Making choices boosts memory, even more so for the unchosen options

Making memorable choices: Cognitive control and the self-choice effect in memory. Cassandra Baldwin, Katie E. Garrison, Roy F. Baumeister & Brandon J. Schmeichel. Self and Identity , Feb 20 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2021.1888787

Abstract: The current research tested the effects of active choice on memory (i.e., the self-choice effect). Across 14 experiments (N = 1100) we found that memory for choice alternatives was improved by choosing versus being assigned information to remember. A subset of 3 experiments found a bigger self-choice effect for more difficult choices. And a subset of 6 experiments found that prior acts of self-control reduce the self-choice effect. These findings represent unbiased estimates of the self-choice effect (d = 0. 62), the magnitude of the self-choice effect for easy (d = 0.35) versus more difficult (d = 0.87) choices, and the effect of ego depletion on choice memory (d = 0.39). Discussion centers on the role of cognitive control.

KEYWORDS: Choiceego depletioncognitive controlmemoryself-choice effect

COVID-19 mortality as a fingerprint of biological age (not chronological age)

COVID-19 mortality as a fingerprint of biological age. M. Cristina Polidori et al. Ageing Research Reviews, February 20 2021, 101308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2021.101308

Highlights

• Advanced age and comorbidity do not appear to justify alone COVID-19-related mortality and being 80 years old or older cannot be the basis for resource allocation.

• COVID-19 targets pathways and domains affected by the main aging- and frailty-related pathophysiological changes.

• A closer analysis of the existing data supports a possible role of biological age, rather than chronological age, in the prognosis of COVID-19.

• While further research on measuring biological age is performed, valid assessments of multidimensional frailty should be systematically implemented in routine diagnostic algorithms to quantify risk of COVID-19-related poor outcomes.

Abstract: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global emergency able to overwhelm the healthcare capacities worldwide and to affect the older generation especially. When addressing the pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical manifestations of COVID-19, it becomes evident that the disease targets pathways and domains affected by the main aging- and frailty-related pathophysiological changes. A closer analysis of the existing data supports a possible role of biological age rather than chronological age in the prognosis of COVID-19. There is a need for systematic, consequent action of identifying frail (not only older, not only multimorbid, not only symptomatic) persons at risk of poor outcomes in order to protect our oldest generation from COVID-19.

Keywords: Biological ageCorona virus disease 2019COVID-19FrailtySevere acute respiratory syndrome-corona virus 2SARS-CoV-2

Most people across the political spectrum have relatively moderate media diets, about a quarter of which consist of mainstream news websites & portals; there is above 50pct overlap of media use among Democrats & Republicans

(Almost) Everything in Moderation: New Evidence on Americans' Online Media Diets. Andrew M. Guess. American Journal of Political Science, February 19 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12589

Rolf Degen's take: Large-scale study corroborates that the vast majority of Americans consume relatively moderate media diets, making a mockery of the elitist caricature of ideologues in echo chambers

Abstract: Does the internet facilitate selective exposure to politically congenial content? To answer this question, I introduce and validate large‐N behavioral data on Americans' online media consumption in both 2015 and 2016. I then construct a simple measure of media diet slant and use machine classification to identify individual articles related to news about politics. I find that most people across the political spectrum have relatively moderate media diets, about a quarter of which consist of mainstream news websites and portals. Quantifying the similarity of Democrats' and Republicans' media diets, I find nearly 65% overlap in the two groups' distributions in 2015 and roughly 50% in 2016. An exception to this picture is a small group of partisans who drive a disproportionate amount of traffic to ideologically slanted websites. If online “echo chambers” exist, they are a reality for relatively few people who may nonetheless exert disproportionate influence and visibility.