We found comparable and large deficits in autism spectrum disorder for both face identity recognition & discrimination; these findings suggest that deficits in face identity processing may represent a core deficit in ASD

Griffin, J. W., Bauer, R., & Scherf, K. S. (2020). A quantitative meta-analysis of face recognition deficits in autism: 40 years of research. Psychological Bulletin, Oct 2020. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000310

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1321118260671205377

Abstract: The ability to recognize an individual face is essential to human social interaction. Even subtle errors in this process can have huge implications for the way we relate to social partners. Because autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social interaction, researchers have theorized about the potential role of atypical face identity processing to the symptom profile of ASD for more than 40 years. We conducted an empirical meta-analysis of this large literature to determine whether and to what extent face identity processing is atypical in ASD compared to typically developing (TD) individuals. We also tested the hypotheses that the deficit is selective to face identity recognition, not perception, and that methodological variation across studies moderates the magnitude of the estimated deficit. We identified 112 studies (5,390 participants) that generated 172 effect sizes from both recognition (k = 119) and discrimination (k = 53) paradigms. We used state-of-the-art approaches for assessing the validity and robustness of the analyses. We found comparable and large deficits in ASD for both face identity recognition (Hedge’s g = −0.86) and discrimination (Hedge’s g = −0.82). This means that the score of an average ASD individual is nearly 1 SD below the average TD individual on tasks assessing both aspects of face identity processing. These deficits generalize across age groups, sex, IQ scores, and task paradigms. These findings suggest that deficits in face identity processing may represent a core deficit in ASD.

Gratitude for one’s perception of a positive outcome resulting from an outside entity seems to protect against psychopathologies such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), promoting resilience or reducing severity

Giving Thanks is Associated with Lower PTSD Severity: A Meta-Analytic Review. Angela L. Richardson & Matthew W. Gallagher. Journal of Happiness Studies, Oct 27 2020. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-020-00322-9

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1321034192709390337

Abstract: A rising interest in the psychological community in resilience has spurred research examining psychological resources that promote resilience to psychopathologies such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One such psychological resource is gratitude, or one’s perception of a positive outcome resulting from an outside entity. The present study is a meta-analytic review of the relationship between gratitude and PTSD in order to determine whether the current literature is consistent with gratitude acting as a possible protective factor against PTSD severity as well as a possible intervention mechanism. A comprehensive literature review identified 11 studies that met eligibility criteria, resulting in a total of 3694 participants. The mean effect size between gratitude and PTSD severity was − 0.23 [95% CI (− 0.32, − 0.15)], indicating a moderate, negative relationship between gratitude and PTSD severity. Moderator analyses indicated that these results were not impacted by gender or trauma type. The moderate association between gratitude and PTSD is indicative that further study may be needed to explore if and how gratitude may work to protect against or be used to reduce PTSD.

Evidence against benefits from cognitive training and transcranial direct current stimulation in healthy older adults

Evidence against benefits from cognitive training and transcranial direct current stimulation in healthy older adults. Kristina S. Horne, Hannah L. Filmer, Zoie E. Nott, Ziarih Hawi, Kealan Pugsley, Jason B. Mattingley & Paul E. Dux. Nature Human Behaviour, Oct 26 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-00979-5

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1321027877329055746

Abstract: Cognitive training and brain stimulation show promise for ameliorating age-related neurocognitive decline. However, evidence for this is controversial. In a Registered Report, we investigated the effects of these interventions, where 133 older adults were allocated to four groups (left prefrontal cortex anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with decision-making training, and three control groups) and trained over 5 days. They completed a task/questionnaire battery pre- and post-training, and at 1- and 3-month follow-ups. COMT and BDNF Val/Met polymorphisms were also assessed. Contrary to work in younger adults, there was evidence against tDCS-induced training enhancement on the decision-making task. Moreover, there was evidence against transfer of training gains to untrained tasks or everyday function measures at any post-intervention time points. As indicated by exploratory work, individual differences may have influenced outcomes. But, overall, the current decision-making training and tDCS protocol appears unlikely to lead to benefits for older adults.

