The logic of historical necessity as founded on two-dimensional modal tense logic

We consider a version of so called T × W logic for historical necessity in the sense of R.H. Thomason (1984), which is somewhat special in three respects: (i) it is explicitly based on two-dimensional modal logic in the sense of Segerberg (1973); (ii) for reasons of applicability to interesting fields of philosophical logic, it conceives of time as being discrete and finite in the sense of having a beginning and an end; and (iii) it utilizes the technique of systematic frame constants in order to handle the problem of irreflexivity in tense logics, well known since Gabbay (1981). Axiomatizations are given for two infinite hierarchies of two-dimensional modal tense logics, one without and one with the characteristic operators for historical necessity and possibility. Strong and weak completeness results are obtained for both hierarchies as well as a result to the effect that two approaches to their semantics are equivalent, much in the spirit of Di Maio and Zanardo (1996) and von Kutschera (1997).     

European Portuguese Validation of the Thought Control Questionnaire Insomnia-Revised (TCQI-R)

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy - Individuals with insomnia complaints often report intrusive thoughts. In this sense, strategies to cope with cognitive arousal are a...     

Family Management of Pediatric Cancer: Links with Parenting Satisfaction and Psychological Distress

Research has long acknowledged the disruptions posed by pediatric cancer diagnosis and treatment to family life. Nonetheless, the mechanisms through which the family response influences parents’ mental health in this adverse context are not fully understood. The main goal of the present study was to examine the direct and indirect links, via parenting satisfaction, between family condition management and psychological distress of parents of children with cancer. Participants were 201 parents (86.6% mothers) of children/adolescents diagnosed with cancer who completed self‐report questionnaires assessing family condition management (family life difficulty and parental mutuality), parenting satisfaction, and psychological distress (anxiety and depression). Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed mediation model. The results showed that parenting satisfaction mediated the association between both the family condition management dimensions (family life difficulty and parental mutuality) and depression. Specifically, greater family life difficulties and lower parental mutuality were associated with lower parenting satisfaction, which, in turn, was associated with higher levels of depression. Additionally, greater family life difficulties and lower parental mutuality were directly linked to higher levels of anxiety. Multigroup analyses suggested that the model was valid across patient age groups (children vs. adolescents) and treatment status (on vs. off‐treatment). These findings reinforce the need for family‐ and parent‐based interventions in the pediatric oncology field. Interventions that target families’ difficulties and promote their resources are likely to foster parenting satisfaction and psychological adjustment.     

Emotional Competence Disorders and Social Communication in Young Victims of Abuse

This research analyses the emotional competence difficulties (measured through emotional intelligence and empathy) and social communication disorders of young victims of abuse. These minors are in residential care centres with protective measures after suffering maltreatment and/or neglect. The relation between their emotional competence and social communication is analysed, as well as the contribution of empathy and emotional intelligence in predicting their social communication. The results indicate that a lack of emotional competence is related to and can predict their difficulties in social communication. The study manifests a scarcity of emotional intelligence, affecting attention, emotional repair and clarity of feelings, as well as a deterioration in affective and cognitive empathy. The minors’ scarce ability to put themselves in the place of others, to understand others’ intentions and emotional states, limits their use of language in social interactions. The research stresses the need to set up intervention programmes aimed at training in interpersonal and intrapersonal emotional competences which can encourage social communication.     

“Eat your Hamburger!”—“No, I don’t Want to!” Argumentation and Argumentative Development in the Context of Dinner Conversation in Twenty Swedish Families

The aim of the present study was to analyse family dinners as context of argumentation and argumentative development by using a context-sensitive model of basic argumentative structures in every day conversations. The data consisted of 40 argumentative sequences in dinner conversations in twenty Swedish families with children aged 7 to 17 years. The families were divided in two groups depending on the children's ages (10–11 years with younger siblings and 10–12 years with older siblings). The model revealed characteristic structures of argumentation appearing as co-text and suggested differences between family groups depending on contextual factors such as age of the children. The groups of older children produced longer argumentative sequences, more exchanges per sequence and higher rate of turns. The older children also engaged in non-instrumental deliberations and disputations significantly more often and they performed more elaborated expansions (through a higher quantity of backing arguments). The groups of younger children on the other hand were more often involved in negotiations on topics relevant in the immediate context. Less expected was, however, the lack of more complex and varied arguments, even in the groups of older children.     

Sensation weighting in duration discrimination: A univariate,multivariate, and varied-design study of presentation-order effects

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - Stimulus discriminability is often assessed by comparisons of two successive stimuli: a fixed standard (St) and a varied comparison stimulus (Co)....     

Correction to: Sensation weighting in duration discrimination: A univariate,multivariate, and varied-design study of presentation-order effects

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - Due to a printing error, the factor “2” was missing in the last line of Equation 9. It has now been reinstated. The original article has...     

Narrative retelling in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: Is there a role for nonverbal temporal‐sequencing skills?

Oral narrative retelling is often problematic for children with communicative and neurodevelopmental disorders. However, beyond a suggested role of language level, little is known about the basis of narrative performance. In this study we examine whether oral narrative retelling might be associated not just with language level but also with skills related to nonverbal narrative temporal sequencing. A diagnostically heterogeneous sample of Swedish‐speaking children with a full scale IQ >70 was included in the study (N = 55; age 6–9 years). Narrative retelling skills were measured using the three subscores from the bus story test (BST). Independent predictors included (1) temporal sequencing skills according to a picture arrangement test and (2) a language skills factor consisting of definitional vocabulary and receptive grammar. Regression analyses show that language skills predicted BST Sentence Length and Subordinate Clauses subscores, while both temporal sequencing and language were independently linked with the BST Information subscore. When subdividing the sample based on nonverbal temporal sequencing level, a significant subgroup difference was found only for BST Information. Finally, a principal component analysis shows that temporal sequencing and BST Information loaded on a common factor, separately from the language measures. It is concluded that language level is an important correlate of narrative performance more generally in this diagnostically heterogeneous sample, and that nonverbal temporal sequencing functions are important especially for conveying story information. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.