Sex and age differences in "theory of mind" across 57 countries using the English version of the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test.

The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test (Eyes Test) is a widely used assessment of "theory of mind." The NIMH Research Domain Criteria recommends it as one of two tests for "understanding mental states." Previous studies have demonstrated an on-average female advantage on the Eyes Test. However, it is unknown whether this female advantage exists across the lifespan and across a large number of countries. Thus, we tested sex and age differences using the English version of the Eyes Test in adolescents and adults across 57 countries. We also tested for associations with sociodemographic and cognitive/personality factors. We leveraged one discovery dataset (N = 305,726) and three validation datasets (Ns = 642; 5,284; and 1,087). The results show that: i) there is a replicable on-average female advantage in performance on the Eyes Test; ii) performance increases through adolescence and shallowly declines across adulthood; iii) the on-average female advantage is evident across the lifespan; iv) there is a significant on-average female advantage in 36 out of 57 countries; v) there is a significant on-average female advantage on translated (non-English) versions of the Eyes Test in 12 out of 16 countries, as confirmed by a systematic review; vi) D-scores, or empathizing-systemizing, predict Eyes Test performance above and beyond sex differences; and vii) the female advantage is negatively linked to "prosperity" and "autonomy," and positively linked to "collectivism," as confirmed by exploratory country-level analyses. We conclude that the on-average female advantage on the Eyes Test is observed across ages and most countries.

Hand movements that change during psychotherapy and their relation to therapeutic outcome: An analysis of individual and simultaneous movements.

Hands are, compared to other body parts, the body parts that display the most gestural movements during an interaction and their movement is sensitive to reveal anxiety states. However, psychotherapy research focuses on movement synchrony of different body parts to be an indicator of improved symptoms. The present study investigates symptoms in social anxiety disorder and considers both, individual and simultaneous hand movements. 56 video recordings of 28 patient-therapist dyads with patients with social anxiety at the beginning and in the end of psychotherapy were analyzed. Two independent blind certified raters analyzed the hand movement behavior using the NEUROGES® analysis system for nonverbal behavior concerning individual movement units and the simultaneous overlaps between the patients' and therapists' movement units. Simultaneous overlap change negatively correlated with symptoms (LSAS week eight-measurement, r = -.52; and week 15-measurement, r = -.52; BDI pre-measurement, r = -.54). The patients' right hand movement at the end of the psychotherapy correlated significantly with therapeutic alliance (HAQ post-measurement; r = .55). Hand movement behavior analysis should be considered in psychotherapy research in combination with movement synchrony as a measurement parameter related to therapeutic process and outcome. Enriching previous findings, this study indicates that simultaneous movement change is related to symptoms and therefore a process-sensitive parameter in psychotherapy.

Computer mouse use captures ataxia and parkinsonism, enabling accurate measurement and detection.

BACKGROUND: Objective assessments of movement impairment are needed to support clinical trials and facilitate diagnosis. The objective of the current study was to determine if a rapid web-based computer mouse test (Hevelius) could detect and accurately measure ataxia and parkinsonism. METHODS: Ninety-five ataxia, 46 parkinsonism, and 29 control participants and 229,017 online participants completed Hevelius. We trained machine-learning models on age-normalized Hevelius features to (1) measure severity and disease progression and (2) distinguish phenotypes from controls and from each other. RESULTS: Regression model estimates correlated strongly with clinical scores (from r = 0.66 for UPDRS dominant arm total to r = 0.83 for the Brief Ataxia Rating Scale). A disease change model identified ataxia progression with high sensitivity. Classification models distinguished ataxia or parkinsonism from healthy controls with high sensitivity (≥0.91) and specificity (≥0.90). CONCLUSIONS: Hevelius produces a granular and accurate motor assessment in a few minutes of mouse use and may be useful as an outcome measure and screening tool. © 2019 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Association between Risk Communication Format and Perceived Risk of Adverse Events after COVID-19 Vaccination among US Adults.

