You believe what?!: Relational closeness and belief relevance predict conspiracy belief tolerance.

Hardly a day passes without seeing the negative consequences of conspiracy beliefs manifest in headline news. While a great deal of research has examined the causes and consequences of believing conspiracy theories, relatively little research has examined the reaction to one's belief in conspiracy theories from one's social network. We asked participants to indicate how they would react if a family member, friend, or co-worker believed a series of conspiracy theories (e.

Stimulus Onset Modulates Auditory and Visual Dominance.

Investigations of multisensory integration have demonstrated that, under certain conditions, one modality is more likely to dominate the other. While the direction of this relationship typically favors the visual modality, the effect can be reversed to show auditory dominance under some conditions. The experiments presented here use an oddball detection paradigm with variable stimulus timings to test the hypothesis that a stimulus that is presented earlier will be processed first and therefore contribute to sensory dominance.

Contrast-marking prosodic emphasis in Williams syndrome: results of detailed phonetic analysis.

Background: Past reports on the speech production of individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) suggest that their prosody is anomalous and may lead to challenges in spoken communication. While existing prosodic assessments confirm that individuals with WS fail to use prosodic emphasis to express contrast, those reports typically lack detailed phonetic analysis of speech data. The present study examines the acoustic properties of speech prosody, aiming for the future development of targeted speech interventions.

Music lessons are associated with increased verbal memory in individuals with Williams syndrome.

Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder characterized by intellectual delay and an affinity for music. It has been previously shown that familiar music can enhance verbal memory in individuals with WS who have had music training. There is also evidence that unfamiliar, or novel, music may also improve cognitive recall.

Research Review: Williams syndrome: a critical review of the cognitive, behavioral, and neuroanatomical phenotype.

This review critically examines the research findings which characterize the cognitive, behavioral, and neuroanatomical features of Williams syndrome (WS). This article analyzes 178 published studies in the WS literature covering the following areas: 1) General intelligence, 2) Language skills, 3) Visuospatial and face processing skills, 4) Behavior patterns and hypersociability, 5) Musical abilities, and 6) Brain structure and function. We identify methodological issues relating to small sample size, use and type of control groups, and multiple measures of task performance.