Judgments Of Participants Research Articles

Attributions of Sexual Assault: Effects of Victim and Perpetrator Stereotypes, Presentation Order, and Participant Characteristics.

Research on sexual assault has shown that victim, perpetrator, and participant characteristics can influence evaluations of an assault. However, the studies have not examined a possible main effect or interactions from respectively introducing the victim or perpetrator first in an assault description, and previous studies have used participant samples with little diversity. We conducted two studies with factorial between-groups designs that varied presentation order in addition to victim and perpetrator stereotypicality and then assessed the impacts on participants' judgments of sexual assault scenarios. We used the online marketplace Prolific to collect large, diverse samples of participants, and in the second study, we collected roughly equal sample sizes of individuals who identified as Black females/males and White females/males. Our results indicate that multiple factors-including victim and perpetrator stereotypicality, presentation order, and participants' gender identities-significantly influenced judgments of the sexual assault, and there were numerous interactions. The results provide strongest support for a spreading activation model in which each factor can influence a participant's judgment of the other factors and the overall scenario. As such, the findings may bear on the legal handling of sexual assault cases as well as suggesting how different presentation formats and emphases in media coverage may sway the court of public opinion.

Neural correlates of evaluations of non-binary social feedback: An EEG study

PurposeIn complex and diverse social circumstances, decision making is affected by social feedback. Although previous studies have examined the electrophysiological correlates of social feedback with a binary valence, those related to non-binary feedback, or the magnitude of social feedback, remain unclear. This study investigated the electrophysiological correlates of non-binary social feedback and subsequent action selection processing. MethodsParticipants were asked to complete a Gabor patch direction judgment task in which they were required to make judgments before and after receiving social feedback. They were informed that the feedback stimuli represented the degree to which other participants made the same choice. Results & conclusionThe results revealed that feedback that was highly concordant with the participant's judgments elicited greater P300 activity, which was associated with the fulfillment of expectations regarding social reward. Moreover, moderately concordant feedback induced stronger theta band power, which may indicate monitoring of subjective conflict. Temporal changes in theta power during feedback phase may also relate to adjustments in prediction error. Additionally, when an initial judgment was maintained following social feedback, we observed a stronger increase in beta power, indicating an association with post-social-feedback action processing.

Get cognitively fatigued and be more confident! The effect of working memory capacity and cognitive load on meta-reasoning

The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of cognitive limitations on intermediate judgments of confidence as one of the meta-reasoning components. This experimental study was conducted with 384 participants who were randomly assigned to two groups with different cognitive loads. The main task at the target level was the Tower of Hanoi, where the participants reported the level of their intermediate judgment of confidence every 45 seconds via a computerized questionnaire that popped up during the problem-solving process. The visual-spatial working memory capacity of individuals was measured with a forward and backward computerized Corsi block-tapping task. The participants in the high cognitive load group performed the dot matrix task before the Tower of Hanoi task. Two-way ANOVA found a link between the additional cognitive load before the main task and the participant's intermediate judgment of confidence during the problem-solving process. Visual-spatial working memory, on the other hand, did not have a significant effect on intermediate judgments of confidence, either alone or in conjunction with additional cognitive load.

Effects of pill colors on human perception and expectation of drugs' efficacy

AbstractThe physical appearance of pills, especially their color, affect expectations of their efficacy in addition to their intended medicinal effect. The purpose of this study is to understand the effects pill colors have on a wide variety of people, testing the hypotheses that the color of the pill affects participants' expectation of the drug's efficacy, and that demographics play a role in the participant's judgement. The 339 participants were recruited from the Rochester Institute of Technology global campuses in Rochester, USA, and Dubai, UAE. The study did not involve individuals taking drugs. Instead, it measured how people perceived the expected effects of pills on six efficacies, by asking the participants to rate the expected efficacy of five colors of pills. While there were some clear patterns and similarities in the results, differences were also apparent across the various demographics considered in this study. It is evident that three out of the six efficacies tested had a strong association with a particular color: stimulant efficacy with red, pain relief with white, and antacid with yellow. Remaining efficacies had weaker associations or varied associations based on different demographics. The patterns that emerged will help pharmaceutical companies, as well as medical practitioners, to better manufacture and prescribe drugs, thus maximizing the effects of the pills on patients overall, and increasing their compliance rates.