It is not true that political beliefs aim at truth, or that many citizens have stable and meaningful political beliefs, or that citizens choose to support political candidates or parties on the basis of their political beliefs

The Point of Political Belief. Michael Hannon & Jeroen de Ridder. Forthcoming in the Routledge Handbook of Political Epistemology. Michael Hannon and Jeroen de Ridder (Eds.). Oct 2020. https://philarchive.org/archive/HANTPO-54

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1321016149224624128

Abstract: An intuitive and widely accepted view is that (a) beliefs aim at truth, (b) many citizens have stable and meaningful political beliefs, and (c) citizens choose to support political candidates or parties on the basis of their political beliefs. We argue that all three claims are false. First, we argue that political beliefs often differ from ordinary world-modelling beliefs because they do not aim at truth. Second, we draw on empirical evidence from political science and psychology to argue that most people lack stable and meaningful political beliefs. Third, we claim that the true psychological basis for voting behavior is not an individual’s political beliefs but rather group identity. Along the way, we reflect on what this means for normative democratic theory.

Reconstructing prehistoric demography: What role for extant hunter‐gatherers?

Reconstructing prehistoric demography: What role for extant hunter‐gatherers? Abigail E. Page  Jennifer C. French. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, October 26 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21869

Abstract: Demography is central to biological, behavioral, and cultural evolution. Knowledge of the demography of prehistoric populations of both Homo sapiens and earlier members of the genus Homo is, therefore, key to the study of human evolution. Unfortunately, demographic processes (fertility, mortality, migration) leave little mark on the archeological and paleoanthropological records. One common solution to this issue is the application of demographic data from extant hunter‐gatherers to prehistory. With the aim of strengthening this line of enquiry, here we outline some pitfalls and their interpretative implications. In doing so, we provide recommendations about the application of hunter‐gatherer data to the study of demographic trends throughout human evolution. We use published demographic data from extant hunter‐gatherers to show that it is the diversity seen among extant hunter‐gatherers—both intra‐ and inter‐population variability—that is most relevant and useful for understanding past hunter‐gatherer demography.

pitfall one: not recognizing the limitations of hunter‐gatherer demographic data

pitfall two: the incorrect interpretation of demographic parameters

pitfall three: overlooking the differences in demographic scales in prehistoric and extant hunter‐gatherers

pitfall four: uncritically applying demographic uniformitarianism to archaic hominins

pitfall five: assuming there is such a thing as “the” hunter‐gatherer demography

7 CONCLUSIONS

We have highlighted five key pitfalls faced by researchers seeking to apply demographic data from extant hunter‐gatherers to prehistoric contexts. These pitfalls have varying methodological and theoretical implications but share two common elements: (a) they are often caused by poor communication between those studying past and present hunter‐gatherers; (b) they mask variation in the demography of hunter‐gatherer groups, past and present.

Given the sparse nature of the prehistoric database and the limited range of demographic variables on which it directly informs, data from extant hunter‐gatherers will always play a key role in reconstructing prehistoric demography. The specifics of this role will vary depending on the research questions being asked, and whether demography is central or peripheral to these. However, in all cases, it is vital to avoid using demographic data from recent foragers in ways which reproduce a limited view of the present (based on single groups or average values) in the past. Using the example of TFR we have underlined the usefulness of HBE as a framework, which minimizes the risk of using ethnographic data in this way. HBE seeks to understand the patterning and the reasoning behind human diversity, following the premise that individuals optimize behavioral strategies to particular ecological contexts.25, 134 Hunter‐gatherers worldwide still make allocation decisions based on their mode of subsistence, degree of mobility, and social structures,39 pressures which likely have parallels in prehistory. The recommendation of the use of HBE in prehistoric hunter‐gatherer studies is not new,39 but is of clear theoretical benefit,135 particularly for research areas such as demography with a fundamentally biological basis. Exploring how hunter‐gatherers today respond to different environmental pressures allows us to hypothesize about, and reconstruct elements of, prehistoric demography without relying on assumptions from a few recent foraging populations or on average values, which obscure diversity. Instead, HBE leverages this diversity to understand what predicts it, adding new pathways of investigation, and allowing for a range of possible values to be explored, and their relevance to the prehistoric case assessed. To better understand the demography of hunter‐gatherers, past and present, those of us who work with extant hunter‐gatherers should aim to improve our datasets by systematically exploring the relationship(s) and patterning of demographic parameters across a range of behavioral variables at the intra‐ and inter‐population level. Concomitantly, archeologists and paleoanthropologists should ensure that they combine an understanding of the limitations and possibilities of demographic data from recent foragers with their expertise on their own paleodemographic methods. We hope that this work presented in this manuscript is a good first step in that direction.

