scholarly journals Non-strategic detection of identity-threatening information: Epistemic validation and identity defense may share a common cognitive basis

PLoS ONE ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e0261535
Author(s):  
Johanna Abendroth ◽  
Peter Nauroth ◽  
Tobias Richter ◽  
Mario Gollwitzer
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Strategic Control ◽  
False Information ◽  
Positive Probe ◽  
Threatening Information ◽  
Reading Identity ◽  
False Identity

Readers use prior knowledge to evaluate the validity of statements and detect false information without effort and strategic control. The present study expands this research by exploring whether people also non-strategically detect information that threatens their social identity. Participants (N = 77) completed a task in which they had to respond to a “True” or “False” probe after reading true, false, identity-threatening, or non-threatening sentences. Replicating previous studies, participants reacted more slowly to a positive probe (“True”) after reading false (vs. true) sentences. Notably, participants also reacted more slowly to a positive probe after reading identity-threatening (vs. non-threatening) sentences. These results provide first evidence that identity-threatening information, just as false information, is detected at a very early stage of information processing and lends support to the notion of a routine, non-strategic identity-defense mechanism.

Four Positive Effects of a Salesperson’s Regional Dialect in Services Selling

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Mai ◽  
Stefan Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Identity Theory ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Regional Dialect ◽  
Selling Process

This research analyzes how a salesperson’s regional dialect influences the efficacy of services selling. Four dialect effects are derived from theories of information processing, accent prestige theory, and social identity theory. In the first study, 92 industrial buyers, and in the second study, 126 customers evaluated salespersons after actual sales conversations. In contrast to conventional wisdom, both studies show that buyers do not generally devalue salespersons with a dialect. If speech is of high quality, a regional dialect improves satisfaction with the salesperson, rather than reducing it. Favorable sound qualities and prestigious stereotypical associations with the dialect also raise satisfaction with the salesperson. Moreover, the fit between salesperson and buyer dialects enhances satisfaction with the company and fosters purchase intention. In order to increase their persuasiveness, salespersons should be aware of the four dialect effects. Companies would also benefit from training salespersons to improve their speech quality, rather than concealing their dialect. If possible, salespersons should deliberately modify their way of speaking in all phases of the service-selling process.

Social-Emotional Correlates of Early Stage Social Information Processing Skills in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 486-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Russo-Ponsaran ◽  
Clark McKown ◽  
Jason K. Johnson ◽  
Adelaide W. Allen ◽  
Bernadette Evans-Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Social Information Processing ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Emotional

Information Processing of Pictograms and the Visual Field Difference

2002 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinji Kitagami ◽  
Tomoyoshi Inoue ◽  
Yukiko Nishizaki
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Standard Stimulus ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Verbal Stimuli ◽  
Imagery Processing

The main purpose was to investigate how we process pictograms and to examine the effects of learning on visual field differences when participants overlearn the meaning of each pictogram. 15 students were required to judge whether the referent of each symbol was either larger or smaller than the referent of the standard stimulus (Test 1). Several days later the same task was conducted (Test 2). Although a right visual field advantage was observed in Test 1, it was not apparent at Test 2 after participants had studied the pictogram list repeatedly. These results suggest that pictograms might be processed in much the same way as other ordinary verbal stimuli at a very early stage of learning. Participants could, however, comprehend the pictograms by employing a kind of imagery processing after they were familiar with the symbols.

scholarly journals Association between changes in salivary microbiota with glucose levels during pregnancy – findings from a pilot study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Pei Wang ◽  
Liangkun Ma ◽  
Rongjun Guo ◽  
Yongjing Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Fasting Blood Glucose ◽  
Alpha Diversity ◽  
Oral Microbiota ◽  
Microbial Composition ◽  
Health Maintenance ◽  
Maternal Characteristics ◽  
Salivary Microbiota

