which people might experience love, and to consider people’s converging and diverging judgments about which scenarios indicate felt love. We apply a cognitive psychometric approach to quantify a receiver’s ability to detect, understand, and know that they are loved. Through crowd-sourcing, we surveyed lay participants about whether various scenarios were indicators of felt love. We thus quantify these responses to make inference about consensus judgments of felt love, measure individual levels of agreement with consensus, and assess individual response styles. More specifically, we (1) derive consensus judgments on felt love; (2) describe its characteristics in qualitative and quantitative terms, (3) explore individual differences in both (a) participant agreement with consensus, and (b) participant judgment when uncertain about shared knowledge, and (4) test whether individual differences can be meaningfully linked to explanatory variables. Results indicate that people converge towards a shared cognitive model of felt love. Conversely, respondents showed heterogeneity in knowledge of consensus, and in dealing with uncertainty. We found that, when facing uncertainty, female respondents and people in relationships more frequently judge scenarios as indicators of felt love. Moreover, respondents from smaller households tend to know more about consensus judgments of felt love, while respondents from larger households are more willing to guess when unsure of consensus. PMID:27035569

Difficulties of care-work reconciliation: employed and nonemployed mothers of children with intellectual disability.

PubMed

Chou, Yueh-Ching; Fu, Li-Yeh; Pu, Cheng-Yun; Chang, Heng-Hao

2012-09-01

Whether employed and nonemployed mothers of children with intellectual disability (ID) have different experiences with reconciliation between care and work has rarely been explored. A survey was conducted in a county in Taiwan and 487 mothers aged younger than 65 and having a child with ID were interviewed face to face at their homes to explore whether there are different factors related to the reconciliation between care and work among employed and nonemployed mothers. Except for the common ground of mothers' health and care demands, logistic regression revealed work flexibility and care support were important for employed mothers. In contrast, the success of reconciliation for nonemployed mothers was determined by their individual characteristics (i.e., age, marital status, family income). Reconciliation policies for mothers with different employment statuses need to use different strategies.

Energy Metabolism Profile in Individuals with Prader-Willi Syndrome and Implications for Clinical Management: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Alsaif, Maha; Elliot, Sarah A; MacKenzie, Michelle L; Prado, Carla M; Field, Catherine J; Haqq, Andrea M

2017-11-01

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder associated with excessive weight gain. Hyperphagia associated with PWS may result in higher energy intake, but alterations in energy expenditure may also contribute to energy imbalance. The purpose of this critical literature review is to determine the presence of alterations in energy expenditure in individuals with PWS. Ten studies that measured total energy expenditure (TEE), resting energy expenditure (REE), sleep energy expenditure (SEE), activity energy expenditure (AEE), and diet induced thermogenesis (DIT) were included in this review. The studies provided evidence that absolute TEE, REE, SEE, and AEE are lower in individuals with PWS than in age-, sex-, and body mass index-matched individuals without the syndrome. Alterations in lean body mass and lower physical activity amounts appear to be responsible for the lower energy expenditure in PWS rather than metabolic differences. Regardless of the underlying mechanism for lower TEE, the estimation of energy requirements with the use of equations derived for the general population would result in weight gain in individuals with PWS. The determination of energy requirements for weight management in individuals with PWS requires a more comprehensive understanding of energy metabolism. Future studies should aim to comprehensively profile all specific components of energy expenditure in individuals with PWS with the use of appropriately matched controls and gold standard methods to measure energy metabolism and body composition. One component of energy expenditure that is yet to be explored in detail in PWS is DIT. A reduced DIT (despite differences in fat free mass), secondary to hormonal dysregulation, may be present in PWS individuals, leading to a reduced overall energy expenditure. Further research exploring DIT in PWS needs to be conducted. Dietary energy recommendations for weight management in PWS have not yet been clearly established. © 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

Chemistry Cube Game - Exploring Basic Principles of Chemistry by Turning Cubes.

PubMed

Müller, Markus T

2018-02-01

The Chemistry Cube Game invites students at secondary school level 1 and 2 to explore basic concepts of chemistry in a playful way, either as individuals or in teams. It consists of 15 different cubes, 9 cubes for different acids, their corresponding bases and precursors, and 6 cubes for different reducing and oxidising agents. The cubes can be rotated in those directions indicated. Each 'allowed' vertical or horizontal rotation of 90° stands for a chemical reaction or a physical transition. Two different games and playing modes are presented here: First, redox chemistry is introduced for the formation of salts from elementary metals and non-metals. Second, the speciation of acids and bases at different pH-values is shown. The cubes can be also used for games about environmental chemistry such as the carbon and sulphur cycle, covering the topic of acid rain, or the nitrogen cycle including ammoniac synthesis, nitrification and de-nitrification.

Expressions of agency within complex policy structures: science teachers' experiences of education policy reforms in Sweden

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryder, Jim; Lidar, Malena; Lundqvist, Eva; Östman, Leif

2018-03-01

We explore the experiences of school science teachers as they enact three linked national curriculum and assessment policy reforms in Sweden. Our goal is to understand teachers' differing responses to these reforms. A sample of 13 teachers engaged in 2 interviews over a 6-9-month period. Interviews included exploration of professional background and school context, perceptions of the aims of the policy reforms and experiences of working with these reforms in the classroom. Analysis was guided by an individual-oriented sociocultural perspective on professional agency. Here teaching is conceptualised as an ongoing interplay between teachers' knowledge, skills and personal goals, and the characteristics of the social, institutional and policy settings in which they work. Our analysis shows that navigating the ensuing continuities and contradictions results in many different expressions of teacher agency, e.g. loss of autonomy and trust, pushing back, subversion, transfer of authority, and creative tensions. Typically, an individual teacher's enactment of these reforms involved several of these expressions of agency. We demonstrate that the sociocultural perspective provides insights into teachers' responses to education policy reform likely to be missed by studies that focus largely on individual teacher knowledge/beliefs about reform or skills in 'implementing' reform practices.

The impact of broiler production system practices on consumer perceptions of animal welfare.

PubMed

de Jonge, Janneke; van Trijp, Hans C M

2013-12-01

This research explores the extent to which different farm management practices influence the perceived animal friendliness of broiler production systems, and how this differs between individuals. Using a conjoint design with paired comparisons, respondents evaluated broiler production systems that were described on the basis of 7 animal welfare-related practices. It was found that practices in the area of outdoor access, stocking density, and day-night rhythm were overall perceived to have a larger impact on perceptions of animal friendliness than other practices, such as transport duration or the type of breed used. However, individuals differed regarding the extent to which they believed the different farm management practices influenced the animal friendliness of the production system. Differences between individuals regarding their knowledge about and familiarity with livestock farming, degree of anthropomorphism, and their moral beliefs regarding animal welfare partly explained the relative importance individuals attached to farm management practices. The obtained insight into which welfare-related farm management practices, in consumers' minds, most strongly contribute to animal welfare, and the existence of differences between consumers, can be helpful in the development of animal welfare-based certification schemes that are appealing to consumers, as well as the positioning of welfare concepts in the market.

Adolescent risk-taking is predicted by individual differences in cognitive control over emotional, but not non-emotional, response conflict.

PubMed

Botdorf, Morgan; Rosenbaum, Gail M; Patrianakos, Jamie; Steinberg, Laurence; Chein, Jason M

2017-08-01

While much research on adolescent risk behaviour has focused on the development of prefrontal self-regulatory mechanisms, prior studies have elicited mixed evidence of a relationship between individual differences in the capacity for self-regulation and individual differences in risk taking. To explain these inconsistent findings, it has been suggested that the capacity for self-regulation may be, for most adolescents, adequately mature to produce adaptive behaviour in non-affective, "cold" circumstances, but that adolescents have a more difficult time exerting control in affective, "hot" contexts. To further explore this claim, the present study examined individual differences in self-control in the face of affective and non-affective response conflict, and examined whether differences in the functioning of cognitive control processes under these different conditions was related to risk taking. Participants completed a cognitive Stroop task, an emotional Stroop task, and a risky driving task known as the Stoplight game. Regression analyses showed that performance on the emotional Stroop task predicted laboratory risk-taking in the driving task, whereas performance on the cognitive Stroop task did not exhibit the same trend. This pattern of results is consistent with theories of adolescent risk-taking that emphasise the impacts of affective contextual influences on the ability to enact effective cognitive control.

Prospective memory in preschool children: influences of agency, incentive, and underlying cognitive mechanisms.

PubMed

Causey, Kayla B; Bjorklund, David F

2014-11-01

Prospective memory (PM) is remembering to perform an action in the future and is crucial to achieving goal-directed activities in everyday life. Doing so requires that an intention is encoded, retained during a delay interval, and retrieved at the appropriate time of execution. We examined PM ability in preschool children by manipulating factors related to agency and incentive. We further explored how metacognition, executive functioning, and theory of mind-factors known to account for individual differences in PM-influenced performance on these PM tasks. A sample of 31 preschool children were asked to carry out a delayed intention or to remind an adult to carry out an intention that was of high or low incentive to the children. Findings indicated that individual differences in theory of mind were related to individual differences in preschoolers' performance on low-incentive PM tasks, independent of executive functioning contributions, whereas individual differences in executive functioning were related to performance on the high-incentive tasks. These findings suggest that changes in theory of mind and executive functioning are important to consider in models of PM and that different PM tasks (e.g., high vs. low incentive) may involve different cognitive requirements for young children. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Genetic and infective diversity of the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica (Trematoda: Digenea) from Cuba.

PubMed

Vázquez, A A; Lounnas, M; Sánchez, J; Alba, A; Milesi, A; Hurtrez-Boussès, S

2016-11-01

In this study we present the first approach to exploration of the genetic diversity of Cuban Fasciola hepatica populations using microsatellite markers, coupled with observed prevalence in slaughterhouses. Nine populations of flukes recovered from cows and buffalos were studied in the central-western region of Cuba. The observed infection rates of definitive hosts (bovines) were 70-100% in most cases. An important amount of polymorphism was found in the four loci explored. However, no apparent genetic differences were found between populations from different provinces or bovine species. The absence of deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium suggests a high rate of cross-fertilization between F. hepatica individuals. This result was confirmed when all multilocus genotypes were tested for clonal reproduction and only four individuals differed statistically (P sex< 0.05). High values of expected heterozygosity coupled with highly probable mixing among strains make the metapopulation genetically diversified but similar in terms of certain alleles (low F ST values). These results suggest a close relationship between parasite diversity and cattle management in Cuba. Our findings should be taken into consideration by veterinary authorities to help mitigate fasciolosis transmission.

Interaction of natural survival instincts and internalized social norms exploring the Titanic and Lusitania disasters.

PubMed

Frey, Bruno S; Savage, David A; Torgler, Benno

2010-03-16

To understand human behavior, it is important to know under what conditions people deviate from selfish rationality. This study explores the interaction of natural survival instincts and internalized social norms using data on the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania. We show that time pressure appears to be crucial when explaining behavior under extreme conditions of life and death. Even though the two vessels and the composition of their passengers were quite similar, the behavior of the individuals on board was dramatically different. On the Lusitania, selfish behavior dominated (which corresponds to the classical homo economicus); on the Titanic, social norms and social status (class) dominated, which contradicts standard economics. This difference could be attributed to the fact that the Lusitania sank in 18 min, creating a situation in which the short-run flight impulse dominated behavior. On the slowly sinking Titanic (2 h, 40 min), there was time for socially determined behavioral patterns to reemerge. Maritime disasters are traditionally not analyzed in a comparative manner with advanced statistical (econometric) techniques using individual data of the passengers and crew. Knowing human behavior under extreme conditions provides insight into how widely human behavior can vary, depending on differing external conditions.

A general framework for analysing diversity in science, technology and society.

PubMed

Stirling, Andy

2007-08-22

This paper addresses the scope for more integrated general analysis of diversity in science, technology and society. It proposes a framework recognizing three necessary but individually insufficient properties of diversity. Based on 10 quality criteria, it suggests a general quantitative non-parametric diversity heuristic. This allows the systematic exploration of diversity under different perspectives, including divergent conceptions of relevant attributes and contrasting weightings on different diversity properties. It is shown how this heuristic may be used to explore different possible trade-offs between diversity and other aspects of interest, including portfolio interactions. The resulting approach offers a way to be more systematic and transparent in the treatment of scientific and technological diversity in a range of fields, including conservation management, research governance, energy policy and sustainable innovation.

Whole genome expression and biochemical correlates of extreme constitutional types defined in Ayurveda.

PubMed

Prasher, Bhavana; Negi, Sapna; Aggarwal, Shilpi; Mandal, Amit K; Sethi, Tav P; Deshmukh, Shailaja R; Purohit, Sudha G; Sengupta, Shantanu; Khanna, Sangeeta; Mohammad, Farhan; Garg, Gaurav; Brahmachari, Samir K; Mukerji, Mitali

2008-09-09

Ayurveda is an ancient system of personalized medicine documented and practiced in India since 1500 B.C. According to this system an individual's basic constitution to a large extent determines predisposition and prognosis to diseases as well as therapy and life-style regime. Ayurveda describes seven broad constitution types (Prakritis) each with a varying degree of predisposition to different diseases. Amongst these, three most contrasting types, Vata, Pitta, Kapha, are the most vulnerable to diseases. In the realm of modern predictive medicine, efforts are being directed towards capturing disease phenotypes with greater precision for successful identification of markers for prospective disease conditions. In this study, we explore whether the different constitution types as described in Ayurveda has molecular correlates. Normal individuals of the three most contrasting constitutional types were identified following phenotyping criteria described in Ayurveda in Indian population of Indo-European origin. The peripheral blood samples of these individuals were analysed for genome wide expression levels, biochemical and hematological parameters. Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway based analysis was carried out on differentially expressed genes to explore if there were significant enrichments of functional categories among Prakriti types. Individuals from the three most contrasting constitutional types exhibit striking differences with respect to biochemical and hematological parameters and at genome wide expression levels. Biochemical profiles like liver function tests, lipid profiles, and hematological parameters like haemoglobin exhibited differences between Prakriti types. Functional categories of genes showing differential expression among Prakriti types were significantly enriched in core biological processes like transport, regulation of cyclin dependent protein kinase activity, immune response and regulation of blood coagulation. A significant enrichment of housekeeping, disease related and hub genes were observed in these extreme constitution types. Ayurveda based method of phenotypic classification of extreme constitutional types allows us to uncover genes that may contribute to system level differences in normal individuals which could lead to differential disease predisposition. This is a first attempt towards unraveling the clinical phenotyping principle of a traditional system of medicine in terms of modern biology. An integration of Ayurveda with genomics holds potential and promise for future predictive medicine.

