Development of intuitive rules: Evaluating the application of the dual-system framework to understanding children's intuitive reasoning

This is an author-created version of this article. The original source of publication is Psychon Bull Rev. 2006 Dec;13(6):935-53 The final publication is available at www.springerlink.com Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF0321390

Prediction of Susceptibility to First-Line Tuberculosis Drugs by DNA Sequencing

Background: The World Health Organization recommends drug-susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex for all patients with tuberculosis to guide treatment decisions and improve outcomes. Whether DNA sequencing can be used to accurately predict profiles of susceptibility to first-line antituberculosis drugs has not been clear. Methods: We obtained whole-genome sequences and associated phenotypes of resistance or susceptibility to the first-line antituberculosis drugs isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide for isolates from 16 countries across six continents. For each isolate, mutations associated with drug resistance and drug susceptibility were identified across nine genes, and individual phenotypes were predicted unless mutations of unknown association were also present. To identify how whole-genome sequencing might direct first-line drug therapy, complete susceptibility profiles were predicted. These profiles were predicted to be susceptible to all four drugs (i.e., pansusceptible) if they were predicted to be susceptible to isoniazid and to the other drugs or if they contained mutations of unknown association in genes that affect susceptibility to the other drugs. We simulated the way in which the negative predictive value changed with the prevalence of drug resistance. Results: A total of 10,209 isolates were analyzed. The largest proportion of phenotypes was predicted for rifampin (9660 [95.4%] of 10,130) and the smallest was predicted for ethambutol (8794 [89.8%] of 9794). Resistance to isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide was correctly predicted with 97.1%, 97.5%, 94.6%, and 91.3% sensitivity, respectively, and susceptibility to these drugs was correctly predicted with 99.0%, 98.8%, 93.6%, and 96.8% specificity. Of the 7516 isolates with complete phenotypic drug-susceptibility profiles, 5865 (78.0%) had complete genotypic predictions, among which 5250 profiles (89.5%) were correctly predicted. Among the 4037 phenotypic profiles that were predicted to be pansusceptible, 3952 (97.9%) were correctly predicted. Conclusions: Genotypic predictions of the susceptibility of M. tuberculosis to first-line drugs were found to be correlated with phenotypic susceptibility to these drugs. (Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others.

FMRI evidence for a three-stage model of deductive reasoning

Deductive reasoning is fundamental to science, human culture, and the solution of problems in daily life. It starts with premises and yields a logically necessary conclusion that is not explicit in the premises. Here we investigated the neurocognitive processes underlying logical thinking with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. We specifically focused on three temporally separable phases: (1) the premise processing phase, (2) the premise integration phase, and (3) the validation phase in which reasoners decide whether a conclusion logically follows from the premises. We found distinct patterns of cortical activity during these phases, with initial temporo-occipital activation shifting to the prefrontal cortex and then to the parietal cortex during the reasoning process. Activity in these latter regions was specific to reasoning, as it was significantly decreased during matched working memory problems with identical premises and equal working memory load

When Mats Meow: Phonological Similarity of Labels and Induction in Young Children

The ability to make inductive inferences is crucial for humans, and it has long been demonstrated that labels play an important role in induction. However, the mechanism by which labels contribute to induction remained unclear. According to one theoretical position, often referred to as the naïve theory, even for young children labels presented as count nouns are special properties: even young children understand that count nouns denote categories, communicating what the things are (Keil, et al, 1998; Gelman & Coley, 1991). According to a recently proposed alternative model SINC (Similarity, Induction and Categorization in Children), children perform induction on the basis of the overall similarity among compared entities, and labels are features contributing to the overall similarit

Categorization and memory: Representation of category information increases memory intrusions

False recognition of verbal information has long been established with word lists. Current research examines the phenomenon of false recognition with pictorial stimuli. Experiment 1 demonstrated that similar to word-lists, pictorially presented information elicits memory intrusions, and that rates of intrusions differ across stimuli sets. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of focusing on category-level versus item-specific information on the rates of false recognition. Results of Experiment 2 suggest that memory accuracy decreases dramatically when participants perform category-based processing compared to item-based processing. Experiment 3 confirmed that processing manipulations rather than other extraneous factors influence levels of false recognition in Experiment 2

Flexible Attention to Labels and Appearances in Early Induction

Young children have been demonstrated to rely on both labeling and appearance information when performing induction. According to some accounts, labels are more conceptually important than appearances. According to others, reliance on labels and appearances stems from a low-level attentional mechanism. The latter, but not the former, predicts flexible attentional shifts in reliance on labels or appearances. Results of the two reported experiments indicate that attention to labels and appearances can be flexibly modified through associative training, thus supporting the latter, but not the former account