Speech-Language Outcomes of Hemispherectomy in Children and Young Adults

Children and young adults who had undergone right or left hemispherectomy for intractable seizures after a period of normal language acquisition were compared with respect to scores on speech and language tests. The majority of the subjects had full scale IQs in the borderline to mentally retarded range. Language scores were computed in relation to estimated mental age, not chronological age. On this basis, the left hemispherectomized children were more likely to show syntactic comprehension and rapid-rate auditory processing deficits than the right hemispherectomized. The two groups were similar to one another and to normal children in speech production. The findings are discussed in relation to developmental language disorders.     

The role of stress,social support,and family environment in adolescent mothers' parenting

Adolescent childbearing is a major social and economic problem in the US. The authors assessed the role of stress, social support, and family environment upon adolescent mothers' parenting behaviors. 75 African-American, mother-infant pairs participated in the study. Each mother was administered a questionnaire and observed in a ten-minute teaching task with her baby. The study found that the adolescent mother's mother was the most frequent provider of support and the baby's father was the most frequent source of conflict. Mothers who identified more individuals as a source of conflict tended to have less positive parenting behaviors. Child age and interpersonal conflict were found through analysis to be significant predictors of maternal behavior. Furthermore, social support moderated the effects of interpersonal conflict when conflicted networks were large. Parenting stress was not a significant predictor of maternal behavior.     

Salience from multiple feature contrast: Evidence from saccade trajectories

We used eye tracking to quantify the extent to which combinations of salient contrasts (orientation, luminance, and movement) influence a central salience map that guides eye movements. We found that luminance combined additively with orientation and movement, suggesting that the salience system processes luminance somewhat independently of the two other features. On the other hand, orientation and movement together influenced salience underadditively, suggesting that these two features are processed nonindependently. This pattern of results suggests that the visual system does not sum sources of salience linearly, but treats some sources of salience as redundant.

     

The effects of familial risk, personality, and expectancies on alcohol use and abuse

This study tested a structural model of the association between familial risk, personality risk, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol abuse in a sample of 224 young adult offspring of alcoholics and 209 offspring of nonalcoholics. The results provided support for 2 personality-risk pathways, a social deviance proneness and an excitement/pleasure seeking path, that accounted for a significant portion of the association between a familial alcoholism and alcohol abuse. The path from familial alcoholism to social deviance proneness lead directly to alcohol problems. The path from familial alcoholism to excitement/pleasure seeking was associated with increased drinking, which, in turn, was associated with alcohol problems. Positive alcohol expectancies accounted for part of the association between excitement seeking and alcohol use. The results suggest 2 different biopsychosocial mechanisms that elevate risk for abuse in the offspring of alcoholics.     

Climate quality and climate consensus as mediators of the relationship between organizational antecedents and outcomes

Research has shown that climate quality (average climate ratings) is related to organizational antecedents and outcomes, but researchers have yet to examine climate consensus (the variance of climate ratings). Similarly, studies have investigated typical behavior (members' average performance), but have neglected behavioral similarity (within-group variance). Data from 1,196 members in 180 organizations were used to test relationships of climate quality and consensus with organizational antecedents and outcomes. Climate quality and consensus both had significant correlations with organizational antecedents and outcomes, but climate consensus did not contribute a significant increment to the prediction of organizational outcomes. Finally, quality mediated many relationships between organizational antecedents and outcomes.     

An auditory Stroop effect for pitch, loudness, and time

Increased reaction time to pitch, loudness, or duration of an auditorily presented word whose meaning is in conflict with the response label (i.e., high/low, loud/soft, or fast/slow) demonstrates an auditory Stroop effect. Fifteen normal adults participated in an auditory Stroop test. Analysis of reaction time data supports the existence of an auditory Stroop effect for pitch and loudness, but not duration. The interaction between psychoacoustic and semantic attributes of speech stimuli is discussed.     

A short-term group therapy model for treatment of adult female survivors of childhood incest

Childhood incest has been experienced by a minimum of one million American women. Because of the dynamic of secrecy in these families and society's discomfort with the issue, disclosure frequently does not take place until adulthood. A treatment modality for adult women following disclosure of a childhood incest experience has been devised. A short-term semi-structured group model has been chosen which creates an atmosphere of rapid cohesion and helps participants broaden their identity beyond that of victim. This paper reports participants' demographic and historical data as well as thematic content and group evaluative data from the first nine such groups conducted in a major health maintenance organization in the Boston area. Findings suggest that childhood incest has widespread and long-lasting effects on women's functioning, including ability to trust and form relationships, emotional functioning and self-esteem, and the ability to protect self and children from victimization. The group was felt to be extremely valuable by the majority of participants and was experienced by many as the first place they ever found safety, unconditional nurturance, and a sense of belonging. Other findings include the repetition of incest over generations, the nonresponsiveness of adults in cases where disclosure had taken place in childhood, and the importance of an empathic yet well-bounded therapist.