Discourses of Disability by Teacher Candidates: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Written Responses to a Disability Simulation1

Despite the shift from traditional to progressive discourse among disability activists and social science academics, the former remains the dominant discourse of disability. In the present study, we examine how Greek teacher candidates, although being considerably exposed to a progressive discourse during their lectures, represent disability in the context of their disability simulations, which favor traditional discourse. The critical discourse analysis of their written accounts reveals that, in quantitative terms, teacher candidates represent disability by drawing upon both traditional and progressive discourses. Seen qualitatively, however, it appears that progressive discourse is a subjugated discourse, compared with the dominant traditional one.     

Self-Reported Anger Among Traumatized Children and Adolescents

This investigation sought to establish if anger is associated with PTSD among children and adolescents or with trauma exposure in the absence of PTSD. The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) was administered to youth with PTSD (n=24), traumatized youth without PTSD (n=58), and a non-traumatized control group (n=38). In the absence of potentially confounding major comorbid disorders, the PTSD group had significantly higher scores on the STAXI State, Trait, and Angry Temperament scales. Trauma exposure in the absence of PTSD was not associated with higher anger scores.     

Functional MRI of Language in Aphasia: A Review of the Literature and the Methodological Challenges

Animal analogue studies show that damaged adult brains reorganize to accommodate compromised functions. In the human arena, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other functional neuroimaging techniques have been used to study reorganization of language substrates in aphasia. The resulting controversy regarding whether the right or the left hemisphere supports language recovery and treatment progress must be reframed. A more appropriate question is when left-hemisphere mechanisms and when right-hemisphere mechanisms support recovery of language functions. Small lesions generally lead to good recoveries supported by left-hemisphere mechanisms. However, when too much language eloquent cortex is damaged, right-hemisphere structures may provide the better substrate for recovery of language. Some studies suggest that recovery is particularly supported by homologues of damaged left-hemisphere structures. Evidence also suggests that under some circumstances, activity in both the left and right hemispheres can interfere with recovery of function. Further research will be needed to address these issues. However, daunting methodological problems must be managed to maximize the yield of future fMRI research in aphasia, especially in the area of language production. In this review, we cover six challenges for imaging language functions in aphasia with fMRI, with an emphasis on language production: (1) selection of a baseline task, (2) structure of language production trials, (3) mitigation of motion-related artifacts, (4) the use of stimulus onset versus response onset in fMRI analyses, (5) use of trials with correct responses and errors in analyses, and (6) reliability and stability of fMRI images across sessions. However, this list of methodological challenges is not exhaustive. Once methodology is advanced, knowledge from conceptually driven fMRI studies can be used to develop theoretically driven, mechanism-based treatments that will result in more effective therapy and to identify the best patient candidates for specific treatments. While the promise of fMRI in the study of aphasia is great, there is much work to be done before this technique will be a useful clinical tool.     

Reading ability is negatively related to Stroop interference

Stroop interference is often taken as evidence for reading automaticity even though young and poor readers, who presumably lack reading automaticity, present strong interference. Here the relationship between reading skills and Stroop interference was studied in a 7th-grade sample. Greater interference was observed in children diagnosed with reading disability (dyslexia) than in unimpaired children. Moreover, poorer reading skills were found to correlate with greater Stroop interference in the general school population. In correlation and regression analyses, interference was primarily associated with reading speed, with an additional unique contribution of reading accuracy. Color naming errors were few and not comparably related to reading skills. The relation of reading skill to Stroop interference was examined in computational modeling simulations. The production model of Roelofs [Roelofs, A. (2003). Goal-referenced selection of verbal action: modeling attentional control in the Stroop task. Psychological Review, 110, 88-125], in which interference is primarily due to word stimuli having direct access to word form encoding whereas color naming must pass through concept activation and lemma selection, was found to account well for the human data after imposing covariation constraints on parameters controlling word processing and blocking latency, in modifications not affecting the model's previous fit to other data. The connectionist model of Cohen, Dunbar, and McClelland [Cohen, J. D., Dunbar, K., & McClelland, J. L. (1990). On the control of automatic processes: a parallel distributed processing account of the Stroop effect. Psychological Review, 97, 332-361], in which interference is caused by differential route strength, implementing an automaticity account, approximated the observed patterns with network-wide parameter manipulations not specific to reading, such as processing speed and response threshold, likely to affect previously optimized performance. On the basis of the empirical and modeling data we argue for a direct link between reading skill and interference, beyond the effects of executive functioning.     

Exogenous spatial attention influences figure-ground assignment

Abstract— In a hierarchical stage account of vision, figure-ground assignment is thought to be completed before the operation of focal spatial attention. Results of previous studies have supported this account by showing that unpredictive, exogenous spatial precues do not influence figure-ground assignment, although voluntary attention can influence figure-ground assignment. However, in these studies, attention was not summoned directly to a region in a figure-ground display. In three experiments, we addressed the relationship between figure-ground assignment and visuospatial attention. In Experiment 1, we replicated the finding that exogenous precues do not influence figure-ground assignment when they direct attention outside of a figure-ground stimulus. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that exogenous attention can influence figure-ground assignment if it is directed to one of the regions in a figure-ground stimulus. In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that exogenous attention can influence figure-ground assignment in displays that contain a Gestalt figure-ground cue; this result suggests that figure-ground processes are not entirely completed prior to the operation of focal spatial attention. Exogenous spatial attention acts as a cue for figure-ground assignment and can affect the outcome of figure-ground processes.     

The intellectual performance of traumatized children and adolescents with or without posttraumatic stress disorder

This study compared the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) scores of traumatized youth with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the scores of trauma-exposed and nonexposed comparison groups without PTSD. All groups were free of additional major childhood psychiatric disorders. The PTSD group scored significantly lower than the comparison groups on verbal subtests, but not on performance subtests. The scores of the trauma-exposed PTSD negatives and nontrauma exposed controls were not significantly different. Accordingly, PTSD and not a history of trauma exposure in the absence of PTSD was associated with lower verbal IQ.     

Accounting for Violations of the Convict Code

Research over the past several decades shows that those who act in ways inconsistent with desired identities often account for (i.e., excuse or justify) their actions to save face and maintain social identities. While the bulk of research on the use of accounts examines how people make sense of behaviors that go against conventional values, recent research suggests that those who do not adhere to subcultural norms engage in similar talk. The current study builds on the sociology of accounts by exploring whether inmates articulate a convict code; whether they provide accounts for code violations that are comparable to those given by active offenders; and whether incarceration shapes inmates’ use of these accounts. Interviews with 40 inmates residing in a maximum security prison suggest that they rely on linguistic devices to align their actions with subcultural beliefs and that the prison environment structures the pattern of these accounts.