Past research has shown that prior knowledge can support our episodic memory for recently encountered associations. According to the model proposed by Cox and Criss (

Visual-verbal serial recall is disrupted when task-irrelevant background speech has to be ignored. Contrary to previous suggestion, it has recently been shown that the magnitude of disruption may be accentuated by the semantic properties of the irrelevant speech. Sentences ending with unexpected words that did not match the preceding semantic context were more disruptive than sentences ending with expected words. This particular instantiation of a deviation effect has been termed the semantic mismatch effect. To establish a new phenomenon, it is necessary to show that the effect can be independently replicated and does not depend on specific boundary conditions such as the language of the stimulus material. Here we report a preregistered replication of the semantic mismatch effect in which we examined the effect of unexpected words in four different languages (English, French, German, and Swedish) across four different laboratories.Participants performed a serial recall task while ignoring sentences with expected or unexpected words that were recorded using text-to-speech software. Independent of language, sentences ending with unexpected words were more disruptive than sentences ending with expected words. In line with previous results, there was no evidence of habituation of the semantic mismatch effect in the form of a decrease in disruption with repeated exposure to the occurrence of unexpected words. The successful replication and extension of the effect to different languages indicates the expression of a general and robust mechanism that reacts to violations of expectancies based on the semantic content of the irrelevant speech.

Conformity to masculine norms has been linked to poor mental and physical health outcomes. Its valid assessment among subgroups of the population is therefore a crucial step in the investigation of intercultural variability in the enactment of masculinity, as well as its causes, costs, and benefits. The present pilot study aimed to adapt and conduct a preliminary validation of a French version of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI-22), a self-report questionnaire designed to assess overall conformity to male gender standards. The French adaptation of the CMNI-22 (CanFr-CMNI-22) was developed using a forward-backward translation process. The data from a sample of 57 Canadian French men (23–81 years old), collected at two time points 2 weeks apart, were then analyzed to investigate the psychometric properties and factor structure of the CanFr-CMNI-22. Findings indicated adequate internal reliability of the global scores and highly satisfactory test–retest reliability. Correlations with the Male Role Norms Inventory-Short Form (MRNI-SF) at both time points also showed strong convergent validity. Overall, the CanFr-CMNI-22 appears to be a reliable and valid instrument to assess conformity to traditional masculine gender norms in French-speaking men from the general population. This study is a key step in a research process aiming to validate the Canadian French version of the CMNI and contributes to enhance inclusive research and clinical care to foster men’s health.

Background It is imperative for health care professionals to have access to valid and reliable tools to evaluate the quality of romantic relationships, as it has been repeatedly shown to be related to psychological and physical health outcomes. The Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI) was developed to address the shortcomings of the most widely cited measures of satisfaction by increasing precision and power of measurement. However, the use of this questionnaire is limited due to a lack of translated versions. The purpose of the current study was therefore to translate the CSI to Canadian French (CanFrench-CSI) and to evaluate its reliability in a sample of male Canadians. Methods The CSI questionnaire was adapted and translated into Canadian French using a forward-backward approach. Its reliability was then evaluated by means of Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficients, corrected item-total correlation coefficients, and a test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient at a two-week interval. Results Data from 53 men in committed relationships were analyzed. The French adaptation of the CSI demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Conclusions Overall, the results provided evidence supporting the translation consistency and reliability of the CanFrench-CSI, and thus, paved the way for further research on romantic relationships and health outcomes among French-speaking individuals.

Background While some research indicates that individuals can accurately judge smile authenticity of enjoyment and masking smile expressions, other research suggest modest judgment rates of masking smiles. The current study explored the role of emotion-related individual differences in the judgment of authenticity and recognition of negative emotions in enjoyment and masking smile expressions as a potential explanation for the differences observed. Methods Specifically, Experiment 1 investigated the role of emotion contagion (Doherty in J Nonverbal Behav 21:131–154, 1997), emotion intelligence (Schutte et al. in Personality Individ Differ 25:167–177, 1998), and emotion regulation (Gratz and Roemer in J Psychopathol Behav Assess 26:41–54, 2004) in smile authenticity judgment and recognition of negative emotions in masking smiles. Experiment 2 investigated the role of state and trait anxiety (Spielberger et al. in Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, 1983) in smile authenticity judgment and recognition of negative emotions in the same masking smiles. In both experiments, repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted for judgment of authenticity, probability of producing the expected response, for the detection of another emotion, and for emotion recognition. A series of correlations were also calculated between the proportion of expected responses of smile judgement and the scores on the different subscales. Results Results of the smile judgment and recognition tasks were replicated in both studies, and echoed results from prior studies of masking smile judgment: participants rated enjoyment smiles as happier than the masking smiles and, of the masking smiles, participants responded “really happy” more often for the angry-eyes masking smiles and more often categorized fear masking smiles as “not really happy”. Conclusions Overall, while the emotion-related individual differences used in our study seem to have an impact on recognition of basic emotions in the literature, our study suggest that these traits, except for emotional awareness, do not predict performances on the judgment of complex expressions such as masking smiles. These results provide further information regarding the factors that do and do not contribute to greater judgment of smile authenticity and recognition of negative emotions in masking smiles.