247 research outputs found

    Assessing creativity independently of language: A language-independent remote associate task (LI-RAT)

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    Most creativity measures are either complex or language-dependent, hindering cross-cultural creativity assessment. We have therefore developed and tested a simple, language-independent insight task based on pictures in the style of the widely used verbal remote associate task (RAT). We demonstrate that the language-independent RAT (LI-RAT) allows assessment of different aspects of insight across large samples with different languages. It also correlates with other creativity and general problem-solving tasks. The entire stimulus set, including its preliminary normative data, is made freely available. This information can be used to select items based on accuracy, mean solution time, likelihood to produce an insight, or conceptual and perceptual similarity between the pictures per item.Peer Reviewe

    The short and long of it: neural correlates of temporal-order memory for autobiographical events

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    Previous functional neuroimaging studies of temporal-order memory have investigated memory for laboratory stimuli that are causally unrelated and poor in sensory detail. In contrast, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated temporal-order memory for autobiographical events that were causally interconnected and rich in sensory detail. Participants took photographs at many campus locations over a period of several hours, and the following day they were scanned while making temporal-order judgments to pairs of photographs from different locations. By manipulating the temporal lag between the two locations in each trial, we compared the neural correlates associated with reconstruction processes, which we hypothesized depended on recollection and contribute mainly to short lags, and distance processes, which we hypothesized to depend on familiarity and contribute mainly to longer lags. Consistent with our hypotheses, parametric fMRI analyses linked shorter lags to activations in regions previously associated with recollection (left prefrontal, parahippocampal, precuneus, and visual cortices), and longer lags with regions previously associated with familiarity (right prefrontal cortex). The hemispheric asymmetry in prefrontal cortex activity fits very well with evidence and theories regarding the contributions of the left versus right prefrontal cortex to memory (recollection vs. familiarity processes) and cognition (systematic vs. heuristic processes). In sum, using a novel photo-paradigm, this study provided the first evidence regarding the neural correlates of temporal-order for autobiographical events

    Independent directors' background and CSR disclosure

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    [EN] This paper extends research on how the background of independent directors mayaffect the way in which their companies disclose information about corporate socialresponsibility (CSR). Using a sample of 83 Spanish‐listed firms over the period2009–2014, the findings of a random effects probit model suggest that, in additionto board independence, having independent directors with political backgroundsand diverse education has a positive impact on their firm's probability of issuing aCSR report following the standards of the Global Reporting Initiative.SIWe acknowledge funding received from the Ministerio de Economía yCompetitividad of Spain (projects ECO2015‐63880‐R and ECO 2015‐69058‐R) and the University of León (Spain) (project ULE2014‐1

    Do Board Gender Diversity and Director Typology Impact CSR Reporting?

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    [EN] By studying female directors and their typology, this paper contributes to the empirical evidence relating to boardgender diversity and the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) information. An ordered random effectprobit model was applied to a panel of Spanish non-financial and non-insurance listed firms over the 2009–2013period. The analyses revealed that a higher percentage of women in boardrooms and in groups of outside andindependent directors imply better CSR disclosure. These results hold for corporations with a critical mass of threewomen on the board and among outside directorsSIThe authors acknowledge the funding received from theProject ECO2012-35439 from the Ministerio deEconomía y Competitividad of Spain and the ProjectULE2014-1 from the University of León (Spain). Theyalso acknowledge funding from project ECO 2012-36532

    Remembering beauty: Roles of orbitofrontal and hippocampal regions in successful memory encoding of attractive faces.

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    Behavioral data have shown that attractive faces are better remembered but the neural mechanisms of this effect are largely unknown. To investigate this issue, female participants were scanned with event-related functional MRI (fMRI) while rating the attractiveness of male faces. Memory for the faces was tested after fMRI scanning and was used to identify successful encoding activity (subsequent memory paradigm). As expected, attractive faces were remembered better than other faces. The study yielded three main fMRI findings. First, activity in the right orbitofrontal cortex increased linearly as a function of attractiveness ratings. Second, activity in the left hippocampus increased as a function of subsequent memory (subsequent misses b low confidence hits b high confidence hits). Third, functional connectivity between these orbitofrontal and hippocampal regions was stronger during the encoding of attractive than neutral or unattractive faces. These results suggest that better memory for attractive faces reflects greater interaction between a region associated with reward, the orbitofrontal cortex, and a region associated with successful memory encoding, the hippocampus

    How significant is corporate social responsibility to business research?