Strategies for integrating disparate social information.

Social information use is widespread in the animal kingdom, helping individuals rapidly acquire useful knowledge and adjust to novel circumstances. In humans, the highly interconnected world provides ample opportunities to benefit from social information but also requires navigating complex social environments with people holding disparate or conflicting views. It is, however, still largely unclear how people integrate information from multiple social sources that (dis)agree with them, and among each other. We address this issue in three steps. First, we present a judgement task in which participants could adjust their judgements after observing the judgements of three peers. We experimentally varied the distribution of this social information, systematically manipulating its variance (extent of agreement among peers) and its skewness (peer judgements clustering either near or far from the participant's judgement). As expected, higher variance among peers reduced their impact on behaviour. Importantly, observing a single peer confirming a participant's own judgement markedly decreased the influence of other—more distant—peers. Second, we develop a framework for modelling the cognitive processes underlying the integration of disparate social information, combining Bayesian updating with simple heuristics. Our model accurately accounts for observed adjustment strategies and reveals that people particularly heed social information that confirms personal judgements. Moreover, the model exposes strong inter-individual differences in strategy use. Third, using simulations, we explore the possible implications of the observed strategies for belief updating. These simulations show how confirmation-based weighting can hamper the influence of disparate social information, exacerbate filter bubble effects and deepen group polarization. Overall, our results clarify what aspects of the social environment are, and are not, conducive to changing people's minds.

The Information Disclosure Strategy of Single versus Multiple Benchmarks in Earnings Announcements

Abstract: This study is aimed to test the impact of s ingle versus multiple benchmarks earnings information disclosure strategy towards financial users’ behavior in estimating future earnings. The study is important because it links behavioral aspects between the ways of providing and using earnings information based on multiple reference point theory of psychology. Using experimental factorial mix design 2x3x2 with 58 investor and non-investor participants, the result indicates that earnings disclosure strategy of s ingle versus multiple benchmarks influences participant's judgments. Specifically , the multiple benchmarks are more effective than a single benchmark used to estimating future earnings. This finding is consistent with some priors studies of Schrand and Walther (2000), Krische (2005), Han and Tan (2007) and Wahyuni and Hartono (2010, 2012, 2014). Abstract: This study is aimed to test the impact of s ingle versus multiple benchmarks earnings information disclosure strategy towards financial users’ behavior in estimating future earnings. The study is important because it links behavioral aspects between the ways of providing and using earnings information based on multiple reference point theory of psychology. Using experimental factorial mix design 2x3x2 with 58 investor and non-investor participants, the result indicates that earnings disclosure strategy of s ingle versus multiple benchmarks influences participant's judgments. Specifically , the multiple benchmarks are more effective than a single benchmark used to estimating future earnings. This finding is consistent with some priors studies of Schrand and Walther (2000), Krische (2005), Han and Tan (2007) and Wahyuni and Hartono (2010, 2012, 2014).

An Open Pilot Study of Training Hostile Interpretation Bias to Treat Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder.

