Recent Empirical Advances Research Articles

Situating language and music research in a domain‐specific versus domain‐general framework: A review of theoretical and empirical data

AbstractWhile many theoretical proposals about the relationship between language and music processing have been proposed over the past 40 years, recent empirical advances have shed new light on this relationship. Many features are shared between language and music, inspiring research in the fields of linguistic theory, systematic musicology, and cognitive (neuro‐)science. This research has led to many and diverse findings, making comparisons difficult. In the current review, we propose a framework within which to organise past research and conduct future research, suggesting that past research has assumed either domain‐specificity or domain‐generality for language and music. Domain‐specific approaches theoretically and experimentally describe aspects of language and music processing assuming that there is shared (structure‐building) processing. Domain‐general approaches theoretically and experimentally describe how mechanisms such as cognitive control, attention or neural entrainment can explain language and music processing. Here we propose that combining elements from domain‐specific and domain‐general approaches can be beneficial for advances in theoretical and experimental work, as well as for diagnoses and interventions for atypical populations. We provide examples of past research which has implicitly merged domain‐specific and domain‐general assumptions, and suggest new experimental designs that can result from such a combination aiming to further our understanding of the human brain.

Future of Carbon Storage in the Yangtze River Basin, China under Alternative Climate and Land-Use Pathways

While the Chinese government has put a strong emphasis on combating climate change and pledged to strive for “carbon neutrality” in the 2060s, it is fundamental to assess the likely evolution of carbon storage in China’s terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we conducted a simulation study grounded by recent empirical evidence and advances in modeling techniques to project the spatiotemporal dynamics of carbon storage of the Yangtze River Basin (YRB)’s ecosystem from 2015 to 2050. Two sets of scenarios were developed to analyze the plausible effects of land-use change, climatic change, and carbon policy on carbon dynamics. The results show that the estimated total carbon storage of the YRB’s ecosystem was 21.75 Pg C in 2015, accounting for about a quarter of the total in China. Model simulations projected an overall increase in carbon storage of the YRB’s ecosystem. Under the combined scenarios, land-use change and climate change contributed to total carbon sequestration by 1.45 to 2.02 PgC and 1.64 to 2.00 PgC, respectively. Under the carbon tax scenario, due to an increase in the extent of forest driven by different carbon regimes, the YRB was projected to absorb 1.26 to 2.32 PgC by 2050. Several regions had been projected under threats of severe carbon losses, including a few places with high present-day carbon density in the middle reaches of the YRB. Our results could provide a more complete picture of carbon sequestration potential of the YRB’s ecosystems, which could benefit the formulation of nature-based solutions.

Uniformitarian Prediction of Early‐Pleistocene Atmospheric CO2

AbstractDespite recent empirical and modeling advances, atmospheric CO2 concentrations during the early Pleistocene remain uncertain. Using a recently‐developed Bayesian paleoclimate model, an ensemble of seven different CO2 records is inferred conditional on reconstructions of past sea level. Five ensemble members give a consensus prediction that CO2 concentrations averaged 241 ppm (238–245 ppm 95% CI) between 2 and 0.8 Ma. Uncertainty estimates account for contributions from orbital forcing, age uncertainties, and other factors. Our consensus prediction aligns well with a compilation of previously published δ11B‐based CO2 reconstructions after calibration to late‐Pleistocene ice‐core CO2 values, as well as with 60 early‐Pleistocene CO2 measurements from the Allan Hills in East Antarctica. Our consensus prediction can be definitively tested by obtaining continuous ice‐core atmospheric CO2 records that extend into the early Pleistocene.

The Interpersonal Regulation Interaction Scale (IRIS): A multistudy investigation of receivers' retrospective evaluations of interpersonal emotion regulation interactions.

