Statistical inference often fails to replicate. One reason is that many results may be selected for drawing inference because some threshold of a statistic like the P-value was crossed, leading to ...biased reported effect sizes. Nonetheless, considerable non-replication is to be expected even without selective reporting, and generalizations from single studies are rarely if ever warranted. Honestly reported results must vary from replication to replication because of varying assumption violations and random variation; excessive agreement itself would suggest deeper problems, such as failure to publish results in conflict with group expectations or desires. A general perception of a "replication crisis" may thus reflect failure to recognize that statistical tests not only test hypotheses, but countless assumptions and the entire environment in which research takes place. Because of all the uncertain and unknown assumptions that underpin statistical inferences, we should treat inferential statistics as highly unstable local descriptions of relations between assumptions and data, rather than as providing generalizable inferences about hypotheses or models. And that means we should treat statistical results as being much more incomplete and uncertain than is currently the norm. Acknowledging this uncertainty could help reduce the allure of selective reporting: Since a small P-value could be large in a replication study, and a large P-value could be small, there is simply no need to selectively report studies based on statistical results. Rather than focusing our study reports on uncertain conclusions, we should thus focus on describing accurately how the study was conducted, what problems occurred, what data were obtained, what analysis methods were used and why, and what output those methods produced.
Une dimension clef du processus d’acquisition d’une langue seconde (L2) est la mise en relation d’une forme et d’une fonction. Cet appariement forme-fonction ne se met néanmoins en place que fort ...tardivement. Ainsi, pour exprimer certaines fonctions, l’apprenant L2 a dans un premier temps recours à des principes discursifs et sémantico-pragmatiques, à des structures préfabriquées et à des formes intermédiaires avant de grammaticaliser progressivement ses énoncés et enfin d’utiliser adéquatement la grammaire pour marquer, entre autres, les différentes catégories grammaticales (nombre, genre, temps, etc.). Bref, le processus acquisitionnel passe d’un stade premier de lexicalisation vers un stade de morphologisation, qui ouvre la perspective d’un emploi adéquat, d’un appariement donc entre la forme et sa/ ses fonction(s) (Noyau 1997). En ce qui concerne l’analyse du processus d’appropriation des formes verbales, les études acquisitionnelles se sont avant tout intéressées à l’appariement entre les formes conjuguées des verbes et l’expression du temps et de l’aspect. En français, le marquage de ces deux fonctions est intrinsèquement lié. En particulier, l’exploitation émergente des conjugaisons du passé (passé composé, imparfait, passé simple) offre un champ d’observation particulièrement riche qui a suscité de nombreuses études (cf. e.a. Kaplan 1987 ; Noyau et al. 1995 ; Kihlstedt 2002 ; Ayoun 2001, 2004, 2005). Plusieurs études ont ainsi indiqué que les formes de la conjugaison du passé se limitent dans un premier stade au passé composé qui est par conséquent souvent suremployé à des contextes où devraient apparaître des formes de l’imparfait. L’imparfait s’impose ensuite progressivement, d’abord avec les verbes être et avoir et plus tard avec les autres verbes lexicaux. Le plus-que-parfait est la conjugaison du passé qui surgit en dernier lieu dans l’interlangue des apprenants de français L2 (FL2). La contribution se donne dans un premier temps pour but de décrire le développement des formes de la conjugaison du passé dans l’interlangue d’apprenants néerlandophones du FL2 à l’aide d’un corpus oral. Elle examinera ensuite les fonctions temporelle et/ ou aspectuelle que ces formes verbales y remplissent afin d’étudier leur appariement forme-fonction. La contribution tentera plus particulièrement de répondre aux questions suivantes, issues de l’hypothèse aspectuelle d’Andersen (1986, 1991) : L’aspect est-il effectivement marqué avant le temps en FL2 ? L’imperfectif apparaît-il après le perfectif en FL2 ? Les apprenants marquent-ils d’abord le perfectif avec des verbes téliques, et seulement ensuite éventuellement avec des verbes atéliques ? L’imperfectif est-il d’abord utilisé avec des verbes atéliques et seulement après avec des verbes téliques ? Les données de notre corpus confirment prudemment l’importance et la primauté du marquage de l’aspect dans l’interlangue des apprenants FL2. Cette primauté de l’aspect permet sans doute aussi de comprendre la primauté des formes du passé composé, qui s’opposent par l’aspect accompli au présent qui indique l’accomplissement. Le surgissement de l’imparfait semble aller de pair avec la prise en compte de l’expression du temps passé par le passé composé et donc aussi de la nécessité d’introduire une dimension d’accomplissement au passé. L’analyse détaillée des lexèmes verbaux convoqués indique que leur aspect lexical inhérent semble aussi jouer un rôle dans l’ordre développemental des conjuguaisons du passé, bien que certaines affirmations de l’hypothèse aspectuelle d’Andersen n’aient pas pu être pleinement confirmées. A key dimension of the acquisiton process of a second language (L2) is the link between a form and it’s function, but this form-function pairing emerges rather lately. In order to express certain functions, the L2 learner first uses semantico-pragmatic resources, chunks and intermediate forms before being able to progressively grammaticalise his utterances and finally to adequately use the grammar to mark different grammatical categories (e.g. number, gender, tense, etc.). The L2 acquisition process evolves thus from a lexicalisation to a morphologisation stage, which progressively enables the L2 learner to adequately combine form and function (Noyau 1997). Regarding the acquisition process of verbs, most studies have examined the pairing of finite verbs and the expression of tense (temps in French) and aspect (aspect). The marking of these two functions is intrinsically linked in French. The progressive exploitation of the conjugations of the past (passé composé, imparfait, passé simple) offers in particular a rich investigation field (cf. i.a. Kaplan 1987; Noyau et al. 1995; Kihlstedt 2002; Ayoun 2001, 2004, 2005). Several studies have revealed that the reference to the past is limited to the passé composé at first, which is consequently overused, even in contexts where the imparfait should appear. The imparfait develops progressively afterwards, in the first place with the verbs être and avoir and later with the other lexical verbs. The plus-que-parfait is the last conjugation of the past to develop in the interlanguage of FL2 learners. This contribution will first describe the development of the different conjugations of the past in the interlanguage of Dutch speaking FL2 learners, by examining oral data. The focus of this contribution is the temporal and/ or aspectual functions expressed by these conjugations. This paper will more particularly enable us to answer the following research questions, that are derived from Andersen’s Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen 1986, 1991):Is aspect actually marked before tense in FL2? Does the imperfective emerge after the perfective in FL2? Is the perfective first marked with telic verbs and afterwards marked with atelic verbs? Is the imperfective first used with atelic verbs and only afterwards used with telic verbs? The data of our corpus cautiously confirm the primacy of aspectual marking in the interlanguage of FL2 learners. This primacy of aspect seems to explain the primacy of the passé composé forms, since they express the perfective in opposition to the present tense which expresses the imperfective. The later emergence of the imparfait seems to go hand in hand with the actual reference to the past with passé composé forms and therefore with the necessity to introduce an imperfective dimension in the past. The detailed analysis of the produced verbs indicates that the inherent lexical aspect also plays a role in the developmental order of the conjugations of the past, even though certain elements of Andersen’s Aspect Hypothesis have not been fully confirmed by the data.
L’objectif de la présente étude est de déterminer les raisons pour lesquelles un auteur du XVIe siècle aurait choisi la nouvelle forme analogique grande plutôt que la forme épicène grand. L’étude est ...basée sur un corpus de 1341 occurrences de cet adjectif au féminin dans 17 textes de cinq auteurs. L’hypothèse de l’identification du référent propose qu’un auteur aurait choisi cette forme pour indiquer clairement qu’elle modifie un substantif féminin et assurer ainsi le lien entre l’adjectif et le substantif. L’hypothèse de la concordance de genre propose que l’auteur aurait choisi grande pour faire accorder l’adjectif aux autres éléments féminins dans le syntagme nominal. Les résultats ont partiellement validé les deux hypothèses. La forme grande est favorisée quand elle ne précède pas immédiatement le substantif féminin qu’elle qualifie et quand un substantif masculin intervient entre le substantif féminin et grande. La forme analogique est aussi favorisée fortement par un déterminant féminin en -e et plus légèrement par la, mais pas par d’autres déterminants féminins. Nous avons trouvé en plus un résultat inattendu. La variante analogique est favorisée fortement quand elle modifie un substantif avec un plus grand nombre de syllabes et défavorisée par un substantif plus court. The goal of the present study is to determine the reasons for a 16th-century author’s choice of the new analogical form grande rather than the epicene form grand. The study is based on a corpus of 1341 tokens of feminine grand and grande in 17 texts by five authors. The referent identification hypothesis proposes that an author would have chosen this form to indicate clearly that it modifies a feminine noun, so as to ensure the link between adjective and noun. The gender agreement hypothesis proposes that an author would have chosen this form to make this adjective agree with other feminine elements in the noun phrase. The results provided partial support for both hypotheses. The form grande is favored when it does not immediately precede the noun it modifies and when a masculine noun is inserted between the feminine noun and grande. The analogical form is also strongly favored by a feminine determiner in -e and only slightly favored by the determiner la, but not by other feminine determiners. We also discovered an unexpected result. The analogical variant is strongly favored when it modifies a noun with a greater number of syllables and disfavored by a shorter noun.