Rolf Degen summarizing... The will to combat anti-vaccination misinformation feeds on the third-person effect, the belief that others are more susceptible to (bad) media effects than oneself

The Battle is On: Factors that Motivate People to Combat Anti-Vaccine Misinformation. Yanqing Sun et al. Health Communication, Oct 23 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1838108

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1320984800275189767

Abstract: This study proposes a theory-driven model to concurrently examine the cognitive and emotional factors that motivate vaccine supporters to combat erroneous online anti-vaccination information. The model was tested using data from a web survey of 599 vaccination supporters in the United States. The vaccine supporters reported greater support for government regulation of misinformation when they perceived greater susceptibility among the general public to the influence of misinformation. Surprisingly, the perceived severity of the influence was inversely related to respondents’ intention to correct misinformation. In addition, perceived susceptibility to the influence of anti-vaccine misinformation and perceived severity of its influence on others induced negative emotions that included anticipated guilt and anger. The negative emotions in turn motivate vaccine supporters to attitudinally support government’s media restriction or behaviorally correct the online misinformation.

Finland is known for its high-performing educational system but performance has declined during the past decade; we may not be dealing with a true anti-Flynn effect, the decline may be explained by reduced motivation & effort

Three Studies on Learning to Learn in Finland: Anti-Flynn Effects 2001–2017. Mari-Pauliina Vainikainen ORCID Icon &Jarkko Hautamäki. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Oct 22 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2020.1833240

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1320979016493473792

Abstract: Finland is known for its high-performing educational system, but local assessments have shown that performance has declined during the past decade. We report the results of nationally representative learning to learn assessments in which 15-year-olds took an identical test in the same schools in 2001, 2012 and 2017. The results show that the level of both domain-general cognitive performance and learning-related beliefs dropped dramatically from 2001 to 2012, but the negative trend has stopped since then. For learning-related beliefs, the 2017 results were approaching the 2001 baseline level. The findings indicate that we may not be dealing with a true anti-Flynn effect, but the decline can possibly be explained by reduced motivation and effort in low-stakes assessment and schoolwork.

KEYWORDS: Learning to learn, anti-Flynn effect, cognitive competences, learning-related beliefs, decline of test scores

In primates the capacity to inhibit behaviour when making decisions correlates better with the demands of social contexts than the demands of foraging contexts

The Evolution of Self-Control. Robin I.M. Dunbar, Susanne Shultz. bioRxiv, Oct 26 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.26.354852

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1320961122913144833

Abstract: The capacity to inhibit prepotent actions (self-control) plays a potentially important role in many aspects of the behaviour of birds and mammals. A number of studies, for example, have used it as an index of foraging skills. Inhibition is, however, also crucial for maintaining the temporal and spatial coherence of bonded social groups. Using comparative data, we show that in primates the capacity to inhibit behaviour when making decisions correlates better with the demands of social contexts than the demands of foraging contexts. We argue that the capacity to inhibit prepotent action has been crucial for the evolution of bonded social systems in primates and some other mammals.

Encouraging individuals to attribute political ideology to biology leads to decreased political prejudice, decreased political intolerance, and a perception of less political polarization

Baker, Melissa, and Ingrid J. Haas. 2020. “Biological Attributions for Political Ideology Decrease Political Prejudice and Intolerance.” PsyArXiv. October 26. doi:10.31234/osf.io/pkjh7

Abstract: Does attributing the roots of political ideology to biology influence political tolerance and how people feel about political outgroups? In this paper, we examine the effects of attributing political ideology to biology, as opposed to personal choices that are more malleable, on political prejudice, intolerance, and perceptions of political polarization. Using an experimental paradigm, we encouraged respondents to think about political ideology as either rooted in biology or as a personal choice that is not fixed. Results from two experiments suggest that encouraging individuals to attribute political ideology to biology leads to decreased political prejudice, decreased political intolerance, and a perception of less political polarization.