Memory consolidation has been shown to be strengthened by sleep as well as wakeful rest. This study examines the impact of mind-wandering on consolidation. There is an ongoing debate in the...Show moreMemory consolidation has been shown to be strengthened by sleep as well as wakeful rest. This study examines the impact of mind-wandering on consolidation. There is an ongoing debate in the scientific community, however, on how to appropriately measure mind-wandering as well as its role in consolidation. Multiple experiments have been done already, yet, their flawed design invalidated the results (Brokaw et al., 2016; Craig et al., 2014; Varma et al., 2019; Varma et al., 2018). This experiment used the metronome response task (MRT) and measured memory performance, with the goal of finding out if rhythmic reaction time variability can be used as a proxy for mind-wandering. Results show that participants with higher mind-wandering tendency are significantly more likely to mind-wander during the MRT. Rhythmic reaction time variability (RRTv) for off-task probes is significantly higher than for on-task probes. Overall RRTv values do not have a significant correlation with the Mind-Wandering Spontaneous questionnaire scores. Lastly, people with higher RRTv during mind-wandering probes have higher memory scores. In general, the results show RRTv to be a behavioral proxy for mind-wandering, and mind-wandering may improve consolidation.Show less
The Ukrainian famine or ‘Holodomor’ of 1932–1933 claimed the lives of an estimated 4 to 4.5 million people. General consensus has it that the famines that swept the Soviet Union were caused largely...Show moreThe Ukrainian famine or ‘Holodomor’ of 1932–1933 claimed the lives of an estimated 4 to 4.5 million people. General consensus has it that the famines that swept the Soviet Union were caused largely by the collectivisation drive of the First Five-Year Plan, after which the situation in Ukraine was exacerbated by Stalin’s policies in the winter of 1932–1933. However, the underlying motives for Stalin’s actions with regard to Ukraine remain a matter of lively debate. Combining the existing literature on the initiation of mass indiscriminate violence in general and on the causes of the Holodomor in particular with novel insights from studies on authoritarian politics, I posit that the Ukrainian famine may have been intentionally aggravated because the Ukrainian leadership was considered a liability to Stalin’s rule. Rather than facing these elites head on, I suggest that Stalin weaponised the famine as a means of mass indiscriminate violence to enable the capture of local institutions and to undermine the individual support bases of his potential rivals. In this way the Ukrainian Communist Party was purged from the bottom to the top, culminating with the executions of Stanislav Kosior and Vlas Chubar and the expulsion of Grigory Petrovsky, as well as the executions of Pavel Postyshev and Vsevolod Balytsky during the Great Purges of 1937–1939.Show less
In the early 1980s most Latin American countries made a transition from authoritarian to democratic regimes. They went along with the third wave of democratization that had started in the 1970s in...Show moreIn the early 1980s most Latin American countries made a transition from authoritarian to democratic regimes. They went along with the third wave of democratization that had started in the 1970s in Southern Europe (Linz ,Stepan and Gunther 1995, 124). In 1978 only three of the twenty Latin American countries were democratic; Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica. By 1992, 15 of the remaining countries transitioned to semi-democratic or democratic regimes. Democracy had been experienced previously in this region, but it was a very oligarchic regime with limited competition. Besides, democracy had never lasted long and it has never involved as many countries as after during the third wave (Hagopian and Mainwaring 2005, 1-2). However, this does not mean that democratization has been entirely successful. Unlike the Southern European countries which were able to consolidate, most Latin American countries are still facing challenges of creating stable, consolidated democracies. In fact, many of these countries are not fully democratic yet or are facing democratic erosion (Millet 2009, 5; Linz, Stepan and Gunther 1995, 124). This is mostly due to the fact that governments have not been able to deal with certain problems that most Latin American countries have in common: problems like poverty, inequality, and high crime rates. This has led to dissatisfaction with democracy and to popular unrest (Hagopian and Mainwaring 2005, 1-2). Fortunately, this does not apply to all countries. Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica for example, are considered to be consolidated democracies. Why is it that democracy has consolidated in some countries and it hasn’t in others?Show less
