A Piecemeal Processing Strategy Model for Causal-Based Categorization

Over the last 20 years, causal-model theory has produced muchknowledge about causal-based categorization. However, per-sistent violations to the normative causal-model theory areprevalent. In particular, violations to the Markov conditionhave been repeatedly found. These violations have receiveddifferent explanations. Here, we develop a model that startsfrom generally accepted cognitive phenomena (e.g., process-ing limitations, the relevance of inference in cognitive process-ing) and assumes that people are not fully causal nor fully asso-ciative when performing causal-based categorization, offeringa new explanation for Markov violations

The Role of Function in Categories

In the psychological literatures on function, four issues have been important: (1) whether function can be a core property of the concepts that represent categories, (2) whether categories based primarily on function provide support for inductive inference, (3) whether functions guide object naming in children, (4) whether function is best understood as affordances or as design history. In these debates, function is often viewed as an independent unitary property that can exist independently of an object’s physical structure. We propose instead that function is a complex relational system that links physical structure, settings, action, and design history. Furthermore we show that viewing function this way resolves discrepancies in the empirical literatures that address it. In particular we find that function achieves its greatest importance when subjects understand the complex relational systems that underlie it. When subjects do not understand these systems, function’s role in classification, inductive inference, and naming decreases. Viewing function as a complex relational system highlights the need for future explorations into its conceptual structure

The influence of controlled processes reasoning with Theory of Mind (ToM) in children with and without intellectual disabilities

La capacidad o mecanismo tácito de atribuir estados mentales a los otros y a uno mismo, con el objeto de anticipar, comprender y predecir la conducta, es conocida como Teoría de la Mente (ToM). Parte de la discusión se centra en comprender si este razonamiento es un proceso independiente o subordinado a los procesos ejecutivos de control consciente. En esta investigación se analiza el efecto de las funciones ejecutivas de control consciente en tareas de razonamiento con ToM, en niños con y sin discapacidad intelectual. La muestra la constituyen 30 niños con discapacidad intelectual y 20 niños sin discapacidad intelectual. Se hipotetizó que la habilidad para responder las preguntas de control, una operacionalización de las funciones ejecutivas de control consciente, se asocia más a las tareas de segundo orden que a las de primer orden, ya que estas requieren mayor carga representacional. Los resultados obtenidos, sugieren que los procesos de control consciente no sólo se asocian a las tareas que requieren una mayor carga representacional, sino a todas las tareas que requieren razonar con estados mentales, sean ellos de primer o segundo orden

La influencia de los procesos controlados en el razonamiento con Teoría de la Mente (ToM) en niños con y sin discapacidad intelectual

La capacidad o mecanismo tácito de atribuir estados mentales a los otros y a uno mismo, con el objeto de anticipar, comprender y predecir la conducta, es conocida como Teoría de la Mente (ToM). Parte de la discusión se centra en comprender si este razonamiento es un proceso independiente o subordinado a los procesos ejecutivos de control consciente. En esta investigación se analiza el efecto de las funciones ejecutivas de control consciente en tareas de razonamiento con ToM, en niños con y sin discapacidad intelectual. La muestra la constituyen 30 niños con discapacidad intelectual y 20 niños sin discapacidad intelectual. Se hipotetizó que la habilidad para responder las preguntas de control, una operacionalización de las funciones ejecutivas de control consciente, se asocia más a las tareas de segundo orden que a las de primer orden, ya que estas requieren mayor carga representacional. Los resultados obtenidos, sugieren que los procesos de control consciente no sólo se asocian a las tareas que requieren una mayor carga representacional, sino a todas las tareas que requieren razonar con estados mentales, sean ellos de primer o segundo orden

Manipulating the alpha level cannot cure significance testing

We argue that making accept/reject decisions on scientific hypotheses, including a recent call for changing the canonical alpha level from p = 0.05 to p = 0.005, is deleterious for the finding of new discoveries and the progress of science. Given that blanket and variable alpha levels both are problematic, it is sensible to dispense with significance testing altogether. There are alternatives that address study design and sample size much more directly than significance testing does; but none of the statistical tools should be taken as the new magic method giving clear-cut mechanical answers. Inference should not be based on single studies at all, but on cumulative evidence from multiple independent studies. When evaluating the strength of the evidence, we should consider, for example, auxiliary assumptions, the strength of the experimental design, and implications for applications. To boil all this down to a binary decision based on a p-value threshold of 0.05, 0.01, 0.005, or anything else, is not acceptable

La Edad Se Correlaciona Directamente con la Fuerza de los Estereotipos de Género: Evidencia Obtenida en una Tarea de Memoria de Reconocimiento Age Correlates Directly With Gender Stereotype Strength: Evidence From a Recognition Memory Task