The format used to communicate probability-verbal versus numerical descriptors-can impact risk perceptions and behaviors. This issue is salient for the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), where concerns about vaccine-related risks may reduce uptake and verbal descriptors have been widely used by public health, news organizations and on social media, to convey risk. Because the effect of risk-communication format on perceived COVID-19 vaccine-related risks remains unknown, we conducted an online randomized survey among 939 US adults. Participants were given risk information, using verbal or numerical descriptors and were asked to report their perceived risk of experiencing headache, fever, fatigue or myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccine. Associations between risk communication format and perceived risk were assessed using multivariable regression. Compared to numerical estimates, verbal descriptors were associated with higher perceived risk of headache (ß = 5.0 percentage points, 95% CI = 2.0-8.1), fever (ß = 27 percentage points, 95% CI = 23-30), fatigue (ß = 4.9 percentage points, 95% = CI 1.8-8.0) and myocarditis (ß = 4.6 percentage points, 95% CI = 2.1-7.2), as well as greater variability in risk perceptions. Social media influence was associated with differences in risk perceptions for myocarditis, but not side effects. Verbal descriptors may lead to greater, more inaccurate and variable vaccine-related risk perceptions compared to numerical descriptors.

Meta-summaries effective for improving awareness and understanding of COVID-19 vaccine safety research.

Despite the efficacy, safety, and availability of COVID-19 vaccines, a lack of awareness and trust of vaccine safety research remains an important barrier to public health. The goal of this research was to design and test online meta-summaries-transparent, interactive summaries of the state of relevant studies-to improve people's awareness and opinion of vaccine safety research. We used insights from a set of co-design interviews (n = 22) to develop meta-summaries to highlight metascientific information about vaccine safety research. An experiment with 863 unvaccinated participants showed that our meta-summaries increased participants' perception of the amount, consistency, and direction of vaccine safety research relative to the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) webpage, and that participants found them more trustworthy than the CDC page as well. They were also more likely to discuss it with others in the week following. We conclude that direct summaries of scientific research can be a useful communication tool for controversial scientific topics.

Identifying with all humanity predicts cooperative health behaviors and helpful responding during COVID-19.

In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts have produced guidelines to limit the spread of the coronavirus, but individuals do not always comply with experts' recommendations. Here, we tested whether a specific psychological belief-identification with all humanity-predicts cooperation with public health guidelines as well as helpful behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that peoples' endorsement of this belief-their relative perception of a connection and moral commitment to other humans-would predict their tendencies to adopt World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and to help others. To assess this, we conducted a global online study (N = 2537 participants) of four WHO-recommended health behaviors and four pandemic-related moral dilemmas that we constructed to be relevant to helping others at a potential cost to oneself. We used generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) that included 10 predictor variables (demographic, contextual, and psychological) for each of five outcome measures (a WHO cooperative health behavior score, plus responses to each of our four moral, helping dilemmas). Identification with all humanity was the most consistent and consequential predictor of individuals' cooperative health behavior and helpful responding. Analyses showed that the identification with all humanity significantly predicted each of the five outcomes while controlling for the other variables (Prange < 10-22 to < 0.009). The mean effect size of the identification with all humanity predictor on these outcomes was more than twice as large as the effect sizes of other predictors. Identification with all humanity is a psychological construct that, through targeted interventions, may help scientists and policymakers to better understand and promote cooperative health behavior and help-oriented concern for others during the current pandemic as well as in future humanitarian crises.

Controlling for Participants' Viewing Distance in Large-Scale, Psychophysical Online Experiments Using a Virtual Chinrest.

While online experiments have shown tremendous potential to study larger and more diverse participant samples than is possible in the lab, the uncontrolled online environment has prohibited many types of psychophysical studies due to difficulties controlling the viewing distance and stimulus size. We introduce the Virtual Chinrest, a method that measures a participant's viewing distance in the web browser by detecting a participant's blind spot location. This makes it possible to automatically adjust stimulus configurations based on an individual's viewing distance. We validated the Virtual Chinrest in two laboratory studies in which we varied the viewing distance and display size, showing that our method estimates participants' viewing distance with an average error of 3.25 cm. We additionally show that by using the Virtual Chinrest we can reliably replicate measures of visual crowding, which depends on a precise calculation of visual angle, in an uncontrolled online environment. An online experiment with 1153 participants further replicated the findings of prior laboratory work, demonstrating how visual crowding increases with eccentricity and extending this finding by showing that young children, older adults and people with dyslexia all exhibit increased visual crowding, compared to adults without dyslexia. Our method provides a promising pathway to web-based psychophysical research requiring controlled stimulus geometry.