Whole genome expression and biochemical correlates of extreme constitutional types defined in Ayurveda

PubMed Central

Prasher, Bhavana; Negi, Sapna; Aggarwal, Shilpi; Mandal, Amit K; Sethi, Tav P; Deshmukh, Shailaja R; Purohit, Sudha G; Sengupta, Shantanu; Khanna, Sangeeta; Mohammad, Farhan; Garg, Gaurav; Brahmachari, Samir K; Mukerji, Mitali

2008-01-01

Background Ayurveda is an ancient system of personalized medicine documented and practiced in India since 1500 B.C. According to this system an individual's basic constitution to a large extent determines predisposition and prognosis to diseases as well as therapy and life-style regime. Ayurveda describes seven broad constitution types (Prakritis) each with a varying degree of predisposition to different diseases. Amongst these, three most contrasting types, Vata, Pitta, Kapha, are the most vulnerable to diseases. In the realm of modern predictive medicine, efforts are being directed towards capturing disease phenotypes with greater precision for successful identification of markers for prospective disease conditions. In this study, we explore whether the different constitution types as described in Ayurveda has molecular correlates. Methods Normal individuals of the three most contrasting constitutional types were identified following phenotyping criteria described in Ayurveda in Indian population of Indo-European origin. The peripheral blood samples of these individuals were analysed for genome wide expression levels, biochemical and hematological parameters. Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway based analysis was carried out on differentially expressed genes to explore if there were significant enrichments of functional categories among Prakriti types. Results Individuals from the three most contrasting constitutional types exhibit striking differences with respect to biochemical and hematological parameters and at genome wide expression levels. Biochemical profiles like liver function tests, lipid profiles, and hematological parameters like haemoglobin exhibited differences between Prakriti types. Functional categories of genes showing differential expression among Prakriti types were significantly enriched in core biological processes like transport, regulation of cyclin dependent protein kinase activity, immune response and regulation of blood coagulation. A significant enrichment of housekeeping, disease related and hub genes were observed in these extreme constitution types. Conclusion Ayurveda based method of phenotypic classification of extreme constitutional types allows us to uncover genes that may contribute to system level differences in normal individuals which could lead to differential disease predisposition. This is a first attempt towards unraveling the clinical phenotyping principle of a traditional system of medicine in terms of modern biology. An integration of Ayurveda with genomics holds potential and promise for future predictive medicine. PMID:18782426

State-dependent cognition and its relevance to cultural evolution.

PubMed

Nettle, Daniel

2018-02-05

Individuals cope with their worlds by using information. In humans in particular, an important potential source of information is cultural tradition. Evolutionary models have examined when it is advantageous to use cultural information, and psychological studies have examined the cognitive biases and priorities that may transform cultural traditions over time. However, these studies have not generally incorporated the idea that individuals vary in state. I argue that variation in state is likely to influence the relative payoffs of using cultural information versus gathering personal information; and also that people in different states will have different cognitive biases and priorities, leading them to transform cultural information in different ways. I explore hunger as one example of state variable likely to have consequences for cultural evolution. Variation in state has the potential to explain why cultural traditions and dynamics are so variable between individuals and populations. It offers evolutionarily-grounded links between the ecology in which individuals live, individual-level cognitive processes, and patterns of culture. However, incorporating heterogeneity of state also makes the modelling of cultural evolution more complex, particularly if the distribution of states is itself influenced by the distribution of cultural beliefs and practices. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Exploring the effects of antisocial personality traits on brain potentials during face processing.

PubMed

Pfabigan, Daniela M; Alexopoulos, Johanna; Sailer, Uta

2012-01-01

Antisocial individuals are characterized to display self-determined and inconsiderate behavior during social interaction. Furthermore, recognition deficits regarding fearful facial expressions have been observed in antisocial populations. These observations give rise to the question whether or not antisocial behavioral tendencies are associated with deficits in basic processing of social cues. The present study investigated early visual stimulus processing of social stimuli in a group of healthy female individuals with antisocial behavioral tendencies compared to individuals without these tendencies while measuring event-related potentials (P1, N170). To this end, happy and angry faces served as feedback stimuli which were embedded in a gambling task. Results showed processing differences as early as 88-120 ms after feedback onset. Participants low on antisocial traits displayed larger P1 amplitudes than participants high on antisocial traits. No group differences emerged for N170 amplitudes. Attention allocation processes, individual arousal levels as well as face processing are discussed as possible causes of the observed group differences in P1 amplitudes. In summary, the current data suggest that sensory processing of facial stimuli is functionally intact but less ready to respond in healthy individuals with antisocial tendencies.

Social and natural sciences differ in their research strategies, adapted to work for different knowledge landscapes.

PubMed

Jaffe, Klaus

2014-01-01

Do different fields of knowledge require different research strategies? A numerical model exploring different virtual knowledge landscapes, revealed two diverging optimal search strategies. Trend following is maximized when the popularity of new discoveries determine the number of individuals researching it. This strategy works best when many researchers explore few large areas of knowledge. In contrast, individuals or small groups of researchers are better in discovering small bits of information in dispersed knowledge landscapes. Bibliometric data of scientific publications showed a continuous bipolar distribution of these strategies, ranging from natural sciences, with highly cited publications in journals containing a large number of articles, to the social sciences, with rarely cited publications in many journals containing a small number of articles. The natural sciences seem to adapt their research strategies to landscapes with large concentrated knowledge clusters, whereas social sciences seem to have adapted to search in landscapes with many small isolated knowledge clusters. Similar bipolar distributions were obtained when comparing levels of insularity estimated by indicators of international collaboration and levels of country-self citations: researchers in academic areas with many journals such as social sciences, arts and humanities, were the most isolated, and that was true in different regions of the world. The work shows that quantitative measures estimating differences between academic disciplines improve our understanding of different research strategies, eventually helping interdisciplinary research and may be also help improve science policies worldwide.

The Peer Interaction in Primary School Questionnaire: Testing for Measurement Equivalence and Latent Mean Differences in Bullying between Gender in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the USA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hussein, Mohamed Habashy

2010-01-01

The Peer Interaction in Primary School Questionnaire (PIPSQ) was developed to assess individuals' levels of bullying and victimization. This study used the approach of latent means analysis (LMA) within the framework of structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the factor structure and gender differences associated with the PIPSQ in a sample…

Seeing the person? Disability theories and speech and language therapy.

PubMed

Jordan, L; Bryan, K

2001-01-01

The potential value of a framework enabling practitioners to conceptualise speech and language therapy from a range of perspectives engendered by different theories about disability is explored. Four disability research paradigms are used to categorise professional activities, whilst the 'individual' and 'social' models of disability are considered as alternative value systems. Challenges facing speech and language therapists in developing roles and services to embrace different perspectives are outlined.

Gender differences in trajectories of health limitations and subsequent mortality. A study based on the German Socioeconomic Panel 1995-2001 with a mortality follow-up 2002-2005.

PubMed

Doblhammer, Gabriele; Hoffmann, Rasmus

2010-07-01

Although research on health limitations has investigated gender differences in health and mortality, gender differentials in individual-level trajectories have been studied less frequently. Moreover, there are no studies on the relationship between course types and subsequent mortality. We investigate course types, explore confounding by socioeconomic and demographic correlates, and pose the question of whether the gender gap in morbidity results from differences in the onset of, and/or survival with, health limitations. Using the German Socioeconomic Panel, we identify individual trajectories of health limitations and use multinomial logistic regressions to explore confounding and the relationship with mortality. The frequency of stable trajectories without limitations is lower among women because they tend to experience courses that involve extended periods of limitations and deteriorating health. Women also experience more frequently improvement after deterioration. The female mortality advantage is particularly large after health deterioration. Health limitations do not make men and women more equal in the face of death. Our results are consistent with earlier studies showing that mortality selection and differences in chronic conditions may explain the gender gap in health and mortality. We extend previous research showing that the female health disadvantage is largely the result of their mortality advantage.

Competence and Quality in Real-Life Decision Making

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

What distinguishes a competent decision maker and how should the issue of decision quality be approached in a real-life context? These questions were explored in three studies. In Study 1, using a web-based questionnaire and targeting a community sample, we investigated the relationships between objective and subjective indicators of real-life decision-making success. In Study 2 and 3, targeting two different samples of professionals, we explored if the prevalent cognitively oriented definition of decision-making competence could be beneficially expanded by adding aspects of competence in terms of social skills and time-approach. The predictive power for each of these three aspects of decision-making competence was explored for different indicators of real-life decision-making success. Overall, our results suggest that research on decision-making competence would benefit by expanding the definition of competence, by including decision-related abilities in terms of social skills and time-approach. Finally, the results also indicate that individual differences in real-life decision-making success profitably can be approached and measured by different criteria. PMID:26545239

Cognitive hearing aids? Insights and possibilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petersen, Eline Borch; Lunner, Thomas

2015-12-01

The working memory plays an important role in successfully overcoming adverse listening conditions and should consequently be considered when designing and testing hearing aids. A number of studies have established the relationship between hearing in noise and working memory involvement, but with the Sentence-final Word Identification and Recall (SWIRL) test, it is possible to show that working memory is also involved in listening under favorable conditions and that noise reduction has a positive influence in situation with very little noise. Although the capacity of the working memory is a finite individual size, its involvement can differ with fatigue and other factors and individualization of hearing aids should take this into account to obtain the best performance. A way of individually adapting hearing aids is based on changes in the electrical activity of the brain (EEG). Here we present the possibilities that arise from using EEG and show that ear-mounted electrodes is able to record useful EEG that can be explored for individualization of hearing aids. Such an adaptation could be done based on changes in the electrical activity of the brain (EEG). Here we present the possibilities that arise from using EEG and show that ear-mounted electrodes is able to record useful EEG that can be explored for individualization of hearing aids.

Repeatability and consistency of individual behaviour in juvenile and adult Eurasian harvest mice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuster, Andrea C.; Carl, Teresa; Foerster, Katharina

2017-04-01

Knowledge on animal personality has provided new insights into evolutionary biology and animal ecology, as behavioural types have been shown to affect fitness. Animal personality is characterized by repeatable and consistent between-individual behavioural differences throughout time and across different situations. Behavioural repeatability within life history stages and consistency between life history stages should be checked for the independence of sex and age, as recent data have shown that males and females in some species may differ in the repeatability of behavioural traits, as well as in their consistency. We measured the repeatability and consistency of three behavioural and one cognitive traits in juvenile and adult Eurasian harvest mice ( Micromys minutus). We found that exploration, activity and boldness were repeatable in juveniles and adults. Spatial recognition measured in a Y Maze was only repeatable in adult mice. Exploration, activity and boldness were consistent before and after maturation, as well as before and after first sexual contact. Data on spatial recognition provided little evidence for consistency. Further, we found some evidence for a litter effect on behaviours by comparing different linear mixed models. We concluded that harvest mice express animal personality traits as behaviours were repeatable across sexes and consistent across life history stages. The tested cognitive trait showed low repeatability and was less consistent across life history stages. Given the rising interest in individual variation in cognitive performance, and in its relationship to animal personality, we suggest that it is important to gather more data on the repeatability and consistency of cognitive traits.

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009): Making Astronomy Accessible to Differently-Abled Individuals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venner, L.

2008-12-01

The US Goal for the IYA2009 is: To offer an engaging astronomy experience to every person in the country, nurture existing partnerships, and build new connections to sustain public interest. NASAís commitment to the IYA2009 US goal is demonstrated by their support of accessible programming and materials developed to reach every person in the country including differently-abled individuals. The members of NASAís Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassador Program have been utilizing these accessible programs and materials in schools and science centers in addition to offering accessible star parties to the public. This paper will present some of the materials and techniques used by Ambassadors to bring astronomy to every person. Accessible programming will ensure that the next generation of explorers will include diverse individuals from all walks of life.

Emotional responses to food in adults with an eating disorder: a qualitative exploration.

PubMed

McNamara, Caroline; Chur-Hansen, Anna; Hay, Phillipa

2008-03-01

There is a dearth of qualitative research exploring eating disordered individuals' emotional responses to the sight of different types of food. In this study we asked 10 adult women diagnosed with bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa or an eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) to articulate their thoughts whilst viewing slides of a range of different foodstuffs, during an in-depth interview session. The data were transcribed and subjected to qualitative analysis. A core theme of 'Control' was identified. Whilst control has been previously acknowledged in the literature as an important aspect of eating disordered behaviour, this is the first report to link control with negative emotional responses to the sight of food. Clinically, an exploration of the notion of control and how it relates to particular foods may be beneficial in therapy. (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association

Teachers' in-flight thinking in inclusive classrooms.

PubMed

Paterson, David

2007-01-01

This article explores the thinking of five junior high school teachers as they teach students with learning difficulties in inclusive classrooms. Insights into the ways these teachers think about students in these inclusive secondary school contexts were obtained through triangulating data from semistructured interviews, stimulated recall of in-flight thinking, and researcher field notes. Exploration of teachers' in-flight thinking (i.e., the thinking of teachers as they engaged in classroom teaching) revealed a knowledge of individual students that was not related to categorical notions of learning difficulties. This research has implications for the practice of teaching in inclusive settings as well as for teacher preparation. Specifically, it suggests that attention to student differences should be replaced by the development of teachers' knowledge about individual students as a rich source of practical knowledge and the basis for developing effective instructional techniques.

Exploring the implications of social change for human development: perspectives, issues and future directions.

PubMed

Chen, Xinyin

2015-02-01

Researchers have investigated the implications of social change for human development from different perspectives. The studies published in this special section were conducted within Greenfield's theoretical framework (2009). The findings concerning links between specific sociodemographic features (e.g., commercial activities, schooling) and individual cognition and social behaviour are particularly interesting because they tap the underlying forces that drive human development. To further understand the issues in these studies and in the field, a pluralist-constructive perspective is discussed, which emphasises the integration of diverse values and practices in both Western and non-Western societies and its effects on the development of sophisticated competencies in individual adaptation to the changing global community. In addition, several issues are highlighted and some suggestions are provided for future explorations in this field. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

Illness perceptions in the context of differing work participation outcomes: exploring the influence of significant others in persistent back pain

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Previous research has demonstrated that the significant others of individuals with persistent back pain may have important influences on work participation outcomes. The aim of this study was to extend previous research by including individuals who have remained in work despite persistent back pain in addition to those who had become incapacitated for work, along with their significant others. The purpose of this research was to explore whether the illness beliefs of significant others differed depending on their relative’s working status, and to make some preliminary identification of how significant others may facilitate or hinder work participation for those with persistent back pain. Methods Interviews structured around the Illness Perception Questionnaire (chronic pain version) were conducted with back pain patients recruited from a hospital pain management clinic along with their significant others. Some patients had remained in work despite their back pain; others had ceased employment. Data were analysed using template analysis. Results There were clear differences between beliefs about, and reported responses to, back pain symptoms amongst the significant others of individuals who had remained in employment compared with the significant others of those who had ceased work. Three overarching themes emerged: perceived consequences of back pain, specific nature of employment and the impact of back pain on patient identity. Conclusions Significant others of employed individuals with back pain focused on the extent to which activity could still be undertaken despite back pain symptoms. Individuals out of work due to persistent back pain apparently self-limited their activity and were supported in their beliefs and behaviours by their significant others. To justify incapacity due to back pain, this group had seemingly become entrenched in a position whereby it was crucial that the individual with back pain was perceived as completely disabled. We suggest that significant others are clearly important, and potentially detrimental, sources of support to individuals with back pain. The inclusion of significant others in vocational rehabilitation programmes could potentially be a valuable way of mobilising readily accessible resources in a way that supports optimal functioning. PMID:23363454

Camouflage and individual variation in shore crabs (Carcinus maenas) from different habitats.

