PSYCHOHISTORY OF THE 2012 QUÉBEC STUDENT REVOLT

This paper examines the psychohistory and consequences of the massive student demonstrations, often featuring mass erotic displays, which erupted in Montréal, Québec, in 2012. These marches, to protest an increase in university fees proposed by the education ministry as an austerity measure, provoked a political crisis that brought down the democratically-elected government of the province. The crisis reflected the historical isolation of Québec, the socioeconomic structure which has emerged there as a substitute for organized religion, and the psychological dependency fostered by a utopian political system, which have all fed a strong sense of entitlement in many citizens, enabled by a benevolent mother-state. This cultural pattern encouraged students to make 'impossible' financial demands, while resenting the state as an insufficiently-indulgent parent who was hindering their wishfulfillment fantasies. These unprecedented events, which carry serious implications for the future of welfare-state liberal democracy, can best be understood by examining the history, culture, and family dynamics of the distinctive society of Québec

PSYCHOHISTORY OF THE 2012 QUÉBEC STUDENT REVOLT

This paper examines the psychohistory and consequences of the massive student demonstrations, often featuring mass erotic displays, which erupted in Montréal, Québec, in 2012. These marches, to protest an increase in university fees proposed by the education ministry as an austerity measure, provoked a political crisis that brought down the democratically-elected government of the province. The crisis reflected the historical isolation of Québec, the socioeconomic structure which has emerged there as a substitute for organized religion, and the psychological dependency fostered by a utopian political system, which have all fed a strong sense of entitlement in many citizens, enabled by a benevolent mother-state. This cultural pattern encouraged students to make 'impossible' financial demands, while resenting the state as an insufficiently-indulgent parent who was hindering their wishfulfillment fantasies. These unprecedented events, which carry serious implications for the future of welfare-state liberal democracy, can best be understood by examining the history, culture, and family dynamics of the distinctive society of Québec

Does environmental enrichment while studying improve recall?

Previous research suggests that studying audio and visual stimuli in two different rooms increases verbal recall, as compared to studying twice in only one room (Smith, Glenberg, & Bjork, 1978). The present study utilized this paradigm, and also separated the room and modality factors as sources of environmental enrichment. In Experiment 1, subjects learned a list of 40 common English words twice, in either one or two different rooms, and were tested in a third room (N = 60). In Experiment 2, subjects learned the same word lists, using either one or two modalities (audition and vision), and again were tested in a third environment (N = 59). As predicted from the theory of Smith and Vela (2001), the usual improvement in memory from either room or modality enrichment did not occur when short time intervals were used between learning and recall, and the mean recall scores were essentially identical. The enrichment effect is interpreted as involving the development of categorized memory information over time, thus enabling retrieval strategies to operate, rather than an increase in the strength of initial learning

¿Que permite el autocontrol? Un test de glucosa, fructosa y activación del nervio vago como posibles factores

