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Quantifying performance in magnitude comparison tasks using a drift-diffusion model
Get PDFWe investigate the viability of the drift-diffusion framework to account for behaviour on magnitude comparison tasks. Data from both published studies on magnitude comparison and a simulation are analysed to estimate the key drift-diffusion model parameters, using the EZ-diffusion method and HDDM package. All methods resulted in linear mappings between drift rate and difficulty (indexed using 1 - smaller/larger), with an intercept that was consistently close to zero for non- symbolic tasks. The EZ method was rapid and simple to apply, but subject to bias when using aggregate data or when individual accuracy was very high. In contrast, the HDDM tool produced results that were less biased, but individual differences were under-estimated. We conclude that application of parameter estimation methods, particularly in research on individual differences, requires careful consideration of their limitations
The economic returns to public investment in social science research: semi-structured literature review
Get PDFDo we live in a ‘Post-Truth’ era?
Get PDFHave we entered a ‘post-truth’ era? This article is an attempt to answer this question by (a) offering an explication of the notion of ‘post-truth’ from recent discussions, (b) deriving a testable implication from that explication, to the effect that we should expect to see decreasing information effects – that is, differences between actual preferences and estimated, fully informed preferences – on central political issues over time and then (c) putting the relevant narrative to the test by way of counterfactual modelling, using election year data for the period of 2004–2016 from the American National Election Studies’ Times Series Study. The implication in question turns out to be consistent with the data: at least in a US context, we do see evidence of a decrease in information effects on key, political issues – immigration, same-sex adoption and gun laws, in particular – in the period 2004–2016. This offers some novel, empirical evidence for the ‘post- truth’ narrative
Developmental milestones in early childhood and genetic liability to neurodevelopmental disorders
Get PDFBackground: Timing of developmental milestones, such as age at first walking, is associated with later diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disorders. However, its relationship to genetic risk for neurodevelopmental disorders in the general population is unknown. Here, we investigate associations between attainment of early-life language and motor development milestones and genetic liability to autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia.
Methods: We use data from a genotyped sub-set (N = 25699) of children in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). We calculate polygenic scores (PGS) for autism, ADHD, and schizophrenia and predict maternal reports of children's age at first walking, first words, and first sentences, motor delays (18 months), and language delays and a generalised measure of concerns about development (3 years). We use linear and probit regression models in a multi-group framework to test for sex differences.
Results: We found that ADHD PGS were associated with earlier walking age (β = −0.033, padj < 0.001) in both males and females. Additionally, autism PGS were associated with later walking (β = 0.039, padj = 0.006) in females only. No robust associations were observed for schizophrenia PGS or between any neurodevelopmental PGS and measures of language developmental milestone attainment.
Conclusions: Genetic liabilities for neurodevelopmental disorders show some specific associations with the age at which children first walk unsupported. Associations are small but robust and, in the case of autism PGS, differentiated by sex. These findings suggest that early-life motor developmental milestone attainment is associated with genetic liability to ADHD and autism in the general population
Should I stay or should I go? Understanding stakeholder dis/engagement for deforestation-free Palm Oil
Get PDFAddressing tropical deforestation in the palm oil sector involves a diverse range of stakeholders who engage or disengage with each other. Palm oil Global Value Chain (GVC) firms (plantation companies, traders and processors, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers) as well as non-governmental organisations, financial institutions, consultancies and certification bodies, pursue their respective organisations’ agendas through engagement practices, including through coalitions, in a Palm Oil Sustainability Network (POSN). Building on interviews with different stakeholder groups, this qualitative study characterises and critically analyses ‘stakeholder engagement’ by examining: (1) The priority targets for engagement among different POSN stakeholders, (2) How mechanisms and tools are used in POSN stakeholder engagement or disengagement for addressing deforestation, and (3) The implications of stakeholder engagement or disengagement for addressing deforestation. Engagement and disengagement practices are shaped by and reshape GVC governance, with powerful stakeholders emerging as knowledge brokers and norms-setters, raising important challenges for how deforestation is addressed
Cancelling cancellation? Sensorimotor control, agency, and prediction
Get PDFFor decades, classic theories of action control and action awareness have been built around the idea that the brain predictively ‘cancels’ expected action outcomes. However, recent research casts doubt over this basic premise. What do these new findings mean for classic accounts of action? Should we now ‘cancel’ old data, theories and approaches generated under these paradigms? In this paper, we argue ‘No’. While doubts about predictive cancellation may urge us to fundamentally rethink how predictions shape perception, the wider pyramid using these ideas to explain action control and agentic experiences can remain largely intact. Some adaptive functions assigned to predictive cancellation can be achieved through quasi-predictive processes, that influence perception without actively tracking the probabilistic structure of the environment. Other functions may rely upon truly predictive processes, but not require that these predictions cancel perception. Appreciating the role of these processes may help us to move forward in explaining how agents optimise their interactions with the external world, even if predictive cancellation is cancelled from theory