PubMed

Stevens, Martin; Lown, Alice E; Wood, Louisa E

2014-01-01

Camouflage is widespread throughout the natural world and conceals animals from predators in a vast range of habitats. Because successful camouflage usually involves matching aspects of the background environment, species and populations should evolve appearances tuned to their local habitat, termed phenotype-environment associations. However, although this has been studied in various species, little work has objectively quantified the appearances of camouflaged animals from different habitats, or related this to factors such as ontogeny and individual variation. Here, we tested for phenotype-environment associations in the common shore crab (Carcinus maenas), a species highly variable in appearance and found in a wide range of habitats. We used field surveys and digital image analysis of the colors and patterns of crabs found in four locations around Cornwall in the UK to quantify how individuals vary with habitat (predominantly rockpool, mussel bed, and mudflat). We find that individuals from sites comprising different backgrounds show substantial differences in several aspects of color and pattern, and that this is also dependent on life stage (adult or juvenile). Furthermore, the level of individual variation is dependent on site and life stage, with juvenile crabs often more variable than adults, and individuals from more homogenous habitats less diverse. Ours is the most comprehensive study to date exploring phenotype-environment associations for camouflage and individual variation in a species, and we discuss the implications of our results in terms of the mechanisms and selection pressures that may drive this.

Camouflage and Individual Variation in Shore Crabs (Carcinus maenas) from Different Habitats

PubMed Central

Stevens, Martin; Lown, Alice E.; Wood, Louisa E.

2014-01-01

Camouflage is widespread throughout the natural world and conceals animals from predators in a vast range of habitats. Because successful camouflage usually involves matching aspects of the background environment, species and populations should evolve appearances tuned to their local habitat, termed phenotype-environment associations. However, although this has been studied in various species, little work has objectively quantified the appearances of camouflaged animals from different habitats, or related this to factors such as ontogeny and individual variation. Here, we tested for phenotype-environment associations in the common shore crab (Carcinus maenas), a species highly variable in appearance and found in a wide range of habitats. We used field surveys and digital image analysis of the colors and patterns of crabs found in four locations around Cornwall in the UK to quantify how individuals vary with habitat (predominantly rockpool, mussel bed, and mudflat). We find that individuals from sites comprising different backgrounds show substantial differences in several aspects of color and pattern, and that this is also dependent on life stage (adult or juvenile). Furthermore, the level of individual variation is dependent on site and life stage, with juvenile crabs often more variable than adults, and individuals from more homogenous habitats less diverse. Ours is the most comprehensive study to date exploring phenotype-environment associations for camouflage and individual variation in a species, and we discuss the implications of our results in terms of the mechanisms and selection pressures that may drive this. PMID:25551233

Tracing Young Children's Scientific Reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tytler, Russell; Peterson, Suzanne

2003-08-01

This paper explores the scientific reasoning of 14 children across their first two years of primary school. Children's view of experimentation, their approach to exploration, and their negotiation of competing knowledge claims, are interpreted in terms of categories of epistemological reasoning. Children's epistemological reasoning is distinguished from their ability to control variables. While individual children differ substantially, they show a relatively steady growth in their reasoning, with some contextual variation. A number of these children are reasoning at a level well in advance of curriculum expectations, and it is argued that current recommended practice in primary science needs to be rethought. The data is used to explore the relationship between reasoning and knowledge, and to argue that the generation and exploration of ideas must be the key driver of scientific activity in the primary school.

Understanding how animal groups achieve coordinated movement.

PubMed

Herbert-Read, J E

2016-10-01

Moving animal groups display remarkable feats of coordination. This coordination is largely achieved when individuals adjust their movement in response to their neighbours' movements and positions. Recent advancements in automated tracking technologies, including computer vision and GPS, now allow researchers to gather large amounts of data on the movements and positions of individuals in groups. Furthermore, analytical techniques from fields such as statistical physics now allow us to identify the precise interaction rules used by animals on the move. These interaction rules differ not only between species, but also between individuals in the same group. These differences have wide-ranging implications, affecting how groups make collective decisions and driving the evolution of collective motion. Here, I describe how trajectory data can be used to infer how animals interact in moving groups. I give examples of the similarities and differences in the spatial and directional organisations of animal groups between species, and discuss the rules that animals use to achieve this organisation. I then explore how groups of the same species can exhibit different structures, and ask whether this results from individuals adapting their interaction rules. I then examine how the interaction rules between individuals in the same groups can also differ, and discuss how this can affect ecological and evolutionary processes. Finally, I suggest areas of future research. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Public perceptions of Florida red tide risks.

PubMed

Kuhar, Sara E; Nierenberg, Kate; Kirkpatrick, Barbara; Tobin, Graham A

2009-07-01

This research integrates theoretical frameworks of risk perception, social amplification of risk, and the role of place-specific contexts in order to explore the various perceptions surrounding Florida red tides. Florida red tides are naturally occurring events that are increasing in frequency, duration, and severity. This has implications for public health, the local economy, and ecosystem health. While many of the negative impacts of Florida red tides are not easily controlled, some of the secondary impacts may be mitigated through individuals' responses. However, public perception and consequent reactions to Florida red tides have not been investigated. This research uses questionnaire surveys, and semi-structured interviews, to explore the various perceptions of the risk surrounding red tides. Surveys and interviews were conducted along two Florida west coast beaches. The results indicate that the underlying foundations of the social amplification of the risk framework are applicable to understanding how individuals form perceptions of risk relative to red tide events. There are key differences between the spatial locations of individuals and corresponding perceptions, indicating that place-specific contexts are essential to understanding how individuals receive and interpret risk information. The results also suggest that individuals may be lacking efficient and up-to-date information about Florida red tides and their impacts because of inconsistent public outreach. Overall, social and spatial factors appear to be influential as to whether individuals amplify or attenuate the risks associated with Florida red tides.

Using Individual GPS Trajectories to Explore Foodscape Exposure: A Case Study in Beijing Metropolitan Area

PubMed Central

Zhang, Shuhua; Ma, Jinsong

2018-01-01

With the growing interest in studying the characteristics of people’s access to the food environment and its influence upon individual health, there has been a focus on assessing individual food exposure based on GPS trajectories. However, existing studies have largely focused on the overall activity space using short-period trajectories, which ignores the complexity of human movements and the heterogeneity of the spaces that are experienced by the individual over daily life schedules. In this study, we propose a novel framework to extract the exposure areas consisting of the localized activity spaces around daily life centers and non-motorized commuting routes from long-term GPS trajectories. The newly proposed framework is individual-specific and can incorporate the internal heterogeneity of individual activities (spatial extent, stay duration, and timing) in different places as well as the dynamics of the context. A pilot study of the GeoLife dataset suggests that there are significant variations in the magnitude as well as the composition of the food environment in different parts of the individual exposure area, and residential environment is not representative of the overall foodscape exposure. PMID:29495449

The influence of multiple trials and computer-mediated communication on collaborative and individual semantic recall.

PubMed

Hinds, Joanne M; Payne, Stephen J

2018-04-01

Collaborative inhibition is a phenomenon where collaborating groups experience a decrement in recall when interacting with others. Despite this, collaboration has been found to improve subsequent individual recall. We explore these effects in semantic recall, which is seldom studied in collaborative retrieval. We also examine "parallel CMC", a synchronous form of computer-mediated communication that has previously been found to improve collaborative recall [Hinds, J. M., & Payne, S. J. (2016). Collaborative inhibition and semantic recall: Improving collaboration through computer-mediated communication. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 30(4), 554-565]. Sixty three triads completed a semantic recall task, which involved generating words beginning with "PO" or "HE" across three recall trials, in one of three retrieval conditions: Individual-Individual-Individual (III), Face-to-face-Face-to-Face-Individual (FFI) and Parallel-Parallel-Individual (PPI). Collaborative inhibition was present across both collaborative conditions. Individual recall in Recall 3 was higher when participants had previously collaborated in comparison to recalling three times individually. There was no difference between face-to-face and parallel CMC recall, however subsidiary analyses of instance repetitions and subjective organisation highlighted differences in group members' approaches to recall in terms of organisation and attention to others' contributions. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to retrieval strategy disruption.

Attachment Patterns Trigger Differential Neural Signature of Emotional Processing in Adolescents

PubMed Central

Decety, Jean; Huepe, David; Cardona, Juan Felipe; Canales-Johnson, Andres; Sigman, Mariano; Mikulan, Ezequiel; Helgiu, Elena; Baez, Sandra; Manes, Facundo; Lopez, Vladimir; Ibañez, Agustín

2013-01-01

Background Research suggests that individuals with different attachment patterns process social information differently, especially in terms of facial emotion recognition. However, few studies have explored social information processes in adolescents. This study examined the behavioral and ERP correlates of emotional processing in adolescents with different attachment orientations (insecure attachment group and secure attachment group; IAG and SAG, respectively). This study also explored the association of these correlates to individual neuropsychological profiles. Methodology/Principal Findings We used a modified version of the dual valence task (DVT), in which participants classify stimuli (faces and words) according to emotional valence (positive or negative). Results showed that the IAG performed significantly worse than SAG on tests of executive function (EF attention, processing speed, visuospatial abilities and cognitive flexibility). In the behavioral DVT, the IAG presented lower performance and accuracy. The IAG also exhibited slower RTs for stimuli with negative valence. Compared to the SAG, the IAG showed a negative bias for faces; a larger P1 and attenuated N170 component over the right hemisphere was observed. A negative bias was also observed in the IAG for word stimuli, which was demonstrated by comparing the N170 amplitude of the IAG with the valence of the SAG. Finally, the amplitude of the N170 elicited by the facial stimuli correlated with EF in both groups (and negative valence with EF in the IAG). Conclusions/Significance Our results suggest that individuals with different attachment patterns process key emotional information and corresponding EF differently. This is evidenced by an early modulation of ERP components’ amplitudes, which are correlated with behavioral and neuropsychological effects. In brief, attachments patterns appear to impact multiple domains, such as emotional processing and EFs. PMID:23940552

Rethinking Social Desirability Scales: From Impression Management to Interpersonally Oriented Self-Control.

PubMed

Uziel, Liad

2010-05-01

Social desirability (specifically, impression management) scales are widely used by researchers and practitioners to screen individuals who bias self-reports in a self-favoring manner. These scales also serve to identify individuals at risk for psychological and health problems. The present review explores the evidence with regard to the ability of these scales to achieve these objectives. In the first part of the review, I present six criteria to evaluate impression management scales and conclude that they are unsatisfactory as measures of response style. Next, I explore what individual differences in impression management scores actually do measure. I compare two approaches: a defensiveness approach, which argues that these scales measure defensiveness that stems from vulnerable self-esteem, and an adjustment approach, which suggests that impression management is associated with personal well-being and interpersonal adjustment. Data from a wide variety of fields including social behavior, affect and well-being, health, and job performance tend to favor the adjustment approach. Finally, I argue that scales measuring impression management should be redefined as measures of interpersonally oriented self-control that identify individuals who demonstrate high levels of self-control, especially in social contexts. © The Author(s) 2010.

Seeing People, Seeing Things: Individual Differences in Selective Attention.

PubMed

McIntyre, Miranda M; Graziano, William G

2016-09-01

Individuals differ in how they deploy attention to their physical and social environments. These differences have been recognized in various forms as orientations, interests, and preferences, but empirical work examining these differences at a cognitive level is scarce. To address this gap, we conducted two studies to explore the links among attentional processes and interests in people and things. The first study measured selective visual attention toward person- and thing-related image content. In the second study, participants were randomly assigned to describe visually presented scenes using either an observational or narrative story format. Linguistic analyses were conducted to assess attentional bias toward interest-congruent content. Outcomes from both studies suggest that attention and motivational processes are linked to differential interests in physical and social environments. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Joint explorative analysis of neuroreceptor subsystems in the human brain: application to receptor-transporter correlation using PET data.

PubMed

Cselényi, Zsolt; Lundberg, Johan; Halldin, Christer; Farde, Lars; Gulyás, Balázs

2004-10-01

Positron emission tomography (PET) has proved to be a highly successful technique in the qualitative and quantitative exploration of the human brain's neurotransmitter-receptor systems. In recent years, the number of PET radioligands, targeted to different neuroreceptor systems of the human brain, has increased considerably. This development paves the way for a simultaneous analysis of different receptor systems and subsystems in the same individual. The detailed exploration of the versatility of neuroreceptor systems requires novel technical approaches, capable of operating on huge parametric image datasets. An initial step of such explorative data processing and analysis should be the development of novel exploratory data-mining tools to gain insight into the "structure" of complex multi-individual, multi-receptor data sets. For practical reasons, a possible and feasible starting point of multi-receptor research can be the analysis of the pre- and post-synaptic binding sites of the same neurotransmitter. In the present study, we propose an unsupervised, unbiased data-mining tool for this task and demonstrate its usefulness by using quantitative receptor maps, obtained with positron emission tomography, from five healthy subjects on (pre-synaptic) serotonin transporters (5-HTT or SERT) and (post-synaptic) 5-HT(1A) receptors. Major components of the proposed technique include the projection of the input receptor maps to a feature space, the quasi-clustering and classification of projected data (neighbourhood formation), trans-individual analysis of neighbourhood properties (trajectory analysis), and the back-projection of the results of trajectory analysis to normal space (creation of multi-receptor maps). The resulting multi-receptor maps suggest that complex relationships and tendencies in the relationship between pre- and post-synaptic transporter-receptor systems can be revealed and classified by using this method. As an example, we demonstrate the regional correlation of the serotonin transporter-receptor systems. These parameter-specific multi-receptor maps can usefully guide the researchers in their endeavour to formulate models of multi-receptor interactions and changes in the human brain.