A non-enzymatic protometabolic origins of life is gaining traction in origins of life research. This hypothesis, which uses life's conserved chemistry as a guide to its own origins, has the capacity ...to explain the emergence of life in a way that resolves the "end-product problem", places selection at the earliest stage of the emergence of life and can be used to determine ideal environments for such an emergence in an agnostic manner. There is experimental evidence for non-enzymatic reaction pathways which replicate the acetyl-CoA pathway, Krebs cycle, pentose-phosphate pathway, and glycolysis in a single, aqueous reaction system. The synthesis of nucleotides and their starting materials, ribose, aspartate, and glycine are not yet definitively proven and are separate investigations undertaken in this thesis. 1) I identified that whilst ribose stabilisation could be achieved in formose reaction conditions on addition of acetyl phosphate, this was due to alteration of the formose catalyst and termination of aldol chemistries rather than due to phosphorylation of sugar species. This points towards a potential, prebiotically relevant stabilisation of ribose on hydroxyapatite minerals. 2) I have identified from a limited investigation into the activity of pyridoxamine-5-phosphate-dependent transamination, that zinc dramatically improves transamination speed with only modest reduction in efficiency. Transamination is sufficiently fast to enable aspartate synthesis from oxaloacetate under non-optimal conditions. 3) I have identified that the formation of pyrimidine nucleobases is possible in a single, prebiotically plausible, one-pot reaction system. I have identified that the oxidation of dihydroorotate can take place with multiple oxidants, and copper (II) catalysis can enable production of both orotate and uracil. Investigating the environmental limitations of this reaction show that it can take place under a wide range of conditions, though optimal conditions appear to be most compatible with an alkaline hydrothermal vent hypothesis. Additionally, this thesis presents a hypothesis on the emergence of the genetic code in the context of this protometabolic network at the origins of life and uses conserved features of the genetic code as a guide to its own emergence.
It has often been observed that people like each other more after synchronising actions. This is referred to as the synchrony-bonding effect and it has been observed in a wide variety of settings - ...from dance to rowing. It has been suggested that music may have evolved alongside human rhythmic abilities in order to support synchronised action to promote social bonding and group cohesion. However, the precise cognitive mechanisms underpinning the synchrony-bonding effect remain opaque. This thesis aims to bring new insights to the synchrony-bonding effect by testing a novel hypothesis: that the social bonding effects of synchrony arise from processing fluency. To do so, I bring together the general literature on processing fluency as it applies to perceptual preferences and aesthetic judgements, together with existing studies of interpersonal synchrony. I then conduct three empirical studies using novel experimental designs to test the fluency through synchrony hypothesis. Study 1 found that synchrony reduces processing load on a simple visual perception task, when compared with non-synchrony. Study 2 found that synchrony reduces processing load when participating in a rhythmic tapping task, when compared with non-synchrony. Study 3 built upon Study 2 and found that perceived difficulty of a rhythmic tapping task mediated the social bonding effects of synchrony. These studies reframe synchrony as a means for reducing processing load, which could explain the synchrony-bonding effect as being an effect of processing fluency, rather than of synchrony per se. Thus, the act of synchronising may be considered an act of making oneself easier to process. I discuss these findings in the context of the broader synchrony-bonding literature, consider the implications for the evolution of rhythmic abilities, and attempt to highlight the importance of understanding synchrony in an increasingly de-synchronised world.
Abstract Previous prospective memory (PM) studies indicate that PM intentions remain active after completion and result in commission errors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of ...adding a new PM intention in the finished phase on PM commission errors. Eighty-six participants were randomly allocated to one of three groups: a new PM group, a non-new PM group, and an implementation intention group. In the PM finished phase, the non-new PM group performed the 1-back task only, while the new PM group was asked to complete both the 1-back task and a new PM task simultaneously. The implementation intention group adopted the “if-then” encoding strategy to encode the new PM intention and executed a new PM task while performing an ongoing task. We found no difference in the 1-back task among the three groups, but the main difference was reflected in the commission error rate with the rate being highest in the non-new PM group, followed by the new PM group, and lowest in the implementation intention group. These findings suggest that executing a new PM task after the completion of a PM intention or adopting an implementation intention encoding strategy to form a new intention effectively reduces commission errors. Therefore, in real life, when we form new prospective memory intentions, we can strengthen them through encoding strategies during the encoding stage, in order to avoid the occurrence of commission errors as much as possible.
Values are often used to examine cultural variability. Yet, little research has focused on the functions that values fulfill and the implications of these functions for understanding cultural ...variability. This paper describes a theoretical analysis of the functions of values based on 2 widely accepted pan-cultural functions: values guide actions and express needs. The theoretical model proposes that the first function differentiates values according to the goals pursued (personal, central, or social goals), whereas the second function differentiates values according to the needs expressed (survival or thriving needs). A combination of these 2 functions yields 6 basic values (structural hypothesis) with specific marker values (content hypothesis). Support for the hypotheses was obtained in a large convenience national sample (N = 5,176) of Brazilian university students with confirmatory factor analysis and multidimensional scaling. Central values were located between personal and social values, and survival and thriving values separated into 2 regions. Theoretical and cross-cultural implications of the findings, especially the universality of the general structure of motivational aims, are discussed, along with interpretations of existing value scales from a functional perspective.
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