BACKGROUND Research has reported that pregnant women and mothers become forgetful. However, in these studies, women are not recruited prior to pregnancy, samples are not representative and studies are underpowered. AIMS The current study sought to determine whether pregnancy and motherhood are associated with brief or long-term cognitive deterioration using a representative sample and measuri...

We present a model of cultural evolution in which an individual's propensity to engage in social learning is affected by social learning itself. We assume that individuals observe cultural traits displayed by others and decide whether to copy them based on their overall preference for the displayed traits. Preferences, too, can be transmitted between individuals. Our results show that such cult...

A given type of psychotherapy (e.g., psychodynamic) is associated with a set of specific change techniques (e.g., interpreting defenses, identifying relationship themes). Different change techniques can be conceived of as influencing different parts of personality (e.g., interpreting defense increases conscious awareness). An integrated model of personality is presented. Then, change techniques...

The evaluation of individual cognitive change has relied heavily upon the raw change score, defined simply as the difference between follow-up and baseline scores. However, raw changes scores are susceptible to the confounding effects of both regression-to-the-mean and practice effect. The clinical relevance of raw change scores for the older adult is also obscured by normal, age-related cognit...

BACKGROUND Computerized cognitive testing has the potential to be an effective way to assess and monitor cognition in large neuroepidemiological studies. CogState is a game-like computerized test with demonstrated validity and reliability that has shown sensitivity to decline in older individuals over time. This study aimed to evaluate the serial usability of the test specifically within an old...

We investigated the relationship between deep acting, automatic regulation and customer tips with 2 different study designs. The first study was a daily diary study using a sample of Dutch waiters and taxi-drivers and assessed the link of employees' daily self-reported levels of deep acting and automatic regulation with the amount of tips provided by customers (N = 166 measurement occasions nes...

BACKGROUND The effects of biological and physical factors on cognitive aging are widely studied. Less is known about the role of psychosocial factors such as stress and social relationships for cognitive functioning. METHODS Speakers in Session IV of the Summit focused on possible mechanisms linking social interactions and stressful experiences to cognitive changes with aging. RESULTS Eleva...

Conflict of interest: All authors are employees and equity holders in CogState Ltd, the company that develops and markets the CogSport computerised cognitive testing software.

Ancient civilizations may have dispersed or collapsed under extreme dry conditions. There are indications that the same may hold for modern societies. However, hydroclimatic change cannot be the sole predictor of the fate of contemporary societies in water-scarce regions. This paper focuses on technological change as a factor that may ameliorate the effects of increasing water scarcity and as s...