Integrative analysis of RNA, translation, and protein levels reveals distinct regulatory variation across humans

PubMed Central

Cenik, Can; Cenik, Elif Sarinay; Byeon, Gun W.; Grubert, Fabian; Candille, Sophie I.; Spacek, Damek; Alsallakh, Bilal; Tilgner, Hagen; Araya, Carlos L.; Tang, Hua; Ricci, Emiliano; Snyder, Michael P.

2015-01-01

Elucidating the consequences of genetic differences between humans is essential for understanding phenotypic diversity and personalized medicine. Although variation in RNA levels, transcription factor binding, and chromatin have been explored, little is known about global variation in translation and its genetic determinants. We used ribosome profiling, RNA sequencing, and mass spectrometry to perform an integrated analysis in lymphoblastoid cell lines from a diverse group of individuals. We find significant differences in RNA, translation, and protein levels suggesting diverse mechanisms of personalized gene expression control. Combined analysis of RNA expression and ribosome occupancy improves the identification of individual protein level differences. Finally, we identify genetic differences that specifically modulate ribosome occupancy—many of these differences lie close to start codons and upstream ORFs. Our results reveal a new level of gene expression variation among humans and indicate that genetic variants can cause changes in protein levels through effects on translation. PMID:26297486

Exploring Differences in Dogs’ and Wolves’ Preference for Risk in a Foraging Task

PubMed Central

Marshall-Pescini, Sarah; Besserdich, Ingo; Kratz, Corinna; Range, Friederike

2016-01-01

Both human and non-humans species face decisions in their daily lives which may entail taking risks. At the individual level, a propensity for risk-taking has been shown to be positively correlated with explorative tendencies, whereas, at the species level a more variable and less stable feeding ecology has been associated with a greater preference for risky choices. In the current study we compared two closely related species; wolves and dogs, which differ significantly in their feeding ecology and their explorative tendencies. Wolves depend on hunting for survival with a success rate of between 15 and 50%, whereas free-ranging dogs (which make up 80% of the world dog population), are largely scavengers specialized on human produce (i.e., a more geographically and temporally stable resource). Here, we used a foraging paradigm, which allowed subjects to choose between a guaranteed less preferred food vs. a more preferred food, which was however, delivered only 50% of the time (a stone being delivered the rest of time). We compared identically raised adult wolves and dogs and found that in line with the differing feeding ecologies of the two species and their explorative tendencies, wolves were more risk prone than dogs. PMID:27602005

Understanding the structure of skill through a detailed analysis of Individuals' performance on the Space Fortress game.

PubMed

Towne, Tyler J; Boot, Walter R; Ericsson, K Anders

2016-09-01

In this paper we describe a novel approach to the study of individual differences in acquired skilled performance in complex laboratory tasks based on an extension of the methodology of the expert-performance approach (Ericsson & Smith, 1991) to shorter periods of training and practice. In contrast to more traditional approaches that study the average performance of groups of participants, we explored detailed behavioral changes for individual participants across their development on the Space Fortress game. We focused on dramatic individual differences in learning and skill acquisition at the individual level by analyzing the archival game data of several interesting players to uncover the specific structure of their acquired skill. Our analysis revealed that even after maximal values for game-generated subscores were reached, the most skilled participant's behaviors such as his flight path, missile firing, and mine handling continued to be refined and improved (Participant 17 from Boot et al., 2010). We contrasted this participant's behavior with the behavior of several other participants and found striking differences in the structure of their performance, which calls into question the appropriateness of averaging their data. For example, some participants engaged in different control strategies such as "world wrapping" or maintaining a finely-tuned circular flight path around the fortress (in contrast to Participant 17's angular flight path). In light of these differences, we raise fundamental questions about how skill acquisition for individual participants should be studied and described. Our data suggest that a detailed analysis of individuals' data is an essential step for generating a general theory of skill acquisition that explains improvement at the group and individual levels. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Japanese American reactions to World War II incarceration redress: Just world belief, locus of control, and coping.

PubMed

Kim, Jackie H J; Nagata, Donna K; Akiyama, Mark

2015-07-01

This study examines second generation (Nisei) Japanese Americans' reactions to government redress for their unjust incarceration during World War II. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore the roles of individual difference factors-Belief in a Just World (BJW), Locus of Control (LOC)-and Incarceration-Related Coping in predicting (a) reported redress-related Suffering Relief and (b) Positive Redress Impacts. Findings show that BJW was a stronger predictor of redress reactions than LOC, with higher BJW associated with more affirmative views of redress. In addition, Incarceration-Related Coping mediated a majority of the relationships between the individual difference factors and redress reactions. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Media multitasking behavior: concurrent television and computer usage.

PubMed

Brasel, S Adam; Gips, James

2011-09-01

Changes in the media landscape have made simultaneous usage of the computer and television increasingly commonplace, but little research has explored how individuals navigate this media multitasking environment. Prior work suggests that self-insight may be limited in media consumption and multitasking environments, reinforcing a rising need for direct observational research. A laboratory experiment recorded both younger and older individuals as they used a computer and television concurrently, multitasking across television and Internet content. Results show that individuals are attending primarily to the computer during media multitasking. Although gazes last longer on the computer when compared to the television, the overall distribution of gazes is strongly skewed toward very short gazes only a few seconds in duration. People switched between media at an extreme rate, averaging more than 4 switches per min and 120 switches over the 27.5-minute study exposure. Participants had little insight into their switching activity and recalled their switching behavior at an average of only 12 percent of their actual switching rate revealed in the objective data. Younger individuals switched more often than older individuals, but other individual differences such as stated multitasking preference and polychronicity had little effect on switching patterns or gaze duration. This overall pattern of results highlights the importance of exploring new media environments, such as the current drive toward media multitasking, and reinforces that self-monitoring, post hoc surveying, and lay theory may offer only limited insight into how individuals interact with media.

Media Multitasking Behavior: Concurrent Television and Computer Usage

PubMed Central

Gips, James

2011-01-01

Abstract Changes in the media landscape have made simultaneous usage of the computer and television increasingly commonplace, but little research has explored how individuals navigate this media multitasking environment. Prior work suggests that self-insight may be limited in media consumption and multitasking environments, reinforcing a rising need for direct observational research. A laboratory experiment recorded both younger and older individuals as they used a computer and television concurrently, multitasking across television and Internet content. Results show that individuals are attending primarily to the computer during media multitasking. Although gazes last longer on the computer when compared to the television, the overall distribution of gazes is strongly skewed toward very short gazes only a few seconds in duration. People switched between media at an extreme rate, averaging more than 4 switches per min and 120 switches over the 27.5-minute study exposure. Participants had little insight into their switching activity and recalled their switching behavior at an average of only 12 percent of their actual switching rate revealed in the objective data. Younger individuals switched more often than older individuals, but other individual differences such as stated multitasking preference and polychronicity had little effect on switching patterns or gaze duration. This overall pattern of results highlights the importance of exploring new media environments, such as the current drive toward media multitasking, and reinforces that self-monitoring, post hoc surveying, and lay theory may offer only limited insight into how individuals interact with media. PMID:21381969

Good Vibrations – Effects of Whole Body Vibration on Attention in Healthy Individuals and Individuals with ADHD

PubMed Central

Fuermaier, Anselm B. M.; Tucha, Lara; Koerts, Janneke; van Heuvelen, Marieke J. G.; van der Zee, Eddy A.; Lange, Klaus W.; Tucha, Oliver

2014-01-01

Objectives Most of the current treatment strategies of ADHD are associated with a number of disadvantages which strengthen the need for alternative or additional approaches for the treatment of ADHD. In this respect, Whole Body Vibration (WBV) might be interesting as it was found to have beneficial effects on a variety of physiological measures. The present study explored the effects of WBV on attention of healthy individuals and adults diagnosed with ADHD. Methods Eighty-three healthy individuals and seventeen adults diagnosed with ADHD participated in the study. WBV treatment was applied passively, while participants were sitting on a chair which was mounted on a vibrating platform. A repeated measure design was employed in order to explore potential effects of WBV treatment on attention within subjects. Attention (i.e. inhibitory control) was measured with a color-word interference paradigm. Results A period of two minutes of WBV treatment had significant beneficial effects of small to medium size on attention of both healthy individuals and adults with ADHD. The effect of WBV treatment on attention did not differ significantly between groups. Conclusions WBV was demonstrated to improve cognitive performance of healthy individuals as well as of individuals with ADHD. WBV treatment is relatively inexpensive and easy to apply and might therefore be of potential relevance for clinical use. The application of WBV treatment as a cognitive enhancement strategy and as a potential treatment of cognitive impairments is discussed. PMID:24587412

Interaction Challenges in Human-Robot Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fong, Terrence; Nourbakhsh, Illah

2005-01-01

In January 2004, NASA established a new, long-term exploration program to fulfill the President's Vision for U.S. Space Exploration. The primary goal of this program is to establish a sustained human presence in space, beginning with robotic missions to the Moon in 2008, followed by extended human expeditions to the Moon as early as 2015. In addition, the program places significant emphasis on the development of joint human-robot systems. A key difference from previous exploration efforts is that future space exploration activities must be sustainable over the long-term. Experience with the space station has shown that cost pressures will keep astronaut teams small. Consequently, care must be taken to extend the effectiveness of these astronauts well beyond their individual human capacity. Thus, in order to reduce human workload, costs, and fatigue-driven error and risk, intelligent robots will have to be an integral part of mission design.

Predictors of cancer fear: the association between mass media and fear of cancer among cancer diagnosed and nondiagnosed individuals.

PubMed

Nelissen, Sara; Beullens, Kathleen; Lemal, Marijke; Van den Bulck, Jan

2015-03-01

Few studies have explored the impact of mass media on fear of cancer levels. This study investigates whether television and Internet use are associated with fear of cancer, and whether this association is different for cancer diagnosed and nondiagnosed individuals. A quantitative, standardized survey was used and administered to 2008 respondents in Flanders (Belgium), of which 621 individuals were diagnosed with cancer. For statistical analyses, hierarchical regression analyses, independent samples T-tests and post hoc mediation analyses were conducted. The results indicated that cancer diagnosed individuals differed from nondiagnosed individuals in terms of perceived cancer susceptibility, perceived cancer severity, fear of cancer, and media use. Furthermore, television exposure was directly and positively related to fear of cancer, whereas Internet use was not. The relationship between television and Internet use and fear of cancer was not different for cancer diagnosed and nondiagnosed individuals. Additional post hoc mediation analyses, however, seemed to suggest that watching more television and surfing more on the Internet could both lead to having a more negative perceived health and this was in turn associated with higher fear of cancer. To help reduce the burden of fear of cancer, cancer educators and individuals working with cancer patients need to be aware of the possible negative effects media use might have on health perception and on the levels of fear of cancer.

ERP Correlates of Recognition Memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massand, Esha; Bowler, Dermot M.; Mottron, Laurent; Hosein, Anthony; Jemel, Boutheina

2013-01-01

Recognition memory in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tends to be undiminished compared to that of typically developing (TD) individuals (Bowler et al. 2007), but it is still unknown whether memory in ASD relies on qualitatively similar or different neurophysiology. We sought to explore the neural activity underlying recognition by employing the…

Achievement, Motivation, and Educational Choices: A Longitudinal Study of Expectancy and Value Using a Multiplicative Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Jiesi; Parker, Philip D.; Marsh, Herbert W.; Morin, Alexandre J. S.

2015-01-01

Drawing on the expectancy-value model, the present study explored individual and gender differences in university entry and selection of educational pathway (e.g., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] course selection). In particular, we examined the multiplicative effects of expectancy and task values on educational outcomes…

Asymmetry of Cognitive Functioning as a Possible Predictor for Vocational Counseling and Personnel Classification.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harpaz, Itzhak

1983-01-01

Explored the influence of hemispheric specialization on cognitive processes in a sample of 119 Israeli economics students and 65 creative arts students who took a test battery designed to assess hemispheric dominance. Significant differences between the groups were found, suggesting implications for matching individual abilities with job demands.…

The Psychology of Meta-Ethics: Exploring Objectivism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodwin, Geoffrey P.; Darley, John M.

2008-01-01

How do lay individuals think about the objectivity of their ethical beliefs? Do they regard them as factual and objective, or as more subjective and opinion-based, and what might predict such differences? In three experiments, we set out a methodology for assessing the perceived objectivity of ethical beliefs, and use it to document several novel…

Educational Leadership and Culture in China: Dichotomies between Chinese and Anglo-American Leadership Traditions?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Law, Wing-Wah

2012-01-01

This article explores the extent to which Chinese school leaders espouse dichotomous or integrated Chinese and Anglo-American leadership and management preferences. Data are drawn from questionnaires completed by school leaders and from semi-structured interviews with individual school leaders from different parts of China. The exploratory study…

A Participatory Action Research Study of Nature Education in Nature: Towards Community-Based Eco-Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eryaman, Mustafa Yunus; Yalcin-Ozdilek, Sukran; Okur, Emel; Cetinkaya, Zeynep; Uygun, Selcuk

2010-01-01

Contemporary nature education is exploring different ways to develop awareness for change and initiate action. Such educational activities go beyond creating understanding and awareness in order to develop a sense of commitment for individual and collective action. This participatory action research study aimed to improve teachers' sensitiveness…

Contextual and Personal Predictors of Adaptive Outcomes under Terror Attack: The Case of Israeli Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeidner, Moshe

2005-01-01

This paper explores individual differences in perceptions of political violence, strategies for coping with violence, and adaptive outcomes. Data on political violence stress, personal variables, coping strategies, and stress reactions were gathered on a sample of 227 Israeli adolescents in Haifa and Northern Israel confronted with a prolonged…

Advanced Learners' Foreign Language-Related Emotions across the Four Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piniel, Katalin; Albert, Ágnes

2018-01-01

Individual differences researchers have recently begun to investigate the concept of emotions and their role in language learning (MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2016). Our aim is to report on a project exploring English majors' feelings related to their use of foreign languages. Using a qualitative research design, participants were asked to…

Identity Processes and Personality Traits and Types in Adolescence: Directionality of Effects and Developmental Trajectories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luyckx, Koen; Teppers, Eveline; Klimstra, Theo A.; Rassart, Jessica

2014-01-01

Personality traits are hypothesized to be among the most important factors contributing to individual differences in identity development. However, longitudinal studies linking Big Five personality traits to contemporary identity models (in which multiple exploration and commitment processes are distinguished) are largely lacking. To gain more…

Global Citizenship and the Importance of Education in a Globally Integrated World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, William C.; Fraser, Pablo; Chykina, Volha; Ikoma, Sakiko; Levitan, Joseph; Liu, Jing; Mahfouz, Julia

2017-01-01

As national borders dissipate and technology allows different cultures and nationalities to communicate on a regular basis, more individuals are self-identifying as a global citizen. Using Social Network Analysis and multi-level modelling, this study explores factors associated with global citizen affinity and finds that education plays an…

Exploring Individual Differences in Workload Assessment

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-26

83 Question 3: Do the physiological measures: blinks, saccades, HR, HRV , correlate with the objective workload profile for all...Electrooculography (EOG) signals, and heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability ( HRV ) as determined from Electrocardiography (ECG...3) Do the physiological measures blinks, saccades, HR, and HRV , correlate with the objective workload profile for all divergent participants and

Learning Novel Phonological Representations in Developmental Dyslexia: Associations with Basic Auditory Processing of Rise Time and Phonological Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomson, Jennifer M.; Goswami, Usha

2010-01-01

Across languages, children with developmental dyslexia are known to have impaired lexical phonological representations. Here, we explore associations between learning new phonological representations, phonological awareness, and sensitivity to amplitude envelope onsets (rise time). We show that individual differences in learning novel phonological…

Post-School Visions and Expectations of Latino Students with Learning Disabilities, Their Parents, and Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keel, Joanna Mossmond; Cushing, Lisa Sharon; Awsumb, Jessica M.

