Inductive confirmation has been proposed as a mechanism giving rise to the conjunction fallacy. For each of five separate vignettes, probability estimates were obtained for a neutral event, for a ...second event: i.e. the "added conjunct", and for their conjunction. The added conjunct was selected such that it was inductively confirmed, either by some background evidence provided in the vignette or by the other component event. So as to achieve sufficient statistical power, multilevel models were used to analyse the data. For the added conjunct, the level of confirmation and the posterior probability were significantly associated such that higher levels of confirmation were associated with larger probability estimates. However, there was no significant association between the level of confirmation on the one hand and the incidence of the fallacy and the conjunctive probability on the other.
Miyake, Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, Howerter and Wager (2000)
have argued that the central executive is fractionated consisting of at least three separable component processes: updating, shifting, and ...inhibition. The Wisconsin Card Sort Test, random letter generation, Brooks spatial sequences, reading and computation span, word fluency, and a measure of dual task performance were administered to 95 individuals aged between 20 and 81, average age 41.89. The executive measures were factor analyzed, using the oblique rotation method, yielding four factors. The factor structure obtained was broadly consistent with Miyake et al's. However, an additional factor, the only one not to show a significant performance decline with age, was also obtained and was believed to reflect the efficiency of access to long-term memory.
Unlike most of the world, penicillin resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae from remote regions of Western Australia (WA) with high gonorrhoea notification rates has not increased despite many years of ...empirical oral therapy. With the advent of non-culture molecular diagnosis of gonorrhoea and the consequent decline in culture-based susceptibility, it is imperative to ensure the ongoing reliability of combination oral azithromycin, amoxicillin and probenecid for uncomplicated gonorrhoea in this setting. PCR-based non-culture N. gonorrhoeae antimicrobial resistance surveillance for penicillinase production was therefore employed.
Genital and non-genital specimens that were PCR-positive for N. gonorrhoeae were assessed for penicillinase production by detection of the N. gonorrhoeae TEM-1 plasmid using specific real-time PCR.
In remote regions of WA where gonorrhoea is highly endemic, <5% of N. gonorrhoeae isolates were penicillinase-producing. This contrasts with rates of up to 20% observed in the more densely populated metropolitan and rural regions.
In the era of molecular diagnosis of gonorrhoea, non-culture-based antimicrobial resistance surveillance proved useful when developing evidence-based guidelines for the clinical management of locally acquired gonorrhoea in highly endemic regions in WA. The continued efficacy of combination oral amoxicillin, probenecid and azithromycin therapy despite many years of use in a setting highly endemic for gonorrhoea may explain the low rate of penicillin resistance in these remote regions and supports the concept of adding azithromycin to β-lactam antibiotics to help delay the emergence of multiresistant N. gonorrhoeae.
Although recent studies report a decline in dementia prevalence among U.S. older adults, national trends may mask subnational variation, particularly given large health and social inequalities linked ...to geography. To address this gap, we determined if there was subnational variation in reported national dementia trends and if region-specific trends were explained by sociodemographic and health characteristics. Data come from the 2000 (n = 10,447) and 2012 (10,426) waves of the Health and Retirement Study. We used validated methods for dementia classification using proxy and self-respondents. Logistic regression models, adjusted for within-person clustering over time, estimated trends in dementia prevalence by region and census division. We found subnational variation in dementia prevalence in both 2000 and 2012, as well as in change in dementia prevalence during this period. In 2000, dementia prevalence was lowest in the West (8.6%), higher in the Midwest (10.0%) and Northeast (11.1%), and highest in the South (14.6%). Dementia prevalence declined over time across all regions of the U.S. from 2000 to 2012 but remained highest in the South (10.7%) compared to the other regions (7.0-7.8%). Despite downward trends in dementia across the U.S., the prevalence of dementia in the South in 2012 approximated levels found in other regions in 2000. There was relatively less change over time in the West compared to other regions, but dementia prevalence was already quite low in the West in 2000. Within region, trends in dementia prevalence between 2000 and 2012 also varied slightly across census divisions. Subnational variation in changes in dementia prevalence were largely explained by education and health status. Variation in baseline prevalence, as well as differential rates of change, highlight the importance of examining subnational variation in dementia trends.
Human timing is thought to be based on the output of an internal clock. Whilst the functioning of this clock is well documented, it is unclear which other cognitive resources may moderate timing. ...Brown (2006) and Rattat (2010) suggest that the central executive of working memory may be recruited during timing. However it seems likely that the fractionated executive component processes identified by Miyake et al. (2000) and Fisk and Sharp (2004) may differentially contribute to timing performance; further exploration of this was the aim of the present study. An interference paradigm was employed in which participants completed an interval production task, and tasks which have been shown to tap the four key executive component processes (shifting, inhibition, updating and access) under single and dual-task conditions. Comparison of single and dual-task performance indicated that timing always became more variable when concurrently performing a second task. Bidirectional interference only occurred between the interval production task and the memory updating task, implying that both tasks are competing for the same executive resource of updating. There was no evidence in the current study to suggest that switching, inhibition or access was involved in timing, however they may be recruited under more difficult task conditions.
