The bitter truth about sugar and willpower

Dual-process theories of higher order cognition (DPTs) have been enjoying much success, particularly since Kahneman’s 2002 Nobel prize address and recent book Thinking, Fast and Slow (2009). Historically, DPTs have attempted to provide a conceptual framework that helps classify and predict differences in patterns of behavior found under some circumstances and not others in a host of reasoning, judgment, and decision-making tasks. As evidence has changed and techniques for examining behavior have moved on, so too have DPTs. Killing two birds with one stone, Evans and Stanovich (2013, this issue) respond to five main criticisms of DPTs. Along with addressing each criticism in turn, they set out to clarify the essential defining characteristics that distinguish one form of higher order cognition from the other. The aim of this commentary is to consider the defining characteristics of Type 1 and Type 2 processing that have been proposed and to suggest that the evidence can be taken to support quantitative differences rather than qualitatively distinct processes

Analytical microprobes: getting more out of less

The arsenal of techniques capable of getting chemical information from reduced spatial domains has been a constant in the analytical instrumentation. Such evolution has run in parallel with the extraordinary advances in the field of microscopy that have produced a deep impact in our vision of the world and the relationship between functionality and molecular structure. It was obvious since our access to the microscopic world that even the most homogeneous structures where far from being considered as such when the zoom was on. Microbeam analysts are challenged daily by the sophisticated problems which arise with our high-tech world, and the shocking voracity of bioanalysis for any tool capable of a better understanding of our living systems. Since the early days of modern spectrochemical analysis where the capabilities of arc/spark to perform chemical analysis localized over an area of several square millimeters, a long journey has been run. One of the main advances has been the happy marriage of such techniques with mass spectrometry to get the best of both worlds. Nowadays, lasers, electron guns, ion guns, discharge lamps, electrospray jets, metal capillaries and many other approaches are used to create ions from reduced sample areas that are further sorted and detected in a mass spectrometer. The applications are still growing and it is still difficult to see if there is a limit. The talk will provide an overview of analytical microprobes focusing in those involving lasers and gas guns. Thus, laser-ionization mass spectrometry, secondary ion mass spectrometry or low-energy ion scattering will be commented and compared with some other. Selected applications will be shown trying to emphasize the strengths of the techniques, without forgetting the inherent weaknesses of each one.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Underpowered samples, false negatives, and unconscious learning

The scientific community has witnessed growing concern about the high rate of false positives and unreliable results within the psychological literature, but the harmful impact of false negatives has been largely ignored. False negatives are particularly concerning in research areas where demonstrating the absence of an effect is crucial, such as studies of unconscious or implicit processing. Research on implicit processes seeks evidence of above-chance performance on some implicit behavioral measure at the same time as chance-level performance (that is, a null result) on an explicit measure of awareness. A systematic review of 73 studies of contextual cuing, a popular implicit learning paradigm, involving 181 statistical analyses of awareness tests, reveals how underpowered studies can lead to failure to reject a false null hypothesis. Among the studies that reported sufficient information, the meta-analytic effect size across awareness tests was d z = 0.31 (95 % CI 0.24–0.37), showing that participants’ learning in these experiments was conscious. The unusually large number of positive results in this literature cannot be explained by selective publication. Instead, our analyses demonstrate that these tests are typically insensitive and underpowered to detect medium to small, but true, effects in awareness tests. These findings challenge a widespread and theoretically important claim about the extent of unconscious human cognition

Partial coherent states in graphene

Producción CientíficaWe employ a symmetric gauge to describe the interaction of electrons in graphene with a magnetic field which is orthogonal to the layer surface and to build the so-called partial and bidimensional coherent states for this system in the Barut-Girardello sense. We also evaluate the corresponding probability and current densities as well as the mean energy value.Junta de Castilla y León (projects VA137G18 and BU229P18)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (project MTM2014-57129-C2-1-P

A comparator-hypothesis account of biased contingency detection.

