Children’s behavioral patterns, the Five-Factor model of personality, and risk behaviors

Although relations between children’s personality and health behaviors have been identified, previous research has relied primarily on survey assessments. The present study used behavioral observations to examine children’s (n = 94, mean age = 10.07 years) behavioral patterns in relation to their participation in risk behaviors 1 year later. Results contribute to previous reports linking specific personality traits to children’s likelihood of participation in risky behaviors. Specifically, girls’ participation in risky behavior was related to the expression of behavioral patterns associated with neuroticism, introversion, and disagreeableness, while boys participation in risk behaviors was related to behavioral patterns associated with extraversion and disagreeableness. Findings are discussed in terms of their potential for contributing to health promotion efforts aimed at identifying children most at risk for adopting unhealthy behaviors.     

Hot dogs and zavy cats: preschoolers' and adults' expectations about familiar and novel adjectives

In recent years, a growing body of research has begun to examine the processes that underlie young children's acquisition of adjectival meanings. In the present studies, we examined whether preschoolers' willingness to extend adjectives was influenced by the type of property labeled by familiar adjectives (Experiment 1) and by semantic information conveyed in the sentence used to introduce novel adjectives (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, we examined preschoolers' and adults' expectations about the generalizability of familiar adjectives of three different types: emotional state terms, physiological state terms, and stable trait terms. On each trial, we labeled a target animal with one of the three different types of adjectives and asked whether these terms could apply to a subordinate-level match, a basic-level match, a superordinate-level match, or an inanimate object. Results indicated that 4-year-olds and adults extended the trait terms, but not the emotional or physiological terms, to members of the same basic-level category. In Experiment 2, we presented 4-year-olds and adults with novel adjectives in one of two verb frames: stable ("This X is very daxy") or transient ("This X feels very daxy"). Participants were more likely to extend the novel adjective to subordinate matches if they were in the Stable frame group than if they were in the Transient frame group. These findings are discussed in terms of implications for young children's expectations about familiar and novel adjectives.     

Preliminary examination of the relationship between anxiety disorders in adults and self-reported history of teasing or bullying experiences

This preliminary study examined the relationship between anxiety disorders and self-reported history of teasing or bullying experiences, comparing individuals with social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. Given that aversive conditioning experiences, such as severe teasing, have been proposed to play a role in the development of social phobia and that the core feature of social phobia is a fear of social situations in which a person may be embarrassed or humiliated, we hypothesized that the social phobia group would have a higher rate of self-reported teasing history than would the obsessive compulsive disorder or panic disorder groups. Consistent with this hypothesis, a relationship between reported history of teasing and diagnosis was found. A significantly greater percentage of participants in the social phobia group (92%) reported a history of severe teasing experiences compared with the obsessive compulsive disorder (50%) and panic disorder (35%) groups. History of teasing experiences was also significantly related to an earlier age of onset for all 3 anxiety disorders, and to a greater number of self-reported additional problems in childhood. These findings suggest further directions for research in this area and highlight the significant link between perceptions of teasing in childhood and social phobia.     

Integration of features in comparing multifeature stimuli

For a series of trials, the subject indicated whether or not two face-like stimuli were identical with respect to the features they contained (a positive or negative response, respectively); reaction time (RT) was recorded. The stimuli were separated by .5 or 4.0 sec, and each contained either two or three features. On some trials, the features of the first stimulus were represented within a single head outline; on others, they were distributed over several spatially separated outlines (components). Positive-response RT increased with the number of stimulus features and with the number of first-stimulus components (c); these two factors were additive. Negative-response RT increased with c, decreased with the number of differing features, and these two factors interacted. These effects did not vary with interstimulus interval. The results indicate that the subject did not integrate the first-stimulus components, but instead compared the second stimulus to each component, holistically (for positive responses) or analytically (for negative responses).     