Socio-emotional wealth preservation and alliance success in family firms: the role of political instability and alliance management capability
Get PDFThe socio-emotional wealth preservation (SEW-P) can create a dilemma for family firms when seeking to establish strategic alliance: how to manage the need to establish strategic alliances aimed at obtaining complementary network-based resources (the economic dimension) with the fear that such a move may jeopardize the family control and domination (the SEW dimension). To address this dilemma (also labelled as a ‘mixed gamble’), we theorized that the concern to preserve the SEW (i.e., SEW-P) can contribute to family firms alliance success dependent on the leverage of alliance management capability (AMC). We also propose that the SEW-P can act as an organizational cognitive enabler for AMC. Yet, the positive association between SEW-P and AMC will become stronger when the family firms operate in a politically unstable environment. We tested these hypotheses using a unique dataset collected from 302 family firms operating in a politically unstable environment (the Libyan context), and the analysis lends support to our model and predictions. Overall, the study advances the alliance theories and family business literature by adding new insights that explain the effect of nonfinancial priorities of family firms, and its related contingencies, in predicting alliance success
Performing the Queer past: public possessions
No full textBook synopsis: Why do contemporary queer theatre and performance appear to be possessed by the past? What aesthetic practices and dramaturgical devices reveal the occupation of the present by painful history? How might the experience of theatre and performance relieve the present of its most arduous burdens?
Following recent legislation and cultural initiatives across many Western countries that suggest the darkest days for LGBTQ+ people are over, this book turns our attention to artists who invoke history's enduring harm. Guiding us through an eclectic range of examples that includes Artangel, Cassils, David Hoyle, Dickie Beau, Franko B, Jeremy O. Harris, Karen Finley, les ballets C de la B, McDermott & McGough, Milo Rau, Rachel Mars, Split Britches and Travis Alabanza, Walsh explores how this work reckons with the incarceration and untimely death of Oscar Wilde, the Holocaust, racial objectification, the AIDS crisis and covid-19, alongside more local and personal experiences of violence, trauma and grief.
Walsh deftly traces how these histories are summoned and interrogated via what he elaborates as aesthetics and dramaturgies of possession, which lend form to the still-stinging aches and generative potential of injustice and loss. These strategies expose how the past continues to haunt a wishfully timeless present, while calling on those of us who feel its force to tend to history's unresolved hurt
Search for exploratory and exploitative service innovation in manufacturing firms: the role of ties with service intermediaries
Get PDFAlthough the literature highlights the role of ties with service intermediaries in facilitating firms’ search for innovation, the relationship between these ties and exploratory versus exploitative service innovation remains unclear. In line with the innovation search perspective, we combine search scope and search depth to analyze and examine the mechanism of how ties with service intermediaries influence exploratory and exploitative service innovation differently. We also propose that technological capability and strategic flexibility moderate the impact of the relationships on exploratory versus exploitative service innovation. Using data from a sample of manufacturing firms in China, we find that ties with service intermediaries have a positive effect on exploitative service innovation but an inverted U-shaped relationship with exploratory service innovation. We further find that technological capability strengthens the positive effects of ties on both exploratory and exploitative service innovation, whereas strategic flexibility strengthens the positive effects of ties on exploratory service innovation. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the curvilinear effects of the effect of service intermediaries on exploratory and exploitative service innovation. This study also extends the literature by proposing and empirically confirming that technological capability and strategic flexibility help manufacturing firms take advantage of relationships with service intermediaries
Exploring user-generated content related to vegetarian customers in restaurants: an analysis of online reviews
Get PDFThe purpose of this research is to explore and evaluate factors that impact the dining experience of vegetarian consumers within a range of vegetarian-friendly restaurants. To explore the factors and understand consumer experience, this study analyzes a vast number of user-generated contents of vegetarian consumers which have become vital sources of consumer experience information. This study utilizes machine learning techniques and traditional methods to examine 54,299 TripAdvisor reviews of approximately 1,008 vegetarian-friendly restaurants in London. The study identifies 20 topics that represent a holistic opinion influencing the dining experience of vegetarian customers. The results suggest that “friendly staff” is the most popular topic, and has the highest topic percentage. The results of regression analyses reveal that six topics have a significant impact on restaurant ratings, while thirteen topics have negative impacts. Restaurant managers who pay close attention to vegetarian aspects may utilize the findings of this paper to better satisfy vegetarian consumer demands and formulate appropriate training courses
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