Irritability in disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) may be associated with a biased tendency to judge ambiguous facial expressions as angry. We conducted three experiments to explore this bias as a treatment target. We tested: 1) whether youth with DMDD express this bias; 2) whether judgment of ambiguous faces can be altered in healthy youth by training; and 3) whether such training in youth with DMDD is associated with reduced irritability and associated changes in brain function. Participants in all experiments made happy versus angry judgments of faces that varied along a happy to angry continuum. These judgments were used to quantify a "balance point," the facial expression at which a participant's judgment switches from predominantly happy to predominantly angry. We first compared balance points in youth with DMDD (n = 63) versus healthy youth (n = 26). We then conducted a double-blind, randomized controlled trial of active versus sham balance-point training in 19 healthy youth. Finally, we piloted open, active balance-point training in 14 youth with DMDD, with 10 completing an implicit functional MRI (fMRI) face-emotion processing task. Relative to healthy youth, DMDD youth manifested a shifted balance point, expressed as a tendency to classify ambiguous faces as angry rather than happy. In both healthy and DMDD youth, active training is associated with a shift in balance point toward more happy judgments. In DMDD, evidence suggests that active training may be associated with decreased irritability and changes in activation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex. These results set the stage for further research on computer-based treatment targeting interpretation bias of angry faces in DMDD. Such treatment may decrease irritability and alter neural responses to subtle expressions of happiness and anger.

The design and implementation of a study to investigate the effectiveness of community vs hospital eye service follow-up for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration with quiescent disease

IntroductionStandard treatment for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF drugs. Following multiple injections, nAMD lesions often become quiescent but there is a high risk of reactivation, and regular review by hospital ophthalmologists is the norm. The present trial examines the feasibility of community optometrists making lesion reactivation decisions.MethodsThe Effectiveness of Community vs Hospital Eye Service (ECHoES) trial is a virtual trial; lesion reactivation decisions were made about vignettes that comprised clinical data, colour fundus photographs, and optical coherence tomograms displayed on a web-based platform. Participants were either hospital ophthalmologists or community optometrists. All participants were provided with webinar training on the disease, its management, and assessment of the retinal imaging outputs. In a balanced design, 96 participants each assessed 42 vignettes; a total of 288 vignettes were assessed seven times by each professional group.The primary outcome is a participant's judgement of lesion reactivation compared with a reference standard. Secondary outcomes are the frequency of sight threatening errors; judgements about specific lesion components; participant-rated confidence in their decisions about the primary outcome; cost effectiveness of follow-up by optometrists rather than ophthalmologists.DiscussionThis trial addresses an important question for the NHS, namely whether, with appropriate training, community optometrists can make retreatment decisions for patients with nAMD to the same standard as hospital ophthalmologists. The trial employed a novel approach as participation was entirely through a web-based application; the trial required very few resources compared with those that would have been needed for a conventional randomised controlled clinical trial.

Rubber hand presentation modulates visuotactile interference effect especially in persons with high autistic traits.

Persons with high autistic traits showed diverse reactions as to their multisensory integration, whereas neurotypical persons adequately integrate visual and tactile information. Successive visual stimuli sometimes interfere ordering of successive tactile stimuli. Presentation of a hand-shaped object would affect the interference. Besides, its associations with autistic traits have not been reported. Here, we investigated the effect of a rubber hand presentation on interferences to tactile temporal order judgment by successive visual stimuli. We also investigated whether individual differences associated with autistic traits. A rubber hand was placed palm down in front of the participant in one condition, while in other conditions, it was inverted or was not presented. Participants were required to judge the temporal order of tactile stimuli presented to the index finger and ring finger of their unseen right hand, and needed to ignore the visual stimuli placed on the corresponding fingers of the rubber hand. When incongruent visual stimuli were delivered along with presentation of the rubber hand, the participant's judgment was notably reversed. In contrast, the degree of reversals significantly decreased when the rubber hand was not presented or presented in an inverted direction. Additionally, we found that participants with high autistic traits tended to show large reversal with the rubber hand presentation, while they showed small reversal when the rubber hand was inverted. Our results suggest that rubber hand corresponding to one's own hand facilitates visuotactile interference. Furthermore, autistic traits may affect the integration of visuotactile inputs when the rubber hand is presented.