Recent conceptual and empirical advances have focused on interpersonal dimensions of emotion regulation and, more specifically, to the features of attempted support transactions that shape the outcomes of enacted support. We conducted 2 autobiographical recall studies to investigate receivers' evaluations of intrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation interactions, to ascertain the number of dimensions required to capture variation in those evaluations, and then to examine associations of those dimensions with perceived benefits of the interactions. To do so, we developed a new questionnaire, the Interpersonal Regulation Interaction Scale (IRIS). In Study 1 (n = 390), an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the IRIS yielded 4 dimensions, which we labeled responsiveness, hostility, cognitive support, and physical presence. Each dimension was uniquely associated with perceived benefits of receiving interpersonal emotion regulation. In Study 2, we collected multiple, diverse samples (ns = 199-895) and found support for the replicability and generalizability of key findings from Study 1, including the factor structure and associations with perceived benefits. In summary, across 2 studies and multiple, diverse samples, we identified 4 conceptually and practically important dimensions of receivers' evaluations of interpersonal emotion regulation interactions and developed a brief measure that taps interaction variability in these dimensions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The IRAP as a Measure of Implicit Cognition: A Case of Frankenstein's Monster.

The implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP) was initially developed as a way to assess the strength and probability of natural verbal relations, as defined within relational frame theory (RFT), and was conceptually rooted within the behavior-analytic tradition. However, the IRAP quickly became employed primarily as a measure of implicit cognition, more in line with mainstream psychology than behavior analysis. In doing so, research using the IRAP increasingly employed ill-defined mainstream psychological terms, focused on correlational analyses with traditional psychometry, and thus emphasized prediction over the prediction-and-influence of behavior. Although perhaps beneficial to the study of implicit cognition, this approach could be argued to have limited the IRAP's utility in behavior analyses of human language and cognition. In the current article we will reflect on this suggestion, on the IRAPs place and current use in the field of behavior analysis, and on its potential future within behavioral psychology in light of recent conceptual and empirical advances in RFT. In doing so, it is hoped that the measure may be refined into a better understood, more precise, functional-analytic tool.

The evil within: The AMORAL model of dark creativity

The dark side of creativity entails using original thought to meet a selfish, negative, or evil goal, with or without the deliberate intent to harm others. Recent empirical advances have studied the behavioral correlates of such creativity, including associations with aggression, deception, and subclinical psychopathy. The time, therefore, seems apt to propose a theoretical framework for dark creativity’s development and manifestation. This article outlines the AMORAL model of dark creativity, which traces a creative action from its Antecedents to Mechanisms and Operants to its Realization, and to the subsequent Aftereffects and Legacy of the act. We use both real-life and simulated examples to illustrate the application of the theory across multiple domains, from law enforcement to interpersonal relationships. Our goal is to help guide future scholarship and measurement.

Deterioration of nature's information webs in the Anthropocene

Information use constitutes the key aspect of phenotype–environment interactions for any organism living in a heterogeneous environment, as information increases the chances of making the decisions that match the current perceived state of the world. Information use is ubiquitous in a variety of contexts and organisms throughout their lifetime are inter‐woven into complex information webs, in which information is constantly produced, gained and transmitted among conspecifics and heterospecifics. Due to increasingly disruptive anthropogenic changes to the Earth's support system, this information dimension of individuals' lives is now being increasingly deteriorated by human‐induced rapid environmental changes. Here, we argue that one of the more pressing challenges for the field of the Ecology of Information – the study of how organisms acquire and use information and the ecological significance of informed decision‐making – is to expand the current framework and strengthen its bridge to conservation biology. Building on recent theoretical and empirical advances in the field of Ecology of Information, we first emphasize the far‐reaching ecological ramifications of information use and provide an overview of how individuals' informed decision‐making scales up to affect population and community dynamics. Next, we highlight how recent human‐induced rapid environmental changes deteriorate information acquisition, use and transmission in natural systems, thereby disrupting nature's information webs. The omission of information from conservation actions can have largely detrimental effects. Thus, there is an urgent need for ecologists and conservation biologists to explicitly trace and quantify the flows of information in ecological systems, and the diversity of information sources used by living organisms for decision‐making and to establish collective efforts to preserve nature's information webs.

The integrative biology of genetic dominance.

ABSTRACTDominance is a basic property of inheritance systems describing the link between a diploid genotype at a single locus and the resulting phenotype. Models for the evolution of dominance have long been framed as an opposition between the irreconcilable views of Fisher in 1928 supporting the role of largely elusive dominance modifiers and Wright in 1929, who viewed dominance as an emerging property of the structure of enzymatic pathways. Recent theoretical and empirical advances however suggest that these opposing views can be reconciled, notably using models investigating the regulation of gene expression and developmental processes. In this more comprehensive framework, phenotypic dominance emerges from departures from linearity between any levels of integration in the genotype‐to‐phenotype map. Here, we review how these different models illuminate the emergence and evolution of dominance. We then detail recent empirical studies shedding new light on the diversity of molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying dominance and its evolution. By reconciling population genetics and functional biology, we hope our review will facilitate cross‐talk among research fields in the integrative study of dominance evolution.

