Reexamining the “Brain Drain” Effect: Does Ward et al. (2017) Replicate?

The present study was a pre-registered direct replication of Ward et al.’s (2017) second experiment (OSF pre-registration found at: https://osf.io/5fq4r). This replication assigned both smartphone location (on desk, in pocket/bag, or outside of the testing room) and smartphone power (on, or off) for a total of six conditions. Participants completed an automated operation span (OSpan) task, a cue-dependent go/no-go task, and the smartphone attachment and dependency inventory. It was hypothesized that performance on an attention-demanding task (i.e., the OSpan task) would be worse for those in closer proximity to their smartphone (on desk) and that those with greater smartphone attachment and dependency would have a larger “brain drain” effect. Using the same tasks and conditions as in Ward et al.’s (2017) second experiment, the present study found that the “brain drain” effect did not replicate: there was no difference between smartphone location conditions on performance on either the o-span task or the go/no-go task. These findings demonstrate that the mere presence of one’s smartphone may not be enough to affect cognitive performance. Understanding these effects is crucial in a time where smartphones are a basic necessity.

When do people lie, for whom, and why? : altruistic lying in an alibi corroboration context.

Three studies were conducted in order to identity factors that impact the likelihood that a witness will lie for a suspect in an alibi corroboration context. Specifically, the level of affinity between a suspect and a witness, the level of social pressure, and gender were investigated as factors impacting the likelihood that a witness would knowingly support a false alibi. During a study session purportedly intended to investigate dyadic problem-solving ability, a mock theft was staged in an adjacent office. When questioned by the experimenter, undergraduate students were provided the opportunity to either corroborate or refute a confederate’s false alibi that the latter had been in the testing room during the time of the theft, which participants knew was false. In study 1, participants who were explicitly asked to conceal the confederate’s whereabouts during the time of the theft were more likely to lie for him or her by corroborating the false alibi (61% vs. 26% of those who were not asked to lie). In study 2, there was a higher percentage of male participants who corroborated a male confederate’s false alibi (41%) compared to female participants who corroborated a female confederate’s false alibi (23%). In study 3, participants were found to be more likely to lie for a confederate when the latter was their friend (41%) than when he or she was a stranger (18%). How much a participant liked the suspect (study 1) and whether or not the suspect had previously helped the participant (study 2) did not affect the rates of false alibi corroboration. The results confirm that alibi witnesses often lie, but suggest that investigators and jurors may underestimate the frequency with which strangers and acquaintances lie for one another, and that witnesses who lie do so more often because they trust that the suspect is innocent rather than guilty.

When do people lie, for whom, and why? : altruistic lying in an alibi corroboration context.

Three studies were conducted in order to identity factors that impact the likelihood that a witness will lie for a suspect in an alibi corroboration context. Specifically, the level of affinity between a suspect and a witness, the level of social pressure, and gender were investigated as factors impacting the likelihood that a witness would knowingly support a false alibi. During a study session purportedly intended to investigate dyadic problem-solving ability, a mock theft was staged in an adjacent office. When questioned by the experimenter, undergraduate students were provided the opportunity to either corroborate or refute a confederate’s false alibi that the latter had been in the testing room during the time of the theft, which participants knew was false. In study 1, participants who were explicitly asked to conceal the confederate’s whereabouts during the time of the theft were more likely to lie for him or her by corroborating the false alibi (61% vs. 26% of those who were not asked to lie). In study 2, there was a higher percentage of male participants who corroborated a male confederate’s false alibi (41%) compared to female participants who corroborated a female confederate’s false alibi (23%). In study 3, participants were found to be more likely to lie for a confederate when the latter was their friend (41%) than when he or she was a stranger (18%). How much a participant liked the suspect (study 1) and whether or not the suspect had previously helped the participant (study 2) did not affect the rates of false alibi corroboration. The results confirm that alibi witnesses often lie, but suggest that investigators and jurors may underestimate the frequency with which strangers and acquaintances lie for one another, and that witnesses who lie do so more often because they trust that the suspect is innocent rather than guilty.

Investigation of the Stress and Sleep Physiology Correlates of Next-Day Memory for Details of a Social Stressor Testing Environment

Despite evidence which demonstrates that psychosocial stress interacts with sleep to modulate memory, research that has examined next-day memory for the stressful environment itself has not accounted for post-stressor sleep. Here, participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test or a matched control task with psychophysiological monitoring and stress hormone assays. After a 24-hour delay that included overnight polysomnographically-recorded sleep, memory for objects in the testing room was assessed by having participants draw the testing room from the previous day from memory. As expected, stressed participants mounted greater psychophysiological and stress hormone responses to the stressor than participants in the control condition. However, there was only weak evidence that stress reactivity and post-encoding sleep interacted to modulate memory for testing room details. Instead, NREM sleep physiology on the night following testing room encoding was positively associated with memory for testing room details, though this association occurred in the control, but not stressed, participants.

