Phonological recoding: Is the regularity effect consistent?

An attempt was made to distinguish between the dual-access and the activation and synthesis models of word identification. Word regularity and consistency were factorially manipulated. In two experiments lexical decisions were required, and in two the task was word naming. Within each task, comparisons were made of the effects achieved by manipulating the degree to which subjects were free to rely on a phonological, rather than a visual, stimulus code. The results suggested that lexical access generally involves the activation of lexical entries that are visually similar to the target, but that subjects do favor a phonological code when the task requires the naming of words only. The data were interpreted as requiring a model incorporating elements of both the dual-access and the activation and synthesis frameworks.     

Reinforcement effects on intrinsic interest: A classroom analog

The potential undermining effects of a reinforcement program were examined in two studies with kindergarten-first grade children. The procedures were designed to provide an analog to typical classroom incentive programs. In one study, the subjects' initial interest in the target activity (coloring) was low, whereas in the other study it was reasonably high. In neither case was an undermining effect evident in follow-up observations.     

Developmental tasks of terminally ill patients

Erikson's epigenetic stages provide a conceptual map of how a person responds to the knowledge of having a terminal illness. The patient initially reworks developmental tasks that have been resolved and then works at an accelerated pace to accomplish tasks that remain ahead. This acceleration is an attempt to attain a wholeness of self and life in light of the threat of imminent death and self-perceived shortened life span.     

Vocalization and looking behaviour of Down's syndrome infants.

The effect of contingent and non-contingent vocal stimulation on vocalization and looking behaviour was investigated for 10 Down's syndrome infants. There were two experimental sessions consisting of four stages, namely 1 min base-line, 1 min experimental condition, a further 1 min base-line and a final 2 min experimental condition. Maternal vocal stimulation was contingent upon infant vocalization for the experimental conditions of one session and was presented every 10 s independent of infant vocalization for the experimental conditions of the other session. Neither condition increased infant vocalization but there was a significant decrease in looking at mother during the base-line stages which followed maternal vocalization (F = 5.07, d.f. = 4, 28, P less than 0.01). It is suggested that looking behaviour may be an important indication of competence in pre-linguistic social communication for developmentally delayed infants.     

Interactive activation accounts of morphological decomposition: finding the trap in mousetrap?

Many accounts of the processing of morphologically complex words have been elaborated within the interactive activation model of word identification. Conceptually, this model adopts a "segmentation-through-recognition" approach to morphological decomposition, which assumes that a complex word activates representations of constituent morphemes as well as the representation of the whole word. However, a detailed consideration of the assumptions of interactive activation frameworks reveals that current implementations of the model are incapable of achieving segmentation-through-recognition.     

Using student-managed interventions to increase homework completion and accuracy

We examined the effectiveness of self-managed individual and group contingency procedures in improving the completion and accuracy rates of daily mathematics homework assignments. A group of sixth-grade students having homework difficulties in mathematics were selected for the study. There was substantial improvement in the amount of homework completed over baseline for a majority of the students, whereas the results for accuracy were mixed. Students who participated in the self-management training made significant gains on standardized measures of academic achievement and curriculum-based measures of classroom performance. Parents also reported significantly fewer problems associated with homework completion following the intervention. Students who were allowed to select their own performance goals made superior improvements in the number of homework assignments returned compared to students who were given a specified goal by the classroom teacher. Parents, subjects, and the classroom teacher responded positively on consumer satisfaction measures following termination of the study.     

