A comparative analysis of the validity of several approaches to the scoring of the behavior of the preterm infant

A group of very low birthweight preterm infants (mean WEIGHT = 1193.6 g; mean gestational AGE = 31.1 weeks) were examined with the PREMIE. The PREMIE is a modification of the scoring system of the full term Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment (BNBAS) examination for use with preterm infants. Infants were assessed during the acute phase of cardio-respiratory illness (mean AGE = 7 days) and during the recovery phase (mean AGE = 22 days). Many modifications in procedure were required. Several analyses were performed to assess the redundancy and the comparative validity of the scoring systems of the PREMIE, the BNBAS, and the BNBAS + (the BNBAS plus a set of five additional preterm items). Results indicated that the three scoring systems were highly redundant, that they were equally related to physiologic and clinical variables, and that they were similar in their sensitivity to behavioral change and stability. Overall the results offered little in the way of differentiating among these three scoring systems with this group of infants, raising doubts about the need to use the PREMIE or other scoring systems like it for many research purposes.     

Do infants provide evidence that the mirror system is involved in action understanding?

The mirror neuron theory of action understanding makes predictions concerning how the limited motor repertoire of young infants should impact on their ability to interpret others’ actions. In line with this theory, an increasing body of research has identified a correlation between infants’ abilities to perform an action, and their ability to interpret that action as goal-directed when performed by others. In this paper, I will argue that the infant data does by no means unequivocally support the mirror neuron theory of action understanding and that alternative interpretations of the data should be considered. Furthermore, some of this data can be better interpreted in terms of an alternative view, which holds that the role of the motor system in action perception is more likely to be one of enabling the observer to predict, after a goal has been identified, how that goal will be attained.     

A Piagetian approach to infant referential behaviors

Near the end of the first year of life, infants begin producing referential behaviors that in adults indicate joint attention, or coordinating shared attention to an object with another person. These behaviors have been interpreted in the social cognitive literature as an indication that infants realize they are sharing attention to an object with another person. In this paper, we address theory and research on infant referential behaviors described as joint attention and offer an alternative explanation for the presence of these behaviors. Using Piaget's constructivist theory, we show how research in this area can be interpreted without assuming that infants have advanced social cognitive abilities. We argue that infants’ referential behaviors are motor signifiers of thought and that infants recognize humans as particularly relevant objects for their goal-directed behaviors. Finally, we describe how the field of infant joint attention research should proceed if a comprehensive understanding of infant cognitive processes is to be desired.     

The dynamics of infant visual foraging

Human infants actively forage for visual information from the moment of birth onward. Although we know a great deal about how stimulus characteristics influence looking behavior in the first few postnatal weeks, we know much less about the intrinsic dynamics of the behavior. Here we show that a simple stochastic dynamical system acts quantitatively like 4-week-old infants on a range of measures if there is hysteresis in the transitions between looking and looking away in the model system. The success of this simple three-parameter model suggests that visual foraging in the first few weeks after birth may be influenced more by noise and hysteresis in underlying neural mechanisms than by how infants process visual information after a look begins.     

Neuroscience and learning: lessons from studying the involvement of a region of cerebellar cortex in eyeblink classical conditioning

How the nervous system encodes learning and memory processes has interested researchers for 100 years. Over this span of time, a number of basic neuroscience methods has been developed to explore the relationship between learning and the brain, including brain lesion, stimulation, pharmacology, anatomy, imaging, and recording techniques. In this paper, we summarize how different research approaches can be employed to generate converging data that speak to how structures and systems in the brain are involved in simple associative learning. To accomplish this, we review data regarding the involvement of a particular region of cerebellar cortex (Larsell's lobule HVI) in the widely used paradigm of classical eyeblink conditioning. We also present new data on the role of lobule HVI in eyeblink conditioning generated by combining temporary brain inactivation and single-cell recording methods, an approach that looks promising for further advancing our understanding of relationships between brain and behavior.     