Our ability to detect statistical dependencies between different events in the environment is strongly biased by the number of coincidences between them. Even when there is no true covariation between a cue and an outcome, if the marginal probability of either of them is high, people tend to perceive some degree of statistical contingency between both events. The present paper explores the ability of the Comparator Hypothesis to explain the general pattern of results observed in this literature. Our simulations show that this model can account for the biasing effects of the marginal probabilities of cues and outcomes. Furthermore, the overall fit of the Comparator Hypothesis to a sample of experimental conditions from previous studies is comparable to that of the popular Rescorla-Wagner model. These results should encourage researchers to further explore and put to the test the predictions of the Comparator Hypothesis in the domain of biased contingency detection

A "quick look" at ultrafast ablation using fs-resolved phase-change microscopy

A pump-probe phase-change microscope with fs temporal resolution has been used to understand the transformation induced in the sample surface as a consequence of laser-matter interaction.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Guiding the Development of Efficient and Durable Electrodes for Electrochemical Energy Conversion Applications through Advanced Ion Beam Analysis

Surface-sensitive ion beam techniques, such as Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) and Low-Energy Ion Scattering (LEIS), are making significant contributions to further our understanding of the materials’ performance and the degradation processes that occur under operating conditions. In this contribution, we explore how recent instrumental developments and analytical approaches have boosted the application of these powerful techniques for the characterization of surfaces and interfaces in energy conversion and storage devices.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Characterization of Laser-Induced Plasmas Of Organic Compounds by spatially- and temporally resolved optical emission spectrometry

The large majority of laser-induced plasmas experiments are performed on metals in air at atmospheric pressure, where recombination mechanisms do not play a significant role, as the primary emission lines of interest are significantly more intense than those derived from recombination with air, particularly those yielding oxides. Due to the large number of electronic transitions commonly attainable on metals, many intense emission lines are recorded and different regions of interest useful for identification and quantification purposes may be assigned. The main difficulties in the interpretation of the molecular emission of species containing C, N, O or H relies on the questions concerning their origin: direct release from native bonds or recombination with ambient constituents. In other words: does the resultant spectrum mimic the structure of a molecule or the molecular information gets lost in the course of the secondary reactions? Considering that the spectrum observed is always a convolution of primary and secondary processes, experiments in vacuum or in controlled atmospheres may help to address such questions. The present work shows detailed experiments where spatially- and temporally-resolved optical emission spectroscopy of laser-produced plasmas on organic compounds has been performed. The experiments cover a pressure range from 1000 mbar to 10-3 mbar that allows a precise observation of the effect of the surrounding atmosphere in the formation of species by recombination.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

An attempt to correct erroneous ideas among teacher education students: The effectiveness of refutation texts

There is sound evidence about the high prevalence of misconceptions about education among pre-service teachers. This trend continues after students complete the degree in education and once they are in the exercise of their profession. In fact, several studies show that these misconceptions are widespread among in-service teachers. Erroneous ideas about education may divert material and human resources to poor grounded methods and teaching tools, compromising the quality of education. Strategies to debunk misconceptions among future teachers, who may not have a firm position about many educational issues, might contribute to reversing this trend. The main goal of the present study was to assess the efficacy of refutation texts in the correction of misconceptions among pre-service teachers. As in previous studies with in-service teachers, refutation texts were effective in reducing participants’ endorsement of misconceptions. But this effect was short-lived and did not affect participants’ intention to use educational methods that are based on the misconceptions addressed in the refutation textsMF was supported by grant AYD-000-235 from bizkaia:talent, Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, and by a postdoctoral grant from Programa Posdoctoral de Perfeccionamiento de Personal Investigador Doctor, Gobierno Vasco. MV was supported by grants PSI2017-85159-P (AEI / FEDER, UE) and 2016-T1/SOC- 1395 (Comunidad de Madrid, Programa de Atracción de Talento Investigador)

Femtosecond time-resolved phase-change microscopy and ablation threshold calculations to understand ultrafast laser ablation

El trabajo recoge experimentos realizados en una configuración sonda-prueba haciendo uso de un láser de femtosegundos, con el objetivo de comprender los fenómenos de ablación de materiales sólidos ras irradiación con láseres de pulso ultracorto.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech