Negation in context: evidence from the visual world paradigm

Literature assumes that negation is more difficult to understand than affirmation, but this might depend on the pragmatic context. The goal of this paper is to show that pragmatic knowledge modulates the unfolding processing of negation due to the previous activation of the negated situation. To test this, we used the visual world paradigm. In this task, we presented affirmative (e.g., her dad was rich) and negative sentences (e.g., her dad was not poor) while viewing two images of the affirmed and denied entities. The critical sentence in each item was preceded by one of three types of contexts: an inconsistent context (e.g., She supposed that her dad had little savings) that activates the negated situation (a poor man), a consistent context (e.g., She supposed that her dad had enough savings) that activates the actual situation (a rich man), or a neutral context (e.g., her dad lived on the other side of town) that activates neither of the two models previously suggested. The results corroborated our hypothesis. Pragmatics is implicated in the unfolding processing of negation. We found an increase in fixations on the target compared to the baseline for negative sentences at 800 ms in the neutral context, 600 ms in the inconsistent context, and 1450 ms in the consistent context. Thus, when the negated situation has been previously introduced via an inconsistent context, negation is facilitated

Affective and cognitive factors that hinder the banking relationships of economically vulnerable consumers

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to explore the affective and cognitive factors that condition banking relationships for economically vulnerable consumers and how these factors contribute to increasing financial difficulties and exclusion. This research, performed on a set of focus groups, bases its findings on a combination of experimental and discourse analysis methods. Design/methodology/approachFinancial decisions are not rational and can be biased by affective and cognitive factors. Behavioural finance has focused very little on analysing how consumer biases influence relationships with banking institutions. Additionally, these relationships are affected by the digitalization and transformation of banking business. Thus, in the case of economically vulnerable consumers, who are not profitable for the increasingly competitive banking industry and lack financial abilities, their risk of financial exclusion is increasing. FindingsThe results show that distrust and shame lead to financial difficulties in economically vulnerable consumers. Distrust generates problems of access and self-exclusion, while shame generates difficulties of use. This lack of trust makes them more rational when dealing with machines than with people, showing greater banking difficulties for consumers with a "person-suspicious" profile. Originality/valueThis finding can help regulators establish limits on banking behaviour, require banks to incorporate affective and cognitive factors in their convenience tests and detect new variables that can help them improve their insolvency ratios and reputations.Financial decisions are not rational and can be biased by affective and cognitive factors. Behavioural finance has focused very little on analysing how consumer biases influence relationships with banking institutions. Additionally, these relationships are affected by the digitalization and transformation of banking business. Thus, in the case of economically vulnerable consumers, who are not profitable for the increasingly competitive banking industry and lack financial abilities, their risk of financial exclusion is increasing. The aim of this paper is to explore the affective and cognitive factors that condition banking relationships for economically vulnerable consumers and how these factors contribute to increasing financial difficulties and exclusion. This research, performed on a set of focus groups, bases its findings on a combination of experimental and discourse analysis methods. The results show that distrust and shame lead to financial difficulties in economically vulnerable consumers. Distrust generates problems of access and self-exclusion, while shame generates difficulties of use. This lack of trust makes them more rational when dealing with machines than with people, showing greater banking difficulties for consumers with a “person-suspicious” profile. This finding can help regulators establish limits on banking behaviour, require banks to incorporate affective and cognitive factors in their convenience tests and detect new variables that can help them improve their insolvency ratios and reputations.UCEIF Foundatio

Coordinated role of soluble and cell wall bound phenols is a key feature of the metabolic adjustment in a mining woody fleabane (Dittrichia viscosa L.) population under semi-arid conditions

Environmental contamination by hazardous heavy metals/metalloids (metal(loid)s) is growing worldwide. To restrict the migration of toxic contaminants, the establishment of a self-sustainable plant cover is required. Plant growth in multi-polluted soils is a challenging issue not only by metal(loid) toxicities, but also by the co-occurrence of other stressors. Dittrichia viscosa is a pioneer Mediterranean species able to thrive in metal(loid)-enriched tailings in semi-arid areas. The aim of the present work was to examine the metabolic adjustments involved in the acclimation responses of this plant to conditions prevailing in mine-tailings during Mediterranean spring and summer. For this purpose, fully-expanded leaves, and rhizosphere soil of both mining and non-mining populations of D. viscosa grown spontaneously in south-eastern Spain were sampled in two consecutive years. Quantitative analysis of > 50 biochemical, physiological and edaphic parameters were performed, including nutrient status, metal(loid) contents, leaf redox components, primary and secondary metabolites, salicylic acid levels, and soil physicochemical properties. Results showed that mining plants exhibited high foliar Zn/Pb co-accumulation capacity, without substantially affecting their photosynthetic metabolism or nutritional status even in the driest summer period. The comparison of the antioxidative/oxidative profile between mining and non-mining D. viscosa populations revealed no major seasonal changes in the content of primary antioxidants (ascorbate and GSH), or in the levels of ROS. Multivariate analysis showed that phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and peroxidase (PRX) activities and soluble and cell wall-bound phenols were potential biomarkers for discriminating between both populations. During the dry season, a marked enhancement in the activity of both PAL and soluble PRX resulted in both a drop in the accumulation of soluble phenols and an increase of the strong metal chelator caffeic acid in the cell-wall fraction, supporting the view that the plasticity of phenylpropanoid metabolism provide an effective way to counteract the effects of stress combinations.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación [grant number CTM2011-23958]; Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología [grant number CGL2006-11569]; and Fundación Séneca [grant number FB/23/FS/02]. AL-O holds a grant from the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte [grant number AP2012-2559]. Part of this work was carried out at the Instituto de Biotecnología Vegetal, UPCT