PyParse: A semiautomated system for scoring spoken recall data

Studies of human memory often generate data on the sequence and timing of recalled items, but scoring such data using conventional methods is difficult or impossible. We describe a Python-based semiautomated system that greatly simplifies this task. This software, called PyParse, can easily be used in conjunction with many common experiment authoring systems. Scored data is output in a simple ASCII format and can be accessed with the programming language of choice, allowing for the identification of features such as correct responses, prior-list intrusions, extra-list intrusions, and repetitions.     

What do bilingual infants actually hear? Evaluating measures of language input to bilingual‐learning 10‐month‐olds

Examining how bilingual infants experience their dual language input is important for understanding bilingual language acquisition. To assess these language experiences, researchers typically conduct language interviews with caregivers. However, little is known about the reliability of these parent reports in describing how bilingual children actually experience dual language input. Here, we explored the quantitative nature of dual language input to bilingual infants. Furthermore, we described some of the heterogeneity of bilingual exposure in a sample of French–English bilingual families. Participants were 21 families with a 10‐month‐old infant residing in Montréal, Canada. First, we conducted language interviews with the caregivers. Then, each family completed three full‐day recordings at home using the Language Environment Analysis recording system. Results showed that children’s proportion exposure to each language was consistent across the two measurement approaches, indicating that parent reports are reliable for assessing a bilingual child’s language experiences. Further exploratory analyses revealed three unique findings: (a) there can be considerable variability in the absolute amount of input among infants hearing the same proportion of input, (b) infants can hear different proportions of language input when considering infant‐directed versus overheard speech, (c) proportion of language input can vary by day, depending on who is caring for the infant. We conclude that collecting naturalistic recordings is complementary to parent‐report measures for assessing infant’s language experiences and for establishing bilingual profiles.     

Ethical care for infants with conditions not curable with intensive care

Offering intensive care to neonates who have conditions that carry extremely poor prognoses is a source of great contention amongst neonatologists. The concept of best interests is commonly used as a rationale for refusing such care, despite the fact that parents of these infants often have a different view of what best interests means. This article takes up the question of what best interests should incorporate for infants with lethal conditions not curable with intensive care, and how and who should decide which treatment options should be implemented. Based on our recommendation that parents be apprised of the basis upon which physicians are evaluating treatment options, we offer a framework that allows all relevant parties to approach the issue of what is appropriate treatment from a similar place. We maintain that this approach will increase transparency, dialogue, understanding, and trust, which, in turn, may result in greater consensus.     

Movement variability near goal equivalent manifolds: Fluctuations,control, and model-based analysis

Fluctuations in the repeated performance of human movements have been the subject of intense scrutiny because they are generally believed to contain important information about the function and health of the neuromotor system. A variety of approaches has been brought to bear to study these fluctuations. However it is frequently difficult to understand how to synthesize different perspectives to give a coherent picture. Here, we describe a conceptual framework for the experimental study of motor variability that helps to unify geometrical methods, which focus on the role of motor redundancy, with dynamical methods that characterize the error-correcting processes regulating the performance of skilled tasks. We describe how goal functions, which mathematically specify the task strategy being employed, together with ideas from the control of redundant systems, allow one to formulate simple, experimentally testable dynamical models of inter-trial fluctuations. After reviewing the basic theory, we present a list of five general hypotheses on the structure of fluctuations that can be expected in repeated trials of goal-directed tasks. We review recent experimental applications of this general approach, and show how it can be used to precisely characterize the error-correcting control used by human subjects.     

