Verbal vs. visual coding in modified mental imagery map exploration task

We modified classical mental exploration task introducing verbal modality. Consequently, we could test robust effects from lexical processing in an attempt to understand whether the underlying mental representation is strictly propositional. In our three experiments, in addition to map modality (visual or verbal), lexical frequency, concreteness and visual frequency were also varied. The symbolic distance effect was replicated, regardless of map modality. Exploration of distances was regularly faster on pictorial maps. Effects of lexical frequency and concreteness were not significant for verbal maps. However, when visual frequency was introduced on pictorial maps both type of frequencies generated measurable effects. Our findings directly contradict the assumptions of propositional theories (1) subjects were faster in the visual modality, which would be difficult to explain if the perceptual code had to be transformed into propositional, (2) word frequency and concreteness did not contribute as would be expected if propositional code were a default

Effects of proficiency and age of language acquisition on working memory performance in bilinguals

This study examined language proficiency and age of language acquisition influences on working memory performance in bilinguals. Bilingual subjects were administered reading span task in parallel versions for their first and second language. In Experiment 1, language proficiency effect was tested by examination of low and highly proficient second language speakers. In Experiment 2, age of language acquisition was examined by comparing the performance of proficient second language speakers who acquired second language either early or later in their lives. Both proficiency and age of language acquisition were found to affect bilingual working memory performance, and the proficiency effect was observed even at very high levels of language competence. The results support the notion of working memory as a domain that is influenced both by a general pool of resources and certain domain specific factors

Shadows Affect Eye Movements in Visual Judgment Tasks

Research has suggested that observers, when looking at scenes with multiple illumination levels, tend to avoid shadowed regions in the images. This result was obtained in experiments using psychophysics and when using eyetracking methodology. However, in such demonstrations participants were asked to estimate color properties. In the present study, we introduced cognitive tasks applied to images partially covered with a shadow. Participants, while looking at the photographed faces, judged age, beauty and profession of the depicted people. The eye movement measures (first fixation location, number of fixations, and dwell time) showed that even under such high-level cognitive tasks, the visual system has a preference for non-shadow regions

Disaster preparedness and cultural factors : a comparative study in Romania and Malta

The research reported in this paper was carried out as part of the CARISMAND project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (2014–20), Grant Agreement Number 653748.This exploratory study investigates the relationships between the disaster preparedness of citizens and cultural factors in Romania and Malta. With regard to methodology, quantitative and qualitative data were collected during two Citizen Summits, which consisted of a real-time survey and focus group discussions. The results point to two specific cultural factors that may bridge this ‘gap’ and be operationalised to enhance people's readiness for a disaster event. In Malta, the findings reveal how community cohesion is altered from a personal to a cultural value, which has the potential to encourage the transformation of preparedness intentions into actual preparedness behaviour. In Romania, meanwhile, the findings highlight the ambivalent aspects of trusting behaviour as a cultural norm on the one hand, and distrust in authorities based on experience and unmet expectations on the other hand. Social media use may reduce this tension between trust and distrust, and thus foster successful disaster risk-related communication.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Do individual differences in face recognition ability moderate the other ethnicity effect?

Individuals are better at recognizing faces from their own ethnic group compared with other ethnicity faces—the other-ethnicity effect (OEE). This finding is said to reflect differences in experience and familiarity to faces from other ethnicities relative to faces corresponding with the viewers' ethnicity. However, own-ethnicity face recognition performance ranges considerably within a population, from very poor to extremely good. In addition, within-population recognition performance on other-ethnicity faces can also vary considerably with some individuals being classed as “other ethnicity face blind” (Wan et al., 2017). Despite evidence for considerable variation in performance within population for faces of both types, it is currently unclear whether the magnitude of the OEE changes as a function of this variability. By recruiting large-scale multinational samples, we investigated the size of the OEE across the full range of own and other ethnicity face performance while considering measures of social contact. We find that the magnitude of the OEE is remarkably consistent across all levels of within-population own- and other-ethnicity face recognition ability, and this pattern was unaffected by social contact measures. These findings suggest that the OEE is a persistent feature of face recognition performance, with consequences for models built around very poor, and very good face recognizers

Environmental influence of chemical contaminants on farm animals and rodents (review research)

The presence of chemical environmental pollutants (heavy metals) and their influence on health status of farm animals has been study in long period. We monitored the influence of chemical pollutants on rodents leaving on farms. Heavy metals has special danger for leaving systems, which react with organic molecules to change their structures and function. Heavy metals enter the body through respiratory system, digestive system and skin. The results of our many years of research indicate that there is danger of contamination of animal feed with heavy metals and their position in their body of animals, as well as a negative effect on the reproductive capacity of domestic animals. Heavy metal toxicity general leads to the formation of free radicals, inhibiting the activity of antioxidant defense enzymes as well as glutathione oxidation and the formation malonyl dialdehyde (MDA) as a marker of oxidative stress. Their toxicity stems from the tendency to form covalent bonds with sulfhydryl groups of biomacromolecules or displace certain cofactors, there by inhibiting the activity of certain enzymes. Our recommendation for industrial type farms is to reduce the risk of heavy metals. To introduce multilevel monitoring of the quality of raw materials and final products, as well as to apply adequate protectors against the toxic effect of these agents

Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity

Many of us "see red," "feel blue," or "turn green with envy." Are such color-emotion associations fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural creations learned through our languages and traditions? To answer these questions, we tested emotional associations of colors in 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts with 12 color terms. Pattern-similarity analyses revealed universal color-emotion associations (average similarity coefficientr= .88). However, local differences were also apparent. A machine-learning algorithm revealed that nation predicted color-emotion associations above and beyond those observed universally. Similarity was greater when nations were linguistically or geographically close. This study highlights robust universal color-emotion associations, further modulated by linguistic and geographic factors. These results pose further theoretical and empirical questions about the affective properties of color and may inform practice in applied domains, such as well-being and design.Peer reviewe