Meaning of Missing Values in Eyewitness Recall and Accident Records

Background: Eyewitness recalls and accident records frequently do not mention the conditions and behaviors of interest to researchers and lead to missing values and to uncertainty about the prevalence of these conditions and behaviors surrounding accidents. Missing values may occur because eyewitnesses report the presence but not the absence of obvious clues/accident features. We examined this possibility. Methodology/Principal Findings: Participants watched car accident videos and were asked to recall as much information as they could remember about each accident. The results showed that eyewitnesses were far more likely to report the presence of present obvious clues than the absence of absent obvious clues even though they were aware of their absence. Conclusions: One of the principal mechanisms causing missing values may be eyewitnesses ’ tendency to not report the absence of obvious features. We discuss the implications of our findings for both retrospective and prospective analyses of accident records, and illustrate the consequences of adopting inappropriate assumptions about the meaning of missing values using the Avaluator Avalanche Accident Prevention Card

Self-Reported Frequency, Content, and Functions of Inner Speech

AbstractThis study obtained information about the frequency, content, and functions of inner speech by asking 380 participants what they typically say to themselves using an open-format thought-listing procedure. Participants mostly reported talking to themselves about themselves—i.e., evaluating the self, emotions, physical appearance, and relationships. Self-reported inner speech was also about individuals close to the self (family, friends, and intimate partner) and one's immediate physical environment. Participants listed inner speech about school, work, sports, and leisure activities. The inner speech functions of self-regulation and mnemonic aid were often mentioned. This represents the first study to explicitly examine self-reported inner speech frequency, content, and functions in adult participants

The effect of selected cannabinoids on quantitative EEG, behaviour, and their therapeutic potential

Kanabinoidy a zejména CBD jsou dnes velmi diskutované téma s obrovským přesahem do mediálního prostoru. Jejich schopnost interagovat nejen kanabinoidními receptory, ale i dalšími drahami v výrazným "hypem", vede k testování kanabinoidů ve velmi širokém spektru indikací i přes nepříliš silnou evidenci účinků v klinické praxi. Dnes máme již více než 150 izolovaných kanabinoidů, ale výzkum je zaměřen pouze na několik hlavních kanabinoidů jako jsou například THC, CBD, kanabigerol, kanabichromen, hexahydrokanabinol. My jsme pro náš výzkum zvolili dva nejznámější kanabinoidy THC a CBD a naší klíčovou otázkou bylo, jako roli mají tyto kanabinoidy nejen samostatně, ale také jak spolu interagují při společném podání, jak ovlivňují chování a jak společně interagují závislosti na způsobu podání. Toto jsme souhrnně provedli v potkaních experimentech. Částečně překvapivě, jsme nepozorovali typickou kanabinoidní tetrádu (sníženou citlivost na bolestivé podněty, hypotermii, katalepsii a celkové snížení motorické aktivity) po podání THC, a proto jsme si položili otázku, co se stane, pokud místo THC použijeme potentnější a selektivnější syntetické kanabinoidy JWH 210. Dále v průběhu řešení disertační práce došlo k registraci CBD (Epidolex) pro léčbu epilepsie, konkrétně syndromu Dravetové a Lennox_Gaustova syndromu, a my...Cannabinoids and especially CBD are these days a highly discussed topic with a huge overlap in the media space. Their ability to interact not only with cannabinoid receptors, but also with other pathways, in combination with a huge "hype", leads, despite the not very strong evidence of their effects in clinical practice, to the testing of cannabinoids in a broad spectrum of indications. Nowadays, we have more than 150 isolated cannabinoids, but the research is focused only on the main cannabinoids like for example THC, CBD, cannabigerol, cannabichromen or hexahydrocannabinol. For our research, we have chosen the two most well- known cannabinoids THC and CBD, and our key question was not only what is the role of these cannabinoids individually, but, also, how do they interact when administered together, how do they influence behaviour and how do they interact in dependence on the method of administration. All these questions were addressed within our rat experiments. Somewhat surprisingly, we did not observe the typical cannabinoid tetrad (decreased sensitivity to painful stimuli, hypothermia, catalepsy, and overall decrease in motor activity) after the THC administration, so we wondered what would happen if we used more potent and selective synthetic cannabinoids JWH- 073, JWH-210, instead of THC....Katedra fyziologieDepartment of PhysiologyPřírodovědecká fakultaFaculty of Scienc

The effect of selected cannabinoids on quantitative EEG, behaviour, and their therapeutic potential

Cannabinoids and especially CBD are these days a highly discussed topic with a huge overlap in the media space. Their ability to interact not only with cannabinoid receptors, but also with other pathways, in combination with a huge "hype", leads, despite the not very strong evidence of their effects in clinical practice, to the testing of cannabinoids in a broad spectrum of indications. Nowadays, we have more than 150 isolated cannabinoids, but the research is focused only on the main cannabinoids like for example THC, CBD, cannabigerol, cannabichromen or hexahydrocannabinol. For our research, we have chosen the two most well- known cannabinoids THC and CBD, and our key question was not only what is the role of these cannabinoids individually, but, also, how do they interact when administered together, how do they influence behaviour and how do they interact in dependence on the method of administration. All these questions were addressed within our rat experiments. Somewhat surprisingly, we did not observe the typical cannabinoid tetrad (decreased sensitivity to painful stimuli, hypothermia, catalepsy, and overall decrease in motor activity) after the THC administration, so we wondered what would happen if we used more potent and selective synthetic cannabinoids JWH- 073, JWH-210, instead of THC....Kanabinoidy a zejména CBD jsou dnes velmi diskutované téma s obrovským přesahem do mediálního prostoru. Jejich schopnost interagovat nejen kanabinoidními receptory, ale i dalšími drahami v výrazným "hypem", vede k testování kanabinoidů ve velmi širokém spektru indikací i přes nepříliš silnou evidenci účinků v klinické praxi. Dnes máme již více než 150 izolovaných kanabinoidů, ale výzkum je zaměřen pouze na několik hlavních kanabinoidů jako jsou například THC, CBD, kanabigerol, kanabichromen, hexahydrokanabinol. My jsme pro náš výzkum zvolili dva nejznámější kanabinoidy THC a CBD a naší klíčovou otázkou bylo, jako roli mají tyto kanabinoidy nejen samostatně, ale také jak spolu interagují při společném podání, jak ovlivňují chování a jak společně interagují závislosti na způsobu podání. Toto jsme souhrnně provedli v potkaních experimentech. Částečně překvapivě, jsme nepozorovali typickou kanabinoidní tetrádu (sníženou citlivost na bolestivé podněty, hypotermii, katalepsii a celkové snížení motorické aktivity) po podání THC, a proto jsme si položili otázku, co se stane, pokud místo THC použijeme potentnější a selektivnější syntetické kanabinoidy JWH 210. Dále v průběhu řešení disertační práce došlo k registraci CBD (Epidolex) pro léčbu epilepsie, konkrétně syndromu Dravetové a Lennox_Gaustova syndromu, a my...Katedra fyziologieDepartment of PhysiologyFaculty of SciencePřírodovědecká fakult

The role of nitric oxide in CNS pathologies

Oxid dusnatý (NO) je významný mezibuněčný posel, široce využívaný v nervové soustavě. Moduluje velké množství fyziologických funkcí, účastní se imunitních odpovědí, ale zároveň při patologickém stavu může být odpovědný za široké množství škodlivých účinků. Cílem této práce je přiblížit formou literární rešerše široké téma oxidu dusnatého při patologii CNS. První část této práce přibližuje tvorbu NO, fyziologické funkce modulované NO, popisuje významnou signalizační dráhu NO-cGMP a zabývá se osudem produkovaného NO. Druhá část této práce je stručně zaměřena na metody výzkumu: použití a rozdělení inhibitorů NOS, geneticky modifikované myši, detekce NO a jeho produktů. Poslední část je věnována vybraným konkrétním patologickým stavům v CNS.Nitric oxide (NO) is significant intercellular messenger, widely used in nervous system. It is used to modulate large number of physiological functions and participates in immunity responses; however in pathological state it can be responsible for wide variety of harmful effects. The goal of my bachelor thesis is to illustrate the topic of nitric oxide in CNS pathology in the form of literature research. First part of this thesis shows the formation of NO, physiological functions influenced by NO, describes the main signaling pathway NO-cGMP and deals with the use of produced NO. Second part of this thesis briefly shows the research methods: the use and distribution of NOS inhibitors, genetically modified mice and detection of NO and its products. The last part is dedicated to selected pathological states in CNS.Katedra fyziologieDepartment of PhysiologyPřírodovědecká fakultaFaculty of Scienc

Student evaluations of teaching: teaching quantitative courses can be hazardous to one's career

Published VersionAnonymous student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are used by colleges and universities to measure teaching effectiveness and to make decisions about faculty hiring, firing, re-appointment, promotion, tenure, and merit pay. Although numerous studies have found that SETs correlate with various teaching effectiveness irrelevant factors (TEIFs) such as subject, class size, and grading standards, it has been argued that such correlations are small and do not undermine the validity of SETs as measures of professors’ teaching effectiveness. However, previous research has generally used inappropriate parametric statistics and effect sizes to examine and to evaluate the significance of TEIFs on personnel decisions. Accordingly, we examined the influence of quantitative vs. non-quantitative courses on SET ratings and SET based personnel decisions using 14,872 publicly posted class evaluations where each evaluation represents a summary of SET ratings provided by individual students responding in each class. In total, 325,538 individual student evaluations from a US mid-size university contributed to theses class evaluations. The results demonstrate that class subject (math vs. English) is strongly associated with SET ratings, has a substantial impact on professors being labeled satisfactory vs. unsatisfactory and excellent vs. non-excellent, and the impact varies substantially depending on the criteria used to classify professors as satisfactory vs. unsatisfactory. Professors teaching quantitative courses are far more likely not to receive tenure, promotion, and/or merit pay when their performance is evaluated against common standards

