Comments on Thomas and Jamison's “a test of the X-linked genetic hypothesis for sex differences on Piaget's water-level task”

In this paper H. Thomas and W. Jamison's (Developmental Review, 1981, 1, 274–283) formulation and evaluation of an X-linked genetic model for explaining male superiority on Piaget's water horizontality task is examined. Criticisms are leveled against (1) the suitability of the model invoked for explaining the sex difference found, (2) the power of the statistical test used to evaluate the model, and (3) the appropriateness of their correction factors. A research strategy for advancing our understanding of the sex difference in performance at this task is suggested.     

Does implicit learning in non-demented Parkinson’s disease depend on the level of cognitive functioning?

We investigated the influence of the level of cognitive functioning on sequence-specific learning in Parkinson's disease (PD). This was done by examining the relationship between the scales for outcomes in Parkinson's disease-cognition [SCOPA-COG, Marinus, J., Visser, M., Verwey, N. A., Verhey, F. R. J., Middelkoop, H. A. M.,Stiggelbout, A., et al. (2003). Assessment of cognition in Parkinson's disease. Neurology, 61, 1222-1228] and the serial reaction time (SRT) task [Nissen, M. J., & Bullemer, P. T. (1987). Attentional requirements for learning: Evidence from performance measures. Cognitive Psychology, 19, 1-32] in a homogeneous sample, consisting of 25 PD patients diagnosed in Stage 3 of the Hoehn and Yahr [Hoehn, M. M., & Yahr, M. D. (1967). Parkinsonism: onset, progression, and mortality. Neurology, 17, 427-442] scale. Six patients in the low scoring cognitive group, 11 patients in the average scoring and eight patients in the high scoring group, conducted a SRT task with a deterministic sequence. Sequence-specific learning was assessed by inserting a random block to determine whether the acquisition of sequence movements differed between groups. Our results indicate an association between cognitive functioning in PD patients and sequence learning. These findings emphasize the use of assessing cognition in addition to the well-known motor aspects in PD.     

Toward an empirical subclassification of “learning disabilitiesℍ: A psychophysiological comparison of “hyperactiveℍ and “nonhyperactiveℍ subgroups

The diagnostic category of learning disabilities is a heterogeneous one, but few empirical attempts have been made to distinguish subgroups. Recent research, however, suggests that it may be meaningful to discriminate between hyperactive and nonhyperactive learning-disabled children. In the present study, 21 learning-disabled children identified as hyperactive through teacher nominations and ratings were compared to 15 learning-disabled children identified as nonhyperactive in the same manner. The two groups differed on rated behavior, birth order, amount of prescribed stimulant medication, amount of psychosocial stress, and Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale WISC-R IQ scores. They did not differ, however, on several demographic variables, the number of perinatal complications, reading achievement, and a number of tonic and phasic measures of autonomie activity. These findings support the distinction between hyperactive and nonhyperactive subgroups of learning-disabled children, but suggest that the two subgroups may have a similar biological substrate.We wish to express our sincere appreciation to Douglas Carmichael, Martha Stewart, Kay Richmond, and the teachers of Clarke County for their kind and sophisticated assistance, and to David Coleman and David Hammer for their technical assistance.     

Comments on “Presentism and Diversity in the History of Psychology”

There is a need to understand what motivates claims of priority over insights, concepts or methods of psychology. Such claims are prompted by a sense of pride in saying that “my” ancestors got it before “their” ancestors. The right of any culture, or anybody for that matter, to define the label “psychology”, or to decide what psychology is or should be about is questionable.     

Preschool children's understanding of the coordinators “and” and “or”

The development of the understanding of the words and and or was studied. Children in the age interval 2:0–7:6 received two tests of word understanding, varying in the degree to which the context of the test items contributed in determining the meaning of the connectives, and one test of spontaneous usage. The results from the tests of word understanding showed that the context variable facilitated small children's responding, and that most reponses were correct at the age of four and beyond. The results from the production test indicated that and was used to express enummerations and or to express alternatives. The difference between the linguistic and the logical meaning of the connectives was discussed.     

Leibniz and Clarke in Conflict: The Role of “Force” and the Nature of God’s Providence

The intellectual background of the concept of force in the dispute between Leibniz and Clarke has not received enough scholarly attention. Vailati’s monograph, which is the most important study of the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence, focuses on a non-theological dimension in terms of the concept of force in this debate. Based on this perspective, Vailati’s conclusion is that Clarke’s understanding of force was totally different from that of Newton. However, the historical context shows that this is not the case. Clarke’s concept of motive force bore a strong resemblance to that of Newton, according to which force was an active principle that had been endowed upon matter at the beginning of God’s creation. Furthermore, the close link between force, matter and God’s providence had a long tradition of debate between Cartesian and Gassendian philosophers since early modern times. The different concepts of force dividing Cartesian and Gassendian philosophers were actually related to, and conditioned by, their underlying fundamental theological differences. The concept of force in the Leibniz-Clarke controversy, accordingly, could be regarded as along the lines of the earlier disputes between Cartesian and Gassendian philosophers.     

Examining the “Pros” and “Cons” of Team Conflict: A Team-Level Meta-Analysis of Task,Relationship, and Process Conflict

Jehn (e.g., 1997) offered three distinct types of team conflict, namely, task conflict, relationship conflict, and process conflict. Despite existing meta-analyses, there remain important and ongoing issues that warrant further meta-analytic investigation. Our contribution is threefold. First, we report novel meta-analytic findings involving moderators of the conflict–team performance relationship. Second, we report on meta-analytic correlations involving all three conflict types and team innovation. Third, we report on the relations involving task conflict and relationship conflict with previously unexamined, but critical, teamwork variables: team potency, cooperative behaviors, competitive behaviors, and avoidance behaviors. Input for the current meta-analysis included 89 independent samples, 6,122 teams, and approximately 28,000 team members.     

Problems in the study of response timing: Comments on Reece's (1976) ‘A model of temporal tracking’

Reece's (1976) generalization of the Wing-Kristofferson model for the timing of interresponse intervals is critically examined. A correct analysis of the model is presented. The crucial parameter of the model which determines the degree of dependence between the time-keeper and motor-delay processes is shown to be non-identifiable. A statistical problem concerning the estimation of the autocovariance function is pointed out, and a solution is proposed.     

Comments on Brandow's “ideology,myth, and reality: Sex equality in Israel”

Brandow's claim that the myth of equality between the sexes in Israel is alive, while in fact equality is nonexistent, is critically reviewed. Brandow's work is seen as problematic in its methodology and in its representation of the extensive research conducted on equality in Israel. On the basis of the available data, the present authors provide more information about the themes touched upon in Brandow's article. The duality of religious and secualr values and legislation, occupational status of women, women's education, the military role of women, and the role division between wives and husbands are presented and discussed. The conclusion is that the area of equality of the sexes in Israel is marked by continuous gains in societal balance.     

On the assessment of the test–retest of Riding’s CSA: A commentary on Peterson,Deary, and Austin

Peterson, Deary, and Austin (2003) considered the reliability of the Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) (Riding, 1991). The CSA seeks to assess an individual’s position on each of two fundamental style dimensions – the Wholist-Analytic and the Verbal-Imagery dimensions. It presents a series of simple cognitive tasks, which the subjects may choose to process according to their preferred style. Performance on these test items is in terms of response times. The CSA comprises 40 items to assess the Wholist-Analytic and 48 for the Verbal-Imagery and typically takes 15–20 min to complete. It is intended to be suitable for a wide age and ability range, and applicable to a variety of contexts and cultures.The most important characteristic of any test of cognitive style is its temporal stability. Studies which attempt to establish test validity without definitive evidence of test reliability are lacking a basic foundation. Riding has not published any statistical data on the test–retest reliability of the CSA.Peterson et al. (2003) and Peterson (2003) claim to have carried out the primary evaluation of the CSA’s reliability. However we were the first to publish accurate test–retest reliability data on Riding’s CSA (Redmond, Mullally, & Parkinson, 2002).This brief report addresses the issue as to who initially established the unreliability of the CSA in the first place and why Peterson, Deary and Austin’s claims are misleading and unsubstantiated.     

Discerning the spirit(s) in the natural world: Toward a typology of “spirit” in the religion and science conversation

Recent developments in Christian theological thinking on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology) have raised questions about the relationship between “spirit” and science. Cursory review of the religion and science literature, however, yields a wide array of uses and understandings of the concept of spirit. Current attempts to assess the relationship of pneumatology to science require an inventory or basic classification scheme of the various notions of spirit that have been in circulation over the past generation. This essay presents a preliminary typology of such uses in order to enable scholars and researchers to chart courses for future research in this area.     

Comment on Levy's “an empirical comparison of the Z-variance and Box-Scheffé tests for homogeneity of variance”

An alternative selection of subsample sizes for the Box-Scheffé test is compared to the singlem used in Levy, An empirical comparison of the Z-variance and Box-Scheffé tests for homogeneity of variance. Use of the alternative subsample sizes is shown to suggest greater power for the Box-Scheffé test, although the test would still be less powerful than the Z-variance test. Because of the nonrobustness of the Z-variance test and the robustness of the Box-Scheffé test, the latter is recommended as a general technique unless an experimenter has assurance that all populations in the experiment are normal. Alternative techniques are also considered.The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the U. S. Civil Service Commission.     

A modular neural-network model of the basal ganglia’s role in learning and selecting motor behaviours

This work presents a modular neural-network model (based on reinforcement-learning actor–critic methods) that tries to capture some of the most relevant known aspects of the role that basal ganglia play in learning and selecting motor behavior related to different goals. The model uses a mixture of experts network for the critic and a hierarchical network with two levels for the actor. Some simulations with the model show that basal ganglia select ‘chunks’ of behavior whose ‘details’ are specified by direct sensory-motor pathways, and how emergent modularity can help to deal with tasks with asynchronous multiple goals. A ‘top-down’ approach is adopted that first analyses some adaptive non-trivial interaction of a whole (simulated) organism with the environment, and its capacity to learn, and then attempts to implement these functions with neural architectures and mechanisms that have an empirical neuroanatomical and neurophysiological foundation.     

Keeping the “cognitive” in cognitive neuroscience, the “affective” in affective neuroscience, and the “behavioral” in behavioral neuroscience: The CABN mission for the next five years

The fields of cognitive, affective, and behavioral neuroscience have been with us for many years now, and have served to spawn an ever growing body of research that has helped to clarify the mechanisms by which the brain gives rise to the diverse processes that govern our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. These fields of research have grown exponentially as more and more tools have become available for invasive and noninvasive measures of brain function in both humans and animals, and as information about the human and animal genomes has increased. These advances in neurosciencebased tools have clearly advanced our knowledge and understanding of brain—behavior relationships. However, there is also a danger that lurks in the shadows of these methodological and empirical advances. This danger is that the enticement of understanding neural processes sometimes leads us to forget about the exact phenomena that we ultimately wish to understand and explain—namely, cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes. What do I mean by danger? I mean the concern that we often seem to prioritize the sophistication of our neural and genetic tools and theorizing over our psychological tools and theorizing, and that we may overlook the absence of linkage between neural (e.g., imaging results at a range of levels) or genetic findings and well—grounded psychological theories about specific cognitive, affective, or behavioral mechanisms. In other words, we can be seduced by the “call of the brain mechanism,” without a reminder of the phenomena we wish to explain.     

“The effects of family-centered physiotherapy on the cognitive and motor performance in premature infants”

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to investigate the effects of family centered physiotherapy according to the neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT) principles on mental and motor performance in premature infants.MethodsA total of 156 infant, ≥24/36 week + 6 days gestational age included in the study. All the infants were diagnosed by a child neurologist and referred to psychology and physiotherapy department for their neurodevelopmental assessment and treatment. Bayley Scale of Infant II (BSI-II) was used for neurodevelopmental assessment and Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) was used for assessing their motor performance. Seventy-eight of the infants were in the study group and 76 were recruited as age matched controls according to the classification of their gestational age. Family centered physiotherapy according to the neurodevelopmental treatment principles was used as an intervention and all the mothers are trained accordingly.ResultsCognitive Development Scores and Motor Development Scores of Bayley II were recorded for the 3., 6., 9., and 12 months respectively. Between the 3. and 12. month of gestational age, within-groups measurements in both Cognitive Development Scores (p < 0.001) and Motor Development Scores (p<0.001) were significantly increased. However, the improvements in both Cognitive Development Scores (p = 0.059) and Motor Development Scores (p = 0.334) between the groups was not different.ConclusionFamily centered physiotherapy with NDT principles may not be enough to improve motor and cognitive performance in preterm infants at the first year of age. For supporting the motor and cognitive development of the preterm infants other intervention modalities also should be considered. Keywords: infants; premature; early intervention