Avian vocalisations: the female perspective.

Research on avian vocalisations has traditionally focused on male song produced by oscine passerines. However, accumulating evidence indicates that complex vocalisations can readily evolve outside the traditional contexts of mate attraction and territory defence by male birds, and yet the previous bias towards male song has shaped - and continues to shape - our understanding of avian communication as a whole. Accordingly, in this review we seek to address this imbalance by synthesising studies on female vocalisations from across signalling contexts throughout the Aves, and discuss the implications of recent empirical advances for our understanding of vocalisations in both sexes. This review reveals great structural and functional diversity among female vocalisations and highlights the important roles that vocalisations can play in mediating female-specific behaviours. However, fundamental gaps remain. While there are now several case studies that identify the function of female vocalisations, few quantify the associated fitness benefits. Additionally, very little is known about the role of vocal learning in the development of female vocalisations. Thus, there remains a pressing need to examine the function and development of all forms of vocalisations in female birds. In the light of what we now know about the functions and mechanisms of female vocalisations, we suggest that conventional male-biased definitions of songs and calls are inadequate for furthering our understanding of avian vocal communication more generally. Therefore, we propose two simple alternatives, both emancipated from the sex of the singer. The first distinguishes song from calls functionally as a sexually selected vocal signal, whilst the second distinguishes them mechanistically in terms of their underlying neurological processes. It is clear that more investigations are needed into the ultimate and proximate causes of female vocalisations; however, these are essential if we are to develop a holistic epistemology of avian vocal communication in both sexes, across ecological contexts and taxonomic divides.

The evolution of flight in bats: a novel hypothesis

Abstract Bats (order Chiroptera) are the only mammals capable of powered flight, and this may be an important factor behind their rapid diversification into the over 1400 species that exist today – around a quarter of all mammalian species. Though flight in bats has been extensively studied, the evolutionary history of the ability to fly in the chiropterans remains unclear. We provide an updated synthesis of current understanding of the mechanics of flight in bats (from skeleton to metabolism), its relation to echolocation, and where previously articulated evolutionary hypotheses for the development of flight in bats stand following recent empirical advances. We consider the gliding model, and the echolocation‐first, flight‐first, tandem development, and diurnal frugivore hypotheses. In the light of the recently published description of the web‐winged dinosaur Ambopteryx longibrachium, we draw together all the current evidence into a novel hypothesis. We present the interdigital webbing hypothesis: the ancestral bat exhibited interdigital webbing prior to powered flight ability, and the Yangochiroptera, Pteropodidae, and Rhinolophoidea evolved into their current forms along parallel trajectories from this common ancestor. Thus, we suggest that powered flight may have evolved multiple times within the Chiroptera and that similarity in wing morphology in different lineages is driven by convergence from a common ancestor with interdigital webbing.

Disgust selectively dampens value-independent risk-taking for potential gains

Despite intricate interactions between emotion and decision making, the underlying cognitive mechanisms that govern their relationship remain elusive. Recent theoretical and empirical advances suggest that preferences in risky decision making can arise from the computation of subjective utility (value-dependent) or direct approach-avoidance action tendencies (value-independent). Here, 48 participants performed two gambling tasks (accept/reject and choice selection tasks) under the emotion manipulation (neutral versus disgust) to investigate how decision context and emotion may influence risk preference via the value-dependent and -independent pathways. The results showed that the decision context affected the degree to which both value-dependent and -independent systems were engaged. Crucially, however, the disgust emotion had a selective effect on participants' choices in the accept/reject task. Furthermore, computational analyses revealed that this specific effect resulted from a reduced propensity to gamble for potential gains by engaging only the value-independent system. These results indicate dissociative effects of decision context and emotion and suggest a specific route by which disgust influences choice preference in risky decision making.

Children's future-oriented cognition.

