This eye-tracking study aimed to explore the relationship between levels of gullibility and attentional allocation to threatening facial expressions. Using a dot-probe paradigm with concurrent eye-tracking, we found a distinct dissociation in how gullible versus non-gullible individuals process angry and neutral faces. While non-gullible participants demonstrated typical avoidance behaviors toward angry expressions, highly gullible individuals exhibited prolonged fixation on these social threat signals. These contrasting attentional patterns suggest that gullibility may fundamentally involve an insensitivity to cues of untrustworthiness rather than merely susceptibility to persuasion. Gullible individuals appear to lack the typical protective response of looking away from threatening social signals. These findings reveal how individual differences in gullibility shape basic attentional processes during social threat processing
The present study explores differences in attention distribution of tram drivers with different expertise while watching tram driving simulations. Forty-seven participants participated in this experiment in two groups (23 experts and 24 novices). The results show between-group differences in attention dynamics. In line with prediction, the novices concentrated more on the middle panel of the tram simulator related to speed control than the experts. The study is the first step in designing gaze-based training for novice tram drivers.
This study investigates the interrelationship between auditory pitch perception, spatial mapping, and affective evaluation in human cognition. We conducted three experiments to investigate the complex relationships between pitch height, spatial localization, and emotional valence. Experiment 1 (n = 63) revealed a non-linear relationship between pitch height and affective evaluation, with extremely high and low pitches receiving significantly less positive ratings than moderately high and low pitches. Experiment 2 (n = 70) demonstrated a strong and consistent spatial mapping of sounds along a vertical axis. As pitch height increased, sounds were systematically mapped from lower to higher spatial positions, supporting the idea of metaphorical mapping of pitch on the vertical dimension. Experiment 3 (n = 90) yielded inconclusive results regarding the separation of spatial associations in an implicit context. Collecting data from four countries enabled cross-national comparisons of these phenomena. Our findings enhance understanding of both universal and country-specific aspects of cross-modal associations between sound and space. These insights have implications for uncovering the cognitive mechanisms behind metaphorical mapping of sensory perceptions.
This study investigates the conditions under which Polish cities adopt proactive reception and early integration responses for Ukrainian forced migrants following the 2022 Russian invasion. Despite Poland's centralized governance and limited municipal authority over migration,
certain cities adopted a proactive approach, coordinating reception and initiating early-integration measures beyond minimal compliance. Employing Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), we examined 12 urban cases to identify configurations of conditions - political leadership, institutional capacity, socio-economic opportunities, and community attitudes - that facilitate proactive approaches to reception and early integration. Our findings reveal that strong political leadership is a necessary condition across all proactive cases. Additionally, combinations involving high institutional capacity, favorable socio-economic conditions, and supportive community attitudes contribute to municipal action exceeding baseline requirements. These findings help to understand the urban context in shaping reception and early integration, demonstrating that local configurations of resources, governance, and community dynamics can drive municipal responses to forced migration crises, particularly within centralized systems.
Social media platforms help activists to share their perspectives. However, there is concern that amplified content (e.g., moral outrage) may limit collective action. We studied how online petitions on www.change.org were shared and signed. Analyzing posts on X (n = 1,286,442) with URLs to petitions (n = 24,785) revealed that expressions of moral outrage were uniquely associated with the number of times posts were liked and reposted (virality). Mediation analyses showed that outrage was indirectly related to the number of signatures petitions received (via virality). However, outrage was associated with fewer signatures when controlling for virality. In contrast, expressions of agency, group identity, and prosociality were associated with more signatures but no more virality. The findings outline the factors linked to engagement with online petitions and describe how social media can amplify content which has no direct link to the sorts of effortful behaviours which are conducive to social change.