Abstract Background : Microbial shifts that correspond to host variations during pregnancy are vital in health maintenance. Significant changes have been reported in the oral microbiota of pregnant women when compared with nonpregnant women, but little is known about the dynamic shifts in oral microbiota during the pregnancy course. Methods : In this study, changes in salivary microbiota in 81 healthy pregnant women throughout the early stage (G1: 9-14 weeks), middle stage (G2: 21-28 weeks), and late stage (G3: 31-38 weeks) were investigated with 16S rRNA sequencing techniques. Correlations between salivary microbiota and maternal characteristics, including fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels, were evaluated. Results : Alpha diversity indexes were stable throughout pregnancy, but significant changes were found in beta diversity measured by weighted and unweighted UniFrac distances. Fourteen dominant trimester-specific taxa were identified using the LEfSe method, including Bacteroidetes in G1, Proteobacteria in G2 and Firmicutes in G3 at the phylum level. Tax4Fun prediction analysis revealed significant changes in Genetic Information Processing, Environmental Information Processing, Unclassified and Human Diseases in G2 and in Metabolism in G3 when compared to G1. Significant correlations were found between FBG levels and microbial composition, and these correlations were independent of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) status. Conclusion : Within the limitations of this study, the dynamic changes in salivary microbiota during pregnancy were characterized, and beyond pregnancy, FBG was also involved in shaping the salivary microbiota.

6. The learning brain

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usha Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Reflective Learning ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Learning Behaviour ◽  
Strategic Control ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Cognitive Behaviour

‘The learning brain’ looks at the influence of personal experience on how we apply logical reasoning and how we learn to detach logic from our own experience. Schooling helps children to become ‘reflective learners’. Self-reflective learning behaviour, or meta-cognitive behaviour, refers to the ability to reflect on personal information-processing skills, to monitor personal cognitive performance, and the ability to be aware of demands from different kinds of cognitive tasks. Children also learn ‘executive function’ skills, which are processes that enable a child to gain strategic control over their own mental processes. These sorts of skills have important developmental links to success in school.

Voluntary and Stimulus-Induced Attention Detected as Motion Sensation

Perception ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 517-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okihide Hikosaka ◽  
Satoru Miyauchi ◽  
Shinsuke Shimojo
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Response Bias ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Stimulus Change ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Visual Information Processing ◽  
Salient Object ◽  
Voluntary Attention ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up

Attention may be drawn passively to a visually salient object. We may also actively direct attention to an object of interest. Do the two kinds of attention, passive and active, interact and jointly influence visual information processing at some neural level? What happens if the passive and active attentions come into conflict? These questions were addressed with the aid of a novel psychophysical technique which reveals an attentional gradient as a sensation of motion in a line which is presented instantaneously. The subjects were asked to direct attention with voluntary effort: to the side opposite to a stimulus change, to an object with a predetermined colour, and to an object moving smoothly. In every case the same motion sensation was induced in the line from the attended side to the unattended side. This voluntary attention, however, can easily and quickly be distracted by a change in the periphery, though it can be regained within a period of 200 to 500 ms. The results suggest that the line motion can be induced in voluntary (top-down) as well as stimulus-driven (bottom-up) situations, thus indicating the truly attentional nature of the effect, rather than it being some kind of retinotopic sensory artifact or response bias. The results also suggest that these two kinds of attention have facilitatory effects acting together on a relatively early stage of visual information processing.

Fake News Finds an Audience

2019 ◽  
pp. 201-222
Author(s):  
Erik P. Bucy ◽  
John E. Newhagen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Educational Strategy ◽  
Fake News ◽  
False Information ◽  
User Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Systems

The vulnerabilities shown by media systems and individual users exposed to attacks on truth from fake news and computational propaganda in recent years should be considered in light of the characteristics and concerns surrounding big data, especially the volume and velocity of messages delivered over social media platforms that tax the average user’s capacity to determine their truth value in real time. For reasons explained by the psychology of information processing, a high percentage of fake news that reaches audiences is accepted as true, particularly when distractions and interruptions typify user experiences with technology. As explained in this essay, fake news thrives in environments lacking editorial policing and epistemological vigilance, making the social media milieu ideally suited for spreading false information. In response, we suggest the value of an educational strategy to combat the dilemma that digital disinformation poses to informed citizenship.