Logical reasoning and probabilities: A comprehensive test of Oaksford and Chater (2001)

We report two experiments testing a central prediction of the probabilistic account of reasoning provided by Oaksford and Chater (2001): Acceptance of standard conditional inferences, card choices in the Wason selection task, and quantifiers chosen for conclusions from syllogisms should vary as a function of the frequency of the concepts involved. Frequency was manipulated by a probability-learning phase preceding the reasoning tasks to simulate natural sampling. The effects predicted by Oaksford and Chater (2001) were not obtained with any of the three paradigms.     

Hemispheric, attentional, and processing speed factors in the treatment of developmental dyslexia

Aim of the study is to analyze the contributions of hemispheric, attentional, and processing speed factors to the effects of neuropsychological treatment of developmental dyslexia. Four groups of dyslexic children (M-type dyslexia) were treated over a period of four months. A first group (n = 9) underwent Bakker's Hemisphere-Specific Stimulation, with presentation of words in the right and left visual field. A second group (n = 7) received the same stimuli randomly in either visual hemifield. A third group (n = 8) received the same words presented centrally at fixation point. A fourth group (n = 6) received central stimuli with fixed presentation time (1500 ms). The children were tested before and after treatment on reading and spelling measures. All groups improved significantly after treatment on all variables. However, the group that was treated with centrally presented stimuli improved more than the other groups in spelling measures. A possible explanation is that rapid, simultaneous presentation to both hemispheres enhances interhemispheric exchange, which could produce an advantage in tasks requiring a high degree of integration between left and right hemispheric functions, such as spelling. The absence of significant differences in reading improvement may point to the role of memory functions or strategic factors characterizing all the treatment programs, possibly overweighing the effect of the other factors.     

Prognostic indicators for stuttering: the value of computer-based speech analysis

There are currently no known acoustic parameters by which stuttering children can be appraised in order to predict the further course of their speech disfluency. The present study investigates the usefulness of a computer-based speech analysis of fluent utterances. Correlations between acoustic variables, severity, and course of stuttering were sought in a prospective longitudinal study. This analyzed 57 preschool children at 6-month intervals over a period of 4.6 years. The acoustic analyses yielded no clearly distinguishing characteristics. There was, however, one subgroup consisting of children who were still disfluent at study end which showed more variable values at various measurement points for different parameters. Speech control seems to be different in children exhibiting chronic stuttering.     

Instructions to authors

Instructions for Authors

Instructions to authors     

Pappus in optical space

Optical space differs from physical space. The structure of optical space has generally been assumed to be metrical. In contradistinction, we do not assume any metric, but only incidence relations (i.e., we assume that optical points and lines exist and that two points define a unique line, and two lines a unique point). (The incidence relations have generally been assumed implicitly by earlier authors.) The condition that makes such an incidence structure into a projective space is the Pappus condition. The Pappus condition describes a projective relation between three collinear triples of points, whose validity can--in principle--be verified empirically. The Pappus condition is a necessary condition for optical space to be a homogeneous space (Lobatchevski hyperbolic or Riemann elliptic space) as assumed by, for example, the well-known Luneburg theory. We test the Pappus condition in a full-cue situation (open field, broad daylight, distances of up to 20 m, visual fields of up to 160 degrees diameter). We found that although optical space is definitely not veridical, even under full-cue conditions, violations of the Pappus condition are the exception. Apparently optical space is not totally different from a homogeneous space, although it is in no way close to Euclidean.     

Psychiatric Hospitalization and School and Community Adjustment of Children and Adolescents with Acquired Brain Injury

There is a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents who have acquired brain injury (ABI). We examined the records of 82 students with ABI who were admitted to a community-based school for education and neurorehabilitation over a three-year period to determine how many experienced one or more psychiatric hospitalizations before admission, and whether hospitalization status was related to positive school and community adjustment. Results were that 30.4% of the students had a documented history of one or more psychiatric hospitalizations. Of this group, 60.0% were able to be maintained in the community-based school program and 40.0% were discharged to other settings. When discharged, 70.0% of students entered more restrictive treatment programs (e.g., psychiatric hospital, secure residential facility, residential school). The number of psychiatric hospitalizations did not predict discharge from the community-based school and was unrelated to the type of discharge setting. Clinical and research issues concerning psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents with ABI in relation to post-acute adjustment are discussed.