Replication of Feng et al.（2013）: Confirm the prediction of control-failure hypothesis on the mind wandering during reading

Mind wanderings in laboratory tasks refer to the individual attention shifted from the on-line task to the unrelated information. The recordings of mind wanderings depended on participants’ responses to the probes between texts. Then researchers counted the frequencies of mind wanderings across the interested conditions. According to the control-failure hypothesis, Feng et al. (2013) predicted more mind wanderings while reading the difficult articles in comparison with reading the easy articles. This hypothesis assumed that reading articles would consume the working memory capacity that inhibits the inattentional processing. Although the results of Feng et al. were consistent with the control-failure hypothesis, there would be three issues to be clarified for the advanced studies. First is that the original study did not control or measure the working memory capacity, although the original researchers’ theory emphasized the matter of working memory. Secondly the recent studies of mind wanderings consistently supported the original findings, but the latest evidence were indirect because these studies did not aim at the control-failure hypothesis. The final issue raised from our reproductive analysis of the original data. In our analysis, the summarized frequencies of mind wandering were lower than the summary in the original paper. A registered replication study will provide the future researchers the reliable information to construct a falsifiable hypothesis and suggest a highly powered design.

Reproduction of the fish Poeciliopsis gracilis (Cyprinodontiformes: Poeciliidae) in Coatetelco, a tropical shallow lake in Mexico

A reproductive analysis of 1 225 specimens of Poeciliopsis gracilis obtained through monthly samples from Coatetelco, a tropical shallow lake in Central Mexico, was made. There was an evident sexual dimorphism, including a difference in body size at the onset of reproduction. Sex ratio deviated significantly from unity. Monthly variations in gonadosomatic (GSI), hepatosomatic (HSI) indexes and ovarian development stages showed that the spawning season was from July to October, coinciding with the rainy season and phytoplankton biomass increase.