Familiar words can serve as a semantic seed for syntactic bootstrapping

Young children can exploit the syntactic context of a novel word to narrow down its probable meaning. But how do they learn which contexts are linked to which semantic features in the first place? We investigate if 3‐ to 4‐year‐old children (n = 60) can learn about a syntactic context from tracking its use with only a few familiar words. After watching a 5‐min training video in which a novel function word (i.e., ‘ko’) replaced either personal pronouns or articles, children were able to infer semantic properties for novel words co‐occurring with the newly learned function word (i.e., objects vs. actions). These findings implicate a mechanism by which a distributional analysis, associated with a small vocabulary of known words, could be sufficient to identify some properties associated with specific syntactic contexts.     

Correction to: A Family Socialization Model of Transdiagnostic Risk for Psychopathology in Preschool Children

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-021-00812-1     

Assembling Upstream Engagement: the Case of the Portuguese Deliberative Forum on Nanotechnologies

This article analyzes a deliberative forum on nanotechnologies, organized in Portugal within the scope of the research project DEEPEN—Deepening Ethical Engagement and Participation in Emerging Nanotechnologies. This event included scientists, science communicators and members of the “lay public”, and resulted in a position document which summarizes collective aspirations and concerns related to nano. Drawing upon our previous experience with focus groups on nanotechnologies—characterized by methodological innovations that aimed at suspending epistemological inequalities between participants—this paper delves into the performativity of the deliberative event, exploring some of the tensions and power/knowledge asymmetries generated by the forum. Recognizing that the design of participatory assemblages matters, we reflect on our role as facilitators and explore the difficulties in organizing exercises of upstream engagement with emerging technologies.     

Quality of life and depression in haemodialysis patients

Chronic kidney disease is associated with a high prevalence of depression, which increases inversely with the glomerular filtration rate. This paper aims to evaluate the factors associated with a low quality of life and depression in patients on haemodialysis. Two hundred patients undergoing haemodialysis answered the Medical Outcomes Study 36 – Item Short – Form Health Survey (SF-36) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Clinical and laboratory variables were analysed and correlated with these two tools. The prevalence of depression was 29%. Anaemia and hypoalbuminemia were independent risk factors for depression. All SF-36 domains showed worse results in patients with depression, and the pain domain presented the highest correlation. Our findings provide evidence that patients on haemodialysis have a low quality of life and a high prevalence of depression. A greater number of comorbidities, an excessive number of medications, diabetes mellitus, anaemia and hypoalbuminemia were associated with a reduced quality of life.     

Effects of different training histories upon manufacturing a tool to solve a problem: insight in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.)

Animal Cognition - The emergence of novel behavior is a multilayered phenomenon that comprehends distinct processes. One such process is known as insightful problem solving. “Insight”...     

Cooperative responding in rats maintained by fixed‐ and variable‐ratio schedules

The present study investigated the effects of fixed‐ratio (FR) and variable‐ratio (VR) reinforcement schedules on patterns of cooperative responding in pairs of rats. Experiment 1 arranged FR 1, FR 10, and VR 10 schedules to establish cooperative responding (water delivery depended on the joint responding of two rats). Cooperative response rates and proportions were higher under intermittent schedules than under continuous reinforcement. The FR 10 schedule generated a break‐and‐run pattern, whereas the VR 10 schedule generated a relatively high and constant rate pattern. Experiment 2 evaluated the effects of parametric manipulations of FR and VR schedules on cooperative responding. Rates and proportions of cooperative responding generally increased between ratio sizes of 1 and 5 but showed no consistent trend as the ratio increased from 5 to 10. Experiment 3 contrasted cooperative responding between an FR6 schedule and a yoked control schedule. Coordinated behavior occurred at a higher rate under the former schedule. The present study showed that external consequences and the schedules under which the delivery of these consequences are based, select patterns of coordinated behavior.     

Spatio-temporal parameters in infant's reaching movements are influenced by body orientation

Many studies have demonstrated that the seated position is more effective in promoting reaching movements when compared with supine. The aim of this longitudinal study was to verify the effect of seated and supine positions on spatio-temporal parameters of reaching in 4-6-month-old infants. Four infants were observed during reaching trials in both positions. A total of 235 reaches were analyzed by using the 3D movement reconstruction. Our results showed that frequency of reaching and straightness index increased over age. Significant differences between the positions were observed at 4 months, when the frequency increased and the duration and deceleration time decreased in the seated position. There were no significant differences at 5 and 6 months. These findings suggest that young infants are able to change kinematical parameters of reaching to adapt themselves to intrinsic and extrinsic constraints (i.e. age and position).     

Sudden Gains in Depressed Cancer Patients Treated With Behavioral Activation Therapy

Many patients who receive cognitive-behavioral therapy experience sudden gains that are associated with improved treatment response and decreased risk of relapse. Extending prior research, this study examined sudden gains among depressed cancer patients receiving brief (9-session) behavioral activation therapy. Fifty percent of patients experienced sudden gains of large magnitude (M = 11.8 BDI-II points), with sudden gains associated with improved treatment response and maintenance of gains at 3-month follow-up. Relative to those without sudden gains, at pretreatment assessment, cancer patients with sudden gains were more likely to present with less severe depression, less somatic anxiety, fewer coexistent anxiety disorders, as well as less bodily pain, better overall physical functioning, and fewer problems with daily activities as a result of emotional problems. These findings provide increasing support for behavioral activation with a difficult-to-treat population but raise important questions regarding mechanism of change. Clinical implications for treating depressed cancer patients are discussed.     

Tool-composite reuse in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): archaeologically invisible steps in the technological evolution of early hominins?

Recent etho-archaeological studies of stone-tool use by wild chimpanzees have contributed valuable data towards elucidating the variables that influenced the emergence and development of the first lithic industries among Plio-Pleistocene hominins. Such data help to identify potential behaviours entailed in the first percussive technologies that are invisible in archaeological records. The long-term research site of Bossou in Guinea features a unique chimpanzee community whose members systematically use portable stones as hammers and anvils to crack open nuts in natural as well as in field experimental settings. Here we present the first analysis of repeated reuse of the same tool-composites in wild chimpanzees. Data collected over 5 years of experimental nut-cracking sessions at an “outdoor laboratory” site were assessed for the existence of systematic patterns in the selection of tool-composites, at group and at individual levels. Chimpanzees combined certain stones as hammer and anvil more often than expected by chance, even when taking into account preferences for individual stones by themselves. This may reflect an ability to recognise the nut-cracker as a single tool (composed of two elements, but functional only as a whole), as well as discrimination of tool quality-effectiveness. Through repeatedly combining the same pairs of stones—whether due to preferences for particular composites or for the two elements independently—tool-users may amplify use-wear traces and increase the likelihood of fracturing the stones, and thus of detaching pieces by battering.