Responses to irrational actions in action observation and mentalising networks of the human brain

By observing other people, we can often infer goals and motivations behind their actions. This study examines the role of the action observation network (AON) and the mentalising network (MZN) in the perception of rational and irrational actions. Past studies in this area report mixed results, so the present paper uses new stimuli which precisely control motion path, the social form of the actor and the rationality of the action. A cluster in medial prefrontal cortex and a large cluster in the right inferior parietal lobule extending to the temporoparietal junction distinguished observation of irrational from rational actions. Activity within the temporoparietal region also correlated on a trial-by-trial basis with each participant's judgement of action rationality. These findings demonstrate that observation of another person performing an irrational action engages both action observation and mentalising networks. Our results advance current theories of action comprehension and the roles of action observation and mentalising networks in this process.

Communication Patterns and Satisfaction Levels in Three-Dimensional Versus Real-Life Intimate Relationships

The present study compared communication patterns and satisfaction levels between three-dimensional (3D) and real-life intimate relationships using a sample of 71 participants who were concurrently involved in an intimate relationship within Second Life and a separate real-life romantic relationship. Participants indicated that the quality of their communication was significantly better in their Second-Life relationship and that they experienced higher levels of satisfaction with their virtual partners. The more positive or idealized view of the 3D relationships may have been due to higher levels of focused interaction and reduced stressors in the virtual world and the greater length, and associated problems, in participant's real-life relationships. In addition, the presence of a concurrent relationship within Second Life could have negatively affected participant's judgments of their real-life relationships. These data offer the first detailed assessment of communication patterns and satisfaction levels in intimate relationships across the real and 3D virtual realms as the number of users and romantic partners in immersive virtual environments continue to grow.

Feedback Does Not Cleanse Brightness Judgments of Contrast and Assimilation Effects

Judgments of the brightness of a test patch are strongly influenced by contrast and assimilation. However, the experiments that document these effects typically do not use feedback. We wondered whether observers might have access to strategies that were cleansed of these effects if they were given trial-by-trial feedback. In this study, observers viewed a 3.33° diameter Test-disk surrounded by an annular ring of what appeared to be homogenous visual noise; their task was to judge whether the luminance of the Test-disk was higher or lower than that of the fixed gray background outside the annulus. Although the annulus looked like a ring of visual noise on each trail, it was actually composed of a random, weighted sum of 11 orthogonal basis images: 5 noise images (which were constrained to contribute 94.8% of the energy in the noisy annulus) and 6 concentric annuli (which collectively covered the same region as each of the noise basis images and which contributed the remaining 5.2% of the energy). Data were collected for four display durations: 13, 27, 53, and 107ms. In each case, logistic regression was used to determine the influence exerted on the participant's judgments by the 11 basis components. Performance was similar for the four display durations. The innermost annulus exerted a contrast effect: Test-disk contrast judgments were negatively correlated with inner-annulus contrast. However, for four of the five participants, judgments tended to be positively correlated with the contrasts of the outermost two annuli. Plausibly, this latter effect reflects assimilation by the Test-disk of annulus brightness induced by contrast of the outer annular strip with the background. Thus, the feedback supplied did not enable observers to escape contrast and assimilation effects.

Shoulder Height Labeling of Child Restraints to Minimize Premature Graduation

We hypothesized that parents and caregivers would make better judgments about child restraint fit if shoulder height labeling was used to communicate appropriate child restraint transition times. Participants were recruited at a shopping center in New South Wales, Australia, and were observed choosing restraints, with and without shoulder height labels indicating appropriate restraint fit, for each of 2 test mannequins (representing a 3-year-old child and a 5-year-old child). Demographic and child restraint use experience data also were collected. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine associations between labeling condition and participant's judgment of restraint appropriateness. Participants (N=86) made significantly fewer errors in judging restraint appropriateness for the test mannequins when the restraints included shoulder height labels (P<.001). Depending on label format, the odds that a participant would always make the correct decision were 5.2 (95% confidence interval: 2.7-9.8) to 3.7 (95% confidence interval: 2.0-6.9) times greater when shoulder height labels were included than when they were not. The use of shoulder height labels on child safety seats and booster seats is an effective means of communicating child restraint fit to parents and caregivers.

