Background: Research has established a relationship between alcohol use disorder (AUD) and stress, with support from neurobiological and motivational models. To further elucidate the complex relationship between AUD and stress, this study involves a multidimensional evaluation of stress in individuals with AUD and matched controls. Methods: The present study compared two stress measures in individuals with AUD (N=35) and matched controls (N=38). Participants aged 18-65 completed the Life Stress Interview (LSI) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Pearson correlation coefficients were computed to compare associations between measures. Results: In individuals with AUD, there were significant positive correlations between the PSS and LSI Interpersonal domain (r = .401, p = .013) and LSI Occupational domain (r = .423, p = .008). There was also a significant positive correlation between the LSI Interpersonal and Occupational domains (r = .546, p < .001). In matched controls, the PSS was significantly correlated with the LSI Occupational domain (r = .549, p < .001) and LSI Interpersonal (r = .386, p = .022). Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that interpersonal, occupational, and perceived stress are correlated in individuals with and without AUD. The Interpersonal domain was more strongly associated with the Occupational domain and PSS in individuals with AUD. However, matched controls showed a stronger association between the LSI Occupational domain and PSS, suggesting that occupational stress may be more relevant.

The predominant underlying metaphysics of the physical sciences can broadly be characterized as physicalist. In other words, the hard problem of consciousness is usually framed from the viewpoint of generating phenomenal consciousness from the brain. This presupposes that the third-person phenomena have more primary than first-person phenomenology. Idealism as a metaphysical framework flips that hierarchy and prioritizes phenomenology. Many analytic philosophers have criticized idealism as being ungrounded. My research showcases an underappreciate effort to mathematize phenomenology, wherein subjectivity is explored via mathematical models. Conscious Agent Theory is such a theory that has promising connections with both individual cognition and modern physics.

Hate is a relentless problem responsible for tremendous pain and suffering, yet the mechanisms for hate remain unknown. This study seeks to clarify the role of dehumanization in moderating the psychological experience of hate. Participants viewed videos simulating interactions with hate-inducing and neutral actors. Hate was measured using the Triangular Hate Scale (THS). Dehumanization was measured with the Trait Rating Scale (TRS); denial of uniquely human (UH) traits suggests animalistic dehumanization, and denial of human nature (HN) traits suggests mechanistic dehumanization. Theory of mind (ToM) was evaluated with the Reading the Mind in The Eyes Test (RMET), and empathy was measured with the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ). The videos induced greater THS scores for hateful compared to non-hateful actors and showed overall differences in trait desirability. There were significant differences in valence attribution of UH and HN traits, with the hateful actors having more undesirable UH scores and lower ratings of cognition, morality, and emotion. For correlations with non-hateful actors, we found that the RMET and THS total scores did not correlate, while the TEQ and THS correlated negatively. Conversely, the RMET and THS total scores correlated negatively with hateful actors, and the TEQ and THS did not correlate with hateful actors. The lack of significant difference in non-valenced UH and HN traits suggests that dehumanization is a bias toward denying a target complex cognitive and prosocial ability.

Research has suggested that mothers in the U.S. are more likely than fathers to provide comprehensive sex education to their children, a pattern often attributed to gender norms positioning women as primary educators. This project explores whether that trend extends to caregiver-child conversations about pregnancy. Specifically, it examines whether caregiver gender influences the depth of explanations provided to pre-adolescent children. We hypothesized that female caregivers would offer more detailed explanations than male caregivers. Participants included 94 caregiver-child pairs who visited the Womb Room, a museum exhibit illustrating stages of pregnancy. Using naturalistic observation, caregiver explanations were coded into four levels, from no explanation to comprehensive descriptions of all pregnancy stages. Statistical analysis using monomial logistic regression revealed no significant relationship between caregiver gender and explanation depth. Both male and female caregivers were represented across all levels of explanation, with similar proportions choosing not to explain the exhibit at all. These findings challenge previous research suggesting that women dominate reproductive health education and suggest an emerging shift toward more balanced involvement across genders. This study contributes to ongoing conversations about how shifting gender roles impact family communication around reproduction and child development. Future research should examine how norms and demographics influence male caregiver roles.

Multimodal interfaces can elevate device usability and user performance. What, then, happens to the digital content—how well the information is processed and retrieved for later use? The current study seeks to expand knowledge of perceptual feedback by investigating how a telephone keypad’s multimodal feedback affects digit recall. Employing a serial digit recall paradigm, we presented participants with number strings in the presence of multimodal feedback (with dialing tones) and visual feedback (without dialing tones) through a keypad simulation. Participants were tasked to recall the number strings by inputting numbers on the same simulation. Our findings demonstrate that participants have significantly lower recall accuracy in the multimodal condition than in the visual condition. Particularly, there is strong evidence of the irrelevant sound effect (ISE) and its potential to mask benefits of visuospatial bootstrapping (VSB). Our results suggest a possible real-life interaction between two opposing effects in the verbal working memory literature.