Children's future-oriented cognition has become a well-established area of research over the last decade. Future-oriented cognition encompasses a range of processes, including those involved in conceiving the future, imagining and preparing for future events, and making decisions that will affect how the future unfolds. We consider recent empirical advances in the study of such processes by outlining key findings that have yielded a clearer picture of how future thinking emerges and changes over childhood. Our interest in future thinking stems from a broader interest in temporal cognition, and we argue that a consideration of developmental changes in how children understand and represent time itself provides a valuable framework in which to study future-oriented cognition.

Predation, Seigneurial Tenure, and Development in French Colonial America

AbstractThere is substantial debate over the colonial origins of divergence within the Americas. In this debate, the French Empire has been largely ignored even though, until 1760, it included Canada. This article uses recent empirical advances in our knowledge of the colonial Canadian economy to introduce the role of French institutions—most notably the institution of seigneurial tenure—into the debate on the colonial origins of divergence. It argues that the institution of seigneurial tenure in Canada when it was under French rule (up to 1760) had predatory features that help to explain why Canada was the poorest of the North American colonies.

Mobility and its Effects on HIV Acquisition and Treatment Engagement: Recent Theoretical and Empirical Advances.

We reviewed literature across multiple disciplines to describe issues with the measurement of population mobility in HIV research and to summarize evidence of causal pathways linking mobility to HIV acquisition risks and treatment engagement, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. While the literature on mobility and HIV remains hampered by problems and inconsistency in measures of mobility, the recent research reveals a turn towards a greater attentiveness to measurement and gender. Theoretical and heuristic models for the study of mobility and HIV acquisition and treatment outcomes have been published, but few studies have used longitudinal designs with clear ascertainment of exposures and outcomes for measurement of causal pathways. Notwithstanding these limitations, evidence continues to accumulate that mobility is linked to higher HIV incidence, and that it challenges optimal treatment engagement. Gender continues to be important: while men are more mobile than women, women's mobility particularly heightens their HIV acquisition risks. Recent large-scale efforts to find, test, and treat the individuals in communities who are most at risk of sustaining local HIV transmission have been severely challenged by mobility. Novel interventions, policies, and health systems improvements are urgently needed to fully engage mobile individuals in HIV care and prevention. Interventions targeting the HIV prevention and care needs of mobile populations remain few in number and urgently needed.

From career decision-making to career decision-management: New trends and prospects for career counseling

The primary goal of this paper is to present a number of recent major theoretical and empirical advances in the field of career decision-making since this process has been increasingly identified by experts as a relatively subjective experience. In this line, a series of conceptual shifts concerning career decision-making and the relevant fundamental problem of career indecision are described. In particular, it seems that the scope of career guidance and counseling has moved from some rigid constructs (e.g. “sources of indecision”, “decision-making styles”) to more flexible, dynamic, holistic and multi-dimensional concepts (e.g. “coping strategies”, “positive psychosocial strengths-resources”, “future time perspective”) that may support the individuals in making better career decisions in the complex world of work of the 21 st century. Another aim of the article, on the basis of the aforementioned developments, is to provide proposals for the construction of an effective model for dealing with career decision-making challenges, in which the transition from the simple possession of related skills to the need of managing the decision-making process is adumbrated. Finally, specific implications and ideas regarding the use of methods and techniques intended for career interventions with young adults are discussed.

Personal and social proximity empowering collaborations: the glue of knowledge networks

ABSTRACTThe proximity framework serves to analyse and understand how collaborations form and develop over time, and how these affect innovation and learning. The framework has inspired and informed empirical studies in several contexts, contributing to our understanding of the dynamics of dyadic collaborations, industrial clusters and districts, and regional innovation systems, to name but a few. Recent conceptual and empirical advances have called attention to the role of personal proximity and social proximity in such collaborations. In addition to other forms of proximity, these two dimensions could make up the glue that holds knowledge networks together. In the introduction to this special issue, we elaborate upon this proposition, setting out a point-of-departure for the three empirical studies collected in this issue. We summarize the findings of these papers, and develop a research agenda from those findings that may guide proximity researchers to novel research problems and useful research designs.

