Language First: Deaf Children from Deaf Families Spontaneously Anticipate False Beliefs

ABSTRACT

Being connected to other people at the level of inner and unobservable mental states is one of the most essential aspects of a meaningful life, including psychological well-being and successful cooperation. The foundation for this kind of connectedness is our theory of mind (ToM), that is the ability to understand our own and others’ inner experiences in terms of mental states such as beliefs and desires. But how do we develop this ability? Forty-six 17- to 107-months-old children completed a non-verbal eye-tracker false-belief task. There were 9 signing deaf children from deaf families and two comparison groups, that is 13 deaf children with cochlear implants and 24 typically developing hearing children. We show that typically developing hearing children and deaf children from deaf families, but not deaf children with cochlear implants, succeeded on a non-verbal eye-tracking ToM task. The findings suggest that the ability to recognize others’ mental states is supported by very early, continuous and fluent language-based communication with caregivers.     

When Words Are No Longer Necessary: The Gift of Ritual

SUMMARY

This study is an exploration of non-verbal forms of communication which have become ritualised, particularly m the care of people with dementia. Rituals, which are culturally determined, may be inclusive or exclusive; they may lose their meaning or send out mixed messages, but m general they uphold the structure of society. There is a strong link between religion and ritual and for people with dementia, ritual may be extremely important m maintaining their sense of belonging within the community of faith. It looks at some of the issues to be addressed when worshipping with people with dementia.     

Parents’ reactions to children’s stuttering and style of coping with stress

PurposeThe aim of the research was to determine: (a) how parents react to their child’s stuttering, (b) what stress coping strategies they utilise, as well as (c) whether stress coping style depends on parents’ reaction to their child’s stuttering.MethodsThe research involved 23 mothers and 23 fathers of children who stutter (CWS) at the age of three to six years old. The Reaction to Speech Disfluency Scale (RSDS), developed by the authors, was used in the research. To determine the parents’ coping the Coping Inventory in Stressful Situations (CISS) by N.S. Endler and D.A Parker was applied.ResultsThe strongest reactions are observed on the cognitive level. Stronger cognitive, emotional and behavioural reactions are observed in the mothers towards their disfluently speaking sons and in the fathers towards their daughters. Having analysed the profiles of coping styles, it can be noticed that the task-oriented coping is most frequently adapted by the fathers. The mothers most often use the avoidance-oriented coping. No relevant correlation was observed between the fathers’ coping style and their reactions to the child’s disfluent speech. As far as the mothers are concerned, it has been proved that an increase in behavioural reactions correlates with the avoidance-oriented coping.ConclusionThe cognitive reactions of the parents’ towards their child’s stuttering were most frequent, while the emotional ones were the least frequent. Confronted with a stressful situation, the fathers most often adapt the task-oriented coping, whereas the mothers use the avoidance-oriented coping. Educational objectives: the reader will be able to (1) learn what the key reactions of parents to their children’s stuttering are, (2) describe stuttering as a stress factor for the parents, (3) describe the factors which influence parents’ reactions to their child’s stuttering and their coping style.     

Adverse Life Events and Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Adolescence: The Role of Non-verbal Cognitive Ability and Negative Cognitive Errors

The aim of this study was to test whether negative cognitive errors (overgeneralizing, catastrophizing, selective abstraction, and personalizing) mediate the moderator effect of non-verbal cognitive ability on the association between adverse life events (life stress) and emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence. The sample consisted of 430 children (aged 11–15 years) from three state secondary schools in disadvantaged areas in one county in the South East of England. Total difficulties (i.e., emotional symptoms, peer problems, hyperactivity, and conduct problems) were assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Adjustment was made for gender, age, ethnicity, special educational needs, exclusion history, family structure, and family socio-economic disadvantage. Adverse life events were measured with Tiet et al.’s (Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 1191–1200, 1998) Adverse Life Events Scale. Non-verbal cognitive ability was measured with Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices Plus. Non-verbal cognitive ability moderated the effect of adverse life events both on total difficulties and on emotional symptoms. Overgeneralizing mediated the moderator effect of non-verbal cognitive ability on the association between adverse life events and total difficulties. Adverse life events were related to a tendency to overgeneralize which was associated with emotional and behavioral problems, but particularly among those adolescents with lower non-verbal cognitive ability.     

T. V. Moore’s (1939)Cognitive Psychology

Thomas Verner Moore published a book calledCognitive Psychology in 1939, almost 30 years before Neisser’s (1967) more familiar and far more influential work. Although it covers most of the standard topics found in current cognitive psychology textbooks, and even anticipated several current trends, Moore’s text is not cited by any of the major histories of the “cognitive revolution” or any current cognitive textbook. We provide a brief sketch of Moore’s academic life and summarize several of his papers that are still cited. After describing the psychologies prevalent in 1939, we compare Moore’s text with two contemporary works, Woodworth (1938) and McGeoch (1942). We conclude by comparing the older text with Neisser’s and by offering several reasons why the book is virtually unknown.     

Life partners’ perceptions of the emotional,speech disruptive,and attitudinal correlates of stuttering

PurposeThe purpose of the current investigation was to explore the extent to which the life partners (LPs) of people who stutter (PWS) perceive their loved ones’ speech-situation specific emotional reaction, expectancy of speech disruption, and speech-related communication attitude.MethodsThree subtests of the Behavior Assessment Battery (BAB): the Speech Situation Checklist - Emotional Reaction (SSC-ER), the Speech Situation Checklist - Speech Disruption (SSC-SD) and the Communication Attitude Test for Adults Who Stutter (BigCAT) were administered to 33 PWS and modified versions were administered to their LPs via Qualtrics Survey Software. Effect of relationship duration on subtest scores was considered. Perceived stuttering severity by the participant and their LP was also queried as part of a demographic questionnaire.ResultsPWS and their LPs rated BigCAT items in a similar way, while they rated certain SSC-ER and SSC-SD items differently. Importantly, between-group agreement was not affected by relationship duration. Among the PWS and LP, perceived stuttering severity influenced all BAB subtest scores.ConclusionLPs of PWS appear to be in tune with the cognitive aspects of their partner’s experience of stuttering. This has important clinical implications as it relates to active involvement of the family in speech intervention targeting fluency.     

Development of clinical vignettes to assess healthcare decision-making capacity in elderly with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

IntroductionCognitive impairment can constrict healthcare decision-making capacity, as it affects the ability to understand, appreciate, and reason with information, as well as communication abilities. Therefore, decision-making capacity of elders with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease should be carefully assessed when patients are asked to make decisions regarding their health. Vignettes are particularly relevant to assess healthcare decision capacity, since they can come close to real life situations and improve statistical reliability of capacity assessment instruments.ObjectiveThis paper describes the construction and development process of three hypothetical vignettes, to be included in a new Portuguese assessment tool of healthcare decision-making capacity (CAI-Health).MethodFor vignettes’ development, examples from other assessment tools were first reviewed to summarize their text length, language complexity and health information contained. Most prevalent causes of mortality and morbidity in Portuguese elders were then identified, in order to select the health issues to include in CAI-Health’ vignettes. Seven vignettes were developed, and three were selected to be included in CAI-Health. After vignette's selection, these were reviewed by three experienced medical experts, during a focus group.ConclusionVignettes final version include cases of increased complexity, presenting situations of mild cognitive impairment, lung tumor and knee arthrosis.     

Spontaneous Moments and the Domain of Non-Verbal Communication

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of non-verbal interactions and spontaneous encounters on the therapeutic process and on a client's structural and behavioral patterns. The following case vignette concerns a client who presents with a pattern of non-verbal relational schemas based on his early traumatic experiences. The non-verbal and verbal role reenactments that unfold between client and therapist will be examined from an intersubjective, dialogical and self psychological perspective. Finally, the paper will explore how important therapeutic shifts may occur by attending to and working through these non-verbal aspects of the treatment, leading to new relational structures.     

Cognitive labor shapes the desire for social and monetary compensation

When do people want something back for their mental labor? Based on equity theory, we propose that conscious experiences of success and effort—which emerge during cognitive work—shape people’s subsequent desire for social and monetary rewards. We examined this idea in a series of experiments, in which participants carried out a cognitive task, in which we manipulated task difficulty (easy vs. difficult) and performance feedback (high vs. low) within subjects. After each trial of this task, we probed people’s desire for compensation, in terms of social appreciation or money. Findings were in line with the entitlement hypothesis, which assumes that the experience of success can cause people to feel entitled to money. However, we found only indirect support for the effort compensation hypothesis, which assumes that the feeling of effort increases the subsequent desire for compensation, and no support for the intrinsic reward hypothesis, which assumes that people desire less social appreciation after already having experienced success. When considered together, our results suggest that labor-related feelings (of success and effort) shape people’s subsequent desire for money and social appreciation in several ways. These findings have potential implications for the effective use of performance feedback in work contexts.