The Narrative Arc of TATs: Introduction to the JPA Special Section on Thematic Apperceptive Techniques

The past decade has seen important developments in thematic apperceptive techniques (TATs), with the creation of new card sets having alternate pictures representing different cultures, new scoring systems becoming available, and increasing international communication of these achievements. However, continuing impediments to the development of a validational literature include lingering mistaken assumptions about the nature of story data, ongoing debates about appropriate psychometric evaluation, and continuing questions about how stimuli and scoring systems should be conceptualized and interpreted. Negotiating the publication system can impede some potential authors. Excellent work on TATs with children is not well known in the adult-focused journals. The labor burden of meeting increasingly sophisticated publication standards might be a barrier to assessors focused on clinical practice. Accumulating a focused evidence base is challenging given the diversity of criterion variables for which TATs have been used. Research on TATs by clinicians can span the science–practice gap, but the narrative arc can be a dramatic one. The articles in this special section on TATs represent important conceptual, methodological, and substantive innovations.     

Amalia X: dialogical sequence analysis as a method in theory-based single case research in psychoanalysis

In this article, Dialogical sequence analysis (DSA) is introduced as a method in theory-based single case research. The structure of article is as follows: first, we will describe briefly the historical background of single case studies and their position as the foundation of psychoanalytic knowledge formation. Secondly, we will describe through Amalia X’s case how one psychoanalytic ‘specimen case’ has been used as a cornerstone for a comprehensive psychoanalytic process research model, the so called ‘Ulm model’. Amalia X is one of the most studied single cases internationally also outside psychoanalytic process study field. Thirdly, we will introduce the central theory and practice of DSA. Fourthly, in the last section of our article, we will show in practice how DSA can be used in the analysis of Amalia’s dream in the session 152.     

Using automatic face analysis to score infant behaviour from video collected online

Online testing of infants by recording video with a webcam has the potential to improve the replicability of developmental studies by facilitating larger sample sizes and by allowing methods (including recruitment) to be specified in code. However, the recorded video still needs to be manually scored. This labour-intensive process puts downward pressure on sample sizes and requires subjective judgements that may not be reproducible in a different laboratory. Here we present the first fully automatic pipeline, using a face analysis software-as-a-service and a discriminant-analysis classifier to score infant videos acquired online. We compare human and machine performance for looking time and preferential looking paradigms; machine performance demonstrates a promising proof of principle for looking time and is above chance in classifying preferential looking. Additionally, we studied the characteristics of the video and the child that influenced automated scoring, so that future studies can acquire data that maximises the performance of automatic gaze coding and/or focus on improving automatic coding for particularly challenging data. We believe this technology has great promise for developmental science.     

Computer scoring of the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale

The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS; Lane, Quinlan, Schwartz, Walker, & Zeitlan, 1990) is the most commonly used measure of differentiation and complexity in the use of emotion words and is associated with important clinical outcomes. Hand scoring the LEAS is time consuming. Existing programs for scoring open-ended responses cannot mimic LEAS hand scoring. Therefore, Leaf and Barchard (2006) developed the Program for Open-Ended Scoring (POES) to score the LEAS. In this article, we report a study in which the reliability and validity of POES scoring were examined. In the study, we used three participant types (adult community members, university students, children), three LEAS versions (paper based, computer based, and the LEAS for children), and a diverse set of criterion variables. Across this variety of conditions, the four POES scoring methods had internal consistencies and validities that were comparable to hand scoring, indicating that POES scoring can be used in clinical practice and other applied settings in which hand scoring is impractical.     

A model for assessing student interaction with educational software

We present a simple model of generative learning that permits us to define four kinds of interactions and a system for tracing and recording how students use educational technology. We believe that this model will maintain a link between interaction and learning, thus providing one method for the assessment of a wide range of educational technology environments. Two results are presented from an evaluation of ConStatS, a program for teaching conceptual understanding of probability and statistics. The results illustrate the kinds of insight into generative learning that a detailed trace method can provide.     

