Specificity effects in reasoning with counterintuitive and arbitrary conditionals

When people have prior knowledge about an inference, they accept conclusions from specific conditionals (e.g., “If Jack does sports, then Jack loses weight”) more strongly than for unspecific conditionals (e.g., “If a person does sports, then the person loses weight”). But can specific phrasings also elevate the acceptance of conclusions from unbelievable conditionals? In Experiment 1, we varied the specificity of counterintuitive conditionals, which described the opposite of what is expected according to everyday experiences (“If Lena/a person studies hard, then Lena/the person will not do well on the test”). In Experiment 2, we varied the specificity of arbitrary conditionals, which had no obvious link between antecedent and consequent (“If Mary/a person goes shopping, then Mary/ the person gets pimples”). All conditionals were embedded in MP and AC inferences. Participants were instructed to reason as in daily life and to evaluate the conclusions on a 7-point Likert scale. Our results showed a specificity effect in both experiments: participants gave higher acceptance ratings for specific than for unspecific conditionals.

Less is more

According to the Body-Specificity Hypothesis, humans preferentially associate positive features with their dominant side with which they interact more fluently, and negatives features with their non-dominant side with which they act more clumsily. The current research investigated implicit space-valence mappings in two clinical populations, namely, patients with unilateral stroke and individuals who suffered the loss of a limb. Across the two studies, our findings offered general support for the Body-Specificity Hypothesis with important caveats. Specifically, the body-specificity effect was more detectable in the two groups of right-handed individuals with motor fluency impairment on their left side than healthy controls. This is possibly because the former can gain more fluent experience with their dominant hand since they exclusively use the intact hand for self-sufficiency, which may increase their bias toward “right-is-good” pattern. Taken together, the results provided converging evidence that individual differences in action fluency may moderate the body-specificity effect.

Recombinant production of rabbit β-Nerve Growth Factor and its biological effect on rabbit sperm

The neurotrophin β-Nerve Growth Factor (β-NGF) is flourishing as a protein with important roles in the ovulation induction process in induced-ovulation species but data in rabbits are still inconclusive, probably due to the species-specificity effect of the neurotrophin to trigger the ovulation. Moreover, β-NGF seems to have a role in sperm function. To clarify these functionalities we aimed, in the present research: 1) to newly synthesize a functional recombinant β-NGF from rabbit (rrβ-NGF), 2) to reveal differences in the amino acid sequence of rabbit β-NGF compared to other sequences of induced and spontaneous ovulator species, and 3) to assess the effects of rrβ-NGF on sperm viability and motility. The nucleotide sequence of NGF from rabbit prostate was sequenced by Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends (RACE) and annotated in GenBank (KX528686). Then, rrβ-NGF was produced in CHO cells and purified by affinity chromatography. Western blot and MALDI-TOF analyses confirmed the correct identity of the recombinant protein. rrβ-NGF functionality was validated in PC12 cells through a successful dose-response effect along 8 days. The comparison of the amino acid sequences of NGF between rabbit and other species suggested some relevant substitutions at its binding site to both the high-(TrkA) and the low-(p75) affinity receptors. The addition of rrβ-NGF in rabbit sperm, in a time- and dose-response study, did not affect its viability but slightly changed some of its motility parameters at the highest concentration used (100 ng/ml). Thus, it can be considered that this new recombinant protein may be used for biotechnological and reproduction assisted techniques in ovulation-induced species.

On extraction from definite DPs

This paper discusses the pattern of extraction of genitives out of definite DPs in English, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese (BP), with consideration of the Specificity Effect (Fiengo and Higginbotham 1981), a constraint that in English, for instance, prevents extraction from definite/specific DPs, allowing extraction only for indefinite DPs. BP allows extraction from DPs headed by definite and indefinite articles, but blocks extraction from DPs headed by demonstratives. Spanish allows extractions from indefinite DPs and blocks extraction from DPs headed by demonstratives. In addition, it blocks extraction of possessors and agents from DPs headed by definite articles, but allows extraction from themes in this context. In order to theoretically support our proposal, we consider the analysis presented by Ticio (2003, 2006), along with Grohmann's (2000) notion of prolific domains and the restrictions on movement observed by Ticio for Spanish, but with suggested modifications. We suggest that the different patterns of extraction of genitives found in English, Spanish and BP are due to the position in which the article holds, and also due to the category that allows genitives in each of these languages.