A general model of fluency effects in judgment and decision making

Processing or cognitive fluency is the experienced ease of ongoing mental processes. This experience infl uences a wide range of judgments and decisions. We present a general model for these fluency effects. Based on Brunswik’s lens-model, we conceptualize fluency as a meta-cognitive cue. For the cue to impact judgments, we propose three process steps: people must experience fluency; the experience must be attributed to a judgment-relevant source; and it must be interpreted within the judgment context. This interpretation is either based on available theories about the experience’s meaning or on the learned validity of the cue in the given context. With these steps the model explains most fl uency effects and allows for new and testable predictions

The Interpretation of Cognitive Feelings

The present thesis deals with cognitive feelings, which are derived from an ease or fluency dimension of ongoing cognitive processes. Such experiences influence many judgments and inferences: For example, judgments about the frequency of events, inferences about the truth of statements or decisions whether an object is recognized or not. It is argued that the specific impact of such experiences depends on the interpretation of a given cognitive feeling, which provides meaning for a hitherto unspecific experience. Furthermore, it is argued that such interpretations may either be explicitly provided or implicitly learned. The empirical section supporting this claim is divided into two parts: Part I shows the impact of such interpretations when they are explicitly provided. This is done within the realm of “ease of retrieval” experiences and their influence on evaluative judgments. Two experiments are reported that lend support to the idea that cognitive feelings, in this case, the experienced ease of retrieval, depend on the available interpretations. Part II shows the impact of such interpretations when they are learned via feedback from the environment. This is done within the realm of fluency experiences and their influence on recognition judgments. Usually, stimuli that are more fluently processed have a higher probability to be classified as “old” than non-fluently processed stimuli. Two experiments show that this robust finding can be reversed when the environment provides feedback that fluency indicates that a stimulus is new rather than old. That is, it is shown that the impact of fluency is dependent on the learned interpretation of fluency. Building on the presented empirical evidence, the discussion addresses the assumptions underlying the interpretation hypothesis, the implications for existing results from research on cognitive feelings, and new research questions that arise from this model of how we interpret the experience of thinking

1,2-Bis(3,5-di­methyl­phen­yl)ethane

The title compound, C18H22, is a coupling product of two metallated mesitylene mol­ecules. The dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 11.10 (5)° and the Car—Cm—Cm—Car (ar = aromatic and m = methyl­ene) torsion angle is 179.60 (14)°. No directional inter­actions beyond normal van der Waals contacts could be identified in the crystal. To our best knowledge, it is the first known coupling product of metallated mesitylene

Normoxic cardiopulmonary bypass reduces oxidative myocardial damage and nitric oxide during cardiac operations in the adult

AbstractObjective: Hyperoxic cardiopulmonary bypass is widely used during cardiac operations in the adult. This management may cause oxygenation injury induced by oxygen-derived free radicals and nitric oxide. Oxidative damage may be significantly limited by maintaining a more physiologic oxygen tension strategy (normoxic cardiopulmonary bypass). Methods: During elective coronary artery bypass grafting, 40 consecutive patients underwent either hyperoxic (oxygen tension = 400 mm Hg) or normoxic (oxygen tension = 140 mm Hg) cardiopulmonary bypass. At the beginning and the end of bypass this study assessed polymorphonuclear leukocyte elastase, nitrate, creatine kinase, and lactic dehydrogenase, antioxidant levels, and malondialdehyde in coronary sinus blood. Cardiac index was measured before and after cardiopulmonary bypass. Results: There was no difference between groups with regard to age, sex, severity of disease, ejection fraction, number of grafts, duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, or ischemic time. Hyperoxic bypass resulted in higher levels of polymorphonuclear leukocyte elastase (377 ± 34 vs 171 ± 32 ng/ml, p = 0.0001), creatine kinase 672 ± 130 vs 293 ± 21 U/L, p = 0.002), lactic dehydrogenase (553 ± 48 vs 301 ± 12 U/L, p = 0.003), antioxidants (1.97 ± 0.10 vs 1.41 ± 0.11 mmol/L, p = 0.01), malondialdehyde (1.36 ± 0.1 μmol/L, p = 0.005), and nitrate (19.3 ± 2.9 vs 10.1 ± 2.1 μmol/L, p = 0.002), as well as reduction in lung vital capacity (66% ± 2% vs 81% ± 1%, p = 0.01) and forced 1-second expiratory volume (63% ± 10% vs 93% ± 4%, p = 0.005) compared with normoxic management. Cardiac index after cardiopulmonary bypass at low filling pressure was similar between groups (3.1 ± 0.2 vs 3.3 ± 0.3 L/min per square meter). [Data are mean ± standard error (analysis of variance), with p values compared with an oxygen tension of 400 mm Hg. Conclusions: Hyperoxic cardiopulmonary bypass during cardiac operations in adults results in oxidative myocardial damage related to oxygen-derived free radicals and nitric oxide. These adverse effects can be markedly limited by reduced oxygen tension management. The concept of normoxic cardiopulmonary bypass may be applied to surgical advantage during cardiac operations. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1998;116:327-34