Sustainability and social responsibility strategies at spanish universities: an assessment tool

El grupo de Evaluación de la sostenibilidad universitaria de la Comisión Sectorial de Calidad Ambiental, Desarrollo Sostenible y Prevención de Riesgos (CADEP) de la CRUE viene trabajando desde 2007 en el estudio sistemático de las iniciativas de sostenibilidad en las universidades españolas. Entre 2010 y 2011 ha desarrollado el estudio “Evaluación de las políticas universitarias de sostenibilidad como facilitadoras para el desarrollo de los campus de excelencia internacional (CEI)” en el que se han definido ámbitos e indicadores con los que medir la contribución de las universidades españolas a la sostenibilidad. Estos indicadores constituyen un marco evaluativo del grado de avance de las políticas de sostenibilidad, haciendo los progresos más visibles para la comunidad universitaria y la sociedad. Para probar esta herramienta se consultaron 31 universidades que rellenaron el cuestionario y fueron visitadas para recoger sus dudas y sugerencias y, además, realizar un acercamiento a los programas de sostenibilidad en el sistema universitario español. También se entrevistaron a los responsables institucionales y técnicos de estos programas. En general, las universidades estudiadas presentan un mayor avance en actuaciones relacionadas con la sensibilización ambiental, los residuos y la docencia. En menor medida han implementado medidas sobre responsabilidad social, evaluación del impacto ambiental, agua y compra verde.Since 2007 the group on Sustainability Assessment of the Spanish Rectors’ Conference is working on the definition of a framework for the assessment and benchmarking of environmental and sustainable activities and strategies at Spanish Universities. During 2010 and 2011 it has carried out a study called “Evaluation of sustainability policies and their relation to the International Campus of Excellence program”. The main results from this study have led to the identification of a system of indicators to measure the progress of Spanish Universities in their contribution to sustainability and social responsibility. 31 universities have participated in the study by filling in the initial questionnaire. Moreover, they have all been interviewed by the research team. We can say that, in general, these universities present a good level of environmental awareness, curricular greening programs, and operational actions, mainly related to waste management.Grupo FORCE (HUM-386). Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar de la Universidad de Granada

Analysis of the historical urban evolution of the city of Murcia to understand the formation of local floods

Estudio y evolución del crecimiento urbanístico acotado a una zona de estudio, realización de mapas temáticos, análisis de los colectores de recogida de escorrentía superficial y diagnóstico de correlación de puntos de inundación local frente a problemas de diseño de trazado urbanístico.Escuela de Ingeniería de Caminos y MinasUniversidad Politécnica de Cartagen

Propuesta de plan de acción tutorial

El proyecto trata de la elaboración de un plan de actuación del departamento de orientación, concretamente de la elaboración de un plan tutorial, incardinado en la programación general anual en lo que afecta al mencionado departamento. Los bloques de contenido propuestos para la acción tutorial son: convivir, aprender, evaluar, ser persona y tomar decisiones.MurciaES

How negation is understood: Evidence from the visual world paradigm

a b s t r a c t This paper explores how negation (e.g., the figure is not red) is understood using the visual world paradigm. Our hypothesis is that people will switch to the alternative affirmative (e.g., a green figure) whenever possible, but will be able to maintain the negated argument (e.g., a non-red figure) when needed. To test this, we presented either a specific verbal context (binary: the figure could be red or green) or an unspecified verbal context (multary: the figure could be red or green or yellow or blue). Then, affirmative and negative sentences (e.g., the figure is (not) red) were heard while four figures were shown on the screen and eye movements were monitored. We found that people shifted their visual attention toward the alternative in the binary context, but focused on the negated argument in the multary context. Our findings corroborated our hypothesis and shed light on two issues that are currently under debate about how negation is represented and processed. Regarding representation, our results support the ideas that (1) the negative operator plays a role in the mental representation, and consequently a symbolic representation of negation is possible, and (2) it is not necessary to use a two-step process to represent and understand negation

Conditionals conflict with their denials

What does it mean to deny the conditional statement, "if you steal an apple, you go to jail"? One theory argues that, because conditionals are probabilistic, their denials are too. And so the conditional probability, P(not-jail | steal-apple), best describes a conditional denial. Another theory argues that conditional denials concern possibilities, i.e., they activate imagined situations in which you cheat on your taxes but don’t go to jail. The two accounts make diverging predictions: only the latter predicts that people should assess conditionals and their denials as mutually inconsistent. Two experiments corroborate the possibility-based account: the studies show that both in implicit and explicit evaluations of consistency, conditional denials conflict with the conditionals they deny