André Schroeder (1918­2004) ­ Groundbreaking Pioneer in Swiss Academic Dentistry

The career of André Schroeder (1918­2004), Professor of Operative Dentistry and Endodontics at the University of Bern, and long-term Editor in Chief of the Schweizerische Monatsschrift für Zahnheilkunde (predecessor of the Swiss Dental Journal SSO), is unique in many respects. Forty years ago, in 1979, Schroeder reached the zenith of his career when he was elected President (Rector) of the University of Bern ­ thereby becoming the first dentist in Swiss academic history to hold this office. Previously, Schroeder had also been the first dentist to become Full Professor (Ordinarius) and, later, Dean of the Medical Faculty. At the same time, Schroeder founded the International Team of Implantology (ITI), which evolved into the largest global organization of Implant Dentistry. The present article uses these anniversaries as an opportunity to (1) retrace Schroeder's career path, (2) contextualize this career path using the education policy in place at the time, and (3) clarify to what extent and by which means the pioneer Schroeder influenced the professionalization of Academic Dentistry in Switzerland. This study draws upon primary sources from the University and City Archives of Bern and the archive of the ITI; these were supplemented by relevant secondary literature. An evaluation of the sources clearly shows that Schroeder was a trailblazer in many ways: Firstly, he exploited his university positions with the primary goal of furthering the basis of Academic Dentistry. Secondly, he promoted Swiss Dentistry through his non-university activities ­ as the successful Editor of the Schweizerische Monatsschrift fu?r Zahnheilkunde and founder of the ITI. And thirdly, Schroeder specifically addressed the increasing relevance of Dentistry for society as a whole by intertwining the two most important arguments ­ the scientific orientation and the benefits for public health ­ in a rhetorically accomplished manner.

Digital neuropsychology: Challenges and opportunities at the intersection of science and software.

OBJECTIVE: Digital devices are now broadly accessible and have the capacity to measure aspects of human behavior with high precision and accuracy, in a standardized manner. The purpose of this article is to characterize opportunities and barriers for modern digital neuropsychology, particularly those that are unique to digital assessment. METHODS: We provide a critical overview of the state-of-the-art in digital neuropsychology, focusing on personal digital devices. RESULTS: We identify three major barriers associated with digital neuropsychology, which affect both the interpretation of test scores and test norms: (1) variability in the perceptual, motor and cognitive demands of the same test across digital device classes (e.g. personal computer, tablet and smartphone); (2) hardware and software variability between devices within the same class that affect stimulus presentation and measurement and (3) rapid changes over time in hardware, software and device ownership, which can lead to rapid obsolescence of particular tests and test norms. We offer specific recommendations to address these barriers and outline new opportunities to understand and measure neuropsychological functioning over time and in everyday environments. CONCLUSIONS: Digital neuropsychology provides new approaches for measuring and monitoring neuropsychological functioning, informed by an understanding of the limitations and potential of digital technology.

In the shadow of National Socialism: Early emigration and suicide of the oral pathologist Rudolf Kronfeld (1901-1940).

The physician Rudolf Kronfeld (1901-1940) is undoubtedly one of the pioneering and most influential representatives of modern histopathology and oral pathology. Already at a young age he became a protagonist of the renowned, internationally leading "Vienna School". Kronfeld's outstanding professional significance stands in a peculiar contrast to the research situation to date: His curriculum vitae, but also his family background - and here in particular the fate of his family members in the Third Reich - have received little attention so far. Thus, the present study attempts to shed light on Kronfeld's life and work and, in particular, the complex implications of his Jewish background. It is based on archival sources and a systematic re-analysis of the relevant specialist literature. The analysis demonstrates that Kronfeld's early emigration was driven in part by the anti-Semitism that was tangible in Vienna in the 1920s. The last years of his life were considerably burdened by a serious illness and by repressive experiences which his Jewish family members and companions underwent after the "Anschluss" of Austria into Nazi Germany. Both essential events presumably contributed significantly to Kronfeld's sudden suicide in 1940, at the height of his professional success.

Data Through Others' Eyes: The Impact of Visualizing Others' Expectations on Visualization Interpretation.

In addition to visualizing input data, interactive visualizations have the potential to be social artifacts that reveal other people's perspectives on the data. However, how such social information embedded in a visualization impacts a viewer's interpretation of the data remains unknown. Inspired by recent interactive visualizations that display people's expectations of data against the data, we conducted a controlled experiment to evaluate the effect of showing social information in the form of other people's expectations on people's ability to recall the data, the degree to which they adjust their expectations to align with the data, and their trust in the accuracy of the data. We found that social information that exhibits a high degree of consensus lead participants to recall the data more accurately relative to participants who were exposed to the data alone. Additionally, participants trusted the accuracy of the data less and were more likely to maintain their initial expectations when other people's expectations aligned with their own initial expectations but not with the data. We conclude by characterizing the design space for visualizing others' expectations alongside data.