Social Enterprise Innovation: A Quantitative Analysis of Global Patterns

Social enterprise and innovation are inextricably linked in the literature (Chell et al. in Entrepr Reg Dev 22(6):485–493, 2010; Dees in Harv Bus Rev 76:54, 1998; Light in Stanf Soc Innov Rev 4(3):47–51, 2006). To date, research on social enterprise innovation has predominantly focused on micro-level factors, such as the social entrepreneur or organizational attributes. Inversely, recent empirical advances on social enterprise find a country’s social enterprise sector is influenced by macro-institutional factors, including form of government, stage of economic development, culture and model of civil society (Monroe-White and Coskun, in: Shaping social enterprise: understanding institutional context and influence, Emerald Publishing Limited, London, pp 27–48, 2017). Given the link between social enterprise and innovation, recent empirical findings around social enterprise beg the question, do macro-institutional factors similarly predict innovation by social enterprises? This paper uses a hierarchical linear model to examine the influence of national-level variables on social enterprise innovation. Results indicate that similar to social enterprise, macro-institutional factors predict social enterprise innovation. More specifically, macro-institutional factors influence the various types of innovations (product, process and marketing) differently. Moreover, country-level innovation is traditionally defined by economic factors, such as R&D funding and STEM workforce, however, these factors do not help explain social enterprise innovation. Given the social aspects of social enterprise innovation, to capture the full scope of innovation within countries, expanded definitions of national-level innovation should be considered.

How trust and emotions influence policy acceptance: The case of the Irish water charges.

The introduction of new policies can evoke strong emotional reactions by the public. Yet, social-psychological research has paid little attention to affective determinants of individual-level policy acceptance. Building on recent theoretical and empirical advances around emotions and decision-making, we evaluate how people's trust and integral emotions function as important antecedents of cognitive evaluations, and subsequent acceptance of policies. We test our hypotheses within a sample of Irish citizens (n=505), who were subject to the introduction of water charges in 2015. In line with our hypotheses, results show that general trust in government shapes emotions regarding water charges, which in turn, directly and via expected costs and benefits, influence policy acceptance. Additionally, we find that negative emotions have a larger direct effect on policy acceptance than positive emotions. Specifically, 'anger' was the main negative emotion that influenced the acceptance of the water charge. We conclude by discussing directions for future research around emotions and policy acceptance.

Commentary: Effects of dividing attention on memory for declarative and procedural aspects of tool use.

Roy and Park (2016) developed the thesis that human tool use is based on a cooperative interaction of declarative and procedural memory systems (Roy and Park, 2010; Roy et al., 2015). This thesis is at odds with recent theoretical and empirical advances. Here, we discuss the validity of this thesis, suggesting that the declarative vs. procedural memory distinction is not suited for understanding the cognitive specificity of human tool use, namely, the ability to reason about physical object properties (Osiurak, 2014).

Addressing gaps on risk and resilience factors for alcohol use outcomes in sexual and gender minority populations.

In 2011, the Institute of Medicine released a report that constituted the first comprehensive effort by a federal body to understand the current state of science pertinent to the health needs of sexual and gender minority populations. This mini-review summarises recent empirical, methodological and theoretical advances in alcohol-related research among to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) populations and highlights progress towards addressing gaps, with a particular interest in those identified by the Institute of Medicine report. Articles published since 2011 were identified from PsycINFO and PubMed database searches, using various combinations of keyword identifiers (alcohol, alcohol abuse, substance abuse, LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender). Reference sections of included articles were also examined for additional citations. Recent empirical work has contributed to a greater understanding of sub-group differences within this diverse population. Evidence has supported theorised influences that can account for alcohol-related disparities, yet important gaps remain. Studies that examine the role of gender identity and its intersection with sexual identity within transgender and gender non-conforming sub-populations are lacking. Methodological advances in this literature have begun to allow for examinations of how minority-specific and general risk factors of alcohol misuse may contribute to patterns of alcohol involvement over time and within social-relational contexts The recommendations made in the current mini-review are meant to facilitate future collaborative efforts, scale development, thoughtful methodological design and analysis and theoretically driven nuanced hypotheses to better understand, and ultimately address, alcohol-related disparities among sexual and gender minority populations. [Talley AE, Gilbert PA, Mitchell J, Goldbach J, Marshall BDL, Kaysen D. Addressing gaps on risk and resilience factors for alcohol use outcomes in sexual and gender minority populations. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:484-493].