2018-01-01

This study explored perspectives about the desired components of adult life for 12th-grade Latino students with learning disabilities, their parents, and special education teachers. Focus groups and individual interviews were used to understand the similarities and differences in post-school visions and expectations among participants. Five…

"Perezhivanija" Discovered through Narrative Analysis: Emotive and Motivational Foci in Parent's Diverse Heritage Language and Cultural Sustaining in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Babaeff, Robyn

2016-01-01

Extensive linguistic research and theorising relating to maintaining the family heritage, as bilingual or multilingual family in differing language contexts, is currently available. Substantial research beneficially explores approaches to multilingual parenting, outcomes for individuals through parent and child perspectives, among linguistic and…

Positive Health and Financial Practices: Does Budgeting Make a Difference?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Neill, Barbara; Xiao, Jing Jian; Ensle, Karen

2017-01-01

This study explored relationships between the practice of following a hand-written or computer-generated budget and the frequency of performance of positive personal health and financial practices. Data were collected from an online quiz completed by 942 adults, providing a simultaneous assessment of individuals' health and financial practices.…

Student Employment and Persistence: Evidence of Effect Heterogeneity of Student Employment on College Dropout

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Yool

2018-01-01

This study explores how student employment affects college persistence and how these effects differ by individual likelihood of participating in student employment. I analyze data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 using propensity score matching and stratification-multilevel analysis. This study finds that engaging in intense…

The Rich Get Richer: International Doctoral Candidates and Scholarly Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cotterall, Sara

2015-01-01

Identity lies at the heart of doctoral study--a mysterious learning process which culminates in Ph.D. students' metamorphosis into doctors. This paper explores the identity-related experiences of six international Ph.D. students enrolled at an Australian university by examining how different individuals, events and interactions contributed to (or…

Correlates of Identity Configurations: Three Studies with Adolescent and Emerging Adult Cohorts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crocetti, Elisabetta; Scrignaro, Marta; Sica, Luigia Simona; Magrin, Maria Elena

2012-01-01

Adolescence and emerging adulthood are two core developmental periods in which individuals can develop a meaningful identity across domains. However, there is a lack of studies exploring correlates of different identity configurations. The purpose of this article was to fill this gap in examining correlates of configurations characterized by…

Different Schools as Narrative Communities: Identity Narratives in Threefold

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ter Avest, Ina; Bakker, Cok; Miedema, Siebren

2008-01-01

The last decade identity is often and very fruitfully conceptualized as "narrative identity." Neither for individuals nor for groups is identity a given beforehand anymore. On the contrary, identity has to be constructed in an inductive way continuously. Three qualitative research methods are applied to explore in an inductive way the…

Psychopathology in Williams Syndrome: The Effect of Individual Differences across the Life Span

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dodd, Helen F.; Porter, Melanie A.

2009-01-01

This research aimed to comprehensively explore psychopathology in Williams syndrome (WS) across the life span and evaluate the relationship between psychopathology and age category (child or adult), gender, and cognitive ability. The parents of 50 participants with WS, ages 6-50 years, were interviewed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders…

Work-Plan Heroes: Student Strategies in Lower-Secondary Norwegian Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalland, Cecilie P.; Klette, Kirsti

2014-01-01

This article explores how individualized teaching methods, such as the use of work plans, create new student strategies in Norwegian lower secondary classrooms. Work plans, which are frequently set up as instructional tools in Norwegian classrooms, outline different types of tasks and requirements that the students are supposed to do during a…

The Business of Charter Schooling: Understanding the Policies That Charter Operators Use for Financial Benefit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Bruce; Miron, Gary

2015-01-01

This research brief details some of the prominent ways that individuals, companies, and organizations secure financial gain and generate profit by controlling and running charter schools. To illustrate how charter school policy functions to promote privatization and profiteering, the authors explore differences between charter schools and…

Analysis of Peer Learning Behaviors Using Multiple Representations in Virtual Reality and Their Impacts on Geometry Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Hu, Shih-Shin

2013-01-01

Learning geometry emphasizes the importance of exploring different representations such as virtual manipulatives, written math formulas, and verbal explanations, which help students build math concepts and develop critical thinking. Besides helping individuals construct math knowledge, peer interaction also plays a crucial role in promoting an…

Exploring Sense of Belonging among Black International Students at an HBCU

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mwangi, Chrystal A. George

2016-01-01

This study elucidates the experiences of HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities) students who are racially Black, but differ in nativity and nationality from their Black American peers. The purpose is to examine Black HBCU international students' sense of belonging on campus. This study engages qualitative individual interviews with…

Accent Identification by Adults with Aphasia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newton, Caroline; Burns, Rebecca; Bruce, Carolyn

2013-01-01

The UK is a diverse society where individuals regularly interact with speakers with different accents. Whilst there is a growing body of research on the impact of speaker accent on comprehension in people with aphasia, there is none which explores their ability to identify accents. This study investigated the ability of this group to identify the…

Exploring the "Lone Wolf" Phenomenon in Student Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barr, Terri Feldman; Dixon, Andrea L.; Gassenheimer, Jule B.

2005-01-01

The proliferation of projects using student teams has motivated researchers to examine factors that affect both team process and outcomes. This research introduces an individual difference variable found in the business environment that has not been examined in a classroom context. The lone wolf appears to play a role in how teams function and…

State College Scavenger: Evaluating the Perspectives of Mobile Computing Interactions within Community Spaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffman, Blaine

2013-01-01

This work focuses on the impact of mobile computing on individuals' perspectives of places within their community. A technological intervention is designed and deployed to augment the user experience of visiting different locations around town, physically exploring them while also interacting with an online tool. The tool-supported activity serves…

Working Memory Is Related to Perceptual Processing: A Case from Color Perception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allen, Elizabeth C.; Beilock, Sian L.; Shevell, Steven K.

2011-01-01

We explored the relation between individual differences in working memory (WM) and color constancy, the phenomenon of color perception that allows us to perceive the color of an object as relatively stable under changes in illumination. Successive color constancy (measured by first viewing a colored surface under a particular illumination and…

Residential Preferences and Moving Behavior: A Family Life Cycle Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAuley, William J.; Nutty, Cheri L.

The relationship of family life cycle changes to housing preferences and residential mobility is examined. Two residential decision-making issues are explored in detail--how family life cycle stages influence what people view as important to their choice of residential setting and what individuals at different family life cycle stages view as the…

Verb Comprehension and Use in Children and Adults with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michael, Sarah E.; Ratner, Nan Bernstein; Newman, Rochelle

2012-01-01

Purpose: Expressive syntax is a particular area of difficulty for individuals with Down syndrome (DS). In order to better understand the basis for sentence formulation deficits often observed in children and adults with DS, the authors explored the use and comprehension of verbs differing in argument structure. Method: The authors examined verb…

Personality Development and Problem Behavior in Russian Children and Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slobodskaya, Helena R.; Akhmetova, Olga A.

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore child and adolescent personality in the Russian culture, addressing gender and age differences, and to examine personality and family effects on children's Internalizing and Externalizing problems. Parents of 1,640 Russian children aged 3-18 years completed the Inventory of Child Individual Differences…

The Role of Early Childhood Personality in the Developmental Course of Social Adjustment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kavcic, Tina; Podlesek, Anja; Zupancic, Maja

2012-01-01

This study explored children, preschool, and family characteristics that contribute to individual differences in the developmental trajectories of social competence and internalizing and externalizing behavior. Teachers reported on personality and social adjustment of 304 children at ages 3, 4, 5, and 6 years. Predictors of social adjustment…

High-speed Internet Use and Academic Gratifications in the College Residence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Denise; Schrum, Lynne

2003-01-01

A multimethod exploration of undergraduates' high-speed Internet use in residence halls took a uses-and-gratifications approach and revealed Internet use as integral to students' lives. Students' negative comments about Internet distractions from academic work led to identification of an individual difference variable, internal locus of control of…

A Latent Class Approach to Examining Forms of Peer Victimization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradshaw, Catherine P.; Waasdorp, Tracy E.; O'Brennan, Lindsey M.

2013-01-01

There is growing interest in gender differences in the experience of various forms of peer victimization; however, much of the work to date has used traditional variable-centered approaches by focusing on scales or individual forms of victimization in isolation. The current study explored whether there were discrete groups of adolescents who…

Longitudinal Examination of Optimism, Personal Self-Efficacy and Student Well-Being: A Path Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phan, Huy P.

2016-01-01

The present longitudinal study, based on existing theoretical tenets, explored a conceptual model that depicted four major orientations: optimism, self-efficacy, and academic well-being. An important question for consideration, in this case, involved the testing of different untested trajectories that could explain and predict individuals'…

Environmental and Genetic Influences on Prereading Skills in Australia, Scandinavia, and the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samuelsson, Stefan; Byrne, Brian; Quain, Peter; Wadsworth, Sally; Corley, Robin; DeFries, John C.; Willcutt, Eric; Olson, Richard

2005-01-01

Individual differences in measures of prereading skills and in questionnaire measures of 4-5-year-old twins' print environments in Australia, Scandinavia, and the United States were explored with a behavioral-genetic design. Modest phenotypic correlations were found between environmental measures and the twins' print knowledge, general verbal…

The Lateralizer: A Tool for Students to Explore the Divided Brain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Motz, Benjamin A.; James, Karin H.; Busey, Thomas A.

2012-01-01

Despite a profusion of popular misinformation about the left brain and right brain, there are functional differences between the left and right cerebral hemispheres in humans. Evidence from split-brain patients, individuals with unilateral brain damage, and neuroimaging studies suggest that each hemisphere may be specialized for certain cognitive…

Personality trait change across late childhood to young adulthood: Evidence for nonlinearity and sex differences in change.

PubMed

Durbin, C Emily; Hicks, Brian M; Blonigen, Daniel M; Johnson, Wendy; Iacono, William G; McGue, Matt

2016-01-01

We explored patterns of self-reported personality trait change across late childhood through young adulthood in a sample assessed up to 4 times on the lower-order facets of Positive Emotionality (PEM), Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON). Multilevel modeling analyses were used to describe both group- and individual-level change trajectories across this time span. There was evidence for nonlinear age-related change in most traits, and substantial individual differences in change for all traits. Gender differences were detected in the change trajectories for several facets of NEM and CON. Findings add to the literature on personality development by demonstrating robust nonlinear change in several traits across late childhood to young adulthood, as well as deviations from normative patterns of maturation at the earliest ages.

Socio-demographic Characteristics of Individuals with History of Crack Cocaine Use in the US General Population.

PubMed

Yur'yev, Andriy; Akerele, Evaristo

2016-11-01

This study explores socio-demographic characteristics of individuals with history of crack cocaine use. Data from the 29th Round of General Social Survey was used. Respondents with history of crack cocaine use were compared to respondents without such history. T test was applied to identify differences between groups. Approximately 6 % of respondents reported lifetime history of crack cocaine use. Groups with and without history of crack cocaine use differed significantly in gender, marital status, education, income distribution, employment, health perception, family and financial satisfaction, criminal history, happiness, sexual history, history of injection drug use, and HIV testing. There were no significant differences for race. The study provides insights that could improve identification and prevention of substance use disorders.

Why children differ in motivation to learn: Insights from over 13,000 twins from 6 countries

PubMed Central

Kovas, Yulia; Garon-Carrier, Gabrielle; Boivin, Michel; Petrill, Stephen A.; Plomin, Robert; Malykh, Sergey B.; Spinath, Frank; Murayama, Kou; Ando, Juko; Bogdanova, Olga Y.; Brendgen, Mara; Dionne, Ginette; Forget-Dubois, Nadine; Galajinsky, Eduard V.; Gottschling, Juliana; Guay, Frédéric; Lemelin, Jean-Pascal; Logan, Jessica A.R.; Yamagata, Shinji; Shikishima, Chizuru; Spinath, Birgit; Thompson, Lee A.; Tikhomirova, Tatiana N.; Tosto, Maria G.; Tremblay, Richard; Vitaro, Frank

2015-01-01

Little is known about why people differ in their levels of academic motivation. This study explored the etiology of individual differences in enjoyment and self-perceived ability for several school subjects in nearly 13,000 twins aged 9–16 from 6 countries. The results showed a striking consistency across ages, school subjects, and cultures. Contrary to common belief, enjoyment of learning and children’s perceptions of their competence were no less heritable than cognitive ability. Genetic factors explained approximately 40% of the variance and all of the observed twins’ similarity in academic motivation. Shared environmental factors, such as home or classroom, did not contribute to the twin’s similarity in academic motivation. Environmental influences stemmed entirely from individual specific experiences. PMID:26052174

Schooling and Labor Market Effects of Temporary Authorization: Evidence from DACA

PubMed Central

Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina

2017-01-01

This paper explores the labor market and schooling effects of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, which provides work authorization to eligible immigrants along with a temporary reprieve from deportation. The analysis relies on a difference-in-differences approach that exploits the discontinuity in program rules to compare eligible individuals to ineligible, likely undocumented immigrants before and after the program went into effect. To address potential endogeneity concerns, we focus on youths that likely met DACA’s schooling requirement when the program was announced. We find that DACA reduced the probability of school enrollment of eligible higher-educated individuals, as well as some evidence that it increased the employment likelihood of men, in particular. Together, these findings suggest that a lack of authorization may lead individuals to enroll in school when working is not a viable option. Thus, once employment restrictions are relaxed and the opportunity costs of higher-education rise, eligible individuals may reduce investments in schooling. PMID:28690364

Schooling and Labor Market Effects of Temporary Authorization: Evidence from DACA.