Feedback does not cleanse brightness judmements of contrast and assimilation effects

Judgments of the brightness of a test patch are strongly influenced by contrast and assimilation. However, the experiments that document these effects typically do not use feedback. We wondered whether observers might have access to strategies that were cleansed of these effects if they were given trial-by-trial feedback. In this study, observers viewed a 3.33° diameter Test-disk surrounded by an annular ring of what appeared to be homogenous visual noise; their task was to judge whether the luminance of the Test-disk was higher or lower than that of the fixed gray background outside the annulus. Although the annulus looked like a ring of visual noise on each trail, it was actually composed of a random, weighted sum of 11, orthogonal basis images: 5 noise images (which were constrained to contributed 94.8% of the energy in the noisy annulus and 6 concentric annuli which collectively covered the same region as each of the noise basis images and which contributed the remaining 5.2% of the energy). Data were collected for four display durations: 13, 27, 53, and 107ms. In each case, logistic regression was used to determine the influence exerted on the participant's judgments by the 11 basis components. Performance was similar for the four display durations. The innermost annulus exerted a contrast effect: Test-disk contrast judgments were negatively correlated with inner-annulus contrast. However, for four of the five participants, judgments tended to be positively correlated with the contrasts of the outermost two annuli. Plausibly, this latter effect reflects assimilation by the Test-disk of annulus brightness induced by contrast of the outer annular strip with the background. Thus the feedback supplied did not enable observers to escape contrast and assimilation effects.

Stereotypes as Shared Beliefs: Effects of Group Identity on Dyadic Conversations

Two experiments examined the influence of stereotypes on dyadic conversations. Undergraduate students listened to a recorded interview of a student who was described as either a member of their in-group or of an out-group. The interview contained stereotype-consistent (SC) and stereotype-inconsistent (SI) descriptions of each group. Participants' conversations about the stimulus person were content-analyzed. One most consistent result was that for the out-group target, participants made more SI than SC utterances and spent more time discussing SI information. The difference between SC and SI utterances disappeared (Study 2) or was reversed (Study 1) for the in-group target. These patterns were observed particularly when the stimulus information contained a balanced combination of SC and SI characteristics. Furthermore, the stereotypicality of the conversations was related not only to the participant's own judgments but also to the partner's judgments. The significance of studying stereotypes as collectively shared intergroup attitudes is discussed.

Where does your own action influence your perception of another person's action in the brain?

Activation of premotor cortex during the observation and imitation of human actions is now increasingly accepted, but it remains unclear how the CNS is able to resolve potential conflicts between the observation of another person's action and the ongoing control of one's own action. Recent data suggest that this overlap leads to a systematic bias, where lifting a box influences participant's perceptual judgments of the weight of a box lifted by another person. We now investigate the neural basis of this bias effect using fMRI. Seventeen participants performed a perceptual weight judgment task or two control conditions while lifting a light box, a heavy box or no box during scanning. Brain regions related to perceptual bias were localized by correlating individual differences in bias with BOLD signal. Five regions were found to show correlations with psychophysical bias: left inferior frontal gyrus, left central sulcus, left extrastriate body area, left lingual gyrus and right intraparietal sulcus. The cluster in primary motor cortex was also activated by box lifting, and the cluster in extrastriate body area by the observation of hand actions and the weight judgment task. We suggest that these brain areas are part of a network where motor processing modulates perceptual judgment of observed human actions, and thus visual and motor processes cannot be thought of as two distinct systems, but instead interact at many levels.

