Color Associations of Male and Female Fourth-Grade School Children

Four groups (two male and two female) were asked to respond to a number of concepts with the first color that came to mind. Results led to the following conclusions: (a) We replicated Byrnes' (1983) findings that indicated that there is a definite color association among children to stimuli; (b) there was no significant difference between the responses of the male children and those of the female children; (c) two opposing findings concerning the perceived valence of colors were both supported by the data; and (d) we found mat emotionally loaded stimuli evoked similar responses from males and females, whereas neutral stimuli elicited different responses.     

Categorization and normalization of vowels by 3-year-old children

A two-alternative, forced-choice procedure was used in two experiments to test 3-year-old children’s categorization of natural vowel tokens produced by several talkers. An appropriate pointing response (right or left) was visually reinforced with one of two television displays. In Experiment 1, the stimuli were isolated tokens of /a/ and /i/ produced by a male adult, a female adult, a male child, and a female child. In Experiment 2, the stimuli were isolated tokens of /æ/ and /∧/ produced by the same talkers. In both experiments, 3-year-olds spontaneously generalized their pointing responses from the male adult vowel tokens to the corresponding vowels produced by the other talkers. Children reinforced for an arbitrary grouping of the two vowel categories persisted in categorizing on the basis of vowel quality. Results from both experiments demonstrate the presence of perceptual constancy for vowel tokens across talkers. In particular, the results from Experiment 2 provide evidence for normalization of isolated, quasi-steady-state vowel tokens because the formant values for tokens of /∧/ produced by the woman and the two children were closer to the formant frequencies of the male adult’s /æ/ than to the male adult’s /∧/.     

Young Children's Sensitivity to Speaker Gender When Learning From Others

This research explores whether young children are sensitive to speaker gender when learning novel information from others. Four- and 6-year-olds (N = 144) chose between conflicting statements from a male versus a female speaker (Studies 1 and 3) or decided which speaker (male or female) they would ask (Study 2) when learning about the functions of novel objects. Some objects were in gender-typing colors (light pink or navy blue), and some were in a gender-ambiguous color (yellow). The results indicated that children did use speaker gender to guide their learning, by either consistently choosing to agree with the speakers of their own gender or making choices that are associated with gender stereotypes about color. The findings are discussed in relation to how in-group preference and stereotype attributions might influence children's learning from others.     

The discriminative validity of a phallometric test for pedophilic interests among adolescent sex offenders against children

The authors examined the responses of adolescent sex offenders against children on a phallometric test of pedophilic interests. Participants were 40 adolescent sex offenders against children, 75 young adult sex offenders against children, and 39 young adult comparison participants. The responses of adolescents with female victims resembled those of comparison participants; adolescents with any male victims had larger relative responses to child stimuli than comparison participants. Young adult offenders, regardless of victim sex, had larger relative responses to child stimuli than comparison participants. Using a cut score of 0 (indicating equal or greater arousal to children than to adults), sensitivity was 42% for adolescents with any male victims, and specificity was 92% for the comparison participants. Results suggest phallometric testing can identify pedophilic interests among these adolescent sex offenders.     

积极情绪影响任务转换的性别和发展特点

情绪研究中的性别和年龄因素一直是不容忽视的问题.已有研究表明,积极情绪能够提高认知的灵活性,任务转换是认知灵活性的主要成分.本研究以52名大学生3、6名高中生4、5名初中生为被试考察积极情绪影响任务转换的发展变化和性别差异.结果发现,对于女性,积极情绪促进任务转换的现象,在三个年龄段上具有发展上的稳定性;对于男性,只在初中阶段表现出此特点,在高中阶段和大学阶段,积极情绪促进任务转换的现象不再明显.     

Gender expectations for alcohol use: A study of the significance of the masculine role

One hundred sixteen undergraduates assigned traditional gender-stereotyping adjectives and adjective phrases to two male and two female stimuli. Included in this set of traits were statements regarding drinking beer, drinking wine, and getting drunk. Results indicated that male stimuli were attributed stereotypically masculine traits (e.g., acts as a leader, is willing to take risks), and were attributed both beer drinking and getting drunk significantly more often than the female stimuli. By contrast, female stimuli were attributed stereotypically feminine traits (e.g., dependent, sensitive) and were attributed wine drinking significantly more often than the male stimuli. These data provide direct evidence that expectations regarding beer drinking and getting drunk are aspects of the traditional male gender role. The social and mental health implications of the findings are discussed.     

Structural-functional correlations between hippocampal volume and cortico-limbic emotional responses in depressed children

Although hippocampal atrophy and altered functional brain responses to emotional stimuli have been found in major depressive disorder (MDD), the relationship between the two is not yet well understood. The present study focused on children with and without a history of preschool onset MDD (PO-MDD) and directly examined the relations between hippocampal volume and functional brain activation to affect-eliciting stimuli. Children completed annual diagnostic assessments starting at preschool. When children were school-aged, high-resolution structural MRI and task-related functional MRI data were acquired from N = 64 nonmedicated children. During fMRI, subjects were shown emotional faces. Results from the total sample indicated that smaller bilateral hippocampal volumes were associated with greater cortico-limbic (e.g., amygdala, hippocampus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) activation to sad or negative faces versus neutral faces. Left hippocampal volume was negatively associated with the cortico-limbic activation in both the PO-MDD and healthy children. Right hippocampal volume was negatively correlated with amygdala responses in the PO-MDD group, but not in the healthy comparison group. These findings suggest that there may be important interrelationships between reduced hippocampal volume and hyperactivation of brain responses in children, both those with and those without a history of PO-MDD.     