PubMed

Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina; Antman, Francisca

2017-01-01

This paper explores the labor market and schooling effects of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, which provides work authorization to eligible immigrants along with a temporary reprieve from deportation. The analysis relies on a difference-in-differences approach that exploits the discontinuity in program rules to compare eligible individuals to ineligible, likely undocumented immigrants before and after the program went into effect. To address potential endogeneity concerns, we focus on youths that likely met DACA's schooling requirement when the program was announced. We find that DACA reduced the probability of school enrollment of eligible higher-educated individuals, as well as some evidence that it increased the employment likelihood of men, in particular. Together, these findings suggest that a lack of authorization may lead individuals to enroll in school when working is not a viable option. Thus, once employment restrictions are relaxed and the opportunity costs of higher-education rise, eligible individuals may reduce investments in schooling.

Alterations in the gut microbiota associated with HIV-1 infection.

PubMed

Lozupone, Catherine A; Li, Marcella; Campbell, Thomas B; Flores, Sonia C; Linderman, Derek; Gebert, Matthew J; Knight, Rob; Fontenot, Andrew P; Palmer, Brent E

2013-09-11

Understanding gut microbiota alterations associated with HIV infection and factors that drive these alterations may help explain gut-linked diseases prevalent with HIV. 16S rRNA sequencing of feces from HIV-infected individuals revealed that HIV infection is associated with highly characteristic gut community changes, and antiretroviral therapy does not consistently restore the microbiota to an HIV-negative state. Despite the chronic gut inflammation characteristic of HIV infection, the associated microbiota showed limited similarity with other inflammatory states and instead showed increased, rather than decreased, diversity. Meta-analysis revealed that the microbiota of HIV-infected individuals in the U.S. was most similar to a Prevotella-rich community composition typically observed in healthy individuals in agrarian cultures of Malawi and Venezuela and related to that of U.S. individuals with carbohydrate-rich, protein- and fat-poor diets. By evaluating innate and adaptive immune responses to lysates from bacteria that differ with HIV, we explore the functional drivers of these compositional differences. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Toward an International Lunar Polar Volatiles Strategy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gruener, J. E.; Suzuki, N. H.; Carpenter, J. D.

2015-01-01

Fourteen international space agencies are participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), working together to advance a long-range human space exploration strategy. The ISECG is a voluntary, non-binding international coordination mechanism through which individual agencies may exchange information regarding interests, objectives, and plans in space exploration with the goal of strengthening both individual exploration programs as well as the collective effort. The ISECG has developed a Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) that reflects the coordinated international dialog and continued preparation for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit - beginning with the Moon and cis-lunar space, and continuing to near-Earth asteroids, and Mars. Space agencies agree that human space exploration will be most successful as an international endeavor, given the challenges of these missions. The roadmap demonstrates how initial capabilities can enable a variety of missions in the lunar vicinity, responding to individual and common goals and objectives, while contributing to building partnerships required for sustainable human space exploration that delivers value to the public.

Race-specific perceptual discrimination improvement following short individuation training with faces

PubMed Central

McGugin, Rankin Williams; Tanaka, James W.; Lebrecht, Sophie; Tarr, Michael J.; Gauthier, Isabel

2010-01-01

This study explores the effect of individuation training on the acquisition of race-specific expertise. First, we investigated whether practice individuating other-race faces yields improvement in perceptual discrimination for novel faces of that race. Second, we asked whether there was similar improvement for novel faces of a different race for which participants received equal practice, but in an orthogonal task that did not require individuation. Caucasian participants were trained to individuate faces of one race (African American or Hispanic) and to make difficult eye luminance judgments on faces of the other race. By equating these tasks we are able to rule out raw experience, visual attention or performance/success-induced positivity as the critical factors that produce race-specific improvements. These results indicate that individuation practice is one mechanism through which cognitive, perceptual, and/or social processes promote growth of the own-race face recognition advantage. PMID:21429002

Distrust As a Disease Avoidance Strategy: Individual Differences in Disgust Sensitivity Regulate Generalized Social Trust.

PubMed

Aarøe, Lene; Osmundsen, Mathias; Petersen, Michael Bang

2016-01-01

Throughout human evolutionary history, cooperative contact with others has been fundamental for human survival. At the same time, social contact has been a source of threats. In this article, we focus on one particular viable threat, communicable disease, and investigate how motivations to avoid pathogens influence people's propensity to interact and cooperate with others, as measured by individual differences in generalized social trust. While extant studies on pathogen avoidance have argued that such motivations should prompt people to avoid interactions with outgroups specifically, we argue that these motivations should prompt people to avoid others more broadly. Empirically, we utilize two convenience samples and a large nationally representative sample of US citizens to demonstrate the existence of a robust and replicable effect of individual differences in pathogen disgust sensitivity on generalized social trust. We furthermore compare the effects of pathogen disgust sensitivity on generalized social trust and outgroup prejudice and explore whether generalized social trust to some extent constitutes a pathway between pathogen avoidance motivations and prejudice.

Distrust As a Disease Avoidance Strategy: Individual Differences in Disgust Sensitivity Regulate Generalized Social Trust

PubMed Central

Aarøe, Lene; Osmundsen, Mathias; Petersen, Michael Bang

2016-01-01

Throughout human evolutionary history, cooperative contact with others has been fundamental for human survival. At the same time, social contact has been a source of threats. In this article, we focus on one particular viable threat, communicable disease, and investigate how motivations to avoid pathogens influence people's propensity to interact and cooperate with others, as measured by individual differences in generalized social trust. While extant studies on pathogen avoidance have argued that such motivations should prompt people to avoid interactions with outgroups specifically, we argue that these motivations should prompt people to avoid others more broadly. Empirically, we utilize two convenience samples and a large nationally representative sample of US citizens to demonstrate the existence of a robust and replicable effect of individual differences in pathogen disgust sensitivity on generalized social trust. We furthermore compare the effects of pathogen disgust sensitivity on generalized social trust and outgroup prejudice and explore whether generalized social trust to some extent constitutes a pathway between pathogen avoidance motivations and prejudice. PMID:27516744

How Surgeons Conceptualize Talent: A Qualitative Study Using Sport Science as a Lens.

PubMed

Jensen, Rune Dall; Christensen, Mette Krogh; LaDonna, Kori A; Seyer-Hansen, Mikkel; Cristancho, Sayra

Debates prevail regarding the definition of surgical talent, and how individuals with the potential to become talented surgeons can be identified and developed. However, over the past 30 years, talent has been studied extensively in other domains. The objectives of this study is to explore notions of talent in surgery and sport in order to investigate if the field of surgical education can benefit from expanding its view on talented performances. Therefore, this study aims to use the sport literature as a lens when exploring how surgeons conceptualize and define talent. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 11 consultant surgeons from multiple specialties. We used constructivist grounded theory principles to explore talent in surgery. Ongoing data analysis refined the theoretical framework and iteratively informed data collection. Themes were identified iteratively using constant comparison. The setting included 8 separate hospitals across Canada and Denmark. A total of 11 consultant surgeons from 6 different surgical subspecialties (urology, orthopedic surgery, colorectal surgery, general surgery, vascular surgery, head & neck surgery) were included. We identified three key elements for conceptualizing surgical talent: (1) Individual skills makes the surgical prospect "good", (2) a mixture of skills gives the surgical prospect the potential to become talented, and (3) becoming talented may rely on the fit between person and environment. We embarked on a study aimed at understanding talent in surgery. Talent is a difficult construct to agree on. Whether in medicine or sports, debates about talent will continue to persist, as we all perceive talent differently. While we heard different opinions, three key ideas summarize our participants' discussions regarding surgical talent. These findings resonate with the holistic ecological approach from sport science and hence highlight the limits of a reductionist approach while favoring the individual-environment system as the minimal ontology for describing talented performances. Copyright © 2017 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multifractality in individual honeybee behavior hints at colony-specific social cascades: Reanalysis of radio-frequency identification data from five different colonies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carver, Nicole S.; Kelty-Stephen, Damian G.

2017-02-01

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) exhibit complex coordination and interaction across multiple behaviors such as swarming. This coordination among honeybees in the same colony is remarkably similar to the concept of informational cascades. The multifractal geometry of cascades suggests that multifractal measures of individual honeybee activity might carry signatures of these colony-wide coordinations. The present work reanalyzes time stamps of entrances to and exits from the hive captured by radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensors reading RFID tags on individual bees. Indeed, both multifractal spectrum width for individual bees' inter-reading interval series and differences of those widths from surrogates significantly predicted not just whether the individual bee's hive had a mesh enclosure but also predicted the specific membership of individual bees in one of five colonies. The significant effects of multifractality in matching honeybee activity to type of colony and, further, matching individual honeybees to their exact home colony suggests that multifractality quantifies key features of the colony-wide interactions across many scales. This relevance of multifractality to predicting colony type or colony membership adds additional credence to the cascade metaphor for colony organization. Perhaps, multifractality provides a new tool for exploring the relationship between individual organisms and larger, more complex social behaviors.

The Influence of Individual Variability on Zooplankton Population Dynamics under Different Environmental Conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bi, R.; Liu, H.

2016-02-01

Understanding how biological components respond to environmental changes could be insightful to predict ecosystem trajectories under different climate scenarios. Zooplankton are key components of marine ecosystems and changes in their dynamics could have major impact on ecosystem structure. We developed an individual-based model of a common coastal calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa to examine how environmental factors affect zooplankton population dynamics and explore the role of individual variability in sustaining population under various environmental conditions consisting of temperature, food concentration and salinity. Total abundance, egg production and proportion of survival were used to measure population success. Results suggested population benefits from high level of individual variability under extreme environmental conditions including unfavorable temperature, salinity, as well as low food concentration, and selection on fast-growers becomes stronger with increasing individual variability and increasing environmental stress. Multiple regression analysis showed that temperature, food concentration, salinity and individual variability have significant effects on survival of A. tonsa population. These results suggest that environmental factors have great influence on zooplankton population, and individual variability has important implications for population survivability under unfavorable conditions. Given that marine ecosystems are at risk from drastic environmental changes, understanding how individual variability sustains populations could increase our capability to predict population dynamics in a changing environment.

Daily Physical Activity Patterns During the Early Stage of Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Varma, Vijay R; Watts, Amber

2017-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that results in severe disability. Very few studies have explored changes in daily physical activity patterns during early stages of AD when components of physical function and mobility may be preserved. Our study explored differences in daily physical activity profiles, independent of the effects of non-cognitive factors including physical function and age, among individuals with mild AD compared to controls. Patients with mild AD and controls (n = 92) recruited from the University of Kansas Alzheimer's Disease Center Registry, wore the Actigraph GT3X+ for seven days, and provided objective physical function (VO2 max) and mobility data. Using multivariate linear regression, we explored whether individuals with mild AD had different daily average and diurnal physical activity patterns compared to controls independent of non-cognitive factors that may affect physical activity, including physical function and mobility. We found that mild AD was associated with less moderate-intensity physical activity (p < 0.05), lower peak activity (p < 0.01), and lower physical activity complexity (p < 0.05) particularly during the morning. Mild AD was not associated with greater sedentary activity or less lower-intensity physical activity across the day after adjusting for non-cognitive covariates. These findings suggest that factors independent of physical capacity and mobility may drive declines in moderate-intensity physical activity, and not lower-intensity or sedentary activity, during the early stage of AD. This underscores the importance of a better mechanistic understanding of how cognitive decline and AD pathology impact physical activity. Findings emphasize the potential value of designing and testing time-of-day specific physical activity interventions targeting individuals in the early stages of AD, prior to significant declines in mobility and physical function.

iSBatch: a batch-processing platform for data analysis and exploration of live-cell single-molecule microscopy images and other hierarchical datasets.

PubMed

Caldas, Victor E A; Punter, Christiaan M; Ghodke, Harshad; Robinson, Andrew; van Oijen, Antoine M

2015-10-01

Recent technical advances have made it possible to visualize single molecules inside live cells. Microscopes with single-molecule sensitivity enable the imaging of low-abundance proteins, allowing for a quantitative characterization of molecular properties. Such data sets contain information on a wide spectrum of important molecular properties, with different aspects highlighted in different imaging strategies. The time-lapsed acquisition of images provides information on protein dynamics over long time scales, giving insight into expression dynamics and localization properties. Rapid burst imaging reveals properties of individual molecules in real-time, informing on their diffusion characteristics, binding dynamics and stoichiometries within complexes. This richness of information, however, adds significant complexity to analysis protocols. In general, large datasets of images must be collected and processed in order to produce statistically robust results and identify rare events. More importantly, as live-cell single-molecule measurements remain on the cutting edge of imaging, few protocols for analysis have been established and thus analysis strategies often need to be explored for each individual scenario. Existing analysis packages are geared towards either single-cell imaging data or in vitro single-molecule data and typically operate with highly specific algorithms developed for particular situations. Our tool, iSBatch, instead allows users to exploit the inherent flexibility of the popular open-source package ImageJ, providing a hierarchical framework in which existing plugins or custom macros may be executed over entire datasets or portions thereof. This strategy affords users freedom to explore new analysis protocols within large imaging datasets, while maintaining hierarchical relationships between experiments, samples, fields of view, cells, and individual molecules.

Language evolution in the laboratory.

PubMed

Scott-Phillips, Thomas C; Kirby, Simon

2010-09-01

The historical origins of natural language cannot be observed directly. We can, however, study systems that support language and we can also develop models that explore the plausibility of different hypotheses about how language emerged. More recently, evolutionary linguists have begun to conduct language evolution experiments in the laboratory, where the emergence of new languages used by human participants can be observed directly. This enables researchers to study both the cognitive capacities necessary for language and the ways in which languages themselves emerge. One theme that runs through this work is how individual-level behaviours result in population-level linguistic phenomena. A central challenge for the future will be to explore how different forms of information transmission affect this process. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incarceration and Relative Poverty in Cross-National Perspective: The Moderating Roles of Female Employment and the Welfare State

PubMed Central

Gottlieb, Aaron

2017-01-01

A growing body of scholarship explores how incarceration contributes to inequality. The majority of this scholarship focuses on individual-level outcomes or aggregate outcomes within the United States. Despite substantial cross-national variation in incarceration rates, we know little about whether these differences contribute to cross-national variation in inequality outcomes. Using data from the period 1971–2010 from 15 advanced democracies, this study begins to fill this gap by exploring whether cross-national differences in incarceration rates help to explain cross-national differences in relative poverty rates. Although this research finds no average association, this null association obscures the important moderating role of country context. The association between incarceration and relative poverty is contingent upon a country’s female employment rate and welfare state generosity. PMID:29104322

Chronotype, sport participation, and positive personality-trait-like individual differences.