An Experimenter's Influence on Motor Enhancements: The Effects of Letter Congruency and Sensory Switch-Costs on Multisensory Integration

Multisensory integration can alter information processing, and previous research has shown that such processes are modulated by sensory switch costs and prior experience (e.g., semantic or letter congruence). Here we report an incidental finding demonstrating, for the first time, the interplay between these processes and experimental factors, specifically the presence (vs. absence) of the experimenter in the testing room. Experiment 1 demonstrates that multisensory motor facilitation in response to audiovisual stimuli (circle and tone with no prior learnt associations) is higher in those trials in which the sensory modality switches than when it repeats. Those participants who completed the study while alone exhibited increased RT variability. Experiment 2 replicated these findings using the letters “b” and “d” presented as unisensory stimuli or congruent and incongruent multisensory stimuli (i.e., grapheme-phoneme pairs). Multisensory enhancements were inflated following a sensory switch; that is, congruent and incongruent multisensory stimuli resulted in significant gains following a sensory switch in the monitored condition. However, when the participants were left alone, multisensory enhancements were only observed for repeating incongruent multisensory stimuli. These incidental findings therefore suggest that the effects of letter congruence and sensory switching on multisensory integration are partly modulated by the presence of an experimenter.

PERANCANGAN TATA LETAK LABORATORIUM PAKAN DENGAN METODE COMPUTERIZED RELATIONSHIP LAYOUT PLANNING DI INDUSTRI PENGGEMUKAN SAPI

Feed laboratory is a facility that guarantees feed quality in the feedlot industry. But the existence of this laboratory has not been fully considered both in terms of facilities and layout that ease the movement of workers. This research aims to analyze machine and raw material properties in the feed laboratory, to find total closeness rating between facilities according the need and designing the layout of facilities in the laboratory that can streamline the material flow. The problem is how to design facility layout in feed laboratory which has different tool and machine characteristics in limited space, how to plan material flow that can minimize work flow. The method used is computerized relationship layout planning (CORELAP). The result obtained is the design of the laboratory layout by comparing the optimum distance on the inter-work track. The calculation value from allocation relationship diagram showed the biggest total closseness rating is the testing room. From the calculation of the distance difference layout design, it is known that the second alternative provides a better solution with the largest distance difference of 41.52 for space with condition should be close and the distance difference of -31.21 for space with the condition should not be close. Keyword: feed laboratory layout, feedlot industry, computherized relationship layout planning

The Existence of Regulatory Sandbox to Encourage the Growth of Financial Technology in Indonesia

Bank Indonesia created an appropriate regulatory regime to drive the pace of innovation carried out by Financial Technology Providers while still applying the principles of consumer protection, risk management and prudence. One of the efforts made by Bank Indonesia was by issuing provisions concerning a regulatory sandbox for Financial Technology Providers along with their products, services, technology and/or business models in a Board of Governors Member Regulation No 19/14/PADG/2017 on the Limited Technology Testing Room (Regulatory Sandbox) Financial Technology. Meanwhile, the Financial Services Authority also issued regulation regarding the Regulatory Sandbox for Financial Technology Organizers in Financial Services Authority Regulation No. 13 / POJK.02/2018 on the Digital Financial Innovations in the Financial Services Sector. The main point of view to be analysed is the existence of regulatory sandbox approach held by Bank Indonesia and the Financial Services Authority as an effort to encourage the growth of Financial Technology in Indonesia.

The Laboratory of Natural Radiation (LNR) – a place to test radon instruments under variable conditions of radon concentration and climatic variables

The publication of the new European Union Basic Safety Standards represents a remarkable milestone in the field of radiological protection in terms of adding radon exposure to this framework. Therefore, the coming years will bring the need to measure radon not only in the workplaces but also in the living spaces as a direct outcome of the application of the new EU Directive. So, the importance of having reliable instruments is evident and interlaboratory exercises are becoming more and more popular. However, most of them are carried out under constant conditions of meteorological variables. We present in this paper a facility to broaden the interlaboratory comparisons further by adding the study of radon exposures under real conditions of changes in climatic parameters. In addition, the facility has the possibility to verify the response of radon monitors when the radon concentration changes several orders of magnitude in a short period of time. Our work shows some results of one of the interlaboratory exercises carried out in the premises, where the radon levels were rather homogeneous in the testing room.