Not All Bad Apples Spoil the Bunch: Order Effects on the Evaluation of Groups

When group members are encountered in a random sequential order, people expect the first (vs. middle or last) member to be more diagnostic of the group. Therefore, they weigh the performance of the first (vs. middle or last) more heavily in their predictions and decisions about the whole group

A robot hand testbed designed for enhancing embodiment and functional neurorehabilitation of body schema in subjects with upper limb impairment or loss.

Many upper limb amputees experience an incessant, post-amputation "phantom limb pain" and report that their missing limbs feel paralyzed in an uncomfortable posture. One hypothesis is that efferent commands no longer generate expected afferent signals, such as proprioceptive feedback from changes in limb configuration, and that the mismatch of motor commands and visual feedback is interpreted as pain. Non-invasive therapeutic techniques for treating phantom limb pain, such as mirror visual feedback (MVF), rely on visualizations of postural changes. Advances in neural interfaces for artificial sensory feedback now make it possible to combine MVF with a high-tech "rubber hand" illusion, in which subjects develop a sense of embodiment with a fake hand when subjected to congruent visual and somatosensory feedback. We discuss clinical benefits that could arise from the confluence of known concepts such as MVF and the rubber hand illusion, and new technologies such as neural interfaces for sensory feedback and highly sensorized robot hand testbeds, such as the "BairClaw" presented here. Our multi-articulating, anthropomorphic robot testbed can be used to study proprioceptive and tactile sensory stimuli during physical finger-object interactions. Conceived for artificial grasp, manipulation, and haptic exploration, the BairClaw could also be used for future studies on the neurorehabilitation of somatosensory disorders due to upper limb impairment or loss. A remote actuation system enables the modular control of tendon-driven hands. The artificial proprioception system enables direct measurement of joint angles and tendon tensions while temperature, vibration, and skin deformation are provided by a multimodal tactile sensor. The provision of multimodal sensory feedback that is spatiotemporally consistent with commanded actions could lead to benefits such as reduced phantom limb pain, and increased prosthesis use due to improved functionality and reduced cognitive burden

The First-Member Heuristic: Group Members Labeled “First” Influence Judgment and Treatment of Groups

People often make judgments about a group (e.g., immigrants from a specific country) based on information about a single group member. Seven studies (N = 1,929) tested the hypothesis that people will expect the performance of an arbitrarily ordered group to match that of the group member in the first position of a sequence more closely than that of group members in other positions. This greater perceived diagnosticity of the first member will in turn affect how people treat the group. This pattern of judgment and treatment of groups, labeled the “firstmember heuristic,” generalized across various performance contexts (e.g., gymnastic outine, relay race, job performance), and regardless of whether the focal member performed poorly or well (Studies 1-3). Consistent with the notion that first members are deemed most informative, participants were most likely to turn to the member in the first (vs. other) position to learn about the group (Study 4). Further, through their disproportionate influence on the expected performance of other group members, first members’ performances also influenced participants’ support of policies that would benefit or hurt a group (Study 5) and their likelihood to join a group (Study 6). Finally, perceived group homogeneity moderated the first-member heuristic, such that it attenuated for nonhomogeneous groups (Study 7)

Technical risk information: Decision tool or rhetorical ammunition? Undisputed facts in the Yucca Mountain debate

This paper examines how both opponents and proponents of the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca mountain Nevada claim that uncontroversial information supports their conflicting positions. Four pieces of information in particular are claimed by both sides: the distance of the proposed site from Las Vegas, the volume of waste that has been produced, the threat of terrorism since 9/11/01, and the occurrence of an earthquake in early 2002. Possible explanations for the difference include naive positivism, social constructionism, persistent beliefs and implicit warrants. The latter two models better explain observed knowledge/preference states. If so, more or better information alone will not improve the dialog about Yucca mountain. Rather, dialog should include a discussion of the ways in which they interpret information and draw conclusions based on their beliefs and warrants. This conclusion may be generalized to a range of information-intensive risk decisions

She’s Not Forgotten: School Counselors in the pursuit of ending the school push out of Black Girls

Professional school counselors play a critical role in ensuring that ALL students have access to quality education free from discrimination. Inequitable discipline practices and systemic racism have hindered the academic and social/emotional development of Black girls. This workshop will help school counselors learn how to identify discriminatory practices, analyze current national data, and provide resources to implement supports and interventions in their schools. The last decade has seen major court cases reflecting social changes affecting school counselors\u27 legal and ethical obligations. Learn about principles of practice emerging from recent court rulings involving sexually active students, educational records, transgender youth, child abuse, social media, suicide, and academic advising. Participant learning outcomes: After attending this session you should be able to: 1. Identify discriminatory practices common in public schools 2. Analyze current national data on Black girls’ experiences in public schools 3. Implement evidence-based interventions to support Black girlshttps://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1133/thumbnail.jp

Hanse Cultural Geography and Communal Identity in Late-Medieval City Views of Lübeck

This article examines painted and printed city views of Lübeck, Germany, from ca. 1465 to 1540 as a lens to examine the corporate body of Hanse merchants and towns in the Baltic late-medieval urban environment. Previous studies on painted views of Lübeck in the background of Bernt Notke’s Lübeck Dance of Death and Hermen Rode’s Altarpiece of Sts. Nicholas and Viktor interpret the cityscape as a marker for the dominance of Lübeck in the Baltic Sea. In identifying the manipulated monuments and spatial distortions in representations of Lübeck, this article draws upon the social context of patronage and recent studies on the Hanse network to argue that city views of Lübeck attest to the shared urban group and cultural practices between Hanse merchants and towns. The Lübeck city view, displayed locally and extraterritorially, and further proliferated in early printed geography books, catered to the Hanse collective of intertwined consumers and markets.publishedVersion© The Author(s) 202