PubMed

Laborde, Sylvain; Guillén, Félix; Dosseville, Fabrice; Allen, Mark S

2015-01-01

Chronotype and sport participation have been found to relate to positive personality-trait-like individual differences (PTLID). To date, research has focused exclusively on the morningness-eveningness dimension of chronotype, and little is known about the relationship between chronotype and various characteristics of sport participation (e.g. training time). This investigation had three primary objectives: (1) to extend the current evidence base by exploring how sport participation and PTLID relate to chronotype amplitude, (2) to explore how chronotype (morningness-eveningness and amplitude) relates to various characteristics of sport training and competition, and (3) to explore the independent and interrelated contribution of sport participation and chronotype to PTLID. The sample included 976 non-athletes (493 women and 483 men) and 974 athletes (478 women and 496 men). Participants completed a battery of questionnaires targeting sport participation characteristics, six positive PTLID (hope, optimism, perseverance, resilience, self-efficacy and trait emotional intelligence) and chronotype dimensions. Results showed that morningness-eveningness was negatively related to positive PTLID but was unrelated to sport participation. Greater diurnal fluctuations (amplitude dimension) were associated with lower positive PTLID values, lower sport participation, and shorter training durations. Positive PTLID were also associated with better sleep quality and a shorter sleep duration. Chronotype (morningness-eveningness and amplitude) and sport participation had independent associations with PTLID. These findings suggest that changes in sport participation and activity times might be a useful approach to developing positive PTLID.

Health, wealth and behavioural change: an exploration of role responsibilities in the wake of epigenetics.

PubMed

Vears, Danya F; D'Abramo, Flavio

2018-04-01

The field of epigenetics is leading to new conceptualizations of the role of environmental factors in health and genetic disease. Although more evidence is required, epigenetic mechanisms are being implicated in the link between low socioeconomic status and poor health status. Epigenetic phenomena work in a number of ways: they can be established early in development, transmitted from previous generations and/or responsive to environmental factors. Knowledge about these types of epigenetic traits might therefore allow us to move away from a genetic deterministic perspective, and provide individuals with the opportunity to change their health status. Although this could be equated with patient empowerment, it could also lead to stigmatization and discrimination where individuals are deemed responsible for their health, even if they are not in social situations where they are able to enact change that would alter their health status. In this paper, we will explore the responsibilities of different actors in the healthcare sphere in relation to epigenetics across four different contexts: (1) genetic research, (2) clinical practice, (3) prenatal care and (4) the workplace. Within this exploration of role responsibilities, we will also discuss the potential constraints that might prevent the patient, mother-to-be, research participant or employee, from enacting any necessary steps in order to increase their health status in response to epigenetic information.

Behavioral Profile Predicts Dominance Status in Mountain Chickadees.

PubMed

Fox, Rebecca A; Ladage, Lara D; Roth, Timothy C; Pravosudov, Vladimir V

2009-06-01

Individual variation in stable behavioral traits may explain variation in ecologically-relevant behaviors such as foraging, dispersal, anti-predator behavior, and dominance. We investigated behavioral variation in mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli), a North American parid that lives in dominance-structured winter flocks, using two common measures of behavioral profile: exploration of a novel room and novel object exploration. We related those behavioral traits to dominance status in male chickadees following brief, pair-wise encounters. Low-exploring birds (birds that visited less than four locations in the novel room) were significantly more likely to become dominant in brief, pairwise encounters with high-exploring birds (i.e., birds that visited all perching locations within a novel room). On the other hand, there was no relationship between novel object exploration and dominance. Interestingly, novel room exploration was also not correlated with novel object exploration. These results suggest that behavioral profile may predict the social status of group-living individuals. Moreover, our results contradict the idea that novel object exploration and novel room exploration are always interchangeable measures of individuals' sensitivity to environmental novelty.

Latent Fairness in Adults’ Relationship-Based Moral Judgments

PubMed Central

Hao, Jian; Liu, Yanchun; Li, Jiafeng

2015-01-01

Can adults make fair moral judgments when individuals with whom they have different relationships are involved? The present study explored the fairness of adults’ relationship-based moral judgments in two respects by performing three experiments involving 999 participants. In Experiment 1, 65 adults were asked to decide whether to harm a specific person to save five strangers in the footbridge and trolley dilemmas in a within-subject design. The lone potential victim was a relative, a best friend, a person they disliked, a criminal or a stranger. Adults’ genetic relatedness to, familiarity with and affective relatedness to the lone potential victims varied. The results indicated that adults made different moral judgments involving the lone potential victims with whom they had different relationships. In Experiment 2, 306 adults responded to the footbridge and trolley dilemmas involving five types of lone potential victims in a within-subject design, and the extent to which they were familiar with and affectively related to the lone potential victim was measured. The results generally replicated those of Experiment 1. In addition, for close individuals, adults’ moral judgments were less deontological relative to their familiarity with or positive affect toward these individuals. For individuals they were not close to, adults made deontological choices to a larger extent relative to their unfamiliarity with or negative affect toward these individuals. Moreover, for familiar individuals, the extent to which adults made deontological moral judgments more closely approximated the extent to which they were familiar with the individual. The adults’ deontological moral judgments involving unfamiliar individuals more closely approximated their affective relatedness to the individuals. In Experiment 3, 628 adults were asked to make moral judgments with the type of lone potential victim as the between-subject variable. The results generally replicated those of the previous two experiments. Therefore, the present study shows that, in addition to apparent unfairness, latent fairness exists in adults’ relationship-based moral judgments. Moral judgments involving individuals with whom adults have different relationships have different cognitive and affective bases. PMID:26696935

A Multi-Functional View of Moral Disengagement: Exploring the Effects of Learning the Consequences

PubMed Central

Tillman, C. Justice; Gonzalez, Katerina; Whitman, Marilyn V.; Crawford, Wayne S.; Hood, Anthony C.

2018-01-01

This paper takes us beyond the unethical act and explores the use of moral disengagement as a multi-stage, multi-functional regulatory, and coping mechanism that not only allows individuals to engage in unethical behavior, but also manage the negative emotions (i.e., guilt and shame) from learning the consequences of such behavior. A resource-based lens is applied to the moral disengagement process, suggesting that individuals not only morally disengage prior to committing an unethical act in order to conserve their own resources, but also morally disengage as a coping mechanism to reduce emotional duress upon learning of the consequences of their actions, which we describe as post-moral disengagement. These assertions are tested using a scenario-based laboratory study consisting of 182 respondents. Findings indicate that individuals will morally disengage in order to commit an unethical act, will experience negative emotions from having learned of the consequences, and then will engage in post-moral disengagement as a coping mechanism. In addition, the findings suggest that guilt and shame relate differently to moral disengagement. PMID:29434557

Nitrogen balance in older individuals in energy balance depends on timing of protein intake.

PubMed

Jordan, Leora Y; Melanson, Edward L; Melby, Christopher L; Hickey, Matthew S; Miller, Benjamin F

2010-10-01

To explore whether nitrogen retention can differ on an isonitrogenous diet by changing when protein is consumed, we performed a short-term study in older individuals (64.5 ± 2.0 years) performing daily exercise while in energy balance. Participants consumed an isonitrogenous-isocaloric diet with the timing of a protein or carbohydrate beverage after exercise (protein after exercise [PRO], carbohydrate after exercise [CHO]) versus earlier in the day. Three-day mean energy balance (PRO: 202 ± 36 kcal and CHO: 191 ± 44 kcal; p = .68) did not differ between trials, but 3-day mean nitrogen balance was significantly more positive in the PRO (1.2 ± 0.32 g N) trial than the CHO trial (0.8 ± 0.45 g N; p < .05). Older individuals were better able to maintain nitrogen balance by simply changing when a portion of an identical amount of daily protein was consumed.

Predicting differences in the perceived relevance of crime's costs and benefits in a test of rational choice theory.

PubMed

Bouffard, Jeffrey A

2007-08-01

Previous hypothetical scenario tests of rational choice theory have presented all participants with the same set of consequences, implicitly assuming that these consequences would be relevant for each individual. Recent research demonstrates that those researcher-presented consequences do not accurately reflect those considered by study participants and that there is individual variation in the relevance of various consequences. Despite this and some theoretical propositions that such differences should exist, little empirical research has explored the possibility of predicting such variation. This study allows participants to develop their own set of relevant consequences for three hypothetical offenses and examines how several demographic and theoretical variables impact those consequences' relevance. Exploratory results suggest individual factors impact the perceived relevance of several cost and benefit types, even among a relatively homogenous sample of college students. Implications for future tests of rational choice theory, as well as policy implications are discussed.

Mental models at work: cognitive causes and consequences of conflict in organizations.

PubMed

Halevy, Nir; Cohen, Taya R; Chou, Eileen Y; Katz, James J; Panter, A T

2014-01-01

This research investigated the reciprocal relationship between mental models of conflict and various forms of dysfunctional social relations in organizations, including experiences of task and relationship conflicts, interpersonal hostility, workplace ostracism, and abusive supervision. We conceptualize individual differences in conflict construals as reflecting variation in people's belief structures about conflict and explore how different elements in people's associative networks-in particular, their beliefs about their best and worst strategy in conflict-relate to their personality, shape their experiences of workplace conflict, and influence others' behavioral intentions toward them. Five studies using a variety of methods (including cross-sectional surveys, a 12-week longitudinal diary study, and an experiment) show that the best strategy beliefs relate in theoretically meaningful ways to individuals' personality, shape social interactions and relationships significantly more than the worst strategy beliefs, and are updated over time as a result of individuals' ongoing experiences of conflict.

Ethnic variations in pathways into early intervention services for psychosis.

PubMed

Ghali, Sharif; Fisher, Helen L; Joyce, John; Major, Barnaby; Hobbs, Lorna; Soni, Sujata; Chisholm, Brock; Rahaman, Nikola; Papada, Peggy; Lawrence, Jo; Bloy, Sally; Marlowe, Karl; Aitchison, Katherine J; Power, Paddy; Johnson, Sonia

2013-04-01

Ethnic variations have previously been identified in the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and pathways into psychiatric services. These have not been examined in the context of early intervention services, which may alter these trajectories. To explore ethnic differences in the nature and duration of pathways into early intervention services. In a naturalistic cohort study, data were collected for 1024 individuals with psychotic disorders accepted for case management by eight London early intervention services. Duration of untreated psychosis was prolonged in the White British group compared with most other ethnic groups. White British individuals were more likely to make contact with their general practitioner and less likely to be seen within emergency medical services. All Black patient groups were more likely than their White British counterparts to experience involvement of criminal justice agencies. Variations continue to exist in how and when individuals from different ethnic groups access early intervention services. These may account for disparities in DUP.

Group versus individual family planning counseling in Ghana: a randomized, noninferiority trial.

PubMed

Schwandt, Hilary M; Creanga, Andreea A; Danso, Kwabena A; Adanu, Richard M K; Agbenyega, Tsiri; Hindin, Michelle J

2013-08-01

Group, rather than individual, family planning counseling has the potential to increase family planning knowledge and use through more efficient use of limited human resources. A randomized, noninferiority study design was utilized to identify whether group family planning counseling is as effective as individual family planning counseling in Ghana. Female gynecology patients were enrolled from two teaching hospitals in Ghana in June and July 2008. Patients were randomized to receive either group or individual family planning counseling. The primary outcome in this study was change in modern contraceptive method knowledge. Changes in family planning use intention before and after the intervention and intended method type were also explored. Comparisons between the two study arms suggest that randomization was successful. The difference in change in modern contraceptive methods known from baseline to follow-up between the two study arms (group-individual), adjusted for study site, was -0.21, (95% confidence interval: -0.53 to 0.12) suggesting no difference between the two arms. Group family planning counseling was as effective as individual family planning counseling in increasing modern contraceptive knowledge among female gynecology patients in Ghana. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A world without parasites: exploring the hidden ecology of infection

PubMed Central

Johnson, Pieter TJ

2016-01-01

Parasites have historically been considered a scourge, deserving of annihilation. Although parasite eradications rank among humanity's greatest achievements, new research is shedding light on the collateral effects of parasite loss. Here, we explore a “world without parasites”: a thought experiment for illuminating the ecological roles that parasites play in ecosystems. While there is robust evidence for the effects of parasites on host individuals (eg affecting host vital rates), this exercise highlights how little we know about the influence of parasites on communities and ecosystems (eg altering energy flow through food webs). We present hypotheses for novel, interesting, and general effects of parasites. These hypotheses are largely untested, and should be considered a springboard for future research. While many uncertainties exist, the available evidence suggests that a world without parasites would be very different from the world we know, with effects extending from host individuals to populations, communities, and even ecosystems. PMID:28077932

Socialising Health Burden Through Different Network Topologies: A Simulation Study.

PubMed

Peacock, Adrian; Cheung, Anthony; Kim, Peter; Poon, Simon K

2017-01-01

An aging population and the expectation of premium quality health services combined with the increasing economic burden of the healthcare system requires a paradigm shift toward patient oriented healthcare. The guardian angel theory described by Szolovits [1] explores the notion of enlisting patients as primary providers of information and motivation to patients with similar clinical history through social connections. In this study, an agent based model was developed to simulate to explore how individuals are affected through their levels of intrinsic positivity. Ring, point-to-point (paired buddy), and random networks were modelled, with individuals able to send messages to each other given their levels of variables positivity and motivation. Of the 3 modelled networks it is apparent that the ring network provides the most equal, collective improvement in positivity and motivation for all users. Further study into other network topologies should be undertaken in the future.

Exploring the Factor Structure of Neurocognitive Measures in Older Individuals

PubMed Central

Santos, Nadine Correia; Costa, Patrício Soares; Amorim, Liliana; Moreira, Pedro Silva; Cunha, Pedro; Cotter, Jorge; Sousa, Nuno

2015-01-01

Here we focus on factor analysis from a best practices point of view, by investigating the factor structure of neuropsychological tests and using the results obtained to illustrate on choosing a reasonable solution. The sample (n=1051 individuals) was randomly divided into two groups: one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and principal component analysis (PCA), to investigate the number of factors underlying the neurocognitive variables; the second to test the “best fit” model via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). For the exploratory step, three extraction (maximum likelihood, principal axis factoring and principal components) and two rotation (orthogonal and oblique) methods were used. The analysis methodology allowed exploring how different cognitive/psychological tests correlated/discriminated between dimensions, indicating that to capture latent structures in similar sample sizes and measures, with approximately normal data distribution, reflective models with oblimin rotation might prove the most adequate. PMID:25880732

Architecture and functional ecology of the human gastrocnemius muscle-tendon unit.