Varias teorías predicen una correlación directa entre edad y estereotipos. Sin embargo, los estudios que muestran este efecto típicamente comparan adultos mayores (> 55-60 años) con adultos jóvenes. Por contraste, en el estudio que se reporta participaron 79 individuos de 18 a 60 años de nivel socioeconómico alto, alumnos y profesores de una universidad privada en Santiago de Chile que respondieron a una invitación masiva. El trabajo se enfoca en los estereotipos de género, preguntando si los adultos medios (k 40 años) también muestran un nivel más elevado de estereotipos que los jóvenes. Se utilizó una tarea de memoria en la que los participantes leían listas de oraciones que describían a hombres y mujeres realizando actividades estereotipadas y neutras, y debían luego reconocerlas en listas que incluían además oraciones distractoras. Los datos se analizaron con ANOVAs mixtos, revelando que la muestra como un todo exhibía un mejor rendimiento de memoria para estímulos estereotipados para género que para estímulos neutros y que, como se predijo, los adultos medios mostraron un efecto casi 2 veces mayor que los jóvenes.Several theories predict a direct correlation between age and stereotypes. However, studies that show this effect typically compare older adults (> 55-60 years of age) with young adults. Contrastingly, in the current study participants were 79 high-SES individuals between 18 and 60 years of age, students and professors of a private university in Santiago de Chile, who responded to a mass email. The work reported here focuses on gender stereotypes and asks whether middle aged adults (k 40 years of age) also show a higher level of stereotypes than adolescents and young adults. A recognition memory task was used, in which participants read lists of sentences describing men and women carrying out stereotyped and neutral daily activities, and then had to recognize them intermixed with distractor sentences. Data were analyzed by mixed ANOVAs and showed that the sample as a whole exhibited a memory benefit for gender stereotyped over neutral stimuli, and that, as predicted, middle aged adults showed almost twice the memory benefit than young adults and adolescents

Modulating the coherence effect in causal-based processing

Causal-based cognition is thought to be relevant for human beings because it allows inferring the unfolding of events. Theories of causal-based cognition offer researchers a way to understand inter-feature relations, above and beyond the purely associative relations posited by similarity theories. In the causal-model theory (a.k.a. the Generative Model), people are thought to categorize an exemplar depending on how likely its particular feature combination is, given the category’s causal model. This mechanism predicts the coherence effect (i.e., when people categorize, features interact). This effect has been widely reported in the literature. In the current experiment, we sought to specify conditions that modulate the coherence effect. To that end, we implemented a between-subjects manipulation where participants had to judge either category membership or category consistency. Our results show that subjects exhibit a larger coherence effect in consistency condition. We discuss our results’ relevance for causal-model theory and for the possibility of distinguishing causal-based from similarity-based processing

LA DESVALORIZACIÓN DE LO FEMENINO EN UNA TAREA FICTICIA DE SELECCIÓN DE PERSONAL

Este trabajo utiliza la perspectiva de género para explicar resultados de estudios del mercado laboral. A partir de una lista de correos de la universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, se obtuvo una muestra de 229 participantes para el Experimento 1 y 94 para el Experimento 2. En ambos experimentos se manipuló la información que los participantes tenían acerca de atributos femeninos o masculinos de postulantes ficticios a un cargo laboral. Mientras que el Experimento 1 contenía diferencias en el tipo de postulante y diferencias en el tipo de cargo (típicamente femenino o masculino), el Experimento 2 tuvo como objetivo mostrar que al manipular los atributos asociados a género, independientemente del cargo, se podían producir resultados que implicaban claramente la desvalorización de los atributos femeninos. Nuestros resultados son consistentes con estudios anteriores que muestran cómo los atributos femeninos son socialmente más desvalorizados que los masculinos

Designing probabilistic category learning experiments: The probabilistic prototype distortion task

Many category learning experiments use supervised learning (i.e., trial-by-trial feedback). Most of those procedures use deterministic feedback, teaching participants to classify exemplars into consistent categories (i.e., the stimulus i is always classified in category k). Though some researchers suggest that natural learning conditions are more likely to be inconsistent, the literature using probabilistic feedback in category learning experiments is sparse. Our analysis of the literature suggests that part of the reason for this sparsity is a relative lack of flexibility of current paradigms and procedures for designing probabilistic feedback experiments. The work we report here offers a novel paradigm (the Probabilistic Prototype Distortion task) which allows researchers greater flexibility when creating experiments with different p(category|feature) probabilities, and also allows parametrically manipulating the amount of randomness in an experimental task. In the current work, we offer a detailed procedure, implementation, experimental results and discussion of this novel procedure. Our results suggest that by designing experiments with our procedures, the experimental setup allows subjects to achieve the desired classification performance