Pheromone‐mediated intrasexual aggression in male lizards,Podarcis hispanicus

Sex recognition is based on color signals in many species of lizards. However, olfactory stimuli are also clearly involved, and many species might rely primarily on chemoreception. We aimed to examine whether color pattern or odors, or a combination of both factors, induce the aggressive response of males of the lizard P. hispanicus. We experimentally manipulated the coloration and odor of male P. hispanicus, thereby creating groups with all combinations between coloration and odor of males or females. Using data from staged encounters, we compared the responses of resident males to the experimental groups of manipulated males and their response to unmanipulated individuals (males and females). Responding males reacted significantly more aggressively to intruders with male odors independent of their coloration, whereas intruders with female odors did not elicit aggressive responses but were preferentially courted, irrespective of their actual sex and body coloration. In addition, intruders with female odors elicited a higher number of tongue‐flick explorations than male odor ones. Comparisons with unmanipulated male and female intruders agreed with these expectations. Therefore, at least at close range, odoriferous cues seem to be more important than color patterns in sex recognition and intrasexual aggression by male P. hispanicus. We suggest that this might be a pattern commoner than expected in many species of reptiles.Aggr. Behav. 28:154–163, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

A Gender-Fair Look at Variability in Creativity: Growth in Variability Over a Period Versus Gender Comparison at a Time Point

Using two normative datasets of the Wallach-Kogan Creativity Tests (WKCT), variability in creativity was studied in terms of growth over a period and gender comparison at a time point. New indices were introduced to tap growth in variability for men and women and new results were obtained for the growth in variability of various creative abilities measured by the WKCT. It was found that both male variability and female variability increased with time in both verbal and figural fluency, flexibility, uniqueness, and unusualness. For gender comparison of variability at a time point, the widely accepted gender-difference variance ratio was employed. In line with previous cognitive-intellectual research findings, results of this study showed that the Greater Male Variability Hypothesis had supportive evidence from responses to figural stimuli but not responses to verbal stimuli of the WKCT. The findings and the advantages of the new indices were discussed.     

Motion and color processing in school-age children and adults: an ERP study

Stimuli designed to selectively elicit motion or color processing were used in a developmental event-related potential study with adults and children aged 6, 7 and 8. A positivity at posterior site INZ (P-INZ) was greater to motion stimuli only in adults. The P1 and N1 were larger to color stimuli in both adults and children, but earlier to motion stimuli only in adults. Finally, the P2 was larger to color stimuli in adults but larger to motion stimuli in children, and earlier to motion stimuli only in children. The findings across components indicate development from middle childhood to adulthood in aspects of both the motion and color processing systems indexed by this paradigm, but are consistent with an hypothesis of a more protracted time course of development for the motion as compared to the color processing system.     

On the role of stimulus preference assessment in the evaluation of contingent access to stimuli associated with stereotypy during behavioral acquisition

Previous authors have reported successful behavioral acquisition in children diagnosed with autism using contingent access to stereotypic responding as reinforcement. Other studies have demonstrated robust reinforcement effects when consequences were selected using stimulus preference assessments. We conducted two stimulus preference assessments with a six-year-old female diagnosed with autism. Her acquisition of a non-vocal imitation response was then evaluated during two reinforcement conditions: contingent access to (i) a stimulus associated with stereotypic object manipulation and (ii) a stimulus unassociated with such stereotypy. Both stimuli were identified from the stimulus preference assessments. Nearly identical response patterns were observed in both conditions; correct responses to verbal prompts greatly increased while correct responses to gestural and physical prompts decreased to near-zero levels. These preliminary findings are discussed in the context of improving stimulus selection in this area. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infant habituation and generalization to differing degrees of stimulus novelty

This study examined 4-month-old infants' fixation times to familiar and novel visual patterns. Thirty-two male and 32 female infants were given 12 successive 15 sec exposures to one simple geometric pattern followed by test trials consisting of two exposures to the same pattern, two to a pattern with the same form but novel color, two with a novel form but the same color, and two with both novel form and color. Results indicated habituation of fixation times to the repeated stimulus and recovery to novel stimuli, particularly in male infants. Generalization was also obtained with less recovery to patterns with only one dimension novel than to those with both novel. Most individual infants were also found to be attending to both dimensions rather than some infants attending mainly to color changes and others attending mainly to form changes.     

