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When judging the relative difficulty of impossible actions within the context of a magical world like that of Harry Potter, individuals honor real-world causal principles (e.g., assuming that heavier objects would be harder to levitate than lighter ones even though levitation itself is impossible; Shtulman & Morgan, 2017). We examined whether this effect persists when events are presented outside of this context. U.S. (Studies 1 and 2) and Chinese (Study 2) adults were asked to rate the relative difficulty of two impossible events that varied according to an irrelevant causal principle in one of three contexts: present science, future science, or magical. Though Chinese and U.S. adults honored irrelevant causal principles to a similar degree across the three contexts, Chinese adults’ confidence in their judgments varied by context. Additionally, individual differences in cognitive reflection (U.S.) and fantasy engagement (Chinese) related to judgments. Findings indicate that adults honor irrelevant causal constraints when reasoning about the impossible across multiple contexts, though subtle differences exist at both the cultural and individual level.

Prior research has used innovative paradigms to show that some non-human animal species demonstrate behavioural choices (i.e. foraging for a food item at a specific location, and at a time that guarantees it has not yet decayed), reflecting episodic-like or 'WWW' memory (memory for 'what' happened, 'where' and 'when'). These results raised the question of whether similar approaches could be used to examine memory in young children in order to reduce verbal demands. The present research examines the extent to which children's WWW memory aligns with memory-based choices in 3- to 5-year-olds (n = 95; study 1) and in 7- to 11-year-olds and adults (n = 168; study 2). Results indicate that preschoolers' struggle with choice-based tasks probably reflects difficulty integrating their WWW memory with an understanding that certain items decay over time. Moreover, a convergence between verbal recall measures and choice-based measures is observable in 7-year-olds and beyond, reflecting a stronger integration of memory signals, understanding of state transformation, and decision-making. This article is part of the theme issue 'Elements of episodic memory: lessons from 40 years of research'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Episodic memory is a critical capacity that involves remembering past events along with their spatial and temporal contexts. Relatively little is known about the relations between spatial and temporal information in long-term memory in children or adults. The present research examined the influence of the mental timeline (linear horizontal display extending from the left to right direction for English speakers) on memory for events and their spatial and temporal features in 7-year-olds, 9-year-olds, 11-year-olds and young adults (N = 146). During encoding, participants studied triplets of objects, varying on two dimensions of the mental timeline: linearity (whether objects were presented in linear succession or not) and direction (whether objects were presented from left-to-right or right-to-left). After a delay, during retrieval, participants were tested on their memory for individual objects, and either the spatial location or temporal order of the objects. We found that overall accuracy for spatial location was higher than accuracy for temporal order, and there was a parallel developmental trajectory for both these aspects of memory. Across age groups we found that memory for temporal order, but not spatial location, was influenced by linearity and direction (i.e., match to mental timeline). Thus, in both children and adults the spatiotemporal mental timeline supported memory for temporal order, converging with predictions generated within domains of language and thought and enhancing our understanding of how space and time are represented in the mind.

Declarations and terminations of public health emergencies are performative utterances that shift the balance of governmental power and can change our world. They can provide and then extinguish the ability to provide grants andfunding, deploy the military, waive and modiht regulatory requirements, and curtail civil liberties, many times with limited legislative oversight. But public health emergency laws at every level are inconsistent at best and are being legislated in a reactionary manner that may limit the ability to effectively respond in juture public health emergencies. With such high stakes and during a time when executive agency authority is evolving, appropriate guidance on the felicity conditions for these performative utterances is thus urgently needed. Instead of simply accepting lengthy unfettered executive public health emergency powers or enacting strict legislative limitations on executive authority that could hinder an efective public health response in the future, this Article focuses on a singular first step in calling for a diverse, multi-disciplinary team of scholars and stakeholders to examine the existing web of public health emergency legislation and provide input and guidance on felicity conditions for declaring, continuing, and terminating specific public health emergencies that build in mechanisms for accountability and relevant, appropriate checks and balances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented which argues that U.S. President Donald Trump's isolationist policies are a threat to public health in places such as America, and it mentions Trump's views about the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, the construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and restrictions on the entry of immigrants and refugees into America. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's strategies are examined, along with quarantines and an Ebola virus crisis.