Grammatical class effects in brain-damaged patients: functional locus of noun and verb deficit

Two patients are described with grammatical class dissociation: CG, a semantic-dementia patient who presented a disproportionate impairment of nouns compared to verbs; SA, a patient with a left parietal lesion who presented impaired sentence production and a disproportionate deficit for verbs compared to nouns. The results are discussed within the current models on semantic memory and lexical access.     

Gender and lexical access in Italian

Two new procedures were employed to investigate the effects of semantic and grammatical gender on lexical access in Italian and to investigate the interaction of gender with other factors that are known to influence lexical access in other languages. The gender-monitoring task requires a conscious decision about the gender of each noun, whereas the word repetition task does not require explicit attention to gender. In both tasks, single words are presented out of context, under speeded conditions. Both procedures proved to be sensitive indices of word recognition, with reaction times that are closely tied to the point at which words can be uniquely identified (although some processing before and after the uniqueness point was seen). In both tasks, reaction times were strongly affected by phonological factors (e.g., length, number of syllables, and presence of frication on the initial consonant). Phonological transparency of gender marking had a reliable effect on gender monitoring but had no effect on word repetition, suggesting that explicit attention to gender may be a factor affecting utilization of this phonological cue. Semantic factors (including semantic gender) had no effect on performance. Frequency and age of acquisition had very small effects when other factors were controlled. Implications for current models of lexical access are discussed, with special reference to the role of gender.     

Effect of Grammatical Gender and Semantic Context on Lexical Access in Italian

The interacting effects of sentence context and grammatical gender on lexical access were investigated in Italian using a timed picture-naming paradigm. Results snowed large interacting effects of both sentence context and the gender of the article, with facilitation relative to two different control conditions. Repeat testing yielded an overall decrease in RT, but did not change the pattern of results. Results are interpreted in support of interactive activation models in which different sources of information are combined on-line to predict, anticipate or preactivate lexical targets.     

The influence of affective factors on time perception

Several studies have suggested that both affective valence and arousal affect the perception of time. However, in previous experiments, the two affective dimensions have not been systematically controlled. In this study, standardized photographic slides rated for emotional valence and arousal were projected to two groups of subjects for 2, 4, and 6 sec. One group of subjects estimated the projection duration on an analog scale, whereas the second group of subjects reproduced the intervals by pushing a button. Heart rate and skin conductance responses were also recorded during stimulus presentation as indices of attention and arousal. Time estimation results showed neither a main effect of valence nor a main effect of arousal. A highly significant valence × arousal interaction affected duration judgments. For low-arousal stimuli, the duration of negative slides was judged relatively shorter than the duration of positive slides. For high-arousal stimuli, the duration of negative slides was judged longer than the duration of positive slides. The same interaction pattern was observed across judgment modalities. These results are interpreted in terms of a model of action tendency, in which the level of arousal controls two different motivational mechanisms, one emotional and the other attentional.     

Superexplanations for counterfactual knowledge

Philosophical Studies - I discuss several problems for Williamson’s counterfactual-theory of modal knowledge and argue that they have a common source, in that the theory neglects to elucidate...     

The Validity of the Child Problematic Trait Inventory in 6–12 Year Old Italian Children: Further Support and Issues of Consistency Across Different Sources of Information and Different Samples

In the present study, teacher’s ratings, mother’s ratings, and father’s ratings on the Child Problematic Trait Inventory (CPTI) were obtained on two independent samples (N?=?381 and N?=?406, respectively) of Italian school age children (age range: 6–12 years). Cronbach alpha values greater than 0.80 were observed for all CPTI scale scores based on teacher’s ratings, mother’s ratings, and father’s ratings respectively. Although intraclass correlation values suggested poor parent-teacher agreement, robust weighted least square Confirmatory Factor Analyses (WLSMV CFAs) suggested that the three-factor model of the CPTI was consistently replicated as the best fitting model across all informants. Logistic regression analysis conducted in one of the samples showed that teacher’s ratings and mother’s ratings of the CPTI, but not CPTI father’s ratings, significantly predicted child’s problem behavior at school. Multiple regression analyses showed that CPTI scores were significantly predicted by selected temperament dimensions, but with different relationships for different sources of information. Overall, our findings suggest that the CPTI is a reliable and valid measure of problematic traits with a three-factor structure, although this study indicates that multiple sources of information may prove necessary when assessing psychopathy in school-age children with the CPTI.     

Adolescence and the Changing Context of Optimal Experience in Time: Italy 1986–2000

This study focused on the daily activities and related quality of experience of two distinct groups of Italian high school students analyzed in 1986 and 2000. Altogether, 120 participants, aged between 15 and 18, were administered the experience sampling method, a procedure providing on-line repeated samplings of daily time budget and associated quality of experience. In particular, attention was paid to optimal experience, characterized by a balance between environmental challenges and personal skills, intrinsic motivation, involvement, and well-being. In spite of the time gap, no major differences in the daily activity distribution were detected. Adolescents in both groups spent most of their time studying at school and at home, interacting, watching TV, carrying out maintenance, and engaging in structured leisure activities. The use of new technologies (computers, internet, mobile phones) emerged in the data gathered in 2000. As concerns the quality of experience, each daily activity showed a specific experiential profile recurring in both groups. Studying at home and engaging in structured leisure activities were primarily associated with optimal experience, as was using new technologies in 2000. These results shed light on students' preferential engagement in specific domains and allowed us to explore the active role of adolescents in shaping their future. Findings also highlighted the importance of providing adolescents with meaningful activities in order to foster their personal growth, well-being, and social integration.