     

儿童发展与电子媒体：基于生态科技微系统理论的视角

电子产品改变了人们社会活动的模式和生活方式,其低龄化使用也不可避免地影响和塑造了儿童的发展。生态系统理论认为儿童的发展源于儿童与周围环境之间不断的交互作用。生态科技微系统理论是在当今电子科技的环境下以生态系统理论为背景框架提出的解释电子媒体对儿童发展影响的理论模型。电子产品作为儿童学习、娱乐、沟通和展示自我的工具,对儿童的认知方式、情感互动方式和参与社会的方式等都会产生一定的影响。这些影响依赖于三个相互独立又关联的因素之间的作用：儿童自身的特点、电子媒体的内容和特点,以及儿童媒体使用的环境。未来的研究可以从研究手段和研究内容上进一步深化以探讨电子产品的使用和儿童发展的关系。     

How is justice understood in classic Confucianism?

ABSTRACT

In Sinicized Asia, justice, conceptualized and institutionalized in its current form on a Western mold is part of a singular and ancient Confucian legal tradition.

In this paper, it will be argued that Confucians initially articulated the concept of justice in relation to their own explanation of the world and their ideal, which distinguishes and rewards men’s actions according to their merits and social condition.

It will be shown that Confucius’s thinking is primarily political and suggests ways of harmoniously organizing and reforming society in which justice is conceived both as a principle of government, a principle of social conduct and one of the essential virtues, or a ‘moral sense’ that everyone must possess, while, in practice, Confucian justice will put forward the imperatives of retributive justice. This, despite its philosophical aversion for sanctions and for what upsets harmony.     

认知闭合需要研究评述

认知闭合需要是个体稳定的认知特征,描述了个体在面对模糊情境时是否愿意系统处理信息的动机。已有研究表明,认知闭合需要对个体的信息处理过程和决策结果有显著的预测能力。总体上说,高认知闭合需要的个体更容易利用启发式进行思考,因此此类个体更容易受到过度归因、首因效应等的影响。虽然大多数的研究表明认知闭合需要是个体稳定的认知特质,但也有研究者发现环境因素如噪音等可以在一定程度上、在短时期内改变个体的认知闭合需要的水平。因此,在相关研究中,认知闭合需要既可以通过量表测量,也可以通过在实验中改变环境噪音和时间压力等方法来操纵。已有的关于认知闭合需要的研究也有不足之处。首先,如何引导高认知闭合者克服匆忙做出决策的动机并采用分析式的方式处理信息和进行决策,目前的相关研究还很少;其次,已有的关于认知闭合的研究大都为实验室研究,因此这些研究的外部效度较低;第三,认知闭合需要在冲突研究领域的应用被忽略了。未来有必要针对这些不足之处进行相应研究     

L’entraînement de la mémoire de travail par le programme Cogmed et le TDAH

IntroductionAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder. Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are key symptoms of ADHD. It is typically associated with working memory deficits at the cognitive level. For this reason, interventions have been designed to train working memory in ADHD. Currently, Cogmed Working Memory Training program is the most commonly used and studied program in clinical practice and research. This program is proposed as an intervention for ADHD that targets working memory deficits with specific exercises through intensive training sessions.ObjectivesThe goal of this literature review is to examine the effects of the Cogmed program in children and adolescents with ADHD on working memory, inhibition, non-verbal reasoning, attention functioning, ADHD symptoms and academic achievement. All existing studies on the subject that included a control group (n = 8) are reviewed.ResultsIt is clear from most studies that Cogmed training program increases and verbal and visuospatial working memory (or the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad in Baddeley's model (1986, 2007), among ADHD participants. However, transfer of learning is not demonstrated on other components of working memory that are not directly targeted by the program such as the central executive described in Baddeley's model or the secondary memory defined by Unsworth & Engle (2007). With regards to far transfer measures, results are controversial for inhibition, non-verbal reasoning, ADHD symptoms reported by parents, and reading abilities. No improvement is demonstrated for attentional capacities, ADHD symptoms reported by teachers and mathematic reasoning.ConclusionCogmed training improves verbal and visuospatial working memory, two cognitive functions that play an important role in ADHD. However, Cogmed's exercises need to be modified in order to train more complex working memory components such as the central executive (Baddeley, 1986, 2007) and the secondary memory (Unsworth & Engle, 2007), which are more impaired in ADHD than the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. Another approach would be to design programs that can tackle a larger range of cognitive functions that are impaired in ADHD (e.g., inhibition). In future, studies evaluating such modified programs, direct observation instruments that are more sensitive to short-term changes need to be included. Follow-up measures should also be systematically included.     