Fully automated breast segmentation on spiral breast computed tomography images

INTRODUCTION The quantification of the amount of the glandular tissue and breast density is important to assess breast cancer risk. Novel photon-counting breast computed tomography (CT) technology has the potential to quantify them. For accurate analysis, a dedicated method to segment the breast components-the adipose and glandular tissue, skin, pectoralis muscle, skinfold section, rib, and implant-is required. We propose a fully automated breast segmentation method for breast CT images. METHODS The framework consists of four parts: (1) investigate, (2) segment the components excluding adipose and glandular tissue, (3) assess the breast density, and (4) iteratively segment the glandular tissue according to the estimated density. For the method, adapted seeded watershed and region growing algorithm were dedicatedly developed for the breast CT images and optimized on 68 breast images. The segmentation performance was qualitatively (five-point Likert scale) and quantitatively (Dice similarity coefficient [DSC] and difference coefficient [DC]) demonstrated according to human reading by experienced radiologists. RESULTS The performance evaluation on each component and overall segmentation for 17 breast CT images resulted in DSCs ranging 0.90-0.97 and in DCs 0.01-0.08. The readers rated 4.5-4.8 (5 highest score) with an excellent inter-reader agreement. The breast density varied by 3.7%-7.1% when including mis-segmented muscle or skin. CONCLUSION The automatic segmentation results coincided with the human expert's reading. The accurate segmentation is important to avoid the significant bias in breast density analysis. Our method enables accurate quantification of the breast density and amount of the glandular tissue that is directly related to breast cancer risk

The Epistemic Status of Processing Fluency as Source for Judgments of Truth

This article combines findings from cognitive psychology on the role of processing fluency in truth judgments with epistemological theory on justification of belief. We first review evidence that repeated exposure to a statement increases the subjective ease with which that statement is processed. This increased processing fluency, in turn, increases the probability that the statement is judged to be true. The basic question discussed here is whether the use of processing fluency as a cue to truth is epistemically justified. In the present analysis, based on Bayes’ Theorem, we adopt the reliable-process account of justification presented by Goldman (1986) and show that fluency is a reliable cue to truth, under the assumption that the majority of statements one has been exposed to are true. In the final section, we broaden the scope of this analysis and discuss how processing fluency as a potentially universal cue to judged truth may contribute to cultural differences in commonsense beliefs

Special issue conclusion : The GLES Open Science Challenge 2021 in hindsight: experiences gained and lessons learned

Die GLES Open Science Challenge 2021 ist ein Pilotprojekt, das zeigt, dass Registered Reports ein geeignetes und gewinnbringendes Publikationsformat in der quantitativen Politikwissenschaft sind, die dazu beitragen können, die Transparenz und Replizierbarkeit im Forschungsprozess zu erhöhen und somit substanzielle und relevante Beiträge für unsere Disziplin zu liefern. Das Ergebnis ist die Veröffentlichung dieses Sonderheftes mit sieben Registered Reports, die auf Daten der German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) basieren, die im Rahmen der Bundestagswahl 2021 erhoben wurden. Dieser abschließende Artikel des Sonderheftes bringt die Perspektiven von Autor*innen, Gutachter*innen, Organisator*innen und Herausgeber*innen zusammen, um eine Bilanz der verschiedenen Erfahrungen und Lehren zu ziehen, die im Laufe dieses Projektes gewonnen wurden

Corona-Truth

Repetition-induced truth effect studies that use information related to the "Corona" pandemic as stimuli