PubMed

Butler, Erin E; Dominy, Nathaniel J

2016-04-01

The gastrocnemius muscle-tendon unit (MTU) is central to human locomotion. Structural variation in the human gastrocnemius MTU is predicted to affect the efficiency of locomotion, a concept most often explored in the context of performance activities. For example, stiffness of the Achilles tendon varies among individuals with different histories of competitive running. Such a finding highlights the functional variation of individuals and raises the possibility of similar variation between populations, perhaps in response to specific ecological or environmental demands. Researchers often assume minimal variation in human populations, or that industrialized populations represent the human species as well as any other. Yet rainforest hunter-gatherers, which often express the human pygmy phenotype, contradict such assumptions. Indeed, the human pygmy phenotype is a potential model system for exploring the range of ecomorphological variation in the architecture of human hindlimb muscles, a concept we review here. © 2015 Anatomical Society.

Therapeutic writing as an intervention for symptoms of bulimia nervosa: effects and mechanism of change.

PubMed

Johnston, Olwyn; Startup, Helen; Lavender, Anna; Godfrey, Emma; Schmidt, Ulrike

2010-07-01

This study explored the effects on bulimic symptomatology of a writing task intended to reduce emotional avoidance. Eighty individuals reporting symptoms of bulimia completed, by e-mail, a therapeutic or control writing task. Participants completed questionnaires on bulimic symptoms, mood, and potential moderating and mediating factors, and were followed up after 4 and 8 weeks. Writing content was explored using a word count package and qualitative framework analysis. Bulimic symptoms decreased in both groups, although in both groups the number of participants who improved was approximately equal to the number who did not improve. Symptom decreases were associated with increases in perceived mood regulation abilities, and decreases in negative beliefs about emotions. Participants preferred internet delivery to face to face discussion. For individuals experiencing symptoms of bulimia, the effects of therapeutic writing did not differ significantly from effects of a control writing task. 2009 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Personal growth initiative and identity formation in adolescence through young adulthood: mediating processes on the pathway to well-being.

PubMed

Luyckx, Koen; Robitschek, Christine

2014-10-01

Developing a personal identity is a challenging task throughout adolescence and the transition to adulthood. The present study sampling 551 14-35 year olds (54.1% female) examined personal growth initiative (PGI) as a potential predictor of core identity processes and explored whether identity functioned as a mediator on the pathway from PGI to self-esteem and depressive symptoms. Path analyses from a structural equation modeling approach indicated that all four components of PGI (i.e., planfulness, readiness for change, intentional behavior, and using resources) predicted different commitment and exploration processes, with planfulness being the most consistent predictor. Important age differences linking PGI-components to identity exploration were found. Finally, especially the degree to which individuals identified themselves with their identity commitments and the degree to which they relied on ruminative or maladaptive forms of identity exploration mediated pathways from PGI to self-esteem and depressive symptoms. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2014 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Within-litter differences in personality and physiology relate to size differences among siblings in cavies.

PubMed

Guenther, A; Trillmich, F

2015-06-01

Many aspects of an animal's early life potentially contribute to long-term individual differences in physiology and behaviour. From several studies on birds and mammals it is known that the early family environment is one of the most prominent factors influencing early development. Most of these studies were conducted on highly altricial species. Here we asked whether in the highly precocial cavy (Cavia aperea) the size rank within a litter, i.e. whether an individual is born as the heaviest, the lightest or an intermediate sibling, affects personality traits directly after birth and after independence. Furthermore, we investigated whether individual states (early growth, baseline cortisol and resting metabolic rate) differ between siblings of different size ranks and assessed their relation to personality traits. Siblings of the same litter differed in personality traits as early as three days after birth. Pups born heaviest in the litter were more explorative and in general more risk-prone than their smaller siblings. Physiological state variables were tightly correlated with personality traits and also influenced by the size rank within litter, suggesting that the size relative to littermates constitutes an important factor in shaping an individual's developmental trajectory. Our data add valuable information on how personalities are shaped during early phases of life and indicate the stability of developmentally influenced behavioural and physiological traits. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Differences in phonetic discrimination stem from differences in psychoacoustic abilities in learning the sounds of a second language: Evidence from ERP research

PubMed Central

Mo, Lei

2017-01-01

The scientific community has been divided as to the origin of individual differences in perceiving the sounds of a second language (L2). There are two alternative explanations: a general psychoacoustic origin vs. a speech-specific one. A previous study showed that such individual variability is linked to the perceivers’ speech-specific capabilities, rather than the perceivers’ psychoacoustic abilities. However, we assume that the selection of participants and parameters of sound stimuli might not appropriate. Therefore, we adjusted the sound stimuli and recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from two groups of early, proficient Cantonese (L1)-Mandarin (L2) bilinguals who differed in their mastery of the Mandarin (L2) phonetic contrast /in-ing/, to explore whether the individual differences in perceiving L2 stem from participants’ ability to discriminate various pure tones (frequency, duration and pattern). To precisely measure the participants’ acoustic discrimination, mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by the oddball paradigm was recorded in the experiment. The results showed that significant differences between good perceivers (GPs) and poor perceivers (PPs) were found in the three general acoustic conditions (frequency, duration and pattern), and the MMN amplitude for GP was significantly larger than for PP. Therefore, our results support a general psychoacoustic origin of individual variability in L2 phonetic mastery. PMID:29176886

Differences in phonetic discrimination stem from differences in psychoacoustic abilities in learning the sounds of a second language: Evidence from ERP research.

PubMed

Lin, Yi; Fan, Ruolin; Mo, Lei

2017-01-01

The scientific community has been divided as to the origin of individual differences in perceiving the sounds of a second language (L2). There are two alternative explanations: a general psychoacoustic origin vs. a speech-specific one. A previous study showed that such individual variability is linked to the perceivers' speech-specific capabilities, rather than the perceivers' psychoacoustic abilities. However, we assume that the selection of participants and parameters of sound stimuli might not appropriate. Therefore, we adjusted the sound stimuli and recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from two groups of early, proficient Cantonese (L1)-Mandarin (L2) bilinguals who differed in their mastery of the Mandarin (L2) phonetic contrast /in-ing/, to explore whether the individual differences in perceiving L2 stem from participants' ability to discriminate various pure tones (frequency, duration and pattern). To precisely measure the participants' acoustic discrimination, mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by the oddball paradigm was recorded in the experiment. The results showed that significant differences between good perceivers (GPs) and poor perceivers (PPs) were found in the three general acoustic conditions (frequency, duration and pattern), and the MMN amplitude for GP was significantly larger than for PP. Therefore, our results support a general psychoacoustic origin of individual variability in L2 phonetic mastery.

The Everyday Implications of Ethnic-Racial Identity Processes: Exploring Variability in Ethnic-Racial Identity Salience Across Situations.

PubMed

Douglass, Sara; Wang, Yijie; Yip, Tiffany

2016-07-01

Given the social and developmental relevance of ethnicity-race during adolescence, it is important to understand the meaning of ethnic-racial identity in adolescents' everyday lives. The current study considered how individual differences in ethnic-racial identity exploration (i.e., the extent to which individuals have explored their ethnicity-race), and commitment (i.e., the extent which they have a clear sense of what it means to them) influenced variability versus stability in the awareness of ethnicity-race in a given situation (i.e., salience), and how this variability is related to mood in that situation. Within an ethnic/racially diverse sample of 395 adolescents (M age = 15; 63 % female; 12 % Black, 26 % Latino, 34 % Asian, 23 % White), results indicated that ethnic-racial identity exploration was unrelated to variability in salience, while commitment promoted stability in salience across situations. Further, among adolescents who were generally very aware of their ethnicity-race, increases in situational salience were related to decreased negative and anxious mood. Among adolescents who were generally not aware of their ethnicity-race, increases in situational salience were related to increased positive and decreased negative mood. Implications for understanding the developmental and everyday experiences of ethnic-racial identity are discussed.

Mechanisms of attentional selection bias for threatening emotions of anger and disgust in individuals with high-trait anxiety.

PubMed

Xia, Luyao; Cui, Lixia; Zhang, Qin; Dong, Xiaofei; Shi, Guangyuan

2018-03-07

There are still some controversies that attentional bias to negative emotions in individuals with high-trait anxiety (HTA), as compare with those with low-trait anxiety (LTA), occurs in the engagement or disengagement facet of attentional selectivity and whether this attentional bias is affected by negative emotional types. In this study, we explored the different attentional selectivity mechanisms for threatening emotions of anger and disgust between individuals with HTA and LTA using the variant attentional-probe paradigm. The results showed that under the engagement condition, the HTA group's attentional bias index of the anger mood was negative and was significantly less than the disgusting mood (positive) and that the P1 was smaller with angry faces as compared with neutral faces, which was separate from the results of the disgusted faces, having a significant difference with neutral faces on P1 component. In the LTA group, under the disengagement condition, the attentional bias index of the disgusting mood was significantly bigger than the attentional bias index of the anger mood. Moreover, the P1 of the disgusted faces was significantly bigger than the P1 of the angry faces. The topographical maps were also made to reveal the different neural underpinnings. The results suggested that there were different mechanisms of selective attentional bias for threatening emotions of anger and disgust in individuals with HTA. HTA individuals were characterized by facilitated attentional engagement with angry faces and impaired attentional engagement with disgusted faces. LTA individuals had different neural underpinnings and had impaired attentional disengagement with disgusted faces.

Gender differences in trusting strangers: Role of the target's gender.

PubMed

Zhao, Na; Zhang, Jianxin

2016-06-01

Previous findings on gender differences in the behaviors of individuals, including trusting behaviors, are inconsistent. A criticism is that these studies neglect contextual factors. The present study aims to examine how the target's gender, as a primary context factor, influences the trusting behavior of individuals in one survey and two experimental situations. Results indicate that people tend to trust strangers of the opposite gender more than those of the same gender in mixed-gender situations. Furthermore, females trust females much more than males trust males. The results help people understand that when talking about gender differences in interpersonal situations, the gender identity of target persons should be considered. These findings are somewhat in conflict with those of previous studies conducted in Western cultures, and suggest that culture should also be explored in future studies on gender differences in interpersonal relationships. © 2016 The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Heart rate variability reactivity and new romance: Cause or consequence?

PubMed

Bailey, Laura K; Davis, Ron

2017-09-01

There are documented physiological differences between single and coupled individuals during the "honeymoon period" of nascent romantic relationships. One such difference is in autonomic reactivity, specifically heart rate variability (HRV) reactivity. This finding had previously been interpreted as evidence of a stress buffering effect of relationship formation. The present study explored among university women two competing longitudinal hypotheses conceptualizing differences in HRV reactivity as either a cause or a consequence of romantic relationship formation. Results did not support the hypothesis that HRV reactivity changes as a consequence of beginning a new romantic relationship. Instead, lower HRV reactivity predicted greater relationship formation amongst women with low BMI and higher resting HRV. The functioning of the heart therefore predicted the likelihood that an individual would find love. These interactions may be the result of differing success rates of various mating strategies for women with low and high BMI and HRV. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Individual responsibility for what? - a conceptual framework for exploring the suitability of private financing in a publicly funded health-care system.

PubMed

Tinghog, Gustav; Carlsson, Per; Lyttkens, Carl H

2010-04-01

Policymakers in publicly funded health-care systems are frequently required to make intricate decisions on which health-care services to include or exclude from the basic health-care package. Although it seems likely that the concept of individual responsibility is an essential feature of such decisions, it is rarely explicitly articulated or evaluated in health policy. This paper presents a tentative conceptual framework for exploring when health-care services contain characteristics that facilitate individual responsibility through private financing. Six attributes for exploring the suitability of private financing for specific health-care commodities are identified: (i) it should enable individuals to value the need and quality both before and after utilization; (ii) it should be targeted toward individuals with a reasonable level of individual autonomy; (iii) it should be associated with low levels of positive externalities; (iv) it should be associated with a demand sufficient to generate a private market; (v) it should be associated with payments affordable for most individuals; and finally, (vi) it should be associated with 'lifestyle enhancements' rather than 'medical necessities'. The tentative framework enables exploration of individual responsibility connected to health care as a heterogeneous group of commodities, and allows policymakers to make decisions on rationing by design rather than default.

The concept of difference and the experience of China-educated nurses working in Australia: a symbolic interactionist exploration.

PubMed

Zhou, Yunxian; Windsor, Carol; Theobald, Karen; Coyer, Fiona

2011-11-01

The migration of registered nurses as a response to a global nurse shortage has seen a growth in research interest in this area. Much of the research focuses on differences in language and culture which are posed as the attributes of the immigrant nurse. In reporting on an analysis of data drawn from China-educated nurses working in the Australian health care system, this paper explores the social construction of difference and the related intersection of difference and racialisation. A symbolic interactionist approach informed 46 in-depth interviews with 28 China-educated nurses. The method of analysis was initial and focused coding and constant comparison of data. The focus of interpretation was on human action and interaction as contextual and thus structural factors were critical to the analysis. Two levels of meaning were depicted in this study: difference as "you are you and I am I" and difference as "incompetence". Negative meanings were ascribed to difference which in turn legitimised inequality and held the potential to perpetuate racism. We argue that it is problematic to conceptualise difference as individual attributes. Difference needs to be contextualised and thus explored as a complex and socially constructed concept that in its application has social and political implications for immigrant nurses in Australia and elsewhere. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring the Gap between Evidence and Judgement: Using Video Vignettes for Practice-based Assessment of Physiotherapy Undergraduates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cross, Vinette; Hicks, Carolyn; Barwell, Fred

2001-01-01

Using videos of physiotherapy students, compared two assessment forms for validity and reliability (the first currently used by an academic program and the second developed from practitioners' perceptions of competence). Also investigated effects of training on assessment decisions. Found wide differences in individual ability to assess students…

Developing and Integrating Theory on School Bullying

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixon, Roz

2008-01-01

Given the number of factors involved in bullying, the range of explanatory theory upon which one might draw is vast. Not only might one consider factors within the family, the individual, the peer group, the school and the community, but each of these could be considered from a number of different perspectives. This paper explores the issues for…

Understanding Sources of Self-Efficacy of Chinese Students Learning English in an American Institution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuo, Huifang; Wang, Chuang

2016-01-01

This qualitative study explores the sources of the self-efficacy development of five Chinese doctoral students' use of English as a second language in a southeastern university in the United Sates. Although individual differences were reported, common themes were also recognized. Consistent with the self-efficacy theory and previous studies in…

Time Limits in Testing: An Analysis of Eye Movements and Visual Attention in Spatial Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roach, Victoria A.; Fraser, Graham M.; Kryklywy, James H.; Mitchell, Derek G. V.; Wilson, Timothy D.

2017-01-01

Individuals with an aptitude for interpreting spatial information (high mental rotation ability: HMRA) typically master anatomy with more ease, and more quickly, than those with low mental rotation ability (LMRA). This article explores how visual attention differs with time limits on spatial reasoning tests. Participants were assorted to two…