Neurological basis of language and sequential cognition: evidence from simulation,aphasia, and ERP studies

The current research addresses the hypothesis that certain aspects of sequential cognition have made substantial contributions to the human language processing capability, from a functional neurophysiology perspective. We first describe a cognitive sequence processing model that was developed based on the functional neuroanatomy of primate cortex and basal ganglia. We demonstrate how this model is capable of simulating the behavior of human infants in extracting serial, temporal and abstract structure from language-like sound sequences as revealed in recent psycholinguistic experiments. We then demonstrate how, through training, this model can perform adult level syntactic comprehension, based on dissociated processing streams for open vs. closed class words. The model subsequently predicts: (1) that impaired syntactic processing (as in agrammatic aphasia) will be associated with impairments in corresponding non-linguistic cognitive sequencing tasks, and (2) that neurophysiological processes (as revealed by ERPs) involved in syntactic processing should also be involved in the corresponding non-linguistic cognitive sequencing tasks. Data confirming these predictions are reviewed. We conclude that the study of sequential cognition will provide a new paradigm for the investigation of the neurophysiological bases of language.     

Psychometrics of a simple method for scoring organizational approach on the Rey‐Osterrieth complex figure

The Rey‐Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) is a commonly used neuropsychological measure that assesses visuospatial processing, planning and visuomotor integration. Using samples of clinically referred (N=20) and non‐clinical (N=44) adults, the present study examines the psychometric properties of a simple method of scoring organizational approach to the ROCF. Developed by Savage et al. (1999) and refined by Deckersbach et al. (2000) , this simple 5‐point organizational scoring system allows for the quick and accurate assessment of organizational quality. Results suggest that this system is internally consistent and can be scored reliably. Correlations with measures of visuomotor integration and accuracy of rendition after a delay provide evidence of convergent validity. Organization scores were independent of both Verbal and Performance IQ estimates. However, discriminant validity analyses found that high‐functioning patients referred for a neuropsychological assessment did not score significantly different from a non‐clinical sample, raising questions about the diagnostic utility of this measure with less impaired populations. Implications for clinical practice are discussed, as are directions for future research.     

A Multilevel Approach for Reducing Mental Health and Substance Use Disparities Affecting Bisexual Individuals

Despite bisexual individuals being at increased risk for mental health and substance use problems, clinicians’ ability to provide affirmative and competent care to bisexual clients is limited by their lack of bisexual-specific training. To address this common gap in training, this article provides a brief review of bisexual health disparities and the factors that influence them. Then, we describe a multi-level approach for improving the health and well-being of bisexual individuals. This approach addresses factors that influence health at the micro-level (e.g., strategies that clinicians can use to help bisexual clients cope with stigma-related stressors), mezzo-level (e.g., adaptations to clinical environments and training programs that promote bisexual-affirmative care), and macro-level (e.g., advocating for political change and implementing strategies to reduce prejudice against bisexual individuals at the population-level). Specifically, we describe how clinicians can adapt evidence-based interventions to tailor them to the needs of their bisexual clients. Additionally, we discuss the need for bisexual-affirmative clinical training and provide recommendations for how clinical training can be adapted to prepare clinicians to work effectively with bisexual clients. Finally, we describe how population-level interventions can be used to reduce prejudice against bisexual individuals in order to reduce bisexual health disparities. Given the striking health disparities affecting bisexual individuals, there is a critical need to develop, test, and disseminate interventions to improve the health of this population and to prepare clinicians to provide bisexual-affirmative care.     

Interactions between anxious mothers and their infants: An integration of theory and research findings

Children of highly anxious mothers are at risk for developmental difficulties including anxiety disorders, and “anxious maternal behavior” and disturbed mother–infant interactions have been implicated in the transmission of risk. In this article, we describe interactions between mothers who are highly anxious and their young infant, based on the few directly relevant observation studies that are available. For more detail, we draw on a broader literature including studies of depressed mothers and developmental theory. Our goal is to describe how the interactions between anxious mothers and infants look to an outside observer and how they may feel to mothers and infants. We also discuss possible bases for their disturbed interactive behavior, the impact that the disturbances can have on both mothers and infants, buffers and risk factors, and routes to short‐term intervention. Finally, we suggest directions for future research on maternal anxiety and anxious maternal behavior and the significance of such research for clinicians and researchers.