This study replicated the study by Miller, Bourrasseau, and Blampain (2013) on the effects of fructose and glucose on self-control. It also investigated these authors' suggestion that self-control may be under the influence of the vagus nerve, which can be activated by forceful exhalation in the Valsalva manoeuvre. The participants (N = 101) were assigned to one of five conditions: three groups that received a solution of either glucose, fructose, or a placebo sweetener (solution condition); and two groups that underwent the Valsalva manoeuvre (VM and VM-control). Participants in the solution condition groups ingested one of the three sweeteners, whereas those in the VM and VM-control conditions were required to blow or not blow into a manometer for 15 seconds, respectively. The number of anagrams that participants subsequently completed was used to assess their level of self-control. In contrast to the results obtained by Miller et al. (2013), it was found that fructose, glucose, and VM did not increase the participants' levels of self-control compared to control subjects. These negative results concur with several recent studies which document the difficulty of replicating published findings in psychology.Este estudio es una réplica del estudio realizado por Miller, Bourrasseau y Blampain (2013) sobre los efectos de la fructosa y la glucosa en el autocontrol. También se contrastó la sugerencia de estos autores de que el autocontrol puede estar bajo la influencia del nervio vago, que puede ser activado mediante una exhalación enérgica mediante la manio-bra de Valsalva. Los participantes (N=101) fueron asignados a una de las cinco condiciones: tres grupos que recibieron una solución (glucosa, fructosa o un edulcorante placebo) y dos condiciones que ejecutaban la maniobra de Valsalva (MV, y MV-control). Los participantes de la condición de “solución” ingirieron uno de los tres edulcorantes, mientras que los participantes de la condición MV y MV-control, se les pidió que soplasen/no soplasen dentro de un manómetro durante 15 segundos, respectivamente. El número de anagramas que los participantes completaron posteriormente se utilizó para evaluar su nivel de autocontrol. Contrariamente a los resultados de Miller et al. (2013), ni la fructosa ni la glucosa aumentaron los niveles de autocontrol de los participantes en comparación con los sujetos control, ni MV afectó al autocontrol. Estos resultados negativos coinciden con varios estudios recientes que documentan la dificultad de replicar los hallazgos publicados en la psicología

ScreenTrack: Using a Visual History of a Computer Screen to Retrieve Documents and Web Pages

Computers are used for various purposes, so frequent context switching is inevitable. In this setting, retrieving the documents, files, and web pages that have been used for a task can be a challenge. While modern applications provide a history of recent documents for users to resume work, this is not sufficient to retrieve all the digital resources relevant to a given primary document. The histories currently available do not take into account the complex dependencies among resources across applications. To address this problem, we tested the idea of using a visual history of a computer screen to retrieve digital resources within a few days of their use through the development of ScreenTrack. ScreenTrack is software that captures screenshots of a computer at regular intervals. It then generates a time-lapse video from the captured screenshots and lets users retrieve a recently opened document or web page from a screenshot after recognizing the resource by its appearance. A controlled user study found that participants were able to retrieve requested information more quickly with ScreenTrack than under the baseline condition with existing tools. A follow-up study showed that the participants used ScreenTrack to retrieve previously used resources and to recover the context for task resumption.Comment: CHI 2020, 10 pages, 7 figure

Two temperate super-Earths transiting a nearby late-type M dwarf

peer reviewedIn the age of JWST, temperate terrestrial exoplanets transiting nearby late-type M dwarfs provide unique opportunities for characterising their atmospheres, as well as searching for biosignature gases. We report here the discovery and validation of two temperate super-Earths transiting LP 890-9 (TOI-4306, SPECULOOS-2), a relatively low-activity nearby (32 pc) M6V star. The inner planet, LP 890-9b, was first detected by TESS (and identified as TOI-4306.01) based on four sectors of data. Intensive photometric monitoring of the system with the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory then led to the discovery of a second outer transiting planet, LP 890-9c (also identified as SPECULOOS-2c), previously undetected by TESS. The orbital period of this second planet was later confirmed by MuSCAT3 follow-up observations. With a mass of 0.118±0.002 M⊙, a radius of 0.1556±0.0086 R⊙, and an effective temperature of 2850±75 K, LP 890-9 is the second-coolest star found to host planets, after TRAPPIST-1. The inner planet has an orbital period of 2.73 d, a radius of 1.320+0.053−0.027 R⊕, and receives an incident stellar flux of 4.09±0.12 S⊕. The outer planet has a similar size of 1.367+0.055−0.039 R⊕ and an orbital period of 8.46 d. With an incident stellar flux of 0.906 ± 0.026 S⊕, it is located within the conservative habitable zone, very close to its inner limit. Although the masses of the two planets remain to be measured, we estimated their potential for atmospheric characterisation via transmission spectroscopy using a mass-radius relationship and found that, after the TRAPPIST-1 planets, LP 890-9c is the second-most favourable habitable-zone terrestrial planet known so far. The discovery of this remarkable system offers another rare opportunity to study temperate terrestrial planets around our smallest and coolest neighbours