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    [EN] Previous studies have established that there is a positive evolution of the quantity ofcorporate social responsibility (CSR) research output in terms of published papers. Sofar, however, there has been little discussion about how influential it has becomewithin the business discipline. This article seeks to obtain data which will help toaddress this research gap. The databases Web of Science andJournal Citation Reports(JCR) were used to carry out analyses at the journal and article levels. Results con-firmed a solid growth in CSR research and revealed that papers on the topic havegained attention from the scientific community. Furthermore, CSR articles are mostlyconcentrated in a small number of specialized journals, and opting for these journalsmay be related to the total citations. The conclusions drawn from this study may beespecially useful for academic managers and business researchers interested in theevaluation of academic performance.S

    How Does Reciprocity Affect Undergraduate Student Orientation towards Stakeholders?

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    5987Nowadays, students are more aware of the impact of companies on their stakeholders and the need for properly handling their expectations to operationalize corporate social responsibility. Nevertheless, little is known about how certain individual traits may relate to their stance on the issue. This exploratory research contributes to stakeholder theory by analysing the e ect of the individual’s decision-making process, including the consideration of their social preferences, on their orientation toward stakeholder management. Here, we draw upon a theoretical model for resource-allocation decision-making consisting of reciprocal and non-reciprocal components. Our data, from undergraduate students enrolled in di erent degrees, were collected through a questionnaire and two social within-subject experiments (ultimatum and dictator games). Thus, our results show that the presence of a reciprocal component when decisions are made is positively linked to an instrumental orientation toward stakeholders. In addition, a greater non-reciprocal component in the decision-making process corresponds to a more normative orientation.S

    Cross-Hemispheric Collaboration and Segregation Associated with Task Difficulty as Revealed by Structural and Functional Connectivity

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    Although it is known that brain regions in one hemisphere may interact very closely with their corresponding contralateral regions (collaboration) or operate relatively independent of them (segregation), the specific brain regions (where) and conditions (how) associated with collaboration or segregation are largely unknown. We investigated these issues using a split field-matching task in which participants matched the meaning of words or the visual features of faces presented to the same (unilateral) or to different (bilateral) visual fields. Matching difficulty was manipulated by varying the semantic similarity of words or the visual similarity of faces. We assessed the white matter using the fractional anisotropy (FA) measure provided by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and crosshemispheric communication in terms of fMRI-based connectivity between homotopic pairs of cortical regions. For both perceptual and semantic matching, bilateral trials became faster than unilateral trials as difficulty increased (bilateral processing advantage, BPA). The study yielded three novel findings. First, whereas FA in anterior corpus callosum (genu) correlated with word-matching BPA, FA in posterior corpus callosum (splenium-occipital) correlated with face-matching BPA. Second, as matching difficulty intensified, crosshemispheric functional connectivity (CFC) increased in domain-general frontopolar cortex (for both word and face matching) but decreased in domain-specific ventral temporal lobe regions (temporal pole for word matching and fusiform gyrus for face matching). Last, a mediation analysis linking DTI and fMRI data showed that CFC mediated the effect of callosal FA on BPA. These findings clarify the mechanisms by which the hemispheres interact to perform complex cognitive tasks

    Factors influencing board of directors’ decision-making process as determinants of CSR engagement

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    [EN] This paper focuses on the determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the organisational level. Specifically, it aims to understand the influence of not previously analysed board of directors’ characteristics on a company’s CSR engagement. A random effect probit model was applied to a panel of Spanish non-financial and non-insurance listed firms over the period 2009–2013. The analyses revealed that the existence of a board sub-committee responsible for social and environmental matters and its size, the establishment of a statutory term limit for independent directors and the possibility for directors of receiving advice from external sources positively affect a firm’s CSR engagement. This paper contributes to the debate about corporate governance and CSR by relating factors determining the decision-making process at boards of directors to CSR. Thus, it extends research on the board as a driver for social and environmental issues and suggests new ways to deal with this issue empirically.SIThe authors acknowledge the funding received from the Project ECO2015-63880-Rfrom the Ministerio de Economı ́a y Competitividad of Spain and the Project ULE2014-1 from theUniversity of Leo ́n (Spain). They also acknowledge funding from Project ECO 2015-69058-R

    Does CEO media exposure affect corporate social responsibility?

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    [EN] Given the central role played by CEOs in the arena of strategic decision making, thisarticle focuses on their impact on the implementation of socially responsible initia-tives, which try to comply with the stakeholders' demands. Specifically, and drawingupon the relevant influence of media on decision makers, we analysed how CEOs'media exposure affects the development of their companies' corporate social respon-sibility (CSR) practices. Moreover, relying mainly on the agency and stakeholder the-ories, we also considered a potential moderating effect of other CEO characteristics.The results of the hierarchical regression analysis carried out on a sample of 60 pub-licly listed Spanish companies in 2014 suggest that greater CEO media exposure canlead to a greater commitment to CSR. Furthermore, it was observed that this relation-ship may be affected by CEO tenure and prior political experience.SIThe authors acknowledge the financial support by the Ministerio deEconomĂ­a y Competitividad del Gobierno de España (research projects ECO2015‐63880‐R and ECO2015‐69058‐R
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