Judgment processes in older adults' drug benefit evaluations

Background The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 will provide drug coverage to older adults through a variety of mechanisms, including stand-alone prescription drug benefits. Variation in cost-sharing and utilization controls is permitted, leading potentially to a wide variety of prescription benefit plans. However, little is known regarding the manner in which beneficiaries will integrate information to form plan evaluations. Objectives The objectives of this study were to assess and compare the use of compensatory and configural judgment models in older adults' evaluations of drug benefit plans. Methods Three focus groups were conducted with a total of 19 seniors to elicit relevant drug plan attributes. A separate group of 32 seniors then judged the suitability of 48 drug benefit profiles based on these attributes. Within-subjects regression analysis was used to reveal each participant's judgment policy. Results Focus groups suggested that copayment, premium, deductible, formulary use, and mail-service use were relevant plan attributes. Regression analyses showed that while most participants used compensatory judgment models in evaluation formation, 12 (37.5%) subjects used conjunctive judgment models. Conclusions Configural judgment processes are used frequently by older adults when evaluating drug benefit plans. Future research using more fine-grained techniques (eg, process tracing) might help further elucidate judgment processes in this context.

LIGHTING POSITION AND JUDGMENTS OF DISTANCE OF SHADOW-CASTING OBJECTS

Participants recruited on the web performed in two experiments in which they viewed eight pictures of the same two rods in the exact same positions with shadows generated by a light source located at eight positions around the rods. In Exp. 1, participants judged how much shadows projected to the front, back, and sides of the rods facilitated the correct perception of the actual distance of the rods relative to each other. In Exp. 1 (n: 52), frontal lighting facilitated judgments more than lighting from the rear, but frontal and side lighting did not differ in facultative effects. In Exp. 2 (n: 72), Judgments of rods depicted with shadows were relative to a judgment of the rods depicted without shadows (raw scores were the value of the judgment of the shadowless rods subtracted from the value of the judgment of each of the eight sets of rods). Again, frontal lighting was more facilitative than rear lighting and frontal lighting did not differ from side lighting. However, when the average of each participant's backlighting judgments was compared with his judgment of the shadowless rods, shadows generated by backlighting were more facilitative than none.

To See Or Not To See: The Uses of Photometers and Measurements of Reflective Power

Armed with a photometer orginally designed for evaluating telescopes, Richard Potter in the early 183Os measured the reflective power of metallic and glass mirrors. Because he found significant discrepancies between his measurements and Fresnel's predictions, Potter developed doubts concerning the wave theory. However, Potter's measurements were colored by a peculiar procedure. In order to protect the sensitivity of the eye, Potter made certain approximations in the measuring process, which exaggerated the discrepancies between the theory and the data. Potter's measurements received strong criticisms from wave theorists, not because they felt they needed to defend their theory, but because they believed that Potter was wrong in using the eye as an essintial apparatus in the experiments. Potter's photometric measurements and the subsequent debate reveal the existence of two incompatible sets of measuring procedures, each of which consisted of a body of practices concerning how photometric instruments should be used properly. In the debate, the differnces regarding measuring procedures shaped the participant's judgments of experimental evidence and eventually their evaluations of the optical thories.

Prejudice Against a Progay Man in an Everyday Situation: A Scenario Study1

A scenario study was performed to investigate whether people in the street would be less likely to respond positively to a stranger's request for a small favor if the stranger wore a T‐shirt bearing a progay slogan. One hundred and eighteen female and 112 male participants were each presented with six scenarios, all of which asked them to imagine being approached by a person requesting change for a banknote. The dependent variable in the study was the participant's judgment, on a 7‐point scale, of how likely he or she would be to help. Five of the scenarios were included as distractors. In the critical scenario, the requester was described as wearing a plain T‐shirt or one with either a progay or a control slogan printed on it. The male participants in the progay condition showed a significantly lower level of help than those in either of the control groups. The antigay pattern, however, was not obtained in the responses of the female participants. The results are discussed with reference to other findings in the literature, and their implications for people's responses to progay persons in everyday life are considered.