What enables self-control? a test of glucose, fructose, and vagus nerve activation as possible factors

This study replicated the study by Miller, Bourrasseau, and Blampain (2013) on the effects of fructose and glucose on self-control. It also investigated these authors' suggestion that self-control may be under the influence of the vagus nerve, which can be activated by forceful exhalation in the Valsalva manoeuvre. The participants (N = 101) were assigned to one of five conditions: three groups that received a solution of either glucose, fructose, or a placebo sweetener (solution condition); and two groups that underwent the Valsalva manoeuvre (VM and VM-control). Participants in the solution condition groups ingested one of the three sweeteners, whereas those in the VM and VM-control conditions were required to blow or not blow into a manometer for 15 seconds, respectively. The number of anagrams that participants subsequently completed was used to assess their level of self-control. In contrast to the results obtained by Miller et al. (2013), it was found that fructose, glucose, and VM did not increase the participants' levels of self-control compared to control subjects. These negative results concur with several recent studies which document the difficulty of replicating published findings in psychology.Este estudio es una réplica del estudio realizado por Miller, Bourrasseau y Blampain (2013) sobre los efectos de la fructosa y la glucosa en el autocontrol. También se contrastó la sugerencia de estos autores de que el autocontrol puede estar bajo la influencia del nervio vago, que puede ser activado mediante una exhalación enérgica mediante la maniobra de Valsalva. Los participantes (N=101) fueron asignados a una de las cinco condiciones: tres grupos que recibieron una solución (glucosa, fructosa o un edulcorante placebo) y dos condiciones que ejecutaban la maniobra de Valsalva (MV, y MV-control). Los participantes de la condición de “solución” ingirieron uno de los tres edulcorantes, mientras que los participantes de la condición MV y MV-control, se les pidió que soplasen/no soplasen dentro de un manómetro durante 15 segundos, respectivamente. El número de anagramas que los participantes completaron posteriormente se utilizó para evaluar su nivel de autocontrol. Contrariamente a los resultados de Miller et al. (2013), ni la fructosa ni la glucosa aumentaron los niveles de autocontrol de los participantes en comparación con los sujetos control, ni MV afectó al autocontrol. Estos resultados negativos coinciden con varios estudios recientes que documentan la dificultad de replicar los hallazgos publicados en la psicología

What Enables Self-Control? A Test of Glucose, Fructose, and Vagus Nerve Activation as Possible Factors

This study replicated the study by Key words: Fructose; Glucose; Self-control; Vagus Nerve. Este estudio es una réplica del estudio realizado por Miller, Bourrasseau y Blampain (2013) sobre los efectos de la fructosa y la glucosa en el autocontrol. También se contrastó la sugerencia de estos autores de que el autocontrol puede estar bajo la influencia del nervio vago, que puede ser activado mediante una exhalación enérgica mediante la maniobra de Valsalva. Los participantes (N=101) fueron asignados a una de las cinco condiciones: tres grupos que recibieron una solución (glucosa, fructosa o un edulcorante placebo) y dos condiciones que ejecutaban la maniobra de Valsalva (MV, y MV-control). Los participantes de la condición de "solución" ingirieron uno de los tres edulcorantes, mientras que los participantes de la condición MV y MV-control, se les pidió que soplasen/no soplasen dentro de un manómetro durante 15 segundos, respectivamente. El número de anagramas que los participantes completaron posteriormente se utilizó para evaluar su nivel de autocontrol. Contrariamente a los resultados de Miller et al. (2013), ni la fructosa ni la glucosa aumentaron los niveles de autocontrol de los participantes en comparación con los sujetos control, ni MV afectó al autocontrol. Estos resultados negativos coinciden con varios estudios recientes que documentan la dificultad de replicar los hallazgos publicados en la psicología