► The role of executive functions in timing was assessed using a dual-task paradigm. ► Bidirectional interference occurred when completing SSS and the timing task together. ► Memory updating resources appear to be recruited during interval timing. ► Switching, inhibition and access resources were not recruited during timing.
•Stronger ESP, PK and afterlife believers made more conjunction errors (CEs).•Believers also made more confirmatory (verses disconfirmatory) CEs.•Individuals with low (versus high) NFC made ...marginally more confirmatory CEs.•Intuitive-experiential thinking had no impact on CE rates.•Findings are consistent with Tentori, Crupi, & Russo (2013) Confirmation-Theoretical Framework.
This study examines the extent to which belief in extrasensory perception (ESP), psychokinesis (PK) or life after death (LAD), plus need for cognition (NFC) and faith in intuition (FI), predict the generation of confirmatory conjunction errors. An opportunity sample (n = 261) completed sixteen conjunction problems manipulated across a 2 event type (paranormal vs. non-paranormal) × 2 outcome type (confirmatory vs. disconfirmatory) within subjects design. Three Generalised Linear Mixed Models – one per paranormal belief type – were performed. With respondent gender and age controlled for, ESP, PK and LAD beliefs were all associated with the making (vs. non-making) of conjunction errors both generally and specifically for confirmatory conjunctive outcomes. Event type had no impact. Individuals high in NFC were less likely to commit the fallacy. The role thinking style plays in shaping paranormal believers’ susceptibility to confirmatory conjunction biases is discussed. Methodological issues and future research ideas are also considered.
We report observation of the electroweak production of single top quarks in ppover collisions at sqrts=1.96 TeV based on 2.3 fb(-1) of data collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron ...Collider. Using events containing an isolated electron or muon and missing transverse energy, together with jets originating from the fragmentation of b quarks, we measure a cross section of sigma(ppover --> tb + X, tqb + X) = 3.94 + or - 0.88 pb. The probability to measure a cross section at this value or higher in the absence of signal is 2.5 x 10(-7), corresponding to a 5.0 standard deviation significance for the observation.
The relationships between executive processes, associative learning and different aspects of real world memory functioning were explored in a sample of cannabis users and nonusers. Measures of ...executive component processes, associative learning, everyday memory, prospective memory, and cognitive failures were administered. Relative to nonusers, cannabis users were found to be impaired in several aspects of real world memory functioning. No other group differences were apparent. The absence of cannabis related deficits in those executive component processes and aspects of learning that are believed to support real world memory processes is surprising given that cannabis related deficits were obtained in real world memory. The present results are discussed within the context of neuroimaging evidence which suggests that cannabis users may exhibit different patterns of neural activation when performing executive tasks while not always exhibiting deficits on these tasks.
Previous research in ecstasy users suggests impairment of various executive functions. In general, the executive function of response inhibition appears unaffected by ecstasy use. Nonetheless, it ...remains a possibility that cognitive tasks alone are not sensitive enough to pick up subtle changes in function. The current study sought to investigate behavioural measures of response inhibition and their electrophysiological correlates in drug users. Twenty ecstasy polydrug users, 20 non-ecstasy polydrug users and 20 drug naïve controls were recruited. Participants completed questionnaires about their background drug use, sleep quality, fluid intelligence and mood state. Each individual also completed a Go/NoGo response inhibition task whilst electroencephalography (EEG) measures were recorded. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that there were no between-group differences on the behavioural measure of response inhibition. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed no main effect of group across midline electrodes for the P3, N2 and P2 components. Univariate ANOVA revealed significant between-group differences in the P2 component with the ecstasy user group having a significantly higher mean amplitude than drug naïve controls at two midline frontal electrodes: at Fz and significantly higher mean amplitude than both control groups at FCz. The present study provides evidence of atypical early processing in ecstasy users that is suggestive of compensatory mechanisms ameliorating any behavioural differences.
Summary This article will provide an overview of the psychosocial and cognitive problems that people with epilepsy (PWE) experience as consequence of the condition and its treatment. Psychosocial ...problems will be discussed in light of how they impact on quality of life. The review will discuss the stigma, myths and stereotypes that PWE encounter and the implications of these for important psychological outcomes including; anxiety, depression, self-esteem, sense of mastery and cognitive dysfunction. The latter part of the article will focus on psychosocial factors including social isolation, interpersonal and family relationships and employment. The overall aim is to provide the reader with a general overview of the sort of factors that can impede social functioning in PWE with particular emphasis on the problems encountered in adults.
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