Citizens of the World and their Religion

Abstract

The notion of a ‘cosmopolites’ has diverged quite far from its philosophical origins, but may eventually serve a similar function. The hope of a global peace or any sort of global management is probably better fulfilled in a federation or complex network of self-governing communities than in a global empire. With or without such an empire though we need some widely shared ‘morale’ or ‘religion’ that will sustain cooperation and obedience to the common good. There are many such competing ‘religions’ and utopian ideals, such that an ongoing global war between superficially distinct but also alarmingly similar power blocks (as described by Orwell) may seem inevitable. A more hopeful future would be one where bourgeois values, a new respect for other terrestrial life, and an awareness of the vastness and strangeness of the cosmos provide a backdrop for such cooperation, on Earth or out among the stars, as we can manage. The rules of trade and transport in such a future may be in the hands of something like Kipling’s Aerial Board of Control, staffed by a new sort of cosmopolitan, subject to occasional popular rebuke. Whether such an order would avoid division must be doubtful still.     

The role of human body movements in mate selection

It is common scientific knowledge, that most of what we say within a conversation is not only expressed by the words' meaning alone, but also through our gestures, postures, and body movements. This non-verbal mode is possibly rooted firmly in our human evolutionary heritage, and as such, some scientists argue that it serves as a fundamental assessment and expression tool for our inner qualities. Studies of nonverbal communication have established that a universal, culture-free, non-verbal sign system exists, that is available to all individuals for negotiating social encounters. Thus, it is not only the kind of gestures and expressions humans use in social communication, but also the way these movements are performed, as this seems to convey key information about an individual's quality. Dance, for example, is a special form of movement, which can be observed in human courtship displays. Recent research suggests that people are sensitive to the variation in dance movements, and that dance performance provides information about an individual's mate quality in terms of health and strength. This article reviews the role of body movement in human non-verbal communication, and highlights its significance in human mate preferences in order to promote future work in this research area within the evolutionary psychology framework.     

情绪调节策略：认知重评优于表达抑制

Gross提出情绪调节产生于情绪发生的过程中,主要有两种普遍的调节策略：认知重评和表达抑制。本文探讨了这两种策略在情绪反应和神经机制上的异同,以及二者对认知活动造成的不同影响。与表达抑制相比,认知重评能更好地降低情绪体验,减少生理反应和交感神经系统的激活,降低杏仁核的激活水平,并对认知活动不产生影响;而表达抑制虽然能够降低情绪行为,但生理反应和交感神经系统的激活却增强,而杏仁核激活水平并未降低,且干扰认知活动的完成。神经病理学的证据进一步表明,相较于表达抑制,认知重评能更好地调节情绪,有利于人们的身心健康。     

不同反应线索条件下调节匹配对建议采纳的影响

研究的目的是为了探究不同反应线索条件下调节匹配对建议采纳的影响。实验中有两个反应线索：言语性反应线索(实验一)与非言语性反应线索(实验二), 两个实验均采用2(调节取向：促进/防御)×2(建议策略：渴望/警惕)的混合设计。实验一、二的被试分别是81和79名在校大学生, 年龄均在19~25岁之间。实验结果表明, 在言语反应线索条件下, 调节匹配时人们对建议的采纳程度更高; 在非言语性反应线索条件下, 防御取向时, 调节匹配时人们显著提高了建议的采纳程度, 但促进取向条件人们对建议的采纳程度无明显差异。结果表明在促进取向下非言语性反应线索对调节匹配具有干扰作用, 这个结果值得进一步研究。     

Believing versus Disbelieving in Free Will: Correlates and Consequences

Some people believe more than others in free will, and researchers have both measured and manipulated those beliefs. Disbelief in free will has been shown to cause dishonest, selfish, aggressive, and conforming behavior, and to reduce helpfulness, learning from one’s misdeeds, thinking for oneself, recycling, expectations for occupational success, and actual quality of performance on the job. Belief in free will has been shown to have only modest or negligible correlations with other variables, indicating that it is a distinct trait. Belief in free will has correlated positively with life satisfaction and finding life meaningful, with self‐efficacy and self‐control, with low levels of stress, and (though not entirely consistently) with internal locus of control. High belief in free will has been linked to a punitive attitude toward wrongdoers and lower forgiveness toward them. The belief seems to involve a sense of agency and expecting others to behave in morally responsible fashion.     

双语经验对认知能力的影响

综合近年关于双语经验对认知影响的研究, 探讨双语经验对认知的积极和消极两方面的影响, 且着重介绍了双语经验对认知的积极影响。双语经验对认知的积极影响主要体现在语言认知能力、非语言认知能力和中央执行功能几个方面。此外, 进一步对双语促进认知发展的原因进行了两方面的分析：一个是双语思维经验促进抑制控制的发展, 另一个双语学习经验强化双语者的左右脑交流, 从而导致脑功能活动方式的变化。最后, 对今后双语与认知关系的研究中需要注意的问题提出了一些思考。