Student evaluations of teaching: teaching quantitative courses can be hazardous to one's career

Published VersionAnonymous student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are used by colleges and universities to measure teaching effectiveness and to make decisions about faculty hiring, firing, re-appointment, promotion, tenure, and merit pay. Although numerous studies have found that SETs correlate with various teaching effectiveness irrelevant factors (TEIFs) such as subject, class size, and grading standards, it has been argued that such correlations are small and do not undermine the validity of SETs as measures of professors’ teaching effectiveness. However, previous research has generally used inappropriate parametric statistics and effect sizes to examine and to evaluate the significance of TEIFs on personnel decisions. Accordingly, we examined the influence of quantitative vs. non-quantitative courses on SET ratings and SET based personnel decisions using 14,872 publicly posted class evaluations where each evaluation represents a summary of SET ratings provided by individual students responding in each class. In total, 325,538 individual student evaluations from a US mid-size university contributed to theses class evaluations. The results demonstrate that class subject (math vs. English) is strongly associated with SET ratings, has a substantial impact on professors being labeled satisfactory vs. unsatisfactory and excellent vs. non-excellent, and the impact varies substantially depending on the criteria used to classify professors as satisfactory vs. unsatisfactory. Professors teaching quantitative courses are far more likely not to receive tenure, promotion, and/or merit pay when their performance is evaluated against common standards

Meta-analysis: on average, undergraduate students’ intelligence is merely average

According to a widespread belief, the average IQ of university students is 115 to 130 IQ points, that is, substantially higher than the average IQ of the general population ( M = 100, SD = 15). We traced the origin of this belief to obsolete intelligence data collected in 1940s and 1950s when university education was the privilege of a few. Examination of more recent IQ data indicate that IQ of university students and university graduates dropped to the average of the general population. The decline in students’ IQ is a necessary consequence of increasing educational attainment over the last 80 years. Today, graduating from university is more common than completing high school in the 1940s. We conducted a meta-analysis of the mean IQ scores of college and university students samples tested with Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale between 1939 and 2022. The results show that the average IQ of undergraduate students today is a mere 102 IQ points and declined by approximately 0.2 IQ points per year. The students’ IQ also varies substantially across universities and is correlated with the selectivity of universities (measured by average SAT scores of admitted students). These findings have wide-ranging implications. First, universities and professors need to realize that students are no longer extraordinary but merely average, and have to adjust curricula and academic standards. Second, employers can no longer rely on applicants with university degrees to be more capable or smarter than those without degrees. Third, students need to realize that acceptance into university is no longer an invitation to join an elite group. Fourth, the myth of brilliant undergraduate students in scientific and popular literature needs to be dispelled. Fifth, estimating premorbid IQ based on educational attainment is vastly inaccurate, obsolete, not evidence based, and mere wishful thinking. Sixth, obsolete IQ data or tests ought not to be used to make high-stakes decisions about individuals, for example, by clinical psychologists to opine about the intelligence and cognitive abilities of their clients

Rising verbal intelligence scores: Implications for research and clinical practice.

Evidence suggests that scores on various intelligence tests have been rising at a fast rate. To find out whether performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Vocabulary subtest has also been rising, the authors searched major psychology journals for investigations involving healthy younger and older adult participants and collected the reported WAIS Vocabulary scores. The meta-analysis shows that WAIS Vocabulary scores have been rising at the rate of 0.117/year (corresponding to 1.52 IQ points/decade) for younger adults and 0.367/year (corresponding to 4.79 IQ points/decade) for older adults. Mounting evidence suggests that raw scores on various intelli-gence tests have been rising at a fast rate over the last 7 decade

The Influence of Object Relative Size on Priming and Explicit Memory

We investigated the effects of object relative size on priming and explicit memory for color photos of common objects. Participants were presented with color photos of pairs of objects displayed in either appropriate or inappropriate relative sizes. Implicit memory was assessed by speed of object size ratings whereas explicit memory was assessed by an old/new recognition test. Study-to-test changes in relative size reduced both priming and explicit memory and had large effects for objects displayed in large vs. small size at test. Our findings of substantial size-specific influences on priming with common objects under some but not other conditions are consistent with instance views of object perception and priming but inconsistent with structural description views