Two scenes or not two scenes: The effects of stimulus repetition and view-similarity on scene categorization from brief displays

Previous research suggests that understanding the gist of a scene relies on global structural cues that enable rapid scene categorization. This study used a repetition blindness (RB) paradigm to interrogate the nature of the scene representations used in such rapid categorization. When stimuli are repeated in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sequence (~10 items/sec), the second occurrence of the repeated item frequently goes unnoticed, a phenomenon that is attributed to a failure to consolidate two conscious episodes (tokens) for a repeatedly activated type. We tested whether RB occurs for different exemplars of the same scene category, which share conceptual and broad structural properties, as well as for identical and mirror-reflected repetitions of the same scene, which additionally share the same local visual details. Across 2 experiments, identical and mirror-image scenes consistently produced a repetition facilitation, rather than RB. There was no convincing evidence of either RB or repetition facilitation for different members of a scene category. These findings indicate that in the first 100–150 ms of processing scenes are represented in terms of local visual features, rather than more abstract category-general features, and that, unlike other kinds of stimuli (words or objects), scenes are not susceptible to token individuation failure.     

Children's Uncertain Responses when Testifying about Alleged Sexual Abuse in Scottish Courts

This study examined the uncertain responses of 56 alleged sexual abuse victims, aged 5–17 years, testifying in Scottish criminal court trials. Don't know/remember ground rules were explained to 38% of the children and each child reported uncertainty in response to 15% of the questions on average. Uncertain responding was associated with expressions of resistance and confusion, questioning context (proportionally more regarding substantive than non‐substantive issues), question content (least to disclosure‐focused questions), utterance type (more to directives, particularly those posed by defense lawyers; more to recall‐based than recognition prompts), and age (children in mid‐adolescence were less likely to respond uncertainly than those who were either older or younger). There were no associations between expressions of uncertainty and ground rule administration, or with whether or not the question focused on central rather than peripheral details about the alleged crimes. Findings highlight concerns surrounding preparatory procedures to help witnesses, especially adolescents, indicate uncertainty when testifying. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early executive control and risk for overweight and obesity in elementary school

An emerging literature suggests that poor executive control (EC) may be associated with clinical weight problems, e.g., body mass index (BMI) for age percentile ≥85 in children. However, our understanding of the impact of EC on overweight and obesity in childhood is limited by the lack of longitudinal studies spanning critical developmental periods and assessing EC using comprehensive performance-based batteries. The current study addresses these limitations in a longitudinal examination of 212 children who completed an extensive laboratory-based EC task battery in preschool (age 4 years and 6 months) and were followed through elementary school (Grades 1 through 4) with objective measures of weight status. The logistic regression results indicate that poorer EC in preschool is associated with significantly greater risk for clinical weight problems (either overweight or obese status, as defined by BMI-for-age percentile ≥ 85) in elementary school, controlling for maternal education. EC in preschool was not significantly associated with risk for obese status, specifically (defined by BMI-for-age percentile ≥ 95), but the trend was in the expected direction. The results suggest that early executive abilities are relevant for children’s subsequent health status, with deficits in EC in the critical period of preschool conferring risk for later problems with weight. Based on these findings, early interventions to promote stronger EC may be a promising, yet currently overlooked, component in pediatric obesity prevention efforts.     

Differences in holistic processing do not explain cultural differences in the recognition of facial expression

The aim of this study was to investigate the causes of the own-race advantage in facial expression perception. In Experiment 1, we investigated Western Caucasian and Chinese participants’ perception and categorization of facial expressions of six basic emotions that included two pairs of confusable expressions (fear and surprise; anger and disgust). People were slightly better at identifying facial expressions posed by own-race members (mainly in anger and disgust). In Experiment 2, we asked whether the own-race advantage was due to differences in the holistic processing of facial expressions. Participants viewed composite faces in which the upper part of one expression was combined with the lower part of a different expression. The upper and lower parts of the composite faces were either aligned or misaligned. Both Chinese and Caucasian participants were better at identifying the facial expressions from the misaligned images, showing interference on recognizing the parts of the expressions created by holistic perception of the aligned composite images. However, this interference from holistic processing was equivalent across expressions of own-race and other-race faces in both groups of participants. Whilst the own-race advantage in recognizing facial expressions does seem to reflect the confusability of certain emotions, it cannot be explained by differences in holistic processing.