scholarly journals The KOALA-study: study protocol for a comprehensive study of cognitive biases in adolescent anorexia nervosa patients compared to healthy and clinical controls

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anca Sfärlea ◽  
Linda Lukas ◽  
Gerd Schulte-Körne ◽  
Belinda Platt
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Memory Biases ◽  
Interpretation Biases ◽  
Clinical Control ◽  
Types Of Information

Abstract Background Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by dysfunctional cognitions including cognitive biases at various levels of information processing. However, less is known about the specificity of these biases, i.e., if they occur for eating-disorder-related information alone or also for non-eating-disorder-related emotional information in AN patients (content-specificity) and if they are unique to individuals with AN or are also shown by individuals with other mental disorders (disorder-specificity). Methods The present study systematically assesses cognitive biases in 12–18-year-old female adolescents with AN on three levels of information processing (attention, interpretation, and memory) and with regard to two types of information content (eating-disorder-related, i.e., stimuli related to body weight and shape, and non-eating-disorder-related). To address not only content- but also disorder-specificity, adolescents with AN will be compared not only to a healthy control group but also to a clinical control group (adolescents with major depression or particular anxiety disorders). Cognitive biases are assessed within a single experimental paradigm based on the Scrambled Sentences Task. During the task eye movements are recorded in order to assess attention biases while interpretation biases are derived from the behavioural outcome. An incidental free recall test afterwards assesses memory biases. We expect adolescents with AN to show more pronounced negative cognitive biases on all three levels of information processing and for both types of content compared to healthy adolescents. In addition, we expect the specificity of biases to translate into differential results for the two types of content: AN patients are expected to show stronger biases for disorder-related stimuli but similar or less pronounced biases for non-disorder-related stimuli compared to the clinical control group. Discussion This is the first study to comprehensively assess cognitive biases in adolescents with AN. It will have essential implications not only for cognitive-behavioural models of AN but also for subsequent studies aiming to modify cognitive biases in this population, thereby addressing important maintaining factors already at an early stage of the disorder.

Cognitive status and addiction denial in the early stages of alcohol addiction

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s874-s874
Author(s):  
P. Ponizovskiy ◽  
A. Gofman
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Dependence ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Motor Coordination ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Alcohol Addiction ◽  
Alcohol Tolerance ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Impaired Control

IntroductionDenial is a common feature of alcohol addiction that is apparent in the early and late stages of the disease. Defensive psychological mechanisms and cognitive failure have been reported as reasons for addiction denial. Effective therapeutic approaches should consider the reasons for anosognosic denial.Aims and objectivesThe study investigates the correlations between the degree of denial of alcohol addiction and cognitive status of people in the early stages of alcohol dependence.MethodSubjects were identified using clinical interview the AUDIT questionnaire investigating compulsive drinking, impaired control of drinking, alcohol tolerance, and symptoms of withdrawal.ResultsForty-nine alcoholic patients at early stage of alcohol dependence were identified. At assessment, all had been abstinent for at least 7 days. They reported compulsive drinking, impaired control over it, increased alcohol tolerance, but no withdrawal symptoms followed by relief drinking. The level of denial was defined by summing up the quantitative ratings of awareness of alcohol addiction and its harmful effects. Three groups emerged of non/mild, moderate, and severe levels of addiction denial. Neuropsychological evaluation of verbal memory, logical memory, visual-motor coordination, and motor and mental speed was conducted.ConclusionThe identified cognitive deficiencies in the 3 groups were mild. Correlation between the poorer test performance and higher levels of denial was not significant. In the early stages of alcohol addiction, the anosognosic denial appears to be an unconscious ego defense mechanism leading to rejection of all the addiction-related problems.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document