Affective responses to body stimuli: comparing male and female bodies with cropped heads and masked faces

Three studies were conducted to determine whether headless bodies evoke affective responses that might confound neuroimaging and electrophysiological findings. In Experiment 1, 224 participants rated pictures, including bodies with cropped heads and masked faces, for disgust, fear, naturalness, valence and arousal. In Experiment 2, 38 participants viewed the same images during a free word association task, whilst in Experiment 3 galvanic skin responses were measured as 57 participants completed a similar rating task to that in Experiment 1. No differences were found between responses elicited by bodies without heads versus bodies with masked faces, although female bodies were thought of more positively than male bodies. This suggests that headless bodies are not abhorrent and are appropriate stimuli for investigating body-selective perceptual processes as they do not evoke face-processing mechanisms. Our findings also suggest that differences between male and female body viewing should be considered when investigating visual body perception.     

The facilitative effect of positive stimuli on 3-year-olds’ flexible rule use

This study examined the effect of emotional stimuli on 3- to 4-year old children's flexible rule use, as measured by the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS). In Experiment 1, children in two countries (Canada and China) were given 2 versions of the DCCS. The Standard version required children to sort red and blue boats and rabbits first by shape and then by color (or vice versa); the Emotional Faces version required children to sort happy and sad male and female faces first by emotion and then by gender (or vice versa). Children performed significantly better on the Emotional Faces version, and performance on the 2 versions was related. Order in which dimensions were presented had no effect. Experiment 2 examined which aspects of the emotional faces were responsible for the facilitation of children's performance. Performance on the Standard version was compared to performance on three contextual faces versions, in which children were shown happy, sad, or neutral faces and required to sort them by age (child versus adult) and then by gender (or vice versa). Facilitation was only seen in the context of happy faces. Results are consistent with the suggestion that positive stimuli promote cognitive flexibility, perhaps by increasing dopamine levels in prefrontal cortex.     

Sex stereotyping of infants: A review of gender labeling studies

Studies that have addressed the question of whether adults and children respond differently to male and female infants because of actual differences in the infants or because of preconceived sex stereotypes are reviewed, and the overall conclusions from these studies are evaluated. Twenty-three studies were identified in which neutrally clothed infant stimuli were labeled male in some conditions and female in other conditions. The strength and consistency of gender labeling effects on perceptions and behaviors in these studies were appraised. The results indicate that knowledge of an infant's gender is not a consistent determinant of adults' reactions, but more strongly influences young children's reactions. The implications of these findings for research on early sex role socialization are considered.     

The relationship between active hand and ear advantage in the native and foreign language

In an experimental design involving two auditorily presented competing commands (one to each ear), 144 right-handed subjects (72 male and 72 female) were asked to provide motor responses. Half of each group of subjects was responding with their right hand and the other half with the left. The test was applied in the subjects' native language (Croatian) and in English, which they had learned as a foreign language. Ear advantage was determined by calculating laterality indices from the order of responding to the commands. On average, right-ear advantage was found in all conditions. Analysis of results revealed the effect of the active hand in Croatian (with significant decrease in the right-ear advantage when using the left hand). The same trend failed to reach significance in English. In responses to English stimuli, there was a significant effect of gender (with men exhibiting a lower right-ear advantage than women). The same trend was not significant for Croatian stimuli. The consistently lower right-ear advantage found in male subjects is contrary to the traditional assumptions that men are more lateralized than women and warrants further investigation.     

Teaching 'Yes' and 'No' responses to children with multiple disabilities through a program including microswitches linked to a vocal output device

The present study introduced two children (a boy and a girl of 9.2 and 12.3 yr. of age, respectively, with multiple disabilities) to an intervention program for establishing Yes and No responses in relation to preferred and nonpreferred stimuli and assessed the acquisition and generalization of those responses. The program involved the use of microswitches, which monitored the nonverbal Yes and No responses performed by the children and ensured that these responses produced the matching verbal utterances via a vocal output device. Analysis showed children acquired Yes and No responses in relation to the stimuli used for the intervention and, to a comparable degree, to the stimuli used for generalization checks as well. An interview of 30 educational staff of a center for persons with multiple disabilities indicated that they considered the presence of Yes and No verbal utterances preferable to the absence of such utterances, and thought that the utterances could be helpful for the children's response acquisition and would be useful and pleasing for staff and parents. General implications of the findings were discussed.     

Perceiving Age and Attractiveness in Facial Photographs1

In two experiments, 492 male and female subjects from three different age groups estimated the age of adult men and women on the basis of photographs and provided attractiveness ratings of the stimulus persons. With regard to the age estimates there was almost perfect agreement between the mean judgments of the different groups, and there was high consensus among the individual judges within each group. For each single picture, however, there was high variability in the age estimates; and although the estimates were generally quite accurate, in some cases they deviated substantially from the stimulus person's true age. In both experiments there was a negative relationship between age and attractiveness for female stimuli. For male stimuli a negative relationship was found in one experiment only, whereas in the other experiment these two variables were almost uncorrelated. Both experiments yielded two kinds of ingroup-favoritism: The relationship between age and attractiveness was seen to be less negative (a) when the judges and the judged were of the same sex, and (b) when the subjects themselves belonged to the oldest age group.